Joshua Plymale

www.ManHighEnglish101.weebly.com
EDU-225
2-27-16

Raft Task Card

This RAFT Card is designed for 9th grade level.
ROLE (student)

AUDIENCE
Interviewer

Edgar Allan Poe

FORMAT
Answering a

TOPIC
What is the

question in an

meaning of the

interview

Purloined Letter

Diary/Journal

ending?
My Short

Letter

Romance
My Side of the

Row 1

Self
Row 2
Juliet/Romeo
Beowulf
Row 3
Grendl

Story

RAFT Row 1
Objective: You will be able to describe as Edgar Allan Poe what you believed is the meaning
at the end of the Purloined Letter.
Student Role: Writing as Edgar Allan Poe
Audience:

Interviewer

Format:

Answering the question in an interview

Topic: What is the meaning of the Purloined Letter ending?

Directions:

1. Read the Purloined Letter copy that came with this assignment.
2. You will be writing in first person as Edgar Allan Poe.
3. You were just asked a question about the meaning of the ending of Purloined
Letter.
4. You are required to write a 150+ response to this question explaining the complexity
of that ending and what it means to you as a reader and a writer.
5. As well as why the ending was important and why you chose to end the story the
way you did.
6. Be creative. Do you think Edgar Allan Poe would tell his true thoughts of his
writings, would he refuse to talk about the ending, or would he lie exaggerating the
true meaning of the end? The choices are yours to make.
7. Then post the answer to your online portfolio.
Resources:
Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe
E-portfolio site: http://www.weebly.com/start/portfolio
Assessment:
This assignment is worth 100 points. It will be graded upon grammar, punctuation,
spelling, the students understanding and comprehensive skills of the reading material as
well as the students creativity in their writing skills.

RAFT Row 2
Objective: You will write as Juliet or Romeo to your diary or journal about your love life.

Student Role: Writing as Juliet or Romeo

Audience:

Self

Format:

Letter

Topic: My Short Love Life

Directions:
1. Read Romeo and Juliet from your text book.
2. You will be writing in first person as Juliet or Romeo.
3. You are writing to your diary or journal about your recent events in your
love life.
4. The required word count is 200+ and should have at least three separate
entries.
5. Each entry should be dated with a day and date like in a diary or journal.
6. Explain how specific moments made you feel as the character during the
story and why you felt that way.
7. Do not forget that in order for this to be an accurate diary or journal post, all
entries will have to be, before the death scene between the two.
8. Be sure to post the final draft to your E-portfolio.
Resources:
Romeo and Juliet by Hamlet
E-portfolio website: http://www.weebly.com/start/portfolio

Assessment:

This Assignment is worth 100 points. It will be graded upon grammar, punctuation,
spelling, the students understanding and comprehensive skills of the reading material as
well as the students creativity in their writing skills.

RAFT Row 3
Objective: You will be writing as Grendl to Beowulf, to try and plead your side of the story.
Explain as to why you have done the things you have and why he should not interfere with
you.
Student Role: Grendl
Audience:

Beowulf

Format:

Letter

Topic: My Side of the Story

Directions:
1. Read Beowulf from your textbook.
2. You will be writing in first person as Grendl to Beowulf.
3. You need to try and persuade Beowulf that your actions were necessary and forced
4.
5.
6.
7.

upon you.
As well as that you had no choice in the matter, due to the circumstances.
The required word count for this is 250+.
Remember your aim is to make Beowulf see things from your point of view.
Post the final draft to your E-portfolio.

Resources:
Beowulf by Anglo-Saxon Poet, Beowulf Poet
E-portfolio website: http://www.weebly.com/start/portfolio

Assessment:
This assignment is worth 100 points. It will be graded upon grammar, punctuation,
spelling, the students understanding and comprehensive skills of the reading material as
well as the students creativity in their writing skills.

Section Four: Differentiating Instruction through Technology

Introduction
All students learn at different levels. Students can be above the current learning level,
others can be equal to it, while some are below the learning level. This can be due to the way a
teacher teaches or the product or material of the classroom. Students all have different affinities
towards learning. This is the idea of visual, kinesthetic, and audible learning styles. Technology
make it easier to meet the students different learning levels in your lessons as well as their
learning styles. Technology improves the teacher to differentiate instruction.
Technology to Differentiate Instruction
Wordle:
www.wordle.net is a web tool that gives writers a visual picture of how often they use the
same word. This obviously helps students to expand their vocabulary and enhance their own
writing skills. From a teacher stand point for 9th grade English, wordle will make it possible to
have a different type of learning style for a student who has trouble with thinking in their head.
This makes it easier for those students to reach an equal ground with other students since they
can see the words they use, rather than counting them their selves. A teacher could sue wordle by
having students write a short story for 15-20 mins of class and then posting those stories to
wordle. Allowing students time to create their creative wordle page. This will give them some
entertainment and all students to explain their selves through creativity.
ISTE Standards

