LESSON FIVE: Cover Letter: Completing and Organizing your Personal Job Portfolio
LESSON DESCRIPTION
Students write a cover letter for the career portfolio.
GRADE-LEVEL EXPECTATIONS ADDRESSED
W2F In composing text, use a variety of sentence structures.
W3E Compose texts for
§
a variety of career and workplace
communications (e.g., job application, resume, cover letter, college application
essay, thank-you note, follow-up note, forms, project proposal,
brochure and/or
concise directions)
§ for various audiences and purposes, selecting and applying appropriate format, style, tone and point of view
LEARNING MATERIALS
§ Materials
o Markers
o Poster board
§ Handouts provided
o Sample Cover Letters One Two
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
1.
In cooperative groups, students compare Sample Cover Letters. Sample
cover letters can also be found at:
www.jobs-matrix.com. Point out the varied use of sentence structure in
these letters.
Students design a poster that lists the elements of each type
of letter.
2. Discuss with students the following questions:
a. What is the importance of a cover letter to an employer?
b. How could a cover letter increase the possibility of employment?
c. What types of information, details, or organizational styles appeal to an employer?
3.
After sharing student posters, students focus on the Sample Cover Letters
(One
and
Two) and, with teacher assistance, identify organizational patterns in the
cover letters, specific language
and sentence structures, word choice, and
comprehensiveness of details in the samples. Review the meaning of
comprehensiveness of detail if necessary.
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Students will create a cover letter for a job portfolio based on the Letter Scoring Guide. Students add this artifact to their job portfolio.