Digital Literacy Unit: Intro to Google Docs Lesson Plan

For the last 5 years, I have been starting the year with a digital literacy unit. It is my shortest unit, 1-2 weeks, but it sets the ground work for all of the tech assignments we will be doing for the rest of the year.

I decided to go this route because I found that many of my students didn't know how to write an email or how to bold a text - simple commands that are very teachable. I'm sharing my lesson plan from this week about Google Docs, which I do with all of my English classes as we move them toward using MLA formatting when constructing a paper.

Lesson Plan Duration: 50 Minutes

1. Energizer: Digital Charades. 

We started class off with digital charades. I asked for volunteers and private messaged the volunteer a word. The student acted out the word in Zoom and we all guessed what it was. It was the first time I tried it, and it was actually a riot. Here are some terms that you can use if you do the same in your classroom: 

Virtual Charades List:

Getting married	skipping	swinging	toothpaste
Raking leaves	eating	Playing hide and seek	guitar
Planting a garden	Ironing clothes	Rowing a boat	Changing a diaper
Snowball fight	Make a campfire	yoga	glue
surfing	Riding a rollercoaster	Riding a carousel	Visiting the zoo
Building a sandcastle	Having a food fight	Riding a motorcycle	Feeding ducks
Flying a kite	Delivering mail	Playing baseball	Making a pizza

   

2. Announcements/Review HW.

Made announcements and asked students who finished their "About Me" slides to share out.

3. Google Docs Pre assessment.

I gave students a Google Docs Pre assessment and allotted 10 minutes for students to complete it. Here are some of the questions on the pre assessment:

My class was very small yesterday. Here are the frequently missed questions from the class:

I am glad that I have some data so that we can review these answers in class when we meet again.

4. Google Docs Tour. 

I shared my screen and did a quick tour of Google Docs. To spice it up so it wasn't so arbitrary, I watched a couple of Google Docs Tours on Youtube so that I could follow some of their format. 

5. Intro to Google Docs Assignment.

Students were given an Intro to Google Docs Assignment so that they could utilize some of the most common commands. Then we went out into Breakout Rooms so that myself and an IA could go over it more 1:1.

    

Then we ended for the day! I love this lesson plan because it's a great follow-up lesson plan to teaching the students keyboard shortcuts, with the worksheet: Use the Keyboard like a NINJA! 

At our next class meeting, we will be doing the same process with Google Slides, since students will be making presentations in class. We will also be going over best practices when making presentations. Stay tuned....

Take Care,

Kristine