Get On-Demand Support for Your Writing for Free with PaperRater.Com

I recently discovered PaperRater.com, a paper grading and feedback resource that is free and does not require a download.  Developed and maintained by linguistics professionals, subject matter experts, and graduate students, PaperRater.com does this by combining the power of natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, information retrieval (IR), computational linguistics, data mining, and advanced pattern matching (APM). The program is used by schools and universities in over 46 countries to help authors improve their writing.

PaperRater.com provides helpful feedback on grammar, spelling, word choice, and style, but not the author's arguments, logic, organization, and ideas. There is also an Auto Grader rates the grammar, spelling, word choice, and style and has been found  to be nearly as accurate as human graders for that part of the work, for most papers.  At the end of your paper rating, you get a professional looking PaperRater Printable Summary Analysis that gives you an overview of your paper.

Here’s why I love this for writers.
It’s always great to get instant feedback on your writing and added bonus is not having to bug anyone for it. I ran some of my blog posts through PaperRater and received useful suggestion on things like using active of active voice, spelling, grammar, and vocabulary.  

Here’s why I love this for teachers.
For teachers who are grading student work, it is terrific to have your students get this sort of feedback before handing in their papers. This means less time focusing on grammar, spelling, style, and vocabulary, and more time focusing on content. There is also a plagiarism detector (though most innovative educators don’t give work that can be plagiarised).

If we really want to empower writers to work independently, it is ideal to combine PaperRater  with a tool like SWoRD, the free web-based, system that uses peer review as its backbone.

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iPad Literacy Program Increases Reading & Writing Ability

Footsteps2Brilliance (F2B) is an impressive educational game platform that supports students in prek - 3rd grade in learning to read and write. Their Academic Language Program for Students (ALPS) teaches young children the 1,000 key words they will need to develop a powerful reading and writing vocabulary through animated ebooks and games. There is a back end management system tracks mastery of each child's vocabulary and comprehension development as well as standards-based concepts.  The program was developed in response to the landmark Hart-Risley study on language development that shows that an underprivileged child enters school with 25% of the vocabulary they need to succeed academically.  This program helps to rectify this situation by creating a language rich environment for all children.  

There are several features that I particularly like. First, I love that the books are interactive. With F2B books literally come to life.  Each story page has animated characters that students can interact with to act out what is written on the page.  I also like that the child can have the choice of  reading the book or having the book read to him or her.  Additionally, a child can choose to read the book, and just have words they are unsure of read to them. Reading comprehension is assessed in a fun and natural way with interactive games that rewards children as they develop their comprehension skills.  Student's reading ability is tracked in a backend system that provides meaningful information to the child's teacher or parent.  With a tool like this assessing student progress, there should no longer be a need for outdated, standardized bubbletests.  Finally, I love that the program provides children with the ability to write and illustrate their own books.  

Research-based success
Reading comprehension of Calistoga preschoolers increased from 58.5 percent to 76.4 percent, with Footsteps 2 Brilliance. You can read more about what happened at the school here and in this newspaper article. Read the data behind the study here.


See for yourself
The three videos below provide great insight into how this program works. The first video shows a five-year-old girl using the program. The second brings us into it's use in the classroom and the last video is a story featured on NBC with the teacher and the parent of a student who used F2B for learning.

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Research Supporting the Benefits of Technology In Reading and Writing

Despite the fact that we’re well into the 21st century innovative educators often still have to make a case for using the tools of the world inside school. This post was written for those looking to justify their decision to use technology to support readers and writers.  Below you will find a compilation of research that outlines the benefits of technology in supporting readers and writers.


Effects of Computer Versus Paper Administration of a State-Mandated Writing Assessment
This article reports that open-ended Language Arts items that require students to generate responses using paper and pencil severely underestimate the achievement of students accustomed to writing using a computer. The article concludes by recommending that state testing programs that employ open-ended items in Language Arts provide students with the option of composing responses on paper or on computer. -Read the results of the study here.

Using Technology to Improve the Literacy Skills of Students with Disabilities
Summary of best practices in using technology to improve the literacy skills of students receiving special education services.  Topics include common literacy problems, suggestions for including assessment info into IEP development, and tools to enhance literacy skills of students with disabilities.  

