Instructor: Laura Beth Jackson Grade Level: 3rd Lesson Title: RAFT Unit Lesson 1 Date: March 2015Curriculum Area: ELA Estimated Time: 45-60 minutes Standards Connection:[W.3.4] With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.

Learning Objective:Students will reflect on and summarize their learning from the RAFT introduction lesson in a customized 3-2-1 chart according to a teacher-made checklist.

Kid Friendly Objective:At the end of our lesson today, you will have the chance to share three things you learned, ask questions, and even draw a picture of the writing acronym we will learn!

Evaluation of Learning Objective: The “3-2-RAFT” sheet in the student portfolio is a unit-specific form of a more traditional “3-2-1” formative assessment. The main purpose of the assessment is to have students summarize their learning from the introduction lesson into a graphic format. As research shows that summarizing is a highly effective teaching strategy, the “3-2-RAFT” sheet will solidify the introduction content before more specific skills on writing are taught during the unit. Ultimately, cementing the RAFT strategy with the summarizing activity will work to achieve standard [W.3.4]. In order to grade/assess the students’ ability to effectively summarize their learning, the teacher will use the “3-2-RAFT” checklist. The checklist includes five criteria written in student-perspective language and can be found on page 3 of the writing portfolio. The five statements are:

I listed three things I learned in today’s lesson. I wrote in complete sentences. I wrote two complete questions (ending in a question mark). My RAFT picture includes the whole acronym written out, not just the letters. My work is neat and easy to read.

Students must receive 4/5 checkmarks to be considered proficient. Students who do not achieve this level of performance will be asked to re-do their 3-2-RAFT assessment with teacher guidance during the following day’s morning work time.

Engagement:Teacher will open the RAFT unit by telling the students about the upcoming lessons on writing. In order to determine the students’ current attitude toward writing, the teacher will conduct a quick classroom survey using Post-It notes.

Good morning Mrs. Davis’ class! I’ve been so excited to teach you about writing for a while. I think you are really going to enjoy what I’ve made for us to learn about the next couple of days. Before we really dive into our unit, I want to hear your thoughts about writing. I want to know how many of you like to write, how of you think writing is kind of

hard, etc. To do that, I’ve made a survey that will let you all respond. Teacher pulls up “pre-RAFT Unit Survey” on the SMART board (see attached) and points as she explains. As you can see, I have divided this sheet into two sections. The first section reads, “I think ‘schoolwork’ writing is… hard, not too bad, or easy.” The second section reads, “I think writing is boring, fun, or pointless.” In a moment, I am going to give you two Post-It notes. I want you to write your name on each note and when I call your table group, come place your Post-It in the column you most agree with. For example, I wrote my name on both of these Post-Its. To answer the first question, I think that schoolwork writing is hard, so I put my Post-It in this column. To answer the second question, I do think that writing fun, so I’m going to put my Post-It here. When everyone’s Post-It’s are up, we will analyze them as a class. Before we begin, I want to tell you two things. One, this is not a talking activity. I want to know what YOU, not your neighbor, thinks about writing. Also, please know that I want an honest answer here. Will I not like you because you answer a certain way? Wait for student response. No, of course not! It’s ok if you absolutely hate writing! I want you to answer how you really feel, because only then can I make writing an enjoyable experience for all! I would like my paper-passer for the week to help me start passing papers out… are there any questions? Wait for student response. Excellent! Be thinking about your answer as I pass these around. Once every child has a Post-It note, teacher will dismiss table groups to place their answers in the corresponding columns on the SMART board.

Once students have expressed their opinion on the writing survey, the class will analyze the results together.

Thank you so much for following my directions so well. From that quick survey, I can see that we are a divided class: about half of you think that writing is really hard and pointless, while the other half of you are the exact opposite! I’m so glad that I know this information, because now I can tell you the good news!

Before transitioning into the teaching portion of the lesson, the teacher will share with students she knows a secret strategy to make writing easy and fun. The teacher will tell students the unit and lesson “student-friendly” objectives.

I have a secret process, or strategy, to help make sure all of you learn to think that writing is super-easy and fun! During the next few days, we are going to make a RAFT writing portfolio that will showcase all of your work during all of our writing practice. Even at the end of our lesson today, you will have the chance to share your learning, ask questions, and draw on a special page I’ve made. What RAFT anyway you ask? Well, let’s find out!

