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Building Sentence-Writing Fluency Through Timed Writing Practice

This spotlight features two resources from the Iowa Reading Research Center that focus on building sentence-level writing fluency through timed, repeated writing practice. It includes an article explaining the approach and an example lesson plan that shows how timed writing sessions can be used and adapted in the classroom.

PowerUp: What Works – English Language Arts Teaching Strategies

This website was built for teachers with a variety of learner levels in their K-12 classes and offers resources, strategies, and practical tips to personalize instruction to meet the needs of struggling students. The teaching suggestions and instructional suggestions can easily be applied to adult ESL classrooms where English Language Arts CCRS are being applied. This page provides information on topics such as teaching context clues, self-questioning, visualizing, and semantic mapping.

Additional Comprehension Resources

ESL Literacy Readers offers 40 theme-based stories, a learner page, and a teacher's guide with ideas for reading activities and extensions. ESL Yes! offers 1600 stories intended for Beginning and Intermediate level ESL students, supplemented with audios and various kinds of exercises.

The Times in Plain English

This website contains free "Plain English Version" articles about current world and national news or events. All of the articles are edited by Arthur Schiff and grade-leveled according to Flesch-Kincaid. In addition to articles, the website offers Tips for Teachers, which provides text-dependent questions.

Additional Fluency Resources

These Comprehension resources are also useful for Fluency instruction: * Britannica School Elementary offers non-fiction articles related images, videos, maps, and learning games * The Change Agent includes leveled student-written articles, discussion topics, and lesson plans * The Times in Plain English contains free, leveled articles about current world and national news or events * Center for Adult Literacy Text Library offers over 1600 leveled texts on a range of topics

Reading Skills for Today’s Adults – Fluency

This website is a source of passages (Levels 0.7 to 8.0) and audios intended “to help adults become better readers and more informed consumers, parents, employees, citizens and community members.” It is useful for Beginning and Intermediate level students.

Reading Skills for Healthcare Workers – Fluency

This website provides 175 CNA (certified nursing assistant) and general healthcare passages and audios for adult readers at grade levels 5.5 to 8.5 (Intermediate level). All are CCRS aligned and include pre-reading questions, definitions of healthcare or high-frequency vocabulary, and text-dependent questions.

Is Fluent, Expressive Reading Important for High School Readers?

This article examines the relationship between oral prosody (phrasing and expression) and silent reading comprehension for secondary readers. The study recommends teacher modeling and whole-class choral reading of passages from literature, social studies, and science content materials.

Fluency: Research and Teaching Strategies

Chapter 5 of "Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults" defines fluency, provides suggestions for assessment and instruction, and lists additional resources and references.

Fluency Techniques for STAR/EBRI Volunteers

This handout for STAR/EBRI volunteers describes three fluency techniques considered most effective for adult readers. All interweave the steps of explicit instruction for guided oral readings of paragraphs, passages, articles, or books.

Fluency Instruction for STAR/EBRI Volunteers

This handout describes what STAR/EBRI volunteers need to know about evidence-based and explicit fluency instruction. It also clarifies how they can improve – but not necessarily perfect – students’ oral reading fluency of paragraphs, passages, articles, or books.

Fluency – Challenges & Possible Solutions

Common fluency instructional challenges and solutions developed by Minnesota STARs and Trainers.

CCRS and the Reading Foundational Skills

These resources describe Minnesota's combination of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) + CCRS Reading Foundational Skills 1-4, at Levels K-5. The result is a complete and clear sequence for teaching alphabetics and fluency to adult readers at Beginning and Intermediate levels.

The Teachers’ Room: Correcting Errors

This video shares different things teachers should to take into consideration when correcting errors, and gives suggestions for ways to do learner-friendly error correction in the classroom.

Reading Skills for Today’s Adults – ESL

This website was designed to provide an online repository of leveled reading selections that are appropriate for and valued by adult learners. The readings being posted correspond to CASAS 200 - 235, focusing on topics such as Civics, Employment, Housing, Health, School, Money, and Government.

ReadWorks.org

ReadWorks provides a large, high-quality library of curated nonfiction and literary articles, along with reading comprehension and vocabulary lessons, formative assessments, and teacher guidance. Through this website teachers can access curriculum, lesson plans, and free training.

How Should Adult ESL Reading Instruction Differ From ABE Reading Instruction?

A brief from the Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA) summarizing the research base on adult English language learners (ELLs) learning to read. It describes how ELLs differ from native English speakers and how these differences should affect reading instruction.

Error Correction

This article provides strategies for how and when to correct learners' mistakes and suggestions for how to make error correction a part of your classroom routine.

6 ESL Teaching Techniques to Cut TTT and Get Your Students Talking

Learn easy and effective strategies to cut teacher talk time and provide more opportunities for your learners to practice their English in this article by FluentU.

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PD Catalog

Get an overview of all MN Adult Education professional development (PD) activities in one convenient, searchable place!

PD Catalog

Presenter Information

Get information about stipends, reimbursements, the MN Adult Ed policy on use of images in presentations, and other instructions for presenters.

 

MN Adult Ed YouTube Channel

The MN Adult Education YouTube Channel is a free online PD resource that you can use to explore teaching techniques and classroom ideas in action! Find out more in this MN ABE Connect newsletter article.

 

ATLAS Announcements & Future PD

Check out the latest list of ATLAS professional development announcements and opportunities! This is the document that is shared at all ATLAS events.

 

Virtual Meeting Resources

Find resources for conducting online meetings/events/presentations! You are welcome to use and adapt these materials to fit your own needs and context.

 

Upcoming ABE Events

February 16, 2026 6:30 pm–8:30 pm
Literacy Minnesota
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Teaching Reading Vocabulary

Online

Registration Deadline: MON. 2/16/26 Venue: Online (see details below) Vocabulary is everyone’s favorite reading component! And helping students master reading vocabulary is a key to helping them master comprehension. But how many words should you teach? And which words are the most important? What strategies are best for… Learn More

Online
February 18, 2026 1:00 pm–2:30 pm
Minnesota Department of Education
Online

WebChat with MN ABE

Online

Registration Deadline: WED. 2/18/26 Venue: Online (see details below) WebChat with MN ABE is a webinar discussion led by state ABE staff from the Minnesota Department of Education. Web Chat webinars provide updates from the state ABE office on new and emerging issues and an opportunity for local ABE staff… Learn More

Online
February 18, 2026 6:30 pm–8:30 pm
Literacy Minnesota
Online

Volunteer Core Training Module 2: Understanding Adult Learners

Online

Registration Deadline: WED. 2/18/26 Venue: Online (see details below) Participants develop their personal cultural awareness and learn how expectations around school culture shape how people teach and learn. Guiding principles for effectively delivering instruction to adults are also covered. Finally, participants increase their sensitivity to the challenges of… Learn More

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