Last week we learned about the R.A.F.T. learning strategy, which can be used across different subject areas to increase creative thinking and students ability to take different perspectives. R.A.F.T. stands for role, audience, format, and topic. In this activity teachers provide (or the class can brainstorm) different choices for each part and students create a product showing their learning. This is a great way to provide choice for students, and an easy way to differentiate. Diverse learners may find the choice hard, so you can provide them with a spinner to make the choice for them.

This learning strategy is aligned with the eleventh UVIC Teacher Competency: “Implement pedagogically context-appropriate sound practices linking assessment for/as/of learning, planning for learning, instructional strategies and approaches to engage all students in relevant and personalized learning“. They are in alignment because it can be seen as a tier one strategy, providing choice and different ways of representing learning for all students, not just a select few.

Classroom Application

This week we were able to try this activity out for ourselves. It was so fun and engaging! We started off by splitting into groups and received 3 images from a book to examine and create 3 different R.A.F.T. activities. Below is my groups ideas!

Brainstorming and making the activities was very fun! This could be done as a whole class (with given criteria and expectations), or could be provided by the teacher without too much extra work! R.A.F.T. ideas and examples across subject areas are available here.

After we created our activities we switched with another group and used a spinner to determine was activity we were going to do. This got all of our creative juices flowing and was very fun. Below are the options from another group (based on the same book images) and another groups finished product.

After all the groups were completed we all came together and shared our work. This was so fun and the whole class was engaged, you could see how much we all enjoyed it!

Reflection

I love this learning strategy! I look forward to using it in my future classrooms, to reach all learners! As I continue my preparation and planning for practicum I am excited to integrate this into my English Language Arts and Social Studies 7 cross-curricular unit plan!