Anyone familiar with a history class knows that there is a fair amount of writing involved. It usually requires multiple facets of research and a decent amount of organization. For some students, this can be difficult, especially for those who struggle with organizing information. A tool that I've recently become familiar with, Draft:Builder, can significantly help students write in the social studies classroom.
Draft:Builder is an educational tool that breaks down the writing process into three steps: outlining, note-taking, and writing. It is a great tool for students who have poor organization skills, a difficulty understanding how ideas and information are related, are overwhelmed by all the steps in writing a paper, and those who struggle with the writing process in general. It had three tabs at the top of the screen for each step of the process. This is good because it has three separate, yet accessible, areas for students to do each step of their paper, which helps those students who feel overwhelmed by the writing process. The first step is the outline. You add topics and subtopics on one side, while a web is constructed on the other side for you. As you work, you can move topics around, and everything will update in the web. In the next step, you can click on the topics from your outline (which have transferred into the outline tab) and add notes to them. In the final tab, you can take the notes you have entered in the previous tab and drag them into a blank document. If you've spent time taking notes, once they've been dragged into the blank document, the bulk of your paper should be written. You would just have to add an introduction and conclusion and transitions, but the bulk of the paper is already done. There are also some great built-in resources. Draft:Building corrects spelling, has a text-to-speech button, and a bibliographer tool.
I like this tool because it takes what students would normally do (outlining, note-taking, and writing), but makes it more organized. It gets students into the habit of going through this process so that even when they don't have access to draft:builder they can see how beneficial the process is. The only downfall is that this is a subscription based and can be a little costly. For schools, it would cost $890.00 per building. But that one doesn't allow for students to use this tool at home. The unlimited school subscription, however, allows for students to download the software on their home computer so that they can continue their projects at home (where a lot of the work is done). For an unlimited school subscription, it costs $315.00 per classroom. Some schools may not seen the benefit of this software because there is an argument that a word processor could do the same. But for students who struggle with organization, the slight differences would make a huge difference.
Erin, thanks for introducing this software. As an English major, I understand the importance of drafts, rewriting and revision. I know many students won't take these steps to organize their writing and they just dive into the first draft and this usually ends up being their only draft. This can cause unorganized, sloppy and bad papers. Although the program is a little expensive, it may be helpful in increasing standardized testing by making their writing more organized. I mean, these skills could be reinforced without the software, but this maps it out and makes it more accessible for the student. Very cool software nonetheless! Great post.
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