reviewing the friendly letter format with persuasive techniques
This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by Nevada teacher Vicky Hood at an SBC-sponsored inservice class.
The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book Click, Clack, MOO: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.
Washoe County teachers, click here to search for this book at the county library.
Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources :
Pre-step (before sharing the published model):Review friendly letters. This lesson should not be used as an introduction to this type of letter-writing, but it should be used as a fun review...perhaps before an assessment.
Step one (sharing the published model):This book is truly excellent as an idea generator for young writers. On the surface, the book's writing may seem very basic; however, for struggling or beginning writers, imitating this book's idea can be a wonderful tool to unleash the imagination of a developing writer!You should read the book to students at least twice: once, purely for entertainment as this is a hysterical book; a second read to set up this on-line writing assignment.
While reading Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin, point out how this book is about negotiation in an unexpected and absurd setting. Celebrate the improbability of cows, chickens, and ducks being able to use a typewriter to communicate with the farmer. While pointing out the impossibility of animals using communication technologies, focus on the power of negotiation and using writing as a tool for communication – absurd setting and situation or not!
Says Vicky, "This book can also be used as a great cross-curricular tool to teach negotiation or revolution, i.e. the Revolutionary War. Let the barn animals become the upstart American Patriots, and the Farmer can be the British. What are the similarities between the battling groups?"
Tell students they will be writing a persuasive and friendly letter in the voice of an animal who wants something from a human. They will need to display humorous voice while completely adhering to the format of a friendly letter.
Step two (introducing models of writing): In small groups, have your students read and respond to any or all of the student models that come with this lesson. The groups will certainly talk about the voice, since that's the focus of this lesson, but you might prompt your students to talk about each model's organization as well.
We're looking for more student samples for all grade levels for this prompt! Help us get some, and we'll send you free resources for your classroom! Contact us at publish@writingfix.com for details.
Step three (thinking and pre-writing): Students should have no problem coming up with an animal's voice to use for this assignment, but if they do, the interactive buttons on the Student Instructions Page might give them ideas.
Before drafting, create two classroom lists: "persuasive words" and "persuasive techniques." Ask students, "How do you convince someone to give you something they have never thought to give you? What kinds of words do you use? What kind of tone do you take on?" Discuss ideas and put them on the list for students to refer to as they draft.
By reading Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type again, you might find some techniques to add to your classroom list. You might also find some different techniques by sharing some of Ike's letters home in the book Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School by Mark Teague. WritingFix has a lesson that uses this book as its mentor text too; click here to access that lesson.
Once students have some techniques and words to include in their letters, let them write. You might want to put WritingFix's friendly letter template on the overhead for them to refer to as they write.
Step four (revising with specific trait language): Two tools for revision are provided below. You can use one or both, depending on how much time you have to spend on this assignment.
To promote response and revision to rough draft writing, attach WritingFix's Revision and Response Post-Its to your students' drafts. Make sure the students rank their use of the trait-specific skills on the Post-Its, which means they'll only have one "1" and one "5." Have them commit to ideas for revision based on their Post-It rankings. For more ideas on WritingFix's Revision & Response Post-Its, click here.
Step five (editing for conventions): After students apply their revision ideas to their drafts and re-write neatly, require them to find an editor. If you've established a "Community of Editors" among your students, have each student exchange his/her paper with multiple peers. With yellow high-lighters in hand, each peer reads for and highlights suspected errors for just one item from the Editing Post-it. The "Community of Editors" idea is just one of dozens and dozens of inspiring ideas that is talked about in detail in the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Workbook for Teachers.
Step six (publishing for the portfolio): When they are finished revising and have second drafts, invite your students to come back to this piece once more during an upcoming writer's workshop block. Their letter might launch a longer story that centers around the writing of the letter. Students will probably enjoy creating an illustration for this type of story as they get ready to publish it for their portfolios.
Interested in publishing student work on-line? We invite student writers to post final drafts of their original at WritingFix's Community of Student Writers. This is a safe-to-use blog for students and teachers. No writing is posted until it is approved by the moderator. Contact us at publish@writingfix.com if you have questions about getting your students published.
Learn more about author Doreen Cronin by clicking here.
sive techniques." Ask students, "How do you convince someone to give you something they have never thought to give you? What kinds of words do you use? What kind of tone do you take on?" Discuss ideas and put them on the list for students to refer to as they draft.
