Transcript PHS RAFTS - nhsenglish9and10

RAFTS
Thursday, 22 January 2009
Noblesville High School
Mary B. Nicolini
Penn High School
[email protected]
Writing can. . .
• help students sort and select
• nudge students to think
critically
• make (some) order out of
chaos
• make thinking visible
“
W
riting across the curriculum
isn’t just a method of getting students to
write who are afraid of writing. It is also
a method of getting students to learn
what they were afraid of learning.”
William Zinsser, Writing to Learn
What is a RAFTS?
• Role
• Audience
• Format
• Topic
• Strong Verb
Role: WHO is speaking?
• What do I know about this role? What
special language might a person in this
role use?
Audience: WHO is listening?
• What do I know about this audience?
What information does this audience
need to know? What voice would be
most appropriate for this audience?
Format: HOW is the speaker
delivering the message?
• What do I know about this format? How
are ideas typically organized for this
format (compare/contrast, chronological
order, cause and effect, deductive logic,
point-by-point analysis)?
Formats
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
advertisements
brochures
case studies
declarations
editorials
fact sheets
interviews
(real/imaginary)
• letters
• memos
• news stories:
radio/paper/tv
• poems
• psychiatrists’ notes
• sermons
• slide show scripts
• telegrams
• war communiqués
Topic: WHAT is the message?
• What do I know about this topic? What details
should I provide for my audience? What
questions should I answer for my audience?
Where can I go to find more information if I
need it (encyclopedias, periodicals, newspapers,
Internet, an expert in the field, library,
reference manuals)?
Strong Verb: WHAT is the
purpose of the message?
• What purpose for my writing does this
verb suggest? To inform or explain? To
persuade? To describe? To tell a story?
To create a new way of seeing things?
What key words will make my purpose
clear?
Strong Verb
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
communicate
contest
diagnose
explain
inform
relate
announce
describe
identify
persuade
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
compare
analyze
cajole
clarify
critique
define
design
visualize
summarize
defend
Biology “Mystery Animal”
• Role: Safari tour
guide
Audience: tourists
Format: script
Topic: animals
they will see on the
tour
Strong Verb:
describe
You are a Safari tour guide for
a large tourism company in
Africa. Write your script for
what you will say to tourists
who pay big bucks to take your
tour. Describe what animals
they will see, but do NOT
actually name the animal.
Instead, be very descriptive as
far as the animal's size,
coloring, habitat, diet,
reproduction, and other traits
we have been studying in
biology.
R
A
F
T
S
Journeyman electrician
Apprentice electricians
Safety brochure
Correct wiring procedures for a 110v 3way switch
Educate
You are a Journeyman Electrician that instructs
newly hired Apprentices. You are to design a
safety brochure educating the apprentices on the
proper techniques on wiring a 110v 3-way
switch.
Role: Artillery commander
Audience: Combat troops
Format: Battle plan
Topic: Parabolic flight of a projectile
Strong Verb: Describe
As an artillery commander you need to describe
to your troops how to use a given quadratic
equation of parabolic flight to create a battle
plan which will determine how changes in the
initial velocity of the projectile will determine
the maximum height of the projectile so it can
clear the wall of a fort you are trying to shell.
role: filmmaker
audience: community
format: narration for documentary
topic: a local philanthropist
strong verb: highlight
You are a filmmaker creating a documentary
about a local philanthropist who has done a lot
of good for your community. Write the
narration for the opening of the documentary
that will highlight her many civic-minded
contributions.
role: race car driver
audience: readers of Racing Enthusiast’s
Monthly
format: article
topic: car’s frictionless body style helped
strong verb: expressing
As a race car driver who has just won your first
race, write an article for readers of Racing
Enthusiast’s Monthly expressing how your car’s
frictionless body style helped lead you to victory.
Be sure to thank your car designer and your
sponsors for their support in making it all
possible.
Why a RAFTS?
• Students need to write it all down to make
sense of what they find out through questioning
and research.
• We write to make sense of our world; we write
to understand how things work; we write to
figure things out.
• RAFTS prompts help students not only become
better writers but to become better thinkers.
more Why a RAFTS?
• RAFTS go hand-in-hand with the 6 traits of
writing.
• Role and Audience help students decide on the
voice and word choice.
• Format helps students with organization.
• Topic helps students zero in on the ideas.
• Strong Verbs direct students to the writing
purpose and help them to write clearly using all
the traits.
still more Why a RAFTS?
• written from a viewpoint different from the
student’s, to another audience rather than the
teacher, and in a form different from the
ordinary theme
• require students to use creative thinking as
they connect imagination to newly learned
information
• give students a fresh way to think about their
writing
• can be adjusted for skill level and rigor (great
for differentiation)
• are difficult to plagiarize
How to build a RAFTS
• Decide on a concept/idea, a piece of enduring
knowledge, a unit: something you know you’ll
teach this year.
• Determine role, audience, format, and strong
verb to go with topic.
• Partner up with a colleague who teaches the
same or similar course, proceed to Writing
Center, log in and follow directions at
http://writingacrossthecurriculum.wikispaces.c
om/.
Goal for today
• Write TWO RAFTS with a partner (or
alone)
• See specific instructions on handout or at
http://writingacrossthecurriculum.wikisp
aces.com/