Google Earth

The following virtual tour can be used in two ways.  First, it can be used like a "scavenger hunt" for students to learn various information about the various American authors that they will be reading.  Second, it can be an assignment for students to create a tour with information in which they can report about their favorite American authors. 
Creating the tour was fairly easy and a great way for students to self study about various authors.

Here is the link to my sample tour:

http://homepages.bw.edu/~jhitsman10/americanwriters.kmz

Web 2.0

The following assignment was created using bookr, a web 2.0 tool.  7th grade students will have just completed reading the book Journey of the Sparrows.  Without fail, the students are usually disappointed by the ending of the book.  They usually want the "loose ends" tied together.  With bookr, students will create their own sequel to the book.  They would be required to write more than what I created as a visual sample for them.
I really like this tool.  However, I had some difficulty trying to incorporate my own photos as an option.  I had to use photos that were already provided by flickr.  I think the assignment could be further enhanced by having the students work on this in groups and actually taking their own photos to upload for the pages.