No Red Ink Webinar

"Requiring Students to Do Revisions Establishes an Expectation of Improvement." When I saw these words flash across my screen while watching the NoRedInk webinar, I was reminded of a conversation I had at my own placement.  My mentor teacher told me that students do care about the feedback you give and will usually jump at the chance to revise their papers for points. I was happy to hear that this was the case his classroom but had an immediate thought: what about grammar? How do we show students grammar mistakes without telling them? Do we use that red pen to mark up their papers? It seems discouraging to me, but I had trouble thinking of any other option.

Lucky for me, Jeff gives a lot of sound and fun advice on the subject by introducing us to NoRedInk.  NoRedInk is a website where students can practice their grammar skills. They create a username and are asked to select a few of their interests, ranging from music to movies to television shows.  The shows and characters they select will be used in sentences to practice grammar skills. For example, there may be a sentence about Katniss in The Hunger Games that addresses semi-colons. Students are given the sentence to correct. If they get the wrong answer, they then have the chance to resubmit or watch a tutorial about the grammar error.

NoRedInk seems like a great tool to experiment with in the classroom, as it gives students a sense of agency when practicing grammar. Rather than passing back an assignment filled with red marks, students are in control of their learning and can see how to fix their mistakes.  I think this could really help students not get discouraged.  Not only are the sentences fun and interesting for students, they give the opportunity for students to have second chances.  Rather than never knowing how to fix a grammar mistake, students can try again and eventually get it right.

Overall, I think that NoRedInk has the potential to be a powerful tool simply because it allows students to interact with grammar in a way that is fun and unique.  Yet the site isn't all fun and games, as students are still expected to practice improve upon grammar.  They can try, and if they still make the mistake, it's okay. They watch the tutorial and learn exactly what they did wrong.