This Lesson's Title:

Unusual Friendly Letters

A R.A.F.T. assignment that relies on persuasive writing techniques

This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by Nevada teacher Jennifer Mitchell at an SBC-sponsored inservice class.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School by Mark Teague. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.

Check out Dear Mrs. La Rue: Letters From Obedience School at Amazon.com.

Washoe County teachers, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

The writer will analyze and discuss the persuasive techniques used by Ike, the dog, in the friendly letters he sends home to his owner, Mrs LaRue.  After reviewing the format of the friendly letter, writers will then plan to compose friendly (yet persuasive) letters between unusual letter-writers and letter-receivers.  The interactive button game below will give writers many interesting options for this creative letter-writing activity. Teachers: Click here to see the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is voice; the writer's goal is to persuade the audience that is chosen, but also practice with techniques of humor...perhaps even sarcasm.  The support trait in this assignment is word choice; strong word choices will be brainstormed before students begin writing their rough drafts.