1. “Dear Mrs. Ferraro,”
Assignment: Write a letter to me from last
year’s ELA teacher’s point of view about you as a
student. (Yes, you will pretend to be them! You
will voice their opinions, write from their
perspective, and even sign the letter as them!)
Remember to show your past teacher’s personality
in this letter.
What would your past teacher say about you as an
ELA student? What would they tell me about
what you like/dislike in your ELA class? What
personality traits would they want to tell me
about (good or bad!)? What events would they
remember? What warnings would they have?
What would they brag about on your behalf? Be
honest!!
Requirements/ Grading: You letter should be roughly 1-1 ½ pages and
follow a friendly letter format. Remember, your ELA teacher is supposedly
writing this, meaning they will be conscious of editing and revising. So, even
though the goal of this assignment is to show how you can change your voice, a
neat and well-written letter will help to convince me this is from them! Refer to
the rubric in class/on edline for how this will be graded.
A person’s voice in their writing is how they show their personality. It is how they
connect to the reader and avoid sounding robotic. Voice expresses the writer’s feelings
and is often as unique as their personality in real life. This is why your teachers can often
tell your writing apart by the end of the year, even when you forget to type your name on
your final paper!
In this assignment, we will use our knowledge about voice in writing to write from
someone else’s perspective.