My Take
The program is very expensive and it is daunting when you first look at it. We had purchased it before the Covid shutdown and did not receive much training. I shied away at first, but I was really drawn to the interface and spent some major time teaching myself. It's best to use a premade assignment first to learn how it works. But making custom-built assignments is easy once you give it a try. The AI feedback was a surprise this year, and so welcome. I think that feedback has cut my work in half. I read all of this feedback and I am pleased with how well it fits the assignment and rubric and it even sounds like me. When you have questions and open a chat, a Writable associate answers promptly and helps me get the answers I need. I hate to think about going back to a plain Google doc for writing assignments. Writable is my go-to!
How I Use It
I use Writable frequently in both my AP literature class and my college-prep English classes. I love the interface. I can make a bland-looking assignment and make it vibrant with pictures and include the reading beside the questions. The students love the way Writable looks.
Writable has many pre-made writing assignments and I can find one to fit almost anything I need. If not, I can easily remake or make an assignment I need. For example, I have given students poems and questions through Writable. By having the questions beside the poem, the students are learning to analyze a poem going from beginning to end instead of jumping all over. Writable keeps the students focused on reading when I include reading guide questions beside the reading. It is better than I can create with a Google doc.