Overview

Lesson Procedure

70-75 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice20 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Think of a web page or a screen that helped you find something fast: a bus schedule, a game score, a recipe or a weather forecast. What did it do that a long paragraph could not have done?"

   Give students three minutes to write, then collect answers on the board. Group them: things in order (a schedule), things side by side (a score table), a number that changes (a temperature chart), a place (a map) and a way to get more (a link). Tell students that today they will use the same tools to publish history and science writing, and that the standard asks for more than typing: the page has to show how the facts connect, clearly (the reader understands) and efficiently (the reader does not waste time).

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Show Diagram 1. Explain that WHST.6-8.6 has three parts: producing writing with technology (drafting, revising and checking with tools such as a word processor, a spreadsheet, comments and version history, a saved record of earlier versions of a document), publishing it (putting it where its readers can find it, such as a class website, and often using the Internet to link to sources; published images need alt text, a short written description that screen reader programs read aloud to people who cannot see the image), and presenting the relationships between information and ideas. A relationship is the way two facts connect: one comes before the other, one causes the other, or the two can be compared. Digital writing can show a relationship with a timeline, a table, a graph, a map or a link, so the reader sees it instead of digging it out of sentences. Work through the five examples below, asking each time which relationship the format shows.

   • Sequence: a timeline

     Notes for the Oregon Trail page: Families left Missouri in April or May. They hoped to reach Independence Rock, in present-day Wyoming, by about the Fourth of July. They had to cross the western mountains before the snow, and many arrived in the Willamette Valley in September or October.

     Result: The four points happen in order, so they become a four-step timeline, built as a one-row table in the word processor: April or May, leave Missouri; about July 4, Independence Rock; late summer, the western mountains; September or October, the Willamette Valley. The order that three sentences had to explain is now visible at a glance.

   • Producing with a spreadsheet: let a formula do the math

     A group tests sugar cubes in 20 °C water without stirring (invented data) and gets 309, 296 and 322 seconds. One student averages by hand and writes 312.

     Result: In the spreadsheet, the row holds the three times and a formula computes the average: (309 + 296 + 322) ÷ 3 = 927 ÷ 3 = 309 seconds, so 312 was an arithmetic slip. The formula also updates by itself if a time is corrected, and the finished row goes into the post as a table, not as a sentence full of numbers.

   • Cause and effect: a sentence with because, or a flowchart

     Lab notes: Warm water. Particles move faster. They hit the sugar more often. The cube dissolves sooner.

     Result: As one sentence: "Because water particles move faster in warmer water, they strike the sugar more often, so the cube dissolves sooner." As a flowchart of four boxes: warmer water → faster particles → more hits on the sugar → shorter dissolving time. Either form shows which fact causes which; the four fragments left the reader to guess.

   • Linking on the Internet: words that name the destination

     A draft sentence for the history page: Amelia Stewart Knight kept a diary on the trail in 1853. To read it, click here.

     Result: Rewritten so that the link words are "Amelia Stewart Knight's 1853 trail diary": "Read Amelia Stewart Knight's 1853 trail diary." A reader who skims only the links still knows what each one opens, and a screen reader that lists the links on a page reads words that make sense on their own.

   • Publishing: check before you post

     The Oregon Trail group's page is ready to publish. The byline gives the students' full names and their school's street address, one source link opens an error page, and nobody has looked at the page on a phone.

     Result: Before publishing: cut the byline to first names and grade, because the class website is public; fix or replace the broken link, so that every source can be checked; and open the preview at phone width to see what the first screen shows. Only then publish, and share the page's address with families instead of sending a copy of the file.

   Now read the history case in order. Talia, Marcus and Jun, three eighth graders (all invented), are building a page for their class history website. Students read the group's first draft (Text 1), the comments in their shared online document (Text 2) and the page as published (Text 3). Because the page itself is a screen, Texts 1 and 3 describe it block by block. As they read, students mark each change between the versions with the relationship it shows (O for order, C for cause, K for comparison, P for place, L for link) or with a T if it is a tool used to produce or publish the page, such as version history or a preview.

