Curriculum Overview

Using Google Classroom to Teach Computers, Reading, and Writing to Fourth Grade Students
Curriculum Conceptual Overview
How exactly would the use of Google Classroom help improve the computer, reading, and
writing skills of my students?
Curriculum Title: Reading and Writing in the Information Age
Subject/Topic Areas: LMS, Google Classroom, ELA, readers workshop, writers workshop,
personal narrative, event sequence, keyboarding, Internet, digital literacy.
Key Words: Chromebooks, Google Apps for Education, Google Drive, Google Classroom, Lucy
Calkins, Writers Workshop, Animal Stewardship.
Curricular Context Summary:
Writing skill has never been more important than it is today. Because of the Internet, anyone can
publish for classmates, for family, for coworkers, even for the world. To participate in the way
the world now shares ideas, learns, and works, each student must learn to write often and write
well for this new medium. In the past, I have used readers and writers workshops to teach
reading and writing. This has meant using traditional, physical materials such as pencils, paper,
and books. Now, it is time to use modern, often nonphysical materials such as computers,
networks, files, and software, to prepare students for the challenges and opportunities theyll
encounter in the future.
States have prepared students for this change in means of communication by adopting modern
standards and assessments, such as the Common Core State Standards and SBAC test,
respectively. School Districts have prepared for this change by providing students with
computers and broadband Internet connections. In response, District IT staff and building
leadership have provided teachers with access to learning management systems, or LMSs, to
manage student use of computers and guide this use toward pedagogically appropriate ends. It is
now up to teachers to use LMSs well. This means, among other things, using an LMS to deliver
a digital writing curriculum that aligns with the goals of the new state standards and assessments.
My research on the current state and capabilities of LMSs indicates that there is no ideal LMS
for any and every district or school to choose, not right now at least, not in the abstract. Instead,
each LMS on the market has its own strengths and weaknesses, and is suitable for one set of
needs, but not for another. Thus, the decision to use one LMS or another or a combination of
services is a decision that must be made in light of the particular situation and needs of the
individual district, school, and even classroom. Vista Unified School District (VUSD), my
district, has been in the process of migrating away from My Big Campus to Google Classroom,
so I plan to use Google Classroom to conduct writers workshops, at least on a trial basis.

CA Standards Addressed:

W.4.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective
technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
o a. Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or
characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.
o b. Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the
responses of characters to situations.
o c. Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of
events.
o d. Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and
events precisely.
o e. Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

W.4.4 Produce clear and coherent writing (including multiple-paragraph texts) in which
the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

W.4.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen
writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.

W.4.6 With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the
Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with
others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of
one page in a single sitting.

W.4.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and
revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of
discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences

SL.4.3 Identify the reasons and evidence a speaker or media source provides to support
particular points

Big Idea/Concept:
Use the LMS suggested by VUSD, Google Classroom, to conduct readers and writers workshops
next fall as a way to teach in an integrated manner the computer, reading, and writing skills
required by the Common Core State Standards, starting with a unit on writing about meaningful
student experiences with animals or pets.
Enduring Understandings

Students will understand that writing on a computer uses the same process, the writers
workshop process, as writing with pencil and paper, and that the process does not change
even if the medium of expression changes.

Students will understand that writing on a computer facilitates the workshop steps of
exploratory journaling, drafting, peer review, revising, additional peer review, editing,
and publishing.

Students will understand that good writing is rewriting, that it is a process of continual
sharpening, and that writing skill improves most quickly by writing, receiving feedback,
rewriting, receiving additional feedback, so on and so forth.

Students will understand that the challenge of selecting a topic to write about can be
overcome by discussing possible ideas or seeds of ideas and then simply writing and
rewriting about those ideas until a clearer, more specific topic emerges from the process.

Students will understand that they will write best when they write frequently, for
extended periods of time, on topics of their own choosing, and that computers make it
easier, not harder, to do this.

What Essential Questions Will Be Considered?

Q1. If I cant turn on or log into my Chromebook, what should I do?
Q2. If I cant share my document or see comments offered by peer reviewers, what should I do?
Q3. If I cant spell a word or communicate an idea, what should I do?
Q4. If I cant think of any animal or pet experience to write about, what should I do?
Q5. If I dont know how to start writing about my pets or animal experience, what should I do?
Appropriate Technologies and Tools
Each student will have a Chromebook, a VUSD email account, and an invitation to Google
Classroom.
Knowledge = Content
Students will know what a computer is, what a Chromebook is, what software is, what a file is,
what personal narrative is, what a verb is, what a subject is, what an object is, what sentences
are, what a topic sentence is, what paragraphs are, what a main idea is, what supporting details
are, what a theme is, what a conclusion is.
Skills = Power Verbs
Students will learn how to turn on the Chromebook, type words using the Chromebooks
keyboard, log in to their accounts, open Google Applications for Education including Gmail,
Drive, and Google Classroom, write complete sentences with a verb, subject, and object, save
documents to Drive, share documents with teacher and fellow students, highlight text, comment
on shared documents, turn in assignments.
Dispositions = Attitude

Students will come to believe that computers are not scary, not intimidating, often fun but not a
toy, that they are powerful tools for research, writing, collaboration, enjoyment and exploration,
and that animals are not tools, not toys, are unlike computers in many ways, and capable of
providing companionship to human beings, fully deserving of respect and care due to living
beings.
Assessment Overview
Formative: Students will brainstorm ideas in class, explore brainstormed ideas by writing single
sentences to create seeds of larger ideas, select exploratory sentences or seeds to develop into a
draft introductory paragraph, share/revise draft paragraph, develop seed sentences into
supporting and concluding paragraphs, and receive feedback and revise draft paragraphs toward
final copy.
Summative: Students will produce a five paragraph essay on their most meaningful experience or
experiences with a pet or other animal that can be submitted to PetCo as part of a class
application to the company for a free classroom pet and pet supplies.
Objectives from 6 Facets + Misconceptions
Explain: During the writers workshop process, students will explain to their writing partner their
favorite animal or pet experiences, the comments theyve written during peer review, and how
they developed the final draft of their animal/pet story from a group of seed ideas.
Apply: Students will apply knowledge gained from writers workshop mini-lessons, teacherstudent conferences, and the peer review process to continually revise their written work product.
Interpret: Students will interpret their experiences with pets or other animals to explore the many
kinds of relationships that may exist between living things on the earth and the costs and
benefits, risks and rewards of such relationships.
Empathize: Students will learn to empathize with animals that have suffered and died and with
pet owners that have lost beloved pets.
Gain Perspective: Students will contemplate what it means to be a good steward and caretaker of
living things, especially living things held and domesticated by human beings.
Gain Self Knowledge: Students will come to see themselves as capable and willing stewards of
the lives of living things.
Misconceptions: Students will disabuse themselves of the idea that computers are either scary or
merely game devices; they will also disabuse themselves of the idea that domesticated animals
are scary or are playthings rather than living beings that deserve respect and care.