Alphasmart AS6000 User manual

• Writing Process Guide and
• Writing Activities
by Stephen Marcus, Ph.D.
• Tips and Tricks
• Curriculum Integration Ideas
Teacher's
Guide

Contents
Page
2 Introduction
3 Writing and the AlphaSmart
3 More Than You Bargained For
3 Anything Worth Writing . . .
4 Habits of Mind
4 The Composing Product
6 Writing Activities
6 Sequential Writing
6 Sequential Responding
7 Looping
8 Group Looping
9 Invisible Writing
10 Class Act
11 Tips and Tricks
13 Classroom Integration Ideas
13 Creating New Word Lists
14 Sentences from Spelling Words
14 Activity Journal
15 Names, Nouns and Verbs
15 Questions to Guide the Field Trip
16 Sentence Completion for Understanding
16 Procedural Writing
17 Guided Science Observation
17 Interviewing and Writing a Biography
1 Sharing Your Ideas
AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide 1

Introduction
About Dr. Stephen Marcus . . .
The original Teacher’s Guide for the AlphaSmart was written by
Stephen Marcus, Ph.D.. Dr. Marcus coordinated the National Writing
Project Technology Network as well as the California Writing
Project/California Technology Project Alliance. He was Chair of the
Committee on Future Technology for the International Society for
Technology in Education and was a member of the Committee on
Information Literacy and the Assembly on Computers and English
for the National Council of Teachers of English. He was on the
faculty of the Graduate School of Education at the University of
California, Santa Barbara, where he was co-director of SCWriP, an
affiliate of the National Writing Project.
The writing and ideas shared by Dr. Marcus in the original
AlphaSmart Teacher’s Guide are included in this guide as well. The
writing activities are designed to improve the quality and quantity of
your students’ writing. Following the writing activities, you will find
classroom integration ideas to help you get started using the
AlphaSmart with your students at any grade level and in any content
area.
2 AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide

Writing
and the AlphaSmart
By Dr. Stephen Marcus
More Than You Bargained For
The AlphaSmart is exceptionally well suited for helping stu-
dents improve the quantity and quality of their “prewriting” - the
raw material that will be refined at later stages in the composing
process (more about this, below). Making notes, false starts, and
early drafts (all part of prewriting) doesn’t apply just to assignments
done for English classes. They are the starting points for thinking,
problem-solving, and writing across the curriculum.
One of the major goals of prewriting activities is to build
fluency. Attention to format and correctness are appropriate to later
stages in the composing process.
With this in mind, the activities, tips, and tricks provided in this
Teacher’s Guide are meant to accomplish two related goals.
First, they provide activities that students might use for differ-
ent kinds of assignments in a variety of classes or subject matter
areas - any setting in which the AlphaSmart can support teaching
and learning.
Second, many of the suggestions are designed to help you and
your students break the "Technology 80/20 Rule": eighty percent of
the people who use a given piece of hardware or software make use
of only twenty percent of its power.
As simple as it is to use, the AlphaSmart keyboard has features
that are just waiting to be exploited in creative ways, to add even
more value to its use. You don’t have to use it for long before you
begin to see how you’ve gotten even more than you bargained for.
Anything Worth Writing ...
...is worth writing poorly. At first. That’s what “pre-writing” is
all about. Prewriting is a way for students to begin to give shape and
AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide 3

