Here is a sample CRAFT prompt I created based on your instructions: The context for this writing assignment is our class reading of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. We have just finished the chapter where Scout and Jem encounter Boo Radley in the tree outside their home. The role you will take is that of a journalist reporting for the local Maycomb newspaper at the time the events of the novel are unfolding. Your audience will be the readers of the Maycomb Tribune. The format should be a 500-word news article recounting the mysterious encounter between the Finch children and their elusive neighbor Arthur "Boo" Radley from the perspective of an eyewitness. The topic of the article should be the rumors and

1. How Do I Get Them To Write
Assigning Writing To Secondary Students

2. Journal
• You have written three papers for this class and have begun a fourth.
• 10th grade individuality prompt
• This I Believe
• Editorial
• Research paper
• Which one of these writing assignments has been your favorite? Your least
favorite? Explain why?

3. Things to keep in mind
When assigning writing
•Engage students in a variety of writing tasks by
exploring different:
•Purposes
•Audiences
•Subjects
•Formats
•Voices

4. Things to keep in mind
When assigning writing
•Create assignments that allow students to
make meaningful decisions about writing.
•How to organize
•What info to include
•How formal
•How to appeal to audience

5. Things to keep in mind
When assigning writing
•Create opportunities for
writers to write for real
AUDIENCES

6. Things to keep in mind
When assigning writing
• The connection between reading and writing works to your benefit.
• Create writing assignments modeled after authentic publications and use
those publications to guide instruction.
• Use writing as a tool for responding to readings

7. The case for open ended writing
assignments
• Open ended writing assignments: providing only mode or topic (or providing
nothing at all)
• Students work within strengths
• Student ownership or writing
• Students make decisions
• More room for creative response
• Students think like writers
• Makes peer conferences, workshops, and read aloud sessions worthwhile
• Drawbacks:
• Could limit challenges writers face
• Can be more difficult to evaluate
• Less realistic scenario in preparation for career and college

8. The case for prompted essays
• Prompted essay: teacher provides (or class devises) a complete rhetorical
situation
• Students forced to interact with all aspects of a rhetorical situation
• More like real-life writing scenarios
• Provides significant flexibility
• Easier to evaluate and discuss, esp. achievement of specific learning goals
• Drawbacks:
• Can be boring/restrictive
• Inevitably perceived as a “do what the teacher wants” assignment
• Why share writing that is essentially the same from student to student

9. So which should you use?
BOTH

10. the
CRAFT method
•C=Context
•R=Role
•A=Audience
•F=Format
•T=Topic

11. context
• Like OCCASION in SOAPSTone
• What is the impetus for this piece of writing?
• What problem provokes the writing?
• What is the background that leads to the writing task?
• For example:
• A horse walks into a bar.

12. role
• like SPEAKER in SOAPSTone
• Who is the speaker?
• What position, role, or perspective must the writer take in composing the
writing?
• How should the writer/narrator understand herself/himself in relation to the
subject and audience?
• For example:
• You are the bartender.

13. audience
• like AUDIENCE in SOAPSTone
• Who is receiving the communication?
• For whom is the writing being produced?
• For example:
• Audience: the horse

14. format
• What type of writing is it?
• What genre?
• What mode?
• What style?
• For example:
• Write a one-line quip.

15. formats
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article
essay
memo
business letter
haiku
sonnet
report
editorial
grocery list
timeline
narrative
vignette
pamphlet
•propaganda poster
•radio advertisement
•interview
•product package
•flyer
•diary entry
•personal letter
•memoir
•sermon
•eulogy
•proposal
•abstract
•What other formats can
you think of?

16. topic
• like SUBJECT in SOAPSTone
• What is the writing about?
• For example:
• Topic: the horse’s face.

17. For example
• You are the bartender at a local watering hole. A horse walks into your
establishment and approaches the bar. Write a one-line quip to the horse
about the horse’s face.
Why the long face?

18. Analyze this CRAFT prompt
• Read the prompt.
• Identify each piece of CRAFT.
• The State Board of Education has decided to assess high school student writing
proficiency through Grade 10 Writing Assessment. The focus of the new test will be
informational, a change from the previous Literary Analysis English/Language Arts test.
Students may be asked to write definitions or cause/effect essays about any subject.You
are a member of your school ﾕ s leadership team. You are concerned about student
literacy. Although you are not an ELA teacher, you think that students need to write and
think critically in all classes. You have heard about writing across the curriculum and
would like to see your school begin such an initiative.Write a memo to your principal in
which you explain the issues that the revised test raises for your school and suggest a
WAC initiative as a solution to be discussed in the next leadership team meeting.
Remember that the principal ﾕ s time is precious. You will need to write clearly and
concisely, trying to explain your points in no more than two pages.

19. and the answer is…
• CONTEXT: New informational writing test--no longer ELA test
• ROLE: Teacher/leadership team member concerned about student writing
• AUDIENCE: Principal (whose time is precious)
• FORMAT: Memo (short, concise, <2 pages)
• TOPIC: Recommending a WAC approach

20. Now create your own
• Choose a novel or short story you would like to teach to your students some day.
• Decide on an aspect of the book to which you would like your students to respond:
• A character
• An event
• A theme
• A literary device or technique
• Something else?
• Create a complete rhetorical task for your student writers. Decide what each element of
CRAFT should be.
• Compose your CRAFT prompt in paragraph form.