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Wow!

Ruth Ayres

Check out this Providence Journal article about a student who wrote a persuasive letter to Lowe’s and was granted a response bigger than he ever imagined.

Bernardo Garcia wanted mulch for their outside play area, so he wrote a persuasive letter to the executive vice president of store operations for Lowe’s, Michael K. Brown.  Brown, upon returning from a hectic day and finding Bernardo’s letter was touched.  He was impressed by the power of writing.  The school was given $110,000 by Lowe’s to build an entire playground! 

If you click on the link, you will find Bernardo’s letter printed within the article.  What impresses me is the way the letter has been kept as authentic as possible. You’ll find a few conventional errors in his letter.  It’s not perfect, but it is powerful.  (A good reminder to the Grammar Police inside all of us!)

What impresses me even more is the teacher who has empowered Bernardo to make his voice heard.  Kudos to you, Stacey! 😉

Published by Ruth Ayres

Unhurried. Finding the magic in the middle of living. Capturing a life of ridiculous grace + raw stories.

6 thoughts on “Wow!”

  1. Pingback: Two Exceptional Professional Books « TWO WRITING TEACHERS

  2. That is awesome. Persuasive writing is the key focus for our 9th grade students in our district and this is such a simple but powerful real life example of the power of a persuasive piece of writing. Congratulations to you and to Bernardo for caring about others and taking that concern into the process of writing. What a great lesson for ALL of us! I am going to share this story with my Honors kids and encourage them “to write persuasive letters asking for something they wanted to someone who they thought could get it for them” as a practice activity. Thanks for being a great teacher and for taking the time to share what you do with us.
    –Randy

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  3. Lennye,
    Tony Stead (Mondo) has four great mentor texts for persuasive writing. I, sadly, only have one right now – Should Ther Be Zoos?
    I have been searching, searching, searching for more.

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  6. It is like you read my mind! I am introducing persuasive writing and the resources provided by the school district are not cutting it. My kids don’t get it. I spent last night and a couple of hours today, before I checked back in and found your article on persuasive writing.

    What mentor text would you use to teach persuasive writing?

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