Let’s COWmunicate: How Can Online Writing Tools Help Students With Their Writing?
Since my husband is a dairy farmer, I have learned so much from studying our beautiful bovine. They like routine. They have friends. They have their favorite places to rest, eat, and drink. They have different hairstyles and personalities. Some cows like rubbing against a steel beam when they have an itch, some prefer a scratch on the head from a human, and some longingly dream of the automatic brushes my husband won’t buy. They have their preferences when it comes to all areas of their lives. When you think about it, cows aren’t much different from humans, more specifically high schoolers.
This school year, as part of the National Writing Project’s Ahead of the Code grant, I plan on using different online writing tools with my students to see if they can be one way to assist my students. Some of these tools, like the free versions of Grammarly and EasyBib, help with basic grammar and spelling while Grammark assists with components like run-ons and transitions. The other online tools also look at passive voice, wordiness, sentence length, and various other aspects that could be helpful. As I am writing this, I haven’t met my students yet — not because of Covid — but because our county fair just concluded. Once I meet them, I hope to help them find an online tool that gives them beneficial feedback as one part of the writing process.
While I don’t know my specific students, based on previous students, I am pretty certain I will have some overachievers. They will use all of the tools because what if they don’t use one of them, and it might have given them a great suggestion?!?!?! On the flip side, I will more than likely have the skeptical ones who won’t use any of the tools because they don’t believe they will gain any insight from the online tools. And I am sure I will have students who will explore a couple and find the one or ones they like best. As their teacher, I hope to help them select which tool or tools might be best for them.
And after thinking about the needs of my future students, I know the online tools will only be part of the equation in their writing process. I know these online tools can help my students, but the online tools can’t have a discussion about the paper, answer specific questions, and offer feedback on what was well done. My students will get this kind of feedback from me, their peers, and someone at The Graide Network, a tool that has real-life people comment on essays remotely via Google technology. By figuring out my students’ weaker areas and referencing the chart I created (pictured below), I hope to find the perfect individualized recipe of online tools that will be a benefit to each student.
So once I get to know my students, their personalities, their preferences, and their routines, I want to help them select which online tool or tools might be best for them and their writing. Just like the cows finding the best way to get their itch scratched, my students will figure out what makes them the most comfortable and happy with improving their writing.
