NoRedInk is a free-to-use website that really focuses on Language Arts and writing skills. A lot of practice/literacy websites focus on the reading and then writing aspects of literacy, but NoRedInk focuses on grammar and writing skills, such using commas, active and passive voice, and parts of speech. NoRedInk is free to use, but there are certain lessons and features that are behind a paywall. Features such as diagnostic tests, assessments, practices, units, and quick-writes are free, but some of them may be locked unless you have a premium membership (marked with a gold ribbon in picture below). This can allow teachers to browse and try out the application with students in class before committing to purchasing the premium membership or bringing the application forward to administrators/district heads to purchase.
To sign up for NoRedInk, teachers can use Google, Clever, Classlink, or create an account with an email. Students can sign up for an account the same way, but teachers can create a class code for students to join with (in conjunction with Google, Clever, Classlink, or email) which will then add the students to a class associated with the teacher’s account. This is especially helpful if you have multiple classes and want to keep work from all classes separate or if you need to assign different tasks/practices to particular classes.
A customization feature for students is that NoRedInk asks students for their interests when they first sign in. For example, students can select their favorite movies, TV shows, celebrities, and athletes. NoRedInk will then use that information and integrate it into skills practices. So if a student selects the Harry Potter movies as a favorite, they can get a practice sentence like, “Harry Ron and Hermione went fishing” and will insert commas where needed. This can make the practices more engaging and fun.
When creating assignments, you can schedule when assignments go up on students’ dashboards, schedule deadlines, choose whether late work will be accepted, how many points an assignment is worth, reassign previous assignments, and assign work to certain students or the whole class.
Teachers can provide feedback on writing assignments and send them back to students to review, fix, and resubmit. All assignments are saved in student portfolios, which are viewable when clicking on a student's name. Since I’ve assigned my students the Grade 8 Diagnostic, I can view the performance of the entire class and where students fall (Struggling, Beginning, Approaching, Proficient) for skills at that grade level. I can also look at the individual tests and see what students got correct/incorrect on the test.
The site overall is intuitive. The “Dashboard” gives an overall view of all your classes, you can view all the assignments you’ve scheduled or assigned under “My Assignments,” you can view student data and portfolios under “Student Data,” and you can view the roster and class code under “Manage Classes.” Teachers can also view all the available assessments, quick-writes, practices, etc. under by pressing the “Browse & Assign” button.
I think that NoRedInk is an effective literacy website because it has enough structure that units and practices can be assigned independently to students, but also has enough flexibility for teachers to integrate NoRedInk assignments and quick-writes as a part of a larger lesson or unit. I also think it’s effective because it focuses on Language Arts/writing rules and skills, where many other effective literacy sites focus on the reading aspects of literacy. If you are a Language Arts teacher, this is an effective tool for your classroom.
No comments:
Post a Comment