Exploratory Writing Activities

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4. How can teachers use exploratory writing activities to motivate students to read and write? Teachers can use exploratory writing activities in their class to motivate students by allowing them the opportunity to use it as a journal. Vacca, Vacca, and Mraz (2014) states that both academic and response journals should be used to aid students in generating questions, writing down thoughts and feeling about the topic (p.291). This will aid the students in making the connections and examine the information. For example, along with reading “Gathering Blue” my students read a lot of current events. Therefore, in these journals they will get a chance to really connect with the topics. Not to mention, there is no judgement. Teachers are not grading …show more content…
How can teachers develop essay writing through RAFT activities? According to Vacca, Vacca, and Mraz (2014) teachers first need to create a prompt for students to examine and discuss (p.301). Next, teachers need to explain what each letter stands for and how to use it to write their essay. For example, students need to know their role. Who are they thinking like as they write this essay? From whose point of view are they writing? For instance, Groeneke and Prukett (2006) provides an example of a writing assignment where students are going to discuss genetic cloning. First the students have to brainstorm information about cloning, such as the background knowledge. Then, they have to decide what role they are going to take, including scientist, historian, victim, or animal in order to discuss this topic (p.22). Next, they need to know their audience and who they are writing to. Then, they need to know the format and the type of essay they are supposed to be writing. Finally, they need to know the topic that they are writing about. RAFT could be used when I teach my students how to write their informational essay for their project. My students prompt is how do you end bullying or discrimination in your community and build positive relationships. My students will first need to know their role. Are they the person that has been bullied, the bully, or the bystander? Then they will need to know who they are writing to in order to know how to stop the bullying or discrimination. Afterward, the students will need to decide the best way to format their information to decrease bullying or discrimination, and finally the type of essay that they are writing. This will also get the students excited about completing the assignment because they get a chance to research the information first and then decide the particular role they want to learn about. One of the reasons that RAFT is so effective is because it provides “empathy” and “perspective” (Jones, 2006, p.