# Demonstration: Watching a File Move Between the Three Areas

## OBSERVE

```
$ echo "draft" > report.txt
$ git status --short
?? report.txt
```

`??` means: Git sees this file, but it's in neither the staging area nor the repository yet —
purely in the working tree.

## HYPOTHESIS

Predict what `git status` will show after `git add report.txt`.

## INSPECT

```
$ git add report.txt
$ git status --short
A  report.txt
```

`A` (in the LEFT column, which represents the staging area) means: staged, ready to commit.

## CHANGE

```
$ git commit -m "Add report draft"
$ git status --short
(nothing — clean)
```

## VERIFY

```
$ git log --oneline -1
a1b2c3d Add report draft
```

The file traveled through all three areas exactly as the model predicts: working tree (`??`) →
staging area (`A`) → repository (a permanent commit in `git log`).

## Instructor Notes

**Demo goal:** Make `git status`'s output legible by directly connecting its symbols (`??`, `A`,
clean) to the three-area model just taught, rather than treating them as arbitrary codes to
memorize.

**Approximate timing:** 8 minutes live.

**Common mistake to watch for:** students reading `git status` output without connecting it
back to WHICH of the three areas each symbol refers to — reinforce the mapping explicitly.