Lesson Title: Creating An Instructional Manual
Topic/Focus Area:

Lesson Overview

Students will be required to develop an instructional manual on how to use a certain mechanical device. Students will create a PowerPoint presentation that they will present to their class mates at the end of the assignment. Each slide will include a step by step process of how to use the specific device that they choose.

Subject : English-Language Arts
Grade : Eighth
Strand : Reading
Substrand 2.0 : Reading Comprehension (Focus on Informational Materials)

Students read and understand grade-level-appropriate material. They describe and connect the essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives of the text by using their knowledge of text structure, organization, and purpose. The selections in Recommended Readings in Literature, Kindergarten Through Grade Eight illustrate the quality and com-plexity of the materials to be read by students. In addition, students read one million words annually on their own, including a good representation of narrative and exposi-tory text (e.g., classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, online information).


Concept : Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text

 

 

Standard:

2.5

Understand and explain the use of a complex mechanical device by following technical directions.

Strand : Writing
Substrand 2.0 : Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)

Students write narrative, expository, persuasive, and descriptive essays of at least 500 to 700 words in each genre. Student writing demonstrates a command of standard American English and the research, organizational, and drafting strategies outlined in Writing Standard 1.0.

 

 

Standard:

2.6a

Write technical documents that identify the sequence of activities needed to design a system, operate a tool, or explain the bylaws of an organization.

Student Learning Objectives

• 1. Students will interpret and explain the use of a complex mechanical device.
  2. Students will demonstrate comprehension when writing a step-by-step manual in their own words.
  3. Students will follow instructions and learn to use a mechanical device by reading an instructional manual.
  4. Students will design and implement a PowerPoint presentation to the class.

Activities

1. Introductory Activity
   Throughout this part of the lesson students will be led through three different activities which include an introductory, enabling, and a culminating activity. Some of these activities will require students to use online resources, while other activities will require students to depend on prior knowledge and reading skills in order to complete their assignments. Student learning will take place as students work individually during these lessons.
   
   Introductory Activity:
   Activity One
   a) Students must think of a mechanical device that they like or have used and identify its different features.
   b) Students will research websites that have information and instructions on how to use the mechanical device they choose.
   c) Students will list 10 features that their mechanical device includes.
   
2. Enabling Activity:
   Enabling Activity:
   Activity Two
   a) Students will answer specific questions that describe their mechanical device.
   b) Students will label and define what each feature of their mechanical device does.
   c) Students will choose a user manual for their device and will follow its directions in order to learn how to use it.
   d) Students will write a one-page informational essay, in their own words, that follows the instructions of the user manual they find.
   e) Students will label their informational essays by organizing their instructions into steps.
   f) Students will write their own user manual in the form of a PowerPoint presentation using the essay they have written.
   
3. Culminating Activity:
   Culminating Activity:
   Activity Three
   a) Students will present their PowerPoint instructional manuals to the class, and will complete the Activity Three handout when the presentations are completed.
   b) Students will answer the questions in the Activity Three handout in order to critique their PowerPoint presentations.
   c) Students will use their PowerPoint as a resource for writing a second informational essay written in a 5-paragraph format.
   d) Students will use a 5-paragraph essay rubric to guide them in writing an informational essay using the information from their PowerPoint instructional manual.

Resources

File Attachments

Activity One
  — Activity1.htm   (2.55 KB)

Activity Two
  — Activity2.htm   (2.35 KB)

Activity Three
  — Activity3.htm   (2.65 KB)

PowerPoint Instructional Manua rubric
  — PowerPoint Instructional Manua rubricl.doc   (20.0 KB)

Essay rubric
  — infoessayrubric.doc   (20.5 KB)

CTAP Final PowerPoint Presentation
  — ctapproject[1].ppt   (262 KB)

Results
  — Results.doc   (24.0 KB)

Student understanding will be assessed by having students write an informational
5-paragraph essay about their mechanical devices. The teacher will use a rubric to measure how well students explained how to use their device. A comparison will be made between an essay students wrote before designing their PowerPoint Instructional Manuals and an essay done afterwards. Growth will be measured based on the improvement in the students' organization and the steps students use after having created an Instructional manual that they can refer back to.