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Time Edge

Mindprint Rating

Tags

Social Studies ^21st Century Skills Social-Emotional Learning All Ages Website

Skills

Verbal Reasoning

Mindprint Expert Review

Pros

  • The front page is bright and inviting with articles on a variety of topics of interest to students.
  • Students can easily view their assignments and independently take online quizzes; the teacher dashboard provides performance by student and class.
  • Good added features including options to assign the article at a lower lexile level, read in Spanish and view definitions of challenging vocabulary by hovering.

Considerations

  • Quizzes require recall of text without the option to refer back to the article.
  • Teachers cannot view students' quiz answers online; they must depend on the student to print the quiz after taking it.
  • Students will have access to articles on sensitive, albeit appropriate, topics.

Mindprint Expert Review

Time Edge is an excellent online news site designed for middle school students to develop their non-fiction reading skills using news articles from Time magazine's 90 years of archives and current publications. The site uses a clean interface and beautiful photos. Students and teachers can browse current events by topic, or use the vault and search by year, topic or free search. Each article on the teacher view shows correlation to Common Core standards, lexile level, discussion questions, option to assign multiple-choice online quizzes, suggestions for lessons, and the option to assign specific students a lower lexile level. Students login with their own accounts to do their assignments, or easily search for articles by any of 11 subjects including U.S.,World, Science, and History. Students can opt to have the article read aloud in a relatively authentic voice or have it translated to Spanish. The dashboard does have articles on sensitive issues like terrorist attacks and health issues, but featured articles are relevant to teens, important, and still age appropriate. Overall, the site provides a wide variety of news articles that are interesting and appropriate for middle schoolers and makes it simple for teachers to assign articles and track progress by Common Core standard.

Academic Benefits

Improves academic skills

  • Provides sufficient and varied types of practice problems to maximize understanding and generalization of the targeted skill/concept
  • Manufacturer claims alignment with Common Core/Known Standards
  • Presents educational concepts accurately
  • Explains answers so students can learn from mistakes
  • Better for teaching the skill to new or struggling learners
  • Better for practicing or refreshing the skill
  • Skills are practiced through authentic, meaningful problems (not just rote practice)

Fun

Engaging for the Mindprint recommended age range

  • Appropriate for a broad age range to use and enjoy
  • Subject matter and problems are relevant, interesting and authentic to students
  • Visually appealing to children in the target age range
  • Provides virtual rewards or incentives after meeting specified goals or objectives
  • Provides a "break activity" between academic problem sets
  • Offers ongoing, progressive challenge
  • Overall - Enjoyable. Given the option, students would choose this option

Easy to Use

Understandable for children in the Mindprint recommended age range

  • Has a free or trial version
  • Provides teaching guidance for adults to support the child and set appropriate goals
  • Provides an age-appropriate tutorial/first time users can work independently
  • Student should be able to use independently after first use
  • Has a multi-player option to foster in-person collaboration or cooperation
  • Multiple users can save a profile
  • Student graduates to the next level or topic only after meeting a benchmark
  • Can play without sound and not distract others
  • Students can save work between sessions
  • Can effectively understand and monitor student's progress (email report or in product)
  • Requires registration before using the first time
  • Provides options to play in languages other than English/Good for ELL
  • Presents information in multiple formats (voice over, pictures and text, etc.)
  • Overall - Easy to use

Cognitive Concerns

May not be advisable for students with the following cognitive needs

  • Attention
  • Reading Basics
  • Working Memory