Recently, I was asked about having students “mark up” (annotating) digital text. The specific example involves students marking up a math problem. For example, the students are given a story problem. Each student identifies parts of the story problem by:
- Underline – (the question)
- Circle – (the numbers and units)
- Box – (math action words)
- Line – (extra information)
Traditionally, this has been done by printing out the story problem on a sheet of paper (two per page), then cutting them up and passing them out to students.
This is based on the CUBES strategy for math. However, the basics of this could be used for a variety of classes.
Can this be done digitally?
Yes.
I considered using Apple’s Freeform. However, since the teacher uses Canva and Google Classroom, it seemed best to go with those tools.
For this example, we are going to use the Whiteboard feature in Canva.
- Log in to Canva
- Click on Classwork along the left-hand panel.
- Select “Whiteboard”
- Add in your story problem (cut and paste may work best)
- Click on “Share”
- Select “Google Classroom”
- Select the Class in Google Classroom
- Select the Share Action “Create assignment”
- Enter appropriate Google Classroom information:
- Title (Required)
- Instructions (optional)
- Assign to All Students or by group
- Add a Due date (optional)
- Add a Topic (optional)
- Set Grading category (optional)
- Set Points (optional)
Student Actions:
- Students will see the Assignment in Google Classroom
- Students click on “Use Template”
- Students click on “Open in Editor”
- Students will need to know how to use the whiteboard in Canva
- Tools on the left side
- Select Tools | The Red Marker | Blue Pen
- Now students are ready to Mark up the document.
- (*They can use other tools as well. The highlighter can be used in many colors. This is a great transferable skill that has many uses.)
The end result is that each student will get their own copy of the story problem on a whiteboard. Since it is a digital whiteboard, the students can mark it up as directed.
