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Literacy: Sequential Directions
First-Then-Next-Last
After reviewing all of the literacy activities we had done throughout the term, Adam started a new literacy activity. He had everyone try to write directions for how to do something. This was fairly open ended because he wanted the students to apply what they already knew to this assignment. Each group presented their directions. Next, he had everyone look at their directions and circle or underline the words that organized the order those directions were in. This was difficult for some groups because they did not have words that explained order. Adam had the students think about all the sentences being jumbled up. If someone were to try to put them back in order, how would they be able to do this. We learned that using sequential directions is very beneficial to the reader. Effective word choice helps both the author and the reader to organize ideas.
Related Science Journal Article
Hogan, K. (2007). How can playing with a motion detector help children learn to write clear sequential directions? In D. Roberts, C. Bove, and E. van Zee (Eds.) Teacher research: Stories of learning and growing (pp. 2-9). Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association Press.
