Using the RACE writing strategy to transform student writing • Simply ELA

Hands-down the best reading and writing tool I’ve used in my classroom!

Wondering what the RACE strategy is? As a teacher, you know how important it is for your students to have strong reading comprehension skills–and you know how difficult that can be to teach. One essential aspect of comprehension is being able to find and use text evidence to support written answers to questions. The solution is so simple and will absolutely transform your classroom!

What is the RACE Writing Strategy?

RACE is an acronym that stands for Read, Answer, Cite, and Explain. It is a simple 4-step writing strategy that helps students understand how to use text evidence to support their answers to passage-based questions.

R – Restate key words from the text
A – Answer all parts of the question
C – Cite Evidence from the text
E – Explain your answer and Edit

Intervention or Tutoring Work:

Use the RACE writing strategy to help students develop their reading comprehension skills. Provide your students with highly-engaging practice questions that require them to use the 4-step RACE strategy to find and use text evidence to support their answers.

Other great ways to use RACE in your classroom:

Literacy Centers
Science or Social Studies Activities
Weekly Homework Assignment
Whole-Class Review

State Test Prep:

The RACE strategy is the perfect tool for test prep season! You can use it to help students approach standardized test questions with more confidence. Provide students with practice prompts that require them to use the RACE strategy to answer questions (click here to get best-selling RACE practices!). Spend the month leading up to standardized testing intentionally reviewing and practicing the RACE strategy so your students are confident answering ANY question that comes their way!