Matt Elliott April 4, 2013 CEP 804 Writing Lesson Section I: Information About Students The students that

will be emerging themselves in my writing unit are in 7th grade, at Leslie Middle school, in the general education setting. These students will be undertaking a larger science project, where they will be the captains of their own inquiry. The students in the classroom are both male and female, predominantly Caucasian, ranging from ages 11-13. There are seven students that currently have IEP's and are being serviced through a team teaching approach. These students' with IEP's all have identified Learning Disabilities, in reading and writing. As a result, these students' needs were taken into consideration through every step of the unit. The inquiry unit was formulated around the students "typical" day in the classroom. Each class begins with a warm up that activates prior knowledge, and when necessary, is utilized as a pre-teaching strategy.

Section II: PLANNING and ORGANIZING WRITING STRATEGIES My goals for planning For my writing lesson my goal was simple. I wanted to teach the students how to successfully use the POWER + P strategy to help accomplish their projects. I not only wanted the students to understand how to successfully "travel" through the writing process, I wanted them to understand that they could use this same learning to learn strategy in other classes as well. For this reason, I decided to introduce this strategy in science, because students usually hear writing, and automatically think English or Language Arts class. By teaching the strategy in science, I felt that students were more likely to generalize the strategy to other classes. Description of the lesson Using successful modeling strategies this lesson would be covered in seven days. Each day would be spent covering one letter in the POWER + P strategy. However, following the "O" day, students would discover how researchers go about researching for information (to find this information refer to my reading lesson write up).

Students were modeled each letter and provided multiple examples and nonexamples through each "mini" lesson. There were not a lot of activities created to support this model, because students needed to learn how to use this strategy specifically to help them research. With this in mind, all the activities that were done, were based solely on the science project. Verbal examples were given to show how students could generalize this strategy to other classes, but It was my concern that if a multitude of different types of activities were involved, that did not center around the science project, we would run out of time to finish the strategy. I was give very strict instructions that this project could not go over two weeks. As a result, I needed to keep the instruction purely based on the science projects. Reflection and Critique: I think my planning of this lesson and the goals I wanted to accomplish were reasonable, and were successful, due to the allotted time to teach the material. The strengths of this lesson design was the simplicity. Students were not going to be bombarded with multiple learning strategies at once. Each day was dedicated to a specific phase of the writing process, and following the instruction students were given time to work in the classroom. The biggest weakness for this lesson was time. If I were to do this again, I would dedicate more time to the project and the strategy. I would have liked to design some fun activities centered around each step in POWER + P, but because of time I needed to keep the focus to the science project, and as a result some creativity was lost in the process. Section III: DRAFTING AND EDITING/REVISING STRATEGIES My goals for drafting and editing revising strategies My goal for the drafting, editing, and revising strategies again focused on the POWER+ P strategy. Students were modeled each phase of the strategy, and were given their own POWER + P checklist to guide them through their projects. I did this incase some students were working ahead, this way everyone could track their own progress. I also made a large POWER + P cut out and pasted it to the front board of the classroom. When a step in the process was finished, I would color it in. This allowed students to stay organized, and gave them an idea of where they needed to be in their project. I wanted students to be able to use the strategy successfully in their science class, and then be able to understand how they could use the strategy in other classes as well. Clearly modeling the steps and bringing up examples of how "I" could use this in my science project and how "I" could use this in a social studies project as well, helped students understand the strategy on a larger level.

Description of the lesson: Each lesson started with a warm up. This was used to check students progress and understanding of each phase of the strategy. When a new step was introduced, students were given explicit directions on how the strategy or step could be utilized effectively. For instance when the students got to the "W" in the strategy, I wrote alongside them. I showed them how I could take information from the "O" step, and from the research I gathered during the reading lesson and apply it to my research paper. I used this time almost like a morning message. Each student was given a copy of the graphic organizer I filled out, then using the smart board, we completed two paragraphs of my research paper. Students had an outline of how to go about filling in a research paper in front of them, then we used each others funds of knowledge to write the first draft. This showed students how they could use the strategy, and the materials allotted to them to help them write their first drafts. Once students had an opportunity to write their first drafts, they were then shown how to successfully peer edit a paper. Again, the morning message technique was used for this. The class used my rough draft and we edited it together, using a checklist that was provided for them. Students were shown how to give compliments to the writer, while still being constructive. It was my goal that students did not just say "I liked your paper," I made this problem clear to them, that although that may make someone feel good; it does not help make their paper better. Once students had time to edit each other's papers, they then began the "R" step in the strategy. Again, the same technique was used. I found that by using the "morning message" approach, students were able to see how the process is done, and also students could come to the board and participate if they felt like it. For each stage, students were given at least one day to complete the step. During this time, I would "step in" when necessary, or go back to the smart board and reiterate something if I noticed a lot of struggle in one particular area. Overall, this lesson and the approach was successful. Reflection and Critique: This lesson went well. I enjoyed using the POWER + P strategy and the structure that came from it. It was easy to learn a new step each day, and it was easy to assess students understanding of the step. I could see right away if students completed the step, and if they did, I was able to see how they utilized the strategy that was modeled for them, because of the in class work time. Again, the downfall for this lesson was time. I would have liked to use more creative modeling to show each step with more detail, but I was unable to do that. Overall, it