order to their thoughts. The AlphaSmart is great for helping them
mine diamonds in the rough. The polishing and setting come later.
Often, students spend too much time in early stages of the com-
posing process tinkering with their text, when the working rule should
be “Don’t get it ‘right’ - get it down.” (This is advice once given to
writers for The New Yorker.) The necessary revising and editing can
come later, when the students are sure they’re working on material that
deserves and demands their attention.
After all, prewriting is just a stage in a process that also includes
preparing more complete drafts and letting others comment on the
writing for re-thinking and revising. These stages are followed by
additional editing and proofreading as progress is made toward the
final stage of “publishing". Publishing the writing involves making it
public in some formal way perhaps in a class anthology or even just by
“handing it in”.
The strategies that follow are particularly good for generating
copious notes as well as useful and substantive “mental doodles.” The
activities also help dissolve writing blocks, which often result from
students trying to do their rewriting before they’ve done their
prewriting, from struggling to say exactly what they mean before
they’re even sure what’s on their minds.
Habits of Mind
Students may need to practice the habits of mind inherent in many
of these activities as well as the specific methods. Encourage the class
to talk over what worked, what didn’t and why. Encourage students to
try a technique again after getting advice from you and from their
classmates about how to do a given activity a little better the next time.
Not everything will work perfectly for every student every time it’s
tried; students will find that practice is as important here as anywhere
else.
The Composing Product
We want students to produce clear and effective writing that
demonstrates a command of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. We
want them to be fluent and to be able to write in a variety of “voices”
4 AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide

and styles to suit the occasion. We also want them to value writing as a
means for giving structure and order to what they know and want to
say.
The AlphaSmart keyboard can be an invaluable aid for reaching
all of these goals. It can be particularly helpful as your students engage
in the early stages of the composing process, as they prepare to pro-
duce a product of which you can all be proud.
Notes:
AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide 5

Writing Activities
Sequential Writing
This activity promotes attention to coherence and creativity.
• Working in small groups, students start their own essays,
poems, descriptions, explanations, or stories, either with their
own ideas or with a common prompt (e.g., “Alone, the last
person alive on earth, he was startled to ear a knock on the
door”).
• Students type 1-4 lines, then pass their AlphaSmart to a
neighbor, who add 1-4 lines.
• Students keep passing the AlphaSmart from person to person
around the group until their own is returned to them.
• The pieces get read aloud, discussed, edited, printed, and
published in a collection.
Sequential Responding
This activity develops students’ skills as analytical readers and
responders. It also teaches them ways to help build and develop other
peoples’ work instead of just “tearing it apart.”
• Students bring to class a printout of a piece of work-in-
progress. The student’s name should be included at the top of
the pages.
• Display on the board (or in a handout) a set of response
categories like the following with modifications for the grade
level and targeted learning. (F1 is kept available for the
author’s comments about the other students’ responses):
- F2: What you wrote. . .
- F3: The way you approached the assignment . . .
- F4: Something you might have mentioned is . . .
- F5: One thing that I hadn’t considered was . . .
- F6: I was surprised . . .
- F7: You’re good at . . .
6 AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide

• Each student’s work-in-progress printout travels with the
student’s AlphaSmart.
• The students read the work-in-progress and select one re-
sponse category and write a response in the designated file.
• The first student to work in a particular file should type the
words as shown above and add his or her personal comment
and name.
• Students trade keyboards after contributing to an assigned
number of files.
• All comments should include the name of the person making
the comment.
• The author eventually gets his or her work-in-progress and
AlphaSmart back to review the comments and use them to
shape future versions of the writing.
• The author can use F1 to write his or her own responses to
questions like these:
- What kinds of comments were most helpful?
- What kinds of comments were least helpful?
- If you only had time to take three bits of advice to
improve your writing, what advice would you
use?
Looping
This activity develops fluency and the ability to focus on a topic.
• For 3-5 minutes students do a quantity of “freewriting” in file
F1 on a topic appropriate to the class. In “freewriting”, they
try to get down a lot of thoughts without worrying about
typing mistakes, spelling, complete sentences, changes of
topic, etc.
• They then review their work, deciding on one particular idea,
sentence, phrase, or word that captures some interesting
point.
• They use this text to begin another short freewriting period in
file F2. They then review F2 and use the text there as the basis
AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide 7

