Writing Resources

The BBC Teaching English site has a variety of classroom activities for writing at https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/writing-activities

Word tools: Insert Comments - Track Changes - AutoCorrect– Compare documents
Sharing with Google Docs: http://docs.google.com - peer editing, simultaneous editing from different locations
Screencasting with Screenpal (formerly Screencast-o-matic): https://screenpal.com/
- See a video about using Screencast-o-matic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylPCMtW12EA
- Sample writing conference

Language sharing at https://en.duolingo.com/ You can choose a different starting language from that page
Projects to join
- iEARN: http://iearn.org/
Blog – individual or class: www.blogger.com or http://www.wordpress.com
- Blogging at Blogger PDF
Web page (wiki): http://sites.google.com
- See information about using Google Sites - how-to PDF and wiki.

All of these take some setting up. They generally allow access via mobile devices, as well as a desktop computer.

Use your institution's learning management system.
WhatsApp group: https://www.whatsapp.com - use the mobile app to create a group
Google group: https://groups.google.com or Google classroom: https://classroom.google.com
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com - best if it's a class group

Corpus Corrector at LexTutor: https://www.lextutor.ca/conc/gram/
- Concordancer to check usage and create exercises at LexTutor: http://www.lextutor.ca/conc/
- More information about using the concordancer: Concordance Activity PDF
Dictionary and MUCH more: http://www.wordnik.com
- Multiple dictionary entries, authentic examples, related words, pronunciation, and more

AutoSummarize
Comic strip creator at MakeBeliefComics: www.makebeliefscomix.com
- Simple to use, but a lot of fun

Self-check plagiarism quiz - be sure to check whether you're right or wrong, and read why: https://www.turnitin.com/static/plagiarism-quiz/
- Easy check for copy-and-paste plagiarism: copy a phrase from the document that seems a bit unusual or not at the student's level. Paste it into a Google or other search with quotation marks around the phrase and see if a match comes up. Make sure that the match is relevant, then check for more copying and pasting from the same document.
When you suspect that the work is not the student's own, but it is not clearly copy-and-paste plagiarism: Copy a few paragraphs with content that the student should know if they wrote the paragraphs. Paste them into Word or another word-processor. Create a cloze exercise: Delete every 10th word and replace it with a blank line to fill in. Don't include citations, if any, or too many grammatical elements like articles and auxiliary verbs. Print out the result and give it to the student to fill out in your presence. The student will not get all the blanks right, but should get at least 80% correct. Synonyms are okay. Less than 80% indicates that the work is not the student's. This works best with something written quite recently. If the paper was written several weeks ago, it's likely that the content will have been forgotten naturally. In that case, give the whole paper to the student to re-read, take it away, then give the cloze exercise.

General information about creating rubrics and many more resources: https://sites.google.com/site/rubrics4assessment
- (Focus on English) TeachNology rubric page: https://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/ - sample
(English; could create in any language) Rubric generator: RubiStar - join to save and edit your rubrics: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/

After you try each tool, write down when and how you might use it. What tasks would you give students?

You can download the Program Checklist and Planning Tool.doc file to your computer.

Last updated 3 April 2024