Wages & Worth: Letter for a Pay Raise

From Money Changes Everything, students read:

-“May 2011 Wage Estimates” by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics

-“Serving in Florida” by Barbara Ehrenreich.

-“The Vanishing Middle Class” by Elizabeth Warren.

Students may demonstrate reading comprehension in various ways:

-Group Quiz & Discussion
-Reading Response Homework
-Freewrites
-Vocabulary Entries

Students choose their desired audience and how much of a raise they will ask for.

Students then compose a project proposal, in which they articulate
1) why they deserve a raise;
2) benefits of a raise to their employer;
3) employer’s needs, values, and attitudes; and
4) useful quotations from any of this unit’s readings.

Students draft their letters in class, or for homework.

Peer and Instructor review is offered to provide feedback on the following Higher Order Concerns:

-tone
-appeals
-benefits
-ethos, pathos, logos
-audience needs, wants, attitudes
-purposeful introduction
-courteous conclusion
-evidence

Peer and Instructor feedback is then offered on the following Lower Order Concerns:

-transitions
-paramedic method (redundancies, action, concision)
-organization & paragraph cohesion
-letter formatting
-spelling, grammar, punctuation

Students submit revised and polished letters.

Some instructors may choose to offer extra credit to students who take their raise request to their employer, being careful to help the student frame their request professionally, and ensuring that such a request will not jeopardize their current employment.