Design for Learning:

I. Teaching:To open the unit, teacher will introduce students to their personal “RAFT Writing Portfolios.”

To keep track of everything I am going to teach you about writing in the coming days, I’ve made these for you. Teacher holds up portfolio. These are your RAFT writing portfolios, which are a collection of work that will show off your learning. Everyone’s

includes all the same materials that I will be referring to throughout the unit. Some of the papers are note sheets, some are activities, and some are free-writing spaces. It is super important that you treat these with respect and use them to work hard and have fun! In order to ensure that we keep them all safe, I will collect them at the end of every lesson so you don’t have any chance to loose them, because these are going to be your final grade at the end of the unit. Remember how we’ve done a lot of practice with note taking? Wait for student response. Yup, you guys are practically little note taking experts at this point, but I want to give us even more practice. Part of your grade for this unit along with your final writing piece will be turning in a completed portfolio, meaning that all the note sheets I’ve created are completely finished and turned in on time. Nod your head silently if you understand. Wait for student response. Great! Apart from helping out your note taking skills and grades, I think these will be really helpful to guide our thoughts. When I call your name, you may come up to my desk and collect your folder. Sit down quietly once you have yours and we will dive into our RAFT folders shortly! Teacher calls out names and passes folders out.

Teacher will lead students in a class discussion of the three essential unit questions (Guiding Questions): Q: Why do we write?A: To communicate our point with the reader. Q: How do we communicate with our reader? A: By making purposeful choices in our writing.Q: How do I know what purposeful choices to make so that my reader understands my writing?A: By using my RAFT model!

Before I let you guys in on the secret of the RAFT writing strategy, I do have a few questions that I really think we need to answer before we start. These may seem basic, but I promise they are super important as we work. In fact, they are so important, I’ve put them in the very front cover of your RAFT writing folders. Teacher holds up teacher copy to share with the class. As you can see, I’ve even put the answer to the questions there because it’s so important! Don’t get to comfy though, it’s not that easy. I want us to really understand these questions and answers, because only then will you really appreciate my secret RAFT writing strategy. So let’s start with the first question. _________, will you read that question and answer aloud. Wait for student response. Thank you! That seems pretty simple right? What does it mean to communicate with a reader though? I want you to discuss with your table for twenty seconds what you think it means to communicate with your reader (Think-Pair-Share). And good question ________. “Communicate” means to share information or ideas. When you talk with a friend or send a text message, you are communicating. Any more questions before I start your timer? Wait for student response. Great! Time to brainstorm: What does it mean to “communicate” with a reader? Your time starts now. As students discuss, teacher will roam around the room for management/assistance/to listen for strong or insightful answers. At the end of twenty seconds, teacher will flip the lights to redirect attention. One, two, three, eyes on me and no more talking. I heard some very insightful answers on what it means to communicate with a reader. I particularly liked how _________’s table made the connection of when we read a book. For example, he said that the author of Winn-Dixie communicated the story with the reader through words, which is absolutely

true. Without that writing, we would not have had the wonderful story or movie Because of Winn-Dixie. I also heard another great conversation at _________’s table. Would you guys mind sharing with the class what you talked about? Wait for student response. Another wonderful point. Communicating also means that the person understands and is not confused by your ideas. If your reader can read all the words but has no clue what you are trying to say, then the writing wasn’t very good! All of these points lead us into my next question listed on the page. ___________, will you read question number two aloud to the class? Wait for student response. Thank you. Now that we know that we write to communicate, or share ideas, with the reader, doesn’t it make sense that we want to know how we communicate in the first place? This question is a little harder to answer, so I’m going to help you out with the answer. It says, “By making purposeful choices as the writer.” Hmm, part of that phrase seems super important to me. What does it mean to make a purposeful choice? Any ideas? Wait for student response. No ideas huh? Well, let me give you an example. In the morning before school, do you just throw on whatever clothes you think might look nice for the day? Wait for student response. Of course not! You have to ask your mom or watch the weather report to see what you need for the day. If the weather is rainy, you will make a purposeful choice to bring an umbrella. If it is going to be super-chilly, you will make a purposeful choice to wear a big jacket. Those are just examples of the many purposeful choices you make a million times a day. Writing and communicating with an audience are the exact same! If you are a writer, you have to make some choices so that your reader will understand what you are trying to say. Let’s do a check for understanding before we read the final last question. Thumbs up if you are following me so far, thumbs down if you have a burning question to ask. Wait for student response. Really, everyone with me? Great! Let’s read the last question on the page. _______, what does the last question read? Wait for student response. Thank you. This question is the most important, because it’s answer is how you guys will make purposeful choices as writers to communicate with your reader! If you guys can learn the answer to this question, I promise you that Mrs. Davis’ third grade will be the BEST writers in the school… even better than some of the fifth graders. Now that we are all pumped about how we can make purposeful choice, let’s read the third questions’ answer aloud together: “By using the RAFT model!”

