Sample Reference Letter

Christopher Pierce, OCT

5775 Drummond Rd.

Niagara Falls, ON

L2G 4L2

November 15, 2011

Bob's Auto and Delicatessen

4044 Thoroldstone Rd.

Niagara on the Lake, ON

L1K 2R5

To Whom It May Concern:

It is my pleasure to act as a referee on behalf of Joe Smith. I have had the pleasure of teaching Joe Senior English this past semester and have been a teacher at his high school since well before he started at Stamford.

On a personal note, I can attest to what a fine role model Joe is for his peers. Joe is intelligent, conscientious, hardworking, interested and engaged. In relation to his classmates, Joe was always one of the first to complete his assigned activities. He has the ability to work independently but is also a very proactive problem solver and regularly consulted with me when it was appropriate to do so.

In instances when potential employers contact me they will often ask whether I would hire the student for whom I am acting as a reference. In Joe’s case, I would answer an unequivocal “yes.” I have a background of close to twenty years in restaurant management and know Joe would be an excellent hire in many industries. He learns quickly and would do extremely well working with the public or using technology.

Please do not hesitate to call if I can provide any more information about this outstanding young man.

Regards,

Christopher J Pierce

Journal #11 - Remembrance

Friday will be our annual Remembrance Day ceremony. How important is this day to you? How important do you think it is that as Canadians we set aside a day of Remembrance each year?

Do you have a sense of appreciation or gratitude for the many Canadians who have served or continue to serve in the armed forces in order to preserve and defend our way of life? Do you know anyone who has served, is serving or plans to serve in the armed forces? What stories have they shared? How closely have any of the recent conflicts in which Canada has been involved touched you? (e.g. has anyone in your family, circle of friends or community served over seas?) . Have you seen any films that you feel do a good job of portraying the difficulties that soldiers face? (e.g. The Hurt Locker). If you answered 'yes', to the last question, what did you learn from or think about the film(s) you saw?

Expository Framework

During the expository unit, you will be asked to complete 250 marks worth of assignments. I will make a point of going through the list with you in class, but I would like you to start listing the activities you think you might choose in order make up 250 marks. List these in a new post on your blog called "Expository Choices."

Types of Expository Writing

The following pieces of writing are worth a possible 25 marks each (one page):
Brochure
Letter of Recommendation
Testimony (An Affidavit)
Itinerary
Message
Directions (include map)
How-to paragraphs (2)
Recipe
Travel directions
Instructions
Letter of Complaint
Reference Letter
Cover letter
Invitation

The following pieces of writing are worth a possible 50 marks each (two pages):
Letters
Biography (Not an autobiography, we've done that)
Memoir
Experiment
Personal Opinion
Explanation
Coaching (help your intended audience develop a skill or set of skills

Policy
Drills (Create your own homework or writing exercises)
Tutoring
Survey and Survey results
Reviews (film, music, food or product)
Comparisons
Persuasion (this is a lighter attempt than the 'persuasive essay' below)
Debates
Summary of a Political Speech
Summary of a Discussion
Travel brochures
Mediation
Peacemaking
Critiquing
Self-Defense
An interview

The following pieces of writing are worth a possible 100 marks each (4 pages—this may include process notes etc.):

Informative speech, Research speech (We will negotiate a topic)
Project (We will negotiate a topic)
Essays: informal, persuasive, literary, compare/contrast, expository (We will negotiate a topic)
Reports:
Situational Report-- to describe one-time events, such as trips, conferences, and seminars.
Investigative Rep -- to examine problems and supply facts – with little analysis.
Justification/Recommendation-- to make recommendations to management and
become tools to solve problems and make decisions.
Feasibility --to analyze problems and predict whether alternatives will be practical or advisable.
Research Studies --to study problems scientifically by analyzing a problem, developing hypotheses, collecting data, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions.
Proposals --to offer to solve problems, investigate ideas, or sell products and services

Expository Writing

I have already suggested to you in class an idea that will allow you to choose the forms of writing you are interested in. Since there are so many different types, it makes sense to approach these in units. We will start with expository writing.

Here is a link that explains expository writing: Stanford University's Expository Writing Exposition

Read up on expository writing and then make a list of as many different types of expository writing as you can.

