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Many ideas have been shared about integrating literacy education with writing post cards. I was sent this story map today and thought it would be a great addition. The Art of Correspondence from the Veterans History Project evaluates drawings that were found on veteran post cards. While envelopes and letters aren't the most common canvas, they certainly hold a lot of stories.
A couple guiding questions:
- Have students examine some of these drawings. What can we infer about this person's life? What can we infer about the person they are sending this letter to?
- What feeling does this picture emote? How can you tell?
Next:
- Encourage students to write a story based on the drawing they see. Afterward, read the actual letter (if it's available)
- Have students write they own post card with their own drawings! Who are they sending it to? What feelings or emotions can you convey through a drawing to match you letter?
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This is a great resource and activity! I did a postcard writing project with my students in first through fourth grade, and I realized that the majority did not know how to address an envelope/postcard and did not know where to put the stamp. So, not only are we incorporating primary sources and analysis, but we are teaching basic life skills through these lessons.
I also had a fourth grade student ask "why write a letter when we can send an email or call the person?" So, this started a discussion about accessibility (not everyone has access to a computer or phone, etc.)...as well as the art of the written letter and correspondence. In Waka Chan's memoir, While I Was Away, she talks about how writing a letter can make you feel closer to the person as if the person is right there with you.
It could be fun to take this a step further by thinking about what happens once a letter is mailed...how does it get to the other person. Jessica Lanan's new book, The Lost Package: A Lot Can Happen between the Post Office and the Destination, gives a "behind-the-scene" look at what happens at the post office.
https://jessicalanan.com/the-lost-package.html
And, of course, the LOC has primary sources about how mail used to be delivered. My favorite is the Train Taking Up Mail Bag (https://www.loc.gov/item/00564551/). My students have always been so engaged trying to figure out what is happening.
As a once very active letter writer (I had a notebook to keep track of letters sent and letters received so I could keep track of what I had sent -and said- to whom), I love the power of letters, and want to look up the Waka Chan's memoir, While I Was Away, to find the passage in which she describes feeling as if the person you are writing to is with you while you are writing to them -- it is so true.
The primary sources for tracing the path of letter from sender to recipient are great resources! The other thing about having students write (and draw/create) on postcards and letters is that it follows the teaching advice to have an Authentic Audience for what students are asked to produce. Unlike so many other assignments, one that results in a letter you actually send to a recipient has a tangible impact on someone else, and creates a new, archivable primary source in the world.
The latest blog post from the Veterans History Project introduces the three soldiers and their envelope illustrations featured in The Art of Correspondence StoryMap project. VHP Archivist Justina Moloney writes in "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Illustrate My Letter" that in the case of Samuel L. Boylston, "both officers and enlisted men keep me drawing cartoon envelopes." As Justina Moloney also writes in the blog post, "Once your friends find out you can draw, there’s no turning back!"
What a fun message to pass on to students who like to doodle and draw!
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