There’s a writer waiting to be discovered in every student.
TenMarks Education, a subsidiary of Amazon Education, built software for K-12 that was used by 85% of U.S. school districts for math. The software provides differentiated instruction to unlock each student’s potential through self-paced practice. It also offers solutions to help teachers chart each student’s learning pathway and personalize their work with leveled assignments, realtime interventions and strategies for expanding understanding.
Role
Head of Product for TenMarks English Language Arts
Challenge
Expand TenMarks Education's personalized learning program
Scope
Beta and debut launch for U.S. students and teachers grades 4-7
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Discovering the English Language Arts Audience for TenMarks
The need for writing help— frameworks for teaching it, and support in student writing practice— emerged in need-finding research.
K-12 writing landscape
Needs emerged during research to inform product design
Teacher Needs
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1.
“I am a caring and diligent 3rd-7th grade teacher, who is trying to teach standards-based writing, but it takes a lot of time and effort to prepare and deliver effective instruction because there is no single resource that is easy-to-use and comprehensive, which makes me feel uncertain and overwhelmed.”
2.
“I am a caring and diligent 3rd-7th grade teacher who is trying to coach my student writers, but providing individual constructive feedback takes a lot of time because writing suggestions demand a lot of careful phrasing which makes me feel daunted.”
Teacher Persona
Based on primary research across criteria including teaching experience, classroom management skill and quality of writing instruction, we developed three teacher persona: the rookie, the jaded but experienced teacher, and the expert.
Teacher Insights
Writing instruction is often piecemeal, integrated across other subjects, and could use more focused monitoring and attention. Creative fiction writing is endangered in American elementary and middle school classrooms due to the demands of the Common Core course load.
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Student Needs
1.
2.
“I’m a conscientious 4th–8th grade student, trying to think of something to write about, but I’m not good at brainstorming alone because I haven’t internalized the steps/strategies, which makes me feel stumped and unsupported.”
“I’m a competent reader and conscientious 4th–8th grade student, trying to research a topic, but identifying important ideas is hard because I haven’t internalized or been taught the steps/strategies, which makes me feel overwhelmed, perplexed and unsure.”
Student Insights
Students are more engaged when they are able to choose their own writing topics and more motivate when they are aware that they will share with their peers.
