A New Approach to use "Drawing" for Writing: Using Drawings in Google Docs to Write a News Magazine

   The Set Up

     Who can resist the allure of watching the world's top athletes meeting to compete in dangerous, fast, and difficult sports.  It was Winter Olympic time again and the students in my class were charged with a writing mission: research and write a news article about Russia in general, Sochi as the venue for the Olympics, or how the Winter Olympics originated.  The second part was to research a sport of their choice and write a second article.  When I mentioned that we would be sharing these with other classes and that they would be posted online for anyone to watch, the excitement was palpable. 

Research Phase 

    After they received their topics, they went right to work.  A variety of print and online texts were used for the research part of the assignment.  To kick off the project we started with the Time For Kids article written for 3rd/4th graders and a collection of short passages I purchased from Teacherspayteachers.com from Logical Lex and other passages I downloaded from Readinga-z.com.  In addition, we used Google searches to find websites that answered the guiding questions in the research packet I made. We are in the process of understanding how to select key words for our search, finding an appropriate link in the search results, and how to use Google search tricks to find a key word in a specific website (i.e., site:timeforkids.org snowboarding).

    Already we hit many CCSS standards such as:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.5 Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.7 Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.9 Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.4 With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.

But the standard that was the most exciting for the class was this standard:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.6 With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

Composition Phase

     Once the students had answered all of the questions in the research packet, they moved on to composing their information into paragraphs.  Particularly, we focused on how to group the information so that the paragraphs focused on one main topic (which is easier said than done with third graders).  The paragraphs were written in their writing notebooks first and then revised.  I know that they could have done this in Google Docs and used the revision history as a record of editing and collaboration, but unfortunately my school lost Internet for a day and half into the project and we were the victim of two snow days before a week long vacation for President's Week.  Losing the Internet in particular put a damper on our researching time.

    Moving forward, we typed our paragraphs into a Google Doc and edited further. If we had more time we would have done more collaborative peer editing using the "comment" feature of Google Docs.

Digital Publishing Phase

     I must first tell you that I was initially at a loss as to how the students would create a digital newsletter.  I needed them to be able to combine headings and text in the column-style that is used in news articles with pictures.  I posted on Google + asking what others suggested.  Interestingly the answer came from a post about Math from Alice Keeler.  She shared how she used Google Drawing to create virtual Math manipulatives.  She inspired me and I created my own to reinforce the understanding of fractions on a number line, but then I started thinking about how else I can use Google Drawing... and then the idea was born!

    The class created a new document in Google Docs and then inserted drawings throughout their document. Google Drawings allowed them to create graphics, combine elements (using the "order tool", but most importantly acted as containers.  What I mean is that a picture was inserted in a drawing. That drawing when saved and closed could be placed anywhere on the page.  

Each paragraph was placed within a text box in a drawing so that columns could be made. Fancy text was made available through the Word Art function with a drawing as well- That went over big with the third graders). 

Once the drawing is saved you can drag it where ever you want if you click "wrap text."

This was not too difficult for third graders to do once I modeled some key skills and I was gratified to see that some of my students problem-solved. They then became the experts that could help others around them.  As the project progressed, we had so many people offering to help because the learning of skills had a "trickle-down" effect.  

The end result is that the students:

•  conducted a research project,
• wrote informative pieces that included multiple paragraphs,
• used digital tools to publish,
• wrote for an authentic audience- the school, parents, and friends,
• learned valuable skills for using Google Docs that went deeper and will transfer to other situations,
• learned valuable search skills within print and online texts
• learned how to find Google images that were labeled for reuse,
• and enjoyed having ownership over their learning....

All while meeting many of the ELA Common Core Standards!

You can see their projects on our class website- once they are all done and I have embedded the documents.  Here is a sneak preview.