Writing, Technology and Teens
This Pew Internet report indicates that teens write a lot, but they do not think of their emails, instant and text messages as writing. This disconnect matters because teens believe good writing is an essential skill for success and that more writing instruction at school would help them. I caution readers of this report to note that results in this report have much to do with that fact that few schools value real-world writing for authentic audiences as “real writing” and often don’t empower students to use tech ubiquitously for writing as writers in the real-world have access to.

iPads Make Better Readers, Writers
In a research paper titled “Unlocking Literacy with iPad,” Ohio English teacher James Harmon found that state-compiled statistics indicate that those students with iPad access in the year leading up to the Ohio Graduation Test had a 6-percent greater chance of passing the test’s reading portion than those without, and an 8-percent greater chance of passing the writing portion.

Writing Next Report
This report identifies 11 elements of current writing instruction found to be effective for helping
4th- to 12th-grade students learn to write well and to use writing as a tool for learning. The report is missing attention to 21st century writing skills such as writing for authentic audiences and creating work that is not only text-based.  There is also little attention to global connection and collaboration which is generally seen my this report as something that age and location, rather than passion-driven, and age agnostic. 
Leaders Share How Tech Has Helped Students Learn
Leaders share how they have witnessed technology has enriched literacy classrooms with students who are more engaged, excited, and better behaved and teachers are more alive and motivated.  
The Role of Technology in Primary Grades Writing Instruction
Students showed an increase in both the quality of writing and the number of words and sentences produced. Student and teacher attitudes were favorable regarding the use of a computer for composition.

Computer Use Helps Students to Develop Better Writing Skills
Study indicating that students who practiced composing on word processors were able to write better compositions afterwards.

How has writing for a world wide audience changed the way you write?
Teacher captures students insights into the importance of writing for the world rather than for a grade in school such as: 

“Now I always write as if I’m talking to a large audience, even in school.”“It makes me keep in mind that anyone and everyone is able to see it so I do not want to say something I may regret or something that may be inappropriate.”“It makes me think that I can accomplish great things.”

Student Test Scores Improved in an English Literature Course through the Use of Supportive Devices
This study investigated whether a technology-rich environment used in an English Literature classroom would make an impact on students’ passing rate on their state-mandated reading test.

iPads Credited with Reading Gains
During the four weeks of instruction, the reading comprehension of the Calistoga preschoolers increased from 58.5 percent to 76.4 percent, said Eugene Narciso, COO of Footsteps 2 Brilliance™, which offered the interactive reading and vocabulary iPad program.
Read more about the program here and in this newspaper article. Read the data behind the study here.

If you have research to add, please share a link and description in the comments section.

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Leaders Share How Tech Has Helped Students Learn

Part of my work is helping educators partner with students to innovate learning using technology. You can see some of the cool things learners are doing at http://innovatemyclass.org/featured.  I recently had the chance to hear from school leaders about their feelings in regards to how they felt about their teachers and students who were using technology in the classroom.  They explained that not only are students more motivated, engaged and excited about learning in general and writing in particular, but instruction is also changing and becoming deeper. They explained the focus on innovative and authentic publishing has resulted in the culture of the classroom becoming more collaborative.

One leader said it this way:

Using the netbooks, iTouches, Smart Pens, digital cameras, etc., never cease to amaze students and create excitement in the classrooms.  It would be very hard to go "back" to only the paper and pen activities.  Students and teachers see literacy in a different way.

Another had this to say:

"Teachers have become more "alive" and motivated.  Students with problems (especially ELLs and special education students) have improved their behavior and are more into learning because of the integration of technology.  It is like day and night."

We also arranged what we call Innovation Field Trips which enable educators to visit other schools and their classroom to see how they were innovatively addressing a particular problem of practice.  You can check out the Innovation Field Trips at http://InnovationFieldtrips.org. The leaders found the Innovation Field Trips to be a tremendous learning experience. They explained that seeing strategies in action helps them understand how to incorporate the strategies back at their schools.  They said that seeing activities that are coordinated, connected, and realistic brings it all together for them. It also gives people ideas for doing things in a different way in their own school. The leaders shared that it is exciting to see students so motivated and involved. They said that the experiences have been “eye-opening,” especially the focus on literacy.  In particular they also felt that the debriefing sessions were great and learning-filled.  They shared that because the field trips allow them to see authentic and real innovation in action it helps take away some of the pressure and stress of incorporating innovative practices back at their own schools.


