Writing on the Computer:Lessons That Work

Heather Turngren

Minneapolis Adult Education

Summer Institute 2011

Rationale for Writing on the Computer

• Response to digital technologies

• Work skills

• Academic skills

• Life skills

• 21st Century Skills

• Feel at ease using a computer and applications

• Feel at ease using email and Internet

• Feel at ease writing a first draft on computer

Incorporate computer skills with writing

• Basic keyboard skills

• Program basics

• File management

• Email basics

• Internet navigation

• Security (passwords)

• Tools to help

Preparing to Write

Basic Computer Skills Checklist 

Use as a pre- and post- assessment tool

I can …

____ yes! ____ not yet Open and close Microsoft Word

____ yes! ____ not yet Create a new document in Word

____ yes! ____ not yet Use the delete key

____ yes! ____ not yet Use the space bar between words

____ yes! ____ not yet Type with capital letters and periods

____ yes! ____ not yet Use the undo button

____ yes! ____ not yet Highlight words

Toolbar in Word

Keyboarding

• Not part of intermediate/advanced classes

• Beginning classes may devote 20 minutes a day

• Assign skill target/focus for daily practice

• Students aim for accuracy of 90% or above

•mpsabe.mpls.k12.mn.us

Minneapolis ABE: Touch Typing

Online resources

www.GCFlearnfree.org

• Computer basics

• Excel

• Facebook 101

• Microsoft Office

• Internet Basics

• Google

Practice Lessons

•Practice keyboard skills prior to

writing

•Begin with Microsoft Word then

transfer skills to Google Docs

Highlight & Font

Highlight the sentences and change the font, size and style.

Font Size Style

He is exhausted. Papyrus 18 Bold

She is happy. Comic Sans 14 Underline

He is a short man. Arial 12 Italic

Practice Skills

• Adding and deleting spaces

• Spaces and capital letters

• Highlight, bold, italic and underline

• Change font, size and style

• Capitalization

• Inserting periods

Email

Email

• Use Gmail with full name (more professional)

• Class receives email agenda daily

• Students practice:• Formal memo and letter writing• Use of subject line• Download and attach files• Attachments• Google docs, calendar, translate and other

Gmail features

Set up Gmail tips

• Use volunteers to sign up students!

• Password is student’s phone number

• Customize question “What is mother’s first name?”

• Use teacher’s email as recovery address

• Use voice mail (not text) to get code

Email example• Dear Writing 3:

Good morning!  I am so happy to have another weekend upon us!  I hope you have great plans to spend the weekend.

Yesterday, we learned how to use Google Docs.  I hope you find it as exciting as I do.  It is a way for you to do writing from any computer that has connection to the Internet.  It is also free and easy to use.

For today's class, I would like you to continue with using Google Docs.  We will create a table of verbs. It will be another way to practice grammar of the simple past tense. 

When you are finished with the verb table, I would like you to edit your first essay from last week.  I have the corrections for you to look at and edit your work. 

If there is time, we will also take a look at the website I sent to you in yesterday's e-mail.

Agenda:

1.  read e-mail2.  create past tense verb table3.  edit essay 1

Let's begin!

~Heather

Email lessons

• Students send at least one email a week

• Review use of subject line – similar to writing a title

• Teacher reply – edit one sentence and highlight changes

Internet Searches

Google Searches

• Google searches with dictation - geography works well!

• Students practice typing questions in MS Word

• Type question in Google search box

• Find answer and type in complete sentences

• Help discriminate between advertised sites and more legitimate sites

Grammar Lessons

Grammar Lessons

• Introduce or review grammar

point(s) online

• Incorporate word processing skills

(attachments, downloads, etc.)

• Write a 1 – 5 paragraph essay as

final product

Adjectives

Adjectives

• Review (online lesson)

• Table of antonyms, synonyms, comparatives, and superlatives

• Attach document with mistakes and space for dictation

• Show images, students type sentences

• Create paragraph or essay: ex. invitation to their country to visit special places and tell me why

Adjective Table

Adjective Antonym

Synonym

Comparative superlative

Beautiful Ugly Pretty More beautiful than

The most beautiful

Hot Cold Warm Hotter than The hottest

Busy Slow Fast Busier than The busiest

Adjective Correction

Read the sentences below and correct the mistakes

1. The red car is more biger than the blue car.

2. Level 2 is more easyer than level 5.

3. Heather is tall than Martha.

4. Today is more cold than yesterday.

Now, we type the dictation sentences.

