Teacher Tech blog with Alice Keeler

Paperless Is Not a Pedagogy

Alice Keeler

3 Google Resources for Student Centered Writing by @shfarnsworth

3 Google Resources for Student Centered Writing by @shfarnsworth

shaelynn farnsworth 3 google tips for writing
3 Google Resources to Help Students Organize Information in a Student-Centered Writing Classroom

 Guest Post by Shaelynn Farnsworth

In a student-centered writing classroom, students may be in various stages in the writing process. To combat all of the organizational issues that may arise, it is important to equip students with not only the resources to aid in their endeavors, but also strategies to use when they find themselves with a plethora of information but little to no organization.

Mini-Lessons

In my own classroom, I found student organizational needs in the writing process occurring at 3 main areas; Prewriting, Drafting, and Publishing. To help students take ownership in the process, I often had mini-lessons targeting these areas. This way, when students are ready, they could recall the organizational strategy, apply it, and continue moving forward.

The following are 3 Google resources and complementing strategy to help students organize their writing:

1. Prewriting –

During the prewriting stage, students often struggle to see the relationship between main ideas and supporting details.

Google Resource: Google Draw

Strategy: Hexagon Thinking

With Google Draw, students are able to create their own graphic organizer to visually sort their thinking. Paired with Hexagon Thinking, google draw allows students to target main ideas, see relationships between them, and identify supporting details.

graphicorganizer

2. Drafting –

The drafting stage requires students to make sense out of all of the information they collected. Organization of the information and application to their thesis statement requires students to not only contribute textual evidence, but my sense of it and apply their understanding.

Google Resource: Google Document with a Table

Strategy: Text, Me, So

When students create a document and insert a table to apply the “Text, Me, So” strategy, it helps them not only organize their information, but has them synthesize their findings, and justify their understanding aligned to their thesis. The “Text, Me, So” strategy has students explicitly state what the text says – “Text”, synthesize the text in their own words – “Me”, and then apply understanding to their main point – “So”.

Text-Me-So

3. Publishing –

When it comes to the final stage of the writing process in which students publish their work, organizational needs are present in the areas of source citations. During the process, it is common for students to forget to record where they found their information and which sources they drew upon.

Resource: Google Scholar

Strategy: Using “My Library” and “Citations” within Google Scholar

Google Scholar provides students with information that is reliable and relevant for scholarly needs. Two other advantages Google Scholar provides to students to help in their organization of sources and citations is adding articles to “My Library” and the “Cite” option. Organizing information in one place, plus having the ability to cite properly in a variety of citation methods, fosters a student-centered writing environment which provides skills they can replicate when completing future publishings.

cite.15 PM

 MyLibrary.45 PM

 

2014-06-20-09-27-52_deco.jpg Shaelynn is a School Improvement Consultant in the state of Iowa with an emphasis on Literacy, Technology, and AIW (Authentic Intellectual Work). Previously, she taught English for thirteen years in a 1 to 1 district. Shaelynn is a learner, trainer, blogger, and a gentle disruptor. She is a champion for student voice, equipping learners with skills necessary to advocate for themselves and others, and inspiring educators to reimagine teaching and learning! Shaelynn is a Google Certified Innovator, AIW Lead Coach,and has training in PBL from the Buck Institute, Lucy Calkins Writing and Reading Workshop, Jim Knight Instructional Coaching and Dianne Sweeney Student-Centered Coaching, and 1 to 1 Implementation. Connect with Shaelynn on Twitter, G+, or through her blog!

5 Easy Steps for Teaching with Digital Tools

Introducing digital tools into your teaching can seem challenging at first. There are many tools out there, and it might feel like there’s a lot to learn. But with easy steps for teaching with digital tools, you can start simply and gradually. There’s no need to dive in all at once – just take it one step at a time. Taking easy steps for teaching with digital tools starts with trying something!

Read More »
Students Prepare to Present

Help Your Students Prepare to Present

Maximize student success in presentations with ‘Speaker Notes by AliceKeeler,’ the ideal Google Slides add-on. Enhance how students prepare to present with easy transfer of speaker notes to Google Docs, promoting effective communication skills. Dive into the world of engaging, technology-aided presentations and empower students to shine in their academic endeavors. Discover the key to transforming student presentations into interactive, skill-building experiences.

Read More »

Infographic 7 Basic Steps for a Google Form

New to using Google Forms? This tool is essential for teachers to not only save time but to be adaptive to student needs. Use Forms to survey students, play games, personalize instruction, and assessment. This infographic on the 7 basic steps for a Google Form will help you get started.

Read More »

Online Workshop: Get Your Add-on Published

How can you make Google Workspace (Docs/Sheets/Slides) even better? You can create custom Add-ons with Google Apps Script. Wondering How to Get Your Google Workspace Add-on Published? Join Alice Keeler, Google Developer Expert, to learn the steps to get your Add-on officially published.

Read More »

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d