One leader had this to say:

“Seeing the tools being used makes me think that it is ‘do-able.’  I get ideas for my school.”

Having a place to showcase and celebrate the innovative work that students and their teachers are engaging in is quite powerful.  The Innovate My Class and Innovation Field Trips sites provide a great way  for any educator, parent, or student to learn from and share innovative practices.I invite leaders and teachers to share at these sites how they and their students are engaging in innovative work.

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Education Reform Lessons from an 8-Year-Old Author

Guest Post by Gwyn Ridenhour





Eva is a self-published, touring author of two books. She has sold over 100 copies. She has her own website, and she lectures about the craft of writing. Eva is my 8-year-old daughter who was given the freedom to begin developing these amazing talents two years ago when our family left school and began to home educate. She, along with my 11-year-old son, are members of a family that studies traditional subjects, such as history and math, and also devotes a large portion of our time toward creative endeavors.

It seems everywhere I look lately, teachers and parents are increasingly dissatisfied with the one-size-fits-all approach of public education. Many feel that our nation’s fixation on standardized testing is ruining the prospects of our country’s young minds. While there are many ways to approach this issue (I am prone to rant about policy changes, the inefficiencies of differentiated instruction, and the pathetic wages and support we provide our teachers), I think there is a lot to learn from my experience with my daughter.


I believe that nurturing one’s creativity, passions, and problem solving skills is the most important piece of education, and I was determined that my children would have ample opportunities to do so. Eva has always been a storyteller and an avid reader. So when she was six, I decided to let her “reading class” be devoted to telling a whole story, from beginning to end.

We used the online resource National Novel Writing Month, and I printed out their free workbook that helps kids think about characters, setting, and plot. When I gave it to Eva, she accepted it as a treasured gift. We used it sometimes in “class,” but mostly she used it on her own, jotting down notes and drawing pictures of her characters. In October of that year, I sat down with her and a notebook. Because she was still learning how to hold a pencil, I told her that for this exercise I would be her hands as she dictated to me. I asked her questions about her story, and over the month she created her framework and I jotted it down as an outline.

The challenge of NaNoWriMo is to write a book in 30 days. Eva and I set her word count goal at 2,000 words, or five or six sentences each day. Some days she would dictate 20 sentences, faster than I could type them, and some days we’d do nothing. We kept an eye on the calendar, but paced ourselves. In 30 days, she had a complete story.

Lots of kids write wonderful stories, but they are stuck in notebooks and stuffed away in drawers and boxes. I wanted Eva to experience being a writer as something special. So I printed out her story and had her read it out loud, several times. She identified a lot of her own errors, and I taught her about verb tense and punctuation. She made all of her own corrections.

Then she illustrated it. This took a couple of months, and there were many times that she wanted to quit. But we stuck with it, and eventually she had her pictures ready for scanning. I put them into her book and then sent it off to a self publishing website. By April, Eva held her very own hard-cover picture book. She was thrilled. That day she said to me, “Mom, I used to want to be a princess. But now I want to be an author!”

The next year she doubled her word count and produced a beautiful chapter book. We promoted her books to friends and family, and created this website so she could share her work. The release of her second book coincided with the publication of my husband’s first novel. So this summer, our family drove across the country, and the two of them did book signings together. I watched this formerly shy princess morph into a confident novelist and salesperson.

When we returned from the tour, she was on fire. She wanted to inspire other kids to write books too. So we devoted the month of August to “creative homeschooling.” Both kids had to clock in a certain number of hours per day for school, but their work would be creative endeavors. Eva and I co-wrote a series of five, two-minute lectures, in which Eva talks about the craft of writing using her own experiences. We filmed and illustrated the videos, and uploaded them to her website. Check them out here if you have a minute, and then help her pursue her dream by sharing them with teachers, parents, and kids.

