Miscellaneous Writing Sites and Ideas, page 2

Pencil Pals
PencilPALS is sponsored by the Screen Actors Guild and designed to make reading and writing a first person experience for children in elementary and middle schools. Each child involved in this program has an opportunity to write and illustrate his/her own letters and stories. The childrens' letters are then mailed to a Performing Artist for Literacy in Schools. PALS are volunteer performers from the BookPALS program with whom the children can share their thoughts and school happenings. PALS write response letters to the children.

Perfect Editing Solutions
This site offers proofreading and editing services FREE for up to 500 words. (Other services are available at a reasonable rate.) Do you know a student who could benefit from one more pair of eyes checking out a piece of writing? This might be just the place.

Power Ballads
Students explore the social, political and historical context of seminal songs and albums. They then write liner notes for an existing album and pitch their own ideas for concept albums that deliver social or political messages.

Protecting Our Space: Developing Public Service Announcements to Offer Information about Online Safety Concerns for Teens
"Students share opinions and information about safety issues and concerns on social networking Web sites. They then develop public service announcements designed to inform their peers and guardians."

Purpose and Audience
Nine short lessons, with activities for #2 and 4 and links to related online items at Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Rewrite, Revise, Recycle: Updating Classic Literary Storylines for Today's Television Audience
Students "explore classic themes and storylines, and create modern versions to cater to a contemporary audience. They then compose backstories to develop characters for current television shows." This lesson plan is based on an article from the New York Times (included).

Round Robin Writing
Starting with a digital image, students work in teams of four to write collaborative stories.

Screenwriting
The links at this site acquaint writers with screenplay format writing rules and screenwriting etiquette.

Scribble Pad
This great site has a little bit for all ages. Its target audience is writers, not teachers; but teachers will find some great ideas here.

Scriptwriting in the Classroom
Rationale, strategies, and resources for writing scripts.

Stack the Deck Writing Tips: Teaching Tips
Practical ideas for helping students revise.

Tee-Hee T.V.: Exploring Satire by Creating Original Television Parodies
Students learn about satire and develop original television shows that parody existing programs.

Ticker Text Parade
Students examine news headlines and create very brief news pieces in the style of news tickers. They then write papers reflecting upon these experiences and on the value of concisely written news reports.

Transitional Words and Phrases
A chart listing transitions according to type. Scroll down for suggestions for building coherence without using transitions.