Scribes Little book Cover

An Overview of Scribes Online

There are three components to the Scribes Online series - the teacher edition, the student books and our writing web site. Each component is tightly woven with the other. The most unique aspect of our project is the Scribes Online web site. We will be sending the students there frequently to accomplish activities as they write.Our site on the Internet is a collection of web pages and web tools that are woven into the writing and story development process from page one. The web tools include:

A collaborate discussion area or chat tool
A database that allows us to store and use information stored on work sheets
A comprehensive collection of web pages that point to great writing sites
Reference pages and safe search engines for conducting net research
A white board or projection area where student can work on their projects interactively

We expect that many, if not most, of you are new to the Internet. Dare we say that many of you are fearful of using the technology? We will be giving easy step by step directions. If you are a veteran Internet user, we promise to add to your repertoire of Net skills while making it easy for you to jump over instructions you do not need in the book.

Our Goals

We have three major goals for Scribes Online series.

First we want to introduce you to the magic of teaching inside an electronic writing space.
Second, we want to help you integrate the Internet into the curriculum and especially into the writing process.
Third, we want to help you use the Internet to extend the writing process to other content areas as you also teach writing across the curriculum

The Technology Gap

We also will try to be sensitive to the wide range of technological sophistication in the classroom. We expect that some of you are working in radically different types of technological environments:

No Computers or Internet Access at School -- You have no computers and no modems in your school but you have a computer, modem and Internet access at home.
A Computer at School without Internet Access -- You have one computer, no modem and no television/computer hookup in the school but teacher has computer, modem and Internet access at home.
Internet Access at School but no Way to Show the Class - You have one computer, one modem in the school but no television/computer hookup.
A Complete Internet Teaching Station (ITS) at School - You have one computer, modem, printer and television hookup in the classroom.
Multiple Computers in Your Classroom AND at least one ITS.
A LAN, ITS, Intranet and Internet access via modem.
A LAN, ITS, Intranet and Internet Access via High Speed Connection. We will try to address all these scenarios as we work through the writing process.

The 21st Century Classroom

While technological growth in schools has grown at an uneven pace, we do believe that teachers must prepare for a new type of classroom in the 21st century- a classroom that is closely tethered to the Internet. Though we place a strong emphasis on collaborative learning in the classroom with minimal computer connectivity, we will place an even stronger emphasis on preparing you and your students for the future when it will become commonplace to conduct research, collaborate and write online. Most importantly, we want to offer you a glimpse of the learning environment available to you when you and your student venture inside an electronic teaching space. Our primary goal is to help you begin to understand how the Internet can transform the learning and writing experience in the classroom.