Step 3 - First Draft

Writing & Creating Images

First Draft

As always, use the time between classes to "clean up" the content. As students find sources for step 2, encourage them to comment on the outline. Then use these comments for the second revision of the outline. The main revision needed from the second step is the removal of non-reliable sources and copyrighted images.

The project becomes significantly more fluid at this point. I offered students a variety of assignment options for each unit:

  1. Write the text explaining a specific portion of the outline.
  2. Create a diagram or infographic explaining a process.
  3. Create a video or animation explaining a process.
  4. Create a table summarizing the differences between components in the chapter.

The key here is to be very specific about what the student is creating. This is where the step 2 material becomes important. I gave the students a specific portion of the outline, the sources and images from step 2, and the "instructions to the writer" written in step 2. Students are asked to specifically comment on how they used these resources to create their content and will be graded on remaining within the set guidelines. [This is to prevent writing from straying from the topics set over the past 2 semesters].

At this step, I focused mainly on the writing and diagrams so that the videos and summaries can be built using existing text. Most of the videos and summaries will be built in following semesters, but there were some cases where it made sense here.

Also, because of the fluidity of the options, this was also a good opportunity to catch up on missing sources and images. Some portions of the outline did not have the sources and images completed to the point where they were usable to create a draft.

This gives students many options and allows them to select tasks based on their learning preferences. The main challenge for this portion of the project is identifying tasks of approximately the same size. I accomplished this by combining small tasks together. This takes some time to work through but becomes much easier after the first few outlines.

Sample Assignments

The Instructions and sample assignments for this step can be found in the First Draft Google Drive Folder.

Smaller Assignments

Students can fact check online answer forums such as. Have students evaluate current answers and turn in their answer. [Students can also post their answer if they so choose].