A Trip to the
Baseball Hall of Fame (Writing a Persuasive Letter)
Project URL: http://teachersnetwork.org/teachnet-lab/unhs/persuasive.htm
How it works:
This program is designed to
teach high school students some of the rudimentary
research skills needed to find information using the World Wide Web.
The goal of the research is to garner information about the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York to
demonstrate that a trip to that institution
would be academically beneficial to the members of
the school's baseball team.
The various writing skills include the
following elements of the writing process:
free-writing, drafting, sharing, editing, and publishing. It also includes
a writing exercise on writing from a different point of view, as the students are required to respond to the drafts
of the letters from the point of view
of the baseball coach.
One other specific writing activity that is
included in this program is writing a
variety of conclusions to the letter. In this way student writers can
practice their virtuosity as much as they like.
Standards addressed:
English Language Arts
Students will be able to:
1. produce a persuasive essay;
2. read and comprehend informational
materials;
3. independently and habitually demonstrate
an understanding of the roles of the
English language in written and oral work;
4. analyze and subsequently revise work to
improve its clarity and effectiveness;
5. respond to non-fiction, fiction, poetry,
and drama using interpretive and
critical processes.
Technology:
Students will be able to:
1. Use technology tools to enhance
learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity;
2. Use telecommunications to collaborate,
publish, and interact with peers and other audiences;
3. Use technology to locate, evaluate, and
collect information from a variety of sources.
Materials used:
Computer with Internet access; printer, word processing program
The students:
This program is suitable to regular
English Language Arts high schools classes
and may be modified for remedial reading classes. The program would also
be suitable for English As A Second Language high school classes as it
offers an opportunity to study America's national past-time.
Overall value:
The best part of this program is
the element of a realistic situation in which
students may write from another point of view. Since its main goal is to produce a persuasive letter or essay, it
gives a chance for responding to the
arguments from another/different point of view. The teacher may even insist that the "coach" answer
negatively to the persuasive letters to make the
view more dramatic and necessitate a strong counter response.
Tips:
The teacher may want to introduce
this program at the time of the World Series
of Baseball to take advantage of the link to the sports events. The ideas in the program may be used for other
sports, such as basketball, football,
and so on. In this way, the teacher may even have the students pick
a "Hall Of Fame" of their choice and have group presentations as
a culminating event. |
About The Teacher
Ms.Vitulano is an English Language Arts
teacher with expertise in teaching with computer technology. She continues
to act as a staff developer in that area. Her curriculum samples have been
electronically published for several years on Murry Bergtraum High School's
website, Blackboard.com, and the Manhattan High Schools Superintendency's
website. She is currently involved in the development of a new high school,
University Neighborhood. In its second year, the school is part of a pilot
program of the Winstar wireless laptops. Ms. Vitulano is leading the school
in the use of this latest technology with her students.
Email Contact:
jmvitulano@yahoo.com
Estimated Class Periods To Complete: 5
Subject:
English
ESL
Physical Education
Beginning Grade Level: 9
Ending Grade Level: 12
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