   [Photo of a covered wagon, filling the whole first screen, with no caption]

   Life on the Oregon Trail

   The Oregon Trail was a wagon route of about 2,170 miles from Independence, Missouri, to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. In 1836 Narcissa Whitman became one of the first white women to cross the Rocky Mountains, and in 1843 about 1,000 people went west together in the Great Migration, and in 1846 the United States and Britain signed the Oregon Treaty, which set the border at the 49th parallel, and in 1848 Congress made Oregon a territory, and in 1849 the California Gold Rush sent many more wagons west, and in 1859 Oregon became a state, and after the transcontinental railroad was finished in 1869 fewer families used the trail.

   Most wagons were pulled by oxen. Wagons covered about 15 to 20 miles a day. The trip took four to six months. Many people walked beside their wagons the whole way. Disease, especially cholera, killed more travelers than anything else.

   To see a map, click here. For more information, click here.

   Sources: the internet

   Mr. Nakamura: A reminder of the task. Your page goes on our class history website, where families and other eighth graders will read it, most of them on phones. It should answer two questions: how did use of the trail change between 1836 and 1869, and why did the trip take so long?

   Jun (on paragraph 1): This sentence has seven dates joined by "and." A reader has to hold all seven in mind at once. The events happen in an order, so let's turn them into a timeline, one event per date.

   Marcus (on paragraph 2): These short sentences are really one idea. The oxen were slow, and that is why the trip took months. Let's join them with "because," so the reader sees the link instead of guessing it.

   Marcus: I checked the numbers in a spreadsheet. At 20 miles a day, 2,170 miles takes about 109 days, and at 15 miles a day it takes about 145 days. With stops for rest, repairs and river crossings, four to six months fits.

   Talia (on paragraph 3): Both links say "click here." Someone skimming on a phone sees two links with the same words and can't tell which one is the map. Link words should name what opens, like "National Park Service map of the Oregon National Historic Trail."

   Jun (on the photo): On my phone, the photo fills the whole first screen, so a reader has to scroll before finding out what the page is about. Let's make it smaller, move it lower, add a caption and add alt text, a short description that a screen reader reads aloud for someone who cannot see the image.

   Mr. Nakamura (on "Sources"): "The internet" does not let a reader check anything. List each source by its title and the group that published it, and link each one.

   Marcus: Could we add a table that compares the trip by wagon with the trip by train after 1869? Two columns would show the difference faster than a paragraph.

   Talia: Yes. I deleted our old paragraph 2 by mistake, but the version history brought it back. Before we publish, let's preview the page on a phone and on a laptop and click every link.

   Mr. Nakamura: One more check before you publish. The page is public, so use first names only and no photos of yourselves.

   Block 1, heading and summary: Life on the Oregon Trail. Between the early 1840s and 1869, hundreds of thousands of people crossed about 2,170 miles of prairie, mountains and dry country in covered wagons to reach Oregon and California. This page shows when the trail was used, why the trip took so long and what changed when the railroad came.

   Block 2, timeline, one event per date, read from left to right: 1836, Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Spalding become the first white women known to cross the Rocky Mountains. 1843, about 1,000 emigrants travel together in the Great Migration. 1846, the Oregon Treaty with Britain sets the northern border at the 49th parallel. 1848, Congress creates Oregon Territory. 1849, the California Gold Rush sends many more wagons west. 1859, Oregon becomes a state. 1869, the transcontinental railroad is finished, and fewer families take the trail.

   Block 3, why the trip took so long: Most wagons were pulled by oxen, which are strong but slow. Because a wagon covered only about 15 to 20 miles a day, the 2,170-mile trip took four to six months. Families left in April or May so that they could cross the western mountains before the snow came.

   Block 4, table with two columns, "By covered wagon" and "By train, after 1869." Row 1, time for the trip: four to six months from Missouri; about a week from coast to coast. Row 2, how people traveled: walking beside an ox-drawn wagon; riding in a passenger car.

