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Letters To The President
Letters to the President Who
Grade Eight Students
The students' task: explore and explain issues of importance to you about which you think the next president should know and address.See our rules of etiquette.
The teacher's task: Fasciliate students in the exploration of and written communication to explain their ideas in a responsible way. See our rules of etiquette.
Please discuss our ideas and return comments. Please notify us of any inappropriate content.
youTube videos my be blocked by your school.
See ASCD blog: http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2008/11/letters-to-the-incoming-president.html
President Obama speaks about writing!
Our LettersPlease read them at: http://www.letters2president.org/ Ms Edwards
Sample of other students' letters presented orally:
Links to Page Contents
What
Letters to the Next President: Writing Our Future is an online writing and publishing project that invites students ages 13-18 to write about the issues and concerns they want the next president to address and, with the support of their teachers, to publish their writing for a national audience using Google Docs.
Google Docs
What are: Google Docs?
Click here for a brief presentation.
Why do schools use Google Docs?
Google Docs Information How to collaboarate
When
September 12-October 30
Where
Collaborate on your writing at school or at home. When our writing is complete, your work will be placed on a website of which a link will be placed here.
Why
As teenagers who cannot yet vote, you still have ideas about issues that concern you. This provides you with a venue to express your most important concerns and solutions.
How
Steps
Project Prompt
On November 4, 2008, voters in the U.S. will elect a new president, as well as 470 members of Congress. Whichever candidates are elected, they will face an array of pressing issues at home and abroad, all demanding attention and action. Where do we start? Voters can express their priorities in the voting booth—but young people also deserve to be heard. It’s your future too. What do you believe is the most urgent issue for the new President to tackle? What would you say to the candidates for the 470 seats open in Congress? What would you want the voting public to think about as they go to the polls? Your letter will be published for the candidates and the voting public to read. Can you convince them of the importance of the issue you care about? Can you move them to action on November 4…and after? How this works:To answer the prompt, a letter template has been designed specifically for the Letters to the Next President project by the National Writing Project (NWP) and Google. It provides you with what you need to compose and publish your pieces online. The template includes the writing prompt and guidelines for composing in the white spaces. Do not change the table or template, except for the information requested, which you will place in the white spaces. You may complete the sections in any order, and you may change or edit the information at any time up to the point where you submit your letter or essay. The information entered will be displayed on the Writing Our Future website to help readers find your essay and become interested in reading it.
To get started, I've created a wiki page for team brainstorming and planning. So choose a team, get a team number for your teacher, and go to this page: T0 L2P Team Ideas
Lessons
Wiki Work Google Docs Audience/Purpose Writing Process Six Traits of Good Writing Main Ideas, Details, Facts, Opinions Validity of Sources Research and Note-taking Using Notes Summary and Gist Statements Products Paragraphs Elaboration Essays Persuasive Essays Introductions and Conclusions Headlines Key Words Leads
Topic Resources
Prompt Discussionhttp://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/Wordmaster/2008-09-09-voa3.cfm Click on page icon to listen.
Artistic Ideas An open typewriter: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90880340
News
Click on Get the Scoop! at: http://pbskids.org/newsflashfive/
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3750314
Hydrogen Cars--BMW New York Times on BMW Hydrogen
Alternative Energy Alternative Energy Institute, Inc National Renewable Energy Laboratory Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Energy and World Energy Statistics U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Audio News: http://campaignaudio.prx.org/ which can be listened to on our pages at: Campaign Radio
Understand the Budget Widget
Our ideas and issues need facts to add to our understanding: http://www.kqed.org/w/youdecide/
Look at the issues: http://www.votebyissue.org/election2008/
Choose a Candidate based on the issues that concern you.
Map and News updates: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2008/primaries/states/
Miscellaneous Science and Geography: Interactive Expedition Museum
War and Peace: Afghanistan Aftghanistan Iraq Iraq
History
Maps
StatisticsLots of facts can be found here.
