Content:

This "Letters to ASU Baseball Pen-Pals" assignment was created at Westwood Elementary under the advisement of fourth grade teacher, Vickie Flanagan, in the Fall of 2007.

Impact:

One of my personal goals during my internship at Westwood was to find a way to bring the school and community together. In my spare time, I organized a pen-pal system between my fourth grade students and the Appalachian State University baseball team. In addition, I contacted a player and coach to come into the classroom for an interview given by my students. This assignment allowed me to introduce to students questioning techniques and a genre of writing that they had not been familiar with.

Alignment:

This "Letters to ASU Baseball Pen-Pals" assignment helped me meet the following NCDPI standards and indicators:

Standard 8: Teachers design instructional programs and strategies that build on students' experiences and existing language skills to help students become competent, effective users, of language.

Indicator 5 - Teachers provide students opportunities to explore the use of different genres of writing and speaking to a variety of audiences.

    --This artifact proves that I have provided students opportunities to explore the use of different genres of writing and speaking to a variety of audiences. I have met this indicator by having the students participate in a pen-pal system where they were to write letters to an assigned Appalachian State University baseball player. The students were challenged to use a basic letter format and to come up with useful questions that would allow the audience to elaborate on.