READING??

In the age of digital distraction?

YES!!

A fresh, research-backed system to ignite engagement and reading success in your classroom.

Try Zinc Now

  • Reading Ignition starts students off with our Level Placement, so that we know where to target students’ advanced-literacy instruction and practice. They then embark on a love-based-learning journey.

  • For many students, reading instruction ends in elementary school. But this is often not enough. Most middle and high schoolers need guidance on what to do while they read to get to comprehension. Reading Ignition makes these practices, conscious-reading strategies, which strong readers do automatically and unconsciously, visible and explicit, so that ALL students can reach reading success.

Explore Vocabulary

  • Students learn and practice vocabulary words using four modes of gameplay: image, definition, sentence, and synonym. They have a love-based-learning experience.

  • Zinc offers vocabulary in-context accompanying our articles, and we have stand-alone vocabulary sets that use spaced repetition. With our spaced repetition, students see each new work SIX times over about eight weeks. With this approach, students retain new words, moving them into their long-term nonprocedural memory.

Check Out Close Reading

  • A top recommendation for improving adolescent literacy is to “provide direct and explicit comprehension strategy instruction,” so that’s what we do in Zinc. Our Close-Reading Experiences teach students what to do while they’re reading and give them time to practice their new conscious-reading skills.

  • Our Close Reading Experiences provide instruction tailored to students of various reading levels, from 4th grade up to college. And we use diverse texts, from commonly-taught plays and novels to speeches. The diversity of our texts fosters choice, autonomy, and love-based learning.

  • “Zinc solved the problems of student fear of big words and boredom with reading. Vocab engages students, and the close reading teaches them how to understand tough reads.”

    — Whitney Ann Lewis, SAT/ACT prep, Horry County, SC

  • “A lot of my students said that this was the first time someone’s teaching them HOW to read, instead of just telling them to read.”

    -Micheala Morris, 10th grade English Teacher, Fresno, CA

  • “Our reading scores have been going down. Kids just don’t seem to have the stamina to keep reading. We really liked how Zinc Ignition builds that ability to focus through engaging them in close reading.”

    — Shannon Schumacher, Instructional Coach, Campbell County, KY

The Zinc Approach to Adolescent Literacy

States expect secondary teachers to cover advanced textual analysis… but too few students arrive in middle and high school with the reading skills necessary to comprehend longer and more complex texts.

Zinc bridges the gaps.

Zinc teaches students what to do when they read by coaching them in the four easy-to-apply skills all advanced readers use naturally.

Enrich Your Classroom Curriculum With Zinc:

  • Ignition

    After spending just one to two hours on Ignition, Zinc’s auto-leveled “tutoring” program, 30% of students grow by at least one reading level (that’s 1.5 grade levels of growth).

  • Lift Off

    Lift Off’s AI-powered data gathering fuels a four-week journey that engages students with articles and book excerpts on the topics they choose —all delivered at the right level.

  • Flight

    Teachers can use Zinc’s multi-week reading programs or pick and choose vocabulary, articles, and close reading experiences to bring their curricula to life and get every student’s hand in the air.

  • 90% of students say they hate reading. Let's show them what they've been missing.

  • A third of 8th-graders reach reading “proficiency.” We can fix this.

  • Only 31% of 12th-graders reach “NAEP proficient” in reading. We're changing that.

  • Something's broken when just 13% of US adults can read and comprehend complex texts.

Select Partners

Zinc is proud to partner with the NYC DOE’s College Access for All (CA4A) program, part of NYC's Equity and Excellence Initiatives.

Zinc is integrated into the College Board’s SpringBoard Digital ELA curriculum, where Zinc is a valued resource for differentiation and student choice.

Zinc is honored to partner with LitLife, founded by Pam Allyn, to support Core Ready.

Let’s put Zinc to work in your classroom, school, or district. Schedule a demo today.