Blog Entry #7

 One of the readings that I enjoyed was "Letter Writing" by Tompkins. This was something that I really enjoyed reading about because there are some things that are considered letters that I would've never have thought would be. Even an email to someone is considered a type of letter which is something I never thought of before. 

I also enjoyed learning about the different types of letters based on the audiences. There are courtesy letters which are thank you notes or can be invitations. Another letter would be a pen pal letter to obviously your pen pal, this can be formal or informal but usually is informal. 

Some other letters are friendly letters, such as a letter that you would write to a friend to tell them some news or ask questions and then encouraging them to write you back after. I used to write letters back and forth when I was little to my step cousin that was my age. She didn't have a phone so we wrote letters back and forth and I thought it was always exciting when I got a letter from her in the mail. 

Lastly, one of the mostttttt important letters as of right now for me are business letters. Business letters which are writing to a company or writing to a school. Something that I have been doing while applying for jobs is having to write cover letters for the school district. Along with having to hand in recommendation letters that were written for me from teachers that I worked with. It's interesting now to see that letters really are everywhere around us and apart of our every day life whether we realize it or not!

With this being said, I know to make sure that I need to incorporate this into my students learning as well. Letter writing is so important because there are so many different aspects and types of letters. They can write to friends, businesses, parents, or teachers, formally or informally. They can also write to pen pals often, whether it's someone in the classroom or maybe another class in the school. 

My students will get to practice how to write letters based on the different types of audiences they are writing to. This is great practice because they should always consider the audience no matter what type of genre they are writing. I am very excited to incorporate letter writing in my classroom and to be able to set up pen pals for my students in the future!!!