LA_baseball

I would have the students write a persuasive report to the board stating their position on wooden bats vs. aluminum bats. In their report they would include statistics to prove that safety is the utmost concern for the athletes. They would also include data to prove that a switch to wooden bats would not be a great financial burden when safety is the most important concern. Students would write a report independently, and then they would collaborate with their groups to write a final report. Students should construct complete sentences with no fragments or run-ons. Paulet Owens Crescent MS
 * Name:** [|EasyEssay.com]
 * Language Arts (grades 7 and 8) / Baseball**

“Easy Essay can teach almost anyone how to logically organize a proof format (essay, speech, business memo…) for any fact, concept or idea in 5 minutes." This online tool uses an automated, fill-in-the-blanks information organization program to help users of any age develop and write an essay, speech, or report in the “Say it. Prove it. Say you have proven it." format. The tool can be used to create any written work from a basic 5-paragraph essay to a 17-page report.
 * URL:** http://www.theeasyessay.com/
 * Who It's For:** Easy Essay can be used at any grade level to teach students how to write essays, speeches, reports, and more.
 * What It Costs:** Free
 * Description:**

This website is like a graphic organizer deluxe. Although I still think that students need to do the (paper) graphic organizer before they get on the website, it will still be extremely useful for persuasive essays. It really lines everything out for a student and looks like it would be a extremely helpful tool for them to write their persuasive essay. It makes them put their ideas down in a very concrete way. In the past, I have not seen my students put down very concrete facts when they write these types of essays. This website seems to almost make them do that, which is good for their paper and for the one who has to grade it. I think that this is an awesome tool. (Nikole Kelty)


 * Name:** [|Google Docs for Educators]
 * URL:** http://www.google.com/educators/weeklyreader.html
 * Who It's For:** The Google Docs and Spreadsheets tool allows sharing among students at all grade levels, between students and teacher, student and parent…..
 * What It Costs:** Free
 * Description:** Google and Weekly Reader have teamed up to provide free tools and materials for educators to use to teach "digital buddy writing," in which two or more students work together from different computers to write and revise the same paper at the same time. The buddy writing lessons and activities utilize the sharing features of Google Docs and Spreadsheets, which enable teachers and students to determine who can access and edit documents. Google Docs helps promote group work and peer editing skills, and helps fulfill the stated goal of The National Council of Teachers of English, which espouses writing as a process and encourages multiple revisions and peer editing.

This website has some good aspects, but I found it hard to navigate. It had a powerpoint which showed how to help teens search the internet correctly. It gave some hassle-free tips and advice. It even had a horizontal color visual that could be printed out and laminated for students to reference when doing searches. This website had what seemed to be a really cool way to discuss literature. The only problem was that I couldn't figure out a pattern or any rhyme or reason to what they did for the different books. I looked at a book that I know my girls read and all it had was a picture of someone (I assume the author) and a map showing where the characters traveled. I'm not sure how that would exactly be good for discussion purposes. The thing I really liked was the postcard link. Basically the students would pick somewhere in town and take a picture. Then they could go to this site and get a picture of what it used to look like many years ago. Then the students could write postcards (one fromt the past to the present, and vice versa). It would be a really cool project that I can see the students really getting into. It seems to blow their minds that we haven't always had certain places that they are used to. They seem to think that everything we have now has always been here. This site was fairly hard to navigate though. (Nikole Kelty)


 * Name:** [|Google Lit Trips]
 * URL:** http://www.googlelittrips.org/
 * Who It's For:** Lit Trips are available for students in grades K-5, 6-8, 9-12, and higher ed.
 * What It Costs:** Free
 * Description:** Developed as part of the Google Certified Teachers program by veteran high-school English teacher Jerome Burg, “this site is an experiment in teaching great literature in a very different way. Using Google Earth [and great literature,] students discover where in the world the greatest road trip stories of all time took place... and so much more!"

