HiSET Test - this is the official site of the HiSET test, which is the official High School Equivalency test in Massachusetts. This link will bring you directly to the section that is designed for test takers. You will be able to create your own personal HiSet account and access it at any time. You will be able to locate HiSet test centers and schedule yourself to take the tests. You will also find information about the content of the test as well as access both free and paid practice tests. NEW Jan 2016
English Composition - Hippocampus site provides this set of Engllish Compostion resources from Dallas Learning Solutions. The resource includes many interesting topics on writing divided into units such as Exploring the Topic, Observing Details, The Elements of Argument, and Refining a Thesis. Includes presentations and simulations. NEW Sep 2013
Five Paragraph Essay Wizard - Covering format, drill, writing prompts, tips on technique, evaluations, revisions, getting started -- you name it, it's here. All you need to develop an excellent module for writing essays in middle and high school.
Principals of Composition - an entire Web site for writers in English composition courses — featuring handouts on Getting Started, Structure, Tone, Transitions, Editing, Logic, Formats, Rhetorical Patterns, Argumentative Essays, Research Papers, and more accompanied by an abundance of successful sample essays.
Writing Prompts and Journal Topics - What is the best advice you ever received? What would happen if there were no television? What is the worst thing parents can do to their children? How about the best? These are just a few prompts off the lineup at this site, perfect for middle to high school starters.
Speeches - archive of many famous speeches provided by the History Place website. Allows students and teachers to view, print and analyze a wide range of speeches to determine the elements which are characteristic of those writing styles which are intended for oral delivery, and make speeches such powerful form of communication.
American Rhetoric Online Speech Bank - another collection which includes many of the most significant speeches in American history. Many speeches include video of the original speech delivery along with the text. Speeches may be printed, studied, and analyzed by language classes. There is also a special section for movie speeches.
Guide to Writing a Basic Essay - this website provide simple steps to follow which will result in the your essay almost writing itself. The steps include deciding on your topic, preparing an outline, writing your thesis statement, body, introduction and conclusion, and then adding finishing touches.
Online Writing Lab (OWL) - this is Purdue Univerity's writing page. It includes a large collection of writing topics.
MCAS (2012) Test Items - MCAS released test items for all grades and subjects provide teachers and students with a wealth of practice exercises of sufficient difficulty and problem solving intensity for use in class and homework. The previous released MCAS test items are also available below by year.
MCAS (2011) MCAS (2010) MCAS (2009) MCAS (2008) MCAS (2007) NEW Feb 2013
Paradigm: Online Writing Assistant - an interactive, menu-driven, online writer's guide and handbook written in HTML and distributed freely over the WWW. Paradigm is intended to be useful for all writers, from inexperienced to advanced. To get the most from the website, take time to explore its components.
Elements of Style - this online version of William Strunk's classic reference book is a must-have for any student and conscientious writer.
Roget's Internet Thesaurus - looking for that synonym of antonym? Here's the online version of Roget's Thesaurus, with many other features added--writing resources, word of the day, daily crosswords, and more.
The Biography Maker - takes you step-by-step through the stages of recreating a person's life, while at the same time insuring it is fascinating to the reader. Use the Biography Maker to either create imaginary characters, or interview and extend a character from a story you have just studied.
Essay Instructions - as well as writing process instructions, students will find clear steps for writing various kinds of essays.
GED Connections - allows you to access streaming video lessons from PBS Literacy Links including GED Connections, Pre-GED Connections and Workplace Essential Skills. All three video series include Mathematics videos. Learners can easily access videos at home on a computer, tablet or smart phone or anywhere there is a connection. These videos are free to all MA residents. NEW Feb 2013
The Writing Project - this is a link to a section of The Competitive Edge web site that is devoted to improving your writing skills. There you will find information about writing contests, prompts to help you develop ideas for you writing projects, information about how to publish your writing, and tips for good writing practices.
Graphic Organizers - graphic organizers help you to structure your writing so that accomplishes its goal. This page includes several examples of various graphic organizers that you will find useful.
Six Trait Analytic Writing Model - this student writing handbook found on Kim's Korner for Teacher Talk is divided into sections for each of the six traits of content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and writing conventions. There an also an additional section on revising and editing. Each section includes a useful rubric to help students analyze their writing. GED student should note the section on organization.
Rhyming Dictionary and Thesaurus - for those interested in writing poetry and other forms of writing, this is a great tool. Just type in a word and the program will create a huge list of single syllable words and multiple syllable words and phrase that rhyme with this word. You may also select a wide range of other searches based on your word including synonyms, antonyms and the like.