The following samples are provided to demonstrate the use of RAFTs in a variety of classrooms and learning experiences.

History Classroom - Jan Thrun has used RAFT strategies with the students in her history classes

Student work - a student used the journal format to share information about the life of a slave. Students first read articles about the Middle Passage and took notes, and made a list of facts about the voyage
(prewriting). One of the students chose to write a slave’s journal as the RAFT activity. Students had to include a certain number of facts. Grading was based on a checklist: number of facts, emotion, spelling, grammar, etc.

Student work - a student in the role of Colonist created a scroll to send a message to King James regarding trade with Africa.The letter to the king was a choice out of many activities that were presented when the class studied the 13 colonies. Students first made notes and then chose their RAFT activity. Grading was similar to the Middle Passage Raft above.

 

Reading Classroom –

Students read The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, in Veronica Vazquez’s reading class.  This RAFT activity was done at the end of the book to provide a way for students to reflect on the book. In the story the boys who own the house (the Greasers) don't take care of their family home after it is left to them by their late parents. The boys are constantly worried that the police will come to the home and split them up into foster homes if it is not clean.

Student Work  

Math Classroom –
This activity was used as an assessment for a 7th grade class. We had been studying how to solve and graph an equation manually on grid paper. The students had then been told how to use a graphing calculatorand given opportunities to practice using it to solve equations. To be sure that all students knew how to navigate the calculator for our purposes, I had them create a RAFT in the form of a letter to themselves from the calculator. They worked with a partner to compose the letter, put it on poster paper and shared their creation with the rest of the class. This assessment also evaluated students' ability to state a sequence clearly and concisely, and to think metacognitively about what they had learned.

Student work

Special Education Classroom -          

In Rene Neal’s class students discussed the Boston Tea Party from a variety perspectives including a tea bag.

Student 1- student takes the role of a British soldier

Student 2- student takes the role of a news reporter