Workshop+on+Using+Google+Labs+Breadcrumbs+in+the+Classroom

=Purpose of Workshop= toc Originally, Google Labs had a terrific web app that allowed you to write a "choose your own" adventure-structured text, however, they decided to shut down all of Google Labs, including this web app. So, instead, this will be how to do the same thing but with a different set of tools.

=Prerequisite= Make yourself a free wikispaces account so you have a place to put this and try it out.

=Portfolio/Scrapbook Item= Create a story that you could use in your own classroom.

=What was Google Breadcrumbs?= Google Breadcrumbs worked like a [|Choose Your Own Adventure] story:

Event 1 happens. The reader then chooses from two or three possibilities what will happen next. Event 2 happens. The reader then chooses....

Each Choose Your Own Adventure story had up to forty possible "endings" to the story; children enjoyed this series of books because they could take an active role in reading them.

Google Breadcrumbs allows you to create a Choose Your Own Adventure story that can be accessed via computer online as well as through smartphones and tablets that use the Android operating system. Because of the ease of access to the stories via smartphone, these stories and other educational materials can be available to students across a wide range of settings.

=Choose Your Own Adventure Story Format and the Curriculum=

Google Breadcrumbs includes the possibility of creating interesting stories, but also can be used as **guidance** for students which can be used both inside and outside the classroom, **assessment** of knowledge and skills, **how-to** texts, and a myriad of other possibilities. These stories can be illustrated with illustrations, web links, and videos, turning them into a rich multimedia experience. Here are just some of the possibilities:


 * Teacher- or student- created stories.
 * Limited vocabulary stories tailored to specific students or groups of students for whom limited vocabulary would be an appropriate educational tool.
 * Quizzes that allow you to reteach a concept when a student gets an answer wrong.
 * Checklist for a larger project or for activities within a given period of time (e.g., things to be done across a week).
 * Idea bank for students as they complete major projects.
 * Guidance for students outside of the classroom; for example, students could use a Breadcrumbs story on a smartphone during a field trip to ensure they get the full range of information they need.
 * Self-assessment.
 * Rubrics.
 * Reading experience with supports such as links to online dictionaries for unknown vocabulary.
 * Challenge for advanced technology users/gifted students to create something that would benefit the classroom.
 * Highly motivating experience for students.
 * Foundation for learning more advanced skills with digital technology.
 * Game

Specific curricular connections:


 * Instructions and checklist for a persuasive essay or a friendly letter.
 * Reminders of procedures, such as used in the classroom (where to turn in papers, etc.) or used in specific curricula (reminders of procedures of math algorithms).
 * Assistance for parents as they help a student with reading, writing, etc.
 * Vocabulary enhancement.
 * Writing creative narratives that allow students to think "what else could happen" and to imagine the responses of their readers.
 * Factors students need to consider in self-assessing a social studies project.
 * Reminders of the different roles and their job descriptions in group work.

=Getting Started=

Let's start with the five parts of a friendly letter, the heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature.

We want students, in this instance, to know what these parts are, to know where they need to go, and to be able to use them in writing an actual letter. We could illustrate the teaching needed in order for students to develop this knowledge and skill like this:



This Breadcrumb story reminds the student to check for each part of the letter. If a student does not have a part (or is not sure what it is), the story gives them more information so they can add this to their letter. If a student does have a part present in a letter, then he/she moves forward to the next part. At the end, the smiley face tells them they have completed the job of creating their letter. After going through something like this, a few students are still going to need further instruction. But this Breadcrumb Story will help the remainder of the students to ensure the letters they are creating have all the parts correctly located.

Pages
Each box is going to be a "page" in our book and each page will have a number in parentheses:

(1) Checklist for a Friendly Letter Ready, get set, go!!

(2) Yes

(3) Does your letter have a heading? Yes No

(4) No. What is a heading? Where does it go?

(5) What is a heading? The heading tells the reader where you are located and what day you wrote the letter.

(6) Where does it go? The heading goes at the top of the page.

There is no need to worry about having the pages in a particular order because references to other pages will take care of that. The main thing is to turn all the boxes into pages in your story.

References/Navigation
Students will begin with the first page, and from there will go to the first part of a letter, the heading. The heading question is on page 3. They click on the word "go" to get to the heading question:

(1) Checklist for a Friendly Letter Ready, get set, [go!!] (3)

The brackets surround the text where students click to get to the next part of the story. Following the word or words in the brackets is the page number where the students will go, depending on their answer. In this first case, there is only one choice, "go!!!"

You can have more than one choice, just as in the Choose Your Own Adventure books:

(3) Does your letter have a heading? [Yes] (2) [No] (4)

If students click on Yes, then they will go to page 2. If they click on No, they will go to page 4.

Friendly Letter Checklist Story
Here is the whole story. Copy and paste this in Google Breadcrumbs and see how it works. Feel free to adapt it to your own purposes.

(1) Checklist for a Friendly Letter Ready, get set, [go!!] (3)

(2) Yes [You are ready for the next part!] (8)

(3) Does your letter have a heading? [Yes] (2) [No] (4)

(4) No. [What is a heading?] (5) [ Where does it go?] (6)

(5) What is a heading? The heading tells the reader where you are located and what day you wrote the letter.

Add the heading and... [Try again] (3)

(6) Where does it go? The heading goes at the top of the page.

Add the heading in the right place and... [Try again] (3)

(7) Yes [You are ready for the next part!] (13)

(8) Does your letter have a greeting? [Yes] (7) [No] (9)

(9) No. [What is a greeting?] (10) [ Where does it go?] (11)

(10) What is a greeting? The greeting tells the reader who the letter is for.

Add the greeting and... [Try again] (8)

(11) Where does it go? The greeting goes on the left hand side of the page, below the heading.

Add the greeting in the right place and... [Try again] (8)

(12) Yes [You are ready for the next part!] (18)

(13) Does your letter have a body? [Yes] 1(2) [No] (14)

(14) No. [What is a body?] (15) [ Where does it go?] (16)

(15) What is a body? The body carries your message that you want the reader to read.

Add the body and... [Try again] (13)

(16) Where does it go? The body goes in the middle of the page, like normal paragraphs

Add the body in the right place and... [Try again] (13)

(17) Yes [You are ready for the next part!] (23)

(18) Does your letter have a closing? [Yes] (17) [No] (19)

(19) No. [What is a closing?] (20) [ Where does it go?] (21)

(20) What is a closing? The closing tells the reader that you are finished with your message.

Add the closing and... [Try again] (18)

(21) Where does it go? The closing goes below the body of the text.

Add the closing in the right place and... [Try again] (18)

(22) Yes You are ready for [the end] (27)

(23) Does your letter have a signature? [Yes] (22) [No] (24)

(24) No. [What is a signature?] (25) [ Where does it go?] (26)

(25) What is a signature? The signature gives the reader your name. A hand-written signature shows that you wrote the letter yourself.

Add the signature and... [Try again] (23)

(26) Where does it go? The signature goes below the closing

Add the signature in the right place and... [Try again] (23)

(27) Your letter is ready to send!

=More Breadcrumbs Possibilities=

With just one extra thing to learn, you can illustrate your story, as done in Peter Rabbit.

Illustrations
In order to put pictures in your story, find pictures that are already on the web, such as in [|Wikimedia Commons]. Be careful to choose illustrations that are:

1. Free from copyright and 2. Hosted on a website that probably can handle a lot of people getting onto it.

Breadcrumbs needs just a link to the pictures, not the actual pictures themselves. In wikimedia comm