Kate Myers is a Professional Learning Specialist at IXL with five years of experience as an English teacher.
Whenever I envision English language arts (ELA) content in my head, the shape that comes to mind is a spiral. Subject areas like math or science more closely resemble a set of stairs, where every step represents a new task or topic to master. But rather than constantly introducing new concepts, ELA instead deepens each concept over time, layering in levels of complexity as the content “spirals” inward.
The unique nature of ELA content requires a different type of instruction. This is especially true at the high school level, when the complexity has greatly increased, and students are seeking opportunities for self-directed learning.
IXL is uniquely suited to support the nature of high school ELA instruction. IXL’s personalized learning program provides a variety of resources to meet each student’s unique needs, including:
Let’s dive into each!
Comprehensive ELA curriculum
IXL provides the broadest coverage of language arts, with an extensive curriculum spanning 2,300+ skills that give students plenty of opportunities to practice and build fluency. IXL’s high school ELA curriculum covers advanced writing and reading strategies, such as analyzing longer texts, techniques for persuasive writing, editing and revising text, and writing clearly and concisely.
This curriculum fits seamlessly into teachers’ existing routines, with reading comprehension content based on commonly-taught fiction and nonfiction books. Plus, IXL skill plans provide teachers with the exact IXL skills that support each chapter of their textbooks and every state standard, making lesson planning a breeze.
IXL’s ELA curriculum emphasizes building strong communication skills, which is crucial for students preparing for life beyond high school. IXL gives students a strong command of fundamental writing elements, including vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics, which they’ll use as a foundation to become strong writers and communicators.
IXL skills also feature a wide range of texts that prepare students for what they will encounter in the real world, including original, informational, and fictional texts. Many ELA skills contain examples from everyday life that students will encounter, such as emails, text messages, and social media posts.
In this way, IXL ELA supports high school students by providing skills with real-world applications. For example, if my students were practicing editing, I might have them work in the 10th grade ELA skill ZLE: Correct errors in everyday use. Students get to practice correcting common errors in content formats they encounter every day. This provides applicable practice, as well as an extra level of engagement.
Instructional resources
As students enter high school and begin to rely less on help from adults, IXL enables them to take charge of their own learning. If students get stuck while working independently, support is just a click away with IXL’s instructional resources.
For example, IXL helps students self-remediate by providing step-by-step explanations to quickly understand their mistakes and address them before moving forward. IXL also guides students to foundational practice skills that will help them tackle the topic they’re struggling with, without needing to ask for help.
Personalize learning with IXL’s Diagnostic
By the time students reach upper grade levels, specific gaps in knowledge can be hard to identify and even harder to address. IXL gives teachers a systematic way to troubleshoot each student’s unique reading and writing roadblocks and put them on the path to success.
IXL’s state-of-the-art assessment, the Real-Time Diagnostic, pinpoints each learner’s knowledge and gaps along the entire K-12 ELA spectrum. Then, the diagnostic generates personalized action plans with skill recommendations based on the student’s individual areas for growth.
Through their Diagnostic action plan, each learner develops an understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses and can access resources to help them make progress, without needing a teacher to guide them.
And along the way, IXL Analytics offers real-time reports to help teachers see each student’s action plan, identify common trouble spots across multiple learners, provide targeted intervention, track progress over time, and more.
Test preparation
IXL provides state standards skill plans for all 50 states, making test prep simple for teachers and students.
Plus, IXL’s personalized SAT and ACT study plans help students succeed on college entrance exams by providing the exact content they should work on to improve their scores. Students can enter their scores from a previous test or practice test, and IXL generates a custom study plan of skills targeted to their specific knowledge gaps and test prep goals.
See IXL ELA in action
Want to learn more about how real high school teachers are using IXL English language arts in their classrooms? Check out our ELA case studies!
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