The lesson being critiqued is titled “Draft Letters: Improving Student Writing Through Critical Thinking” from the website Read, Write Think. This lesson is suitable for grades nine through twelve in the United States system of education. Materials are not specified in this lesson plan. There are handouts for the teacher to copy to give to the class. All of the materials the teacher will need are included with the lesson plan. The materials the students need for this lesson are self-explanatory. They will need something to write with and a piece of paper to write on. Another option offered by this lesson is a computer program called the “Letter Generator” that walks students through the formalities of writing a letter and allows students to compose their letter on this program. Use of this computer program assumes computers and printers are available to the students.
Lesson objectives are specific. They are measurable as the students' writing may be measured against basic writing and grammar conventions. A review of someone’s writing is also somewhat subjective. What appeals to one reader may not appeal to another reader.
Fifty minutes are allotted for this lesson plan. Some students may be able to complete the lesson in this time and others may need a little longer. It is a writing assignment and some students write faster than others.
The lesson plan itself is very detailed. Any teacher should be able to follow the instructions. The lesson can be used with almost any writing assignment as this lesson teaches students how to write a letter to their teacher commenting on their own writing on an attached assignment.
This particular lesson is written for NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts. The NCTE is the National Council of Teachers of English. IRA stands for the International Reading Association.
The sample draft letters and reflection questions support the lesson contents. Teachers and students are given the sample draft letters and the reflection questions. Both of these documents serve as guides to the students in completing their letter assignment.
The activities are relevant to the assignment and to the lesson objectives. If the students follow the directions on the reflection questions handout, the students will be successful in their assignment. The sample draft letters show the students a good example of the completed assignment and an example that is of lesser quality.
The assignment is relevant to the writing process and is adequate to measure attainment of the lesson objectives. The performance criteria are specified. The students will know what is expected of them by viewing the good example of the draft letter and by reviewing and answering the reflection questions.
No assessment sheets are provided nor are any necessary for this assignment. Teachers can simply advise the students to answer the reflection questions. When teachers grade the assignment all they have to do is compare the individual student’s letter to the reflection questions for completeness and quality of the letter.
This is a creative assignment. The students are asked to evaluate their own writing and share their evaluation with their teacher. This encourages critical thinking and good writing skills. This is a lesson I would enjoy trying with students in either senior high or TESOL classes.
References
Gardner, T. (2011). Draft letters: improving student writing through critical thinking. Read
Write Think. Retrieved from http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/draft-letters-improving-student-902.html?tab=4#tabs
