Lesson 1

Lesson 1

Prerequisite Assignments/Learning/Activities:

Class has previously learned about mind-mapping (brainstorming/clustering).

Class has previously learned about academic essay outlining.

Class has previously learned about funnel-style introductions.

Class has previously learned about thesis statements.

Class has previously learned about academic essays (cause/effect essays).

A class wiki has been created on Wikispaces and students have learned how to use it.

A wiki (linked from the class wiki) has been created for each of the four project groups.

Objectives:

Students will learn how to write a comparison/contrast academic essay.

Students will practice brainstorming - listing.

Students will practice brainstorming - mind mapping (clustering).

Students will practice organizing and outlining academic essays.

Tools:

Wikispaces: http://www.wikispaces.com/

Google Docs: http://docs.google.com/

Bubbl.Us: http://www.bubbl.us/

Wikipedia: http://www.wikipedia.org/

Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/

Methods:

Mini-lecture - (15 minutes) - review essay writing process and introduce comparison/contrast essays. Also, introduce the project (four project groups of five students each will work together to write an academic style on the group Wikispaces page). Stress that it will be viewable by the whole world, so quality is important.

Activity 1 - "Create a Rubric" - (20 minutes) - Explain that the class will now create a rubric by which they will score each-others work. One volunteer is selected to operate the computer/overhead projector to create a Google Document with tables. Class creates a rubric for scoring each groups final product. Print a copy of the rubric for each group.

Activity 2 - "Brainstorm Topics" - (10 minutes) - Another volunteer is selected to operate the computer and type in a Google Document as the class brainstorms a list of possible topics for comparison/contrast essays.

Activity 3 - "Group Selection/Topic Selection" - (5 minutes) - Another volunteer is selected to divide the class of 20 students into four project groups. Groups then select a topic for their essays.

Activity 4 - "Mind Mapping" - (15 minutes) - Groups are asked to gather around one computer and go to Bubbl.us, click on "Start Brainstorming", and create a mind-map on their topic. Once the mind-map is completed, click on "menu", then "export", then "ok" (this creates a jpeg or html file). Go to your group project wiki, create a new page called "Mind Map", and paste the mind map there.

Activity 5 - "Organizing/Outlining" - (20 minutes) On your group project wiki create a new page called "Outline". Using your mind map, organize our ideas and create an outline with three main ideas: 1) similarities, 2) differences 1, and 3) differences 2.

Assign homework - (5 minutes) - Groups create a new page in their project wiki called "Research". Groups discuss which members will research specific questions or areas of their topic.

Homework:

1: Conduct research on your topic. Start by reading the relevant Wikipedia pages on your topic (do not cite these entries). Then follow all the links at the bottom of each of those Wikipedia entries to see if there is anything you can use. Then go to Google Scholar and find some good sources. After that, use any search engine you prefer to find more sources.

2: In the "Research" page of your project wiki, summarize each finding you think might be useful for your essay. Be sure to put your first name and a link to the source after each item you summarize.

Extra Credit: You can earn a 5% boost to your overall class grade if you can find an expert to interview about your topic. Document your interview by posting it to the "Research" page (mp3 audio link, YouTube video link, email posting). Be sure to get permission from your interviewee to post your interview.

Next: Lesson 2

- cc 2009 Jonan Donaldson

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.