Creative+Writing

Creative Writing/ Language Arts

[|Crayola Creativity] [] [] [|Dozens of More Resources] [|**//Protagonize//**] is an unusual pick for me, because I won’t even be using it for a couple of months. Let me explain. Protagonize is a great Web 2.0 application that allows users to write their own stories, and contribute to the stories of others, as a kind of “Choose Your Own Adventure,” like the //Goosebumps // books. Writers can easily develop different alternatives that readers then have to choose. You might want to read [|two]  [|posts]  I’ve recently made about the site. The problem with it right now is anyone can add to the stories and there’s a tiny amount of accessible content that is labeled “mature.” As you’ll read in my posts about it, the site’s creator is in the process of developing the ability to create closed small groups to work on stories, and to be able to limit the ability to see other stories on the site. He expects those features will be added in a month or two. [|**//Abu Dhabi Men’s College//**] has great sample essays for a variety of genres, and a lot of additional materials. I don’t really have students go to the site, but I’ve been able to print out and use //a lot // of the materials. [|**//Brainpop//**]  is a great but it costs money —For a few hundred dollars a year, a class can watch excellent animated movies about writing and many other topics, along with additional online activities. Plus, the movies are now closed-captioned, which is great for English Language Learners. [|**//Great Source//**] has a number of very helpful resources for students. I’m particularly impressed with a number of accessible online Tutorials they have about different essays. This one on [|Persuasive Writing] is an example. [|**//Writing Fun//**] site is more attractive and supportive to students organizing many different types of essays.  [|**//Essay Punch//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> is a free online version of a fairly popular program that is also available for purchase. It offers an interactive step-by-step model for writing an essay. At the bottom of its webpage you can also find links to other versions, including Paragraph Punch, Business Letter Punch, etc. [|**//BBC Skillwise//**]<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">has a great Writing site filled with interactive activities, one of my favorites is <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[|The Virtual Traveller] <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">. In it, students can choose a place from around the world; listen to someone speaking in simple English about it; type notes when they’re listening; write a short summary; choose pictures; and then print it all out. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">Yet another BBC site called [|**//BBC RaW//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> has more great interactive writing exercises. The best two are <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[|Writing Stories] <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> and <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[|Every Picture Tells A Story] <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">. //<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">(RAW has recently moved its website and doesn’t seem to have kept all of its online activities. They may, however, just be in the process of transferring everything. Here’s the main page of their // [|//new website.//]//<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">) //<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> [|**//BBC Bitesize Revision//**]<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[| for Writing] <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">. Admittedly, it’s geared towards a younger audience (and perfect for English Language Learners), but their multiple activities are just great and deserve to be in first place. [|**//Pinky Dinky Doo//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> is another great site. I’d like to highlight one area of the site that I’m adding to this list. It’s called <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[|Your Story Box] <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">, and is basically a simple cloze (gap-fill) activity where users fill-in the blanks with images that are converted into words. Audio support is also provided to the text. It’s a great exercise for Beginning English Language Learners. [|**//ESL Bee//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> is a teacher-designed site to assist Intermediate and Advanced English Language Learners in writing academic essays. There’s a lot of material there. For me, though, the gold mine is in the examples of student essays (for example, these [|**//persuasive essays//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">). It’s not easy to find good, short, accessible, and well-written examples of different types of academic essays that can be used with English Language Learners as models, but you’ll find a wealth of them here. The same site also has a number of <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[|good English practice quizzes] <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">. <span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; msobidifontsize: 9.0pt; msospacerun: yes;"> [|**//“Writing Help”//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">from Time For Kids has model essays that each section includes. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">Holt has <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[|another] [|**//collection//**]<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[| of student essays] <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">Scholastic has a wide variety of [|**//student model essays//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">. Look under Projects By Subject near the bottom right of the page. [|**//Interactive Short Story Unit…And More!//**]<span style="font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">The Calgary Academy has a quite impressive <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">[|online and interactive short story unit] <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">. The ambitious activity provides audio and visual support for the text, and is designed for students to learn the different elements of a short story. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">Here’s a [|**//Fact and Opinion game//**]**//<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">. //** <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">Try another [| **//Fact and Opinion Game//**]**//<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">. //** <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">Here are lots of [|**//fact and opinion activities//**]**//<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">. //**<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">PBS’ Arthur has a simple [|**//Facts and Opinions game//**]**//<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">. //** [|**//It’s A Fact!//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> is an online activity from Scholastic. [|**//Making Connections//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> is another exercise from Scholastic. [|**//Argument//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> is an activity from the BBC. Other activities connected to it are: [|**//Read//**]<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; msospacerun: yes;"> [|**//Watch//**]<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; msospacerun: yes;"> [|**//Quiz//**]<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">The BBC has another activity called [|**//Argue, Persuade, and Advise//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">. [|**//Revise//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> is a connected exercise. [|19056100342224463/167838195/6/6000/6000/7002/7002/6000/-1|**//Earthlings//**]<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[|19056100342224463/167838195/6/6000/6000/7002/7002/6000/-1|, Unite] <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">! is an interactive sample persuasive essay. [|19056100342224463/167838195/6/6000/6000/7002/7002/6000/-1|**//The Joystick of Learning//**]<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">is another interactive sample essay. [|19056100342224463/167838195/6/6000/6000/7002/7002/6000/-1|**//Hungry Students Can’t Study//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> is one more sample essay, though it’s not interactive. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">Here’s an <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[|accessible tutorial on] [|**//writing a persuasive//**]<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[|essay] <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> from Great Source. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">Students can quickly and easily <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[| create a] [|**//“map”//**]<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[|of their persuasive essay] <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> here and post its url on a student or teacher website. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">I like this <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[|persuasive essay outline] [|**//generator//**]<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">a lot. [|**//Persuasion Map//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> is from Read Write Think, but it can only be printed-out, not saved. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">ESL Bee has a number of [|**//sample persuasive essays//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> written by ESL students. [|**//Grammar Gold//**]<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">has a number of different exercises and provides audio support for its text. <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">[|Grammar] [|**//Practice Park//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> is a similar Harcourt site. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">BBC Schools [|**//Bitesize 1//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> and [|**//Bitesize 2//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> also has many exercises and games. [|**//Road To Grammar Jr.//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> has many interactive grammar quizzes. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">I think the use of Oxford University Press’ series of Phrase Builder exercises can help develop grammar, as well as listening, skills. Here are links to several of them: [|**//Phrase Builder//**]<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; msospacerun: yes;"> [|**//Phrase Bank//**]<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; msospacerun: yes;"> [|**//Intermediate Phrase Bank//**]<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"> [|**//Upper Intermediate Phrase Bank//**]<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"> [|**//Ventures Arcade//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> from Cambridge has some excellent reinforcing exercises for grammar. Their more advanced editions won’t be out until January, so for right now only exercises for Beginners and Early Intermediate are available. [|**//Touchstone//**]<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">from Cambridge also has similar activities.
 * [|Writing Fix]
 * [|Google Lit Trips]
 * [|Guys Read]
 * [|My Rocket Book]
 * [|Kids Spelling Games]
 * //<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">Scholastic’s //**[|**//Create A Tale//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> Students can….create a tale using step-by-step instructions including images.
 * //<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">BBC’s //**[| **//Story Plant//**]<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;"> here, too, students are guided to create a simple story. I particularly like this site because it offers audio support for the text you see on the screen.
 * //<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">Houghton Mifflin has a //**[|**//decent collection of student essays//**]**//<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">, //**<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;"> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">though I don’t think they’re as good as the other sites I’ve mentioned.
 * //<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">The Best Online Resources for Helping Students Learn to Write Persuasive Essays: //**
 * // The Best Websites for Learning about Grammar:  //**