When designing my lessons I will make sure to meet the needs/values of the Net Generation: Letting them personalize, collaborate, innovate, have freedoms/choices. I will also give them feedback in a timely fashion (since speed/instaneous feedback is what they are used to & what they expect.)
In class last week I read the class an article from Men's Health magazine. It was about the White House vegetable garden. The class compared it to our school garden. Then we wrote a letter to President Obama's chef (who is also in charge of the garden.) We asked him questions like, "How do you keep the plants alive during the winter?" The kids also wanted to know what vegetables were the president's favorites. Their questions were really good. We wrote the letter together on the Promethean board. This was a good model for writing a friendly letter.
Now I do hope to send this letter to the White House. If no one responds in a timely manner, will I then just write my own letter? Or ask someone like the principal to write one? It feels like I'd be lying to them if I did that and pretended that it had really come from the White House.
I would certainly be surprised if you don't hear from the White House. However, seeing a letter get mailed may be enough. The purpose of this lesson sounds like it was to learn about the garden and write a friendly letter. If you don't get a response and they need practice, you could have them write to someone who isn't as busy (like a friend or relative who likes to garden). I still bet the White House will answer. :-)
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