Google+Docs+Activity

Your activity for today will use a method that you are all likely to employ while teaching writing to students: scaffolding. And while it may feel like a bit too much, it will show you how quickly you can have a hand in student writing using Google Docs.

Activity:


 * 1) Each of you will access a new document in Google Documents.
 * 2) Your assignment is to scaffold a paragraph for a student (in our case it will be the person sitting next to you).
 * 3) The writing prompt asks the student to write a paragraph about what they are giving their family members as gifts for the upcoming holiday season.
 * 4) Each of you should scaffold the paragraph out by providing a framework for the students to write a paragraph. For example, I might set mine up as a series of questions the student would have to answer like this:
 * 5) Why is it important to give gifts during the holiday season?
 * 6) How many family members do you buy gifts for, or would want to buy gifts for?
 * 7) What would you buy for your sister? Why?
 * 8) What would you buy for your brother? Why?
 * 9) What would you buy for your mother/father? Why?
 * 10) Then below, I might add the framework for the paragraph;
 * 11) Opening/topic sentence:
 * 12) Support sentence:
 * 13) Support sentence:
 * 14) Support sentence:
 * 15) Conclusion sentence:
 * 16) As your scaffolding is completed, I want you to share the document with the person next to you and have them fill in the gaps to show you how easy it is to collaborate on a document.

If you have any reactions, please feel free to bring them up, or post them to the discussion board above.