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Matching Readers with Texts and Tasks

Participants review how to interpret quantitative Lexile or ATOS scores of text complexity and apply text complexity measures to classroom situations to aid in choosing texts and activities.

New Academic Word List (NAWL) Finder and Sorter

EAPFoundation.com offers a free electronic tool for finding, highlighting, and sorting academic words within texts. Their word source is the New Academic Word List or NAWL, a recent update of the Academic Word List or AWL. There is also the option of creating a simple, head word, or word family gapfill, where the found academic words become blanks in the text. 

Teaching and Assessing Understanding of Text Structures Across Grades

This article summarizes the research on teaching text structures and discusses implications for instruction across grade levels.

Academic Word Finder

The Academic Word Finder is a free electronic tool from Achieve the Core that quickly identifies academic words in copied and pasted texts. It is not intended to "replace teacher judgment; rather, it helps to support the teacher and identify the most useful academic words."

Achieve the Core – ELA Standards

The site describes itself as "full of free content designed to help educators understand and implement the Common Core and other college and career ready standards." Resources include CCRS-aligned lessons, activities, assessments and more, but also materials to support educators in understanding the standards and the content.

What does text complexity mean for English learners and language minority students?

In this paper, the authors demonstrate how English learners can be provided with strategies for accessing complex texts, such as closely examining one sentence at a time, and argue that instruction must go beyond vocabulary and should begin with an examination of our beliefs about language, literacy and learning.

Text Analysis Tools

ATOS for Text is used to calculate the readability level for shorter text passages such as magazine and newspaper articles, test items, and other classroom materials. Results that you will receive from this analysis include: ATOS Level, Word Count, Average Word Length, and Average Sentence Length. The Academic Word Finder from Achieve the Core (found in the Reading library) is a text analysis tool that pulls the most useful academic vocabulary words from a given text that is copied and pasted onto the homepage.

Choosing Complex Text

This video from ReadWriteThink features a first-grade teacher talking through the steps that she uses to select a complex text for her class. The strategies that are described are easily adapted to adult EL classrooms.

New Resources

Once Upon a Picture: The Thinking Collection

This website provides a collection of images, photo and illustrations, with prompts to inspire learners to write or speak using critical thinking skills about the image.

Assessing Student Writing

Dr. Derek Rodgers details how the number of correct writing sequences (CWS) and incorrect writing sequences (IWS) students generate during a timed writing are sensitive and effective measures of student writing.

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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

November 17, 2025 6:30 pm–8:30 pm
Literacy Minnesota
Online

Teaching Intermediate Alphabetics

Online

Registration Deadline: MON. 11/17/25 Venue: Online (see details below) Teaching intermediate alphabetics (syllables, prefixes, suffixes, root words) is a great way to help students build their decoding and comprehension skills. Come learn a variety of fun and easy-to-use routines and activities for helping intermediate-level readers develop these important… Learn More

Online
November 18, 2025 10:00 am–11:00 am
Literacy Minnesota
Online

Ellii November Webinar: Admin & Support Staff Coffee Break

Online

Registration Deadline: TUE. 11/18/25 Venue: Online (see details below) If you manage Ellii classes and learner accounts, run Ellii participation reports for DL hours, or otherwise support learners and teachers using Ellii for distance learning, then this session is for you! We’ll talk about some successes and… Learn More

Online
November 18, 2025 3:00 pm–4:00 pm
Literacy Minnesota
Online

AI Crash Course – Session 3

Online

Registration Deadline: TUE. 11/18/25 Venue: Online (see details below) AI Crash Course 2025 November 4, 11, 18 @ 3:00pm – 4:00pm This FREE webinar series is open to all adult education staff and volunteers. Please register for the series and attend the sessions that work for your… Learn More

Online