Teacher guide — Module 1 (1 period)

Goal of the period: students feel the pain of renaming copies before they ever see Git. Do not show Git commands today.

Timing (40 min): hook 5 · folder game 15 · predict 10 · key idea 5 · exit 5. Read "Understand it" aloud in pieces during the discussion, or set it as reading for home. Materials: one printed paragraph per group (6 lines of any text in the students' language, e.g. a short school notice), 6 blank A4 sheets per group, pens, a clock or phone timer. No computer needed.

Before class (10 min)

• Write the folder listing from the hook on the board (or a chart paper you can reuse every year).
• Prepare one "secret question" card per group: "Go back to the version before the third edit."
• Optional: think of your own real final_final story — teachers' stories hook students best.

Running the folder game

1. Give each group the printed paragraph. Stress the rule: never change an old sheet; always copy to a new one.
2. Call out the four rounds with a timer. Walk around; make sure each group names its sheets in the "usual" messy way.
3. Collect each group's pile, shuffle it in front of them, give it back, and ask the secret question. Time it aloud.
4. Ask the follow-up: what changed in edit 2, and why? Most groups cannot say why.
5. Ask: what would you write on each sheet to make this easy? Write their answers on the board; circle number, date, name, reason. Tell them: "This is exactly what Git records. You just invented version control."

Common errors and misconceptions

You hear / see	Respond with
Students edit the original sheet	"Never change an old sheet — that is like overwriting a file."
"Just use Ctrl+Z."	Undo disappears when you close the file or the power goes; history must survive for months.
"Google Drive keeps versions."	Some tools keep copies, but they do not record why, and cannot combine two people's edits line by line. Git can (Grade 9–10).
"This is for programmers only."	Mention writers, scientists, lawyers, governments (many governments and open-data projects keep their files in Git).

Fallbacks

Same in all tiers: this lesson is fully unplugged. Large class (50+): groups of 6, fewer rounds (3).

Differentiation

• Support: give a printed table with columns what / when / who / why to fill during the discussion.
• Stretch: ask "What would a history need if 20 people edit the same notice?" (leads to Grade 9–10).

Evidence to collect

Exit tickets. Look for: the four things (what, when, who, why) and the idea of going back.

Answer key

• Hook: no way to know without opening every file — and even then, no reasons are recorded.
• Predict 1: 30 × 5 × 6 = 900 files. Predict 2: two different files that must be combined by hand; one person's work is easily lost.
• Exit 1: any of: unclear order, no reason recorded, cannot see the difference, easy to overwrite, no "who", wastes space. 2: what, when, who, why. 3: False — names give no reason and no difference, and can still be confused or overwritten.
• Free-resource 1: local, centralised, distributed version control. Git is distributed (every copy has the full history) — a good word to praise but not required.
• Free-resource 3: circles are commits (snapshots). Accept any guess; it is revisited in Module 2.

Extension quest

Students design their own "khata" table for an essay's history. Keep the best ones on the wall; in Module 2 compare them with what a commit stores.