Teacher will briefly introduce each component of RAFT and why authors must make purposeful choices in their writing.

Now that I’ve built it up so much, you guys are all probably curious as to what RAFT even is, am I right? Wait for student response. Well, RAFT an acronym (acronyms), or mnemonic device. Anyone know what those are? Wait for student response. Right! An acronym is a small word that stands for something else. For example, “IHOP” the restaurant name is actually an acronym that stands for the “International House of Pancakes.” In this case, RAFT stands for the four purposeful choices every author makes before they begin writing. Before I tell you what each letter stands for, let’s think about a real-live raft. Open your portfolios to page one, which has a diagram of a raft (structured notes and visual representation). Wait for students to follow directions. As students are flipping to the page, teacher will pull up the corresponding page on the SMART board from her electronic portfolio. In case you didn’t know, you can see from this picture that a raft is a small boat. On the count of three, I’d like you all to act like your ship is sinking

and you have to get aboard a raft. One, two, three! Wait for student response. Great! I saw a ton of panicked looks! You’re faces were spot on…passengers on a big ship will board a raft if there boat unexpectedly starts to sink. Do you think the passengers can bring all their belongs from the big ship to the little raft? Wait for student response. Why not ______? Why can’t the passengers just bring all their suitcases, flip flops, blankets, pillows, towels, sheets, etc. onto the raft with them? Wait for student response. Of course you are right. The raft is way too small for all that stuff. Only the most important necessities, or items, will make it onto the raft. Our writing is the very same. We have to make purposeful choices about what we include in our writing so we are communicating with our reader to our very best ability! Now that I’ve talked it up so much, you must be ready to know what the letters in RAFT even stand for aren’t you? Wait for student response. Great! I’m going to fill them in on the SMART board here, and it is super important that you too write it down onto your RAFT diagram. Remember, not only is having a completed portfolio apart of your grade, but note taking will also help you learn a whole lot faster! Let’s start with the R and move on. The R stands for Role, the A for Audience, the F for Format, and T for Topic. Teacher fills out the corresponding boxes on the SMART board as students write them in their portfolios.

Once each student has copied the RAFT diagram from the board into their RAFT Writing Portfolios, the teacher will offer an overview of the coming lessons.

Good note taking for today guys! I think we are all pretty clear that our goal is to make purposeful choices as writers. During the next few days, I am going to talk about each of the four RAFT letters you just copied down and we will practice using RAFT to make purposeful choices in our writing. Once you understand each component’s purpose, we you will have the chance to make your own purposeful choices in a RAFT writing piece that will complete your writing portfolios! (unit kid-friendly objective)

II. Opportunity for Practice/Assessment:Teacher will instruct students to complete “3-2- RAFT” page as a summary of the day’s learning and formative assessment tool. Teacher will share the “3-2-RAFT” checklist with students so they are aware of the expectation for the assignment.

To help you guys sum up your learning today and give me an idea of how I can be a better teacher, I’d like you guys to flip to page 3 in your portfolio. Teacher will flip to the electronic copy as students turn to in their portfolios. As you can see, I’ve made a quick little feedback sheet for you called “3-2-RAFT” (3-2-1 feedback). What you will do is write down three things you learned today here (Teacher points as she talks), two questions you may still have here, and then a picture of your RAFT here. To make sure you complete this properly, I’ve included a checklist for you to follow on the back of the page in your portfolio. Teacher flips to her electronic copy. Read the first box out loud with me. Teacher and students read aloud. That means I want the three things you learned to be from today’s lesson, not just something random you know. Let’s read the second box together. Teacher and students read the second box. Pretty easy, but I need you to write in a complete sentence: capital letters, punctuation, and a complete thought. Don’t just write one or two words, but make sure you write a whole idea. You might want to read your three facts aloud to yourself to make sure they are a whole thought. The next check box says “I wrote two complete questions.” It’s the same thing: make sure you

have a whole thought and that it ends in a question mark! The two questions can be about anything we talked about today, Then on your picture, the next box makes sure you write what the acronym RAFT stands for on your picture of a RAFT. I’ll draw my example here on the SMART board so you do not forget. Drawing a picture may seem a little babyish to some of you, but I promise it will help give you a visual reminder to think about as we move through our lessons on purposeful choices as writers. Teacher draws example with Role, Audience, Format, and Topic on a sailboat. Finally, the last check box is pretty easy. Just make sure you use good handwriting so I can read what you wrote! If your reader can’t read your writing, you did not effectively communicate no matter how great your writing is. When you are finished with your RAFT pages, go ahead and bring your whole folder up to my desk and make a pile here. I don’t mind if you talk quietly during this activity, but if I have to remind you more than twice to lower your voices, you will lose the privilege to talk and we will start having to give out check marks. Thumbs up or down to show your understanding. Teacher waits for student response. Great! You may go ahead and begin! As students work, teacher will roam the room for management and to clarify any misconceptions/questions that arise.