1.

2.

Comparative Adjectives

Michelle Janet

Michelle is happier than Janet. Janet is sadder than Michelle

Invitation Essay

The City of Puebla

You should visit Puebla City because is the most beautiful city in Mexico. It is called Puebla of the Angels. It is full of history and antiques in the little town. One of the prettiest is the cathedral. It was made with gold an it has a lot artistic paint of Catholic religion.

Past and Present Tense

Simple Past Tense

Students use simple past tense to tell about weekend in e-mail or in document. Listen and answer questions or use dictation.

• Where did you go last weekend? 

• Who did you see on Saturday?

• What did you study last weekend?

•  What did you watch on TV last night?

•  When did you go to sleep last night?

Tables

• Base form & simple past tense table, past participle

• Regular and irregular verb table

• -ed pronunciation table (/d / / t / / id /)

• Adjective/antonym/synonym table

• Ask students think of ways to use tables in their lives

Regular Verb Table

Letter Base Form Simple Past Tense

A Ask, arrive, answer Asked, arrived, answered

B Bake, brush, boil Baked, brushed, boiled

C Cook, clean, carry Cooked, cleaned, carried

D Dance, delete, deliver

Danced, deleted, delivered

E Enter, enjoy, entertain

Entered, enjoyed, entertained

Responsibility Essay

…. I bought a car like in my dream when I was kid. That is a great thing to have my own car. Nevertheless, it is also a big responsibility. I have to make sure that it contains enough gas in order to work, to repair it when something is broken, to make sure to have everything I need according to the weather. It is also a big part of my expenses. I have to drive safely to avoid accidents, which can cost me a lot of money.

Grammar websites

• www.mpsabe.mpls.k12.mn.us

• Online activity list – leveled grammar & more English

• www.englishpage.com

• Grammar book – look for grammar point

Essays

Essays

• Examples: online & attachment w/ GED-like prompts

• Examine topic sentences, supporting details and conclusions

• Students use examples as model for their own

• Discussion around plagiarism

• Use standard formatting: Times, 12pt, double-spaced

• Practice with spell check and peer editing

Journeys

• Use online Journeys (or book form) as examples

• Students looks for topic sentences, etc.

• Explore other areas in book

• Final product – send in writing for next year

Interactive Venn Diagram

Compare/contrast

Nurra and Najma

I am going to discuss the similarities and differences between Nurra and Najma who are my classmates. The similarities of Nurra and Najma are they are from Somalia. They speak English. They want to get their GED. They want to go to college. They don’t drive. They were hijabs. They are Muslims. They have sisters and brother. They are friendly…..

Peer EditingStudents sit side-by-side to read and edit together

Students read aloud to listen for missing/extra wordsOnly after peer editing will teacher/volunteer assist

Applied Writing

Formal letter writing format is similar to essay format

• Opening/introduction

• Body with supporting details

• Conclusion/closing

Letter Writing

Examples from student requests• Character reference letter

• Notice to vacate rental property

• Request for damage deposit

• Vacation request (paid time off)

• Time off without pay

Class Wrap-up

• Computer skills check-list as post-test

• Attendance certificate

• Save files to USB drive

• E-mail or table of “Skills I Have Learned”

• Online survey via Survey Monkey

Class wrap-up

Teacher observations

• Larger classes with writing and computers

• Smaller classes with only focus only on computer skills

• Learners state more computer use after class

• Some parents say now they help children more on the computer

• Learners seem to help each other more that a pen/paper writing class

• Some say they understand writing process and grammar more than in pen/paper class

• Dictionary tools help with spelling

Questions?Comments?

Ideas?

Come and visit our labMinneapolis Adult Education – Southside

2225 East Lake StreetMinneapolis, MN

Thank you!