3.+RAFT+-+Steps+Involved

 ** How to create a RAFT **

· The first step is to decide on ‘essential questions,’ or what you want your students to learn. Focus on key aspects of the curriculum and the topic being taught and decide how using a RAFT assignment may enhance understanding. When you have narrowed the focus you have, at the same time, determined your writing **topic**. However you decide to state your title, ensure that the goal of the assignment is clear to students (“Daretodifferentiate”, 2010).

· The next step when creating a RAFT assignment is to think about the possible **roles** that can be used. This will depend on the subject being taught, but there is a lot of room for creativity at this stage. Students learning about the digestive system could assume the role of a piece of gum in the digestive system, a body organ, a blood cell looking on, or even a tooth.

· Step three is deciding what **audience** your student is going to be writing too. For example, if you decide that students are to take the role of a piece of gum in the digestive system they could be writing to the digestive system, to the person who swallowed them, or to other pieces of gum that may someday be in the same position.

· Once you have decided the audience that the student is writing to it is time to decide on the **format** of the writing. This is generally determined by the audience. For example, the piece of gum writing to other pieces of gum could write an instruction manual for getting around, it could write a journal of its experiences to be read by its package family, or it could write a newspaper article on the true atrocities of the digestive system.

· Next, create the rubric for your assignment. The same rubric can be used no matter what roles the students choose. However, changes may have to be made to the rubric to accommodate students with special needs; for example, if they are presenting orally or using drawings to display knowledge the rubric must be modified.

· The final step when creating a RAFT is to think about the differentiations that you will need before presenting the assignment to your students. Students with special needs can be accommodated by simple changes to the RAFT assignment. Think about whether some of your students would benefit from orally presenting their ideas, or different formats to use for students with skills that are not as advanced or are more advanced.

Some ideas taken from []

** How to implement the RAFT strategy **

· First you must introduce students to the idea of writing for various audiences in various ways and for various purposes. Have them consider topic, role, format and audience and how these things can change writing style.

· The next step is to show your class the RAFT that you are using. Go over the elements of the RAFT again and give students examples of how to complete each step.

· Next, to get students to really understand the RAFT, have a group brainstorming session to create a different RAFT assignment. Have students think about role, audience, format, and topic choices for their RAFT, as well as strong verbs that can be used with each topic. Model the process for creating a RAFT so that students can ‘see’ how it was constructed.

· Step four to implementing a RAFT is to have students get into small groups to practice the technique together. Have them do a group brainstorm before they decide to write on a chosen topic. Finally, have each group of students complete one RAFT assignment between them. During this time students with special needs may be individually coached by the teacher or may stay with their groups.

· When students have finished with their group RAFT have them share it with the class so each student has a number of exemplars to work from.

· The final step to implementing a RAFT is to have students create them on their own. When students are comfortable with the RAFT assignment and are more proficient in this writing style they may choose to develop new RAFTS based on class topics.

Some ideas taken from [|http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/strats/raft /]