Writing a Cover Letter

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Writing a Cover Letter

Learning Outcomes: Students will learn and practice the industry standard skills required to apply for employment.
Alignment with Standards: Essential Academic Learning Requirements Grades 9/10 Grade Level Expectations: This lesson is aligned with Writing 1.5.1, Publishes in formats that are appropriate for specific audiences and purposes and Educational Technology 1.3.2 and 1.3.3. Students will develop materials in a career-appropriate format. They will locate, analyze, and use information from a national career database.

Common Core State Standards Grades 11-12: This lesson is aligned with…College and Career Readiness Standards for Language, Vocabulary Acquisition and use 6, Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. College and Career Readiness Standards for Writing, Text Type and Purposes 2, Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. Production and Distribution of writing 4, Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

American School Counselor Association National Standards: This lesson is aligned with ASCA Standard C: Students will understand the relationship between personal qualities, education, training and the world of work. C: A1 Develop Career Awareness C: A1.1 Develop skills to locate evaluate and interpret career information, C: A1.3. Develop an awareness of personal abilities, skills, interests and motivations C: A2 Develop Employment Readiness C: A2.2 Apply job readiness skills to seek employment opportunities.

21^st Century Skills:
· Self-direction: Systematic and comprehensive planning, Self-instruction, Resources, Effective and sustained effort, Self-monitoring and reflection, Results are valuable
· Digital Communication: Electronic environments, Media: Awareness of range of media, Conventions and etiquette in media, Design elements, Responsible behavior
· Problem Solving: Identifying and addressing obstacles
Materials:
· Teacher Lesson
· Copies of hand outs:

Sample_Cover_Letter

Portfolio Refl Ltr Cover Letter_CEletter_example
· Computer/Internet Access

Implementation:
· Ask students about their prior knowledge of a cover letter. What is it? What is it used for? Why do they feel it may or may not have an impact on the hiring process? How can a well written lead to employment?

· Present PowerPoint providing them with more background information on cover letter & the different formats. (Open file: Teacher_Intro._CoverLetter_Presentation)

· Slide 9 on the presentation will be an example of a cover letter. At this point you can hand out the hard copies of the Sample_Cover_Letter.

· Complete the presentation. (*Students will need computers to complete the next part of the lesson)

· Students will now practice writing their own cover letter using the following options.

· Option 1: Provide students with an electronic and/or hard copy of the CE Letter example to use as a template. (*Use hand out Portfolio Refl Ltr Cover Letter_CEletter_example)

· Option 2: Provide students with electronic and/or hard copy instructions for how to use the templates in Microsoft Word to create their cover letter. (*Use hand out Creating_Cover_LetterMSWord)

· When students have a completed cover letter, have them practice changing the file to a .PDF in case they ever needed to email it to a potential employer. (*Use hand out Saving_Electronic_CoverLetter_PDF)

· When students have completed their .PDF they will need to UPLOAD it with their name to the class Moodle site.
Additional Resources: Microsoft Word

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/coverletters/a/aa030401a.htm

http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/coverletters/ht/coverletter.htm

Alignment with Standards:	Essential Academic Learning Requirements Grades 9/10 Grade Level Expectations: This lesson is aligned with Writing 1.5.1, Publishes in formats that are appropriate for specific audiences and purposes and Educational Technology 1.3.2 and 1.3.3. Students will develop materials in a career-appropriate format. They will locate, analyze, and use information from a national career database. Common Core State Standards Grades 11-12: This lesson is aligned with…College and Career Readiness Standards for Language, Vocabulary Acquisition and use 6, Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. College and Career Readiness Standards for Writing, Text Type and Purposes 2, Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. Production and Distribution of writing 4, Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. American School Counselor Association National Standards: This lesson is aligned with ASCA Standard C: Students will understand the relationship between personal qualities, education, training and the world of work. C: A1 Develop Career Awareness C: A1.1 Develop skills to locate evaluate and interpret career information, C: A1.3. Develop an awareness of personal abilities, skills, interests and motivations C: A2 Develop Employment Readiness C: A2.2 Apply job readiness skills to seek employment opportunities. 21^st Century Skills: · Self-direction: Systematic and comprehensive planning, Self-instruction, Resources, Effective and sustained effort, Self-monitoring and reflection, Results are valuable · Digital Communication: Electronic environments, Media: Awareness of range of media, Conventions and etiquette in media, Design elements, Responsible behavior · Problem Solving: Identifying and addressing obstacles
Materials:	· Teacher Lesson	· Copies of hand outs: Sample_Cover_Letter Portfolio Refl Ltr Cover Letter_CEletter_example	· Computer/Internet Access
Implementation:	· Ask students about their prior knowledge of a cover letter. What is it? What is it used for? Why do they feel it may or may not have an impact on the hiring process? How can a well written lead to employment? · Present PowerPoint providing them with more background information on cover letter & the different formats. (Open file: Teacher_Intro._CoverLetter_Presentation) · Slide 9 on the presentation will be an example of a cover letter. At this point you can hand out the hard copies of the Sample_Cover_Letter. · Complete the presentation. **(Students will need computers to complete the next part of the lesson)* · Students will now practice writing their own cover letter using the following options. · Option 1: Provide students with an electronic and/or hard copy of the CE Letter example to use as a template. (Use hand out Portfolio Refl Ltr Cover Letter_CEletter_example)* · Option 2: Provide students with electronic and/or hard copy instructions for how to use the templates in Microsoft Word to create their cover letter. (Use hand out Creating_Cover_LetterMSWord)* · When students have a completed cover letter, have them practice changing the file to a .PDF in case they ever needed to email it to a potential employer. (Use hand out Saving_Electronic_CoverLetter_PDF)* · When students have completed their .PDF they will need to UPLOAD** it with their name to the class Moodle site.
Additional Resources:	Microsoft Word http://jobsearch.about.com/od/coverletters/a/aa030401a.htm http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/coverletters/ht/coverletter.htm