Title Page Introductory ContextYour Name: Stephanie BakerBook Title: Chanda’s Secrets by Allan StrattonTitle of Lesson: Reading Comprehension of Chanda’s Secrets through RAFT activity andreflectionGrade Level: 9Four-part Performance Objective:Given a list of choices for role, audience, form, and topic, students will be able to analyze theinteractions between characters by producing a piece of writing that combines the four choices ina way that is supported by the text and by writing a reflective essay that supports their creativedecisions with references to examples in the text. They will be able to complete the activity with100% accuracy in creativity, textual evidence, and cohesiveness in combination of role,audience, form, and topic.Standards and Background Information Ohio ELA Academic Content StandardsReading Process: Concepts of Print, Comprehension Strategies and Self-MonitoringStrategies • Apply reading comprehension strategies to understand grade appropriate text.Reading Applications: Literary Text • Analyze interactions between characters in literary text and how the interactions affect the plot. • Explain and analyze how the context of setting and the author’s choice of point of view impact a literary text.Writing Process • Formulate writing ideas and identify a topic appropriate to the purpose and audience • Determine the usefulness of organizers and apply appropriate pre-writing tasks. • Use revision strategies to improve the style, variety of sentence structure, clarity of the controlling idea, logic, effectiveness of word choice and transitions between paragraphs, passages or ideas. • Edit to improve sentence fluency, grammar and usage.
• Apply tools to judge the quality of writing. • Prepare writing for that is legible, follows an appropriate format and uses techniques such as electronic resources and graphics.Writing Applications • Write responses to literature that extend beyond the summary and support references to the text, other works, other authors or to personal knowledge • Produce letters (e.g., business, letters to the editor, job applications) that follow the conventional style appropriate to the text and that include appropriate details and exclude extraneous details and inconsistencies. • Use documented textual evidence to justify interpretations of literature or to support a research topic.Writing Conventions • Use correct spelling conventions. • Use correct punctuation and capitalization. • Demonstrate understanding of the grammatical conventions of the English language. Background InformationLanguage Arts Strands:Throughout this activity students will be able to utilize the reading, writing, speaking, andlistening strands. The reading strand occurs as students return to Chanda’s Secrets forinformation to support their connections in their writing. The writing strand will be addressed asthe students are drafting, revising, and copy-editing their creative pieces. Students will alsoengage in prewriting activities such as brainstorming and freewriting, as well as take notes in thewriting workshop groups. The speaking strand will be applied when students get into writingworkshop groups and read aloud their writing. Likewise, the listening strand will happen whenstudents in the writing workshop groups are listening to their group members read their works.Primary Domains: All three domains will be addressed in this lesson.CognitiveStudents will acquire knowledge as they develop their points of view and appropriate materialfor their role, audience, form, and topic. To do this, they will have to look up and recallimportant events within the novel and apply them to their RAFT combination. This will bedemonstrated especially in the reflective papers that provide an explanation for the methods usedin the RAFT piece.AffectiveStudents will develop sympathy for the characters in Chanda’s Secrets when they are asked towrite from or to one of the characters’ points of view. Connecting to the characters in this waywill help students to develop skills of compassion and “putting themselves in others’ shoes.”PsychomotorStudents will engage in this domain as they interact with peers in the writing workshop. Afterprewriting writing, students will read aloud and discuss their pieces with group members in anactive environment.
