Did We Persuade You?

My Language Arts students worked hard over the past few weeks in order to finalize their Persuasive Letters.  They used the Writing Process to create authentic letters trying to persuade their audience of something they felt strongly about or needed.  Some students wrote to their parents requesting longer time to play outside and others wrote to the principal describing the need for extra recess.  One child wrote to a Philadelphia Philly and tried to persuade him to come visit and speak at our school.  There were also a few that tried to persuade a family member to stop smoking.  

Once we came back from break, we began making finishing touches and started mailing or handing the letters to their recipients.  We are now patiently awaiting their replies.  Our Principal will read them over and pay a visit to respond to the letters he received.  (I did this a few years ago and a student requested more swings and what do you know, POOF, next year we had more swings.  Ironic?  Of course not, my student persuaded the principal! :)

One of our master 3rd grade teachers is a phenomenal writer and lead a few professional developments last year where she showed us how kids connect with authentic writing by the use of  a Writer's Notebook.  Why would anyone want to write for no purpose?  We all did at one point to get a grade, however, wouldn't it be more engaging and fun to write a letter to Sony requesting the company lower their prices?  My student did this since his parents felt that the games were overpriced.  I do hope these people and companies reply, however, there is the other lesson that we will discuss when we get there, which is how to deal with no response.  Students will also need to understand that they may not persuade all these people, but they should have no regrets because they tried.  

I do feel that my students wrote better because they had a passion for this assignment.  I was truly impressed with 95% of their letters and was quite convinced myself!  If anything, I hope these kids enjoyed the work and the lessons in writing a persuasive letter and using a word processor to publish. 

I will be back to blog about our "authentic" responses.