22 Sites for Creative Writing in the Classroom

Our students today have so many great resources at their hands: apps, websites, online templates. When it comes to writing, teachers are able to tap into these resources to get students more interested in the prospect of having to do schoolwork. Below are the links to those resources. This post will be added to the Language Arts page on the left of my blog.




25 Creative Writing Prompts- from Writing Forward

698 Free Worksheets- each sheet is marked as PR, IN, ADV for your grade level; ESL teachers can use these as well

The Best Places to Read and Write "Choose Your Own Adventure" Stories- terrific listing from Larry Ferlazzo

Boomwriter- Sections include StoryWriter, ProjectWriter, and WordWriter


Classroom Writing Ideas- Pinterest board covers writing and picture prompts, worksheets for younger students

Creative Writing Worksheets- for younger grades

Collaborize Classroom- free collaborative education forum


Creative Writing Ideas/Lesson Plans- Pinterest board

Creative Writing Lesson Plans- @Web English Teacher

Creative Writing Lesson Plans- from Scholastic; K-12 covered

Creative Writing Teacher Resources- from Teachervision; by grade level

Developing a Fictional Narrative- from Education World

ESL Creative Writing Prompts- nice listing

Fakebook- students set up a fake Facebook page



Lino- free sticky and canvas service; works on computer, Android and iPad/iPhone

PicLit- creative writing prompts

Picture This! Building Photo-Based Writing Skills- lesson from the NY Times Learning Network

Quill- many interactive writing lessons with quizzes already made for the teacher; includes Quill Proofreader, Quill Grammar, and Quill Writer.

ReadWriteThink- lesson plans for English-Language Learners for K-12

Skills Practice:Writing Effective Openings- from the NY Times

TeAchnology Writing Lesson Plans

Visual Writing Prompts- sections for grades 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12

Amazing! 74 Infographics for Teacher-Librarians (L.A. Teachers Too!)

When your budget is low on dollars, you need to become creative when it comes to everything in your school library. Since we have a computer lab in our library-media center, (and lots of wall space...) I have decorated the lab with posters and infographics. You might have seen some of my original work, including 7 Things to Know About EBSCO, and the READ poster. There are also many posters which help students format their research paper, search for Google images, and understanding search results. When I began this search I never expected to find so many infographics for school librarians! If you are a language arts teacher, you will also find many related to grammar and reading below.

SCHOOL LIBRARIANS
27 Things Your Teacher-Librarian Does

29 Ways to Stay Creative

ABCs of Information Literacy

All Digital Citizens

America's 100 Largest Libraries 

Anatomy of a Librarian 

The Aroma of Books

At-A-Glance Comic Tutorials- from the wonderful Daring Librarian

The Benefits of Reading Books

Books VS eBooks 

Books Make a Difference in Kids' Lives: The Haves and the Have Nots

Bookworms

Bye-Bye Textbooks: How Digital Devices Are Reshaping Education

Classification Chart: Readers

Components of a 21st Century Classroom

Creative Commons Infographic

eBooks: The Greener Choice 

The Evolution of the Book 

The Evolution of Classroom Technology 

Evolution of the Noble Librarian  

The Evolution of Story Telling 

The Evolution of Typography

Finding Online Images

Formatting Your Research Paper

A General Guide to Understanding Plagiarism- EASYBIB

Google Search Genius

Guide for Your Research Paper

The History of e-Mail

The History of Science Fiction 

A History of Typography 

How Google Works  

How to Easily Archive and Embed Tweets Using Search Hash & Google Drive- Daring Librarian

The Influential Power of Print

Is Print Dead? 

A Librarian's Worth Around the World

Library of Congress By Numbers

The Literary Crisis and Kids in America

Most Targeted Books

Myth #4: Librarians Have a Lot of Time to Read

On the Road to Reading

Plagiarism: A Visual Guide

The Power of Reading to Your Children

The Power of Stories and Reading to Spark Children's Potential

Press Facts 

Progression of the eBook Reader

Publishing in the Digital Era

Questions a Critical Thinker Asks

Reading Like a Sleuth

The Rise of eReading

Students Like Social Media

Three Types of Copyright

U.S. Public Libraries at Risk 

A Visual Summary of Harry Potter 

What Does EasyBib Do?

