I have a lot of tools that I use a lot for school but I think other than Newsela with a modified google form for the quizzes, I would say that I use Quill.org. Why? I teach English and our curriculum has systematically removed teaching grammar. My 8th graders come to class without a basic knowledge of grammar. I feel that it is my duty to help them understand the difference between, knowing your shit and knowing you’re shit. This is where Quill.org comes in. How? Quill.org connects to google apps for education and is easy to set up. You (as a teacher) can have students connect by the special class code given to each of your classes you created.
Teachers have a dashboard that shows them how their students are progressing on the Common Core standards. Each activity takes 10 minutes in length, and students typically complete their assignments in class. After completing an assignment, students receive instant feedback on their work. The instant feedback is valuable because they can review which concepts they understand and which ones they are struggling to master. Pros The site boasts that it provides learning activities that engage students in the writing process through web applications teaching grammar, vocabulary, and writing skills. The site does this well. Even if the grammar is correct but there is some other mistake in the student’s response it will give you a message telling you that they have the correct answer but they need to make sure everything is correct in their sentence. I find that my students enjoy most of what I assign them. It does take about 10 mins to complete an activity. It also tracks progress of student work. It provides instant feedback on their work and that helps them know what they need to work on. Cons The site is glitchy, not all the time but enough to notice. They also need to have more content. I have assigned some thing multiple times. I also give content from other lower grades. So, there can be some differentiation. Tracking and individual feedback is a paid feature. You can see some completion just not specific. One work around I have done for not having a paid subscription is to have my students take a screenshot of their progress and send that picture on a google doc to see how they are doing. Were you using the right tool for the right job? How do you know? Yeah, I feel that for a tool that teaches grammar this a very useful tool. I know this because I can tell the way that kids interact with it. It stretches their mind and then it shows them feedback instantly. I also see how much kids like it. They tricked one of my subs into letting them “play” Quill all day long. Haha pretty good stuff. I incorporate it into about 2-3 lessons a week. I use it as a warm-up activity.
1 Comment
Kelley S. Miller
2/27/2017 08:10:29 pm
I have two confessions to make:
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Adam Vedomske father of Danger Archives
May 2017
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