We're flapping our wings in excitement over our new Essay feature! Students can now write essays on Whooo's Reading, and get help from Owlfonso along the way.
Teachers can assign Essays like they would any other Whooo's Reading activity through Goals. To assign Essays, go to your Roster, click on the class you would like to assign Essays to, and then click on Edit Class. Select Essays from the Supplemental list.
Essay prompts can be accessed from the student dashboard as a meter under My Goals:
or if they have not been assigned, students can access this activity on their own by clicking the highlighted Essays button below the goal meters:
On the essay prompt page, students can cycle through prompts to choose a narrative, persuasive, or informational prompt they would like to write about. Prompts are scaffolded by academic level:
Once students select a prompt, they can begin writing their first draft, which will automatically save every few seconds. Once they're happy with their first draft, they can click the "Finish Essay" button to invite Owlfonso, their friendly writing coach, to help them make important improvements before finally submitting their final essay for a grade from their teacher:
Feedback example:
A submitted essay on the student's side, before grading:
Pro Tip: Try it out for yourself in your demo student account!
Once the student submits their essay, teachers and admins can review it on the data page under the Writing > Essays tab. See how the student did across a 5-area rubric (more to come!), assign it an overall grade, and send feedback to the student (with or without requesting a revision).
Click on a rubric item to see where a student is addressing that item within their essay.
Rubric items are assessed automatically, but essays will not receive overall grades while the feature remains in its beta form. Teachers and admins can review the rubric assessment and choose an essay grade of 1-4.
Upcoming Improvements –
- Students will receive a broader range of feedback from Owlfonso.
- Automated overall essay scores and more rubric areas are in the pipeline!