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We know who you are. You're a poet, a writer, the student in the class who can tell the difference between a simile and a metaphor. You scribble down ideas on napkins, keep a journal, write short stories — just for the fun of it. Now there's a Web site where you can learn from other teen writers, get great advice, and showcase your work. Best of all, it's FREE!

Sponsored by Scholastic's SCOPE magazine, Write It is run by students just like you who share a love of the written word.

Critics' Picks

POETRY

Houses Stand Silent

by Annalise Torczon

age 12

I went through the devastated parts of New Orleans and saw a lot of the houses. I just wrote what I saw. I went through these places at night, and there was a very depressed atmosphere to them.

Editor's Comments: in this lyric poem, Annalise paints a vivid picture of the destruction she witnessed in New Orleans.

The houses stand in silence and disrepair
Tombstones over the residents who once lived there
Levees exploding while they slept in their beds
Engulfed in a nightmare, buried alive, now dead

Wind whistles through open doors and windows
Cracked mud caked on floors and porches
Where children once played with their blocks and toy horses
Now black with mold, oil and disease
The stench burns my nose and eyes as I sneeze

A starving dog scrounging for a meal
Shriveled to bones, no master to heal
A lone bird sings, with no answer from its mate
An alligator impaled on an iron gate

Gone is the music drifting in the fog
No saxophone’s wailing, no steamboat horns hailing
All I hear now is desperation, forlorn people scattered all over the nation
We’re told to have hope, all will be well
In this barren wasteland, an empty shell.

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Differentiating Assessment in the Writing Workshop

This resource is for teachers who need fast, efficient ongoing assessment to reach all of their primary writers. The authors provide strategies for streamlining conferences, pinpointing students' strengths and needs, and teaching to help students meet grade-level language arts goals. CD includes 30+ fill-in assessment checklists and conference record sheets to help keep data organized and accessible-and make student progress easy to present to administrators and parents. For use with Grades KÐ2.

$19.99 You save: 20%
books;teaching resources | Ages 9-12

Differentiating Assessment in the Writing Workshop

Ages 9-12 $19.99

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Franklin Watts Prep: Extraordinary Poetry Writing

by Margaret Ryan

Help kids unleash their creative genius with F.W Prep, the how-to series filled with cool activities, innovative strategies, and multimedia approaches designed to stimulate out-of-the box thinking and help 'tweens and teens' find their own extraordinary "voice" as they master language arts skills they'll use all through school and life.

$9.95
books;paperback books;paperbacks | Ages 13 and Up

Franklin Watts Prep: Extraordinary Poetry Writing

Ages 13 and Up $9.95

LESSON PLAN	Poetry In Motion Practice reading comprehension; identify synonyms, antonyms, and idioms; write poetry, california

UNIT PLAN	The New and Improved "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" Introduces a lesson unit enaging students in sharing about themselves, their families, and their summer vacations through a mock museum exhibit.

ONLINE ACTIVITY	Home \| Write It Write It is the premiere site for kids' and teens' writing instruction and online publishing. In genres like poetry, essays, short fiction,...