Pre-Reading Activity - Google Docs & Google Sites

 Before beginning our reading of John Steinbeck's novella, The Pearl, students worked collaboratively on a pre-reading activity which involved the integration of technology and students as 21st Century learners!

With our new Gmail system, every Hunt Middle School student has a Google Account. Please note this is a secure account within the @bsd domain. This account allows students to email their teachers questions and use many of he Web 2.0 tools that require an email address. Additionally, it allows students to collaborate more on projects.

We started this project off  by spending a class period becoming familiar with Google Docs. To do this, we:

• Created a journal entry, which they shared (online) with me
• Drafted an email to me 
• Created a note taking graphic organizer within Google Docs  
• Students collaborated to research a pre-determined topic and create their online organizer. We had some trouble in Google Docs learning not to type over each other, but we're learning!

Students then created webpages to share their information with the rest of the team.

LINK to STUDENT WORK:
https://sites.google.com/a/bsdvt.org/solstice-la-the-pearl/


We discussed:

• Plagarism (not copying and pasting from the Internet), 
• How to cite our sources
• How to give credit to the pictures we use
• How to create a Works Cited page
• How to make the information on our site easy to read
• How to synthesize information and make sure we (and our reader) understand the information
• How to give constructive feedback to peers
• How to collaborate as a group

The webpages came out great and are full of information that will help students better understand the main character's culture and struggles. Students are now in the process of completing a scavenger hunt, where they use other students' sites to find the answers!!

Check out the student work!! Click the below link which will take you to my site. Here you can get an overview of the project, see how students were assessed and take a peek at the guiding questions they had to answer.

On the bottom left of my page you'll see links to student work. Just click on your student's topic (or take a guess). This will take you to the groups that researched that topic. I have names on this page.

Please know that the site is normally only open to persons with an @bsd email account. However, in order to allow access to parents the settings are open to anyone with the link. So, feel free to share the below link with grandparents, aunts, uncles, whomever you want to share your students work with!! Just copy and paste it!

LINK to STUDENT WORK:
https://sites.google.com/a/bsdvt.org/solstice-la-the-pearl/

Thanks for checking out our hard work!!