Using word processing and other technology tools for drafting is especially helpful for struggling students. The writing process is fluid and these tools recognize this, allowing students to easily change earlier decisions about purpose, audience, and genre, and addressing different learning styles. Show your students how to use technology tools to create, revise, and store their drafts in a digital writing portfolio. Model thinking aloud strategies on the interactive whiteboard.
It is also helpful to provide students with explicit instruction on how to transform ideas and notes into strong sentences and paragraphs. Strategies include color coding sample words and phrases that can be combined into sentences, modeling sentence combining, and teaching students to use transition words. Show students how to write different types of sentences, paragraphs, and other draft texts for diverse purposes and audiences. Use technology tools that support sharing examples of various paragraphs (such as introductions and conclusions) that can be used as models.
It is important to help students understand what it means to write for a variety of genres. By using a classroom blog, a podcast, a wiki, and/or a PowerPoint presentation, you can present and model ways to write, including:
- An opening, also called a lead
- Topic sentences
- Main ideas and supporting details
- Concluding statements
Students learn in different ways, so provide them with a variety of opportunities to reflect on their first draft. You could model reflecting on a piece of your own writing, for example, or you could have students use online graphic organizers. (See UDL Checkpoint 9.3: Develop self-assessment and reflection (opens in a new window)). Create a rubric for students (or provide them with a published rubric) to use for self-reflection. Make sure the rubric includes the criteria students will be assessed on, and model how to use the rubric.
Mr. Bradford’s fifth-grade students are creating a digital report about key women in the American Revolution, and during this class they will practice drafting openings or lead sentences to use in their report. Mr. Bradford recognizes that the reading and writing skills of his 25 students are quite varied, so he plans to offer differentiated support.
The students will participate in a variety of prewriting activities to prepare for drafting, including reading books, gathering information, taking notes, and watching videos. Students will access a report template, which Mr. Bradford has posted online, to help them write their first draft.
Mr. Bradford’s specific lesson objective is to have his students draft possible leads to use in a report on women in the American Revolution. This objective aligns with the following Common Core State Standards:
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.4 (opens in a new window) Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.7 (opens in a new window) Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
Mr. Bradford uses technology throughout his curriculum. During this lesson, he will use an interactive whiteboard and a document camera to demonstrate and model how to draft leads. Students will use tablets to view online resources, create leads, and conference with one another. Digital portfolios will be used for ongoing formative evaluation and self-reflection.
Students will be assessed in several ways. Mr. Bradford will give them immediate feedback on their drafted leads, and students will peer edit using multimedia tools. They will also use online checklists and digital portfolios for self-reflection.
The lesson plan, which is outlined below, details what Mr. Bradford will do during the three phases of the lesson: before drafting, during drafting, and after drafting.
Lesson plan
Before Drafting
- Review the lesson goal: The class will focus on writing leads for their reports.
- Discuss what professional writers do: They think about how to grab their readers’ interest, how to frame a lead, and what kind of lead to use.
- Review strategies for writing good leads.
- Model the different types of leads on the interactive whiteboard using mentor text and the document camera.
- Involve students in a discussion about the various features of leads using excerpts from the class website.
During Drafting
- Have students access their digital writing portfolios to review prewriting information that they could use in their leads.
- Have students draft one or more leads using online note cards.
- Circulate among students to give advice, make suggestions, and provide additional support.
- Have students work in small groups to peer edit draft leads.
- Have one person from each group share one draft lead for class discussion using the document camera.
- Have students review websites and record information for possible new leads.
After Drafting
- Demonstrate how students could use multimedia (audio, video, and graphics) to make their leads more interesting.
- Give students opportunities to create leads using a variety of technology tools.
- Conduct one-on-one meetings with students to provide informal feedback.
More teacher resources on prewriting
This article draws from the PowerUp WHAT WORKS (opens in a new window) website, particularly the Drafting Instructional Strategy Guide (opens in a new window). PowerUp is a free, teacher-friendly website that requires no log-in or registration. The Instructional Strategy Guide includes a brief overview of context clues and an accompanying slide show; a list of the relevant ELA Common Core State Standards; evidence-based teaching strategies to differentiate instruction using technology; a case story; short videos; and links to resources that will help you use technology to support instruction in context clues. If you are responsible for professional development, the PD Support Materials (opens in a new window) provide helpful ideas and materials for using the drafting resources. Want more information? See www.PowerUpWhatWorks.org (opens in a new window).