NoRedInk helps reinvent grammar lessons and retire the red pen

For many teachers, the red pen is as essential to the trade as a brush is to a painter or a hammer is to a carpenter. Red is a bold color. To us, it implies leadership (only teachers use it), warmth (red is bright) and rectification (red shows students where they need to improve). But for students, red ink carries a lot of baggage with it. Even the most minimal markings on a paper smolder and shout at students against the sheen of white paper.

NoRedInk helps teachers reinvent grammar lessons and retire the red pen

NoRedInk is a free online grammar application that makes teaching and assessing our students’ grammar literacy simple and red-pen free. Here’s how it works:

After creating an account, teachers send their students an invitation password. After they enter it, NoRedInk finds out all the things your students love by asking them about their favorite TV shows, musicians, athletes, hobbies, friends, superheroes and presidents. Do your students like The Simpsons, Friends, Seinfeld, The Daily Show, The Office, The Hunger Games, Twilight, or maybe Disney movies? Based on your students’ choices, NoRedInk will generate grammar quizzes, assignments, and grammar lessons based on their interests.

NoRedInk instantly assesses your students’ skills and uses a color-coded heat map to show them where they need to practice. Whatever they need help with—apostrophes, commonly confused words, subject/verb agreement, commas, fragments and run-on sentences—will show up in your online records. 

Another noteworthy feature is that when students make errors, they have several opportunities to learn from their mistakes. Not only can they retake the test, they can consult a tutorial that uses simple language and sample sentences to explain the grammar rule.

NoRedInk is a cool application, but there are other ways you can reinvent your grammar lessons. One of our favorite assignments is called the labyrinthine sentence. You can learn more about it by clicking here.