(As with most all of my exercises, this one has been stolen and then modified to my own particular taste. I'll thank Jean Nienkamp for the original idea (she does postcards to various persons), and apologize for whatever harm I have done to it.)
What I want to do with this exercise is have students recognize that they address different audiences differently, even though they may be writing in the same genre. It is a simple point, but an important one: your audience will bring about certain writing choices. So, to that end, I give them an event, and then have them write to three different people describing what happened.
- Event
- What I usually give them is a car accident, a minor one. I draw out a sketch of downtown Amherst on the board, and then tell them a story. They have borrowed their roommate's car to run to CVS for a snack ofgummi-bears (at this point I put up a cut-out of a car on the board). When coming back to campus, they run through a (previously yellow) red light and are hit by a lawyer's car (another cut-out). No one is injured, but both cars sustain damage. The accident is also their fault (I sometimes add that two nuns were on the corner and are willing to testify to their guilt).
- Writing
- After detailing the accident (with sound effects and lots of narrative extras). I ask them to begin a letter to the roommate's parents explaining what happened. (Note: it is important for me to tell them that they cannot change details or lie; the facts are given, and they need to address those facts, not conceal them.) Then. I ask them to write to their best friend from high school and tell about the accident. And, last, I ask them to write to the judge, who wants to hear their version of what happened before she gives out her sentence. Seven to ten minutes per letter usually lets them get a good start.
- After
- Once finished, I ask for volunteers to read and we hear a few of each type of letter. The differences are usually quite obvious, and it gives the students a chance to talk about the difference between being formal and being familiar in their writing, and the language choices they make to do that. It is also possible to discuss how we might emphasize certain details over others, and how we position those details to achieve emphasis (or to avoid it).
I enjoy this exercise because I can make a big production of setting up the event, and the students seem to enjoy reading their letters and noticing the differences. Also, the exercise provides a touchstone for later in the course, when issues of formality arise in other papers. I can refer back to these letters and suggest changes based on what we discovered here.
