1 - English Resources



Year 9 English The Outsiders

Letter to the Editor

|Criteria |Very well done |Well done |Partly done |Needs Work |

|Content |

|Goal / Thesis |Strongly and clearly states a |Clearly states a personal |Personal opinion is not clearly |Personal opinion is not easily |

| |personal opinion. Clearly identifies|opinion. Some references to the |stated. Little or no references to |understood. Has no reference to the |

| |the issue. |issue. |the issue. |issue. |

|Reasons and Support |Three or more excellent points are |Three or more points are made |Two points made; shows some |Preparation is weak; arguments are |

| |made with good support. It is |with support, but the arguments |preparation, but weak arguments. |weak or missing; and less than three|

| |evident the writer put much thought |are somewhat weak in places. The| |points are made. |

| |into this assignment. |writer doesn’t persuade | | |

| | |completely. | | |

|Conclusion |Summarizes personal opinion in a |Summarizes personal opinion in a|Concluding statement is a weak |Concluding statement makes no |

| |strong concluding statement. |concluding statement. |summary of personal opinion. |reference to personal opinion. |

|Characterisation |The character’s ‘voice’ is creative |The character’s ‘voice’ is |The character’s ‘voice’ is |The writing does not maintain the |

| |and realistic. |realistic. |sometimes maintained. |character’s ‘voice’. |

|Layout |

| | |Heading, inside address, date, |Heading, inside address, date, |One or more of the following are |

| | |salutation, and signature is in |salutation, and signature needs |missing: Heading, insider address, |

| | |the correct order and accurately|reordering or reformatting. |date, salutation, and signature. |

| | |formatted. | | |

|Language Use |

|Organisation |Sentences and paragraphs are |Sentence and paragraph structure|Sentence and paragraph structure is |Little or no evidence of sentence |

| |complete, well written, and varied. |is generally correct. |inconsistent. |or paragraph structure. |

|Word Choice/Tone |Choice of words that are clear, |Adequate choice of words that |Choice of some words that are clear |Language and tone of letter is |

| |descriptive, and accurate. Maintains|are clear and descriptive. |and descriptive. Lacks consistent |unclear and lacks description. |

| |consistent persuasive tone |Demonstrate a persuasive tone in|persuasive tone. (questions, | |

| |throughout letter. (questions, |parts of the letter. (questions,|alliteration, expert opinion, | |

| |alliteration, expert opinion, |alliteration, expert opinion, |statistics, facts, personal | |

| |statistics, facts, personal |statistics, facts, personal |anecdote, negative words, positive | |

| |anecdote, negative words, positive |anecdote, negative words, |words, inclusive pronouns, exclusive| |

| |words, inclusive pronouns, exclusive|positive words, inclusive |pronouns, personal pronoun, direct | |

| |pronouns, personal pronoun, direct |pronouns, exclusive pronouns, |address) | |

| |address) |personal pronoun, direct | | |

| | |address) | | |

|Mechanics and Grammar |Contains few, if any punctuation, |Contains several errors in |Contains many punctuation, spelling,|Contains many punctuation, |

| |spelling, or grammatical errors. |punctuation, spelling, or |and/or grammatical errors that |spelling, and/or grammatical errors|

| | |grammar that do not interfere |interfere with meaning. |that make the piece illegible. |

| | |with meaning. | | |

Comment

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What is a letter to the Editor?

Letters to the editor are very powerful advocacy tools – they show support for a particular issue.  The editorial section of a newspaper is widely read by the public and is monitored by politicians. In a letter to the editor you reach a large audience and can create the impression of widespread support or opposition to an issue.

What can I write about?

Choose one of the following options.

1. Imagine you are Johnny and you have just read a newspaper report titled ‘Bob Brutally Bashed. No Justice ‘til Johnny Jailed’. Write a letter to the editor justifying the killing of Bob.

2. Imagine you are one of the Curtis boys (Darry, Sodapop or Ponyboy) and you have just read a newspaper report titled ‘Orphaned Adolescents Out of Control’. Write a letter to the editor explaining why your family should stay together.

3. Imagine you are Cherry and you have just read a newspaper report titled ‘Guard Against Gangs of Greasers’. Write a letter to the editor explaining that not all greasers are violent, and that Socs can be brutal too.

Steps to Success

1. Be sure to write using the character’s ‘voice’. What would they say and how would they say it?

2. Keep your letter as short as possible by focusing on one, or at most two, major points.

3. Support your position with facts, statistics, citations or other evidence.

4. Open your letter with a strong statement that comments on an article, editorial, or other letter that appeared in the newspaper.

5. Place the most important information at the beginning. Often, letters and pieces are edited to fit the space available in that issue of the newspaper -- most often they are cut from the bottom up, so placing the important information anywhere but at the top could result in its being omitted.

6. Avoid personal attacks on the reporter, editor or expert who got it wrong.

7. Use a personal story or illustration to make your point in plain language.

8. Close with the thought you'd like readers to remember. Consider the central point you want people reading the letter to take away.

9. In your signature line include your name, daytime and evening telephone numbers, email address, and mailing address so the paper can verify that you wrote the letter.  Some editors may write or call to confirm your information.  Only your name and city will be published.

Structure

Editing

□ What is the reason for writing and have I made my purpose clear?

□ Do all the sentences start with a capital letter and end with a full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark?

□ Is the title of my article in quotation marks?

□ Are the titles of newspapers in italics?

□ Are direct quotations from the article in quotation marks?

□ Do all names of people, places and titles have capital letters?

□ Have I read my work out loud to check that I have put in full stops (not commas) where needed?

□ Have I underlined and checked spelling that I am not sure about?

□ Can I change some boring words for more accurate and adventurous ones?

□ Have I organised my writing into paragraphs?

□ Do the paragraphs flow from one to the next?

□ Are there some unnecessary parts, which I could cut?

□ Have I quietly read my writing out loud to make sure that my readers will understand my ideas?

□ Have I got my work partner to read my and make suggestions for improvements?

Letter to the Editor Worksheet

1. What is the title of the book you are writing about?

2. What character have you chosen? Give a short description of the character and tell why the character is important to the novel.

3. What issue is most important to this character? What topic would the character be most likely to write a letter to the editor about?

4. What are the character’s feelings on this issue?

5. What would the character want someone else to do about this issue? What would the character want others to think or do?

6. Fill in the table below to outline the main reasons that the character would use to convince others to think or do something about the issue. Use the back if you need more space.

|Main Reasons |How Reasons Will Persuade Others |

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Letter to the Editor Peer Review Questions

1. Does the letter begin with a salutation and end with a signature block?

2. What article is the letter writer discussing? Is the article named in the first sentence or paragraph?

3. In the first paragraph, what main reason does the letter writer give for responding to the article? What position is the letter writer taking on the issue?

4. What specific points does the letter writer use to support the position taken in the letter?

5. How does the letter conclude? Is the conclusion appropriate for the letter?

6. What advice would you give the author of this letter?

7. What did you like the most about this letter? Why?

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Name _______________________________ Due ______________

Task Imagine you are a character from The Outsiders and write a 200-250 word letter to the Editor of the Tulsa Times about a key event. Use 5 language techniques to persuade your reader (questions, alliteration, expert opinion, statistics, facts, personal anecdote, negative words, positive words, inclusive pronouns, exclusive pronouns, personal pronoun, direct address)

Assessment This contributes to 20% of your term’s grade. You will be assessed on content, language and structure.

HEADING

Your postal address and the date

[pic]

[pic]

BODY

CLOSING

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