ReadWriteThink Lesson Plan: Book Report Alternative: A Character’s Letter to the Editor

Book Report Alternative: A Character’s Letter to the Editor

Author

Traci Gardner
Blacksburg, Virginia

Grade Band

6-8

Estimated Lesson Time

Four 50-minute sessions

Overview

Adopting the persona of a character from a novel gives students the opportunity to demonstrate their comprehension of their reading, but it also goes further by asking them to use analytical skills to go beyond the basics in the book. In this lesson, students choose a character from a novel they have read and consider the significant beliefs and feelings of that character to identify an issue or situation that would spur that character to try to persuade the audience of other characters in the novel to take a specific action or change their position on an issue.

The lesson includes an exploration of the genre of letters to the editor, a review of persuasive writing structure and letter format, and an emphasis on multi-draft writing. The lesson focuses on the character Roy Eberhardt from Carl Hiaasen’s Newbery Honor Book Hoot for its examples. Students can complete the activity for any book that they have read. The lesson can also be adapted so that students write letters for a book that has been read by the entire class.

From Theory to Practice

In her English Journal article “Fifty Alternatives to the Book Report,” Diana Mitchell explains “Students tire of responding to novels in the same ways. They want new ways to think about a piece of literature and new ways to dig into it” (92).

Mitchell’s observation is supported by Jim Cope’s survey of 272 high school seniors in five Georgia high schools. In the article reporting his findings, Cope states, “Book reports were listed as the third most negative school reading experience, and can be considered a subset of students’ general disdain for assigned reading” (21). Like Mitchell, Cope suggests that teachers “move away from the traditional book report and consider more exciting activities” in order to raise students’ interest and engagement in reading. The end result of book report alternatives, such as the one explored in this lesson plan is that the activities “whet the interest of students in exploring new directions and in responding with greater depth to the books they read” (Mitchell 92).

Further Reading
Mitchell, Diana. “Fifty Alternatives to the Book Report.” English Journal. 87.1 (January 1998): 92 –95.

Cope, Jim. “Beyond Voices of Readers: Students on School’s Effects on Reading.” English Journal 86.3 (March 1997): 18–23.

Student Objectives

Students will

choose and research a specific issue or situation from a novel.
review persuasive writing structure and business letter format.
determine the criteria for effective letters to the editor.
explore the ways that purpose and audience influence a message.
develop arguments and support ideas with evidence.

Resources

Instructional Plan

Resources

Preparation

Before this lesson, students will read a book independently, in literature circles, or as a whole class.
Ask students to bring copies of the book that will be the focus of their comic strips to class for reference.
Choose a book that students are familiar with to demonstrate the process of writing a letter to the editor from a character’s point of view. The examples in this lesson are based on Carl Hiaasen’s Hoot, but any novel that students are familiar with will work. Other possibilities include the following:
- A letter that Harry Potter writes to The Daily Prophet to correct misreported information or state an opinion on Ministry actions in relationship to any of the books in the Harry Potter series.
- The letter that Byron Watson, from Christopher Paul Curtis’ The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, writes to the newspaper in support of the civil rights movement after the church bombing.
- A letter that Leo Borlock, from Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl, writes to the newspaper about bullying and peer pressure in schools.
- The letter that Stanley Yelnats, from Louis Sachar’s Holes, writes to the newspaper arguing for the reform of the juvenile correction system.
Arrange for copies of the editorial section of current issues of local, regional, or national newspapers for the classroom. Each student should have a newspaper for this activity. You may ask each student to bring a newspaper from home. If computer access allows, you can also use online newspaper sites. In addition to local newspaper sites, you can use resources from the Newseum collection of Today’s Front Pages. From these front pages, you can navigate to the online sites for dozens of newspapers around the world.
Print copies of the Letter to the Editor Worksheet, Persuasion Map Planning Sheet, and Letter to the Editor Peer Review Questions.
If desired, make copies or an overhead transparency of the Example Letter to the Editor Worksheet, Persuasion Map for Hoot, and the Sample Letter to the Editor for Hoot.
Review the Guidelines for Composing Letters to the Editor listed in the Web Resources below, and determine which are appropriate for your class. These guidelines can be used as additional resources or read and reviewed in the class, depending upon the level of support students need.
Test the Letter Generator and Persuasion Map on your computers to familiarize yourself with the tools and ensure that you have the Flash plug-in installed. You can download the plug-in from the technical support page.

Instruction and Activities

Session One

Explain the book report assignment to the class:
Choose a main character from the book that you have read, and write a letter to the editor from that character. You’ll write to a newspaper that makes sense for the character that you have chosen (e.g., from the right time period and in the right geographical location). Your job will be to determine an issue that is important to the character that you have chosen or a situation that the character wants to change. Your letter will explain that issue or situation to readers of the newspaper.
Ask students to share any experiences that they have with letters to the editor of newspapers or magazines that they read.
Pass out newspapers to the class, and ask students to find the letters to the editor in their papers.
Give students a few minutes to skim through the letters, and jot down characteristics that they see in the letters.
Gather the class, and ask them to share the characteristics that they have noted. Record their observations on the board or on chart paper.
Focus students’ attention on the content of the letters and the position of the letter writers by asking them to brainstorm a list of topics and positions that the letters cover. Record their answers on the board or chart paper, using parallel language as possible to emphasize the positions (e.g., a letter for increasing school funding, a letter for better animal control, a letter against tax increases, a letter against increasing school funding).
Pass out copies of the Letter to the Editor Worksheet for students to refer to.
Demonstrate how to complete the worksheet by working through the questions for a novel that all students will be familiar with. This example uses Carl Hiaasen’s novel Hoot to demonstrate possible answers.
If students need more time to think about their own books, arrange students in small groups and ask them to brainstorm possible topics and positions for the novels that they have read.
When students are ready, have them begin gathering ideas by completing the Letter to the Editor Worksheet for their books.
Collect the Letter to the Editor Worksheet at the end of the session, and review the work before the next session. Provide any feedback as necessary.
For homework, have students read all the letters to the editor in their copy of the newspaper again. Ask students to pay attention to the characteristics which the letters have in common and the features that make letters successful.