Issues
Check out the issues here.
Check the facts
http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/pages/toolbox/ For journalists, even beginners like us
Google News and Power Readershttp://news.google.com/?ned=us&topic=el http://www.google.com/googlereader/powerreaders/index.html Explore news sites read by McCain, Obama and political journalists. See articles the campaigns and political pundits are sharing with Google Reader this election season. [1]
Research Links
A nonpartisan political organization that provides information about campaign issues, voter registration support, and a citizen's guide to the electoral process. Its mission is to encourage informed and active participation in government and to increase understanding of major public policy issues.
Provides a teen-oriented guide to the election that includes profiles of the candidates, reports on campaign issues, and interactive features that allow students to express their opinions. OneVote 2008 is produced by ChannelOne.com
Founded by a nonpartisan team of college students, VoteGopher aims to empower and inform young voters by presenting material about 25 pertinent election issues. For each of the issues, students can view the candidates' main arguments, watch video summaries, read posted blogs, participate in forums, and cast their own ballot.
Aims to motivate young voters and teens through its content and visual style. Rock the Vote uses music and popular culture to engage young people to register to vote and also provides tools to learn about issues that affect their lives.
USA Today provides aggregations of its daily coverage of the presidential election campaign as well as interactive tools that allow students to build election scenarios and study past election outcomes.
Contains links and lessons to help students participate and learn about American political elections with online tools from Google. Featured on the site is a link to a Google elections video search that allows you and your students to easily find YouTube political videos.
The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement CIRCLE conducts research on the civic involvement of Americans ages 15 to 21. The site provides a context for the political youth activism that Letters to the Next President student-authors are engaging in—students can find data about youth voting and demographics and gain insight into how young Americans are affecting today's politics. Resources for Teens About Issues in the News These websites provide pertinent information about current issues, news, and culture, written with a teen audience in mind. These nonpartisan sites also provide aggregations of news and editorials from various content partners.
FactCheckED aims to equip students with reliable sources and the skills they need to obtain trustworthy information on the Internet. Students will find links to credible informational sites under "Straight from the Source," "Lesson Plans" and "Tools of the Trade" to help guide their analysis of current events. The site provides a "Dictionary" to help decode political jargon.
A comprehensive news source that provides national and international stories for young people. The site features videos as well as traditional text and graphics, and includes a section titled Student Voices—essays and editorials written by students.
The "Today's Newsletters" feature at OpinionSource allows students to explore diverse—and international—perspectives on the latest political news. The site provides summaries and links to some of the day's top editorials from renowned news sources in the US, the UK, China, the Middle East, and India.
A nonprofit blog that provides a forum for discussion and debate among young people on current politics and culture. Based at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, Pop+Politics is one of 150 blogs officially credentialed to cover the upcoming Democratic National Convention.
MTV's Street Team '08, comprising of select young journalists from around the nation, reports on local issues that are important to youth and the election. Students can navigate the site's peer-produced video clips, commentaries, and forums by topic.
