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TenMarks Writing
Pros: The site is well organized and can provide a starting point for writing instruction, but shouldn't be relied on as the primary writing curriculum.
Cons: Students using this site will miss out on the joy, challenge, and importance of indulging in a culture of writing.
Bottom Line: Machine learning can provide feedback for students, but only a passionate writing teacher can convey a love for the craft.
Teachers could selectively use the lessons in TenMarks Writing to support struggling writers. The platform can be used to provide scaffolded one-paragraph and five-paragraph assignments. Some students will benefit from the site's instant feedback. The Bursts could also be used for fun creative writing assignments. Using a Burst at the beginning of the class might help get the writing juices flowing in a low-stakes learning environment.
Editor's Note: TenMarks Writing is no longer available.
TenMarks Writing attempts to teacher-proof the writing process by providing comprehensive online writing instruction and feedback. The site includes lesson plans, graphic organizers, anchor charts, writing prompts, and natural language processing technology, which gives instant feedback to writers. The curriculum covers three genres of writing: opinion, informational, and response to literature. In addition, short lessons, called Bursts, are available. Bursts are short writing assignments in the form of text messaging, commenting on pre-selected images, and freewriting. Teachers can assign individual lessons or whole writing genre units to students. Once lessons are assigned, the students move through them independently, getting feedback on their writing from the website. Once a first draft is written, teachers are notified to add their own feedback by writing comments, editing the auto-generated feedback, or deleting the computer's comments. Teachers also grade the assignments based on rubrics that come with TenMarks Writing.
The website is well organized and designed. It can provide a starting point for writing instruction but shouldn't be relied upon as the primary writing curriculum. The system lacks the customization that most writing teachers rely on, such as locally crafted rubrics and the ability to adjust the amount of scaffolding each student receives. The biggest oversight in TenMarks Writing is the importance of creating a culture of writing in the classroom. Using writing journals, peer feedback, and live audiences and breaking from formulaic writing are all aspects of a vibrant writing culture. TenMarks Writing doesn't help students discover that their words have power.