   Block 5, map with a caption and alt text. The caption reads, "The trail ran through present-day Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon." The alt text reads, "Map of the western United States with a line from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon." Below the map is a link: National Park Service map of the Oregon National Historic Trail.

   Block 6, photo, half the width of the screen, with the caption "A covered wagon like the ones families used on the trail."

   Block 7, sources, each one a link: "Oregon National Historic Trail," National Park Service. "Oregon Trail," The Oregon Encyclopedia, Oregon Historical Society. Page by Talia, Marcus and Jun, grade 8.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs turn to science. Hannah's seventh-grade class ran the sugar cube lab in the handout (Text 4), and her group's times are in Table 1, as they were entered in the class spreadsheet. Hannah wrote a first version of the group's results post (Text 5), and her teacher, Dr. Patel, and her lab partner, Ravi, left comments (Text 6). Hannah, Ravi, Dr. Patel and the data are invented.

   Pairs make a production plan for Hannah's Version 2 on a two-column chart: use and set aside. Each comment goes in one column with a reason that names the reader or the relationship the post must show. Pairs then sketch the post as it will look on a phone: title, one-sentence summary, table, graph, caption and alt text, in that order, and circle the one element that shows the main relationship of the lab.

   1Research question: Does the temperature of water change how long a sugar cube takes to dissolve?

   2Background: A substance dissolves when its particles spread out among the particles of a liquid. Water particles are always moving, and they move faster when the water is warmer. Faster particles strike the sugar more often and carry sugar particles away from the cube more quickly.

   3Setup: Your teacher will fill clear cups with 200 mL of water at 10 °C, 20 °C, 30 °C and 40 °C. No water in this lab is warmer than 40 °C. Check each temperature with a thermometer. Drop one sugar cube into a cup and start the timer. Stir slowly with a spoon, one full circle every two seconds. Stop the timer when no solid sugar can be seen. Run three trials at each temperature, with a new cup of water and a new cube each time. Do not taste anything in the lab.

   4Recording and posting: Enter your times in the class spreadsheet, one row per temperature and one column per trial. Each group will then post a short results report on the class science page, where families and the other seventh-grade classes can read it.

   Table 1: Hannah's group, time for one sugar cube to dissolve, in seconds (invented data)

   Water temperature	Trial 1	Trial 2	Trial 3
   10 °C	151	146	150
   20 °C	113	108	112
   30 °C	84	79	83
   40 °C	62	58	63

   Our Sugar Lab

   At 10 degrees trial 1 was 151 seconds and trial 2 was 146 and trial 3 was 150. At 20 degrees it was 113, 108 and 112, so the average was 108. At 30 degrees we got 84, 79 and 83. At 40 degrees we got 62, 58 and 63. I made a pie chart of the four average times with a different color for each temperature. The graph is in the attached file, called graph final 2. Hot water works better. Here is a photo of our group at the lab table!

   Dr. Patel, science teacher:
   1. Your readers will want to compare the four temperatures. A paragraph of twelve numbers makes them do the sorting. Put the trials in a table: one row per temperature, one column per trial, and a column for the average.
   2. Let the spreadsheet compute each average with a formula. Then compare your 20 °C average with the formula's result.
   3. A pie chart shows parts of one whole. Your four times are not parts of anything; they are results that change as the temperature changes. Choose a graph that shows one number changing with another.
   4. Label both axes with units, and give the graph a caption that states the relationship in one sentence.
   5. Put the graph in the post itself. Families reading on a phone are unlikely to download an attached file.
   6. "Hot water works better" is not yet a result. Better at what? Also, 40 °C is warm, not hot.

   Ravi, lab partner:
   1. Can we make the graph 3-D, with a bright color for every point? It would look cooler.
   2. Let's post the photo of us at the lab table, so people know who did the work.

4. Independent Practice20 minutes

   Each student, or each pair sharing a device, produces Hannah's Version 2 and publishes it to the class science page or to a practice page the teacher sets up. The post must have:

   • a title and a one-sentence summary that answers the research question;
   • Table 1 as a table, with an average column computed by a spreadsheet formula;
   • a graph that shows how the average time changes with water temperature, with both axes labeled with units;
   • a one-sentence caption that states the relationship, and alt text for the graph;
   • no photo of any student, and no attached file that readers must download.