The Webby-winning national news and culture magazine whose targeted audience is young people. In addition to providing daily content to over 60,000 monthly visitors, WireTap's articles and youth commentary are syndicated weekly by its partners at The Nation, Rock the Vote, the Chicago Sun-Times, and various college newspapers.[2] Process Resources
Google Search How To
How to Search with Three Easy techniques
Note-taking
http://www.englishcompanion.com/Tools/notemaking.html Download graphic organizers that fit your style
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_note-taking_system Cornell Note-taking
http://www.englishcompanion.com/pdfDocs/cornellintro.pdf A Cornell Note How to from Jim Burke
Summarizing
http://library.thinkquest.org/J001156/forms%20of%20writing/bc_summary.htm How to
http://www.mantex.co.uk/samples/summary.htm How to
http://homepage.smc.edu/reading_lab/writing_a_summary.htm How to
http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~mdesoto/101online/summary.htm How to
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/write/handouts/summary.html How to
http://cwl.oregonstate.edu/h-sum.html How to
http://educatoral.com/paraphrase-vs-summarize.html How to from Chimacum Schools
http://www.kidbibs.com/learningtips/lt33.htm How to
Gist Statements
http://coldfusion.mead.k12.wa.us/ls/subject2.cfm?callvar=gist Mead School District Gist Strategy (just like ours :) )
http://coldfusion.mead.k12.wa.us/ls/subject2.cfm?callvar=gistexa An example: The article and the gist statement in twenty words
http://www.warrenlocal.k12.oh.us/whs/literacy/STRAT/GIST.htm The procedure we use
Evaluating Web Siteshttp://www.clubi.ie/webserch/resources/index.htm
Citations
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/referenc.html Links to: How To; Online Interactives to create citations
A place to enter your information to create your citation
Key words
How to choose key words --- note there is a table of contents to several pages
Headlines
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=4631 Rules for Headlines
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/ Let's look at headlines. What do you notice? Which ones grab your attention? Why and How?
http://www.newmediabytes.com/2008/03/25/differences-between-web-online-print-headlines/ Web and Print: What's the difference?
http://web.ku.edu/~edit/heads.html Writing Effective Headlines
http://www.copyblogger.com/how-to-write-headlines-that-work/ Writing Effective Headlines
http://www.newmediabytes.com/2008/04/10/how-to-write-headlines-for-search-engines/ Headlines for the Web
Leadshttp://www.bloggingtips.com/2007/10/31/the-seven-most-important-leads-types-for-bloggers/ How tos for writing great "leads"
http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/writing/sixtrait/organization/leads.html Writing great leads
Paragraphs
http://writing.umn.edu/sws/quicktips/style_grammar/activepassive.htm Write with action
http://writing2.richmond.edu/WRITING/wweb/paragrph.html Writing effective paragraphs
http://howtowriteaparagraph.com/index.html How To Step by Step
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/606/01/ Paragraph Writing
http://languagearts.pppst.com/paragraphs.html Lots of information on paragraphs
Essays
http://members.tripod.com/~lklivingston/essay/ How to Step by Step
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Atrium/1437/howto.html How to Step by Step
http://ccj.p2technology.com/print/181 Basic Writing Tips
Teens speak out
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/speakout/archive.html Teens speak out
Teen Issues on the Campaign
Advice from writers to writers
http://www.brainpopjr.com/writing/essay/howtoessay/grownups.weml How to with movie
http://www.newmediabytes.com/2007/11/14/online-web-writing-vs-print-writing/ Web and Print: What's the difference?
Persuasive Writing
http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/persuasive_writing.htm Let's look at what it is -- our lessons
http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/persuasion_map/ Online persuasive writing interactive helper
http://www.writingcentre.ubc.ca/workshop/tools/argument.htm The Basics
http://pzweb.harvard.edu/Research/RubricsSelfPE.htm Let's examine this rubric to review what we know about persuasive writing.
Go to the NOW Archive at http://www.pbs.org/now/thisweek/archive.html and select a program and subtitle that resonates with their own perspectives or points of interest. Some good examples include:
http://www.wiretapmag.org/about/resources/ Use the right sidebar to find helps.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/cavalcade/genre.asp?genre=Essay Download many helps we can use for lessons. Which one works for you?
http://www.educationsector.org/analysis/analysis_show.htm?doc_id=686650 Sample Essay (partial available)
http://www.4literature.net/Benjamin_Franklin/Rules_for_Reducing_a_Great_Empire_to_a/ Sample persuasive essay from history
http://www.cerritos.edu/fquaas/resources/English100/persuade.htm How To
Introductions and Conclusions: Creating A Frame to guide your reader
Products
Google SitesBuild an election-focused website by creating and editing pages, uploading files and embedding photos, videos, documents, presentations, calendars, charts and more on issues and concerns about which you think the next president should know and address.