Session Two

Begin with a review of the activities that students completed in the previous session.
Share any general feedback on the topics that students have chosen, based on your review of the Letter to the Editor Worksheet, and pass the sheets back to students.
Answer any questions that students have about the project at this point.
Ask the class to share characteristics that they noticed as they read the letters to editor for homework. Record their responses on the board or on chart paper.
If necessary, ask questions such as the following to guide students’ observations:
- What did you notice about the organization of the letters?
- How were details used in the letters?
- What kind of details were used?
- How do the letters persuade their readers?
- Which letters seemed best?
- What is the difference between an acceptable letter and a great letter?
Once the list is fairly complete, review the items, and make any additions or corrections.
Ask students to suggest general categories that fit the characteristics (e.g., formatting issues, structure, ideas).
Arrange the characteristics into these general categories, creating a checklist or rubric for students’ letters.
Pass out copies of the Persuasion Map Planning Sheet, and use the information to analyze a letter to the editor from one of the newspapers.
Demonstrate how to use the Persuasion Map to begin gathering and organizing ideas for students’ letters.
If desired, share the Persuasion Map for Hoot.
Allow students the rest of the session to continue working on their papers with the Persuasion Map.
Remind students to refer their Letter to the Editor Worksheet as useful.
As students work, circulate through the room, providing feedback and support.
If time allows, review the first sentences of several letters from the editor, and ask students point out the similarities between the sentences. Based on these examples, have students write their own sentences. Review the way to punctuate the titles of articles and the newspapers in these opening sentences.
If desired, point students to one or more of the Guidelines for Composing Letters to the Editor listed in the Web Resources below.
For homework, ask students to compose a first draft of their letters. Explain that the letters will be exchanged for peer review during the next session.

Session Three

Review the criteria for effective letters to the editor that students created during the previous session, and answer any questions that students have about the project or their drafts.
Pass out copies of the Letter to the Editor Peer Review Questions.
Display an overhead transparency of the Sample Letter to the Editor for Hoot, or pass out copies of the example.
Read through the letter and use the Letter to the Editor Peer Review Questions and the class rubric to assess the letter and discuss how it could be improved.
After you are certain that students understand the activity, arrange them in pairs, and ask partners to exchange and read one another’s drafts.
After reading the drafts, have them fill out the Letter to the Editor Peer Review Questions to provide feedback.
After students have shared and received feedback, allow time for the students to revise their drafts.
For homework, ask students to revise their drafts, based on the feedback that they have received. Explain that students will type their final drafts during the next class session.

Session Four

Review the criteria for effective letters to the editor that students created, and answer any questions that students have about the project or their drafts.
Focus students’ attention on reading their drafts for minor errors before students move to type their letters.
Remind students to punctuate the title of their articles in quotation marks, to italicize newspaper titles, and to place direct quotations from the article in quotation marks. If desired, use the ReadWriteThink lesson plan Inside or Outside? A Mini-Lesson on Quotation Marks and More as a mini-lesson at this point.
Demonstrate the Letter Generator, which students will use to publish their letters.
Allow the rest of the session for students to type and print their letters.
Collect students’ letters, worksheets, and drafts at the end of the session.
If desired, ask students to print two copies of their letters, and display one copy of each letter in the school library or bulletin board.

Extensions

In Both Art and Craft: Teaching Ideas That Spark Learning (NCTE, 2000), Diana Mitchell suggests the following activity, which could be used as an extension or alternative to writing from a character’s perspective:
After students understand how to write a persuasive editorial, have them write an editorial about an issue in a book. For instance, while reading Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, students might want to write an editorial beseeching people to stay out of Paris; while reading Walter Dean Myers’ Fallen Angels, they might want to write about their view of war; while reading When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt, they might want to express their opinions about the way that obese Zachary is treated. Is he being exploited? (37).
For an extended unit, students can create newspapers based on events in the fictional setting of the books that they have read and include their letters to the editor as one of the texts in the paper. If desired, use the ReadWriteThink Printing Press to publish the newspapers. For instance, a newspaper related to the novel Hoot could include stories on the new restaurant and on vandalism at the construction site, a personal interest story on Kimberly Lou Dixon (the actress who portrays Mother Paula), and an education story on bullying in public schools.

Web Resources

Today’s Front Pages http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/: This Newseum page includes images of the front page of hundreds of newspapers. Most pages include links to online sites for the specific newspaper.
Guidelines for Composing Letters to the Editor: How to Communicate with Journalists, from FAIR
Tips on Writing Letters to the Editor, from the Humane Society
Tips on Writing Letters to the Editor, from the ACLU
Tips for Writing Letters to the Editor, from NCTE

Student Assessment/Reflections

Check drafts and worksheets for completion and effort. Look in particular for indications of improvement over the series of drafts that students complete for the assignment. Assess students’ final drafts using the criteria for effective letters to the editor that students created during the second session of the lesson. If you prefer a more formal rubric, use the Persuasive Letter Rubric.

NCTE/IRA Standards