Collaborative Writes Benefit all Students
- Collaboration strengthens writing skills and improves Communication
- Sense of Responsibility to complete a task improves growth in Personal Awareness
- Sharing of Ideas with a diversity of opinions and styles promotes Positive Personal and Cultural Identity
- Sharing of Expertise with Peer Editing develops Critical Thinking Skills
*Bolded Core Competencies
Using the iPads, collaborative writing can happen easily in the Google Environment.
Students can use either Google Slide or Google Docs to create and share the writing assignment.
Forms of Writing
Persuasive Writing (debate) using Google Slides or Docs
- A pair of students choose to debate a topic on the same document.
- Give Topics such as “Every child should or should not have a tracking device placed on them” or “Curfews”, “Uniforms” etc.
- One student creates the doc/slide and shares to partner
- When completed the writing, the students would edit, giving a strong argument for one, or decide to let the reader choose (more of a editorial write)
Research Writing Using Google Slides
- Students in pairs or triads, research a topic together dividing the topic into subtopics
- One Student creates a Google Slide and shares with group
- Students are each responsible to present the information on their own Google Slide pages, within the original document
- Remind students that this is an oral presentation, with visual cues
- Show students how to turn on the speaker’s notes, where they can add script to refer to in presentation
Narrative Writing Using Google Document
- Give students a genre of a traditional/parody story to rewrite (Fractured Fairy Tale, Animal Story, Fable)
- Divide students into pairs or triads
- One student creates the doc and shares with the group
- Put a table on the document, so that each student has a place to write
- The (2×6) table could include: Introduction, Setting, Protagonist, Antagonist, Problem, Attempt to Solve 1, Attempt to Solve 2, Attempt to Solve, Solution, Conclusion
- Students divide the task and write in their chosen cell
- Completed text can be copied and pasted into another application
Poetry
- Choose a poetry form with a distinctive form such as sonnet
- Discuss the characteristics of the poetry form
- Sonnet 14 lines, 3 quatrains, 1 couplet, each line 10 syllables, rhyming scheme of abab, cdcd, efef, gg
- Divide students into groups
- One student creates the document and shares
- Create a table 2×14
- Label Column with rhyming scheme
- Each Student completes their assigned line