Get On-Demand Support for Your Writing for Free with PaperRater.Com

I recently discovered PaperRater.com, a paper grading and feedback resource that is free and does not require a download.  Developed and maintained by linguistics professionals, subject matter experts, and graduate students, PaperRater.com does this by combining the power of natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, information retrieval (IR), computational linguistics, data mining, and advanced pattern matching (APM). The program is used by schools and universities in over 46 countries to help authors improve their writing.

PaperRater.com provides helpful feedback on grammar, spelling, word choice, and style, but not the author's arguments, logic, organization, and ideas. There is also an Auto Grader rates the grammar, spelling, word choice, and style and has been found  to be nearly as accurate as human graders for that part of the work, for most papers.  At the end of your paper rating, you get a professional looking PaperRater Printable Summary Analysis that gives you an overview of your paper.

Here’s why I love this for writers.
It’s always great to get instant feedback on your writing and added bonus is not having to bug anyone for it. I ran some of my blog posts through PaperRater and received useful suggestion on things like using active of active voice, spelling, grammar, and vocabulary.  

Here’s why I love this for teachers.
For teachers who are grading student work, it is terrific to have your students get this sort of feedback before handing in their papers. This means less time focusing on grammar, spelling, style, and vocabulary, and more time focusing on content. There is also a plagiarism detector (though most innovative educators don’t give work that can be plagiarised).

If we really want to empower writers to work independently, it is ideal to combine PaperRater  with a tool like SWoRD, the free web-based, system that uses peer review as its backbone.

The Hottest Posts of the Week on The Innovative Educator

Wowza!  Looks like this week there's been a lot of attention to the dangers of medicating kids diagnosed with ADD / ADHD. As I share in these articles, if teachers and parents don't know and haven't explored the other options before drugging their children, they are being neglectful and possibly condemning children to a life with irreversible damage.


You can read those stories and more in this week's roundup of what's popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top weekly posts along with the number of pageviews. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired, share it with others and/or leave a comment.

How Ritalin ruined my childhood
Jan 10, 2012, 10 comments                              1907 Pageviews
What the doctors &  teachers may not tell about ADHD Meds...
Jan 9, 2012                                                     1841 Pageviews
Cure ADHD without Drugs with These Resources  ...
Feb 5, 2011, 22 comments                                1757 Pageviews
Concerned about College & Career Success? Homeschool...
Jan 6, 2012, 3 comments                                   1664 Pageviews
You can never replace the teacher. Or can you? ...
Jan 3, 2012, 11 comments                                 1599 Pageviews
Dispelling Popular Myths about Learning to Read and Write...
Jan 5, 2012, 4 comments                                   1578 Pageviews
10 Reasons Cell Phones Should Be Allowed In School...
Aug 24, 2010, 20 comments                              1473 Pageviews
Learn how you can homeschool even if you work...
Jan 8, 2012, 8 comments                                   1424 Pageviews
Why and Innovative Educator cares about homeschooling...
Jan 11, 2012, 4 comments                                 1364 Pageviews
The Ten No Nos of Teaching with a Projector or Smartboard...
May 10, 2010, 37 comments                              1229 Pageviews

The Innovative Educator’s Guide to Getting Started with Unschooling

I was introduced to the idea of unschooling by grown unschooler and writer Kate Fridkis who contacted me about submitting a guest post on my blog.  Before that, I had never heard the term. 


It wasn’t long before my fascination with unschooling became an obsession.  Learning without school? People did this? How’d they turn out? What did they do all day? How did they learn stuff?  Didn’t they need school to learn? If they didn’t learn things in the order and way schools said they should, how would they be prepared for life or college?

I had to know more! I bought book books, read blogs, joined discussion groups, went to meetings, listened to podcasts, and started writing about what I was learning. To date, I have written more than 70 unschooling articles which you can read at this link. 


