Overview
This writing prompt asks students to write a letter to the author or a character asking a question about the text.
Follow these steps to customize this explanatory/description task:
- Review the steps in the handout "Plan for Write to the Source."
- Review the sample task and then fill in the task template fields below the sample task.
- Review the handout "Explanatory Writing Rubric." Adapt as necessary.
Sample Task
Essential Questions: Do individuals have a responsibility to stand up for what’s right even when it puts them at risk?
Text Title(s): Read “Freedom Riders."
Suggested Writing Product: Brainstorm a list of questions you have for the author or characters. Use your list to help you write a letter to the author explaining one question generated by the text and describing possible answers to that question based on careful consideration of the text.
Additional Task Demand: Make your answers more meaningful by using specific facts and details from the text. Further support those examples with at least one quote from the text and an explanation of how that quote connects to your ideas.