This is such a great idea. Kids can see where events in novels take place or see where authors lived and wrote. I must say, the website is a little confusing. Although it says you can use all the way down to the primary level, I think it's probably more for upper level students. I suppose you could use it together as a class, but the only trips I saw on there were ones already created by other users. So, unless you happened to be reading a book that is highlighted in GoogleEarth, you'd have to create it yourself to show your class. If the students were to create their own LitTrips, I think junior high would be the earliest you could pull it off. I don't think my students in 6th grade would be able to navigate the site efficiently enough to make it worthwhile. -QUINN BALDWIN


 * Name:** [|Find a Story…Map a Story…Tell a Story]
 * URL:** http://www.rebooting.ca/place/
 * Who It's For:** This project is appropriate for all grades. For the lower grades, it might be done as a collaborative project; for Grades 4 and up, an independent project.
 * What It Costs:** Free
 * Description:** Find a Story... Map a Story... Tell a Story invites you to choose a story that matters to you and, using an online mapping tool such as [|Google Maps], [|Community Walk], or [|Wayfaring], create a StoryMap that will place your stories within a geographical context. Using one of those digital mapping tools, locate a geographical map from your story location, and add images, audio, and text memories to the place markers found on the mapping tool. This project will help you recover lost stories and save and share them so other can enjoy and learn from them. Completed StoryMaps will be posted on a student work page on the Find a Story... Map a Story... Tell a Story Web site.
 * Timeline:** The project is ongoing for the 2007-2008 school year. Students projects will be posted as received.

This website looks like it would be awesome for older students. I think 6th graders are not that sentimental yet and this website might not mean much. However, I would like to try it anyway and use it to go with a narrative story and to prove a point. This website has students mark certain places on a map. These places are supposed to be places that they have lived, or have meant something to them. Maybe the first place where they had a birthday party, things like that. The website then directs them to work on recovering memories and I really think a good narrative could come out of that. This might be the part that gets 6th graders. They love to tell stories, but teachers don't always have the time to listen in class. This would give a great outlet for the many story tellers in my classes. This site could easily work with World Studies and Language Arts together. You might also be able to add Math into this by having students calculate the distance between their memory spots. This website would make a great collaborative lesson plan. (Nikole Kelty)

This site is pretty cool. It would be great for a senior memory project in high school. I have to say, though, that I would definately have to enlist the help of our LMS at school in order to attempt this at middle school level. For students who are using personal narratives to map, I would encourage them to come up with a pen name to ensure that their identities are protected. I think it would be a little much for 6th grade, but I would try it with 7th & 8th graders. Perhaps this could be a fun interview project. They could interview an older family member (grandparent/parent/etc) and create a map plotting the points they discovered during their interview process. This would also be an interesting project to do in conjunction with Social Studies. They could research various historical figures and create maps for parts of their lives as well. This would be a great project to use when researching the life of any historical figure. Again, I think it might be difficult for younger students to use their own experiences, but they could use the site in a different manner and get the same concepts. (Shaila Luttrell--Pawnee)


 * Name:** [|World Wise Schools]
 * URL:** http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/correspond
 * Who It's For:** Educators teaching at any type of school (public, private, home school), at any grade level (kindergarten, middle school, high school, college), in any setting (classroom, Scout group, after-school program) can participate in the Correspondence Match program.
 * What It Costs:** Free
 * Description:** World Wise Schools matches up Peace Corps Volunteers in the field with U.S. classroom teachers for a two-year exchange of ideas, stories, pictures, and artifacts designed to help students learn about the people, geography, environment, and culture of the world from the direct experience of Volunteers living in other countries. Teachers can choose any region of the world, any kind of program (e.g., agriculture, business, education, health, environment), and even a specific volunteer. To assist in the correspondence, World Wise Schools provides participants with a handbook of ideas on how to foster an exchange that is rewarding for both students and the Volunteer. The handbook also contains all the details necessary for signing up and maintaining the correspondence relationship.


 * Name:** [|Connect with the Troops] World’s Largest and Greatest Scrapbook Project
 * URL:** http://www.connectwiththetroops.com/
 * Who It's For:** U.S. students and teachers at all grade levels
 * What It Costs:** Free
 * Description:** : In this project, sponsored by [|Connect and Join], teachers and students from across the United States create and submit hand-made scrapbook pages with special messages to the American men and women troops serving our country. Pages are then scanned and digitized, and will be archived at The Library of Congress -- Veteran's History Project. The Connect with the Troops portal offers free tools that allow teachers and students to communicate with and express support for U.S. troops or individual soldiers, while tying patriotism into the curriculum. The tools include scrapbooking instructions, as well as lesson plans and suggestions on how teachers can make an archival activity into a standards-aligned learning experience for students. Lesson plans include a virtual visit to the Library of Congress, A Road Trip visiting our nation’s monuments, the United States Flag, a Hometown Brochure activity and more.


 * Name:** [|Clover]
 * URL:** http://www.icctp.net/interact.php
 * Who It's For:** Students and Adults
 * What It Costs:** Free
 * Description:** Clover, an authoring tool developed by the IntraCultural and Cross-Cultural Teaching Portal (See below), "engages students and teachers in a technology-rich design process to construct animated narrative vignettes (simulations) that deal with school interactions. The tool leads students through the process of constructing a vignette -- writing a narrative, writing a script, sketching characters and scenes, animating scenes, and responding to vignettes created by other students….Clover executes on a PC and can be used with a digitizing pad or mouse device for drawing."


 * Name:** [|ePals Book Club]
 * URL:** http://www.epals.com/projects/book_club/
 * Who It's For:** Grades 1-12
 * What It Costs:** Free
 * Description:** ePALS Online Book Club, sponsored by Harper Collins Children's Books and Random House Children's Books, provides students from around the world the opportunity to talk about their favorite books and authors. Students can post their comments, writings, surveys, and reviews to a moderated discussion board, or share their views via e-mail. Teachers can post their own tips to the discussion board and find classrooms interested in participating in collaborative activities.

I thought this site was pretty cool! It gives students a chance to communicate with others that they otherwise would not have. It would be a fun project to have students to write reviews of the books they read, as well as respond to others. They can also write their own short stories & poetry and submit it for others to read. This is a great site for all grade levels! (Shaila Luttrell--Pawnee)


 * Name:** [|Pearl World Youth News]
 * URL:** http://www.iearn.org/pearlproject/index.html
 * Who It's For:** High-school students around the world with English proficiency and Internet access can participate.
 * What It Costs:** Free
 * Description:** In this project offered by iEarn, in collaboration with the Daniel Pearl Foundation, students complete a free online accreditation program designed to teach the ins, outs, and ethics of contemporary journalism -- covering everything "from writing leads (opening sentences) to finding sources and conducting interviews." After completing the accreditation program, students have the opportunity to become international correspondents for //PEARL World Youth News.//


 * Name:** [|BookCrossing]
 * URL:** http://www.bookcrossing.com/
 * Who It's For:** Students in grades 2-12, and adults
 * What It Costs:** Free, except for the cost of books
 * Description:** Encourage students to share the books they love -- and what they love about those books -- by participating in the BookCrossing project. Have students, individually or as a class, select a book, read it, post their comments about it at the BookCrossing Web site, and then leave the book (bearing a special BookCrossing label) in a public place for another book lover to find. The person who discovers the book is asked to read it and post his or her remarks to the Web site as well. (The entire process is anonymous.) Perhaps even more fun is the Go Hunting link, at which potential readers can search for the locations of books left in their area. Not specifically an educational project, BookCrossing can be enjoyed by students, teachers, parents, classrooms, and families.