III. Closure:Once students have finished the “3-2-RAFT” page and turned in their portfolios, the teacher will challenge the students to name and answer the three essential questions.

Excellent listening today guys….I’m excited to see where the week takes us! Before we head down to lunch, I have a challenge question for you: can anyone name the three essential questions that I put at the front of your folders? To make it a little easier, I will allow you to work in your table group to see if you can come up with them. I’ll give you thirty seconds to complete your challenge and then call around the room. Thumbs up if you understand my directions. Wait for student response. Great! On your mark, get set, go! Teacher monitors students and redirects attention after 30 seconds. Three, two, one… Eyes on me and no more words! Which table thinks they have all the questions? Teacher will wait for student responses and call on appropriate tables until all the essential questions have been named and answered. Very good guys! I just wanted to see how well everyone was listening and make sure you guys paid attention. After all, these questions are the cornerstone of our lessons on purposeful writing! Tomorrow, we are going to learn about our first purposeful choice we must make as writers: the R in the RAFT acronym! Table ____, since you got the most correct answers, you may line up for lunch first. Teacher will continue to dismiss tables until the entire class is ready for transition.

Before the next unit lesson, teacher will review the students’ 3-2-RAFT sheets in the portfolios and address any important questions in either a whole group lesson setting or on an individual basis with a Post-It note in the folder. Differentiation Strategies:

Developed by Dorothy Vandevanter in 1982, the RAFT writing model itself is designed to make the writing process accessible to all learners; therefore, differentiation is inherently present. This lesson is designed to foster excitement in all learners about the writing process. The Engagement portion allows students of all abilities to openly share their feelings about writing without fear of reprimand. Having students self-rank their writing abilities allows the teacher to

immediately determine which children may need more encouragement and support during the RAFT writing unit regardless of their presumed abilities.

Differentiation continues into the teaching portion of the lesson with the portfolios. Not only does the portfolio provide the students a systematic way of organizing materials (a struggle for my ADHD students), but also provides a visual progression of learning. Essentially, the portfolio can be considered a large graphic organizer of learning! The group discussion portion of the teaching also appeals to higher-level and lower-level learners alike. While higher-students will be challenged to make connections with the presented critical thinking questions, lower-level students have the support of their classmates in the non-threatening group environment. To maximize the power of the discussions, the portfolio includes guided note sheets to scaffold instruction. The teacher will model how to fill out these note sheets for the class as yet another form of support for all learners and support for building necessary academic skills. The teacher will also pause her teaching periodically to complete a check for understanding (thumbs up/down) to ensure all students have the chance to ask questions/clarify understanding.

The “3-2-RAFT” assessment continues differentiation into the final portion of the lesson. The activity serves as a closure, assessment, and scaffold all in one. The students will summarize their learning with the three learned pieces of information, have the opportunity to ask two questions, and will cerement the day’s work with a visual representation of their own. Higher-level students will be able to make deeper connections and ask higher-level questions while lower-level students may ask more basic questions. This activity meets both groups’ needs without making any child uncomfortable in front of his/her peers.

C Differentiation: While C has normal expressive language abilities, she is unable to read or write beyond basic CVC words. In order to allow her to fully participate with the students, C will be allowed to use the speech-to-text feature on the classroom iPad mini. C has been taught to use this software previously, and will be directed by the teacher when to use the technology at appropriate times. Once her work on the iPad is completed, the teacher will email the documents to herself for grading. Apart from considerations made for some speech-to-text errors, C will be graded with the same rubrics as her peers.

D Differentiation: D’s reading, writing, and expressive language abilities are far below his classmates; therefore, the speech-to-text option is inappropriate. In order to maximize his participation, D will work one-on-one with the classroom teacher during these times to complete the RAFT writing portfolio. The classroom teacher will provide prompting questions and write D’s oral responses in his portfolio. D will then be graded using the same rubrics as his peers.

Materials and Resources:

SMART Board Pre-RAFT Unit Survey (1 electronic copy) Post-It notes (2/student) RAFT Writing Portfolios pgs. 1-3 (1/student) (1/electronic teacher copy) (1/hardback

teacher copy)

iPad mini with speech-to-text feature (differentiation only)

Reflection on Design and Instruction (3/2/2015):The entire goal of this lesson was to introduce students to the idea that writing has

purpose (communicating with the reader) and familiarize students with the RAFT writing process. The pre-assessments and other writing samples clearly indicate that my students do not have a determined purpose for writing; generally, they simply start writing without taking any time to plan out how to attack the writing process. As stated in the Differentiation section above, the RAFT writing process is designed to give all students a set procedure for writing tasks and empower them to make choices to communicate with their reader.

