Writing websites

Engage students in writing with online activities and the chance to see their own work online.

Scholastic.com's Writing with Writers offers writing lessons on a variety of genres and the chance for kids to publish online.

Two poetry websites, Giggle Poetry, and Poetry for Kids, offer funny poems to read and rate, and lessons on writing from well-known poets.

East of the Web has short stories in a flavor for adults and kids. You can read and rate the stories and then comment on them. Comments are anonymous and published for all to see.

You could create an online publishing repository with Scribd. Since anyone can publish and there are all sorts of subjects, I would recommend creating a group for your professional contacts, students, or school. Then parents or other members of the community could read student's writing online.

Supporting Writing

Tools to Support Writing

Prewriting and drafting

• Inspiration
• Draft:Builder
• Spelling supports
• MS Word
• Co-Writer
• WordQ
• Clicker 5
  

Notetaking

• SOLO
• Creating guided notes with MS Word

Editing and Revising

• MS Word editing supports
• Highlight text
• Using comments
• Track Changes

Presenting information

• PowerPoint
• Windows Movie Maker
• Microsoft Photo Story

Wikis

We'll discuss both student and teacher uses of wikis.

• Here's an example of a wiki as an online textbook.
• Here's an example of a wiki as a student collaborative writing project.

We'll use a wiki in a similar way. Form workgroups and collaborate on writing about supported text. The result will be a wiki with definitions and examples of supported text written by YOU.

You'll need to create an account at Wikispaces.com to get started. Once your account is set up, then go to the Supported Text Wiki and join.