St Paul’s uses an online web-based essay writing programme entitled Writer’s Toolbox. It has been designed by author and educator Dr Ian Hunter to help students with essay writing and organising coherent and logically sequenced essays.
There are a vast array of exercises, instructional videos, online quizzes, interactive planning apps, engaging writing tools, printable activities, and more to explore.
Writer’s Toolbox has become integrated with the teaching and learning of students at St Paul’s since its inception and we have seen vast improvements in both NCEA, Cambridge, and Scholarship subjects where writing is necessary to succeed.
Writer’s Toolbox
- Students receive writing assistance in a form that meets their learning requirements. Video and audio ensure that multiple learning styles are addressed
- Students with particular learning needs can be directed toward built-in video instruction, freeing classroom teachers to work on other areas
- Differentiated writing tools on the site ensure that both English Language Learners, as well as advanced writers, are supported
- Auto-graded quizzes identify areas of student writing strength and weakness, allowing teachers to direct their instruction
- Student work can also be printed, emailed, or exported with batch printing and emailing for grading. They are working on a system that we can comment on the document online which will cut out the need to print etc and offer on-the-go feedback. For Example, we can check the students intro that they did for homework and they can have formative feedback before they arrive in class etc
- Teachers with limited formal writing training are supported through access to interactive scaffolding devices on the website that help students in composition and train them in academic writing across all subject areas
- Printable activities support traditional pen-paper classroom methods
Dr Hunter and his team have developed a much deeper and more differentiated educational experience for the student. For the first time, an educational writing tool that uses Artificial Intelligence to assess, improve, and encourage student writing ability.
Individualised Learning Experience: When the student first begins their WTE 2.0 journey, they complete a diagnostic test which assesses their current writing capabilities. This data is used to customise the learning experience and recommends achievable progressions for the student.
Writing Tools: The new writing tools provide a seamless experience from when the student writes their first simple sentence through to churning out a killer 8-paragraph essay complete with a Slam Dunk Paragraph. Artificial Intelligence provides instantaneous feedback on the students’ assessment—whether it be the next Keats poet in your classroom, or Einstein’s prodigy writing up their experiment notes.
Instantaneous Feedback: The instant feedback tool is a newly-designed smart tool. Chuck away your red pens. And let the software help students to improve their writing before you read it as a teacher.
