Writing

American Writers - Grades 6-12 - C-Span has created an American writers site containing biographical information and literary excerpts from dozens of American writers from the 17th century to the present. The excerpts include a variety of critical and interpretation resources. C-Span plans to add additional content, including teacher materials, when the cable series of the same name airs in Spring, 2002.

Writing about 9/11 - Writing is a wonderful way to let students at any age express their reactions and concerns about the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. This link leads to three examples of writing from contemporary commentators. They are posted on our Terrorism and Tolerance page. We hope they will help inspire your students to write about their own reactions to these events.

Teenage Diaries - Grades 6-12 - This collection of audio essays draws on the experiences of a diverse group of teens, who describes their lives, what's important, and what they're thinking. The diaries are available as both streaming audio and text files. These essays could serve as "inspiration" for creative writing assignments, or even as a source of ideas for college admissions essays. From National Public Radio.

Common Errors in English - Grades 6-12 - This is a no-frills presentation and explanation of some of the most commonly misused English words, terms, and phrases. If you are uncertain about a particular word or phrase, check it here. Source: Wisconsin State University.

Daily Grammar - Grades 6-12 - It may not be everyone's favorite topic, but here's a site that offers something different each day for those who want to brush up on their grammar skills. In addition to the daily reminder, there is also a full selection of other grammar, style, and usage information.

Dream Girl Magazine - Grades 4-8 - The content of this e-zine for girls interested in the arts is much better than the title. There are articles about books, writers, reading, and the performing arts as well. Written at the proper level, but without the teeny-style trimmings, there's a lot of content presented in an inviting manner. Worth a try if you have an enthusiastic girl in your class who is "looking for more."

Elements of Style – Grades 9-12 - This is an electronic version of William Strunk’s book, originally published in 1918. The book is used still to help practice combining composition with the study of literature. It gives principles of English style, rules of usage, and commonly violated principles of compositions. The chapters are outlined, and sections of importance are highlighted. From Columbia University.

E-School Writing Project - Grades 6-12 - This site offers a collection of internet-based writing lessons covering subjects including newpaper writing, poetry, fiction, and a culminating activity creating a storybook. They could be used by students who are homebound, or could serve as examples of writing assignments for in-class or regular school use.

Five Paragraph Essay Wizard - Grades 6-12 - Here's one author's approach to structuring a five-paragraph essay. There are tips, examples, and advice on how to create an effective essay. Good as an introduction, or as a review site for students who need a bit more practice. Privately published.

Fluency Through Fables - Target: Senior High-- general and advanced - Source: The Comenius Group - This site is presently under construction. It will contain a mixed bag of resources including information and exercise involving the use of English idioms and phrases and specific vocabulary and comprehension exercises using fables as exercise texts.

Teachers and Writers Online - A site created to build relationships between writers, teachers, and their students. This site offers a collection of project documents, instructions on how to become involved, and background information on how the project evolved. Good resource for teachers interested in exposing students to "real" writers.

 

Dante's Infernal Grammar - Grades 9-12 and AP - This TeachersFirst exclusive offers high school teachers a way to teach a literary classic and prepare their students for the SAT II. The ten-part literature unit explores Dante's Inferno and then offers lessons on ten devilish grammar topics that appear on the SAT II test. Wonderful resource for literature study, grammar lessons, or test preparation. The various elements can be used together or individually.

Hypergrammar - Grades 6-12 - This venerable site from the University of Ottawa won't win any design awards, but it's a very thorough treatment of grammar, parts of speech, sentence structure, and related grammatical issues. Designed primarily for one-on-one use, there are lots of very usable features, making it a good place for students to look when they're "stuck" on a grammatical issue.

Grammar and Style Guide - Grades 6-12 - Source: Jack Lynch at U Penn - A great grammar resource-- clearly organized alphabetically. Colorful and clear! It might motivate a middle schooler to care about the difference between "affect" and "effect" or deal with a dangling participle!

Guide to Grammar and Writing - Grades 9-12 - This is an extensive, easy-to-use grammar guide designed to help students avoid common grammatical mistakes and improve their writing style. It was created by Capital Community Technical College, Hartford, but the content could work well for high school students, and even some middle schoolers. There are plenty of examples, tips, and other resources.

Grammar Blue Book - Grades 6-12 - While this site pulls no punches about promoting a book, it also offers concise grammar and puctuation usage information. In addition, there are short worksheets and quizzes which teachers might find useful with their classes.

Inkspot Young Writers' Resources - Grades 9-12, AP - This is a young people's section of a larger site for professional writers. It provides a wide range of stylistic, formatting, and publishing information, as well as sources for reviewers and criticism for aspiring authors interested in having their work published. While some elements relate strictly to professional writing, others could be adapted for use in advanced writing classes.

KidNews: Kids’ Writing from Practically Everywhere - Grades K-8 - Peter Owens, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth - Publish your students writing in subject areas of interest or purely creative poetry on this site. The rules and teacher procedures are explained clearly, and students’ work has an instant world-wide audience. There is a wealth of samples from students in grades K through 12 and even beyond. News articles, reviews, features, sports, profiles and other areas are available. Entries are welcomed and encouraged. This award-winning site is a must for teachers of writing!