What are the top 5 types of exposition that you would most like to write?

Journal 10- The Environment

Today is one of the warmest November 7th's on record. It could be a result of global warming. How closely do you follow news related to the environment? What do you know about the causes of climate change and the ways that you can help slow it down? Do you think much about what shape the earth will be in when your children are your age?

Journal # 9 - Halloween

On October 31st, CBC radio reported that many school boards were banning children from coming to school in costume or imposing strict rules on what students can and cannot wear. One school in Alberta is asking students to honor Halloween by wearing black and orange instead of coming to school in costume. Many schools have instructed students not to wear scary or violent costumes and anything that resembles a weapon must be left at home. One other school has gone so far as to invite students to wear "caring" costumes.

What do you think, is Halloween an appropriate holiday for children? Is it necessary to change the way we celebrate it? What was your favourite Halloween as a child? What are the most important elements of Halloween to preserve in the future?

Write a News Report

Write a News Report. CLICK HERE for the instructions.

The Style of a News Report

A few things about news reports:

-key information comes at the beginning (the 5 w's +h)

-the most important information comes in the first sentence or two (the lead)

-the information is presented most to least relevant

-the reporter is not part of the story (the reporter writes using 'he,' 'she' or 'they' NOT 'I' or 'me').

-the reporter gives as many facts and details as possible.

-reporters try to include either direct or indirect quotations

Pick a News Report that interests you. Cut and paste the details of news reports from above (in red) into a new blog post.

Create a hyperlink to it for your blog reader

Cut and paste examples from your news story into your blog post in order to demonstrate each of the details.

Paragraph Editing--Corrections

Mark DeMontis

Courage Canada founder Mark DeMontis, a 23 year old blind hockey player, inline skated from Toronto across five provinces and 5,000 km to Vancouver to raise awareness about blind hockey. He founded Courage Canada with the vision of bringing the blind to the ice. One reader of Mark's story said, "I felt that this story is moving and will contribute to people being aware of blind hockey." Mark Demontis has courage because he is blind and he skated from Toronto to Vancouver. He had the courage to move on through the weather, through the pain and made it to Vancouver. He raised money to help those in need and I feel that is courageous.

My News Report

The News Report

One of the requirements of this course is demonstrating the same skills that are tested on the OSSLT. Consequently, we will be looking at news reports for the next few days.

Please take some time to answer the following questions and complete the activities on your blog.

1) What is the purpose of a news report and where are you most likely to find them?

2) Who writes news reports and who are they written for?

3) What do you remember being taught about how to write a news report?

4) Check thestar.com or other online newspaper and find a news report you are interested in. Read it. Make a hyperlink from your blog to the article.

5) If you were given the article to read as a handout in class, would you recognize it as a news report? Why or why not?

6) Compare your news report to another piece of writing you have completed (or are completing) for this course, such as your autobiography, your short story or your film review. What are some of the key differences? (Hint, consider the tone and point of view)

Paragraph Editing

Copy and paste the following paragraph into your blog. Find and correct as many spelling, punctuation and usage (grammar) errors as you can.

Mark DeMontis

courage canada founder Mark DeMontis, a 23 year old blind hockey player, inline skated from Toronto across five provinces and 5,000 km to Vancouver to raise awareness about blind hockey. he founded Courage Canada with the vision of bringing the Blind to the ice. one reader of mark's story said I fell that this story is moving and will contribut people to get aware blind hockey. Mark demontis has courage because he blind and he skated from toronto to vancouver he had the courage to move on through the weather through the pain and made it to vancouver. he He had raised money to help those in need and i fell that is courage.

Journal # 7 - Progress

Since early progress reports and parent-teacher night all happened within the past week, take a moment to discuss how happy you are with your performance so far? Are you still working toward the same goals you set for yourself in September? Have you kept on top of your assignments or are they piling up on you? What changes, if any, do you plan to make before the end of the semester?

Journal #6 - Education

Imagine you were made the principal at Stamford, and you were given unlimited resources to make changes. What sort of changes would you make? How would you help students learn better? What materials would you buy? How would you make school more fun? What new rules would you make? What rules would you get rid of?

