A TRIO OF SOFTWARE TITLES TURNS COMPUTERS INTO WRITING WORKSHOPS

East Dorset, VT. February 27, 2002 - Teachers in classrooms everywhere face the daily challenge of getting their students to write.  Making writing assignments enjoyable can be difficult, but bringing fun into the process is the best way to help kids put their thoughts on paper…or on the computer screen!  Three software titles, Young Writers’ Workshop, Writers’ Workshop, and Writing Focus provide students with the media and the motivation they need to get going on fun projects in the genres of journalism, fiction, and nonfiction.

Young Writers’ Workshop

Elementary and middle school students will find a myriad of inspiring writing assignments in the colorful screens of Young Writers’ Workshop.  From stories and plays to advertisements, magazine articles, and photo captions, there is always a lot to choose from.  A bank of media including photographs and videos gives kids something to begin with each time they decide to accept an assignment.  They can create their own scripts and then record them through a microphone, or conduct an interview with a friend.  Nothing gets words flowing from fingertips like the Photo Fit activity, where kids click to create goofy faces and then type in a notebook to describe each unique character.  What are the hobbies of a purple-polka dotted girl or a man wearing a swimming cap and goggles?  You’ve never seen kids so eager to write as they are when their characters take shape on the screen. 

Helpful tips are always available for students as they create their projects. Simply clicking on “Study Points” produces a list of ideas and reminders about skills such as using descriptive language, writing concisely, and capturing readers’ attention.  When they are satisfied with their written work, students can easily publish their projects as web pages, so that the creations of the whole class can be posted on the internet for proud parents to see!  Young Writers’ Workshop can be run in English, French, Spanish, or German, making it a great addition to foreign language curriculums as well as language arts classes or computer lab sessions.

Writers’ Workshop

The Electronic Newsroom  and the Scripting Studio are ideal places for middle and high school students to further develop their writing skills.  More media banks provide material for feature articles, profiles, autobiographies, news broadcasts, and more.  Young journalists are commissioned to write articles about topics such as global warming, and can make the decision to accept each assignment or search for another one.  Other activities help students create story boards, radio scripts, interviews, and biographical profiles.  Whether they’re recording a sound byte, or writing a magazine feature article, Writers’ Workshop provides all the tools students need to sharpen factual and descriptive writing skills. 

As with Young Writers’ Workshop, this program can run in English, French, Spanish, or German at the click of the mouse.  Study points guide students throughout each activity, making this Writers’ Workshop instructive as well as incredibly fun.  

Writing Focus

Excerpts from classic and modern literature inspire all sorts of creative writing for elementary and middle school students using Writing Focus.  A bank of words, pictures, and examples sits on the screen, so that simply clicking on them inserts them into the composition area.  Blank spaces soon become filled with stories, poems, journal entries, biographies, and even comic strips.  Examples from literature give students models to follow as they begin.  Build an island scene using pictures of palm trees, ships, and characters, and then write an adventure story to go along with it.  Compose poems in the shape of an umbrella or other graphics provided by the program.  After writing script, students can record voice-overs for the characters in their stories, making them come alive.

Full speech support means that all text can be narrated, a feature that facilitates writing for younger students and those with language disabilities.  Teachers will appreciate all the support material, including overviews of each activity and discussion, research, and writing points.  With the nine activities in Writing Focus and the many opportunities for writing in Young Writers’ Workshop and Writers’ Workshop, students will no longer look upon writing as a task, but rather as a process through which their imaginations and skills can flourish.  And that is the kind of news teachers will want to write home about!

Minimum System Requirements

Young Writers’ Workshop: PC: Pentium, 16 MB RAM, 256 color 640x480, Win 3.11+, 4X CD, mouse, sound card

Writers’ Workshop: PC:  Pentium, 16 MB RAM, 256 color 640x480 , Win 3.11+, 4X CD, mouse, sound card

Writing Focus: PC: Pentium 133, Win 95, 16 MB RAM  Mac: System 7.1, 68040, 8 MB RAM

To Order

Single unit price for each title is $69.95.

To order toll free from the US or Canada call (800) 220-8386
Fax your order to (802) 375-6860
Email your order to orders@toolfactory.com

Printable order forms are available at www.toolfactory.com

About Tool Factory, Inc.

Tool Factory conducted an exhaustive search for unique educational software in various markets around the globe. Their flagship product line consists of 17 educational software tools, which were hand-picked for their innovative contribution to computer-based learning.  To complement the tools and applications, Tool Factory is also distributing an extensive range of curriculum titles throughout North America. Their first catalog includes over 100 CD-ROM products, most of which are new releases in North America. For press inquiries, please contact Kendra Ericson at kendra@toolfactory.com Tool Factory, Inc. 3336 Sunderland Hill Rd, Sunderland, Vermont 05250, USA.