Project 2: "Writer’s-Block" Busters -
Interactive Writing

General Information Project Overview Curriculum Connections Resource Connections Evaluation

  General Information

  Project Overview

The main goal for this web project is to allow students to realize and participate in the writing process. Language 3101 is basically a writing course with 2 components: writing analysis and writing production. Using the Internet to compliment the present resources(Developing Writing Skills Teacher; Rhetoric Made Plain Teacher and Process and Purpose student text: Narration - Exposition - Description) will enhance the development of students writing styles.

With Internet access , students will be exposed to all genres of writing, as well as a myriad of writers resources and networks. By connecting to and interacting with these resources, students in Templeton’s Language 3101 course may become Writer’s-Block Busters.

Locally: Through this active medium these students should be able to connect to "The Writer’s Network" and "Windows: Newfoundland and Labrador’s Young Writers". By posting their original writing to one of the writer’s Network newsgroups they will have the opportunity to read the postings of other students and to send/receive constructive criticisms about their articles.

Globally: These students will have access to a global village of writers networks and resources. (E.g. The Virtual Press: Writers Gallery) Students will be able to realize the powerful technology of the WWW through their connections and contacts with Internet/Virtual Libraries, Experts Online, and Meta-Index on the web.

This is a progressive project which will allow students develop their writing skills through a process that is ongoing and growing.

  Curriculum Connections

Generally, this project will allow students:

• to organize and present ideas in language for a variety of specific audiences, purposes and situations.
• to encourage students to respect the rights of a person, to present an opinion and the rights of others that hear that opinion.
• to provide students with opportunities for self expression.

Specifically, the project will:

• introduce students to the concepts in analyzing a written passage: audience, purpose, sentence structure, organization and diction.
• enable students to write exposition, description, and narration using sentences of varying complexity according to its basic characteristics

"Writers-Block" Busters also has intended learning outcomes of a technological nature:

• that the students may develop an understanding of hypertext and interactive multimedia.
• that the students may use authority software to produce WEB documents.
• that the students can take an active part in an online peer editing program.

  Resource Connections

Many of our students have access to technology at home. They are becoming more sophisticated learners. We need to provide them with more opportunities for access to new and developing technologies within this school environment. (Tile, 1994)

Providing our Language 3101 students with a high speed Internet connection will allow them to integrate their writing skills into a real world forum. By gaining access to WWW search engines these young minds will be able to access resources which they may use to develop their own literary product.

The Internet will enable our students to:

• utilize the powerful WWW search engines
• to locate writer’s resources (virtual libraries; writer’s online help; online tutorials; experts online; and a treasure of other electronic databases)
• use the Writer’s Network Homepage to read and respond to articles that have been posted by other students from around our province.
• prepare and post their own articles to the newsgroups of the Writer’s Network
• use a Web authoring package and Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer to publish their own documents which may be linked to our school’s web homepage.

  Evaluation

Students in the "Writer’s Block" Busters Project will:

• identify online and textbook samples of expository, descriptive and narrative writing.
• select credible and appropriate sources to compliment their writing development
• develop an understanding of electronic publishing.
• respond to some of the newsgroup articles they will read.
• evaluate some of the online documents they will read
• develop refines strategies for using World Wide Web search engines.
• express themselves, their thoughts and opinions
• create an interactive web document for specific audiences that will display 3 of their own writing compositions: a narrative, a descriptive and a expository.
• describe how the technology applied in this project may have attributed to or detracted from the development of Writer’s Block.