Homonyms

One reason writers make mistakes is because they write a word that sounds like the word they want to use rather than the right one. Practice your commonly confused homonyms by using each pair in a sentence correctly.

there/their/they're
where/were
write/right
which/witch
its/it's
meet/meat
threw/through
definitely/defiantly
tale/tail
hole/whole

to/too/two

E.g. for weak/week: "I felt weak for a week."

Comma Uses

Copy the following reasons to use commas in your blog. For each reason, create 2 of your own examples.

1) ITEMS IN A SERIES. Use commas to separate items in a list, e.g. "I packed my cheese, sandals, umbrella and sunscreen for my trip to New York." Some writers will debate whether a comma is necessary before the and. Either with or without is acceptable as long as your writing is consistent throughout.

2) TO SEPARATE PARTS OF AN ADDRESS. E.g. "The Prime Minister of Canada lives at 24 Sussex Dr., Ottawa, Ontario."

3) TO MARK OF AN INTRODUCTORY WORD OR PHRASE. E.g. "Yes, I'll have some cheese." Or "Glad you are here, can we please get started?"

4) DIRECT ADDRESS. Put commas before and after a person's name as appropriate when they are being referred to directly. Consider the difference between, "Let's eat, Mark." and "Let's eat Mark."

5) TO SEPARATE PARTS OF A DATE. E.g. "Everyone will remember theevents of Tuesday, September 11, 2001."

6) TO INDICATE AN APPOSITE PHRASE. Apposite is just a fancy word for beside.' Advanced writers often include extra information in apposite phrases which enables them to combine short choppy sentences. E.G. "Helium's founder, Mark Ranalli, often contributes to the website's community boards."

7) TO MARK OFF AN ADVERBIAL PHRASE. Generally speaking, a phrase that establishes time or place of the main clause, or how it is carried out, is an adverbial phrase. E.g. "When your work is finished, you may play outside."

8) TO MARK OFF AN INTERRUPTION. E.g. "London Heathrow Airport, you'd have to see it to believe it, is Europe's busiest."

9) BEFORE A CO-ORDINATE CONJUNCTION. A co-ordinate conjunction is a conjunction (like and,' but,' although,' or however') that joins an independent clause to the main clause. An independent clause is a phrase that could form a sentence on its own. e.g. "I would like to buy you dinner, but I forgot my wallet."

10) TO INDICATE A NON-RESTRICTIVE PHRASE. Only about 1% of the population will ever master this one. A restrictive phrase is one that limits a referent. E.g. "The man who had seven cars offered me a ride." The phrase who had seven cars' limits the meaning to the man with seven cars as opposed to the man with one car or the man with two cars. In the sentence "The man, who had seven cars, offered me a ride" the phrase who had seven cars' is non-restrictive because of the commas. It is merely a way of including extra information.

11) TO MARK OFF A PARTICIPLE PHRASE. A participle is like a noun made out of a verb, such as having' which is the present participle of to have.' E.g. "Having walked more than twenty kilometers, I was very tired."

12) TO INTRODUCE A QUOTATION. E.g John said, "Commas aren't so tough."

Free Write

Every fourth journal topic will be a "free write." Free writing involves writing on whatever topic you want to write about and saying what you want to say, instead of what you think your instructor may wish to hear. This can lead you into some very unexpected territory, but it can also be very valuable insofar as it allows you to give careful consideration to a topic that may be important to you. Free writes can make you smarter!

For some people, free writing is easy and natural. For others, free writing is tougher than having an assigned topic. If you aren't sure what to write about, you might consider:

-something you've seen recently

-your life

-the future

-something that bothers you (warning, there can be therapy in doing this and you may end up feeling better!)

-talking to me, occasionally I get inspired.

Enjoy

Sentence Combining

Connecting Words: therefore, however, so, and, because, while, when, who " , " +ing

Substitute Teacher

The students enjoyed Mrs. Fletcher, the substitute teacher from England. Her teaching involved language games and writing contests. The room was filled with the laughter of students who were competing for prizes. Mrs. Fletcher also enjoyed the students, wanting to return to teach them again.

Journal # 4

Where and when would you be? If you could live in any time, at any place in history, where and when would you choose? What is the appeal?