"The Monster Exchange", "Middle School Homework Web Page", "Journey North", and "Postcards from Around the World" are titles of Internet projects being conducted by teachers and students alike as they begin to realize the many values of "surfing the net". Some projects are part of national/internationally established ideas, others are teacher created at a local building or district level, while still others represent the hard work of
talented and concerned students.
The Internet can be used in numerous interesting ways to enhance and promote teaching and learning. Teachers can productively incorporate the Internet into their literacy curriculum by first becoming familiar with the range of resources it provides. In this article Dr. Ken Weiss, Director of Reading Education at Nazareth College of Rochester, NY and Dr. Catherine Kurkjian at Central Connecticut State University address Internet Projects, and student-created web pages as key resources for enhancing language and literacy learning.

What are Internet Projects?
While Internet projects take on a wide array of designs with varying components, they usually involve collaboration with another classroom on a common topic or activity. In some projects, students may contribute and exchange information, data, and/or stories to a common website. Data is sometimes compared and classrooms may discuss findings with one another (Leu & Diadiun Leu, 1999).
Other types of projects may include electronic publishing and interactivity such as online discussions with experts in various fields of study. Still, other projects make use of electronic mail in which individuals or groups converse, share with one another, and/or engage in problem solving activities (Heide & Stilborne, 1996). Some projects are established, ones that are "tried and true" and can be located at existing sites on the Internet. These permanent projects usually provide extensive guidelines and resources for participation and can help an Internet novice to "get her feet wet".
On the other hand, a spontaneous project is a teacher-initiated project in which a teacher designs a learning experience, and puts out a call for collaboration to other classrooms on the Internet (Leu & Diadiun Leu, 1999). Developing a teacher-initiated project requires designing a unit, establishing learning outcomes, specifying tasks, setting realistic timelines, and deciding on teaching and learning strategies in consideration of Internet availability (Heide & Stilborne, 1996).
Three Internet sites providing tutorials and guidelines for participation in Internet Projects are:
Getting Started on the Internet: Simple Projects!
http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr032.shtml

Planning Internet Projects: Guidance for Beginners Designing Online Projects
http://www.7-12educators.minigco

Tips for Participating in Internet Classroom Projects
http://www.ket.org/Education/IN/tips.html

Central sites with links for posting calls for collaboration and for reviewing and registering established projects are:
Projects on the Net
http://www.setmms.tusd.k12az.us/Title_III/lists.html

Global SchoolNet's Internet Project Registry
http://www.gsn.org/pr/index.html

Taking the Internet Journey
We asked several teachers and students we knew were already involved in using the Internet for projects and/or websites to help us describe their project and what works and what does not. Their enthusiasm for what they discovered is encouraging and contagious. We hope that you will find these sites to be of interest and that they stimulate you to think of ways to involve yourself and your students in similar projects.
The Monster Exchange Project
(http://www.win4edu.com/minds-eye/monster)

He had a nasty grin on his face and when he grinned you could see all of his sharp teeth. He had eight hands and four arms; two hands on the end of each arm. He had a spiky nose and razor sharp horns that went up and switched left and right. His shirt had all kinds of colors like red, green, yellow, black, and blue. He had the most interesting eyebrows because they were attached and they looked like a Z. He had three legs and spikes on them. The middle leg had spikes all over it. He came towards me and jumped, and it was all a dream.

This vivid description of a rather nasty monster was written by Alex, a
third grade student in Mrs. Rodbourn's class at Regional School District #17
Haddam-Killingworth in Killingworth, Connecticut. Alex and his classmates are in the midst of participating in an Internet Monster Exchange Project, in
which they will "buddy up" with another class via the Internet to trade
descriptions and drawings of monsters they've created.
This project requires that each student draw an original monster and write an elaborated description of it, moving through the entire writing process. After exchanging descriptions with their across school buddies, students are asked to draw monsters based solely on their partner's description. Descriptions and original illustrations are compared. Each student's original drawing, elaborated description of it, and partner drawing are then published on the World Wide Web in the Mind's Eye Monster Gallery. Brian Maguire developed the Mind's Eye Project Writing Process Flow Chart outlining the steps in the process.

Insert Flow Chart here
In preparation for participation in this online project, Mrs. Rodbourn has partnered her students with each other for a dry run. She explains that this project fits nicely into her writing process curriculum in that it encourages planning and revision. Mrs. Rodbourn cites some of the benefits of the project:
Students learn to use descriptive words and language and to be precise intheir writing. They are able to share their work with a different audience, not just their classmates and parents. They get to see how effective their descriptions are based on another student's interpretation.
In an interview with Alex and Cassie, two of Mrs. Rodbourn's third graders, they indicated that while they found the rewriting of their description to be a lot of work, they would recommend the project to teachers. They especially loved the idea of designing their own monster. Cassie described the process she engaged in when designing her monster:
I just like to scribble around until it looks like something and I just add eyes and nose and put a diaper on it. I drew a weird shape like an ork and then I turned it into something else.

The children also cited how the project benefited them as readers and
writers. Alex said that he learned about the importance of correct spelling.
He talked about how difficult it was to read his classmates' work when words
were spelled incorrectly. Cassie talked about the importance of using detail
and description:

You learned that if someone else's picture looks completely different from yours and you have given them the description then you should add more description and detail and maybe have them draw it again. It taught us that if you do not give enough description then people won't be able to draw the exact thing that you wanted them to.