   Without devices, students build the table on paper, plot the graph on grid paper and lay out the post on a paper phone-screen template. Before publishing, partners swap and run a two-minute check: preview at phone width, compare each average with the trials, and read the caption aloud to see whether it states the relationship.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Name one change from Version 1 to Version 2 of the Oregon Trail page and the relationship it shows. (2) Name one tool the group used to produce the page, not to publish it. (3) Write one sentence explaining why a reader on a phone benefits from a graph placed in the post rather than attached.

   Hand out Texts 7 and 8 for the homework and read the directions together.

   Teacher notes: Talia, Marcus, Jun, Hannah, Ravi, their teachers and all lab data are invented; the facts about the Oregon Trail are real. The page describes tools by what they do (a word processor, a spreadsheet, a shared online document with comments and version history, a class website); use whatever your school provides. Before students publish anything, check your school's rules for student work online: first names only, no photos of students and no personal details. For the optional lab, prepare the water yourself and keep every cup at 40 °C or cooler (warm tap water mixed with cool water works); students check the temperature with a thermometer, wipe up spills at once and do not eat or drink anything in the lab.

   Ravi's group ran a second test at 20 °C, stirring the same way as in the first lab (one full circle every two seconds) in 200 mL of water. They used one sugar cube for every trial. For each trial, they either dropped the cube in whole, broke it into four pieces first, or crushed it to grains inside a folded paper towel and poured in every grain.

   Whole cube: 108, 112 and 107 seconds.
   Four pieces: 71, 66 and 70 seconds.
   Crushed: 34, 39 and 38 seconds.

   Dr. Patel asked the group to post the results on the class science page as a second report, with a table, a graph and a caption.

   Talia's notes for a new block on the Oregon Trail page, "Landmarks Along the Way," written in the order she found them:

   Fort Hall, in present-day Idaho: a trading post near the place where many wagons bound for California left the Oregon Trail.

   Chimney Rock, in present-day western Nebraska: a tall, thin spire of rock that travelers could see long before they reached it.

   The Dalles, on the Columbia River in present-day Oregon: travelers chose between rafting down the dangerous river or, after 1846, taking the Barlow Road around the south side of Mount Hood.

   South Pass, in present-day Wyoming: a wide, gentle crossing of the Continental Divide, about 7,400 feet above sea level.

   Fort Laramie, in present-day Wyoming: a fur-trading post that the U.S. Army bought in 1849 and turned into a military post.

   From east to west, travelers reached them in this order: Chimney Rock, Fort Laramie, South Pass, Fort Hall, The Dalles.

   Sources Talia used: the National Park Service page on the Oregon National Historic Trail, and the National Park Service page on Fort Laramie National Historic Site.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Text 2, Mr. Nakamura reminds the group who will read the page. Who are the readers?

   AMr. Nakamura alone, who will grade the page on paper BFamilies and other eighth graders, most of them on phones CHistorians at the National Park Service who study the trail DThe group members, who will use it to study for a test

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Jun (Text 2), what problem does the long sentence of dates in Version 1 (Text 1) cause for the reader?

   AIt contains dates that are wrong and need to be checked first BIt makes the paragraph too short for a class web page CIt forces the reader to hold seven dates in mind at once DIt leaves out the year that the railroad was finished

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why does Talia object to the two "click here" links in Version 1 (Text 2)?

   AA skimming reader cannot tell which link opens the map BLinks to other websites are not allowed on a class page CThe two links open the same page, so one of them is extra DThe words "click here" are misspelled in the first link

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Jun asks for four changes to the photo (Text 2). Which one is missing from the description of Block 6 in Version 2 (Text 3)?

   AMaking the photo smaller than the screen BMoving the photo below the summary CAdding a caption under the photo DAdding alt text for the photo

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which sentence from Version 2 (Text 3) presents a cause and its effect?