Activities
Google PresentationsCreate, collaborate on and share professional-looking presentations about the candidates and issues, and the concerns you have for each candidate about which you think the next president should know and address.
Activities
MyMapsDraw and add placemarks, photos and more to Google Maps, and share the results with others to show the location related to the issues and conerns about which you think the next president should know and address.
Activities Working alone or in a group,
Final Product:Write about the issues and concerns you want the next president to address and publish your writing for a national audience using Google Docs template to express your issues and concerns about which you think the next president should know and address. StandardsWashington Standards
EALR 1: The student understands and uses a writing process. 1.1.1 Analyzes and selects effective strategies for generating ideas and planning writing. -Maintains a log or journal to collect and explore ideas; records observations, dialogues, and/or descriptions for later use as a basis for informational, persuasive, or literary writing. -Uses a variety of prewriting strategies (e.g., story mapping, listing, webbing, jotting, outlining, free writing, brainstorming). -Gathers and paraphrases information from a variety of resources (e.g., interviews, multimedia, periodicals) and chooses an organizer to analyze, synthesize, and/or evaluate information to plan writing -Uses prewriting stage to determine purpose, analyze audience, select form, research background information, formulate theme (for narrative writing) or a thesis, and/or organize text. 1.2.1 Analyzes task and composes multiple drafts when appropriate. · Refers to prewriting plan. · Drafts according to audience, purpose, and time. · Drafts by hand and/or electronically. · Assesses draft and/or feedback, decides if multiple drafts are necessary, and explains decision. 1.3.1 Revises text, including changing words, sentences, paragraphs, and ideas. · Selects and uses effective revision tools or strategies based on project (e.g., referring to prewriting, checking sentence beginnings, combining sentences, using “cut and paste” word processing functions). · Rereads work several times and has a different focus for each reading (e.g., first reading — looking for variety of sentence structure and length; second reading — checking for clarity and specific word choice; third reading — checking for layers of elaboration and persuasive language). · Decides if revision is warranted. · Seeks and considers feedback from a variety of sources (e.g., adults, peers, community members, response groups). · Records feedback using writing group procedure (e.g., partner reads writer’s work aloud, and writer notes possible revision). · Evaluates and justifies the choice to use feedback in revisions (e.g., “I don’t want to change this because …”). · Revises typographic devices (e.g., bullets, numbered lists) to clarify text and to meet requirements of technical writing forms (e.g., lab reports, graphs). · Uses multiple resources to improve text (e.g., writing guide, assignment criteria, peer, adult, electronic or other thesaurus). 1.4.1 Edits for conventions (see 3.3). · Identifies and corrects errors in conventions. · Uses appropriate references and resources (e.g., dictionary, writing/style guide, electronic spelling and grammar check, conventions checklist, adult, peer).
1.5.1 Publishes in formats that are appropriate for specific audiences and purposes. · Uses available technological resources to produce, design, and publish a professional-looking final product (e.g., charts, overheads, word processor, photo software, presentation software, publishing software). 1.6.2 Uses collaborative skills in adapting writing process. · Delegates parts of writing process to team members (e.g., one member may interview; another may collect information from other resources). · Collaborates on drafting, revising, and editing. 1.6.3 Uses knowledge of time constraints to adjust writing process.
