Read this enlightening interview on how a high school teacher enlivened student writing, and rethought his approach to teaching writing in schools. The skills addressed in these approaches to writing directly address Technology Applications:TEKS for grades 6-8, especially:

Design, develop, publish, and present products using technology resources that demonstrate and communicate curriculum concepts.

Here is an excerpt about the power of technology to facilitate student communication--aligned to the Technology Applications:TEKS as required--over print publications:

VT: Why did you put your students online?
Bud: I got tired of students writing wonderful things that only I got to read. So a year and a half ago I piloted the use of blogs as an education tool. I'm interested in finding audiences for the work that my students do, to motivate them so their writing becomes as authentic as they can make it. For example, our school newspaper is a blog -- entirely online. We don't put out a print publication.

VT: No printed school paper?
Bud: One of my frustrations with a print publication at the high school level is that it's a monthly publication. So by the time it gets published, the news is two to three weeks old. You can look at it but it's not something you can build community or conversation around. I like that our online newspaper is really interactive. You can comment on stories, link to other places, and we also publish audio and video. [Check out www.oldeschoolnews.com]

VT: How have students reacted to the online newspaper?
Bud: We have about 100 students in our school. I used to print 80 to 100 copies of the school newspaper and throw away 30 to 50 of them a month. Now we have about 4,000 visitors to our site every month from around the world. One of my favorite things is showing my students the statistics from the site and say, hey, look at where people are coming to us from. They realize very quickly that their writing is part of a larger fabric, and that's huge.