Week Ten Personal Post - NoRedInk
This week, I've got a tie-in between my tech talk and my personal post - NoRedInk.com.
Our department has agreed to move to the grammar website to augment or replace or class texts and processes for grammar practice. The site has free access, so that teachers can assign a diagnostic, receive feedback, and assign practice and further assessments as student results necessitate.
I am excited to start my students on the site this week. I will give them time in class to complete the diagnostic, and then we'll look at the class-wide results as a class, and talk about implications for their existing grammar needs. For my juniors and sophomores, I try to keep grammar in context as ACT preparedness and writing precision. I am hoping the website helps them build familiarity and confidence in grammar identification.
I also need to learn the site firsthand, because I have a handful of reluctant department members who are likely to underutilize the site's potential for their students. Ironically, some of the teachers that I work with, the ones who are the most avid and consistent grammar instructors, are reluctant to investigate the site's benefits.
At the risk of presenting this culture shift to them as a task shift, I want to be able to show them step-by-step implementation of the website into their existing practice. I hope seeing the rich possibilities of the site will help them come to terms with the possibility of losing the credibility their expertise gains them. We all love the feeling of helping students come to a new capacity, and this site is likely to diminish the students' sense of gratitude towards the teacher guiding them to newfound success in grammatical understanding.
Our department has agreed to move to the grammar website to augment or replace or class texts and processes for grammar practice. The site has free access, so that teachers can assign a diagnostic, receive feedback, and assign practice and further assessments as student results necessitate.
I am excited to start my students on the site this week. I will give them time in class to complete the diagnostic, and then we'll look at the class-wide results as a class, and talk about implications for their existing grammar needs. For my juniors and sophomores, I try to keep grammar in context as ACT preparedness and writing precision. I am hoping the website helps them build familiarity and confidence in grammar identification.
I also need to learn the site firsthand, because I have a handful of reluctant department members who are likely to underutilize the site's potential for their students. Ironically, some of the teachers that I work with, the ones who are the most avid and consistent grammar instructors, are reluctant to investigate the site's benefits.
At the risk of presenting this culture shift to them as a task shift, I want to be able to show them step-by-step implementation of the website into their existing practice. I hope seeing the rich possibilities of the site will help them come to terms with the possibility of losing the credibility their expertise gains them. We all love the feeling of helping students come to a new capacity, and this site is likely to diminish the students' sense of gratitude towards the teacher guiding them to newfound success in grammatical understanding.
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ReplyDeleteHi Kyle -let me know how NoRedInk goes. I've used the free site for years with ACT prep. Are you using the premium site? I think once the faculty gets their hands on it, they'll find it useful. I like it mostly as a supplement, and then I use student sentences (anonymous of course) to flesh out some of the rules. But the guys definitely like the data tracking and then performance benchmarks. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a really awesome tool. I've already visited the website and started investigating. Change can be slow at times. Showing how well it is working within your classroom with hard data is always a decent cause for change.
ReplyDeleteGood luck at getting others to take the plunge!
I think any time we find resources that allow data tracking and performance benchmarks we can call it a successful find. The direct relation to ACT is key even if it's only used as a supplement. Even though I teach math, I plan to share this with the English teachers at my school.
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