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As a reading, writing, and technology teacher, I have a pretty wide range of objectives and curriculum to cover during the year. I find that using a whole language constructivist approach works best in the 90-minute block, and I am really big on giving students the tools they need to be successful.

It is especially important to give kids tools for writing. Gone should be the days when teachers assign the dreaded “What I did on my Christmas Vacation” and expect students to produce quality writing from a blank sheet of notebook paper. With the availability of web 2.0 tools including blogs, students can write for real audiences and receive feedback beyond the teacher’s smiley face sticky notes. My goal as a writing teacher is to help students develop their own voice and style. This semester some of my classes will be helping me create a classroom blog, and we are really excited about the possibilities. I’ll be blogging about that in future posts.

Resources for Writing Tools…
Here are some online writing tools I use with mystudents that I think you might find useful as well. **BHWikiWorld Writer’s Tools** - This is a link to my classroom wiki handouts page. Students can access any of the resources we use in class from this site. [|**Houghton Mifflin’s Education Place**] - If you are looking for **printable** online graphic organizers, this site has many choices. [|**Wordstorm**] - Wordstorm is great for brainstorming. It is a visual word organizer that creates a web or map of closely related words. When students type in a word, the map is created and new words are generated giving them inspiration to expand thoughts and ideas. **Google Docs** - a free site offering “Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and form application…” Students can write and edit their pieces in a collaborative setting. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas about my post! Best, Melissa

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