Carlos Herrera

http://mrherreralancerpower.weebly.com/
EDU-225
11/15/2015

Raft Task Card

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

AUDIENCE
Baseball team

FORMAT
Presentation

TOPIC
Have you ever
wondered how to

Row 1

pitch a ball like a

major league
News reporter

Newspaper

Newspaper article

readers

baseball player?
The history of
baseball and the

Row 2
impact it has on
Batting Coach
Row 3

PE class

Demonstrate and

society
Batting: What is

discussion

the proper stance

and swing?

RAFT Row 1
Objective:
Students will be able to demonstrate proper over hand baseball pitching technique.
CA STANDARD: Standard 1 for high school physical education: Students demonstrate
knowledge of and competency in motor skills, movement patterns, and strategies needed to
perform a variety of physical activities.
ISTE STANDARD: 1. Creativity and Innovation (a), 3. Research and Information fluency (b, c),
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making (C)
Student Role:
A Pitching coach

Audience:
Baseball team
Format:
Oral presentation
Topic:
Have you ever wondered how to pitch like a major league baseball player?

Directions:
1. Visit http://www.active.com/baseball/articles/6-steps-to-the-perfect-pitch-877835
2. Research the proper baseball pitching technique. Points of interest should be grip,
velocity, arm placement, and body positioning.
3. Create a speech that describes the proper pitching technique.
4. One form of visual aid must be used. Whether it is a picture, a ball, a poster, or a chart, a
visual aid must accompany the oral presentation.
5.

Resources:
Pitching technique:
http://www.active.com/baseball/articles/6-steps-to-the-perfect-pitch-877835
Pitching videos:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?
q=how+to+pitch+a+baseball&qpvt=how+to+pitch+a+baseball&FORM=VDRE
Assessment:
Teacher observation and grading will be done while the student is presenting.
100 points possible for the pitching speech.

RAFT Row 2
Objective:

Students will demonstrate proper writing skills and research skills while writing a newspaper
article on the how the history of baseball impacts todays society.
CA STANDARD: Standard 6 for 9th and 10th grades. Use technology, including the internet, to
produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of
technologys capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and
dynamically.
ISTE STANDARD: 1. Creativity and Innovation (a, b), 3. Research and Information fluency (b,
c), 4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making (c)
Student Role:
Newspaper Reporter
Audience:
Newspaper readers
Format:
Newspaper article
Topic: The history of baseball and the impact on todays society

Directions:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Visit http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/baseballhistory.html.
Find three major events in history that still impact todays society.
Research each event and have two references for each event.
Next, visit http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/writing-your-article and decide
what type of article you are going to write and what you will need to be successful.

Resources:
Baseball events:
http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/baseballhistory.html
Newspaper article:
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/writing-your-article
Assessment:
Write a 400-600 word article on the impact the history of baseball has had on todays society.
This assignment is worth 150 points.

RAFT Row 3
Objective:
Students will be able to demonstrate a proper bat swinging technique.
CA STANDARD: Standard 1 for high school physical education. Students demonstrate
knowledge of and competency in motor skills, movement patterns, and strategies needed to
perform and variety of physical activities.
ISTE STANDARD: 1. Creativity and innovation (a), 3. Research and information fluency (b, c),
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making (c)
Student Role:
Batting coach
Audience:
PE class
Format:
Demonstration and discussion
Topic:
Batting: what is the proper stance and swing for a baseball player?

Directions:
1. Visit http://probaseballinsider.com/baseball-instruction/fundamentals-of-hitting/
2. When looking at proper batting technique, consider the head, hands, elbows, hips, and
feet.
3. A written report must be turned in at the time of the batting demonstration.
4. Mechanics of each body part listed above should be included in your report.
5. For the demonstration, please be able to have four guidelines for students to remember
when batting.
6. Practice presentation of batting technique before getting in front of the class. Written
report should mirror what the presenter is discussing.