Skill LevelThe skills of knowledge, comprehension, application, synthesis, and evaluation from Bloom’sTaxonomy will be addressed in this essay. The knowledge and comprehension skills overlap as students are asked to return toexamples in the novel to develop the voice and content that will be used in their writings.Comprehension is probably the stronger of these skills, since mere recollection isn’t sufficient todevelop these points of view. Students will further use comprehension as they considerimportant events of the text for use in their writing. The application level is apparent whenstudents support the choices they made in their creative writing in their reflective essay. Theprocess of separating and selecting important evens culminates in the application of these eventsto the writing assignment. Synthesis is addressed when students formulate their creative writingand reflective writing pieces. They must take all of the information in the novel and select andpresent certain elements in a comprehendible way within their RAFT writing. Finally, studentswill use evaluation as they work in their writing workshop groups to judge their own and theirgroup members’ work. This evaluation can in turn be synthesized to edit and polish their works.Multiple intelligencesThis lesson uses linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal multiple intelligences.LinguisticThis MI is inherent in the writing activity students are asked to complete. They will useprewriting and editing activities to develop appropriate writing. They will also be able to use thereflective essay to explain their methods. The writing workshop addresses the spoken part of thelinguistic MI as students read their works aloud.SpatialThis MI will be addressed through prewriting activities. Students can develop their ideas in anynumber of ways, including brainstorming in webs that provide a visual resource for organization.This web can also be used to formulate the reflective essay.InterpersonalThis MI is essential to writing from the different roles in RAFT. Students will be able to usetheir social abilities to develop a work from a character’s point of view. The writing workshopalso utilizes this strength as students work with each other to fine-tune their pieces of work.IntrapersonalThis MI is most notably addressed in the reflective essay component. Here, students can explainwhy they did what they did in their RAFT piece. Their ability to look within themselves willhelp explain their train of thought and meaning in crafting their RAFT work.Developmental ContextBefore this lesson plan can be effective, students must already be familiar with constructing thevarious forms under the RAFT choices. Teachers can modify this by limiting the forms allowed.However, form is an important freedom for students to gain confidence in their writing. Studentsshould also be familiar with the topics listed in the RAFT choices. Teachers can modify these asneeded, but it would be hard to conduct this activity without a discussion on AIDS and theimpact on each of the characters. This activity is more of an opportunity for students todemonstrate what they have learned than to teach these ideas. As a result, previous lessons onform and discussions on themes (topics) and characters are important.
TimingThis activity should be given after the novel has been read to give the largest amount of freedom;however it can also be adapted to take place in the middle of the novel and serve as ananticipatory activity for the end of the novel. Overall the activity would take about four days.The first day should be spent selecting a RAFT profile and formulating ideas throughbrainstorming. The second day should involve research into the novel to support the connectionsand methods used in the writing as well as the completion of a rough draft. The third day shouldbe spent in writing workshops and editing. The fourth day should be spent finalizing the RAFTpiece as well as constructing the reflective essay.Resources and MaterialsChanda’s SecretsPencils, pensNotebook paperRAFT selection guideRubricGuide for Writing WorkshopProcedureAnticipatory Set How did you feel about the characters in the book? Was there any point where youwanted to intervene and have someone come out and say something to another person? Do youhave any ideas for what you would like to see happen next?Key Concept After teaching this lesson, I would like students to have a better understanding ofconnections between characters in the novel and its importance (noted under ReadingApplications: Literary Text in ACS). I would also like students to connect with the novelthrough these characters and the topics. Finally, after this lesson I would like to see studentsproduce a piece of creative work that still finds justification with evidence from the text.Instructional Methods 1. Direct Instruction/Whole Class Discussion: To begin the lesson, the teacher will begin by having students summarize the novel. Then he or she will ask students about frustrations they might have had with the characters and what they were or weren’t saying (see Anticipatory Set above). The students will respond to the questions and generate a short class discussion lasting about 5 to 7 minutes. 2. Direct Instruction: Next, the teacher should introduce the RAFT activity. RAFT is a way of forming a piece of writing that supports student self-direction and creativity. Students are required to create a piece of writing by choosing one element from each of four categories: role, audience, format, topic. The teacher should explain what each of these means to the activity. The role is what position or voice the student will