for repeating the procedure in F3, F4, F5, etc. Each new file
begins with a short piece of text from the previous file.
• All the files eventually get printed and reviewed as raw
material for further writing.
• This procedure could also be adapted to the Sequential Writing
activity described above.
• The difference between “sequence” writing and “looping” is
that in the former, the new file picks up where the previous file
left off and continues in the general direction of the previous
file. In looping, the new file takes as a starting point any
portion of the previous file that catches the writer’s interest.
Group Looping
This activity builds fluency, the ability to focus, and the kind of creativ-
ity and collaborative involvement typical of “writing in the real
world.”
• Students work in small groups, with one AlphaSmart per
student. They each start a file in F1 as described above in the
Looping activity.
• After 3-5 minutes, students pass their keyboards to a neighbor,
who reviews the F1 file, deciding on one particular idea,
sentence, phrase, or word that captures some interesting point.
• Students use this text to do another short period of freewriting
in file F2 including his or her name at the end of their writing.
• When finished, they hand the AlphaSmart to a third group
member, who reviews F2 and repeats the procedure, doing a
short freewriting period in F3. This same process is repeated
with each student starting a new file beginning with a short
piece of text from the previous file.
• Eventually (depending on the size of the groups or how much
time you can devote to this procedure), the AlphaSmart is
returned to the original author, who can review the files to get
perspectives, ideas, and quotes for future use in preparing a
piece of writing.
8 AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide

AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide 9
Invisible Writing
Students report that this approach develops fluency and helps them
overcome the tendency to do inappropriate rewriting before appropri-
ate time is spent prewriting. They also report that they’re more inter-
ested in seeing what they have to say. The procedure described below
is one way to practice the technique before it’s applied to actual writing
assignments.
• Students have a large Post-It sticker available to cover up the
text window.
• They spend 1-3 minutes freewriting on the given topic with the
text window covered (see explanation of freewriting in the
“looping” section).
• They then remove the sticker, review the text, and spend 1-3
minutes freewriting “visibly” (they can see the text), continu-
ing to respond to the assignment.
• They repeat this two-part procedure with the partnered
question for the assignment.
• Finally, students spend 2-4 minutes freewriting on how the
two different conditions affected their thinking and writing.
They discuss this in class and print the material for later use.
• Here are some sample topics to help students practice this
technique. They’re designed to provide tasks of equal “cogni-
tive load.” Similar prompts can be generated for a variety of
topics and curriculum areas.
- “I’m typing on this keyboard, and . . .
- “I can’t see what I’m typing and . . .”
- Why do people read poetry?
- Why do people write poetry?
- Why do people read history books?
- Why do people write history books?
- What’s hard about learning chemistry?
- What’s easy about learning chemistry?
- What was hard about being in school last year?
- What was easy about being in school last year?

10 AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide
Class Act
To help students prepare for class discussions, have them use the
questions below to begin thinking about a reading assignment you've
given. They can keep the list of questions in one of the available files
and use another file to jot down reponses.
• Type a title to identify the assigned reading.
• What, if anything, does the author seem to know about writing
that you don't already know yourself? (Not about the subject
matter, but about writing.)
• What's something you know that could have been included in
the piece but wasn't?
• What's something that was included in the piece that you
already knew?
• What's a word, phrase, or sentence that surprised, bothered,
amused, or confused you? Explain why it affected you that
way.
• Without using any part of the title, what are five key words
that would tell someone what this piece of writing was about?
After you've listed the words, explain why you picked each
one.
Notes:

