Google Docs Lesson

Sue Ann Rawlins, Teacher - Advanced ESL -  Adult Options in Education, Hopkins, MN

Title: Creating Student Bios on Google Docs

Overview: Using Chromebooks, students will create a one-page bio for themselves on Google Docs. They will use different colors and fonts and insert their country’s map. They will then type a paragraph of how they came to the U.S. and share doc with teacher via Drive. This paragraph will have already been written out longhand in preparation for this lesson

Content/Context: Springboard for later conversation lesson (building community). Producing bio prepares students for possible professional bios or developing own web pages in the future. Understanding how to make documents look attractive is key to many areas of professional and educational work.

Length of lesson: 1 hour

Digital Literacy Standards addressed:

Review:Email #4, #16 - log in to and out of an email account

New: Locate Google Drive (not listed on Northstar standards)

Word #1 open new document, #6 - format the size, color and type of font, #7 - set single or double font, #8 align text. Not listed on NS standards: insert an image and share document

College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) - Writing Anchor 4 B: Produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.and/or Transitions Integration Framework (TIF) Effective Communication 3 a): Evaluate and use appropriate technology tools for clear and meaningful interactions to suit purpose and audience.

Lesson Objective(s): At the end of this lesson, students will be able to change font type, color and size on a Google document. They will be able to insert an image and change alignment and spacing and type a short paragraph (already written). Finally, they will be able to share their document with the teacher via Drive.

Assessing Mastery of the Objective(s):  By the end of this lesson, students will have produced a bio of themselves - following exact guidelines - and shared with teacher. Teacher will then correct any typos and print them out for display on the bulletin board.

Materials/links: Chromebooks, projector, hard copies of Sue Ann’s Bio and hard copies of template. Students will have their written paragraphs on hand.

Before this Lesson: Previous lesson: Students must all have gmail addresses and know their passwords. In order to demonstrate this, they log into their gmail at school on a chromebook and send an email to the teacher. Teacher will then add student to contact list and make a group. Chromebooks are put away and students write a paragraph about themselves to use in their bio. Teacher will correct grammar and spelling and hand back on project day.

Lesson Outline:

Introduction: Pass out paper version of Sue Ann’s Bio - the finished product  - and say, “This is what you will make for yourself!” Point out the different fonts, sizes, colors, etc. Point out the map insert and the text for “My Story”. Point out that they have already written their story on paper. They will be able to keep their Bio in the cloud - on Google Drive - and share with the teacher.

Explanation/Modeling: After students have logged into their gmail accounts, show how to get to Drive. Explain what Drive is - storage in the cloud! Google Docs - never need to save! Show Sue Ann’s Bio on teacher’s Drive. Then open new document. Show where font functions are and play around with type, size, bold, italics, underline. Show how teacher bio was made.

Guided Practice: Pass out hard copy of template with formatting  guidelines. With teacher, students open new document and as a class set up bio for a fictitious student (with the exception of writing the bio itself).

Independent Practice: Rename document: [Name] Bio. Students follow guidelines to create their own bios (typing their previously written stories) and then share doc with teacher. Teacher will model sharing at that time.

Student Reflection on Learning, Closure, Connection: Upon completion of bios, informal class discussion of how it went for them - was it frustrating, but worth it in the end? Was it fun? Did they like using their creativity? Connect to future lesson where they will share their bio sheets with other students for a conversation activity. Students will be able to view bios on display in the classroom.

Teacher Notes: Getting everyone set up with a gmail account will take some preparation. That will happen sometime prior to this lesson. It won’t be on the same day. Some students in my class are computer experts and some are neophytes. I will try to pair up those two extremes so that the experts can help answer questions. If possible, get a volunteer or para as well to help out for this lesson. I anticipate a lot of students needing individual assistance. I intentionally did not intend for this to connect to a future project where the students share with each other on Drive. That’s why the sharing will be on paper later.  I need to keep it simple to start, just Google Docs on Drive and sharing to only one person - one way. I’m purposely not sharing my bio with them (via Drive) because they will be thrown off by a foreign object appearing in their Drive (at least some of them) That being said, we might use the bio for something on Drive in the future, maybe even to demonstrate Slides.