“Together, we all play a role in being change agents to make our world better.”
― Germany Kent

If you read my last blog post, you know that my 9th grade English students spent over a month brainstorming, composing, editing, and polishing up their persuasive writing skills by sending Outrageous Request Letters. They have been in the mail for a little under a month and I confess to obsessively checking my mailbox in the office multiple times per day hoping for responses.

Drumroll please….the first Outrageous Request Letter of the year was granted!

Miss Lila Eagle, wrote to Lakeshore Learning in hopes of receiving 20 wobble stools for her mom, Daniela Eagle’s, classroom. After being a parapro and substitute teacher for ten years, Daniela went back to college to get her teaching certificate and this year was hired to be a special education teacher at GMHS. 

Lila wrote the following: “I’m from a small rural town in Upper Michigan called Gwinn, the population of our school district as of 2023 is 1,015. Even though our population is small we have one of the highest rates of students with IEPs or specialized learning plans in the county with 23% of our students having a learning disability. With our school being small we don’t have as much income as other schools in the area leading to us being understaffed and oftentimes we don’t have all of the materials we would like to have…”

“I chose to ask for alternative seating for our classrooms because I think a lot of students would benefit from it. My mom, Daniela Eagle is a Special Ed teacher here at Gwinn and she said that she notices a lot of students not being able to sit still or focus during lessons. With a lot of students with disabilities they can’t focus or they may take longer to do tasks that other students can and need to be moving or fidgeting. With wobble stools students can fidget or keep moving during a lesson and they will be more silent than if they hadn’t had a wobble stool.“

One of my favorite parts of this assignment is mail call. Yesterday at the beginning of the hour I presented Lila with Lakeshore’s letter. The anticipation in the room was tangible as Lila tore open the envelope to read the fantastic news that her wish for 20 wobble stools would be granted. To keep the excitement going, I marched the entire class down to Mrs. Eagle’s room to let her read the letter herself.

As a writing teacher, I cannot imagine a better way to teach students about the power of writing. I hope that Lila feels empowered by this experience. With Lila’s help, students who struggle with sitting still will have alternative seating and will be able to focus on their lessons. 

In addition to granting Lila’s request, Lakeshore Learning’s response included the following feedback, “Mr. Kaplan recently reviewed your letter and was very impressed with how much thought you put into your assignment and how well you presented your request. Very persuasive indeed… You have a very bright future and we at Lakeshore wish you continued success.” 

Thank you Lakeshore Learning for giving a hand up to our district and for providing me with the priceless opportunity to teach my students that our words and writing matters. Congratulations, Lila, on using your voice to make your community a better place!

My fingers are crossed for more updates in the coming days. I love my job and I love my students. ❤

To learn more about the assignment read more here.