Tips and Tricks
Here are a few ways to help make your use of the AlphaSmart key-
board more organized, efficient, productive, and enjoyable.
All in a Name
At the start of a file, use the CAPS LOCK key to type a name or topic
for the file. This will help you quickly identify its contents as you
later move from file to file.
Tale of the Tape
When doing interviews, taking field notes, or keeping a learning-log,
put a strip of lift-off white tape or some stickers above the file keys
(F1, F2, etc.). Label the keys with a set of thinking categories to help
keep track of things, for example:
• Who? What? When? Where? Why?
• What? So What? Now What?
• +’s (positives) -’s (negatives)
• !’s (interesting factors, neither positive nor negative).
Colored stickers or small pictures may be helpful if you prefer to use
nonverbal means to jog your memory.
Leave the Blanks Blank (For Now)
When jotting down notes and first impressions, if you can’t think of a
word, just type in a dotted line. Trust yourself. You’ll think of it later.
Expert Opinion
One good source of expertise is, of course, the students in your class.
Have them keep a running account in one of their files of the tricks
they develop to help their work with the AlphaSmart go faster and
better. Have them share these ideas in class, collect them, and publish
them in a student anthology for use in later classes.
AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide 11

Check the AlphaSmart Web site
Visit the AlphaSmart Web site at www.alphasmart.com and find addi-
tional information. From the home page, select "Classroom Solu-
tions". From this page you can find more information on additional
tips and tricks, as well as lesson plans, keyboarding ideas and strate-
gies for students with special needs. When you are at the "Tips &
Ticks" section, be sure to visit “Hot Tips from Cool Teachers".
Notes:
12 AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide

Classroom
Integration Ideas
These curriculum integration ideas can be used with many different
grade levels and in many content areas. As you read through the
activities, your successful experiences will help you adapt and
connect the ideas to strategies and processes you already use that
help students learn.
Creating New Word Lists
Students will create lists of new words for one week to add to their
printed word list.
• Check out an AlphaSmart to each student or have several
students share with designated assigned files.
• Have students enter their new words in the AlphaSmart.
Have the students check them out and take them home to
continue adding to their new word lists. If students are
sharing, try to have students check them out at least one night
per week.
• If a student has access to more than one file on the
AlphaSmart at a time, the word lists can be developed in two
or more files to reflect the new words from home and school
or other locations.
• Later, the word lists can include definitions or be used to
create sentences.
• The word lists can be printed directly from the AlphaSmart to
encourage the students to take immediate ownership of the
words they are learning. Students can illustrate these word
lists as they are printed.
• The word lists can be transferred to a computer and format-
ted for printing and illustrating as well.
AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide 13

Sentences from Spelling Words
Students will write sentences using their weekly spelling words.
• Transfer the spelling words for the week into each file using
the Get Utility.You can transfer to one file and then copy and
paste it into each of the other files on the AlphaSmart.
• Each AlphaSmart can be used by up to eight students with
one file assigned to each student.
• Students will write a sentence using each spelling word.
• Encourage students to write sentences that include more than
one word from the spelling list in a sentence.
• Ask the students to place the spelling word or words on the
line above the sentence before using it in the sentence. Stu-
dents can move the order of the spelling words around from
the original list using the cut and paste feature.
• You can direct that the sentences written connect to specific
topics in social studies, science or to a story from reading.
• Have each sentence list printed directly from the AlphaSmart
or transfer to a computer for formatting before printing.
Activity Journal
Check out an AlphaSmart to each student to keep track of all their
activities for each day for one week.
• Lead a class discussion to identify different categories such as
school, eating, sleeping, and soccer. Each category title can be
placed on a sticker above one of the AlphaSmart files.
• If two students share one AlphaSmart, each student can use
four files labeled by day or activity.
• Students will enter a list of their various activities hourly for
one week.
• At the end of the week, students will print their files directly
from the AlphaSmart and organize the data they have col-
lected into charts and graphs.
14 AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide

Names, Nouns and Verbs
Students will use the beginning letter of names to match with a noun
and a verb to create simple sentences.
• Enter a list of the first names of the students in the class into
the F1 file of the AlphaSmart. Use the cut and paste feature to
move the names easily into other files.
• Have students enter a verb and a noun that begins with the
same later as the name to create a simple sentence.
• Examples:
- John jiggles jello.
- Michelle mashes marshmallows..
• Students can use their family members’ names or the names of
characters from a current story or book rather than student
names. The number of names can be limited to a number
appropriate for the student level.
• The sentences can be printed directly from the AlphaSmart and
illustrated.
• You can add an adjective and an adverb using the same
beginning letter as the students’ skill levels progress.
Questions to Guide the Field Trip
Before taking a field trip, brainstorm with the students and create a list
of questions that will be answered or items to look for during the class
outing.
• Provide an AlphaSmart to each student and list one identified
question in each file. The questions can be transferred from a
computer using the Get Utility.The questions can be moved
from one file to other files using the cut and paste capability of
the AlphaSmart.
• Provide time periodically during the actual field trip for
students to enter their thinking and findings in response to the
guided questions.
• Remind students to spell check each file periodically.
AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide 15

16 AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide
• After returning to the classroom, have each student print from
the AlphaSmart, edit from the writing-in-progress and return
to the AlphaSmart to make adjustments and additions to the
writing.
• Transfer the final written material to the computer for format-
ting and printing by each student. This final report can be
bound together for a class summary or made into a multimedia
report including illustrations and photographs from the field
trip.
Sentence Completion for Understanding
Following the reading and preliminary discussion of a novel, students
develop new insights by completing related statements.
• Determine a set of incomplete sentences to lead the students to
deeper understanding of the story.
• Enter the statements into the AlphaSmart. You can have
students work in one file and share AlphaSmarts or you can
assign different statements to various files if your students each
have their own.
• Some examples of the kinds of unfinished statements are:
- “I was surprised at. . . .”
- “I began to wonder . . .”
• Remind the students to use the spell checking feature of the
AlphaSmart to correct the spelling as they work.
• After each student completes the writing and editing have the
text transferred to a computer for formatting.
Procedural Writing
This writing process encourages procedural and technical writing with
student partners and an AlphaSmart.
• Partner students together and provide an AlphaSmart for each
pair.

• One student performs the process or procedure. This could be
a difficult math problem, a step-by-step research process, or the
steps to create a watercolor.
• The students talk about each necessary step taken together.
• The sequential steps are entered on the AlphaSmart.
• Students can easily change the order of the steps using the
copy and paste feature of the AlphaSmart.
• Students should test the steps of the written procedure by
having another pair of students try to replicate the process
using the written directions.
• Changes are made to the directions following the test.
• The final text is transferred to a computer for formatting and
printing.
Guided Science Observation
Students will partner with another student for a science experiment,
lab or outdoor observation and use the AlphaSmart to guide the work
and record the data collected.
Before students start a lab where observation of data is required,
provide an AlphaSmart for each student or pair of students.
• Load a set of guiding questions into one of the files to assist the
students. You can copy and paste the same set of questions to
several files if you have different classes doing the same
project. The AlphaSmart will be ready for each class.
• Have the students enter their findings into the AlphaSmart
while they are working inside and/or outside.
• The students will then edit the work and transfer the text to a
computer for formatting.
Interviewing and Writing a Biography
Students write biographies after interviewing fellow classmates, family
members, community members or by simulating interviews of histori-
cal characters.
AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide 17

18 AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide
• Pair students and provide an AlphaSmart for each student or
each pair.
• Review the criteria for a good biography to include how the
subject overcame difficult odds, lead others to success, helped
others overcome difficult times, and identified new solutions to
problems.
• Have students conduct the interview and take notes on the
AlphaSmart.
• With the notes from the interview, have each student write a
biography about the person interviewed.
• Use the spell check feature and print directly from the
AlphaSmart for preliminary editing.
• The text can be transferred directly to multimedia programs for
presentation or printed for publishing. These biographies are
also great additions to a classroom Web site.
Notes:

AlphaSmart Teacher's Guide 19
Sharing Your Ideas
Once you have created your own successful lesson plan from these
ideas, go the AlphaSmart Web site at www.alphasmart.com. You will
see an opportunity to have your ideas and lesson plans published to
be shared with others.
Notes: