Best Practices: Get the most out of your custom activity packs

When creating and assigning custom activity packs, teachers can tailor these custom activity packs to the unique needs of their classes and students.

Each of our learning tools supports a different stage of the learning process. Read on to learn how to tailor a custom activity pack to ensure that students have a thorough understanding of the writing skills addressed by the activities in the activity pack.

Intentionally order the activities in a custom activity pack

Teachers can intentionally order the activities in an activity pack to best support students through their learning processes. Introducing writing skills with a Quill Lesson, subsequently having students complete a related Quill Connect and/or Quill Grammar to practice the writing skills, and finally having students complete a Quill Proofreader to reinforce the writing skills in context can deepen students' learning processes.

Please see an example of intentionally ordering the activities in an activity pack related to conjunctions below.

• Choose Quill Lesson activity about conjunctions (And, Or, But, So).

• Choose some Quill Grammar and Quill Connect activities that cover these conjunctions (And, Or, But, So):

• Choose a Quill Proofreader activity that covers these conjunctions (And, Or, But, So):

Why start with Quill Lessons?

When introducing a new writing skill, we recommend that teachers assign a Quill Lesson. Quill Lessons are intended to be implemented by a teacher with a whole class or small group of students. During Quill Lessons, students submit their responses to prompts that are integrated into the Quill Lesson, which allows them to practice the relevant writing skill and receive feedback in an interactive and collaborative environment. Because Quill Lessons give teachers the opportunity to explain and demonstrate writing skills, they effectively introduce writing skills to students.

Why use Quill Connect or Quill Grammar as practice?

Once students have been introduced to a writing skill in a Quill Lesson, it’s time for them to start practicing the writing skill on their own! In Quill Connect activities, students combine two simple sentences into one complex sentence using the relevant writing skill. Students receive targeted feedback on every response they submit and have five opportunities to revise their responses using the feedback that they receive.

If Quill Connect activities are too advanced for students, try assigning a Quill Grammar activity. In Quill Grammar activities, students practice writing skills by either filling in a blank or choosing between two words. Just as in Quill Connect activities, in Quill Grammar activities, students receive targeted feedback on every response they submit and have five opportunities to revise their responses using the feedback that they receive.

Why use Quill Proofreader to reinforce a writing skill?

Once students have practiced a writing skill in a Quill Grammar or Quill Connect activity, they can complete a Quill Proofreader activity to reinforce their knowledge of the writing skill. In Quill Proofreader activities, students read through a passage and revise grammatical errors in the passage. The practice of identifying and revising errors in a passage strengthens and reinforces a student’s understanding of the writing skill.

How do teachers ensure that students are completing activities in an activity pack in a particular order?

Teachers can ensure that students complete activities in an activity pack in a particular order by setting due dates for each activity in the activity pack.

Have more questions?

Please feel free to send a message to the Quill team using the green message bubble on the bottom right corner of the screen or email us at support@quill.org.