Unsent Letters

Type of Literacy Strategy:

Reading Comprehension (during reading and post-reading) and Writing (informal and formal)

Reading Level:

All Secondary Reading Levels; Based on how the Unsent Letters are used in the class, students at lower reading levels or ELs might need help with a prompt to write about or focus on. It might be easier to let them write as themselves to someone rather than try and write from another perspective.

Prep Time:

Depends on depth of use. 10-20 minutes for finding the perspectives (if teacher is assigning perspectives to students). Otherwise, just 5-10 min for explanation of activity.

Unsent Letters in Use -

• Students will be given a perspective or a person to “write a letter to”
• Students should focus on the text they are using to frame questions and POV to show their understanding of the content
• Students can write 1-2 pages and then teacher can read them for formative assessments of where students are at.
• Possible for students to share their own letters or don’t sign and then pass around and have students “respond” to other letters with anonymous