Instructional Strategy Lesson Plan #2

Katy Dellinger

March 25, 2010

Name of Strategies Used:

-R.A.F.T.

Instructional Strategies Sources:

Fisher, D., Brozo, W.G., Frey, N., & Ivey, G. (Ed.). (2007). Content area strategies for

adolescent literacy:Raft writing (p. 79). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill:Prentice Hall.

Text students will read/view:

Tsuchiya, Y. (1951). Faithful elephants. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Materials Needed:

-butcher paper or chart paper for each group

-student text

-markers for students

-paper and pencils for students

Strategy Explanation:

The R.A.F.T. writing strategy gives students an opportunity for students to recall, clarify, and question what they have learned about a topic and what they still wonder about. This strategy provides students with the opportunity to clarify their own thinking. The R in R.A.F.T. stands for role or who is the writer and what is the role of the writer. The A stands for audience and students will ask the question “to whom are you writing?”. The F stands for format, meaning what format should the writing be (letter, essay, bibliography, diary entry, etc.). The T stands for topic and students will ask the question “what are you writing about?”. Students will follow these guidelines when they are given a topic to write about. These guidelines will help students stay organized with their thoughts. The good thing about this strategy is that any topic can be used and this strategy can be used in any content area classroom. Also, not only does this strategy help increase written expression skills, but it also helps teachers to assess comprehension of their students.

North Carolina Curriculum Competency Goals: (7th Grade English Language Arts)

Competency Goal 1 - The learner will use language to express individual perspectives in response to personal, social, cultural, and historical issues.

Objectives:

1.02 Respond to expressive materials that are read, heard, and/or viewed by:

  • monitoring comprehension for understanding of what is read, heard, and/or viewed.
  • summarizing the characteristics of expressive works.
  • determining the importance of literary effects on the reader/viewer/listener.
  • making connections between works, self and related topics.
  • comparing and/or contrasting information.
  • drawing inferences and/or conclusions.
  • determining the main idea and/or significance of events.
  • generating a learning log or journal.
  • maintaining an annotated list of works read/viewed.
  • creating an artistic interpretation that connects self and/or society to the selection.
  • constructing and presenting book/media reviews.

1.03 Interact in group settings by:

  • responding appropriately to comments and questions.
  • offering personal opinions confidently without dominating.
  • giving appropriate reasons that support opinions.
  • soliciting and respecting another person's opinion.

Competency Goal 5 - The learner will respond to various literary genres using interpretive and evaluative processes.

Objectives:

5.01 Increase fluency, comprehension, and insight through a meaningful and comprehensive literacy program by:

  • using effective reading strategies to match type of text.
  • reading self-selected literature and other materials of individual interest.
  • reading literature and other materials selected by the teacher.
  • assuming an active role in teacher-student conferences.
  • engaging in small group discussions.
  • taking an active role in whole class seminars.
  • analyzing the effects on texts of such literary devices as figurative language, dialogue, flashback, allusion, and irony.
  • analyzing the effects of such elements as plot, theme, point of view, characterization, mood, and style.
  • analyzing themes and central ideas in literature and other texts in relation to personal issues/experiences.
  • extending understanding by creating products for different purposes, different audiences and within various contexts.
  • analyzing the connections of relationships between and among characters, ideas, concepts, and/or experiences.

5.02 Study the characteristics of literary genres (fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry) through:

  • reading a variety of literature and other text (e.g., mysteries, novels, science fiction, historical documents, newspapers, skits, lyric poems).
  • analyzing what genre specific characteristics have on the meaning of the work.
  • analyzing how the author's choice and use of a genre shapes the meaning of the literary work.
  • analyzing what impact literary elements have on the meaning of the text such as the influence of setting on the problem and its resolution.

Lesson Plan:

“Okay, today class we are going to read one of my favorite stories called Faithful Elephants. This is based on a true story, which is also called nonfiction. This story was written a long time ago in 1951 by Yukio Tsuchiya. During World War II, Japan was often attacked from the air. People started getting worried because of what would happen if the zoos were bombed. They knew that the animals would run amuck the town if the zoos were bombed directly. The zookeepers at one zoo, in particular, decided that the best action to take is to kill all of the animals before any of the animals would run wild throughout the cities and towns. This story describes how three elephants died at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo at that time.” I will then read this story to my class, stopping at high points of anticipation.

After I finish reading the book to the students, we will have a short class discussion on whether or not students liked the book and why. I will then have students get into groups of 3-4 students and I will pick the groups for the students based on placing higher level students with lower level students, so they can help each other. I will give each group colored butcher paper or chart paper. The assignment will be for each student to write on each corner of the butcher paper. This assignment is called “four corners”. They will use bullet points to summarize key points from the book. Students will be together in their group, but for the first part they will be working independently. Students will then tear off the four corners of the butcher paper and in their cooperative groups; they will compare what each member of the group wrote. In the center of the butcher paper, the groups will then come up with their own summarization of the book using bullet points. They will also draw a visual picture to represent the book and what they feel is important about the story. I will hang up the students’ finished work in the classroom.

By this point, students should have a good understanding of what the book was about because they had it read to them, we had a class discussion, and they were able to use ideas from their classmates to learn the key points from the story. To finish up the lesson on Faithful Elephants, I will have students complete a writing assignment to determine that students have understood and comprehended the content at hand. I will write on the board the word R.A.F.T. going down and out beside each letter I will write the guidelines for the writing assignment. The role of the writing assignment would be for the students to pretend they are the head zookeeper of the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. Their audience would be the general public. The format would be for the students to write an official letter, and the topic would be to write to the public ensuring their safety. Students will pretend they are head zookeepers and they will write a letter to the general public ensuring their safety during this time. Students will make sure they have correct grammar and punctuation. They will write their letter using references from the book, and this is how I will determine if students have comprehended the content.

Reflection of Lesson:

I taught this lesson in my resource Language Arts class, but I think it would work better in a larger classroom. The group activity was fun for the students, but I could only have two groups since I only have 7 students in my class. However, I was able to monitor students much easier in a smaller class. I could walk around and help the two groups much easier than helping five or 6 groups. The students really enjoyed the book. I think it helped my students a lot since they were able to see pictures when I was reading it to them. They also did a good job with the “four corners” activity. I also wish I had some type of activity to introduce the story, such as an anticipation guide. This could be a good way to teach some Social Studies along with Language Arts by having a class discussion on World War II and what students know about the war.

For the R.A.F.T. strategy, the students did a pretty good job, especially since this was the first time they were introduced to this strategy. Next time I do this lesson, I will change up the role, audience, format, and topic for different students in my class. I think it would have been more interesting if students had different roles. For example, some students could have the role as the elephants and others could take on the role as the general public. Students would then all have different perspectives and we could end the lesson by having a class discussion with the students giving their viewpoints.