KidPub - Grades K –12 - This site is a collection of over 20,000 stories written by children all over the planet! This site also offers a pen-pal connection for children around the world that are interested in writing. Stories are not accepted for publication over the summer. An award winning site for young writers. An excellent site!

Only A Matter of Opinion? - Grades 6-12 - This ThinkQuest site offers an introduction to editorial writing and the ways in which editorials differ from other writing styles. Abundant examples and graphics, along with guidelines on what makes editorial writing constructive.

Poetry - Listen and Write - Grades 6-12 - This site from the BBC's education section offers a surprisingly interactive approach to making students comfortable writing poetry. The site includes interactive tools that encourage students to develop their skills at imagery, simile, and other creative methods. There are also Real Audio clips of poets reading from their poetry. This is a site with lots of lesson possibilities.

Poetry Ideas for Young Writers - Grades 4-8 - Here's a nicely produced, informal introduction to ways in which poets and writers find, collect, and use ideas for their writing. The site offers lots of tips for budding writers, and the graphics help retain interest. A great choice for a young writer eager to learn more.

Poetry Magic - Grades 6-12 - This British site offers a sizeable collection of tools and resources for writers of poetry. Some sections will be beyond the scope appropriate for students, but in addition to the simpler resources, the site offers a glimpse of issues "real" poets confront. A new twist to a challenging topic.

Proper Manuscript Format - Grades 9-12 - Have a student who's trying to attract a publisher? Here's a very direct tutorial on how to prepare, format, and submit your manuscript for evaluation. A great "real world" example for aspiring writers.

Purdue’s Online Writing Program Lab "OWL" - K-12 - Department of English, Purdue University This site was designed specifically for distance learning and writing instruction, but it contains anything an English teacher, or student of English could want. English as a second language resources, lesson plans, and helpful suggestions. Resources, lesson plans, and materials for writers and teachers. Also provides links to other sites for more information. Features online writing lab with one on one tutorials, and a grammar hotline, and hand-outs on. This site also has resources for teaching writing across curriculum for integrated teaching styles. This site is reviewed by Purdue English Department students and updated regularly.

Poetry Power - Internet Center for Poets – Grades 6-12 - This site is devoted to poetry and related information, including software tools for poetry writing. Visually appealing and kid friendly. Features an online poetry museum and library. Book and software, and magazine store for the purpose of selling their materials. Colorful! This site is mostly selling products, but can be used by kids to learn about different poetry writers and poems by topic. They also have a teachers page that contains useful links. Contest and poetry events are also made available as well as free poetry multimedia samplers. Updated monthly.

Propaganda Web Site - Grades 6-12 - A scary title for a site that talks about persuasive techniques - name calling, circular logic - that are used in propaganda, political campaigning, and advertising. There are lots of interesting lesson possibilities in this material, and creative students may also find the content useful.

Sources: Use and Acknowledgement - Grades 9-12 - Dartmouth College's guide to citing sources for academic writing is particularly concise, showing MLA, APA, and several other formats for a wide variety of citations. There is also a good discussion of how and when to cite reference works.

Bartleby.com - For those needing literary, writing, or historical reference information, Bartleby could be one-stop shopping. The site collects on-line versions of several dozen standard reference works, and it also offers a search interface that can make short work of finding even the most obscure information. Every teacher should know about this one.

Tracking Creativity - Grades 3-6 - Language Arts/Art: - Go on-line and learn to compose an ode or play with idioms in this student-created web site which won the ThinkQuest Junior 1998 Arts and Literature Category.

Virtual Presentation Assistant - Grades 7+ - University of Kansas - Speech/Language Arts - This site walks the student through an online tutorial for planning and presentation of public speaking. It could be used with an entire class to teach this process (all students working on computers) or as an outline for a unit taught with a computer projection system or using traditional paper methods. It could also be recommended as supplement to classroom public speaking curriculum.

Writer's Guide - University of Victoria - Grades 7-12 - This is an introductory college-level writing guide which provides information on essay forms, when to use which form, and other stylistic guidelines.

Writes of Passage - Grades 8-12 - This is a writing site for teens. It offers resources to improve writing, examples of writers and their careers, places to exchange and submit writing samples, and links to other writing sites. A good place for young writers who need encouragement or new approaches.

The Writing Den - Grades 4 and up - Improve student writing with activities included in this commercial site. A teachers’ guide provides ideas for ways to use the various activities. The Tips-o-matic teaches simple grammar concepts. Students could use this to brush up on parts of speech and other grammar online. Includes clarifications of frequently confused words/common mistakes. Sign up to receive a word of the day via E-mail.

Writing Tips - Grades 9-12 - This is a section of the on-line writing help source for the University of Wisconsin. It offers a "no nonsense" summary of good practices for grammar, writing and formatting, as well as research documentation. It's the sort of place students might use to be sure that they're preparing that term paper correctly.

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