Computer Lesson Plan

Ultimate Writing and Creativity Center

Created By: Joan Slipke

 

Overview of Plan:

This lesson is intended for a third grade class. It is a writing lesson on constructing an introductory paragraph and is also a literature extension activity to be used after reading Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. This lesson would be conducted in a computer lab, where each student would have access to the software. The teacher's role would be to model the lesson for the students so that they understand each of the steps and how to use the computer. When the students begin writing, the teacher's role is to confer with them about their writing and leave "sticky notes" within the software with ideas for improving their writing.

Overview of Software:

This software is an interactive writing program designed to motivate and guide students through the writing process. The addition of pictures, sounds and music and the ability to "play" the final writing piece in the presentation theater adds a dimension that could not be achieved with paper and pencil.

Learning Objectives:

The student will:

  1. Type a list of at least 5 things that went wrong on their worst day.

  2. Type an introductory paragraph, including a hook and a list of things that happened in sequential order, for a story describing their worst day.

  3. Insert pictures, sounds and music into their introductions.

    4. Instructional Materials:

    Software, Ultimate Writing and Creativity Center, computer with color printer, Book-Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible No good, Very Bad Day

    Objective: Given a lesson in which the teacher models brainstorming and writing an introductory paragraph, the students will write a list of at least 5 things that went wrong and write an introductory paragraph. The introduction will include a hook and a list of things that happened in sequential order, for a story describing their worst day. They will also insert pictures, sounds and music into their introductions.

    Initiation and Purpose: After reading the story, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, teacher asks, "How many of you have ever had a day that was this bad? We’re going to take our worst day and turn it into a funny story. Today we will learn how to write the introductory paragraph. You will learn how to first brainstorm to come up with ideas and then how to include each of your ideas in an introductory paragraph. Then you will revise your introductions to make them clearer, adding pictures and sounds, and edit them for mistakes. Finally, you will present the first part of your stories in the Presentation Theater to an audience of classmates. Think of some great ideas so your audience will want to find out more about your story. A good introduction will keep your readers interested.

    Lesson Development and Sequence:

    1. At the main menu, we’re going to click on New. Teacher models.

    2. Think about a very bad day. Now its time to brainstorm. We’re going to click on the red notebook and jot down at least five or six things that happen on this day. Use yourself as the main character or make one up. Teacher models.3.

    3. When we’re finished jotting down ideas, we will close the red notebook by clicking on it, but remember to come back to it when needed.

    4. Next we’re going to look through the Binders for pictures, sounds and music that might go with our ideas. Teacher models.

    5. Now we will write our first draft. We want to lead in with a sentence that describes our worst day. We can use the thesaurus to find great describing words. The lead-in sentence should include a hook that makes the reader want to read the rest of the story. Think about kind of hooks that we’ve talked about. You have a list of the types of hooks. Teacher models her lead-in sentence. Next, we will include all the things that happen, in order, in our introduction. Teacher models.

    6. Now we will click on Penny the Pen, then Revising. We will go down the list of topics and click on the third circle. This is a revising checklist. Use this checklist when revising your work. Teacher models.

    7. Use the directions on your yellow sheets when adding pictures, sounds and music to your work. Teacher demonstrates how to do this. Yellow sheets have pre-written directions for inserting, sizing and removing pictures.

    8. It's time to click on Penny the Pen again to get help with our editing. We'll click on Penny, then Editing, and finally, go down to the second circle and click for an editing checklist. We will use this checklist to edit our work. Teacher demonstrates how to do this.

    9. At last, it’s time for the final presentation. First we’ll have to save our work so it doesn’t get lost. Click on the binder that says, Save As. Now type a name for your document. Teacher demonstrates.

10. Congratulations! It's time to play your introduction in the Presentation Theater for an audience. Teacher demonstrates how to click on theater, then play. Enjoy the show!

 Monitor Understanding: Teacher will monitor understanding by seeing if the students are able to follow the directions for completing the stages, and can place pictures, sounds and music in their writing.

Closure: Today you learned how to use the computer to help you write a story by guiding you through the 5 stages of writing. You also learned how to find interesting words and place pictures, insert sounds and music in your writing, and to present your finished product to your classmates in a fun and interesting way. You have learned how computers can help you bring your writing to life. Next time we will write the body of our stories and learn how to add details to help our readers understand just how horrible the day really was.

Evaluation: Students’ final written piece will be evaluated to determine how well students met the objectives of the lesson. (See Objectives section.)

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