Amplify Introduces a Digital Curriculum for ELA -- THE Journal

21st Century Learning

Amplify Introduces a Digital Curriculum for ELA

By Christopher Piehler
03/03/14

Today at SXSWedu, Amplify introduced a digital curriculum for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade English Language Arts. The curriculum will be available at the start of the fall 2014 school year at an introductory price of $45 per student per year. It includes an e-library stocked with more than 300 works of fiction and nonfiction, and also comes with more than 40 digital games.

The curriculum, which is aligned to the Common Core State Standards, includes dramatic readings of texts by actors, as well as animations tied to writing prompts. "Quests" are experiential lessons designed to engage students in a text through role-playing, close reading, evidence-gathering, discussion and expressive writing. Quests include solving Edgar Allan Poe’s murder, looking for treasure as Tom Sawyer or debating whether to sign the Declaration of Independence as a member of the Second Continental Congress.

The vocabulary program is centered on essential “reveal words” that students encounter in core texts and supplementary materials. The Reveal Tool is designed to encourage students to learn a definition in context and then return to the text as seamlessly as possible.

The curriculum comes with a dashboard that lets teachers track the progress of each student and a class as a whole. The software will work on multiple devices, including iPads, Chromebooks, PCs, Macs and the Amplify Tablet.

About the Author

Christopher Piehler is the former editor-in-chief of THE Journal.

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