ENC 3254: Writing in Elementary Education
Major Class Links

Course Syllabus

Course Assignments

Course Schedule

Class Gradebook

Website Helps

Main Homepage

Letter Writing Assignment:


--


This assignment, based on your ongoing field observation, asks you to write two letters about a specific child, one to a counselor and one to a guardian. The topic of the letter can be either positive or negative, your choice.

1.In the first letter, you will chronicle the child's performance in a particular area (e.g. reading, math) with the help of a supervising teacher. The primary audience will be a counselor, though administrators comprise a secondary audience.  Since this letter is for a counselor, it will contain much greater detail than the letter home to a guardian.  Also, this letter must contain specific dates and incidences, both positive and negative, as well as steps that you have taken towards alleviating the problem (or ask for suggestions).

2.In letter two, you will explain to a guardian the child's difficulty or success with the area discussed in letter one. Remember that a guardian will not respond well to only negative information, so before presenting a negative, present a positive.  Also, be sure to include contact information specifically identifying when you are available

The assignment calls for using anecdotal evidence gathered through observations as well as data from test scores and other extrinsic sources.  Keep on top of your observations in the classroom.  We will discuss conventions of business letters and practice making our prose more concise. Also, you will either use a school's letterhead or design your own.

Keep in mind your audience.

Paper formatting helps
First page sample page in MLA

Length: 1 page each
Style: business letter

Assignment Objectives:

* Students will generate correct business letters in the prescribed format.

* Students will understand the ways that purpose, process, subject matter, form, style, tone, and diction can be shaped to address a particular audience in a specific situation. For example, the differences between a letter to a parent and a letter to a counselor.

* Students will generate good writing using specific methods of inventing and elaborating ideas, for arranging these ideas to achieve a specific rhetorical purpose, for producing good style, for revising, and for editing.