Igniting Students’ Passion and Precision through Writing Letters to Editors

If you (parents, this includes you, too) are looking for a way to jolt middle and high school students out of apathy and into clarity, then try assigning (suggesting) writing a letter to the editor. Most programs of studies include objectives that would be met by this assignment. 

"Aim for brevity while avoiding jargon," Edsger Dijkstra, a Dutch scientist said. Letters to the Editor are limited to 200 to 250 words and so the sometimes overwhelming ire or the emotion that inspired the reader to sit at the computer and draft a first response to a despised or adored article doesn't go away. The next several hours spent editing, refining, researching and looking at other examples of successfully published letters are self-imposed. Getting it right means getting your letter published. (Op-ed's 300-350 words)

Properly channeled emotion and topic selection creates a need for students to use all the skills that teachers have taught them to employ. Students read newspapers or approved Internet-sourced newspapers for articles that make them angry or articles that they strongly wish to support.

Authentic topic choice, voice, ownership and the added bonus of relating reading and writing are created with this collaborative assignment. Students, teachers and parents need to be read in on this assignment because of the sensitive nature of some of the material that is covered by the press. It is compelling for a student to see his or her writing in print. When a student e-mails or snail mails his or her opinion piece, it is a moment of pride. If the letter is published, it is a home run.

Some suggestions:

1.  Work with your librarian to book computer lab time to surf safe sites - possibly even work with teachers from other departments to find out what topics are being taught that might be current topics in the newspaper - if STEM is a big part of your school's mission then, find out what's in the future for Google Cars or the latest round of authentic tests being given to screen employees applying for jobs. Do students think these cars are possible or a waste of time/money - I saw a recent article claiming  that there are safe ways to ride your pooch on your bike, really?

2. Students may want to collaborate on a few "trial" letters to get a feel for the genre - you'll be teaching the letter writing format. Luckily, you'll be hitting even more required objectives: citing sources; reading non-fiction; separating fact from opinion; using persuasion; sentence variety and precise vocabulary.

3. The submit function is on-line so you'll need to be VERY CAUTIOUS - I'd get a hard copy, score it with the (or a) rubric, be sure you have parental permission before you have a student submit the letter on-line.  

4.  Recently, The Washington Post published a letter from a high school student directed to Jay Matthews because of his ranking of local high schools and it was short, to the point and well-crafted.  I have had a letter published in WAPO.  I felt like I had gotten a huge award because most letters are rejected.  To keep my writing focused, I have a folder of unsent letters, but the discipline - so much fun to finally get the word count to 200.