Subject: Language Arts 
Topic: Writing a Cover Letter of Application 
Grade Level: 8th 
Student Lesson: http://ctap295.ctaponline.org/~ejaeger/Student

From Standard #1, grades 6-8, student: 

Writes business letters and letters of request and response (e.g., uses business letter format; states purpose of the letter; relates opinions, problems, requests, or compliments; uses precise vocabulary) 

Drafting and Revising: Uses a variety of strategies to draft and revise written work (e.g., analyzes and clarifies meaning, makes structural and syntactical changes, uses an organizational scheme, uses sensory words and figurative language, rethinks and rewrites for different audiences and purposes, checks for a consistent point of view and for transitions between paragraphs, uses direct feedback to revise compositions) 

Evaluates own and others' writing (e.g., applies criteria generated by self and others, uses self-assessment to set and achieve goals as a writer, participates in peer response groups)  

Uses style and structure appropriate for specific audiences (e.g., public, private) and purposes (e.g., to entertain, to influence, to inform) 

1.  Basic operations and concepts 

• students are proficient in the use of technology.

2.  Social, ethical, and human issues 

• Students practice responsible use of technology systems, information, and software.
• Students develop positive attitudes toward technology uses that support lifelong learning, collaboration, personal pursuits, and productivity.

5.  Technology research tools 

• Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.
• Students evaluate and select new information resources and technological innovations based on the appropriateness for specific tasks.

6.  Technology problem solving and decision making tools 

• Students use technology resources for solving problems and making informed decisions.
• Students employ technology in the development of strategies for solving problems in the real world.

1. plan and carry out a strategy for obtaining the information required to write a cover letter from the world wide web.
2. use the appropriate technology to gather and display the information gleaned from the world wide web.
3. use MS Word to word process a cover letter, to a real company, asking for an entry level (or summer job) position. 
4. show appreciation and enthusiasm for the skills taught in presenting the student's "best side" using technology .

Introductory Activity 
Take a virtual tour as a class on the web to all the sites I want students to visit using a PC to TV converter.  Give the students the wisdom from my 27 years of experience reading cover letters and resumes in the "real world."  Pass out and go over the 20 Cover Letter Blunders to Avoid at found at smartbiz.com/sbs/arts/cla2.htm. 
 

Main Activity 
Students will use directions from the Student pages to produce a rough draft of a cover letter to the company of their choice (does not need to come from the listings. If they have an address they want to use, good).  They will turn their rough draft in on disk, along with a URL map of the sites they have visited stapled to the student evaluation/edit sheets (see Web Resources and Supplementary Materials).   

Culminating Activity 
Turn in a hard copy of their cover letter that is professional, free from major grammatical, structural, and content mistakes.   
 

The three multiple choice or true/false tests (one on the Language Arts Skills, one on technology skills, and one on netequitte) will be given both, at the beginning of the unit and at the end of the unit.  These tests will be given on line and all data accumulated at  http://quizlab2.funbrain.com/. 

http://www.uncwil.edu/stuaff/career/majors.htm 

http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/wkyeng.toc.htm 

http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Employment_and_Work/Jobs/ 

http://salary.com/home/layoutscripts/sall_home.asp 

http://resume.netscape.monster.com/coverletter/ 

http://resume.netscape.monster.com/coverletter/winning_coverletters/ 
 

http://quizlab2.funbrain.com/ 
 

Example of a job address and description 
 

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