What was most fascinating to me is that learning without school shattered every myth I’d been told was true about school. In fact I learned that you could learn to read without school, write without school, and ultimately pursue any interest imaginable all without school.  As I researched and studied what happened to grown unschoolers I found that these individuals had very desirable characteristics in common that schooled children often did not have the opportunity to gain.  For instance, they seemed to have a more clear sense of their passions and seemed happy and satisfied with their life path.  They also knew if they didn’t know something, it wasn’t a big deal.  They could figure out how to learn anything.  



If unschooling is something you or someone you know would like to know more about, I share below some of the resources I used on my learning journey.  

Why an innovative educator cares about homeschooling / unschooling and why you might too

I’ve been a public school educator and administrator for more than a decade and have loved my work for most of my career. I have a passion for making learning real, relevant, engaging, fun and meaningful for learners. I have had wonderful opportunities to bring that to life in my work such as with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Joe Renzulli’s Schoolwide Enrichment Model, and the programs I’ve lead to integrate technology into learning like this one.*

So, some may wonder why I’m interested in homeschooling. Let me start by explaining there are different types of homeschooling. I see it as sort of a continuum that goes from "doing school at home" to "life without school." The "school at home" works for many families, but that was not what really struck my interest. I was more interested in how a "life without school" works. Some people call this unschooling, some call it natural living, some call it organic learning or life learning. For purposes of this article, I’ll call it unschooling.

One reason unschooling was so fascinating to me (others are here) is because I’ve spent a good portion of my life learning about how people learn and supporting children and adults in their learning. I was trained in various techniques, learned various methods and models, and I believed that people learned from being taught in school. What's strange is that I believed this even though, when I look back, I realize I never learned that way.

Unschooling shattered every myth I held to be true and made me question everything I’d been taught about learning. Not only that, but upon studying how unschooling works, I discovered people that seemed to be really smart, passionate, successful, and satisfied with their lives. All that and they never had to be tortured in an Algebra, History, Science, or English class! They learned a lot even though they were never forced to take a test. They didn’t have to be at school every day at some ungodly hour. They learned to read and write without classes or teacher, when they were ready, which may be as early as 2 or 3 or as late as 11 or 12. I learned there was a whole world of peaceful living and learning where the parents and children and grown children seemed quite happy.

This was of great interest to someone whose passion is to support learning that is real, relevant, engaging, fun, and meaningful. I also felt kind of cheated and angry. Cheated that I had been forced to do all these things that I didn’t really need to do, rather than discover and explore my passions, talents, and interests. Angry that kids, like those featured in Race to Nowhere, were being forced to do the same. In many cases this leads to detrimental effects that include mental, physical, and emotional distress and even attempted and successful suicide. There were cases where schools were bullying parents and their children for not wanting to comply with their demands even though it was making the child sick. The school system I worked in moved from being one where "children were first" to one where "data comes first" and it was the school’s role to extract it.

When I would see or hear about such things I wanted others to know that school is a choice, but it is not a necessity. In fact many people are living lives without school and then moving on to great success in career OR college. To share this message I wrote The Teen’s Guide to Opting Out of School and The Working Home Educator’s Guide to Success.

I also started a group specifically created for parents, students, teens, and teachers frustrated with traditional schooling to come together to discuss the more effective options they are pursuing. This is a wonderful group that I encourage anyone interested in pursuing this path to join by visiting this link.  

Ironically after all the years I’ve spent being schooled on how to learn, in the end I discover that for many, learning can be best achieved without a school or a teacher. If you want to learn how, I hope you’ll take a look at some of the material I've shared and keep the conversation going in our group.  

10 Important Points to Keep in Mind When Addressing a Global Audience

Editor’s Note: Jose Popoff was an audience member of a webinar I conducted to a global audience. While Jose enjoyed the webinar, he felt I could do a better job in addressing such audience. He is right. When speaking to international audience, you need to do things differently. I asked Jose if he could share his advice. Here it is.

