The Professional Email Assignment
http://www.ncte.org/pubs/journals/tetyc/articles%5C126711.htm
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Rife, Martine Courant
NCTE TETYC
2007

Abstract:

As the semester's first assignment in a first-year writing course, I have used the professional e-mail assignment for several years in both face-to-face (f2f) and virtual classes, and have experienced great success as well as positive feedback from students. I have also shared this assignment with colleagues who have remarked on the value of critically thinking about e-mail since the genre cuts across every class, every discipline, and almost all employment and home situations. The assignment also sets the tone for all of my assignments because it fits within my pedagogical/theoretical framework, incorporating three important principles: community, critical engagement, and application (Digital 231). As with all of my assignments, this one has a theoretical underpinning, is framed by readings, is distributed to students via a written document that itself serves as 'good writing,' provides scaffolding for later assignments, and emphasizes digital literacies that are crucial if students are to be engaged and empowered citizens.