At a Glance
Objective
- Students will identify the core components of a professional outreach letter and draft one addressed to a specific role or organization.
- Students will identify the core components of a professional thank-you letter and draft one addressed to a specific contact following a real or practice interaction.
- Students will apply professional grammar, tone, and formatting conventions appropriate to written workplace communication.
- Students will evaluate which communication platform (email vs. LinkedIn message vs. other professional platform) best suits a given scenario, recognizing email as the most broadly reliable default.
- Topics Covered
- professional writingnetworking
- Subjects
- Computer ScienceCTAE (Career Technical and Agricultural Education)
- Related Courses
- Intro to Software Tech
- Type of Lesson
- writing prompt
Related Unit(s)
Lesson Plan Notes Cover Letter Thank You Letter
It’s not surprising that teens these days struggle to write long-form content in today’s fast-paced digital world. A cover letter isn’t exactly long, but it’s still a skill that requires practice. To help students understand that a cover letter is no longer just a letter overlaid on a physical resume, I’m also calling it an “outreach letter.” And a thank-you letter is typically short but plays a critical role in establishing character and professionalism that impact your reputation in the workforce.
Drafting a Cover Letter
Without using AI, students break cover/outreach letters into parts, including the greeting, the closing, and the middle section that explains why they’re reaching out, their relevant strengths, and a call to action. Students will be required to use their research about a company or role to genuinely make a connection in their letter.
Drafting a Thank-You Letter
For the thank-you letter, students will also be given sections to scaffold the letter into parts. There must be a real reason to send a thank-you letter, and that should be referenced. I encourage my students to send thank-you letters after an interview. If they completed the mock interview, they can use that interview and the interviewer as the recipient of this letter. This letter should express genuine appreciation and interest in the role they interviewed for.
Professional Correspondence should Boost Reputation.
Ultimately, this correspondence is about the cycle involved in job searching or sourcing new clients as an entrepreneur. Students need to see that finding a job is typically not just a one-and-done application process. It often takes several rounds of interviews, including multiple interviews at different places, before someone is actually hired. Similarly, in entrepreneurship, business owners are constantly seeking new clients or customers to sell their products or services to, which requires consistency and iteration over time. The more professional, authentic, and useful those interactions are, the more positive your reputation and brand become. Students cannot afford to overlook the importance of these written interactions, especially in a world where so much content is AI-generated and people are pleasantly surprised by interactions with real people.
Where this goes next
This lesson is less intense than some of the previous ones, but one common theme is that they all require reflection, and each artifact produced genuinely stems from real-life experiences that cannot be created by AI. The portfolio assignment, up next, takes the resume to the next level and helps students create a website that brings their experiences to life!