Page 126 - SpringBoard_Writing_Workshop_Grade7_Flipbook

After Reading
3. When you have finished reading, respond to the questions below in the space provided. Be prepared to discuss your answers with your classmates.
a. Organization: What do you notice about the structure of the letter? How does it begin? How does it end? Why are the ideas in this letter placed in this order?
b. Audience: To whom is the letter written? How do you know? What is the relationship between the letter writer and the audience?
c. Purpose: Why did the writer write the letter? What examples from the text support your response?
4. In order for a letter to be effective, it must include reasons or information to support its purpose. Reread the reasons Principal Smith uses to support the purpose of her letter. With a partner, discuss whether the support cited makes her letter more or less effective, and why.
5. Review the closing paragraph of the sample text. Summarize in the space below the purpose of those sentences and how Principal Smith brings the letter to a close. Share your ideas with the class.
The principal repeats her decision and asks the community to understand and support the decision. She closes by saying that she is open to listening and thus concludes with a promise to be open to discussions about community concerns.
Check Your Understanding
• How would you describe the tone of this letter? What does Principal Smith really want the school’s community to understand?
The tone of the letter is sincere and serious. Principal Smith wants the community to understand that she is responding responsibly to harsh economic times and presents good reasons for the community to support her.
• This letter is written in a business, or formal, context. From your experiences and your reading of this text, brainstorm the characteristics that make a letter formal.
Formal language, diction, and register; formal salutation and signature; organized structure to convince.
Writing Workshop 10 • Procedural Texts: Business Letters 3
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