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TOP PICKS | 32 TOOLS
Middle School Writing Apps and Websites
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Writing Platforms and Creation Tools
Pages
Writing and publishing tool is an increasingly satisfying option
Bottom line: With useful new book creation features, Pages is a much-improved publishing tool for Apple-oriented classrooms.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free
StoriumEdu
Collaborative writing game inspires purposeful storytelling
Bottom line: With some planning and customization, this unique card game can motivate thoughtful and sustained creative writing in your classroom.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free to try There's a 30-day free trial, and then it's $10 per month (billed annually) for a teacher plan. School and district plans available; contact for pricing.
NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program
Wildly engaging contest turns students into novelists in 30 days
Bottom line: A thoughtful adaptation of the famous and fun grown-up novel writing contest, NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program is brimming with advice and encouragement as well as classroom support.
Grades: 4–12
Price: Free
Evernote
Organize digital content with full-featured web clipper and notebook
Bottom line: Students and teachers can learn to better manage their digital lives via this comprehensive organizational tool.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free, Free to try, Paid Basic, Plus, and Premium plans available. Basic plans are free; additional plans and in-app purchases range from $2.99 to $7.99 per month. Yearly pricing is also available. Plus plans give users up to 1GB of uploads per month and Premium plans add even more features.
NoodleTools
Expansive research tool uniquely melds learning and productivity
Bottom line: While the complex, old-school design isn't ideal, NoodleTools gives students specific assistance where they need it the most -- with citations, paraphrasing, elaboration, and organization.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free to try 30-day free trial. Individual accounts are $15/year, but these lack collaboration features. Contact for school and district plans with full feature set.
Notability
Flexible note-taking tool empowers learners of all abilities
Bottom line: An excellent tool that lets students make their notes thorough and useful in the way that best suits their learning styles and abilities.
Grades: 6–12
Price: $9.99
Writing Instruction for the Classroom
Quill
Let students do the writing to make grammar lessons more meaningful
Bottom line: Excellent opportunities for grammar and writing practice; teachers may need to tailor lessons to best fit into their own curriculum.
Grades: 1–9
Price: Free
826 Digital
Popular after-school program shares its resources with teachers
Bottom line: This is a worth-bookmarking resource thanks to relatable writing lessons and motivating examples of actual student writing.
Grades: 1–12
Price: Free Teachers can choose to make a donation.
Citelighter
Substantial all-in-one tool scaffolds the research and writing process
Bottom line: This smart, intuitive system supports students in every step of the writing process.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free, Paid Citelighter Pro allows citations from PDF files and Google Docs, among other features. It's available with different monthly and yearly pricing options.
Writable
Stellar program scaffolds the writing process with peer review and feedback
Bottom line: This is an intelligently structured tool for teaching writing and review that focuses on process as much as product.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free to try 30-day free trial. Classroom subscriptions start at $7 per student per year. School price available upon request.
StudySync
Superb ELA resource features engaging activities, stellar support
Bottom line: An exceptional, ever-growing resource for helping your students become close readers, careful writers, and critical thinkers.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free to try, Paid
ThinkCERCA
Well-structured lessons encourage deep analysis, thoughtful writing
Bottom line: This is a ready-to-go, research-backed resource that focuses intently on CCSS-aligned and AP-level critical reading and writing skills.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free, Paid Free Basic version limited to four grade band-based differentiation levels, short reading lessons, and multiple-choice assessments. Paid Premium version adds 10 levels of differentiation (grades 3-12), more in-depth and varied lessons, writing benchmarking, rubrics, data dashboards, and more. Contact for a quote.
Mars Gen One: Argubot Academy
Hone powerful persuasive skills on a red-planet adventure
Bottom line: A visually appealing, pedagogically sound exploration of what makes a valid argument.
Grades: 6–8
Price: $2.99
Drafting Board
Students get persuasive skills with delightful civics-based essay tool
Bottom line: It's a fantastically detailed tool that helps kids through every step of persuasive essay writing.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
Grammarly
Helpful tips support the writing process, build confidence
Bottom line: A flexible tool that -- with teacher guidance -- students can use for both quick fixes and more in-depth writing improvement.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free, Paid Grammarly's editor is a free tool. However, a premium version with tools for readability, vocabulary enhancement, and plagiarism detection is available at a monthly ($29.95/month), quarterly ($19.98/month), or annual ($11.66/month) price.