EALR 2: The student writes in a variety of forms for different audiences and purposes. 2.1.1 Applies understanding of multiple and varied audiences to write effectively. · Identifies an intended audience. · Identifies and includes information and uses appropriate language for a specific audience (e.g., defines technical or content-specific terms or jargon). 2.2.1 Demonstrates understanding of different purposes for writing. · Writes to pursue a personal interest, to explain, to persuade, to inform, and to entertain for a specified audience · Writes to analyze informational and literary texts. · Writes to learn (double-entry journal in math, social studies, or science; letter to teacher assessing own work; reflection). EALR 3: The student writes clearly and effectively. 3.1.1 Analyzes ideas, selects a manageable topic, and elaborates using specific, relevant details and/or examples. · Presents a central idea, theme, and manageable thesis while maintaining a consistent focus (e.g., narrows the topic, uses an essential question to guide research and maintain focus). · Selects specific details relevant to the topic to extend ideas and develop elaboration (e.g., multiple examples, statistics, anecdotes, reasons). · Uses personal experiences, observations, and/or research to support opinions and ideas (e.g., relevant data to support conclusions in math, science, social studies; personal knowledge of an illness to persuade the audience that water pollution is dangerous). 3.1.2 Analyzes and selects effective organizational structure. · Writes unified, cohesive paragraphs (e.g., inverted pyramid: broad topic, narrowing focus, specific details). · Develops a compelling introduction (e.g., startling statement, setting/description, quotation). · Composes an effective ending/conclusion that is more than a repetition of the introduction (e.g., response to a “so what” question, connection to bigger picture). · Uses transitional words and phrases between paragraphs to show logical relationships among ideas (e.g., moreover … , because of this issue … , equally important … , as opposed to … ). · Selects and uses effective organizational patterns as determined by purpose: - explanations (e.g., process description) - comparison (e.g., all similarities grouped together and all differences grouped together) - persuasion (e.g., vary sequence of arguments) - narrative (e.g., problem-solution-outcome) · Emphasizes key ideas through appropriate use of text features (e.g., headings, charts, diagrams, graphs, bullets). 3.2.1 Applies understanding that different audiences and purposes affect writer’s voice. · Writes with a clearly defined voice appropriate to audience. · Writes in an individual, informed voice in expository, technical, and persuasive writing. · Writes from more than one point of view or perspective 3.2.2 Analyzes and selects language appropriate for specific audiences and purposes. · Selects and uses precise language to persuade or inform. · Selects and uses precise language in poetic and narrative writing. · Uses the vernacular appropriately. · Selects and uses specialized vocabulary relevant to a specific content area (e.g., meteorologist, climatology). · Selects and uses persuasive techniques (e.g., powerful and emotional imagery). · Selects and uses literary devices (e.g., metaphor, symbols, analogies). · Selects and uses sound devices in prose and poetry (e.g., two-syllable rhyme, repetition, rhythm, rhyme schemes). · Considers connotation and denotation when selecting works (plump vs. fat, shack vs. house).
3.2.3 Uses a variety of sentences consistent with audience, purpose, and form. · Writes a variety of sentence structures and lengths to create a cadence appropriate for audience, purpose, and form. · Writes a variety of sentence structures (e.g., inverts sentence to draw attention to the point being made in an essay: “Down the stream swam the salmon fingerlings.”).
EALR 4: The student analyzes and evaluates the effectiveness of written work.
4.1.1 Analyzes and evaluates writing using established criteria. · Identifies aspects of the author’s craft (e.g., point of view, purpose, bias). · Identifies persuasive elements in a peer’s writing and critiques the effectiveness (e.g., audience appeal, concession and rebuttal, call to action). · Explains accuracy of content and vocabulary for specific curricular areas (e.g., description of scientific procedure during a class lab). 4.1.2 Analyzes and evaluates own writing using established criteria. · Explains strengths and weaknesses of own writing using criteria (e.g., WASL, classroom-created, or 6-trait rubrics; scoring guides specific to purpose or form of assignment). · Rereads own work for the craft of writing (e.g., point of view, figurative language) as well as the content (e.g., specific and relevant information). · Uses criteria to choose and defend choices for a writing portfolio. · Provides evidence that goals have been met (e.g., selects piece that shows improved introduction technique).
National Standards3 - Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics). 4 - Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes. 5 - Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. 7 - Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience. 8 - Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
12 - Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information). Footnotes
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