What Makes Good Information Design? 

You Want to Know About Copyright

LANGUAGE ARTS
10 Do's and Don'ts for Effective Vocabulary Instruction

10 Hyphenation Tips

10 Step Book Report

11 Rules: How and When to Use a Period

12 Most Misunderstood Words in English

15 Most Useful Phrasal Verbs

The 15 Punctuation Marks

21 Rules: How and When to Use a Comma

40 Years of E-books 

Apostrophes: The Importance of Good Grammar

The Most Annoying Writing Mistakes

Passive and Non-Aggressive Voices

Past Tense 101

Prepositions

The Top 10 List of Mark Twain's Popular Quotes

Troublesome Words

The Writing Process

You Should Read This Before You Write That

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34 Lessons, Games and Resources for Language Arts Teachers

Currently, Language Arts teachers have their own tab at the top of this page, with resources on Digital Storytelling, Shakespeare and Poetry. Today I have updated the list to also have lesson plans and resources for all grade levels. The most recent list is below. As always, please share your additions by commenting below.

LESSON PLANS 

10 Great Language Arts Lessons- from We Are Teachers; 

Discovery Education Lesson Plans-covers grades 9-12; over 500 listed!

English and Language Arts-Based Lesson Plans-the Lesson Plans Page; grades noted when you choose the lesson

Growing Up With Crayons-lesson for upper elementary/middle school level; from EBSCO

Interactive Whiteboard Activities- from Scholastic; grades K-9

Language Arts Lessons for 11th and 12th Grades- from PBS

Language Arts Lessons- from ReadWriteThink; covers K-12 (grades are labeled)

Language Arts Lesson Plans-from TeAchnology

Literature and Language Arts Lessons- from EDSITEment; grades K-12

PBS Learning Media-covers English Language Arts and Literacy; all grades; choose from many subcategories

Smithsonian Education-varied topics cover grades K-12

Spelling City Lesson Plans- vocabulary; videos, worksheets, games

Teachit Lesson Plans- vast number of resources!

Top 25 Lesson Plans for 2011- from Thinkfinity; grades are labeled- K-12

RESOURCES AND GAMES
Cliche Finder- 3,300 index cliches

Common Core English Language Arts Resources- from ShareMyLesson

Curriki's Language Arts Resources-small listing covers all grades

English ELA Review Games- pick your grade level

Funbrain Game Finder

Grammar, Usage and Mechanics- from Writer's Choice; grade 9

Guide to Grammar and Writing- over 400 references

Hemingway- students can analyze their writing with this app

Integrating Technology into the Language Arts classroom

Language Arts for Middle and High School- long listing

Language Arts Games on Gamequairium

Middle School Reading Interactives- listing includes language interactives, grammar help, general comprehension stories and much more

Online Language Arts Games- from TeacherVision

PicLits- inspired picture writing

Popular Technology Resources for Reading and Language Arts- covers K-12; from TeacherVision

Powerpoint Presentations on Authors- for grades K-6

Reading, Writing, Grammar- Mr. Donn's extensive site is loaded with resources for K-12

Teaching English as a Language- from Web English Teacher; links for ELL and ESL teachers

We Are Teachers- reading, grammar, spelling vocabulary

Writing Prompts- huge listing of resources!

Have You Tried TED ED? Here Are 6 Sample Videos

If you haven't taken a look at TED-Ed, you are missing a wonderful resource for your classes. With 11 subject categories, each video comes with multiple choice and short answer questions, resources about the video 's subject, information on the creator of the video and the ability to flip the lesson. Take the TED-Ed tour here.