   A"This page shows when the trail was used, why the trip took so long and what changed when the railroad came." B"Because a wagon covered only about 15 to 20 miles a day, the 2,170-mile trip took four to six months." C"The trail ran through present-day Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon." D"A covered wagon like the ones families used on the trail."

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Mr. Nakamura says "The internet" does not let a reader check anything. What does Version 2 (Text 3) do instead?

   AIt removes the sources, since the facts are well known BIt lists each source by its title and publisher, as a link CIt asks readers to search the Internet for the page title themselves DIt names the search words the group typed into a browser

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why did the group make the photo smaller and move it lower in Version 2?

   AThe photo was copied from a website without permission BThe photo showed the group members, which the school does not allow CThe photo was blurry when it was viewed on a laptop DOn a phone, the photo filled the first screen before any text

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which block of Version 2 (Text 3) was added to present a comparison?

   ABlock 4, the table of travel by covered wagon and by train BBlock 2, the timeline of events from 1836 to 1869 CBlock 3, the paragraph that explains why the trip took so long DBlock 6, the photo of a covered wagon with a caption

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Marcus checks Block 3's numbers in a spreadsheet (Text 2). Suppose a wagon averaged 18 miles a day with no days off. How many days would the 2,170-mile trip take, to the nearest day?

   A109 days B39,060 days C121 days D145 days

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Dr. Patel says a pie chart is the wrong choice for Hannah's results (Text 6). What is her reason?

    APie charts cannot show numbers larger than 100 BThe four times are separate results, not parts of one whole CA pie chart needs at least eight slices to be readable DPie charts do not print clearly when a class science page is printed

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Hannah wrote that the average time at 20 °C was 108 seconds (Text 5). Using her three trials, what average should the spreadsheet formula give?

    A108 seconds B113 seconds C333 seconds D111 seconds

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which caption states the relationship in Table 1 accurately in one sentence?

    A"Graph of our sugar lab results for all four water temperatures." B"The warmer the water, the longer the cube took to dissolve in every trial." C"As the water got warmer, the average time for a cube to dissolve went down." D"Our results prove that hot water dissolves every kind of solid faster than cold."

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Ravi asks to make the graph 3-D, "with a bright color for every point" (Text 6). What is the best response?

    ASet it aside, since the effects add nothing and can make values harder to read BUse it, since readers are more likely to trust a graph that uses more colors CUse it, since a 3-D graph always shows the data more accurately than a flat one DSet it aside, since graphs on a class page must be in black and white only

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why does Dr. Patel ask Hannah to put the graph in the post instead of attaching it (Text 6)?

    AAn attached file cannot hold a graph with labeled axes BFamilies reading on a phone are unlikely to open an attached file CAttaching a file would make the post public before Hannah is ready DThe class science page deletes attached files after one day

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    The group wants to add a link to Block 3 that opens a page of photos of wagon ruts that can still be seen at the Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site near Guernsey, Wyoming. Talia's first try is "Wagons wore deep ruts into the rock. Click here." Rewrite it using Talia's rule for links (Text 2), name your link words, and explain in one sentence why your version is better for a reader who skims.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write alt text of one or two sentences for a line graph of the averages from Table 1 (average dissolving time against water temperature). Include the direction of the relationship and the averages at the lowest and highest temperatures.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Name two ways the Oregon Trail group used technology to produce their page, as opposed to publishing it. Quote Text 2 for each.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Dr. Patel asks Hannah to put her trials in a table (Text 6). Write the header row of that table and its row for 30 °C, including the average, and explain in one sentence why the table is more efficient than Hannah's paragraph.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Quote the part of Version 1 (Text 1) that gives the dates, and the part of Version 2 (Text 3) that replaces it. In two or three sentences, explain how Version 2 presents the relationship among the events more clearly and efficiently.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Before Hannah publishes Version 2 on the class science page, what three checks should she make? Base at least two of them on Texts 2, 4 or 6.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to WHST.6-8.6: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.