The Engagement portion of the lesson opens by first having students evaluate their own feelings about the writing process. The results are pictured below.

While my students generally run for help during writing assignments, I was surprised to find that most of them answers that writing is “not that bad” and “fun”! Either my students were telling me what they think I wanted to hear, or they have not received constructive, specific feedback on how their writing could be improved. Regardless of the reason, I am so glad that I utilized the survey engagement strategy. This strategy gave me insight into my students’ personal feelings about the upcoming unit topic, capitalize on their apparent enthusiasm, and provided a nice, natural bridge into the teaching portion of the lesson.

All of the lessons in the RAFT Writing Unit are guided by the three essential questions listed in the front of all the students’ writing portfolios: Why do we write? How do I communicate with the reader? How do I know what purposeful choices to make? After pointing these questions out to the students, each table group discussed the questions in a think-pair-share fashion. I was honestly surprised by the insightful student answers. For example, in response to the second question, one student mentioned how punctuation marks make a difference in how she read, and we were able to connect her knowledge with a real-world connection to text messaging conventions. Once we finished exploring the essential questions, we moved onto the RAFT component. Overall, I was extremely pleased with the students’ engagement and performance during this portion of the lesson. As I discussed the lesson with my cooperating teacher, she did suggest to me that I provide students with more “think time” to increase student engagement to the highest possible level. As I am trying to keep a class of 26 students flowing in

a structured manner, I apparently did not realize that some students did not have enough time to share or explore ideas during the think-pair-share activity. I intend to immediately correct that small problem in upcoming lessons and may possible incorporate some “fist-to-five” breaks to better manage my instruction.

Although some may view an introduction lesson to any unit as optional or “fluff”, today’s experience proves otherwise. Not only did we discuss the concept behind the unit, but students also had the chance to decorate their own portfolios. My heart swelled as I watched the group color and get excited about the topic at hand. While my initial goal was to provide as much exposure to the RAFT acronym itself, I realize now that I forgot to consider the affects of emotions on learning. Because my students are genuinely excited and proud of their RAFT portfolios, management and fostering motivation may be less of a struggle during subsequent lessons. One of the more colorful RAFT diagrams is pictured below.

This introduction lesson closed with the 3-2-RAFT assessment. A unit-specific spin on a traditional 3-2-1 assessment sheet, this portfolio page served multiple purposes. Not only did it provide students an opportunity to ask questions in a non-threatening environment, but also forced students to summarize learning and make a graphic representation of the RAFT acronym (a proven teaching strategy). After discussing the expectations of the assessment listed on the 3-2-RAFT Checklist, I allowed students to work independently and complete the 5 pt. assignment. The results and examples of student work (labeled proficient/not proficient) are shown below.

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Column1Column2# of students

Proficient

Proficient

Proficient

Not proficient

As seen on the data chart above, 15 of the 26 students received the minimum proficiency score of 4/5. As I analyzed the 11 students who did not meet this proficiency score, I noticed that many of them simply did not follow directions to receive maximum points. For example, the student example above did not label the RAFT with the letter meanings or write two questions. As feedback is such a powerful teaching strategy, these 11 students will be give the chance to correct their errors after re-direction and clarification during tomorrow’s morning work period. In order to avoid having so many students fall below the proficiency level due to simple, careless mistakes, I will monitor student independent work time more carefully, write and speak my directions, and ask for direction summaries before the next formative assessment.

While the lesson was successful by many measures, I do need a new differentiation plan for D. As I interacted with him during the lesson today, I realized that I over-estimated his abilities. For example, when asked to name two questions he had, D could not produce any questions, but instead simply stated random phrases and words from the lesson plan. Eventually, I was able to provide enough prompting to have him produce two questions, though neither was related to the day’s lesson. I am not sure if he understands the concept of “questions.” I intend to discuss today’s experience with the special education teacher tomorrow before school to get her opinion on D’s true abilities vs. his lack of effort. Thankfully, C loves using the speech-to-text feature on the iPad and was able to complete her assessment as planned. The success with the iPad software I believe is due to C’s previous experiences with the device. I took the time to teach her the logistics and expectations of using the iPad before teaching,; as a result, C has needed little assistance. With a few modifications, I am sure I will be able to continue teaching a highly-engaging, useful unit!