I think that my students would all enjoy this project. It would be fun to use as a follow up activity with my 8th graders after we do literature circles with mysteries. After reading and analyzing the form and function of mysteries, it would be interesting to see how students would incorporate those ideas in their own writing. I've found that sometimes students like to get away from the standard essay or short story writing assignment and do something different. I have always had good luck with round robin activities in the past; however, I have not had students write plays before. I am curious to see how it will work! (Shaila Luttrell--Pawnee)
 * Name:** [|Playwriting in the Round: A Collaborative Playwriting Experience]
 * URL:** http://telecollaborate.net/education/pir/
 * Who It's For:** Students in grades 6-8, and 9-12
 * What It Costs:** Free
 * Description:** In this round robin playwriting activity, classes work in groups of three to produce three one-act plays. Each week, each class writes one scene of a one-act mystery play and then passes the developing play on to the next class in the group. At the end of six weeks, each class will have co-written three plays it can perform, critique, and share with others! An online expert is available to conference with students about playwriting terms, challenges, and ideas.


 * Name:** [|Power Proofreading]
 * URL:** http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/k_5/proofread
 * Who It's For:** Grades 2-8
 * What It Costs:** Free
 * Description:** Improve students' proofing skills and knowledge of grammar with this fun and easy-to-use site. After a short animated video introduces Power Proofreading, students click the folder for their grade level and select a passage to proof. Each passage's errors focus on a specific skill, so why not preview the passages before class, and pick out the ones you want your class to practice based on your current grammar unit? Then, students simply click to delete, add, or edit as needed to correct grammatical and spelling mistakes. Unlike sites that have students correct grammar in a sentence or by question and answer format, this is one of the few at which students work within a paragraph, a valuable skill for success in standardized testing. Kids need more practice? Try some of Education World's [|Every-Day Edits].


 * Name:** [|ThinkTank]
 * URL:** [|http://thinktank.4teachers.org]
 * Who It's For:** Grades 3-8
 * What It Costs:** Free
 * Description:** Do your students struggle to break down a research topic into manageable subtopics? ThinkTank, a free tool from 4Teachers, helps students organize and refine a topic for research. Students click through six easy steps during which they define their topic, list several subtopics, and print a research organizer in outline form. ThinkTank is a great starting point for research for any major project, such as a biographical report, Science Fair, or unit project. Additionally, students can send their organizers to [|NoteStar], a free online note-taking interactivity from 4Teachers, making it even easier to accurately and quickly research any topic.

Again, another site with great cross-curriculum activities. What I like about this project is that it uses a literary piece I already use with my 6th graders and connects it to other content areas in ways that I had not thought about before. This project offers the perfect opportunity for research. I also found a connection to a more general class that I teach (6th grade Communication Skills) in which students would perform a skit centered around the same concepts they would be working with in their core content areas. (Shaila Luttrell--Pawnee)
 * Name:** Education World
 * URL:** http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson107.shtml
 * Who It's For:** Can be adapted for different level (middle level)
 * What It Costs:** Free
 * Description:** Education World is offering a lesson plan that collaborates all the subjects and centers the subjects around baseball. Many students love baseball and this particular website can transfer the love of baseball into Language Arts, Math, Science, and World Studies. There are many activities, quizzes, and other resources available on this site and the best part is, is that it is not limited to a certain subject. It does lean toward Language Arts, but offers much more than that. (Nikole Kelty)


 * Name:** Education World
 * URL:** http://www.learnnc.org/lp/external/Readwritethink2006062138
 * Who It's For:** 6th grade
 * What It Costs:** Free
 * Description:** This website is about encouraging critical thinking through questions about baseball. I know this sounds weird, but it has some great ideas. This website gives you a baseball story (children's story, I believe) and has you and the students take it to a much deeper level. The students will practice their internet searching skills, drawn on their own ideas and experiences, use their grammar and writing skills, and respond to various forms of writing (their own and others). The final product will be a thought-provoking game that most students will enjoy. (Nikole Kelty)