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Brooks Jones: Fourth Grade Writing

Understanding By Design Backwards Design Process


(Developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, 2002)
Stage 1 Desired Results
Content Standard(s):

Fourth Grade ELA/Writing 4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the
development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Fourth Grade ELA/Writing 5. With guidance and support from peers and adults,
develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.
Understanding(s)/Goals:
Essential Question(s):
Students will understand that:

How do writers plan ahead so that

writers go through several drafts


their work follows a logical
on their way to a high-quality
sequence of events and includes
finished product
appropriate details?

writers use tools like organizers,

Why is the first draft usually not


maps and other supports to help
good enough to publish?
them in planning
Student objectives (outcomes):
Students will be able to:

use a graphic organizer to prewrite steps in a process and create a first draft of
a how-to booklet

use quality checklists and the peer editing process to improve their writing and
create second and third drafts

create a polished finished product in booklet form


Stage 2 Assessment Evidence
Performance Task(s):
Other Evidence:

With support from peers and the

First draft on graphic organizer


teacher, students will create a how(attached)
to booklet, sharing their own

Peer editing checklist (attached)


expertise with students in the third

Student self-assessment (attached)


grade (rubric attached)
Stage 3 Learning Plan
Learning Activities:

Introduce the lesson and discuss the essential questions with students (W)

Students follow instructions from other examples of how-to writing (H)

Students analyze other examples of how-to writing, discuss their strengths and
weaknesses and compare and contrast (H, E)

Students generate their own checklist of characteristics that good how-to writing
should include (R, E2, T)

Teacher distributes graphic organizer and models its use (E, O)

Students work independently to write their own first draft of a process they know
well and can teach to others (E, R)

Teacher works on the same assignment alongside students, sharing successes


and challenges with the class (H, R, E2)

Students use the checklist generated earlier to evaluate their peers work (E2, T)

Students use second drafts to evaluate the authors process and organization of
steps (E2, R, O)

Students make final revisions based on most recent feedback (R, E2)

Brooks Jones: Fourth Grade Writing

Students use computers to type final versions of their how-to booklets (H, E, R)
Student booklets are shared with students in a second-grade class, who evaluate
them and provide feedback on their experiences (W, H, R, O)
Students complete the written end-of-unit self-assessment (W, R, E2)
Teacher leads discussion designed to reflect on the experience; students share
their own reflections and revisit units essential questions (W, R, E2)

Brooks Jones: Fourth Grade Writing

Title of How-To Book ___________________________________________________


By ________________________________________ Date ___________________

Step 1:

_________________________________________

___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

Step 2:

________________________________________

___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

Step 3:

________________________________________

___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

Step 4:

_______________________________________

___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

Brooks Jones: Fourth Grade Writing

Step 5:

_______________________________________

__________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

Step 6:

_____________________________________

_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

Step 7:

______________________________________

_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

Step 8:

______________________________________

_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

Brooks Jones: Fourth Grade Writing

Person writing this (reviewer):


___________________________________
Reviewing the work of (writer):
___________________________________

Things to Check For:


Do all the sentences begin with a capital
letter?
Do all the sentences end with a period or
other appropriate form of punctuation?
Is the writing free of sentence fragments
and run-on sentences?
Are most of the words spelled correctly?
Did the writer include enough relevant
details?

Specific Suggestions for improvement:


___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________

Person writing this (reviewer):


_________________________________
Reviewing the work of (writer):
_________________________________

Things to Check For:


Do all the sentences begin with a capital
letter?
Do all the sentences end with a period or
other appropriate form of punctuation?
Is the writing free of sentence fragments
and run-on sentences?
Does the writing make sense?
Are most of the words spelled correctly?
Did the writer include enough relevant
details?

Specific Suggestions for improvement:


___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________

Brooks Jones: Fourth Grade Writing

Name _________________________________ Date _________________

Student Self-Assessment: Writing How-To Book


What parts of this assignment were easy for you? Why? __________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
What parts of this assignment were more challenging? Why? _______________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Was this a fun project? Why or why not? _____________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
How did the editing process help you in your writing? _____________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
What would make this project even more fun?__________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

Brooks Jones: Fourth Grade Writing

Rubric for How-To Booklet


Organization

Sequence

Presentation

Peer Editing

Drawings

Excellent
Writing is in
complete
sentences with
strong words
chosen

Satisfactory
Most writing is in
complete
sentences, a few
strong words
chosen
Writing mostly
shows analytical
thinking; steps
mostly follow a
logical sequence
that readers would
be able to follow

Developing
Some of the
writing contains
sentence
fragments, run-on
sentences and
weak word
choices
Some of writing
displays analytical
thinking; some
steps may be out
of order,
superfluous or
hard to follow

Incomplete
The writing is
composed of
several sentence
fragments and/or
run-on sentences,
no strong words
used
Most of writing
does not show
analytical
thinking; many
steps out of order,
superfluous or
hard to follow

Writing shows
analytical
thinking, steps
follow a logical
sequence that
most readers
would be able to
follow
Work is easily
readable, writing
is neat with
appropriate
capitalization/
punctuation; most
words spelled
correctly
Student gave peer
several
appropriate
suggestions for
improvement;
completed all 6
quality checks

Most of work is
easily readable, 12 capitalization/
punctuation/
spelling errors per
page

Some of work is
easily readable, 24 capitalization/
punctuation/
spelling errors per
page

Most of work is
not easily
readable, 5+
capitalization/
punctuation/
spelling errors per
page

Student gave peer


some appropriate
suggestions for
improvement;
completed 5
quality checks

Student gave peer


one or two
inappropriate or
superfluous
suggestions;
completed 3-4
checks

Drawings are
appropriate and
mostly aid in the
readers
understanding of
the steps to be
completed

Some drawings
are superfluous
and/or do not aid
in the readers
understanding of
the steps to be
completed

Student gave peer


mostly
inappropriate or
superfluous
suggestions;
completed only 1
or 2 quality
checks
Most of the
drawings bear
little or no
relationship to the
steps described
and/or are not
clear enough to be
useful to the
reader

Drawings are
appropriate and
clearly aid in the
readers
understanding of
the steps to be
completed

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