6 Online Tools That Will Help The Writing Process Writing can be a difficult task for many students. Some have trouble getting started, others have trouble staying on task, and many struggle with both. Staying focused when you’re sitting at your computer and somewhat uninspired can be a disaster waiting to happen – there’s a lot of stuff to waste time with on The Interwebs! The Internet can be a huge distraction, but it can also be the tool that helps to make you a more efficient and better writer. Citelighter Citelighter is a great way to build your bibliography simply – so you don’t spend all of your time worrying about correctly formatting a bibliography in APA, MLA, or Chicago formatting. Write Monkey Write Monkey helps to make the writing process cleaner by providing the user with a distraction free writing environment, and by streamlining keyboard and mouse use . Focus Writer Focus Writer is a great way to keep yourself free of distractions on your screen. Omm Writer This tool is only for Mac users. WriteRoom
Welcome to English Grammar Express 7 Key Characteristics Of Better Learning Feedback 7 Key Characteristics Of Better Learning Feedback by Grant Wiggins, Authentic Education On May 26, 2015, Grant Wiggins passed away. Grant was tremendously influential on TeachThought’s approach to education, and we were lucky enough for him to contribute his content to our site. Occasionally, we are going to go back and re-share his most memorable posts. Whether or not the feedback is just “there” to be grasped or offered by another person, all the examples highlight seven key characteristics of helpful feedback. Helpful feedback is – Goal-referencedTransparentActionableUser-friendlyTimelyOngoingConsistent 1. Given a desired outcome, feedback is what tells me if I should continue on or change course. Note that goals (and the criteria for them) are often implicit in everyday situations. 2. Even as little pre-school children, we learn from such results and models without adult intervention. 3. Thus, “good job!” 4. 5. A great problem in education, however, is the opposite. 6. 7. References
Writing Genres As students prepare to write, they need to think about the purpose of their writing: Are they writing to entertain? to inform? to persuade? One of the most important considerations is the genre or form the writing will take: a story? © ______ 2010, Allyn & Bacon, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Storyboard That: The World's Best FREE Online Storyboard Creator How To Use An iPad To Add Voice Comments To Grading Offering timely and effective learning feedback is a critical part of the learning process. This is a concept that’d seem to be more accessible than ever with technology, but sometimes technology is two steps forward, one step back. Take for example grading papers. While K-12 education has (mostly) moved away from pure academic essays to measure all understanding, the writing process is more important now than ever. Grading a physical piece of paper is as simple as writing in the margins, using established editing symbols, or others marking the paper up. While digital documents like pdfs allow for increased visibility, simpler sharing, and seamless curation, they have indeed taken a step back in regards to this all-important text marking. PDF Annotation Which is where pdf annotation software comes in. There are many pdf annotation apps available that allow this kind of text marking, but another killer feature that is somehow less celebrated: voice annotation. Other Details
Synonyms for words commonly used in student's writing Amazing- incredible, unbelievable, improbable, fabulous, wonderful, fantastic, astonishing, astounding, extraordinary Anger- enrage, infuriate, arouse, nettle, exasperate, inflame, madden Angry- mad, furious, enraged, excited, wrathful, indignant, exasperated, aroused, inflamed Answer- reply, respond, retort, acknowledge Ask- question, inquire of, seek information from, put a question to, demand, request, expect, inquire, query, interrogate, examine, quiz Awful- dreadful, terrible, abominable, bad, poor, unpleasant Beautiful - pretty, lovely, handsome, attractive, gorgeous, dazzling, splendid, magnificent, comely, fair, ravishing, graceful, elegant, fine, exquisite, aesthetic, pleasing, shapely, delicate, stunning, glorious, heavenly, resplendent, radiant, glowing, blooming, sparkling Begin - start, open, launch, initiate, commence, inaugurate, originate Brave - courageous, fearless, dauntless, intrepid, plucky, daring, heroic, valorous, audacious, bold, gallant, valiant, doughty, mettlesome
Powerful Tools for Teaching and Learning: Digital Storytelling About the Course Powerful Tools for Teaching and Learning: Digital Storytelling introduces educators to digital storytelling and explores ways to use digital stories to enhance students’ learning experience. The course is designed to be comprehensive yet fundamental. By comprehensive we mean that the course provides a solid foundation to all of the components of a digital story and illustrates these components with tutorials, example stories and links to additional readings. The course also provides a hands-on opportunity for learners to create their own digital stories. Course Syllabus Over the course of five weeks, we will cover the following topics: Week 1: Choosing a topic and purpose Week 1 introduces you to the basics of digital storytelling. Week 2: Writing an effective script and creating a storyboard Week 2 will focus on scriptwriting as you learn the steps in developing and writing a script for a digital story. Recommended Background The course is primarily intended for:
The Best Resources For Learning How To Best Give Feedback To Students I’ve been thinking and writing (in my forthcoming book to be published by Eye On Education) about the most effective ways to give feedback to students. I’ve obviously been trying to apply what I’ve been learning in the classroom, too. As a one sentence summary, as I’ve posted about previously, the research says it’s best to praise effort and not intelligence. Here are some resources I’ve found helpful: What Kind Of Feedback Should We Give Our Students? The Difference Between Praise & Acknowledgment is another older post. The Perils and Promises of Praise is an article by Carol Dweck. Pondering Praise is a nice essay by Joe Bower. It’s Not About How Smart You Are is an article by Carol Dweck. Goodbye to “Good Job!” “The Praise Paradox” is an excerpt from the book Nurture Shock: New Thinking About Children, written by by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. New Marzano Study On “Effort & Recognition” The words that could unlock your child comes from the BBC. Dr. Quote Of The Day: Giving Feedback