The course starts where students are. Every student saves, names, moves and finds files on a pretend computer, then builds the folder system they will use all year in their own Google Drive, and leaves able to say exactly where their work is.
Interactive: Find the File is a pretend computer with six jobs: save into the right folder, move, rename, make a folder, search, and find something in the Recycle Bin. Each job checks itself. Students drag files onto folders, or use the buttons. Try it.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Save a file into a chosen folder and say its full path.
- Move, rename and delete files, and get a deleted file back from the Recycle Bin or Trash.
- Use search to find a file, then open the folder it lives in.
- Name files and folders so that someone else can find them.
Board question
- Think of the last thing you made on a computer. Where is it right now? Describe its location in one sentence.
- Write one rule you would give a new student for naming files, and a reason for it.
Students answer in the notebook at the start, and revisit the answer on the exit ticket.
The 90-minute block
| Minutes | Segment | Teacher | Students |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–8 | Do Now | Board question. Expect "on my Chromebook" or "I don't know." Both are useful; write a few on the board. | Answer both board asks. |
| 8–20 | I Do | Show the idea of a path with the Do Now answers. Walk one file from the Desktop to Documents › School › English and read its path aloud. Show a bad file name and a good one side by side. | Notes; copy one path. |
| 20–40 | Lab: Find the File | Students work the six jobs. Circulate and ask each student to read you one path aloud. | Lab Part A. |
| 40–65 | Lab: Your Real Drive | Students build the year's folder system in Google Drive, rename an untitled file using the class naming rule, and find the sample file in the class folder with search. | Lab Part B. |
| 65–80 | Lab: Shortcuts | Pairs race through five keyboard shortcuts with a partner checking. | Lab Part C. |
| 80–90 | Exit Ticket | Board question returns. Two Tech+-style items. | Revisit, then answer. |
The 50-minute period
| Minutes | Segment | Teacher | Students |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–5 | Do Now | First board ask. | Answer the first ask. |
| 5–12 | I Do | One file's path, read aloud. A bad name next to a good one. | Copy one path. |
| 12–30 | Lab: Find the File | The six jobs. | Lab Part A. |
| 30–42 | Lab: Your Real Drive | Build the year's folders and rename one file. | Lab Part B, steps 1–3. |
| 42–50 | Exit Ticket | Both board asks and the two items. | Revisit, then answer. |
What moves to tomorrow: The Drive search task and the shortcuts (Part C) open tomorrow as a 15-minute warm-up.
Materials
- Chromebooks, signed in to the school Google account.
- The Find the File activity (muggstech.net/sim/find-the-file), open on each Chromebook.
- A shared class Drive folder from the teacher, with view-only access.
- Lab sheet (printed), one per student.
Before class
- Create the class Drive folder and share it with students as view-only. Put a sample file in it with a clear name, and one with a bad name such as "Untitled document (3)".
- Try Find the File once yourself; it takes about six minutes.
- Decide the folder system the class will use all year, for example Course 1 › Unit 1, Unit 2. Students build it today.
Vocabulary
- File
- One saved piece of work: a document, a picture, a program.
- Folder
- A container for files and other folders.
- Path
- The full address of a file, folder by folder: Documents › School › English › essay.docx.
- File extension
- The letters after the dot, such as .docx or .jpg, which tell the computer what kind of file it is.
- Recycle Bin / Trash
- Where deleted files wait before they are gone for good. Files can be restored from there.
- Cloud storage
- Files kept on a provider's servers, such as Google Drive, reached from any signed-in device.
Exit ticket
Item 1 is always the board question, revisited. Then:
Which of these shows the full location of a file?
- Its file extension
- Its path (key)
- Its size
- Its icon
A student deleted a file on a Windows computer by mistake a few minutes ago. Where should they look first?
- The Downloads folder
- The Recycle Bin (key)
- The Desktop wallpaper
- The printer queue
Support
- Find the File works with dragging or with buttons, and every job checks itself, so students know when they are done.
- A printed folder diagram of the class system is taped inside each Chromebook cart.
- Partners can read the steps aloud to each other.
Stretch
- Find out what happens to a file in Google Drive Trash after 30 days, and how a school administrator can still recover it.
- Design a folder system for a small business and explain your naming rule.
Where this leads
Every technician spends part of the day finding someone's "lost" file. A student who can read a path, search well and restore from the Trash already has the first help-desk skill, and every other class gets easier when their work is where they think it is.