Gladly Would I Teach

We are in the final two days of school before having a week off for Thanksgiving Holidays!  We are all tired and ready for a vacation. It’s the perfect time, however, to do something a little different in class.

As an English teacher, I talk about writing every day – from discussions of literature and an author’s style of writing, to analysis of various writing strategies, to reviews of grammar and usage rules, to construction of timed-writing responses and research papers, and to oral reading of student papers in class. Amidst all of these lessons about proper writing and preparing students for the writing assignments they will face in college, it’s easy to lose sight of the most important writing that students will complete during their lifetimes: personal writing.

I suspect that we spend so little time on personal writing because we assume that students know how to write personal notes. With today’s influx of technology, however, I’m afraid emails, instant messaging, and other forms of digital correspondence may replace personal correspondence if teachers don’t step in to teach the need for personal correspondence.

Today as Thanksgiving approaches, I’m teaching students how to write thank-you notes and then giving them time to write thank-you notes in class. I’m going to encourage them to write a note to their favorite elementary or middle school teacher. I picked up cheap cards from the dollar stores.  If you want to include this activity with your students, here’s the handout I’m distributing to my students.

Writing Thank You Notes