The way wordle is used can be linked to the ISTE standards. 1.Creativty and
Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop
innovative products and processes using technology. (ISTE,2016). This is due to how creative
students can get with the lesson plan focused around wordle. Not only do they manage to
entertain their selves with wordle, but also become familiar with it for future use.
Capzles:
www.capzles.com is a web tool that allows the user to create a timeline and view it from
their website. This website allows the user to add photos, videos, and audio to this timeline.
From a 9th grade English teacher perspective, this could be a very useful tool for book reports.
The problem with book reports for students is the fact that some struggle with face to face
presentation. This problem is most likely centered on being shy or having some self-esteem
issues. However with capzles ability to record voice recordings, the student can present the
report from the comforts of their home. This way the shyness will not affect the students
performance in the assignment. Teachers could use this tool to differentiate instruction by
making their own timeline for a lesson plan and giving out different assignments for that week.
This way the students can choose what assignment they are more acquainted to or interested in.
By giving a student a choice, the teacher will have an improved chance of higher grades as
students who study or work on something they are interested in tend to do better and are more
involved than when they are not interested in a topic. Think how a person labors day in and day
out at a job they hate as compared to how they perform at their dream job.
ISTE Standards
The way capzles is used can be linked to ISTE standards. 2. Communication and
Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work

collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the

learning of others. (ISTE, 2016). This is because of the ability to audio record a voice and then
play it as part of the presentation. This allows the tool to be used as a communication tool and a
presentation tool over distances.
Piktograph:
www.piktograph.com is a web tool that allow students to gather information and data into
several different presentation styles. Including posters, reports, presentation, and infographic.
From a 9th grade English teacher perspective this tool can be used in several different occasions.
This could be used in different assignments such as a pre-career project to make students
brainstorm about what they want to do with their lives. The students would collect research,
data, and information and then post it to their piktograph to keep that information organized and
easily accessible. The overall presentation would be easier to do with the use of this web tool.
Teachers could use this tool similar to the same way, instead collect data and information from
all their classes and post the results on their own piktograph. This could show how each class is
performing separately as well as a whole. This would encourage competition, motivation, and
willing ness to learn which would help every student regardless of their learning level or style.
ISTE Standards
The way piktograph is used it can be linked to the ISTE standards. 3. Research and
Information Fluency: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
(ISTE, 2016). This is because of how it allows the user to post collected data, information, and
research into a presentable form through the web tool. The tool can be used as a presentation tool
this way through the use of graphs, posters, etc.
Pros and Cons

Teaching based upon differentiated instruction with technology has pros and cons. This is
similar to all of technology advances. The pros are each child is taught their learning style, each
student has an individual learning plan, generates teacher creativity, no child left behind, and
flexibility. Through technology there are several different ways to make sure every child gets to
learn from their own learning style. The individual learning plan means Each child will be
worked with according to their individual needs. Their strengths and their weaknesses will both
be worked on, but in a way which makes it easier for them to learn. (APECSEC, 2015). The use
of technology gives teachers more chances to be creative within the classroom. This also helps
with the no child left behind because it increasing the chances that a student will learn the
material given. Differentiated instruction claims it is crucial for all teachers to understand that
these best-teaching practices should be in place in all classrooms if we are to meet the needs of
all students (Sylvia Lewis, 2016). Lastly, the flexibility is a benefit because it allows for the
teacher to have a free schedule in order to adjust to any of the students needs. Even though
technology makes the overall process of teaching differentiated instruction easier there are still
some negatives to it. These are tougher work load for teachers, time constraints, children learn at
different paces, and lack of schedule. The tougher work load is because of the effort it takes to
find the useful web tool for each lesson plus the fact that the teacher is trying to meet each
students learning style with each lesson. It is extremely easier to teach to a class than it is to
teach to each individual, that is why time constraints become a problem. There are only some
much time in a day, and so much time for each lesson. It becomes increasingly frustrating and
hard to fit an entire lesson plan for differentiated instruction into one class period. Among the
greatest barriers to the use of technology in instruction reported was lack of time. The lack of
time in the schedule for students to use computers and the Internet in class. (U.S. Department of

Education, 2016). All children learn at different paces, so those that learn a lot slower or have
trouble with a given subject may hold the entire class back from progressing on. With no
schedule, it becomes hard to get organized and function normally.
Concluding Paragraph
In conclusion, there are several ways technology can improve differentiated instruction.
This includes the web tools wordle, capzle, and piktograph. All of these technologies can be
used creatively to enhance the differentiated instruction. Using technology for this type of
teaching has its pros and cons. The pros are that it focus on each child individually, generates
teacher creativity, and flexibility in teaching style. The cons are that it is difficult for a teacher to
use this teaching strategy effectively. Still when done right, it will benefit the class best overall
compared to any other teaching strategy.

References
ISTE, 2016. ISTE Standards for Students. Retrieved from
http://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards/standards-for-students
U.S. Department of Education, 2016. Barriers to Technology Use. Retrieved from
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/frss/publications/2000102/index.asp?sectionid=7
APECSEC, 2015. Pros and Cons of Differentiated Instruction. Retrieved from
http://apecsec.org/pros-and-cons-of-differentiated-instruction/
Sylvia Lewis, 2016. Differentiated Instruction: Success for Every Student. Retrieved from
http://www.curriculumassociates.com/professional
-development/topics/DiffInstruction/index.htm