In the first unit for English 101, students were asked to compose an Introductory Letter. I presented the letter as having three goals: 1.) to introduce students to me, 2.) to address the goals students had for both the course and potential longer-term goals, and 3.) to describe their habits of mind.
In the lead up to this final assignment for the unit, students wrote several quick prompts about potential goals they had, stories they wanted to share about their week, a self-assessment (like a self-directed peer review), and a final reflection about their writing process. Lesson plans for the unit included a quick mini-lecture on habits of mind, goal-setting, the structure of the letter, the language of a letter, and a transitional discussion.
I didn’t particularly care for this assignment. I felt that, though letter writing was likely an extremely unfamiliar genre for them, we didn’t cover enough genre conventions for a letter. If this had not been the first assignment of the semester, I might have had time to prepare a more in-depth unit through which students could learn genre conventions and audience reception of a letter. Instead, I found myself feeling extremely rushed, scrambling to conceptualize the “habits of mind” whilst developing a unit, learning goals, and lesson plans.
On the flip side, I did think this was an easy assignment that gave students the opportunity to transition into college life without overmuch effort for their first assignment. I say this not to be critical. I’ve definitely found that some professors overload students the first couple of weeks with material, and new/freshman students often have trouble retaining complete information due to the sheer volume being shoveled their way.
Several students seemed to have completed this assignment very early and turned in those assignments, so there were moments where discussing the introductory letter as if they would be writing it in the future was a bit pointless. I think I lost a few of those students’ and their interest over the next couple of weeks.
If I had this class to do all over again, I think I would shorten this unit slightly. I would introduce students to the habits of mind and ask students to draft out an introductory letter first. Using this rough draft, we could then workshop a revision of the introductory letter over the next two weeks, first with a lens of genre conventions of the letter, then with the rhetorical situation in mind. I think this would give students a real-world foundation for applying potentially unfamiliar concepts and vocabulary. Therefore, students would be revising and reconceptualizing this assignment as they course progresses.
To recap, not my favorite assignment. Perhaps better used as a vehicle to introduce rhetorical concepts, audience, and vocabulary.