Applying Standards Based Constructivism:
A Two-Step Guide for Motivating Students
Writing a Thank-You Note

Popular Name: Writing a Thank-You Note
Grade Level: 3rd Grade
Discipline:English Language Arts
Standards: Students will listen, speak, read and write for social interaction.
Learning Objectives:
Regarding writing thank-you notes, students will:
  • Demonstrate awareness of audience.
  • Express the purpose of the note in the note.
  • Demonstrate a control of the conventions of written English.
EXPLORATORY PHASE:
  • Students tell about a field trip.
  • Students identify people who help make the field trip a success.
  • Students read quality thank-you notes and identify what makes a quality thank-you note
DISCOVERY PHASE:
Performance Task
  • Each student is assigned to write a thank-you note to one of the identified persons who make the field trip a success.

Writing a Thank-You Note
Popular name:  Writing a Thank-You Note
Grade level of lesson: Third
Discipline: English Language Arts
Standards and Performance Indicators Context
 
ELA Standard 4
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction.
Students will:
  • Exchange friendly notes, cards, and letters with friends, relatives, and pen pals to keep in touch and to commemorate special occasions. 
  • Adjust their vocabulary and style to take into account the nature of the relationship and the knowledge and interest of the person receiving the message.
  • Read and discuss published letters, diaries, and journals to learn the conventions of social writing.
Core Curriculum Outline Connection
  • Begin to develop a voice.
  • Develop an idea in a brief text.
Learning Objectives (which will become the dimensions of the assessment’s rubric.)
Regarding the writing of thank-you notes, students will:
  • Demonstrate an awareness of the audience for whom the note is intended.
  • Express the purpose for the note in the note.
  • Demonstrate a control for the conventions of written English.
EXPLORATORY PHASE
(estimated time: 15 minutes)
  1. Following a filed trip the teacher divides the class into groups of three and directs them to make three lists using these headings: The Things We Saw on the Field Trip, The Things We Did on The Field Trip and The Things We Learned on the Field Trip.
  2. The groups report out and the information is recorded on the board.
  3. The teacher asks the students to identify the people who helped setting up the trip and those who were part of the trip experience who deserve to receive a thank-you note. These names are recorded on the board.
  4. The teacher has students in groups of three read various examples of quality thank-you notes and then report out what characteristics they saw in these exemplars. Using the qualities identified through this process, the teacher leads the class into developing the criteria of a competent thank-you note. These criteria she puts into a rubric, which is given to the students. (The teacher has the criteria in mind prior to the students self-discovering the criteria in the exemplars.) The criteria that resulted from this process are found in the assessment rubric.
DISCOVERY PHASE
(estimated time: 30 minutes)
Performance Task
Writing thank-you notes: Each student is given the task to write a thank-you note to one of the identified persons.  (Audience beyond the teacher)


Assessment of Performance Task
Dimensions/
Characteristics
 Criteria for a score of
4
 Criteria for a score of
3
 Criteria for a score of
2
 Criteria for a score of
1
Demonstrates an awareness of the audience for whom the note is intended.
 Mentions the writer’s personal connection with the receiver of the note.  Uses vocabulary and expressions appropriate to the receiver of the note throughout.
 Mentions some connection between writer and receiver.  Generally uses vocabulary and expressions appropriate to the receiver of the note.
 Connection between the writer and the receiver is vague.  Uses some vocabulary and expressions appropriate to the receiver of the note.
 Makes no connection between the writer and the receiver.  Uses vocabulary and expressions inappropriate to the receiver of the note.
Expresses the purpose for the note in the note.
 Immediately mentions the purpose of the note in detail.  Expresses an appropriate emotional tone
 Immediately mentions the purpose of the note but not in detail.  Expresses an adequate emotional tone
 Makes a vague reference to the purpose of the note.  Expresses no emotional tone
 Doesn’t mention the purpose of the note.  Expresses an inappropriate emotional tone.
Demonstrates a control of the conventions of written English
 Uses appropriate punctuation, grammar, and spelling throughout.
 Usually uses appropriate punctuation, grammar, and spelling.
 Sometimes uses appropriate punctuation, grammar, and spelling.
 Rarely uses appropriate punctuation, grammar, and spelling.
Resources to Be Made Available to Students
  • Examples of quality thank-you notes.
  • Thank-you note paper and envelopes for the final draft.
Suggestions for the Teacher
  • Standard thank-you note paper might not be sufficient for the task.  Larger note paper would be easier for students to handle.  However, the use of good thank-you note paper will add an air of importance to the task.
  • Additional time may be needed to ensure neat final drafts.
  • Self-assessment using the rubric may help students internalize the standards and reflect on their own work.
  • The teacher sets the task standard at the level she is aiming for, after asking herself the question, “What are the characteristics of competent performance?”  For instance, the teacher may judge level 3 on the rubric to be the task standard.  Student performance on the task is the teacher’s evidence of how well the lesson went and what needs to be done in the future regarding the standards she had the students working on.