High Stakes Content
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Introduction
This week you will be composing a more traditional piece of response writing in the form of a letter to the editor.
Assignment
Choose one of the pre-existing texts below to respond to in a text drafted for traditional media. You can respond to the same text that you responded to in the New Media Response assignment, but you must draft a response from scratch. This week, draft a Letter to the Editor of the publication that originally printed your chosen article in which you respond. In other words, if your chosen text originally appeared in the LA Times, then you are writing a letter to the Editor of the LA Times.
Review “Writing Letters to the Editor” in this week’s Module Readings and Resources.
- “Editorial: How Can Kids Learn Without Homework and Rigid Deadlines? Quite Well, It Turns Out” by Los Angeles Times Editorial Board for the Los Angeles Times (opens in new window): Frame your response around whether or not you agree with the editorial board’s stance on homework and deadlines. Would it be better if we relaxed homework expectations for kids? Should this be implemented across all levels of education? Or is this dangerous?
Grading Criteria
- You must refer to your chosen text in your response. You’re responding to it. Choose a handful of specific points made in the original text you wish to respond to. Quote the original and offer your take.
- Think about how texts written for traditional media acknowledge sources. You must acknowledge any sources you use in your writing according to expectations for traditional media. This includes your chosen text and any other source material you incorporate.
- Submissions should be around 700 words and in the format appropriate to your chosen genre.
Resources
- “How to Write a Text Response” from Literacy Ideas (opens in new tab): A detailed look at how to draft a piece of response writing
- “Writing Letters to the Editor” from The University of Kansas (opens in new window): A detailed look at how to most effectively approach drafting a letter to the editor of a print or online publication.