If you’re like me, you can’t walk past a grammar mistake on a sign at a pizza shop without shaking your head. As educators, we know how important it is to communicate clearly and effectively, but we still make grammatical mistakes every day. We make mistakes when responding to emails, giving feedback on student work, and creating handouts and written instructions. And when we’re short on time or have to make last-minute changes to a lesson, there’s an even greater chance of error. That’s why I wondered, is Grammarly Premium worth it for teachers? I decided to give it a try. (Psst! If you try it too, check out the 20% discount at the bottom of this article.)
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Getting started with Grammarly
Grammarly is quick and easy to install on your device and start using right away. It works as a browser add-on or a device app, which means you can use it on anything you do online. You can even create documents or upload files from your device.
After installation, Grammarly sits as a small, green icon in the lower right corner of just about any text field you are working in. The icon launches either a sidebar or small popup that sits beside you as you work. This unobtrusive sidebar or window gives you access to all of the app’s real-time suggestions and settings. With an easy glance and a click, you can review and accept or dismiss everything you see.
Using Grammarly with other apps
In order for Grammarly to have any value to me, it has to work with what I’m already doing. My district uses Google accounts for all teachers and students and connects to Schoology. Grammarly works perfectly here.
The two other web apps I use the most are Classkick and Nearpod. Grammarly works with Nearpod, but not Classkick. This isn’t a surprise, but it didn’t cause me a problem. I don’t do a lot of original typing in Classkick, anyway.
Can you catch the mistake? Fortunately, changing something in Classkick is so easy that this didn’t become a problem at all.
Catching mistakes saves time and trees
Clarity matters. And after a week with the app, I was convinced that Grammarly uniquely helps us avoid the kind of easy-to-fix mistakes that can cause disruptions during instruction or student work.
As I began using Grammarly, I recalled the times I had to re-photocopy 100 handouts after I noticed a silly but critical mistake in my writing or when I had to interrupt a lesson to have students make a simple but necessary change to a handout. For already overworked teachers who have to balance “just getting it done” with “personalized scaffolding and student support,” it can be a legitimate burden to try to proofread and edit our work before it goes to press, so to speak. Grammarly can help us lighten our workload.
Grammarly works well in Nearpod, and I was excited to see that Grammarly thought it was joyful.
Using Grammarly with students
While I haven’t had a chance to use Grammarly with my students, I intend to try it in the fall.
Here are some ways other teachers use Grammarly with their students, including ELL students, students with learning challenges, and advanced learners:
- Set writing goals using “Grammarly Goals.”
- Provide fast and consistent feedback on writing.
- Show student growth over time through fewer mistakes.
- Perform final check after peer review to:
- Explain grammatical errors.
- Help improve vocabulary.
- Check for plagiarism.
- Teach mini lessons; for example:
- Analyzation of other people’s writing.
- Common errors and issues in writing.
- Importance of editing process.
- Plagiarism and citations.
- Grammatical concepts.
This is the exciting part, to me — we can fine-tune our own writing and use this to help students learn concrete differences between styles and intent.
Grammarly Free vs. Premium
Grammarly Free
Basically, the free version includes spelling, punctuation, and grammar check, along with conciseness, which helps young writers. You can even adjust the feedback to account for different audiences, formality, and domain (such as education, finance, and creative). It also collects data on experimental features like tone and intent.
Grammarly Premium
The Grammarly Premium version, however, takes this to a whole new level, offering the perfect editor to sit beside you and make suggestions that feel like they are coming from a friend. The upgrade gives you the same real-time, easy-to-use feedback on things like audience, clarity, and reading level. Plus, the premium version also offers a plagiarism checker, which you can read more about here.
The good vs. the bad
The free version is a no-brainer. It works well on most sites, it’s easier to use than other checkers, and it works. Try Grammarly’s free plan now.
Here’s how this teacher will make the choice about the premium version:
The good
- Grammarly saves time. On longer pieces, this means fewer rounds of editing. On shorter pieces, like instructions or emails, this means more confidence about posting or sending them right away.
- Grammarly is easy to use. It takes just a few minutes to set up and integrates with most other apps.
- Grammarly is flexible. It makes me feel a lot more in control than other tools.
As a writer and a teacher of writers, I appreciate this kind of contextual suggestion.
The bad
- Grammarly requires an internet connection. This could be a deal-breaker if I wasn’t as connected as I am.
- Grammarly Premium costs money. Any time you ask an educator to spend money, it’s a big deal. However, the group pricing helps a lot. Or, if you can pay annually, you save about the same for an individual plan. Plus, you can save even more with the exclusive 20% discount from WeAreTeachers below.
- Grammarly should be used cautiously with students. If you use the premium features to help students improve their writing, it should be done alongside traditional editing and conferencing stages to avoid encouraging lazy writing.
Bottom line: Is Grammarly Premium worth it for teachers?
After just a month, I can say for sure that it would be worth it for schools to purchase Grammarly for students and teachers. The features available to develop young writers, as well as assist teachers with instruction and grading, are well worth it. If you’re an academic coach or an administrator, consider whether Grammarly might fit into your workflow.
Is Grammarly Premium worth it for teachers who are spending their own money to buy it? When something is a matter of money, I have to decide two things: Does the product or service provide everything it claims and is it worth the cost to me?
On the first point, Grammarly Premium is very good at doing what it aims to do, it is easy to use, it makes me more aware of my writing, and it saves multiple drafts and rewrites. As for the cost, individuals can sign up starting at about $12 a month, but you can get a special WeAreTeachers discount (see details below). Is it worth the price? That’s up to you. If you’ll use Grammarly’s premium features all the time, it makes sense to try to fit it into your budget.
In the end, I recommend trying the free version first by signing up here and then considering whether Grammarly Premium might be helpful to you. Good writing makes everyone’s lives easier, and if we can make sure it’s also joyous and easy to understand, what more could we ask?
Get 20% Off Grammarly Premium
Thinking about trying Grammarly Premium? You can save 20% with an exclusive discount from WeAreTeachers. To get the discount, first sign up for Grammarly’s free plan right here. Then you have the option to upgrade to Premium, and you’ll automatically get the 20% discount.
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