Net.Create Lesson PLans

Student Identity in a Fictional Source

Do you have a complex text with lots of elements--people, places, things, events--that students struggle to keep track of?

Use when you want students to:

  • make connections between elements within a source or topic
  • make connections between elements of a source or topic and themselves
  • make connections with their peers

Meets ELA standards:

  • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.1
  • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.2

Disciplinary data literacy skills:

  • Data are interpreted, and we can even create it.
  • Data are shaped and analyzed by people with differing perspectives and lived experiences.

About this network

Do you have a complex text with lots of elements–people, places, things, events–that students struggle to keep track of? This network can help students find one or two connections that will help them better engage with complex readings.

SUCCESS STORIES: Teachers who have used this type of network have created purposeful environments where students were able to see how they are engaged by sharing about themselves and connecting to their learning and peers.

TEXTS THAT WORK: Sources with a complex list of characters or a complex structure that students find difficult to follow.

Play with a sample network

How should I use this in my classroom?

Network Details: What should my students and I be tracking?

For any network, students will track nodes (things) and edges (relationships between things), each of which will also have "attributes" (which include mandatory info like citations and optional info like extra notes).

Nodes (things being connected)

In this network, the nodes represent people, places, objects, groups, and activities that are part of the text or source students are reading and/or are important to the students in the class.

  • Person
    A character from the book or a student in the class. For example, when reading the book *The Book Thief*, a person node might be Liesel (the main character of the book) or Adam (a student in the class).

  • Activity
    Something that a person or group of people do. For example, when reading the book *The Book Thief*, an activity node might be "soccer".

  • Object
    A physical thing. For example, when reading the book *The Book Thief*, an object node might be "books".

  • Group
    A group of people. For example, when reading the book *The Book Thief*, a group node might be "class at school".

  • Place
    A location or significant place. For example, when reading the book *The Book Thief*, a place node might be Germany (where the book takes place).

Edges (connection types)

In this network, the edges show things that are connected. Since the network has both elements of the text or source and elements of real life, nodes from the two should be connected showing relationships between the text or source and the students.

What learning goals does this template support?

Disciplinary Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.1Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.2Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
Disciplinary Data Literacy Goals
Data are interpreted, and we can even create it.Students will recognize that, as we create our data, we may disagree, which impacts interpretation. We need to figure out how to resolve and interpret that.
Data are shaped and analyzed by people with differing perspectives and lived experiences.Students will ask questions about the original source of data and how the context of a data source may have ethical implications for who is seen / heard and centered in the data and analysis.

Lesson-Specific Resources and Examples

The following files are in PowerPoint .PPTX and Word .DOCX format. If you use Google Docs, you should be able to import these into Google Slides and Google Docs with minimal formatting changes.

Connections between people, concepts, events, and students in The Book Thief

How to integrate this lesson into your classroom: From one class period to many. This activity is especially helpful for integrating several different readings. Used across several sources, the network can help remind students of previous readings they encountered months or weeks ago.

General Net.Create Tips, Tricks and Documentation

Quick Tips

Citations matter!The Provenance tab can help your students find and vet evidence.
Your comments can guide students.Use the comment feature to call student attention to specific actions they can take to understand the content and data-literacy learning you're doing
Break data entry and analysis into two lessonsNode-and-edge entry on day one can give you time to focus on student reading comprehension. A second lesson using node/edge gravity, tables and the "Analysis" tab can help with content analysis and data-literacy learning. Check out the “Why Use Networks” slide in the slide deck in Downloadable Resources section below.
Treat mistakes as valuable data-literacy and content-learning moves.If you see nodes or edges that don’t help with your lesson, point them out and help students find a way to revise them to address the lesson plan.
Remember that data are about individual people.Chat with your students about how to be respectful of their peers as they enter network data.

Downloadable Resources

Net.Create User Guide

Net.Create Lesson PLans

The Net.Create Team

Net.Create helps teachers and students effectively connect humanities and social-studies learning to data-literacy learning.

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