Authentic Writing Projects Jennifer Duarte & Tiffany Trujillo

ePals.com Internet pen pals from around the world. Teachers match classes up based on the desired type of communication (group projects, culture, global warming). Some teachers Skype their classes (video conferencing). Level of Monitor is determined by teacher.

Holiday Letter * Summarize their year *Mail it to a person of their choice

Book Report vs. Book Review Stand Up! Hand Up! Pair Up! Rally Robin What are the similarities and differences between the two? Report out to whole group

Amazon Book Reviews 1. Previewed the site. A. Our purpose was to show students how adult readers look for books and talk about the books that they have read.

Sample Reviews from Site 106 of 126 people found the following review helpful: Don't waste your money..., May 6, 2007 A Kid's Review There are SO many things I dislike about this book. One, am I suposed to LIKE these people or something? Um, vampires that sparkle? I think the characters are very poorly developed, and 300+ pages of the book was Bella swooning over Edward and him saving her from everything under the sun. Secondly, if they'd only known each other a few months, isn't it a little weird that they fall madly in love all of a sudden? It would probably take much longer than that! And out main character is supposed to be "soooo smart," yet she acts like a complete idiot. Plus, I couldn't relate to her at all. And the endless descriptions of Edward's perfect eyes, perfect hair, voice, etc. get very tiring throughout the book. I think they used the word "grimace" about 10 thimes in each chapter, that's how irritating it is, and I'm serious! Mostly the whole story is Edward and Bella talking about how much they "love" each other. For some reason, even though Bella faints at the sight of blood, she isn't bothered at all by the fact that partially the reason Edward likes her is because he wants her blood. That really bugged me, too. Don't waste your money. If you want a good vampire book, read Bram Stoker's Dracula...or if you want horror, read The Phantom of the Opera. I like the characters and the storyline much better in that one! But DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON TWILIGHT. 23 of 27 people found the following review helpful: Lighten up, December 6, 2008 By Bookish grandmaBookish grandma (Annapolis, MD) - See all my reviewsews Please, peoplePlease, people, just lighten up. It's just a book-a chick book, of course, but it's just a book.I read everything, although I usually prefer non-fiction- current affairs and biographies mainly. When a good friend recommended Twilight to me, I grudgingly took it home thinking I'd read 10 pages, then quit out of boredom. Wrong, I was unable to put it down until I finished it 24 hours later, then promptly read the next 3. I was hooked on the story -I really wanted to know what happened to Bella and Edward. It was an intriguing story line, although I agree it should have been better edited. What's wrong with a little fantasy and romance once in a while? Isn't that what beach reads are for? (And by the way, I'm well-educated, a professional, and a grandmother of three.)

Students Analyzed Elements 1. In groups, students highlighted elements of sample book reviews looking for: opinions, descriptive words, plot, who should read this book, and book quotes.

PowerPoint Presentation The full presentation can be seen and downloaded at slideboom.com/people /ellclassroom

Rubric Creation 1. As a class, we created a book review rubric based on the components we highlighted. 2. The students decided that we needed to add some additional components to our rubric, so we created some optional categories.

Sample Rubric

Initial Book Review Students wrote a first book review copy based on the rubric. They self-edited. I edited. We went to the computer lab to type our reviews and posted them online. They then evaluated themselves using the rubric.

Ning * Social community site. * Can be open or closed. * Can be monitored. * An excellent interdisciplinary tool for the 21st Century.

Ning.com

Contact Information: Jennifer Duarte j ellclassroom.wordpress.com twitter.com/ellclassroom slideboom.com/people/ellclassroom Tiffany Trujillo