General Information Project Overview WIER Goals Resource Connections Evaluation

  General Information

  Project Overview

Students will participate in the writers in electronic residence program. (see enclosed material from WIER) The main goal of the program is to promote reading and creating writing. Students will write stories/poems/essays and drama. This work will be discussed and then sent on-line. Well established professional writers read and comment on all work submitted.

The responses are not graded marks but honest, constructive evaluations designed to encourage. Revisions are often suggested.

Students also will read and evaluate the work of their peers from across Canada. Students from across Canada have equal access to our work.

  WIER Goals

To enhance reading and writing programs already used at the junior high level.

 to promote communication between students from a wide variety of
   geographic/social/educational/economic backgrounds.

 to promote in-depth critical thinking

 to put writing in a significant place as a tool of expression, imagination, intellect and
   emotion.

 to expose students to other forms of criterium and evaluation aside from those
   regularly encountered in school.

 to promote computer literacy and technology in other subject areas.

  Resource Connections

This program is important to our school for a variety of reasons. It increases our connection to the Internet for specific educational purposes. This program is limited in the number of schools it can accommodate. Its loss would leave a void in our attempts to expand the use of information technology to all areas of the curriculum. Aside from the reading and writing that forms the basis of this program, students will also gain experience in a number of information processing skills. This program requires knowledge in a number of areas:

1. Accessing the internat
2. Accessing the first class client server that is exclusive to WIER
3. The use of windows is extensive in moving through WIER
4. The use of e-mail
5. Uploading and downloading new work and the work of other students and writers
6. Word processing skills are developed. All work is done and saved on disk.

  Evaluation

Students who participate in this program are doing so as an enrichment to their regular school curriculum. Students develop and submit all writing/revisions and responses. The teacher monitors all work on the system and acts as a facilitator/advisor both on-line and in the classroom.

WIER has been used in our school for the past four years. Its effect increases every year. It's an innovating program that actively and successfully promotes student writing. At the end of the program students will submit a portfolio of all work. They will be surveyed on their experiences with the program.