1. A Constructed Response Strategy
R.A.C.E.
Thank you all for being present at the professional development session. Some of you may be wondering, why am I in this session. One of the overarching standards for the school involves implementing literacy in all of our classrooms. There’s a misconception that literacy simply involves reading, however, the International Reading Association has stated that literacy is understood as the ability to read, write, understand and interpret, and discuss multiple texts across multiple contexts. Therefore, it is imperative that we incorporate reading and writing in all context areas with fidelity.
A Constructed Response Strategy

2. Learning Targets Understand the purpose of constructed response
Describe the components of constructed response
Understand the guidelines for writing constructed response using the R.A.C.E. strategy
In order to guide our work today,

3. What is R.A.C.E.?
R.A.C.E. is a strategy that helps students answer constructed and extended response questions in writing.
Step 1: Reword the question
Step 2: Answer the question
Step 3: Cite the evidence
Step 4: Explain your answer

4. Step 1: Reword the question
You must first know what the question is asking.
You will use the question to form a focused topic sentence
Example: "What was life like for serfs in the Middle Ages?"
Restatement: "Life for serfs in the Middle Ages was..."

5. Step 2: Answer the question
Students will underline key words/phrases in the question.
Look for task words (words that tell you what to do): explain, describe, compare, contrast, discuss, evaluate, identify, analyze, determine, etc.
Give a concise, logical answer
Example: "What was life like for serfs in the Middle Ages?"
"Life for the serfs in the Middle Ages was very difficult."

6. Step 3: Cite the evidence
Students will select appropriate examples from the text to support their answer.
Tell which piece of evidence you used.
Use specific details
Quotes don't have to be super long!
Example: "What was life like for serfs in the Middle Ages?“
Red-paraphrase
Purple-direct quote
:Life for serfs in the Middle Ages was very difficult. In Document 2, it stated they often worked 7 days a week because they had to grow food for the manor and themselves. Also, Document 4 stated that serfs "also had very little freedom because both landowners and church leadership could tell them what to do."

7. Step 4: Explain your answer
Students will explain how the evidence they gave makes their point.
Demonstrate understanding of the question through the response
Example:
Orange-explanation of answer
Life for serfs in the Middle Ages was very difficult. In Document 2, it stated they often worked 7 days a week because they had to grow food for the manor and themselves. Also, Document 4 stated that serfs "also had very little freedom because both landowners and church leadership could tell them what to do." A lack of freedom and constant hard work would make life unpleasant for anyone.
Why I cited those two pieces

8. Sum It Up
The last sentence should be a summary of the entire paragraph. Restate the topic sentence in a different way.
Example:
Green-Summary/Conclusion
Life for serfs in the Middle Ages was very difficult. In Document 2, it stated they often worked 7 days a week because they had to grow food for the manor and themselves. Also, Document 4 stated that serfs "also had very little freedom because both landowners and church leadership could tell them what to do." A lack of freedom and constant hard work would make life unpleasant for anyone. In conclusion, a serf in the Middle Ages would have had an incredibly difficult life.

9. The Entire Paragraph…
Life for serfs in the Middle Ages was very difficult. In Document 2, it stated they often worked 7 days a week because they had to grow food for the manor and themselves. Also, Document 4 stated that serfs "also had very little freedom because both landowners and church leadership could tell them what to do." A lack of freedom and constant hard work would make life unpleasant for anyone. In conclusion, a serf in the Middle Ages would have had an incredibly difficult life.

10. Practice
DOK 2: What do you notice about the section titled inspiring others by leading? What type of student behaviors have you noticed to support it?
DOK 3: Can you elaborate on the reason why we have implemented Patriot PRIDE at Southwest?
DOK 3: How is “Doing What is Responsible” related to student achievement?
At each of your tables, there should be a few sets of PRIDE Matrix documents. We wanted to use a document that you’re already familiar with, so we’re using PRIDE. When you begin using RACE in your classrooms, we’d recommend using a document you’ve already reviewed or on the topic that you’ve already discussed in class to make sure students understand the content if they don’t truly understand the strategy.
Because we want you all to differentiate in your classrooms, we want to model how you could incorporate differentiation with the RACE Strategy. We have provided three different questions with differing DOK levels and we’re giving you the choice to select whichever questions most appeals to you.

11. What do you notice about the section titled inspiring others by leading?
In the section titled “Inspiring Others by Leading,” I noticed…
Remember the first step is to re-word the question, so…

12. Constructed Response Rubric2
The response:
gives evidence of the ability to explain inferences about theme
includes specific inferences that make reference to the text
supports the inferences with relevant details from the text 1
gives limited evidence of the ability to explain inferences about theme
includes inferences but they are not explicit or make only vague references to the text
supports the inference with at least one detail but the relevance of that detail to the text must be inferred
A response gets no credit if it provides no evidence of the ability to explain inferences about theme and includes no relevant information from the text.

13. Self Assessment
What can you say that you have accomplished and feel confident that it is being implemented with fidelity?
Where are YOU
in the process?
What are YOUR
Next Steps?