Grammar Instruction
Last Spring, and for a time at the beginning of summer, I put a significant amount of time into revising my approach to grammar instruction. As a 12th grade teacher, I had a (mostly false) expectation that my students were arriving with a basic grammar skill set. My usual approach was to identify problems in student writing and create instruction and remediation for the most common problems that I identified.
The problem with this approach is two-fold. First, not everyone was getting the specific skills instruction that they needed. Second, when time runs short in a given week, it was very easy for me to abandon grammar to save time. I had a student teacher in 2016-17 who really wanted to do straight grammar instruction. I grudgingly let her do it and the results were impossible to ignore. To improve their ability to communicate in writing, my 12th graders need fundamental instruction in the basics of grammar.
I had a (mostly false) expectation that my students were arriving to the 12th grade with a basic grammar skill set.
After conversations with my principal and department chair, I decided last year that I needed to revamp my approach grammar instruction, adding weekly mini-units, starting with parts of speech and moving forward as far as I could get in each semester. Some discussion was given to the idea that many students didn’t need to begin at this basic level, but the prospect of delivering additional individualized instruction on top of the usual weekly differentiation was overwhelming. I decided to move the group forward in lockstep, with additional remediation based on formative assessment as needed.
NoRedInk.com
Then, this summer, I learned of NoRedInk.com. In their promotional materials, NoRedInk claims,
NoRedInk helps students improve their grammar and writing skills using their personal interests and adaptive learning.
I was skeptical, but when I dove into the site, my doubts were quickly whisked away. The website allows teachers to choose topics, create planning diagnostics, unit diagnostics, interactive practice activities, and quizzes.
Students can sign in using existing Google accounts (we’re a Google Tools district). Once they have joined the class, an interest survey (TV, movies, music, friends…) allows students to customize the practice and test content, to amusing effect. Here’s what my interests look like.
From this list of interests, NoRedInk generates interactive question and practice sets for students to work on at their own pace.
There are lessons to help students with basic understandings.
As well as detailed logs to help teachers track progress.
Students are drilled and quizzed and cannot proceed to later lessons until they demonstrate mastery of prior skills.
Teacher reports allow for tracking and extra remediation.
The Bottom Line
Having spent time with NoRedInk, I’ve decided that it’s worth it to ditch the redesign work I’ve already done, targeting my efforts instead into learning how best to deploy NoRedInk.com at the beginning of the school year. Students will all receive the instruction they need at their own pace, in a personalized environment. I will get valuable data about skills acquisition and progress that I can use to design targeted remediation.