RAFTS and a TIP

Last Friday I did a presentation at Region 20 for their Keystone Conference on college and career readiness. I spoke basically about Bean's "Two Dimensions of a 'Meaning-Constructing' Task," and I personally am finding this approach to designing writing assignments to be the most significant thing I am getting out of reading his book. I can attest to the truth of his contention (from my own assignments and viewing the assignments of others and hearing their frustration with their students' writing) that the design of a writing assignment is a very very important factor in how well students are able to write on that assignment.

Based upon research derived from the National Survey of Student Engagement (the 4 yr. college/university version), three features of well-designed writing assignments were identified:

1. Interactive components
2. A meaning-construction task
3. Clear explanations of writing expectations

On page 99, Bean summarizes the parts of an effective writing assignment handout, but I want to write on the second feature of a well-designed writing assignment--a meaning construction task. RAFTS and a TIP.

Role
Audience
Format
Topic
Strong Verb

and

Task as Intriguing Problem

Bean's contention all along is that interesting problems or questions are like doorways leading students to think critically about subject matter. What RAFTS offers is some guidance and purpose behind pursuing the problem. The role playing may not always work, and certainly it can become stifling or even artificial, but in many ways we are seeking to get students to evolve from who they currently are into what we might call "disciplinary" insiders. If we get them to play the role of an "insider" with insider knowledge, then the hope is that they actually begin to develop that identity and knowledge.

The other thing I like about RAFTS is that they can be fun. I love the Physics writing assignment example on page 112 where the writer takes on the role of a boyfriend (or I guess girlfriend) in an argument with his or her partner about a physic question. It sounds like the disputes that come up on Car Talk sometimes. If student writers enter into the role playing of the assignment, they have a strong purpose and direction for their writing. They understand what they are after in terms finding a thesis with tension. Bean references a great book that might work as a supplemental text in any class asking students to write and argue from source materials called They Say/I Say.

"Many people think X, but I am going to argue Y"
or
"Before reading my paper, my reader will think X. After reading my paper, my reader will think Y."
(Bean 99).

Most students by long practice write to the teacher alone but following a fiction that they really are writing to "the world." It is like they are addressing the sky. RAFTS gets them to think much more rhetorically, and I love them for that. I've used RAFT-like assignments for years, but reading Bean is getting me to think more deeply about crafting this kind of framework for my writing assignments.

In fact, I am crafting a final exam essay assignment for my Summer I class, and I already know that I will RAFTS it.

The other wonderful thing about RAFTS, and my audience at Region 20 all were nodding their head in agreement, is that it is easily translatable to any discipline.

Linked here is the handout I created for this presentation. In addition to a general description of RAFT assignments, I have helpful resources for designing your own RAFT with a TIP writing assignments:
 http://www.lirvin.net/RAFTassignshandout.pdf

Enjoy!