The Monster Exchange Project is an established Project which provides
teachers and their students with opportunities to work collaboratively with
another classroom on a common project. When you visit the Monster Exchange site you will find guidelines for participation, a time line, flow charts, lesson plans, and other resources.
"Electronic Postcards"
This is a teacher-created project used in Dan Stone's 5th grade class at the Sodus Intermediate School in Sodus, New York. Dan and a group of teachers have been sending electronic greeting cards about their district to everyone and decided that it would be interesting to involve their students, as well. The teachers and students access the Internet website for electronic greeting cards (http://www.BlueMountain.com). Dan selected a greeting card for himself and then gave each of the students three addresses of friends of his who are also teachers. Dan wanted his students to send the cards to someone besides their e-mail penpals, and so he gave them the opportunity to send cards to friends for whom they had addresses.
The students were glued to the computers in the school computer lab for over an hour doing this! They were able to select from a variety of cards and could then design or create any message they wanted for the person they chose to send it to. On one particular day the students came in with their friends' addresses written down, wanting to send cards to them.
What Dan and other teachers have discovered is that this form of electronic mail is quickly becoming the "buzz" of the district's middle school. Other teachers, caught up in the students' enthusiasm, have been visiting Dan on a regular basis to learn more about this project.
Dan notes that it has been a great experience for everyone involved. He uses the postcards as part of his overall writing process in class. Students must carefully plan out what they wish to say, how to convey messages, how to decide on style and to whom they will send cards. This project can easily be adapted to almost any grade level and for multiple purposes. Sending cards to school around the country or the world would provide enrichment opportunities for all students.

"Journey North" (http://www.learner.org/jnorth/spring1999/species/index.html)

Jane Miller and her 6th grade students began this far-reaching project that tracks the migration of several birds, whales and other animals. The Journey North Project also reports on signs of spring (tulips, maple sugaring, leaf outs). Beginning on Groundhog Day each year sightings, observations and other relevant data are shared on a regular basis through Internet postings. Some of the sightings are observation reports sent back by research vessels. Along with reporting when and where migrating animals are seen, comments are made about how this information relates to other years and if there has been any unusual behaviors noted. There is a challenge question for students to try to answer and an "ask the expert" section, as well.
Jane and her students tracked the migration of various types of whales. In doing so, she got her students (ten 6th graders with whom she works on a pull-out basis for reading and writing skills) involved in developing their skills in using the computer, researching, reading for information, summarizing, and sharing that information. Since her students had talked a lot about latitude and longitude in both science and social studies classes, Jane felt that locating the given locations on a classroom map would be useful.
Students were divided into groups and were assigned to a
particular whale to study. The groups' responsibility was to access the website and print it out. They then took the reports back to their classroom to carefully read and study. Each group would mark their whales' sighting on the map and orally share interesting information that they had learned.
Jane explains that neither she nor her students had trouble accessing the site nor staying on it. The project was a great success, according to Jane, because it worked on so many levels. It combined computer literacy skills with reading and writing to access and share information. It was a connection to the "real" world of science, as opposed to merely reading about how research was conducted.
On the downside, she noted that some of the reports from the site were a bit wordy for some of her students that struggled with reading. The language could also be difficult to follow at times. Nonetheless, her students reported that they were very excited to be using the computer. They liked being aware of the current standing of the whale migration.
Jane indicated that the project changed her instruction by involving the students in the actual process of tracking whale migration. The students were not just reading that whales migrated from their winter home to their summer feeding grounds. Rather, her students were able to "watch" it happen. Her students were not just talking about how research is done, they were doing it. When the whales exhibited unpredictable behavior, the students were asked to think about possible reasons for these changes. The next week the online "experts" would give students their own thoughts on the matter.
Students' enthusiasm was noted by their constant requests for time on the Internet. Other students, who were not part of this group also wanted to know more and wanted to have access to the site. Jane shared that this project captivated the interest of her colleagues as well as administators.

"A Homework Web Page"
http://www.house4.simplenet.com

Sometimes the best thought out projects for the Internet are those created and developed by students themselves. Perceiving a need for middle school classmates to have someplace to check on the homework assigned for the day, Rich and Matt, two students at Pittsford Middle School, Pittsford, NY,
approached teachers about creating a website that could be used by students
who were out sick, who left their assignment books in school, and/or any other reason that could be dreamed up by middle school students.
Rich and Matt approached the building administrator and asked for their financial assistance to help fund an original project to help students with their homework. As a result, a simplenet account was established from the school, and Rich and Matt went about designing a web page using Microsoft's Fontpage program.
Problems arose with establishing a connection with the simplenet server from the school server, thus not allowing the updating of the web page from the school. This was resolved by requesting an additional account on the school's server for the separate homework pages that need to be updated on a daily basis.
Their web page looks like this:

Students may access their "house team" (6-4, 7-4, 8-4) and get to the
subject area where they need to see the assignments and house team information (coming events, notices) quickly and reliably.
Rich and Matt took the idea to the house teachers and requested that they cooperate and make the assignments available to the web page. Rich and Matt have taken on the job of training student volunteers at the three grade levels to learn how to update the assignments on a daily basis.
Students from the school have been thrilled with this idea and parents no longer wonder what assignments might be missing when their children are out sick or just "simply forget to take things out of the locker".
Conclusion
It is our strong belief that Internet Projects and web pages are another
vital link to student and teacher learning. The pieces described here are
merely a few of the many wonderful things teachers and their students are
doing on the web. We invite readers to let us know about projects you and
your students might be engaging in as we all take the new journey on the
Internet.
References
Leu, D.J. & Leu, D.D. (1997, 1999). Teaching with the Internet: Lessons from the classroom. MA: Christopher Gordon Publishers, Inc.

Heide, A. * Stilborne, L. (1996). The teacher's complete & easy guide to the Internet. Ontario, Canada: Trifolium Books, Inc.

Macguire, B. available FTP: www.win4edu.com/minds-eye/monster