Puzzled papers: Using the computer to arrange paragraphs in a paper

Students use the cut and paste commands in a word processing program to rearrange paragraphs in a paper, according to logical progression in writing.

A lesson plan for grades 6–8 English Language Arts

By Sally Watts

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Related topics

• Learn more about cut and paste, language arts, organization, technology skills, transition words, and word processing.

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Learning outcomes

Students will use logical thinking to reinforce the concept of coherence in writing as they work with transition words and phrases to put a paper back together correctly.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

2 hours

Materials/resources

Students will need their notes on using transition words

Technology resources

This lesson is designed to be completed in a computer lab setting where each student has access to a personal computer and a disk on which the assignment has been copied prior to instruction. It could be adapted for use in the regular classroom with a single computer connected to a presentation system.

Pre-activities

Prior to beginning the lesson, students should have had some instruction in expository writing. They should be familiar with the following terms:

• coherence
• transition words
• introduction
• conclusion
• chronological order
• spatial order
• comparison/contrast
• order of importance
• cause/effect

The instructor should have copied the directions and the paper for each lesson onto disks for students to use.

Activities

1. Review with students terminology they should know to complete the lesson.
2. Go over the CUT, PASTE, and SAVE AS commands for the computer.
3. Each student receives a computer disk and is instructed to bring it with his/her notes on using transition words to the lab.
4. Students begin to work from their disks, following the directions for each lesson on the disk.
• Lesson 1: Students use cut and past commands to rearrange a paper according to logical progression and relatedness of ideas, stressing chronological order. Students should move paragraphs to arrange the paper so that it becomes coherent. The instructor should help students find transition words and phrases to aid students in deciding how to move paragraphs.
• Lesson 2: Students use cut and paste commands to rearrange a paper according to logical progression, again stressing chronological order. Directions are the same as for Lesson 1.
• Lesson 3: Follow the directions for Lesson 1.
• With each lesson, have students save their changes under SAVE AS so the original assignment will not be altered. Students could also print their changes before they use SAVE AS if they have access to a printer.
• In class, go over the correct arrangement of each paper, discussing why each is correct and referring to key transition words and phrases.

Assessment

I use this assignment to assess readiness for more difficult editing tasks. I use it early in my writing instruction to reinforce the idea of coherence in writing. In what order should the paragraphs for each paper be to make a coherent unit? The lesson is designed as a beginning activity before students progress to editing individual paragraphs, a task requiring more attention to detail. (See my lesson on LEARN NC: “Cut and Paste Paragraphs.”) The papers for this lesson were chosen because each has a certain order that does become obvious when students read the information in the paragraphs carefully and use transition words to guide them. After going over the lesson and determining student readiness, I progress to more intricate editing tasks.

Supplemental information

The notes for using transition words and phrases are adapted from the McDougal Littell text “Literature and Language” gold level, published by McDougal, Littell & Company, 1994, pages 324 -326.

Lessons 1, 2, and 3 are from the book “Myths, Legends, Neat Things” published by Instructional Fair, Inc., Grand Rapids, MI, 1990, pages 100, 108, 110.

Comments

This lesson could easily be modified for use without a computer and for other grade levels. Depending on the information in the papers chosen for the lesson, other subject areas can be addressed (in particular science and social studies). The lesson provides a good medium for integrated teaching, using excerpts from content area textbooks.