Miscellaneous Writing Sites and Ideas, page 3

Unusual Five Paragraph Theme Assignments
Ten unorthodox approaches to the traditional essay format.

Using Photography To Inspire Writing
An educator shares ideas that have worked well in his classroom.

A Value-Added, Outside-the-Box Sea Change
An interesting blog on clichés that don't mean what people think they do. Responses are invited.

Visually Speaking: Using Visual Journaling to Build Elaboration Skills in Writing
Students will keep a visual journal. The objective of this unit is for the students to develop better writing skills specifically in the area of elaboration. It addresses the needs of all learners, from non-English speakers and students with learning disabilities to high achievers with extensive vocabularies. This unit can be easily adapted for any grade level, and it can be implemented in a variety of ways: as a weekly or monthly supplement to the language arts curriculum or as an autonomous unit.

Writer's Tips from Kimberly Willis Holt
These tips for writers are appropriate for all ages.

Writing about Writing: An Extended Metaphor Assignment
This lesson uses Richard Wilbur's poem "The Writer" to encourage students to develop an extended metaphor describing themselves as writers.

Writing a Character Sketch
This activity includes a model and graphic organizer. It is designed for elementary students.

Writing Effective Openings
A challenge to students to write their own great opening lines, along with examples, tips, a quiz, and some lively student samples to help.

Writing Prompts / Journal Topics
This extensive collection of prompts is intended for elementary students, but many of them are also appropriate for older students.

Writing Style for Print vs. Web
A researcher discusses the ways Web writing must adjust to typical online reading strategies. (Write differently for a Web site because people read differently online.)

The Writing Teacher's Strategy Guide
These examples are aimed at upper elementary students, but the strategies can be used on all levels. Access to this 124-page, professionally developed document requires Adobe Reader or compatible application. (Suggestion: download the entire file but only print the pages you want.)

Writing to Learn/Writing to Think Activities (that don't drown the teacher in paper)
An extensive list of ideas to support writing across the curriculum as a learning tool.