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).

Rounding Up the Usual Suspects: Interpreting Famous Quotations
What do we say about ourselves when we quote lines from movies or elsewhere? Why do famous quotes from movies, literature and history resonate with many people? In this lesson, students consider the power of their favorite movie lines and other famous quotes, then write essays interpreting and commenting on a selected quotation.

SAT Essay Prep
Well organized test preparation materials. Students can use them alone or teachers can share them with their classes.

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.

Slowpoke: How to be a faster writer
Although this article was written for the general public and other writers, it has tips that are appropriate for high school and younger, too.

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

Summarizing — Squirrel Rehabilitation
Students watch a 5-minute downloadable video segment in which the speakers describe the value of rescuing and rehabilitating wild squirrels. As they watch, they complete a graphic organizer to sort important information needed to summarize the story. Then students write a well-constructed summary of the video segment using their notes. Lesson includes handouts and rubric.

Summary, Symbolism and Levels of Meaning — The Healing Totem
Students watch a short (4:26) downloadable video segment about a totem that was a gift from the Lummi Nation of Washington State for the children and families who lost loved ones at the World Trade Center buildings on September 11, 2001. Then students write a summary about a symbolic totem pole. They discuss the video's symbolism, rewrite their summary and reflect on how an understanding of the symbolism influenced their ability to summarize the segment and their level of comprehension. This lesson includes handouts and rubric. It is designed for grades 3-8.

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.