take in the writing assignment. The audience is who they will be writing to in their role. The format is what genre they will be writing in, sometimes this can get as creative as making a poster or acting out a skit. Finally, the topic is what the writing piece must be about. This should take about 3 to 5 minutes3. Direct Instruction/Class Discussion: The RAFT guide can be predetermined by the teacher or developed collaboratively with the students. I would suggest developing it collaboratively with students, as this can also serve as an assessment to see who they remember from the novel, important topics/themes, and what formats they find interesting. A compromise can also be made with the teacher starting the guide beforehand and only leaving a few spots for student contribution. Generation should take about 3 to 5 minutes • RAFT Sample Selection Guide Role Audience Format Topic Esther Iris Letter AIDS Chanda Esther Dialogue Friendsh ip Mrs. Tafa Dr. Chilume Essay Family Emmanuel Mrs. Tafa Classified Superstit Ad Series ion AIDS Chanda’s Monologue/ Lilian Welcome neighbors Speech Kabelo Center Friendship Project Jonah Chanda Rant Morality4. Individual Work/Guided Practice: When students have chosen their components of RAFT, they will work independently to freewrite their ideas that connect their choices. These freewrites can be collected by the teacher to determine whether the class understands the assignment. The teacher can also use this time to walk around and observe students and their writing to see if they understand. This should take about 5 minutes. After the students have completed freewrites, they should consult the novel for more ideas to add to their brainstorming, as well as to look for support for what they have already written. Then, the students should start working on their rough drafts. This should take about 25 minutes.5. Small Group Instruction: After students have completed their rough drafts, they should get into small groups of about 3 or 4 students for a writing workshop. The teacher should set up expectations for while they are in the workshop such as the ones below. This should take about 20 minutes • Sharers read their RAFT stories aloud • Listeners write their comments down while listening Comments should include • What did you like about the work? • What four RAFT choices did the person pick? • Suggestions to make the RAFT choices clearer • Lingering questions about the work6. Individual Work: Finally, students should bring together the advice they received in
their writing workshop to create another draft of their RAFT piece. This can be done at home. The reflective essay can also be done at home or in class lasting about 15 minutes. • The reflective essay should include the student’s rationale for how he or she connected the four components of RAFT with evidence from the novelModeling Modeling can take place several places in this lesson. The first will take place as theteacher is explaining how to do a RAFT activity as a verbal example connecting Chanda, Esther,Letter and AIDS: “Chanda writes a letter to Esther to warn her about her activities with touristsand the possibility of getting AIDS.” The second will take place before freewriting, when theteacher can share the freewriting he or she did when generating ideas for the model. The thirdwill take place when the model RAFT essay is read to the class before the writing workshop.The modeling in this instance goes into asking the students to act as the writing workshop for theteacher’s piece of writing. The teacher asks the students the same questions that he or sheexpects to be asked and answered in the student writing workshops. Finally, the teacher willshare the reflective essay before the students sit down to write their own.Monitoring to Check for Understanding Monitoring for understanding is constant throughout the lesson. First, when reviewingthe book, teachers will ask students for the summary. This will enable the teacher to hear howthe students would summarize the novel and what events seem the most important to them.Second, monitoring will take place when the students are freewriting and looking up informationin the novel. The teacher will walk around and read the freewritings and have individualconferences with students. The teacher will ask students questions inspired by the rubric, such as“What evidence in the novel made you think of this interaction?” and “How do you plan onorganizing this information?” It would also be beneficial to ask the students what evidence inthe text inspired them to write in the tone they chose. Third, the teacher will walk around andlisten-in on the writing workshops. This way the teacher will not only hear the types ofquestions and suggestions students have, but will also an understanding of where the students arein their own understanding based on the types of questions they are asking.Guided Practice • Ask students to get in writing workshop groups based on what role they chose in their RAFT piece. • Ask students to discuss with one another where they got their evidence for the interactions they chose. • Ask students to pay specific attention to certain questions (listed in Procedures) in their writing workshop groups.Independent Practice • Have students complete the freewriting activity on their own when assigned the activity. • Have students complete a rough draft of their RAFT writing to discuss in their writing workshops. • Have students work to fix grammatical mistakes on their own by reading their work aloud in the writing workshop.