was clear to me that students did understand how to use the strategy, and as a result they were able to keep their projects and the writing process organized and neat. This helped lower the stress of the project for the students, and helped show them how useful the POWER + P strategy can be to them. Section IV: TEACHING PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES My goals for teaching principles and practices My goal, was simple. I wanted students to be able to utilize the POWER + P strategy to understand that writing is a process, with multiple steps. It was also my goal, that students not only understand the writing process, but understand how to generalize the strategy to other classes as well. Teaching principles and practices: Each step in the POWER + P strategy was given a day of learning and doing. For instance, on the first day students were introduced to the POWER + P strategy think aloud modeling was done to help show them how this strategy would be used. Each student received a POWER + P checklist, and we went through each part of the checklist together. For the "P" in POWER, students were asked to write down who their audience was, and what they wanted them to learn. Once students did that, they were asked to write down three areas in science that they were interested in. Following that, they were then asked to go home and try to find anything out about any one of their topics, this was to encourage the inquiry in the lesson and help narrow the topics down. I realized that if students began to research a little on their own, without being shown exactly how to go about finding information, I could see the current level of understanding; and use that as an informal assessment to students current level of knowledge. Once students did this, I asked them to narrow their project down to one. Thinking about which one would challenge them, and which one they would learn the most from. Once this was done we moved to the "O" in POWER. Students were shown multiple graphic organizers, and each one was modeled for them. This way students did not feel "stuck" and forced to use only one type of organizer. At the "O" step students were shown how to pick certain topics, gearing back toward their audience, and what they wanted to teach them; and how to organize it in a way that would help their research out. This again was modeled to students using my example. Once students had finished the "P" and the "O" steps, the writing lesson was implemented. Following the writing lesson students were taught how to utilize the "W" and "E" and "R" step, using the a technique similar to morning message.

Reflection and Critique: This lesson went really well. I realized that the way this lesson was structured was great. By giving each student the time to explore and utilize the strategy I could tell from the final products that students were successful. It is my belief that by modeling to the students, and then giving them examples of how to successfully use the strategy increased their understanding, and willingness to participate. I was really pleased with the way I taught the last three steps in the process. I knew these steps would be difficult, but by using a morning message technique, and a lot of think alouds students got it. It was great to see students participating in helping one another out during the process, and understanding how they used the process to benefit their final project. I do not think there is anything I would do differently. I think my modeling, my organizers, and my activity around the last three steps was incredibly effective. This can be seen in students final pieces of work, and the materials they filled out along the way. It was clear to me, they got it. Again, with more time, I am sure that more students would have been successful, but as a whole I was very impressed with this lesson. Section V: TEACHING TOOLS AND PRACTICES My goals for teaching tools: My goal for this strategy again was simple. I wanted students to be able to generalize this strategy to other subject areas. Students sometimes forget that the writing process in other classes is the same as the writing process in Language Arts or English. It was my goal that students be able to understand concept through the POWER + P strategy, understand how to use the strategy, and understand the no matter the subject, writing is a process, and one that they have had success in. Teaching tools used: The main teaching tool used throughout this process was the POWER + P strategy. Modeling was of course used as well as a morning message style activity to teach the last three steps in the strategy. I think through the various tools used with each step, and the clear modeling and thinking aloud that was done, students were more successful with their projects and met my goals along the way.

Reflection and Critique: Again, the strengths came from the modeling used, the think alouds and the morning message activity. These multiple forms of learning aloud each individual, regardless of ability the opportunity to have success with the lesson. These multiple forms of learning were used to differentiate the instruction, and worked nicely. It is evident to me that my lessons were a great success, as a result of the projects. When students were done with their projects, we had them publish their finished works for other teachers, parents, and grade levels. As a result, students works that have given permission have been shared on my website. On this website you can find examples of the organizers used, and final projects, along with multiple pictures that explore each phase of the writing and reading lessons. Lastly, again, my largest concern/weakness for this lesson was time. I was only given two weeks to complete this strategy. As a result, some things may have been rushed, and some creativity may have been lost in the process; but, for the time that was allotted to me, I think the unit as a whole was a great success.