Student Business Letter

Before adopting the Common Core State Standards, California had what a Fordham Institute study called “standards clearly superior to those of the Common Core” (Carmichael et. al., 2010, n.p.). The California English Language Arts Content Standards included writing business letters:

2.0 Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)

2.5 Write business letters:

1. Provide clear and purposeful information and address the intended audience appropriately.
2. Use appropriate vocabulary, tone, and style to take into account the nature of the relationship with, and the knowledge and interests of, the  recipients.
3. Highlight central ideas or images.
4. Follow a conventional style with page formats, fonts, and spacing that contribute to the documents’ readability and impact. (California Department of Education, 1998, p. 61).
5.  

Studying the novel What is the What by Dave Eggers, which narrated the journey of Sudanese refugee Valentino Achak Deng, was a real-world opportunity for students to communicate with someone whose life they became intimately familiar with. The students were told that the letters would be sent to Mr. Deng further enriching the real-world value of the assignment.

In addition to connecting the assignment to a real-world opportunity, it allowed students to personalize the relevance of the text to their lived experiences. For example, several students wrote about their Armenian heritage and the common experiences that inform the history of both cultures. Another student writes about his experiences as a young African-American.

Significantly, the assignment also integrates Social Justice Standards developed by the Learning for Justice program (formerly Teaching Tolerance)  at the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Social Justice Standards have four domains; identity, diversity, justice and action (Teaching Tolerance at The Southern Poverty Law Center, 2018, p. 3). The domains were created using the work of Louise Derman-Sparks, known for their anti-bias work such as the book Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. Anchor standards that the assignment addresses include:

4. Students will express pride, confidence and healthy self-esteem without denying the value and dignity of other people. (Identity)
5. Students will develop language and knowledge to accurately and respectfully describe how people (including themselves) are both similar to and different from each other and others in their identity groups. (Diversity)
6. Students will respectfully express curiosity about the history and lived experiences of others and will exchange ideas and beliefs in an open-minded way. (Diversity)
7. Students will respond to diversity by building empathy, respect, understanding and connection. (Diversity)
8. Students will examine diversity in social, cultural, political and historical contexts rather than in ways that are superficial or oversimplified. (Diversity)
9. Students will analyze the harmful impact of bias and injustice on the world, historically and today. (Justice)
10. Students will speak up with courage and respect when they or someone else has been hurt or wronged by bias. (Action) (Teaching Tolerance at The Southern Poverty Law Center, 2018, p. 3)