Whether you are writing an article, book, blog post or addressing an audience live, online i.e. via webinar, television, or radio, there are things you should consider if you are delivering your message to an international crowd. In the 21st century more and more speakers and writers are addressing global audiences and when doing so, it is helpful to be sensitive to differences in such a heterogeneous audience. Not only is this good advice for those addressing these audiences, it has the added benefit of modeling for viewers, listeners, or readers, how they can adjust their work as well.

10 points to keep in mind when you are speaking to the world

How Ritalin ruined my childhood

Guest post from Peter Jung @peter_d_jung | Cross posted at EduPeter.

I like Adderall. I don't take it often at all, but I have a prescription that I can get filled whenever. When I need to write a 20 page paper in a few days, I take a pill, drink a caffeine drink, and turn into a robot for a while. Normally, I don't need to take pills to succeed in a class- I pay attention well enough, keep up on the reading, and take decent notes. If I lapse in any of these things, it's not something that can be attributed to any deficits in my ability to pay attention, but another source, such as frustration with the teacher's lecturing style, exhaustion from sleep deprivation, or something of the sort.

I don't have ADD, at least not in a way that impedes my learning in any real way. So, then, why can I get Adderall?

When I was 6, ADHD was a big thing. Everybody's kid had it, which explained any number of frustrating behaviors that their kids would engage in. I was a kid that engaged in frustrating behaviors, who also had a bit of neurological damage thrown in there. The neurological damage caused a speech impediment and gross motor dysfunction, which led to me going through physical and speech therapy for many years, but caused no apparent cognitive deficits.

What my parents and first grade teacher saw was a kid who would wander off, get frustrated easily, cry when faced with math homework, and had a hard time paying attention, preferring to draw constantly instead. My parents and teacher had a lot of frustrations with me concerning math homework around this time, and finally decided they needed to see a doctor about me. After taking a test that involved me staring at a computer monitor, trying to determine which orientation a blip of light was facing, I was diagnosed with ADD.

From my perspective, first grade was a really hard time for me. I loved to read and draw, but didn't really get along with any of the other kids. They were often mean to me, and I found I preferred to be alone with my drawings. My teacher would force the entire class to do these idiotic 'two minute timings' that involved 200 basic math problems, and a two minute time limit.

Of course, most kids blew through these. I looked at the seemingly endless pile of problems, and the two minute time limit, and had the first grade equivalent of a mental breakdown. I mean, two minutes? Who can do two HUNDRED problems in TWO MINUTES?! Two minutes is not a lot of time! 200 is a VERY LARGE NUMBER. NOBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO THIS. I DON'T LIKE THIS SCHOOL PLACE ANYMORE.

So, while such thoughts flew around my head, the unfinished two minute timings piled up, and my teacher decided that I needed to stay in during lunch and recess every day to finish them. I would just stare at them, occasionally attempt to finish one and get discouraged, then just draw. So, I missed recess for a good chunk of my first grade year, which led to me spending every recess inside with the teacher after that. Part of it was I liked to draw more than I liked being outside, but another part of it was that I was very shy, and didn't really like how the other kids treated me. Having missed that year made me feel like an outsider, and I was too introverted to try to make friends.

Of course, that led to me going to the emotional counseling support group with all the junior sociopaths in the school. I would just talk about my collection of toy robots, or stay quiet.

Anyway, Ritalin happened around the beginning of second grade. I was given a time release pill that I was supposed to swallow so it would dissolve slowly over the day. Well, that didn't happen, as I had a gag reflex. I chewed it, and got a day's worth of Ritalin in a very short period of time.

I really don't remember much else from that point on. I have pretty vivid memories of my childhood up until taking Ritalin, and then... nothing. I have seen reports of my behavior that are pretty disturbing, and found artifacts from that time period that seem to imply some degree of massive depression, although my memories are a haze. What I do remember is being a complete loner who was content to sit in the back and draw or read all day. I also remember being able to see the logical circuits for traffic lights, and other patterns.

