how do you inform and engage at the same time?

This is a Connect module - which means we'll be focusing on developing a targeted skill. Our skill focus this week is writing to engage an audience online, which we will do by writing informative articles and publishing them on Weebly.

Module summary:

• be exposed: discuss synthesis of information with media
• practice: research a topic that interests you
• create: write an informative article with multimedia elements
• reflect: review article, post online

National Geographic articles effectively model the synthesis of content and multimedia

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essential questions

1. How do we adapt our communication skills to fulfill an intended purpose?
2. How can electronic publishing change the way we share ideas?

goals

1. Students will understand that we adapt our communication based on purpose or context through our word choice, voice, and sentence and paragraph structure.​
2. Students will understand that electronic publishing gives us a plethora of sources to link to our work, allowing us to make deeper and more creative connections between ideas - but that it also opens us to an uncontrolled audience, so we must be careful in how we present our ideas.

activities

INTRODUCE

• Complete warm up: Read "Fossil of long-necked dinosaur found - and nicknamed Andrew" article from National Geographic
  • ​chunk and summarize each section
  • (need another printed copy? here you go)
• Review syllabus and module expectations

EXPOSE

• Review fossil article and content
  • What were the key points, content-wise?
  • How does the online format enhance the content?
• Discuss elements of writing an informative article published online
  • Annotate formatting elements in fossil article with a different color scheme/pen
    • Title, section splits, section headers, photos/videos, captions, links

PRACTICE

• Choose a topic to learn about (a concrete object: person, place, or thing)
• Research topic and collect notes in Google Docs notes template
  • Find at least four solid sources - evaluate each website!
  • Collect background information, two sub-topics, and one connection to another topic

CREATE

• Draft an informative article in Docs about your topic, using your notes as an outline (draft should be 600-800 words)
  • Structure with introduction, two titled sub-topics, and connection/conclusion

• Submit draft to Christine for review
• After draft is signed off, upload text to Weebly (as a new blog post) and add the following:
  • Link at least four sources in your body paragraphs
  • Include at least two photos and/or videos, with a caption for each

REFLECT

• Conference with Christine about info draft - revise content as needed
• Self-evaluate blog post with Writing Scoring Guide
  • Revise post as needed
  • Review with Christine

c-tachs

Writing

• Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through effective selection, organization, and analysis of content
• Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
• Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach
• Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in flexible and dynamic ways (open to feedback, link to other information)
• Gather relevant information for multiple print and digital sources; assessing the credibility and accuracy of each source; quote and paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism; use a standard form for citation
• Conduct short and more sustained research projects to answer a question or solve a problem

Reading

• Read and comprehend complex literature and informational text independently, accurately and for deep understanding 
• Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media and formats in order to address a question or solve a problem ​

resources

Persons, Places, Things syllabus
Fossil of long-necked ​dinosaur found - and nicknamed Andrew (printable version)
Informative article (as blog post) scoring guide