 Role  Audience  Form  Topic RAFT

 Role  Audience  Form  Topic Writing Situation  A family in your town has decided to donate a large amount of money to a person,  charity, or cause. Choose a person, a group, or a charity that you think deserves the  money. Directions for Writing  Write a letter to convince the family that your choice should receive the money.  Include details about how the person, the group, or the charity would use the donation. RAFT

 Role of the Writer: Who or what are you as the writer? A pilgrim? A soldier? The President? Audience: To whom are you writing? A friend? Your teacher? Readers of a newspaper? Format: In what format are you writing? A letter? A poem? A speech? Topic and strong verb: What are you writing about? Why? What's the subject or the point RAFT

You will write as though you are __________________________________  (ROLE)   writing something to be read or heard by   ___________________________________________ the writing will take the  (AUDIENCE)   form of __________________________________________ and will be about  (FORMAT)   ___________________________________________. Your piece of writing’s  (TOPIC)   purpose will be to _________________________________________________.  (STRONG VERB) RAFT

 Complete a RAFT and Outline or web  Write your thesis statement  The Topic Sentences for each Body Paragraph  At least 2 ways that you’ll add evidence to each body parapgraph Pre-Writing

 D – Dialogue  R – Rhetorical question  A – Analogy  P – Personal Experience  E – Examples  S – Statistics Add Evidence

Football players make a lot of money  D (Dialogue): Scott Brady, our athletic director, said, “Last year, profits from football tickets alone made $18,000 for school.”  R (Rhetorical Question): Do you know how much an average spectator spends at a game?  A (Analogy): Football games bring in cash the same way that rain brings spring flowers.  P (Personal Example): Last Friday, my friend Ashley and I went to a football game and spent all of our money.  E (Example): One example of profit is in concessions. Hot dogs alone bring in over $100,000 per game.  S (Statistics): 62% of our student body bought at least one ticket to a game this month, at the cost of $3.00 cash. Add EVIDENCE

 A. Hook : ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Did you know…. Did you ever…  B. Background ______________________________________________________________________________________  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ It is a known fact that In fact,… Statistically speaking…  C. Claim  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ I strongly believe… I firmly believe….  D. Thesis:__________________________________________________________________________________________  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Adults should vote because _____, ____, and ____ Topic: voting Purpose: to persuade adults to always vote Thesis: Adults should always exercise their right to vote. Introduction Paragraph

 What is your opinion, stance, perspective on the question being asked? State your CLAIM

State your Counter-CLAIM Opinions and reasons that someone who disagrees with you might mention. *Respond to these counterclaims by mentioning them in your essay and explaining why they are wrong. *Then make a final point to convince your reader.

Thesis  A perfect teacher is considerate, organized, and kind.  A perfect teacher is considerate b/c…..and show that……  A perfect teacher is organized and that helps the students to be better prepared…..  COUNTERCLAIM  Some may argue that a characteristic of a perfect teacher doesn’t include kindness. However, a perfect teacher is one who shows kindness towards her students by listening and always being willing to help.

How to deal with Counterclaims *Respond to these counterclaims by mentioning them in your essay and explaining why they are wrong. *Then make a final point to convince your reader.

Directions: Read each opinion and Counterargument. Then write your opinion and counterargument with your topic. EXAMPLE 1: Claim: Participating in school sports is beneficial. Thesis: Participating in school sports is beneficial because students become disciplined, physically fit, and it helps students attend college. Counterclaim: Some may argue that participating in school sports does not help kids attend college because they cannot devote enough time to studying; however, being a part of a school sports team actually helps students get scholarships to go to college. Claim ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Thesis:________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Counterclaim__________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

Something you must consider when pondering this point… I will bring this point to your attention Consider this,… Another strong point is…. Sadly many people believe… Studies show that… They feel ____: however, I feel…. It is evident…. The majority of people may believe…. Obviously,…. Without a doubt,… I absolutely… There is no way… Clearly,…. Persuasive Essay_ sentence starters…