LESSON PLAN

Title of Lesson:  Lesson 5--Interview Follow-Up Letters

Grade Levels:    9-12

Subject:              Business Communications

Learner Outcomes:  The student will be able to type (in the correct form) a follow-up letter to submit to an employer after the interview has taken place.

Duration of Lesson:  Three 45-minute class periods

Materials:Typing Book, Communications book

Technology Tools/Courseware:   Computer with Corel Word Perfect or Microsoft Word

Teacher Notes:

*Acceptable Use Policies
*Modify the workstations to accommodate all students

Procedures:

Day 1:  On the first day, present general letter styles to the class using the provided handout.  Show them the 2 styles, block style, and modified block style.  Explain the difference between the two.  Next, explain the 2 punctuation styles that are used in writing letters, open and mixed.  Show the spacing between each letter part.  Stress that letters are always single spaced with a double space between each section.  Show examples using posters from the typing book.  Tell the students they will have a quiz on this the day after tomorrow.  They will have to know each letter part, and its correct position on a letter.  Give each student 2 letters to type.  One using block style, open punctuation, and the other with modified block style, mixed punctuation.

Day 2:  Explain the purpose of the Follow-up letter.  Tell them why it is important that you send out a follow-up letter after an interview.  Give them an opportunity to type a follow-up letter using one of the interviews they had already performed.  They can use either the one they interviewed with their peers, or if they have had an real interview before, they are to use this person for the follow-up letter.  If they do not finish, they are to save these letters as A: Follow-up.  There will be time after the test to finish.  Remind students of the test tomorrow!

Day 3:  They will have a test on letters in general today from the handout.  I will give 5-10 minutes of study time.  If a student finishes with the test before everyone has finished, they are to work on their follow-up letters from yesterday and turn in for a grade.  If students have finished both the test and letters from yesterday, give them a word search. The Main Event Word Search
 

Modifications:  Make sure every computer in the class has a Word Processor.  See that all computers are accessible for all students.

Enrichment Activities:  The students would type a letter (of their style choice) to someone of high rank requesting some information.  This letter would be a formal letter to The President, Congressman, or Governor.  This would give them practice at writing a letter with a formal subject.

Evaluation/Assessment: The students will receive a performance grade for the Follow-Up letter.  The grade will be determined by how well they formatted their letter, use of the correct spacing, and placement of letter parts.  For each mistake, 3 points will be taken away.  The grade will be based on a 100 point scale.

The test will also be used to assess the students performance.  It will be short answer questions.   This test will be worth 100 points.

National Standards:

Language Arts/Writing

13. Uses appropriate strategies (e.g., organizational pattern, format, language, tone) to write personal and business correspondence (e.g., informal letters, memos, job application letters, resumes).
 

West Virginia Process/Workplace Goals:

Problem Solving
PW.2  Given a set of rules, directions, or instructions, apply them to solve a problem or accomplish a task.
PW.5  Given an event or activity, identify the resources needed and develop a plan of action.
PW.8  Demonstrate an understanding of oral, visual, and written information by summarizing it and following through with appropriate action.

Communication
PW.9  Use correct grammar when speaking and writing.
PW.10  Use correct punctuation, spelling, vocabulary and grammar in all written work.
PW.12  Compose correspondence for a variety of audiences that is grammatically correct, easily understood, and reflects all necessary information.
PW.14  Perform a task after listening to oral information.

Technology
PW.27  Demonstrate the ability to operate computer equipment.
PW.31  Demonstrate the ability to use word processing.

Self Management
PW.36  Stay with an assignment or task to completion.
PW.37  Demonstrate self-motivation
PW.38  Work independently without direct supervision.
PW.44  Be able to check the details and quality of one's work and to take action to correct mistakes.

Career Development
PW.47  Prepare a job or college application, resume, and write appropriate cover and follow-up letters.

Job/CareerClusters: Business/Marketing

References:
Century 21 Keyboarding & Information Processing.  South Western Educational Publishing, pg. 129, 1997.

West Virginia State Occupational Information Coordinating Committee.  West Virginia Careers, pg 49, 1999-2000.

Author: Gary W. Rinehart
Marion County Technical Center
 
 
Unit Plan
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Lesson 5