Brief Description

This lesson gives students an opportunity to write for an audience. The audience includes other students around the world who have also submitted their work to the Story Book Web site.

Standards and Frameworks

Technology Standards

• STANDARD 1: FUNDAMENTAL OPERATIONS AND CONCEPTS
• 1T-E2. Demonstrate increasingly sophisticated operation of technology components
• STANDARD 2: SOCIAL, ETHICAL AND HUMAN ISSUES
• 2T-E1. Discuss basic issues related to responsible use of technology and information and describe personal consequences of inappropriate use
• STANDARD 3: TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS
• 3T-E1. Use formatting capabilities of technology tools for communicating and illustrating
• 3T-E2. Use a variety of technology tools for data collection and analysis
• STANDARD 4: TECHNOLOGY COMMUNICATIONS TOOLS
• 4T-E2. Use technology tools for individual and collaborative writing, communication and publishing activities to create curricular related products for audiences inside and outside the classroom

Academic Standards

• Strand 1: Writing Process
• Concept 1: Prewriting
• Concept 2: Drafting

Drafting incorporates prewriting activities to create a first draft containing necessary elements for a specific purpose
• Concept 3: Revising

Revising includes evaluating and refining the rough draft for clarity and effectiveness. (Ask: Does this draft say what you want it to say?)
• Concept 4: Editing

Proofread and correct the draft for conventions
• Concept 5: Publishing

Publishing includes formatting and presenting a final product for the intended audience
• Strand 2: Writing Elements
• Concept 1: Ideas and Content

Writing is clear and focused, holding the reader’s attention throughout. Main ideas stand out and are developed by strong support and rich details. Purpose is accomplished.
• Concept 2: Organization

Organization addresses the structure of the writing and integrates the central meaning and patterns that hold the piece together
• Concept 3: Voice

Voice will vary according to the type of writing, but should be appropriately formal or casual, distant or personal, depending on the audience and purpose
• Concept 4: Word Choice

Word choice reflects the writer’s use of specific words and phrases to convey the intended message and employs a variety of words that are functional and appropriate to the audience and purpose.
• Concept 5: Sentence Fluency

Fluency addresses the rhythm and flow of language.  Sentences are strong and varied in structure and length.
• Concept 6: Conventions

Conventions addresses the mechanics of writing, including capitalization, punctuation, spelling, grammar and usage, and paragraph breaks

• Strand 3: Writing Applications
• Concept 1: Expressive

Expressive writing includes personal narratives, stories, poetry, songs, and dramatic pieces. Writing may be based on real or imagined events.
PO 1.  Write a narrative based on imagined or real events, observations, or memories that includes:
a. characters
b. setting
c. plot
d. sensory details
e. clear language
f. logical sequence of events

• 1SS-E4. Describe the economic, social, and political life in the Arizona Territory and the legacy of various cultural groups to modern Arizona, with emphasis on:

1SS-F3. Use stories to describe past events, people, and places, with emphasis on: PO 1. contributions from past events and cultures
• PO 2. examples of individual action, character, and values
• PO 3. descriptions of daily life in past time and different places, including the various roles of men, women, and children

Academic

• Students will read an appropriate fiction, non-fiction book or web site about Arizona at their independent reading level.  They will submit a written final draft to be assessed by the teacher using the 6 Traits Writing Rubric.   The student will follow the site directions to write and publish a story on line using the Story Book Web site, with no convention errors.

• The student will apply their knowledge of locating web pages on the Internet to publish their stories on line.

1.  The teacher should register their class with the Story Book web site prior to having their students publish their stories online. The teacher may do this by clicking on the icon titled “submit forms.” This will take the teacher to a form page to fill in and submit their class information to the web site.

2.  The teacher should become familiar with the Story Book site and how to work within the Story Book Web site.

3.  The student should know how to enter a URL address to access a site on the Internet.

4.  The student should know how to use Bookmarks to access saved URL addresses on the Internet.

5.  The students should know how to click on links within a site and know what is a click able link.

6.  The teacher should know what the acceptable use policy is in their school or district for using the Internet and submitting student-generated work on the Internet.

7.  The student should acquire the appropriate forms to allow students to submit their work on the Internet.

8.  The student should know how to responsibly submit stories on to the Internet.

Computer with Internet access

Paper for writing the rough draft story

Dictionaries and thesaurus.

SEI-Sheltered English Immersion-Pair with an SEI student and have them write and publish the same story. This pairing may also be accomplished with the SEI teacher or aide.  The SEI student may also access the web page to the Story Book site by having it “Book marked” instead of having to write the URL address.

ADHD/ADD-Break task into small parts and provide frequent feedback to ensure successful progress toward the completed story. The ADHD/ADD student may also access the web page to the Story Book site by having it “Book marked” instead of having to write the URL address.

GIFTED (Reach)-The students will be encouraged to use an online thesaurus to increase their word choice level and write longer and more involved stories.

1. The teacher should register their class onto the web site http://www.kids-space.org/forms/story/formS_class.html. It takes a couple of days for the managers of the site to create a directory and file for your class and then to e-mail your class access code so that your students may submit their stories.

Day One. Two and Three-
1. To provide the students with background information that they may use in their stories, fiction and non-fiction books at their independent reading level should be in the classroom. The teacher can pre-select the books from the library and place these in the classroom. The books are based upon knowledge of the class’ reading levels, interests and content areas being studied in class.

To help use one computer in the classroom, a sign up list may be started to designate 
who uses the computer first and at what time.

2. The students may also read about Arizona from different web sites. The URL addresses may be typed by the students or the teacher can bookmark the address on the computer. Some web sites that are helpful are as follows:

a. http://www.thearb.org/plant_information.htm This is from the Arboretum at Flagstaff and gives information about plants and their care in Arizona. Students click on links of their choice.
b. http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/fablocal/arizona.htm This highlights minerals found in the mines of Arizona.
c. http://www.usatourist.com/english/places/arizona/lostdutchmanmine.html A site about the legend of the Lost Dutchman’s mine.
d. http://www.usatourist.com/english/places/grandcanyon/index.html A site about the Grand Canyon.
e. http://www.officialusa.com/state/state.information/arizona_index.html A site about the state of Arizona. Students click on links that are of interest to them.
f. http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/meteorcrater.html A site about Meteor Crater and great photos are included.
g. http://www.desertusa.com/ A site about the animals of Arizona. Students click on links that are of interest to them.

Day Four and Five
1. The students write a story about any topic of their choice from the materials they have been reading in class or the teacher may assign the topic.
2. FactMonster.com may be used online to help students access a dictionary and thesaurus to help with the spelling.
3. Those students who finish their story are to submit it to the teacher for editing and for acceptable content approval. (NOTE: violent stories are not accepted by the Story Book web site)
4. Once the stories are approved, then the student may write the story or copy an paste it from a word processing document to  the Story Book Web site.
5. To help use one computer in the classroom, a sign up list may be started to designate who uses the computer first and at what time.
 

The students will be assessed on their final copy using the Six Traits Writing Rubric. Not all traits will be assessed. For this lesson, only word choice, organization, idea/content and sentence fluency were evaluated.
The teacher may assign number or grade values to each level of the Writing Rubric and total the values for each trait. These values may be averaged to compute a final grade.

Teacher Name: Diana Sewell
Site: Coronado K-8
Date Submitted: May, 2004