OVERVIEW

Activity Overview:

Introduce your students to shared document norms while also identifying main ideas and text structures.

Meta description

• Subject Area: Computer Science, Reading/Language Arts, Technology
• Grade Level : 3-5
• Computer Science Domains:
  • Impacts of Computing
• Computer Science Principles:
  • Fostering an Inclusive Computing Culture, Collaborating Around Computing
• Materials:
  • Website
• Considerations:
  • Prerequisite knowledge: Students need some familiarity with how to find the main idea and how to identify text structure in a nonfiction text to be the most successful in this lesson. It also is helpful if students have practiced how to get into Google Drive and locate shared documents.

Notes for Educators: Before doing the introduction please make sure you have read a text that will lend itself to finding the main idea and text structure.

Background for Handout 6A: Handout 6A by Great Minds Wit and Wisdom is given into two parts. Part one goes over identifying text structures and its features. Within a small group, students complete part 1 by reading small excerpts from the text of We Are the Ship and then identify the text structure by a matching activity. Then you can go over this whole group and students justify their answers.

Part two breaks it down by inning. As each group reads their assigned innings/ or you read an inning a day, the students will then complete the main idea piece and the text structure of the overall inning.

Lesson Plan

Overview

Introduce your students to shared document norms while also identifying main ideas and text structures.

ASSESSMENT PRE/POST-TEST

1. How can you show respect for others work in a shared document?
2. What are two rules you think are the most important when using a shared document with your peers? 2a. Why do you think those are the most important rules?
3. What rule would you add to help students use a shared document to complete a written assignment together?

OBJECTIVES

Follow a set of rules to collaboratively work on a shared document where all student work is respected to complete a document written by multiple students. Students will be able to identify a main idea. Students will be able to identify text structures within a nonfiction text.

CATCH/HOOK

Have a paper plane contest. Use the groups that you foresee working together in the same document. Each small group gets three sheets of blank copy paper to create a paper plane to fly in a class competition. They can make up to three planes but only one gets to enter the contest. Whichever group’s plane flies the farthest could be the winner or you could listen for how teams work together and respect each other to determine a winner. After the contest, students start thinking about what worked in their groups and what didn’t. How might we work together in groups so that everyone contributes, is respected, and the product represents a collaboration?

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

1b: ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS (30min) Introduce what a shared document is in Google, and how many people can contribute simultaneously. Ask: Thinking of our paper plane work, what problems might come up with a group of people working on a document at the same time? Possible answers: People might “fix” others’ work. A group might disagree about what to write. Someone might mess around while the others do the work. Others may not help out with the work given to them.

Introduce the idea of “norms.” When people work together collaboratively they often write down guidelines to help them participate in ways that help the group meet the goal. This would be a good place to talk about your possible PLC norm agreements that you have as an adult. Tell students that the class will read the agreements again every time before participating in a shared document.

Take ideas from either the pretest or from students to form a document about what should be expected when students are working together in a document. ‘My class norms’

Part 2 (approx. 35 min.) Break students into groups and assign them 3 sections of the text ‘We Are the Ship’ to look for main idea and identify the text structure for each section. Make a google document copy for each group and share it out to those group members so only the members of the group are in one shared document via Google Classroom. If you have taught students how to share a document you can send one copy to a team member and they can share the document with the rest of the group. Tip: You may want to do a section as a class for students to have as a model before they collaboratively complete the boxes and bullets chart. (Boxes and Bullets is a format from the Wit and Wisdom program by Great Minds).

Students will be given a main ideas/ text structure chart that they complete online as a group. Each team would get 3 sections (innings) to identify the main idea of a text and identify the text structure.

Supplements

Any items in this section are the property & under the license of their respective owners.

REVIEW

Make sure every document is shared with you so you can show the work that students have done. Share main idea work and have a short discussion about what students learned about collaborating on a document together. Give the post assessment to see what students have gained from the experience.

STANDARDS