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Writing about Organs

Time Frame

1 class periods of 90 minutes each

Group Size

Individual

Authors

Utah LessonPlans

Summary

Students will write a creative document about the structure and function of an organ in a body system.


Materials


Student Prior Knowledge

This activity would be best at the end of the unit when students know about the organs. It could be used for summative or formative assessment of the unit.


Instructional Procedures

  1. Tell student that they are going to write a RAFT paper. RAFT stands for:
    Role: Who (or what) you are.
    Audience: To whom are you writing?
    Format: What form will your writing take?
    Topic: What subject are you writing about?
  2. Share an example with the students. You may wish to project or make an overhead of this one:

    R = car in a junk yard
    A = teen who destroyed the car
    F = farewell letter
    T = take care of your car (scolding)

    Dear Claude,

    I've been forced to sit in this junk yard for the past year. Every day I've had to face the loss of more and more body parts until there is almost nothing left of me. But tomorrow, my time is up; I'm scheduled to be compacted, so I have to write this letter now. It is hard for me to say this, but I think you need to know you are a real jerk!

    I gave you the best years of my life, and how did you treat me? You refused to change my oil on a regular basis. (I get cranky when I have a dirty crankcase!) You always fed me the cheapest fuel, never letting me have any fuel containing detergents to help keep my parts clean. You constantly slammed on the brakes, wearing the treads from my tires. You never checked my tire pressure. I had to work extra hard to move with such low pressure in my tires. Do you know how much gas money you wasted over the years by driving on underinflated tires? You never gave me a lube job even though I was constantly screaming for one.

    I tried so hard to do my best, but you did not lift a finger to help. Oh, no! Here it comes, the big crunch! I've reached the end of my road....CRUNCH!

  3. The list of RAFT activities attached shows some suggestions for RAFT papers. You may encourage students to create their own or you may wish to limit them to this table.
  4. Make sure that student have a copy of the rubric attached. Point out to them that including the structure and function of the organ is vital to their work.
  5. Have willing students read their work out loud or if time permits. You may wish to have the students respond to each other's work or use the rubric attached to grade the assignments.


Assessment Plan

Use the rubric attached.


Bibliography

Lesson Design by Jordan School District Teachers and Staff.


Created: 11/24/2014
Updated: 02/04/2018
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