1. DESIGN, TECHNOLOGY: How Inventions Change History (for better or worse)



2. HEALTH: How Breathing Works


3. MATHEMATICS: Logarithms, Explained


4. PSYCHOLOGY: Rethinking Thinking


5. SCIENCE: How Do Nerves Work?



6. SOCIAL STUDIES: Why Do Americans Vote on Tuesdays?

65 Sites for Digital Storytelling Tools and Information

Information
Center for Digital Storytelling

Creative Educator- 4 articles on digital storytelling

Digital Directors Guild- assists educators with their digital storytelling projects 

Digital Storytelling in the Classroom- from Microsoft Education

Digital Storytelling in Language Arts

Digital Storytelling in the Science and Math Classroom

Digital Storytelling Tools for Educators- 120 page pamphlet (download) written by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano (Creative Commons Attribution 2.5)

The Elements in Digital Storytelling

The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling

Integrating Digital Storytelling in Your Class Resources

Making Stopmotion Movies- information on how to create stopmotion and claymation movies

Tech4Learning Blog- lots of wonderful posts regarding ways to tell stories, including claymation

Online Tools
100+ Digital Storytelling Tools for Your Digital Selves part I

100+ Digital Storytelling Tools...part II

Aniboom- animation studio

Animoto- create video slide shows

Big Universe- for younger children

Blurb- prices start at $10.95 (small book) discounts on quantity orders

Bookbuilder

Bookemon

BoomWriter- students write a book together; class gets one free copy (free shipping)

Chogger- create comics

ClassikTV- create a movie by adding subtitles to old movie scenes

Creaza- suite of creative tools, including cartoonist, movie editor, audio editor and mindmaps

Digistories

Digital Storytelling with the iPad

DigiTales- create 3-5 minute stories from these types: living memories, beyond words, itza wrap

Do Ink- create Flash-style animations using a "simple and friendly vector editor

Domo Animate- free animation website offers characters with dialogue, backdrops and special effects

Glogster- drag and drop text, images, audio, video drawings and more; premium edition has no ads

Google Search Stories- uses YouTube, so if your school blocks it you're out of luck

A Hotlist on Digital Storytelling

JellyCam Stop Motion Maker

Kerpoof- make movies, cards, drawings,pictures, tell stories; for grades K-8; site also has lesson plans and teacher tools.

Lightning Bug -assists students in writing a story from finding an idea to finishing the story

Little Bird Tales- for very young children

Make Beliefs Comix-writing tools, lesson plans, printables

MapSkip

Microsoft's Digital Storytelling in the Classroom

Mrs. P.com

Museum Box

My eBook- create novels, comics, magazines, brochures

My Story Maker- for younger kids; interactive digital story creator

Myths and Legends- online digital storytelling site

Our Story- create a collaborative timeline

PicLits- students are given a picture with a list of keywords to inspire them to write a story about that picture

Picture Book Maker- create an online children's book

Pinball- helps students get started with ideas which are bounced around

Projeqt- visual storytelling

Shiddoni- create an imaginary world with animals

Simplebooklet- create online newsletters, presentations (education version)

Smilebox- mix photos, videos and music into a multimedia presentation

Stage'd- create animated comics

Story Tools

Storybird- "short, art-inspired stories you make to share, read and print

Storyboard Template-choice of different templates

Student Publishing- "Publish individual student stories or have them each contribute to a classbook."; resources for librarians, teachers and parents; many FREE projects.

ThumbScribes- online collaboration of poems, short stories, fiction, novellas

Tikatok- for younger children

Voice Thread- group conversations around images, documents, videos; Voice Thread in the Classroom.

What-if Questions Genie

Widbook- create, collaborate and share books

Xtranormal-create online movies using their characters who speak what you write for them; $$

ZooBurst-create a 3D pop-up book

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Penzu: A Free Online Journal

A colleague approached me today to ask for suggestions for a new class she is teaching in the fall. One of the things she wants her students to do is keep an online journal (private, not shared with the world) and allow the teacher to view excerpts during the semester. I came across a free app called Penzu, which looks liked a sheet of lined paper when you view it online. Students can email parts of their journal to the teacher and don't have to worry about saving their entries, because Penzu has an autosave feature. Here's a video which gives an overview of Penzu: