How do I create an assignment?
Overview
On CommonLit, you can assign 360 lessons included in CommonLit 360 units as well as library texts, and Target Lessons. Each of these assignments include required assignment settings, such as the classes or students it will be assigned to and the start and due dates. Additionally, each assignment type has options regarding which questions students will see when completing the assignment.
In this article, we will cover:
360 Lessons
Text library assignments
Target Lessons
360 Lessons
Finding a lesson
To access a 360 unit and accompanying lessons, you can click CommonLit 360 in the menu on the left. Alternatively, you can select the 360 Curriculum tile on the Home page. From there, select a grade level using the tabs along the top.
After selecting a grade level, select a unit by clicking a tile, which will display the Unit Overview page. This page provides a Unit Introduction video, as well as an overview of the Culminating Task for the unit.
Note: If you are using 9th and 10th grade units, you will automatically be shown the Edition 1.0 units. If you would like to use the new Edition 2.0 units, click Edition 2.0 using the toggle under “Select edition.”
360 units include a variety of lesson types, including Reading, Writing, Vocabulary, Grammar, Discussion, and Related Media Lessons. There are also lessons specific to the Culminating Task for the unit. To access the lessons in the unit, click the Lessons tab. You will see a list of all lessons in order. Click Show More next to a lesson and then click the Preview or Assign button to view materials and assign the lesson.
Once you’ve decided you want students to complete the lesson, click the Assign this Lesson button in the top right.
Digital vs. On Paper
360 lessons can be assigned for students to complete Digitally or On Paper. Currently, all 360 lessons can be assigned to be completed on paper, and Reading Lessons, Vocabulary Quizzes, and many Writing Lessons can also be assigned for students to complete digitally on the CommonLit platform.
While lessons assigned to be completed “On Paper” will be not be completed on CommonLit, this allows you to track and mark completion of CommonLit 360 lessons regardless of how students complete the assignment. This makes it possible to monitor lessons delivered off CommonLit with due dates and completion status just like digital lessons.
Assigning digital lessons
If you want to assign a lesson to be completed digitally, start by clicking Digitally under “How will students complete this assignment?” Alternatively, if you plan to have students complete the assignment off CommonLit, jump to: Assigning on paper lessons.
Required assignment settings
Assign to
In order to create the assignment, you must first select one or more classes under “Assign to.” If you would like to assign the lesson to all classes, check the box next to Select All. If not, you can select one or more classes.
You can also assign a 360 lesson to an individual student or a small group. To do so, choose “Individual Students.” Then, use the drop down menu to select the student(s) you’d like to assign the lesson to. You can select from students across your classes. Please note, though, that you will not be able to edit the assignment later to add more students.
Note: If you have classes in more than one school, you will first need to select the school in order to view classes and the rest of the assignment settings.
đź’ˇTip: If you would like to assign a lesson to an individual or small group, you can create a whole class assignment and then lock or exempt assignments for any students who do not yet need to complete it. This will allow you to add students back later if you choose.
Start and due dates and times
Digital assignments must have a start and due date. The start date defaults to the date you are creating the assignment. However, you can select a later date. Students will gain access to the assignment on the selected start date.
You can also set a specific start time or due time. If you set a specific start time, students will not gain access to the assignment until that time on the start date. Students will still be able to access and submit assignments after the due date and time.
Please note, to select separate start and due date/times for different classes, lessons will have to be assigned separately. Alternatively, the lesson can be assigned to all classes and then individually edited to have different start or due dates and times.
💡Tip: If you would like to prevent students from submitting an assignment once the due date has passed, you can lock, exempt, or force submit students’ assignments. Additionally, if you force submit their assignment, they will be assigned a score based on whatever progress they have made on the assignment. You can read more about how to do so here.
Assignment options
Instructional In-Text Questions for 360 Reading Lessons
360 Reading Lessons also include Instructional In-Text Questions. These are during-reading questions embedded in the text and will always be displayed to students when completing the lesson digitally on CommonLit. However, teachers can choose whether students are required to answer these questions when completing the lesson. The default setting is not to require answers. If you would like students to have to answer these questions, you can click the toggle next to “Require Answers to Instructional In-Text Questions?” to set it to Yes. When answers are required, students will need to answer the questions in order to unblur the next section of text.
Assessment questions to assign on 360 Reading Lessons
When assigning a 360 Reading Lesson to be completed digitally, you can choose which assessment questions you would like to assign. The default selection is to assign all assessment questions, which includes all multiple choice and short answer questions. However, if you would like students to only complete the multiple choice questions, select that option in the “Assessment questions to assign” section. Please note, this option is recommended for classes that will complete the short answer questions through an alternative method.
Customize directions (all digital 360 lessons)
All 360 digitally-assignable lessons have prefilled directions. These directions will be displayed to students on the first page of the assignment when they begin, and they can be customized. To edit the provided directions or provide your own directions, click “Customize directions (optional)” at the bottom of the Create an Assignment view to open the text editing box.
🆕 Assigning on paper lessons
As noted above, all 360 lessons can be assigned on paper. If you want to assign a lesson to be completed off CommonLit, start by clicking On Paper under “How will students complete this assignment?”
Please note: for assignments that can only be completed on paper, and cannot be completed digitally on CommonLit, you will not see this option. Instead, you will see a message that reads, “This lesson can only be completed on paper.”
Required assignment settings
For On Paper lessons, there are only two assignment settings: who the lesson is being assigned to and the due date. Furthermore, because these lessons are being completed off CommonLit, there are no assignment options.
Assign to
In order to create the assignment, you must first select one or more classes under “Assign to.” If you would like to assign the lesson to all classes, check the box next to Select All. If not, you can select one or more classes.
You can also assign a 360 lesson to an individual student or a small group. To do so, choose “Individual Students.” Then, use the drop down menu to select the student(s) you’d like to assign the lesson to. You can select from students across your classes. Please note, though, that you will not be able to edit the assignment later to add more students.
Note: If you have classes in more than one school, you will first need to select the school in order to view classes and the rest of the assignment settings.
Due date
In order to finish assigning the lesson, you will need to select a due date. Please note, if you would like to set a different due date for different classes, the lesson will need to be assigned to classes separately. Alternatively, the lesson can be assigned to all classes and then individually edited to have different due dates.
Downloading materials
Once you click Assign, you will see a window letting you know the lesson was successfully assigned. Additionally, you will see an option to Download All Lesson Materials. You can click that button to download a ZIP file containing PDFs of all of the materials included with that lesson.
Alternatively, if you would like to access the materials individually, or you want to make a copy of a resource shared via Google Docs or Slides, such as a lesson slide deck or student reference sheet, you can close the Lesson Assigned view, which will return you to the lesson preview. From there, click Lesson Materials and download or make copies of any individual materials for that lesson.
For more information about downloading 360 lesson materials, see: Can I print CommonLit 360 lessons?
Text library assignments
Finding a text
To browse the text library and see trending and suggested texts, or access Featured Groups on specific topics, click Text Library in the menu on the left. This will take you to the text library page for the grade level listed on your account (if you teach multiple grades, you will see the lowest grade level). From there, you can browse the suggested texts on that page or browse the trending texts. Additionally, you can scroll through the different topics at the top and select a topic to see relevant texts. If you want to switch to a different grade level, simply select the Grade drop down at the top and choose another grade.
You can also search for a specific text or filter content to find relevant texts. To do so, click Search & Filter at the top of the menu on the left or from the text library page. Start by choosing Texts under Content Type. Then, to search for a text, enter the title, author, or keywords in the search bar and click Show Results.
You can also use the filters to locate useful texts. You can filter by grades, genres, standard, and/or Lexile range to further filter available texts. Once you have your desired filters applied, click Show Results. Need to adjust your filters? Click Refine Search in the top right corner of the search results page to adjust as needed.
You can also combine a search with filters! For example, you may search WWII and select 8th in the Grades filter to find texts on that topic at that grade level. Keep an eye on the Show Results button as it will indicate how many texts match your search terms and/or filters.
Creating an assignment
All library texts can be assigned for students to complete digitally. Start by clicking the Assign button on the text page. If you would like them to complete the assignment on paper, you can click Download PDF.
Required assignment settings
Assign to
In order to create the assignment, you must first select one or more classes under “Assign to.” If you would like to assign the lesson to all classes, check the box next to Select All. If not, you can select one or more classes.
You can also assign the text to an individual student or a small group. To do so, choose “Individual Students.” Then, use the drop down menu to select the student(s) you’d like to assign the lesson to. You can select from students across your classes. Please note, though, that you will not be able to edit the assignment later to add more students.
Note: If you have classes in more than one school, you will first need to select the school in order to view classes and the rest of the assignment settings.
đź’ˇTip: If you would like to assign a text to an individual or small group, you can create a whole class assignment and then lock or exempt assignments for any students who do not yet need to complete it. This will allow you to add students back later if you choose.
Start and due dates and times
Text library assignments must have a start and due date. The start date defaults to the date you are creating the assignment. However, you can select a later date. Students will gain access to the assignment on the selected start date.
You can also set a specific start time or due time. If you set a specific start time, students will not gain access to the assignment until that time on the start date. Students will still be able to access and submit assignments after the due date and time.
Please note, to select separate start and due date/times for different classes, the text will have to be assigned separately to each class. Alternatively, the text can be assigned to all classes and then individually edited to have different start or due dates and times.
💡Tip: If you would like to prevent students from submitting an assignment once the due date has passed, you can lock, exempt, or force submit students’ assignments. Additionally, if you force submit their assignment, they will be assigned a score based on whatever progress they have made on the assignment. You can read more about how to do so here.
Assignment options
Guided Reading Mode
Guided Reading Mode (GRM) is an optional assignment feature for library texts that further promotes students' understanding of a text by asking them to answer basic comprehension questions throughout reading. These questions scaffold students' reading by blurring out part of the text to chunk the text for students. As students answer each GRM question correctly, the next section of the text will unblur and become visible. Students can answer GRM questions as many times as needed to answer correctly.
When assigning a library text, Guided Reading Mode is automatically enabled. If you would like to disable it, click the toggle to the right of “Enable Guided Reading Mode” to set the toggle to No.
Alternatively, you can enable Guided Reading Mode for specific students. To do so, click Individual Students underneath Enable Guided Reading Mode, and then select the students.
Assessment questions
You can choose which assessment questions are assigned. When creating the text library assignment, you can choose to assign:
- All assessment questions (this includes all multiple-choice and short-answer questions)
- Only multiple-choice questions
- Only short-answer questions
Alternatively, if you don’t want to assign any assessment questions, and you only want students to read and annotate the text, you can click the toggle to the right of “Assign assessment questions” to set it to No. When no assessment questions are assigned, students will not receive a score for the assignment. Additionally, you can still have Guided Reading Mode enabled even if no assessment questions are included.
Customize directions (optional)
All text library assignments have prefilled Annotation Tasks. These directions will be displayed to students in the gray box at the top of the text, and they can be customized. To edit the provided directions or provide your own directions, click “Customize directions (optional)” at the bottom of the Create an Assignment view to open the text editing box.
Target Lessons
Finding a lesson
To browse Target Lessons, start by clicking Target Lessons in the menu on the left. This will take you to the Target Lessons page for the grade level listed on your account (if you teach multiple grades, you will see the lowest grade level). From there, you can use the tabs at the top to find Target Lessons focusing on specific skill areas. If you want to switch to a different grade level, simply select the Grade drop down at the top and choose another grade.
You can also search for a specific Target Lesson or filter content to find relevant lessons. To do so, click Search & Filter at the top of the menu on the left or from the Target Lesson page. To search for a specific lesson, select Target Lessons under Content Type and enter the title or skill in the search bar. Then, click Show Results.
You can also use the filters to locate useful lessons. Once you’ve selected Target Lessons for the Content Type, you can filter by grades, genres, and/or standard to further filter the selections. Once you have your desired filters applied, click Show Results. Need to adjust your filters? Click Refine Search in the top right corner of the search results page to adjust as needed.
Assigning a lesson
All Target Lessons can be assigned for students to complete digitally. Start by clicking the Assign button on the assignment preview page. If you would like them to complete the assignment on paper, you can click Download Materials > Student Copy.
Required assignment settings
Assign to
In order to create the assignment, you must first select one or more classes under “Assign to.” If you would like to assign the lesson to all classes, check the box next to Select All. If not, you can select one or more classes.
You can also assign the text to an individual student or a small group. To do so, choose “Individual Students.” Then, use the drop down menu to select the student(s) you’d like to assign the lesson to. You can select from students across your classes. Please note, though, that you will not be able to edit the assignment later to add more students.
Note: If you have classes in more than one school, you will first need to select the school in order to view classes and the rest of the assignment settings.
đź’ˇTip: If you would like to assign a Target Lesson to an individual or small group, you can create a whole class assignment and then lock or exempt assignments for any students who do not yet need to complete it. This will allow you to add students back later if you choose.
Start and due dates and times
Target Lessons must have a start and due date. The start date defaults to the date you are creating the assignment. However, you can select a later date. Students will gain access to the assignment on the selected start date.
You can also set a specific start time or due time. If you set a specific start time, students will not gain access to the assignment until that time on the start date. Students will still be able to access and submit assignments after the due date and time.
Please note, to select separate start and due date/times for different classes, the lesson will have to be assigned separately to each class. Alternatively, the lesson can be assigned to all classes and then individually edited to have different start or due dates and times.
💡Tip: If you would like to prevent students from submitting an assignment once the due date has passed, you can lock, exempt, or force submit students’ assignments. Additionally, if you force submit their assignment, they will be assigned a score based on whatever progress they have made on the assignment. You can read more about how to do so here.
Assignment options
Instructional In-Text Questions for Target Lessons
Target Lessons include during-reading questions embedded in the text, and you have the option of whether or not students must answer the questions when completing the lesson. The default option is to require students answer the question. When students are required to answer, students will need to answer a question to unblur the next section of the text.
If you do not want students to be required to answer these questions, you can set the toggle to the right of Require Answers to Instructional In-Text Questions? to No when creating the assignment. Students will still see the questions, but they will not be required to answer them to progress through the lesson.
Customize directions (optional)
All Target Lessons have prefilled directions. These directions will be displayed to students on the first page of the assignment when they begin, and they can be customized. To edit the provided directions or provide your own directions, click “Customize directions (optional)” at the bottom of the Create an Assignment view to open the text editing box.
Note on Assessment Questions for Target Lessons
Target Lessons only have two assessment questions, one multiple-choice and one short-answer, so it is not possible to edit assessment options on Target Lessons.
Already created an assignment and looking for information on how to find it or make adjustments? Check out our other FAQ: "How do I manage my assignments?"