Rubric for a Persuasive Letter Completeness Heading Address and Date (1) Greeting (ex. Dear_____,) Punctuated with a comma (2) Body (3 main idea paragraphs) Purpose/opinion clearly identified (1) Clearly focused on topic (1) Three reasons (persuasive strategies) to support the purpose. (3) Respectful tone toward the audience (1) Closing (ex. Sincerely, With Love, etc.) Punctuated with a comma (1) Signature (1) Formatting and Mechanics Paragraphing (3) Spelling (3) Grammar (3) Total out of 20 points

Notice the commas and spacing!

Persuasive Letter Turn your packet into me in this order. You will staple it ALL together. Top page – Persuasive Letter Rubric Next page – “Write to the Point” planner 3rd pages – Rough Draft packet Bottom page(s) – Final Draft

Reflection Questions for Persuasive Letters Your draft letter should reflect on several aspects of your writing. You may include answers to some of the following questions: (Pick at least 3 to answer in your letter) • What is your favorite part of this particular piece, and why? • Are there any weaknesses you see in this piece? Tell me about them. • What techniques have you tried that differed from your regular process? • What did you find difficult about this piece, and why? • What really worked in this piece? Why did it seem to work well? • What’s one thing you would like to do to improve the piece, if only you knew how to do it? Remember to include the conventional parts of a letter, especially the date, greeting, body, closing, and signature.

BAD example Letter (Nate’s Letter) Dear Reviewer, I really enjoyed doing this last paper. The fact I got to interview someone and write about one certain aspect of him or her made me feel like I was a writer or journalist for a newspaper. I really like the order that I placed the events in. This time, unlike most of my other papers, I did not really do it in perfect timeline form. I think that it makes it a little more interesting to read. At first my topic sentences really did not go along with the rest of my paragraphs. They were not specific enough. They were too general. Over all I think I did a really good job on my paper. Nate Needs to be more specific about his answers and give more description on why he liked or disliked certain parts of his paper.

On Demand Extension - Persuasive There are 3 tasks or purposes you may find in the On-Demand assessment: Write to inform – means the writer is telling a story about an event or experience in order to make a point to the reader. Write to narrate an event – means the writer is providing information that the reader may want or need to know. Write to persuade – means the writer truly wants the reader to act upon a request. The writer’s purpose is to convince the reader to make a choice or do something that the writer wants to reader to do. Let’s look at the letter “Dear Mr. J___,”

On Demand Extension - Persuasive Is the writer telling a story about one event or experience in this piece? No. Even though the writer mentions an experience, there is not a story sequence. Is this writer giving information or trying to convince the reader to do something? Convince You are going to assume the role of PSI Investigators and work backwards from the letter to Mr. J___ in order to fill out a “Write to the Point” planner.

On Demand Extension - Persuasive You and a partner will use the PSI: Steps to Working Backwards sheet and complete each part of the “Write to the Point” planner. Write what YOU think the prompt asked the writer to do. Include: Situation & Writing Task Be prepared to share!