Kaizena
Nifty add-on enables audio and text feedback in Google Docs
Bottom line: If your classroom relies a lot on Google Docs, this might just be the feedback tool you're looking for.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free Free for teachers.
Online Networks and Social Platforms for Writing
Storybird
Social storytelling site helps kids create, publish storybooks
Bottom line: A great fit for teachers looking to develop students' writing and digital citizenship skills through storybook creation.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free, Paid Teachers create accounts for free with unlimited classes and students. Finished stories are available for purchase. Curriculum and some premium extras are available for $4.99 per student.
BoomWriter
Collaborative writing platform has the potential to motivate
Bottom line: There's creativity possibility in this tool's unique brand of collaborative and competitive writing, but teachers should take care to keep things positive, especially for less confident students.
Grades: 3–8
Price: Free, Paid Pro version ($4.99 per month or $55 per year) adds teacher tools like grading, rubrics, and performance charts of students' progress.
Edublogs
Customizable classroom blogs get students writing and collaborating
Bottom line: This rich and safe blogging tool makes it easy for teachers and students to extend the classroom into a wider community.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free, Paid Basic free version. $7.95 per month or $39.95 per year for Pro account.
Weebly
Impressively easy-to-use website-creation tool
Bottom line: Helpfully walks students through each step of website creation, and teachers can control access and monitor progress.
Grades: 4–12
Price: Free, Paid Basic features are available for free. Weebly has optional Pro account features for $39.95 per year, and they offer add-on packs of student accounts (10 accounts for $10) if teacher needs exceed the 40 accounts that are included.
Story Wars
Read, write, and vote on engaging collaborative storytelling site
Bottom line: A cool, competitive approach to online storytelling with a lot of learning potential -- just be aware of the iffy content and licensing risks.
Grades: 7–12
Price: Free, Paid Classroom edition available for $15/month; supports 35 student accounts. The classroom version is private to just the classroom.
Youth Voices
Vibrant online community hosts authentic student writing
Bottom line: Supported student writing, collaboration, and communication make this a healthy space for kids to express themselves.
Grades: 7–12
Price: Free
Teen Ink
Get kids writing, publishing, critiquing in this valuable network
Bottom line: Teens will find a wealth of information and many opportunities to further interest in writing and the creative arts.
Grades: 8–12
Price: Free The 10-issue monthly print edition is $49 per year. Educators can get a $119 per year subscription that includes three 30-issue class sets every month during the school year.
Write the World
Global community helps young writers write, revise, think, and grow
Bottom line: With interest-based writing prompts and thoughtful feedback from peers and pros, this is a great tool for writing for authentic audiences.
Grades: 8–12
Price: Free
Textadventures.co.uk
Play or design text adventures, but creation can get technical
Bottom line: Text adventures can be a blast to play and make, but the Quest game-making tool, while offering some decent support, can be tough to use effectively without coding experience.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free
Other Helpful and Engaging Resources for Writing
ReadWriteThink
Excellent free resource for all things reading and writing
Bottom line: A language arts teacher's dream; lesson plans, professional development, and all-around quality support.
Grades: Pre-K–12
Price: Free
Read&Write
Useful text-to-speech app and extension unlocks the written word
Bottom line: A valuable tool to make classroom use of websites and digital documents more accessible to all students.
Grades: K–12
Price: Free to try 30-day free trial. $145 per year for a single license and access to Read&Write across all platforms. School and district licenses also available.
Write About
Engaging prompts, flexible collaboration options empower young writers
Bottom line: A solid choice for helping students grow as writers and editors.
Grades: 1–12
Price: Free to try, Paid
Turnitin
Encourage original work and give feedback with this valuable tool
Bottom line: Beyond the convenience factor, it's almost a necessity for the teaching of writing in today's digital world.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Paid School-wide subscription pricing starts at $2.50 per student, based on population.
Elegy for a Dead World
Compelling sci-fi world imagined -- and written -- by its players
Bottom line: With some teacher guidance, Elegy offers an opportunity unlike anything else to get students to write stories and stretch their creative muscles.
Grades: 4–12
Price: $14.99
ZoteroBib
Fewer clicks and less clutter equal a new go-to site for citing sources
Bottom line: An intuitive site that takes the stress out of citing sources, but students will still need instruction to tweak auto-generated citations.
Grades: 5–12
Price: Free
KQED Education
Excellent multimedia learning hub supports both teachers and students
Bottom line: For those willing to dig around, the site is an exceptional place for both educators and students to find inspirational digital media resources.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free