~ IT & English ~

RESEARCH | WRITING | WRITING & PUBLISHING ON-LINE
USING EMAIL | CREATING MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATIONS | USEFUL LINKS

Research
Author Study  - there is now an enormous amount of information available. See Fiction pages
Research to back up the study of classroom novels.
Research for expositary articles in English and Senior English.
Rather than printing out results of internet searches, note taking techniques can be taught using a word document which can be opened concurrently.

Writing
The writing process is so much easier if students can use a word processor.  After the first draft, the writing is printed out, and students discuss with me and their peers any improvements that could be made.  Revisions are relatively painless when the work does not have to be rewritten.

Have you tried  group writing - the students are in groups of four.  They each begin a story - narrative or descriptive - and write for 10 minutes.The story is then passed to the next person in the group, who continues it etc. until all 4 have had a turn .  This is a great way for the reluctant or unimaginative student to get started on writing -- having to write for only 10 minutes is not as threatening as setting out to write the entire story, and they enjoy reading the other stories. Word processing makes the writing and editing process so much easier.

Develop writing projects on computers and then present the projects to their parents on parent conference days. We've done book reports with hyperstudio, travel brochures, reports by importing photos we've scanned, etc. It's a nice showpiece for the parents.
Using desk top publishing to produce a text response to a short story in the form of a newspaper article about the incident in the story.

Writing &  publishing on-line
Book reports
Have your students share their book reviews with readers from around the world. They can post their opinions with electronic book sellers such as amazon.com. Regardless of whether they adore or despise a book, require each student to provide specific reasons and examples to support their critique. To protect their privacy, students sign their reviews with just their first name and last initial, along with the community and state in which we live.

Students who might be reluctant to write traditional book reports are eager to see their ideas shared in a "real-world" setting. Their review might be next to one written by a reader from another continent. (Yes, this is a perfect way to get maps in their hands!)

Many times the book seller suggests other novels on a similar theme, or additional books by that same author. Those expert reading suggestions have my students racing back to the library for their next book!

Kuli Yabber
http://www-berwick.cc.monash.edu.au/kuliyabb/home.htm
On-line Kuli Yabber is based on a student publication of the same name. Kuli Yabber is an avenue for student writers to be published on-line. The site contains a collection of poetry, reviews, short stories and articles.

Highwired.Net
http://www.highwired.net/
Highwired offers free web publishing tools and hosting so high school students can publish online versions of school newspapers and information about student activities. Teachers can create virtual classrooms as well, and the National Edition showcases the best student-written articles.

Babble
http://www.tcn.ml.org/babble
A student-run online magazine that publishes quality non-fiction
articles on topics written from a local perspective to interest a global audience. Submission of a student's class-based work is encouraged as well as school-independent writing.

Rave New Writing
http://www.powerup.com.au/~ccoward/news.html
(under the auspices of the Queensland Writers Centre) which has a list of competitions for young people and also which seeks new submissions to publish on the Rave New Writing site.

Voiceworks
http://www.glasswings.com.au/voiceworks/
A paper publication based in Victoria with an online presence.  Supported by Arts Victoria and the Australia Council.

InterUrbanNet
http://www.interurban.net.au/home.html
A youth culture zine also seeking submissions.

Orbitmag
http://www.orbitmag.com

Wacky Web Tales
http://www.eduplace.com/tales/
Wacky Web Tales, is a fill-in-the-blanks story creator where readers can submit their own tales or read stories created by the publisher Houghton Mifflin. Included are links to Kids' Clubhouse, Teachers' Center, and Parents' Place. The Teachers' Center provides K-8 resources like activities, lesson plans, interactive games, projects and more from the Mathematics, Reading/Language Arts, Social Studies, or Science Centers.
Grade Level:  Elementary, Middle School

The Hero's Journey
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/
The purpose of this web site is to create an environment where anyone can create a story using the mythical hero structure described by Joseph Campbell. The site includes an extensive reference section, ideas and examples, and a "StoryTool" for creating original Hero's Journey stories.

 StoryStarter

Using Email
Bookraps
Students become highly motivated to read the books and also to compose responses to email back to the rest of the students working on the project. (It's great fun for the teacher too!) It adds to the excitement of the project if students from other countries join in as well.

International keypals
Editing e-mail messages, writing stories in collaboration with someone half a world away!  Could be great fun as well as educational.

Creating multimedia presentations
Use Powerpoint for research projects instead of the traditional research paper.  Of course, they still have to turn in a bibliography and paper explaining the graphics that they use in the slide show. Actually, that's a very good method for teaching organization and transition.

Present group research findings as linked web pages.

Use Powerpoint slides as visual aids for an oral presentation.

Create Powerpoint slideshow or web pages to present an advertising campaign (on the WEB only locally though) after learning about the language of advertising.
 

Some more useful ideas on how to use ICT* in English

 http://edweb.camcnty.gov.uk/hinchingbrooke/original/newssim.html
 http://edweb.camcnty.gov.uk/hinchingbrooke/original/chirp.html
 http://edweb.camcnty.gov.uk/hinchingbrooke/original/exteng.html
 http://edweb.camcnty.gov.uk/hinchingbrooke/original/extension.html
 http://edweb.camcnty.gov.uk/hinchingbrooke/original/lingo.html
 http://edweb.camcnty.gov.uk/hinchingbrooke/original/newspaper.html
 http://edweb.camcnty.gov.uk/hinchingbrooke/diaries/3diaries.html
 http://edweb.camcnty.gov.uk/hinchingbrookelit/firsteditions.html
http://www.nea.org/cet/wired/index.html
http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/archive/home.html

* ICT = Information and Communication Technologies