Hello, my name is Terra Graves, and I am a mentor for new teachers in Northern Nevada. In 2005 I contributed the following introduction to the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Writing Across the Curriculum Guide:

"Before I moved to middle school, I taught sixth grade for nine years. What did I least look forward to...the state writing assessment! Why? Because the prompts that the students had to respond to were so…so…blah! Usually, just about everyone could write to the prompt, but it wasn’t always very meaningful to them.

"When I discovered the R.A.F.T. prompts, my prompt aversion promptly subsided. These are wonderful! The students like them because the prompts can be customized to what they are learning. R.A.F.T. prompts encourage writing that is meaningful. The writing they produce actually expands their understanding of a concept. Because of the different aspects of the prompt, students must assume a different point of view (ROLE) to shape the information (TOPIC) they learned into a particular format.

"When my students got to create their own prompts, I couldn’t believe what they came up with. Once they’re given the structure of the R.A.F.T. prompt, and the 'menus' to help them, they treated it like it was a game. I encourage content area teachers everywhere to use this strategy to elicit meaningful writing for learning in their classes."

Resources for Exit Tickets from WritingFix:
RAFT Basics:	Build a RAFT for your Class:
Here are several complimentary resources from the NNWP's Writing Across the Curriculum Guide: What are R.A.F.T. writing assignments? Blank R.A.F.T.S. Rubric 6 Trait rubric to help design R.A.F.T.S. rubrics	Press the buttons until an idea for a RAFT writing assignment pops up: Build a R.A.F.T. for Math Class Build a R.A.F.T. for Science Class Build a R.A.F.T. for Social Studies Class
Study a good RAFT Picture Book Lesson:	Study a good RAFT Chapter Book Lesson:
Northern Nevada teacher Pam Ashby shared with us this RAFT writing assignment she created for her third graders as an introduction to RAFT writing assignments. Her assignment is inspired by the picture book Tough Boris by Mem Fox. Click here to open and print Pam's one-page handout	Northern Nevada teacher Carol Lubet shared with us this RAFT writing assignment she uses with her middle school students in order to introduce the RAFT writing format. Click here to open the entire on-line assignment that Carol proposed and published during an in-service class for teachers sponsored by the Northern Nevada Writing Project.
Study a good RAFT Picture Book Lesson:
Northern Nevada teacher Jennifer Mitchell shared with us this RAFT writing assignment she created for her elementary students as an review to writing friendly letters. Her assignment is inspired by the picture book Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School by Mark Teague. Click here to open and print Pam's one-page handout	More lessons are under construction!