In public school, we give kids punctuation worksheets. Eva learns it by editing her own story. Public school kids receive spelling lists each week; Eva learns it by writing and revising her own work. In art class, we teach kids to draw by copying a picture. Eva explores drawing by illustrating her own characters. In reading class, kids read texts and complete worksheets on characters, setting, and plot. Eva has mastered these concepts by creating them and teaching about them.

Kids learn by doing. By actively pursuing her writing as a career, Eva has learned all the standard lessons of “reading” class, as well as lessons on public speaking, publishing and promotion, accounting skills and profit margins. She now sees herself as an accomplished author who has a lot to offer back to the world. These things can’t be taught in a textbook, and can’t be measured by standardized tests. It’s tragic, but if she had stayed in public school, she would have never had the time to find these dreams.

I don’t have all the answers about how to bring this kind of individualized, project-based learning into the public schools. But I do know that our nation’s continued commitment to standardized testing and insistence that teachers follow a pre-set curriculum is misguided. It’s time to focus on kids as individuals instead of assembly line products, and to give them the tools they need to be successful, happy adults.

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Gwyn is a late-30′s wife and mom, environmentalist, advocate of quality education with an emphasis on gifted kids, vegetarian, artist, and a lover of books, a glass of red wine, watching birds and growing things. By trade, she is a children's librarian and a homeschooler. You can find Gwyn at gwynridenhour@wordpress.com.

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Yearbook Yourself - Great Resource for Innovative History, Social Studies, and Writing Educators

I came across a site called Yearbook Yourself which allows you to take a photograph of yourself and see how your yearbook picture may have looked from the 1950s all the way to the year 2000. In addition to making the photo the site tells you a bit about the trends of the time. My friends/colleagues and I had a great time making albums of one another and posting them on Facebook. Our other friends and colleagues got a kick out of them too.

It was really cool to imagine myself as a high school senior in each of those eras. The 80s picture happened to look a lot like the big-haired photo I had of myself in my 1985 senior photo that I have, and laugh about today.

As an innovative educator the thought immediately came to mind that this would be a great way to launch an American History unit...letting students really place themselves as they were actually a character in history. I was also thinking that if the social studies/ history teacher and literacy/ writing teacher were working collaboratively this could turn into some interesting writing and projects. I'm sure there are many other great ideas other innovative educators can come up with as well.

Featured along the right of this page are photos of me in the 60s, 70s, 80s, then as a boy in the 90s.

Below you'll see some pictures of one of my colleagues and my director. Take a look, then hop on over to www.yearbookyourself.com and try it out. If you use this idea with your students, please share how it went!








Do you recognize any of them :PPP

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Enriching Writing Instruction with Technology at IS 93

I always enjoy sharing successes I encounter in NYC schools. During a recent conversation with a reporter looking to do a story about how innovative educators are using technology in their classrooms to enhance writing, I was reminded of a wonderful visit I had to a teacher's room at IS 93 in Queens.

The email excerpt below will give you a glimpse into some of the ways he is using technology to enhance the delivery and receipt of writing instruction at his school.

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Dear Nate,

Thank you so much for inviting us to see the wonderful work you are doing to enrich literacy instruction with technology at your school. It was truly a pleasure to see how your students were using technology to enhance their writing. The motivation and engagement of the students was evident as we saw students eager to share the work they were doing. As we watched the lesson, we saw how excited students were to see their work published onto the “Writing Matters” eZine. It was also great to see the work from the OIT literacy professional development incorporated into instruction. One student, Miguel, enthusiastically showed me the comments that were color-coded and inserted on his writing draft from other classmates. He explained to me how the revisions he made in response to their remarks made his writing even better.

It was also interesting to see the feedback students provided on one another’s writing drafts using the discussion boards. This is something I think will take on an even larger role in future units as students were very interested to read their classmate’s reactions to their work. Several students explained how they were able to extend their learning outside the classroom using innovative methods (class website, discussion board, usb drives, "Writing the City" website) to transfer their work and access the internet so they could work on their writing and respond to the work of others outside of class.

It really was a pleasure to see how enthusiastic students were about the work they were publishing and how eager they were to share their pieces with all of us. I look forward to visiting again to see more of the great work the IS 93 students and staff are engaged in.

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