ClosureHave students share their work via a gallery walk. Hang student RAFT papers around the roomand have students silently walk around and read the papers. To make students read more thanone or two, extra credit points can be assigned for reading six or more papers. When the class isdone, have a discussion about how writing from the character’s point of view helped tounderstand their role in the novel and important events associated with that character. Specificquestions include, “How did this writing assignment better help you understand the characters?The events? And the themes?” and “How did you feel about writing on behalf of a character?Did this help you to understand or come to terms with issues in the novel that previouslybothered you?”Handout, Teacher Model, and RubricHandout including RAFT generated by teacher (or by class if given as an empty grid)Teacher model of a RAFT activity connecting Chanda, Esther, Letter and AIDS Chanda writes a letter to Esther to warn her about her activities with tourists and the possibility of getting AIDS.Rubric for RAFT activity and for reflection essay
What am I turning in? Freewrite brainstorming connections (2 pts) Rough Draft in the format chosen (3 pts) Revision after writing workshop (15 points) Reflection Essay that explains your choices and your rationale (5 pts) Role Audience Format Topic Total 20 pts Esther Iris Letter AIDS Chanda Esther Dialogue FriendshipMrs. Tafa Dr. Chilume Essay Family Classified AdEmmanuel Mrs. Tafa Superstition Series AIDS Lilian Kabelo Chanda’s Monologue/Welcome Friendship neighbors Speech Center Project Jonah Chanda Rant Morality 1. For this activity you will need to select one item from each of the categories
Chanda’s Secrets Book Cover: Red Ribbon: Clasped Hands: Map of Africa: (please circle)to Blue Arrow: Microsoft Officewriting construct a piece of Clip Art based on the format you chose. 2. Freewrite some ideas regarding what you would write as your connection. 3. Look up specific examples in the novel that you can use to justify your writing. • Tone • Audience • Format • Topic 4. Write a Rough draft. It should be at least one page in length. 5. Writing workshop to work on content, organization, grammar, and justification. 6. Use suggestions and considerations from workshop to revise your draft. 7. Write a half-page reflection that puts your justifications and reasoning into text. Teacher Model RAFT choices: Role-Chanda, Audience-Esther, Format-Letter, Topic-AIDS I chose to think of a way to include my letter as an occurrence that could havehappened in the middle of the novel, but you do not have to do the same. So long as youuse all four elements of RAFT and can support your creative decisions with the text in your reflective essay you (e.g. You don’t make Chanda an African princess offering to pay for Esther’s AIDS treatment) you are free use creative license.Dear Esther, Instead of dancing around the hard subjects, I’m just going to say it: I’m terrifiedyou’ll get AIDS. Today we finally talked about what you do when you hang aroundLiberty Bell. I know that you said you just started hooking and that you always bringcondoms, but that’s what worries me. We both know how AIDS is transmitted, and it isn’t enough to just bring them. Idon’t think it matters if the men don’t like them. It probably means that they have beenwith other women in the park, too. I know that you aren’t a whore, but what if the otherwomen are? People all around us are dying from AIDS and we just choose to ignore it, but Ican’t watch it happen to my best friend without trying to stop it in some way. Even if youlose some business, you’ll still have your life. Hooking to save money to bring yourfamily together won’t do any good if you get AIDS along the way. I don’t think you’re a whore, and I know you’re probably getting upset at me asyou read this. I’m not trying to call you either one of these, though, I promise! You’restill my best friend Esther that wants her family back. But that’s just it, you’re my best
friend and I don’t want to lose you. People die from AIDS, and I don’t want you to beone of them. I don’t think I could lose my best friend. Please, Esther. Your friend, Chanda
e, describe the connection you made between the four components:_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Chanda’s Secrets RAFT Rubric Please write down your choices: Role _____________________ Audience _________________ Format ___________________ Topic ____________________ 2 5 4 3 Needs Total Great Good Acceptable Improvement Adequately addresses by supporting from Adequately the text with Adequately Adequately Reflection Essay: addresses examples the addresses two of addresses one ___ x 1 Content three of the use of Tone, the four of four four Audience, Format, Topic Applies each of Applies 3 of Applies 2 of the Only applies RAFT: Content the 4 RAFT ___ x 2 the 4 four one of the four components Rare Considerable Consistently mistakes in A few mistakes mistakes in use uses correct use of correct in use of correct of correct spelling, spelling, spelling, spelling, RAFT: Conventions ___ x 1 punctuation and punctuation punctuation and punctuation capitalization, and capitalization, and and grammar capitalization, and grammar capitalization, and grammar and grammar Exists with Exists but thoughtful Rough Draft ----- ----- inconsistent ___ x 1 revisions marked with Revision and applied Freewriting ----- ----- ---- Exists ____ x 1 (All or nothing) ____ / Total 25