Writing E-Mails

Have students choose two unlike characters, fairy tale hero/heroines, or nursery thyme characters and create an e-mail correspondence between the two.

**I use this in novels class after they have had the opportunity to read several books. Then, I have them choose two favorite characters from two different kinds of books and write e-mails. I have my students pretend they are emailing over a 6-month period and require about 10 e-mails and replies......that would be a total of 20. They have to use this basic form:

To:
From:
Subject:
Date:
Message:

I also encourage them to make them as much like real e-mails as they want to. Be creative.

**In my ninth grade classes, I use the Romeo and Juliet and The Odyssey. They have to choose one character from each story to match up for e-mails. The important thing to me is that they have an opportunity to be creative and to try and get into their character's minds.

This exercise has so many directions that you can take it. Just like all ideas, one person starts it, others add to it to make it their own.