Brief Description

Prior to this lesson, students will have been involved in a four-week simulation dealing with American Pioneer life. They will have studied and experienced the life of an early American traveling west on the Hacker Trail in the Interact simulation Pioneers. Students will have knowledge of supplies, foods, transportation, weather conditions, and the general lifestyle of a pioneer traveling west in America during the 1800s.

Students will use their background knowledge of American pioneer life to compose a journal entry written by a pioneer child. This entry will be published online. The lesson will take 5-7 hours depending on writing and typing ability. This time will consist of webbing ideas, writing a rough draft, peer editing, revising and writing a second draft, typing and publishing online.

Standards and Frameworks

Technology Standards

• 1T-E2. Demonstrate increasingly sophisticated operation of technology components.
• 3T-E1. Use formatting capabilities of technology tools for communicating and illustrating.
• 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.

• W-E1. Use correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar and usage, along with varied sentence structure and paragraph organization, to complete effectively a variety of writing tasks.
• W-E2. Write a personal experience narrative or creative story that includes a plot and shows the reader what happens through well-developed characters, setting, dialog, and themes and uses figurative language, descriptive words and phrases.

Academic

• Using a Six Traits of writing rubric, students will write a creative story with well-developed characters, setting and descriptive words and phrases.
• Students will score a rubric rating of four or above in ideas and content, organization, and conventions.

• Students will demonstrate sophisticated operation of technology components by accessing the Internet to read Westward Expansion journal entries by other students and publishing an entry of their own.
• Students will use formatting capabilities of technology tools with Microsoft Word/word processing program to write a journal entry.
• Using Microsoft Word/word processing program, students will copy work and paste it onto the online Scholastic journal submission form to successfully publish their entry.

• Students must have parental permission to access and publish on the Internet as documented by the teacher or school district through the Acceptable Use Policy.
• Students will have a basic knowledge of Internet usage; how to access a web page by typing a web address into the location toolbar, open a new window and navigate to given sites.
• Students will have a general knowledge of how to use Microsoft Word to type, edit, change font, insert a picture, save a document (to a disk or the server), and print work.
• Students will have the ability to cut and paste from a Word document to an online form.

• Pioneer research materials (books, texts, the Interact unit Pioneers).
• Access to the website http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/our_america/westward_expansion/.
• A computer hooked up to a computer-television converter for classroom use and/or a computer hooked up to a projector for use in the lab.
• A computer with Internet access and a word processing program for each child to use.
• Access to a server, or a floppy disk per student to save documents.
• Paper and a pencil for each student.

Accommodations for Special Needs

• Gifted Students – Gifted students will have the freedom to use their creative writing skills to expand their ideas as they create diary entries. They will have the challenge to reach the top level on the assessment rubric by using accurate details, a variety in word choice, vivid voice and fluent sentences. Once a student completes and submits the journal entry to scholastic.com, he/she may change the font style and size and add Clip Art or include a picture from the Internet to improve the overall presentation of the entry.
• Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) Students –Students will have the option of working with a partner throughout the writing process and/or typing the journal entry. SEI students may also receive one-on-one help from the classroom teacher, SEI teacher, parent helper, or another student in the class. This help may be with the writing process, editing and revising, or publishing. Students will be given extra time to complete the assignment as needed.
• Special Education Students –Special education students may work with another student or adult helper to brainstorm and web ideas. The student may receive extra assistance with the writing process during class time with the special education teacher. If available, students within the classroom or a parent helper may also help with editing, revising, and publishing of the journal entry. If possible, he/she will also have the opportunity to tell the events for the story into a tape recorder to help organize ideas. The student may be given extra time to write and type the entry.

Day 1

• The teacher will facilitate a brainstorming session with students. Based on the discussion, students will record ideas for their journal entries. The students should be encouraged to include many of the important/dramatic events they have learned about that occurred during the Westward Expansion of the United States.
• The teacher will show the students the website http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/our_america/westward_expansion/ using the computer to television converter. The teacher will show examples of journal entries that other students have written and submitted. The class will then discuss some of the strengths and weaknesses of these entries.
• The teacher will go over the expectations for this assignment by reviewing the rubric with students. Students will be given a copy of the rubric to guide their writing and publishing process.
• Students will begin the writing process by webbing their ideas on a sheet of paper. They will work individually to collect their ideas.
• Once students have completed the prewriting process, they will write their first draft.

• Students will pair with another student in the class. Students will read each other’s writing and evaluate the writing based on the peer editing form. This form and all drafts will be turned in at the conclusion of this assignment.
• After students complete the peer editing form, they will complete their second draft. This will be the draft they type from in the computer lab.

• In the computer lab, students will log-on and open a Word document. They will type their journal entry, saving often to their disk or the server.
• Students will spell check their work once they have completed typing. Once they have completed the typing, they will print a hard copy to turn in to the teacher for assessment.
• The teacher will monitor and assist as necessary. Some students may require assistance from their peers, a volunteer, or the teacher with typing, spell checking, or saving.
• The teacher will assess the work using the Westward Expansion Journal Entry Rubric.

• In the computer lab, the teacher will have students open their saved work from the prior session.
• The teacher will have the students open an Internet browser and enter the following web address: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/our_america/westward_expansion/. The teacher will model this process with a computer projector.
• The teacher will have students click on “Write a Journal Entry” and fill in their title, first name, last initial, grade and state. The teacher will also have students check that the time period is designated as “Westward Expansion.”
• Teacher will show students to click in the toolbar on the open document from earlier that lesson. This will maximize the document over the Scholastic web page.
• The teacher will have students highlight their text by left clicking with the mouse at the beginning of the text and highlighting the entire text. The students will then right click with the mouse and choose the option to copy.
• The teacher will then have students click on the “Our America” link on the toolbar to reopen the web page.
• The students will then left click the mouse in the “Journal Entry” field so they can see the cursor. They will then right click and select the option to paste.
• To complete the process, students will click on the Preview button and then the Submit button to complete their posting.

Students will be assessed according to the Westward Expansion Journal Entry Rubric. This rubric assesses three of the six traits: ideas and content, organization, conventions. The rubric also includes assessment for the use of technology and that the assignment was successfully published online.