In 5th grade, my mom became so tired of hearing all these problems with me, and had the district give me an IQ test. The next day I was placed in the highly capable program, although I still tended to prefer to disengage and draw, as I was still pretty introverted.

Somehow, I managed to skate through elementary school, but in 6th grade, by month three, I was doing terribly. I was failing one class, and doing badly in all the rest. I didn't know what was going on, but I started to get scared, as no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't do well. They apparently made an IEP for me that involved me sitting at the front of the classroom so I would pay attention better, and the teacher could keep track of me. It was all very frustrating for everyone involved.

Finally, a math teacher asked me if I could see what she was writing.

I told her I could, and then she asked me what she was writing. I told her the wrong answer.

Within weeks, I had glasses and my grades went from Fs to Bs. I was still on Ritalin, which made me very socially awkward and led to a lot of bullying, which made my entire middle school experience a horrible mess of bruises and cuts.

By 8th grade, my parents took me off the Ritalin, and I began making actual friends with the nerdy kids. I'm still friends with some of them today, and hang out with one on a weekly basis. I slowly learned how to socialize, and became more like a normal person that wasn't stoned out of their mind.

By 12th grade, I was pretty much normal. I had been in the IB program for the first two years of high school, then switched over to Running Start, which allowed me to take a few classes at the community college to knock out high school credits, and get free college credit. I still took a few classes at the high school, but they were all classes I was interested in- Calculus, Advanced Biology, Weight Training, Art, etc. I had a good group of geeky friends, and could make friends easily. I was really awkward around girls, but not in an unusual way. I was a pretty stereotypical nerd.

One day, I got pulled out of class to talk with the school psychologist. He asks me to sit down and tells me I have an IEP. I ask what that is, and he tells me that it's something that has to do with my mental health issues. At that point, I had begun conversing with the ceiling about how this man was not to be trusted, and the psychologist just laughed. So, I asked what this was all about, and he describes the IEP to me- I am to sit in front of the class and the teacher is to make sure I'm paying attention. Now, I had forgotten about this IEP thing, and generally sat in the front of the class because I was a teacher's pet, but I was rather shocked. He told me I had Static Encephalopathy, which explained why I needed physical therapy and speech therapy, but didn't really explain why I had to sit in front.

I ask him when this IEP was made. He tells me, beginning of 6th grade. I take off my glasses and gesture with them, "I got these a few months into 6th grade."

He chuckles, and shreds the document.

I think most of my problems with Ritalin could have been avoided with two simple things. If the teacher had just sat down with me and really talked with me about the two minute timings, and offered to let me do 10 problems instead of 200, I could have shown her I was competent. Also, if someone had given me a vision test earlier, I would have avoided being consistently high and losing so much of my childhood.

Even so, I think I did okay. I am largely self educated, having read the entire time-life science series of books my dad found at a garage sale in a summer, and spending so much time in the corner reading. I have no difficulty with math, social skills, or academic ability. I just think it is very important that a kid is consulted when dealing with medication, as often, kids know exactly what's up. Sometimes, yes, medications are necessary, but the application of them is so often done as a blunt weapon rather than a precise tool. With me, the problems were easily solvable, not based on any neurological deficit. As such, I feel that the psychologist's diagnosis was most certainly wrong.

Although, I must say, it is nice being able to get Adderall legally. And I use it honestly, only when I need to really cram or finish a project. Still, the feeling I have while on it is incredibly potent, and the idea that I was on this stuff for years frightens me greatly, just from the possibility that it might have impeded my brain's development. Thus far, I think I've developed normally, but I can't really tell.

In any case, I just thought I'd throw that out there, as a story of someone who went through elementary and middle school in a drugged out haze because he needed glasses.

----------------------------------------

Peter Jung is a graduate student interested in information technology and DIY Education. http://www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-jung/13/6/5a6