1. Role/Audience/Format/Topic
R.A.F.T Writing

2. What is RAFT Writing?
RAFT Writing is simply a way to think about the four main things that all writers have to consider:
Role of the Writer Who are you as the writer? Are you Abraham Lincoln? A warrior? A homeless person? An auto mechanic? The endangered snail darter?
Audience To whom are you writing? Is your audience the American people? A friend? Your teacher? Readers of a newspaper? A local bank?
Format What form will the writing take? Is it a letter? A classified ad? A speech? A poem?
Topic What's the subject or the point of this piece? Is it to persuade a goddess to spare your life? To plead for a re-test? To call for stricter regulations on logging?

3. Generic Examples Role Audience Format Topic A black cat
Trick-or treaters
a letter of complaint
why am I treated so unfairly over a silly superstition?
A jack-o-lantern
a persuasive letter
Don’t smash me or fill me with shaving cream
A pumpkin
Children
Flyer
Don’t rip my insides out and carve me up
Your stomach
Letter of complaint
Candy upsets us!
A smart pumpkin
Other pumpkins
Instructions
Disguise yourself and don’t be picked and carved for Halloween
A broom
The witch
Letter of resignation
I’m a cleaner – not a flyer!
Teeth
Brochure
Too much candy gives us cavities!
Search Engine
Internet users
Web page
Inform internet users what you do

4. Examples for Social Studies
Role
Audience
Format
Topic
Sacajawea
Jean Baptiste
Letter
Our travels with Lewis and Clark
31st Century Woman
Susan B. Anthony
Thank you letter
Women’s rights
Ben Franklin
Dear Abby
Advice column letter
My son likes the British
Bird
Wright brothers
Letter of complaint
New invention disrupts the skies
Colorado River
Rafters
Travel guide
What you will see if you travel my length
Great Wall of China
Self
Diary
Invaders I have seen and stopped

5. Example of Completed Raft Assignment
Role – British soldier sent to the New World
Audience – Parliament
Format - Persuasive letter
Topic – Appeal to go home

6. Student’s Finished Product
25 New World Street Boston, Massachusetts December 5, 1777
Dear Parliament,
Why did you send us over to the New World? The colonists are not happy with us. They are demanding independence. When we walk down the road, people laugh at us. They hate us. They do not like when we sleep in their houses and eat their food and wear their clothes. Even the children make silly faces at us. They throw rocks and snowballs at us. When can we come home? Most of us are ready to leave and we miss our families. When are you going to respond? Please make it soon.
Respectfully,
The British Infantry