When I grade student papers, I never use a red pen. The color red has negative connotations. Many students see the red ink and think all of the teacher’s comments are negative even though the comments aren’t negative.
Red ink has been compared to blood, and a paper covered in red ink is bleeding. The teacher has slayed the paper, killing it. Would you want a slayed paper returned to you?
Recently, a researcher at California State University, Northridge, released a study that suggested using red ink led the user to be more critical when editing text. In other words, the same paper would be graded a C by those using red ink and a B- by those using blue ink.
The study didn’t use teachers, but instead volunteers and students to determine users were more critical when wielding a red pen.
And so, research supports my tendency, which is why I mostly used green ink when I graded papers. But I learned something. It takes a LONG time to reply by hand to papers. There wasn’t always enough room on the paper, and after a while, my handwriting became more and more illegible, which defeats the purpose of writing comments.
Plus, once in a while, I would jot something down and then realize that what I just said the student needed, they did in the very next line. Or what I thought was a mistake wasn’t a mistake. But the comment was already there, and I couldn’t retract it.
Or could I?
I was teaching online, and in my online classes, my comments were legible, and if I changed my mind, I could delete the comment. I didn’t have to worry about running out of room or finding space near the relevant text. I just highlighted the area I was referring to, and inserted my comment in the margin of the paper.
It took a bit, but I eventually switched my face to face classes to electronic submission, which let me respond to every student using my computer.
There were other benefits. In Word 2003, I was able to use macros. This meant I didn’t have to retype the same comment over and over again. Instead, I could store the most used comments and easily adapt them.
In Word 2007, however, macros were frustrating for me. I was back to keeping a Word document full of comments to copy and paste as needed. I wanted something better.
And I have found it in Annotate! It’s a plug-in for Word 2007, and it has prewritten comments that I can customize and insert with a single click. It lets me create customized comments.
Even better, in addition to a comment, it also provides a link to resources to help students learn about the mistake.
And unlike my messy Word document, Annotate keeps all of my comments organized into categories (argument, evidence, organization, writing style, grammar/mechanics).
When I first loaded the free version of Annotate, I was amazed that some of the comments sounded like something I would have written. It took me a bit, but I realized that they were something I had written. Annotate had integrated those macros that I had created long ago but never quite managed to figure out how to use quickly and easily.
Plus, it gives students so much more information that really improves their writing. When I was writing those hand-written comments, I may have written AWK a time or two. It stood for “awkward,” but it didn’t help the student fix it.
In Annotate, the exact awkward part is highlighted, and the comment begins with a question: “Can you revise this to make it less awkward?” It doesn’t stop there. It follows up with an explanation of what awkward means, “Awkward writing is confusing to your reader and hurts your credibility as a writer. See the general proofreading suggestions in the following link:”
The links automatically direct students to specific pages at one of my favorite resources, OWL at Purdue University, but I can also edit the comment to refer students to the relevant page in their writer’s handbook.
In the free version, there are 70 prewritten comments. The Pro version has about 200 prewritten comments. You can also add customized comments in the Pro version.
The pro version is about $50, and you can buy more than one version for just $10 more. So if you have Word 2010 at school and Word 2007 at home, it will cost just $60. Or the change might be Vista versus XP. It is still just $10.
I downloaded the free version of Annotate, and I love it. I have not yet purchased the pro version because I am hoping to update my laptop this summer. Right now my laptop is Vista, and I will be upgrading to Windows 7 as soon as I can convince my husband. I’m waiting for the laptop upgrade before investing in the pro version, but I will be buying the Pro version. I am thrilled with it.
Now I just wonder about the impact of using computers to offer students feedback.
(This is NOT a paid review. I did not receive any compensation for this. It is a product I discovered and tried on my own and loved. I know others will love it too.)
