Some Serious Internet Resources for Young Writers and their Teachers


1. Teachers & Writers Collaborative
http://www.twc.org/tmmain.htm

This site includes various services and resources, including WriteNet (various online writing forums, with a section on Student Issues and Student Writing), Publications, Online Residency, and much more.

The publications offered by T&W are a gold mine.  These are very practical, effective books, based on real-world experience.  There are so many, and they are so good and specific, you must go there and browse.  This site is good for both students and teachers, and evolved from the early days of the various writers-in-the-schools programs.

Specific books for secondary school students (middle school and high school) include: Secret Writing: Keys to the Mysteries of Reading and Writing, by Peter Sears (for high school students of all abilities); Sweet Illusions: A Young Adult Novel, by Walter Dean Myers (this is a novel, but it also has writing ideas as part of its presentation); The Art of Science Writing, by Dale Worsley & Bernadette Mayer (for secondary school science and English teachers and anyone interested in learning to write about science).  This site also has offerings for elementary school levels, for writing of all kinds, and for teaching creative writing.

The site also offers some specific ethnic teaching considerations and solutions, as in the books Luna, Luna: Creative Writing Ideas from Spanish, Latin American, and Latino Literature, edited by Julio Marzán, and Sing the Sun Up: Creative Writing Ideas from African American Literature, edited by Lorenzo Thomas. 

T&W offers books on all sorts of creative writing subjects.  But there are also some offerings on various other harder to discuss special situations, such as working with difficult students, as in I Won't Learn from You! And Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment, by Herbert Kohl.


2. Poets and Writers
http://www.pw.org

This site speaks for itself, and is first-rate.  It includes information on Poets and Writers Magazine, Publishing Advice, Contests, Directory of Writers, Bookstore, Grants and Awards, Literary Links, News from the Writing World, Trivia, Literary Classifieds, Great Resources, and much more.

While this site is more geared to adults interested n the profession, it does have some other offerings of interest for students.  Among the resources offered for younger writers is, for example, The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers, by John Gardner.

This is a great and necessary site for anyone serious about pursuing writing.


3. Creative Writing for Kids
http://kidswriting.about.com/mlibrary.htm

This is a collection of internet resources and links for young authors.  This includes technical help links and leads on where young writers might go to get published.


4. Escritura Creativa
http://home.coqui.net/sendero/   and   http://members.tripod.com/bolet/

These are sites on creative writing in Spanish for kids.


5. The following are some useful additional resources.

Roget's Thesaurus
http://www.thesaurus.com/

Rhyming Dictionary
http://www.link.cs.cmu.edu/dougb/rhyme-doc.html

Bartlett's Dictionary of Quotations
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/bartlett/

The Quotations Page
http://www.starlingtech.com/quotes/

Alta Vista Translator
http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate?

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