Grade 5 — English Language Arts: Electronic Collection

Overview

Keeping an electronic collection is an ongoing file management process. Students use information and communication technology to create an e-collection of their electronic work including word-processing projects, concept maps, images, multimedia presentations, spreadsheets, etc. Students create web pages to share highlights from their collections.
Note: Although e-collections are not necessarily assessment tools, students and teachers may select work from the collection for an electronic portfolio. E-portfolios may be a part of an e-collection.

Activate

In collaborative groups, students brainstorm and record types and purposes of collections (i.e., Why do people collect things? How do they store their collections?). [Plan and Question] Each group lists at least five types of collections and submits an exit slip explaining one type of collection on their list.

Teacher Tip:
Consider the following kind of collections: hockey cards, dolls, stamps, rocks, music, art, antiques, etc.

Suggestions for Assessment:
Read the exit slips and check for understanding of purpose for collections.

Students discuss the need to and advantages of organizing one’s work in a collection that can be accessed and examined easily. Ask students to collect several copies of print work in a variety of subjects. Students organize their work in thematic stacks. In pairs, they explain their selection criteria for each stack. [Collaborate] They create a concept map to represent the categories they created, where the main idea is labelled “My work collection”. [Gather and Make Sense]

Teacher Tips:
The categories can be subject areas (ELA, math, science, social studies), types of files (story, graph, spelling, drawing) or date (week, month).
Ask students to print their concept map and its corresponding outline so they can see the relationship between the two in how the content is represented (main idea, categories, sub-categories).

Suggestions for Assessment:
Work Sample/Observation: Review students' concept maps for understanding of categories.

Acquire

Students open their electronic file folder. They view the files of their saved work using a list format [Gather and Make Sense]. They do a PrintScreen or Screen Capture and print the list of their electronic files. They organize their electronic files in the same manner that they organized their print files, this time by identifying titles or categories for their electronic content, writing the name next to each category and determining the purpose for each category. Students brainstorm logical and consistent folders/file management and follow the organization plan agreed-upon with the teacher to manage folders [Plan and Question].

Teacher Tip:
Students may organize their work by creating folders organized by theme, date (i.e., month or term), information technology application, or any other suitable category that they can appropriately explain.

Suggestions for Assessment:
Conference: Conference to assess structure of the e-collection. Create a checklist that includes expected components for student e-collections.

Apply

Students review the concept map representing their print work. They revise it for their electronic work by adding new categories if necessary and by removing categories that do not apply. [Gather and Make Sense, Produce to Show Understanding] Students create a hierarchy for their electronic folders based on the concept map they created. Students reflect on the items chosen and the categories established for their e-collections.

Teacher Tips:
Get students involved in establishing criteria for assessing their e-collection. [Produce to Show Understanding]
Students may take digital photos of artwork or posters and include them in their electronic collection. [Gather and Make Sense] They create a new category for them if appropriate.
Ensure that students include items that demonstrate learning and growth such as goal setting reflection, interest inventories, metacognitive reflection, etc.

Support File:
Constructing Student-Generated Criteria for Quality Work

Suggestions for Assessment:
Conference: Conference with students to discuss the categories chosen and on their selection choices. [Reflect]