Post WWII – Domestic Changes RAFT Assignment

Directions: In groups of 4, choose ANY Role, Audience, Format, and Topic from the list provided, and construct a piece of work; This will be presented to the class via a recorded piece of work or live in class and counted as a project grade.

Role / Audience / Format / Topic
Realtor / Supreme Court Judges / Commercial or
Advertisement / Sunbelt/Suburbs
Lawyer / 1950-60’s Family / Sitcom / Johnson’s Great Society
News Reporter / Manager / Rock-n-Roll Song / Nuclear Family
Employee / College Political Science Class / News Report or
Interview / Television
Marketing Firm / Friend or family member / Campaign Speech / The Warren Court
Singer/Song writer / Congress / Legal Brief / Veterans of WWII
Actor/Actress / Same as role
(for diary entry) / Documentary / Service Sector
Presidential Candidate / Other / Diary Entry / Election of 1960

Remember, practically all RAFT assignments are written from a viewpoint other than that of a student. They are usually written to an audience other than the teacher. They take a form other than students would write as a standard essay. Seldom is the word "write" used as a RAFT verb. Stronger verbs are used like "plead", "convince", "clarify", all of which focus the assignment by setting the tone of the response. The following possible roles and audiences, topics, formats and verbs may be used in developing your RAFT’s. Feel free to expand this list with your own ideas. See Back for more information

Action verbs to use: reprimand, clarify, plead, convince, defend, justify, instruct, advertise, criticize, persuade, argue, expose, uncover, proclaim, implicate, incriminate, apologize, promise, scolding

Getting Your Ideas Across on a RAFT

You should refer to the notes below in developing your own RAFTs.

Role of a writer:

You must decide who (or what) you will be. Will you be writing as an old car? Will you be a piece of pavement? a bicycle? How about a person or even a bird continually exposed to air pollution from cars?

Audience:

To whom are you writing? Are you writing to a specific person? to Congress? to a child? to a machine? to a car? to an auto manufacturer?

Format:

What form will your writing take? Will you write a letter or a speech? Will it be an obituary, a conversation, a memo, a journal, or a diary?

Topic + strong verb:

What is your topic? What strong verb will help you present your topic? For example, persuade a congressman to vote for more ethanol in gasoline, demand that more fuel efficient cars are built, plead for a car to be driven more efficiently.

R.A.F.T Assignment Assessment and Feedback Rubric

Accuracy - How correct is your information?108642*4 =______

Is it fully supported by the text and/or history?

Did you include documentation of your sources?

Perspective – Do you stay in role? How54321*4 =______

effective are you at performing your role and

convincing the audience?

Focus – Do you stay to the assigned format? 54321*4 =______

Do you fully satisfy the chosen topic with numerous

details and examples?

Benchmark – How is the overall quality of your54321*4 =______

Work compared with both past work and ever

increasing expectations of better work?

Assessment Guide Total of above points______

5 = Exceptional

4 = Effective

3 = Developing

2 = Emerging

1 = Not yet

Topic
Sunbelt/Suburbs /
  • Air Conditioning
  • Mass Production
  • Jobs available
  • Highways/Cars

Johnson’s Great Society /
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Civil Rights
  • War on Poverty

Nuclear Family /
  • Definition
  • Roles of parents/children
  • Dr. Spock/Child rearing
  • Improved healthcare
  • Religion

Television /
  • Impact on society and culture
  • Reinforcement of stereotypes
  • What/who was on television
  • What/who was not on television

The Warren Court /
  • Definition
  • Court Cases: Miranda v. Arizona (p.973), Gideon v. Wainwright (p.964), Mapp v. Ohio, Baker v. Carr

Veterans of WWII /
  • GI Bill (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act): School and Homes
  • Baby Boom

Service Sector /
  • What jobs does this entail . . .
  • Information industry/computers
  • White-Collar jobs
  • Impact of women
  • Franchises

Election of 1960 /
  • Candidates
  • Issues
  • Impact of television
  • Outcome - why