Resources:
Batting technique:
http://probaseballinsider.com/baseball-instruction/fundamentals-of-hitting/
Videos of proper batting technique:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?
q=proper+batting+technique&qpvt=proper+batting+technique&FORM=VDRE
Assessment:
Teacher will grade the batting techniques during student demonstrations.
Written report should go along with demonstration. Same information included in both the
written and oral report.
Both reports will be 50 points each.

Section Four: Differentiating Instruction through Technology

Introduction (4-6 sentences)
In the 21st Century, technology is used in almost every aspect of life. For education,
technology has the potential to open many doors for teachers and students. Differentiated
Instruction (DI) is a necessity for student success in education. With technology, DI has a better
chance to be successful for both teachers and students.
Technology to Differentiate Instruction
The following technology tools are tools that are important in education. The tools help
teachers and students in many ways.
Name of Technology Tool:
The first technology tool that is helpful for DI is Microsoft Office 365. In high school,
students have many subjects to keep straight. Office 365 helps each student keep their classes,
schedule, and files straightened out for each class. If a student is organized, they have a better
chance at being successful.
ISTE Standards

The ISTE Standard that Office 365 falls under is standard 3.b: Locate, organize, analyze,
evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use the information from a variety of sources and media.
Using this standard in class with help make DI more beneficial this component of DI allows
students to choose among options or to design their own method of demonstrating what they
know (Darrow, A., 2015).

Name of Technology Tool:

The second technology tool that helps DI is Intel Classroom Management. This
technology tool is a large help for teachers because it keeps students engaged, collaborative, and
on task. The teacher has control over all the screens in class. If a child has a great idea on an
assignment, the teacher can share the students screen with the rest of the class. Also, if the
student is off-task, the teacher is able to blank out a screen, lock out a screen, or send a personal
message to the student while the other students work.
ISTE Standards
Standard 2.b: Communicator information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences
using a variety of media and formats is the standard used when the teacher uses the Intel
Classroom Management tool.
Name of Technology Tool:
Skype for Business is another technology tool that has the potential to be assist DI. There
are visual, auditorial, or kinesthetic students. With Skype for Business, teachers are able to skype
with a business owner or even an employee anywhere around the world. When students are able
to see and listen to a business owner discuss the way a business in ran instead of reading the

information in a book, there is a highest chance that more students retained the information from
the skype call.
ISTE Standards
Skype for Business used the ISTE Standard 1.c: Use modesl and simulations to explore
complex systems and issues. When a live video is being used as a teaching tool, there are plenty
of simulations that can happen.

Pros and Cons

In general, there will always be pros and cons of technology with DI in education. When
discussing pros, they range from giving every student many options on ways to do assignments
to teaching lessons with specific technology tools. Technology opens doors that books cannot.
With DI, teachers can pull up different technology tools and help each child, even when they do
not have the same learning styles.
Unfortunately, with pros, there are cons. One con for using technology with DI is the fact
that teachers do not have the background to work all the technology tools. Only 37% of the
sample teachers reported using computers with their students daily. One of the reasons for
infrequent use is the lack of professional development in educational technology for teachers
(Chen, S and Herron, A, 2014, p 16). If districts want teachers to incorporate technology when
using DI, the district must provide the proper training for all teachers.
Concluding Paragraph
Differentiated Instruction is a necessity in education. With all the different ways to learn,
DI is a huge teaching strategy. When teachers put together DI and technology, the sky is the

limit. With all the things a student or teacher can do on the computer, why shouldnt education
embrace that fact and use technology to help reach all the students and not just half of the class?

References
Chen, S & Herron, S. (2014). Going against the Grain: Should Differentiated Instruction be a
normal component of professional development. International Journal of Technology in
Teaching and Learning (10)1, 16.
Darrow, Alice Ann. (2014). Differentiated Instruction for students with disabilities: Using DI in
the music classroom. General Music Today (28) 2, 29-32.
ISTE Standards website. (2015). ISTE Standards. Recovered from
http://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards/standards-for-students