Writing Our Voices: Using International Health Reporting To Write Open Letters

Country:

New york

Grades:

High school

Author:

Nicole Cusick

SECTIONS

This lesson was created by Nicole Cusick, a high school teacher in New York City, as part of the fall 2025 Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellowship program. It is designed for facilitation across approximately five 45 minute class periods.

For more lessons created by Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellows in this cohort, click here.

I wanted students to grapple with what wealthy countries like the U.S. should do to help countries with fewer resources, and I wanted students to understand that many privileged countries use foreign aid as a source of “soft power.” I was struck, too, by one of the reporters featured in this series discussing how global health challenges don’t know borders; viruses and diseases have a way of traveling across the globe. My students saw instantly through this reporting that those in more privileged positions should help those who need it – and that, perhaps more selfishly, there are ways in which the U.S. giving aid to other countries has legitimate stabilizing effects on our security at home.

Lesson Overview

This unit invites students and educators to explore how journalism sheds light on global health inequities – and why those stories matter. Using the Pulitzer Center’s “The Children Left Behind in Global Health Cuts” as a foundation, students will analyze how reporters use facts, storytelling, and ethical journalistic standards to convey complex – and often painful – human issues.

Students will then use this new knowledge as a foundation to research a health inequity of their choosing to write an open letter spreading awareness about their topic and advocating for change. The purpose of this short unit is to introduce students to the work of the Pulitzer Center and to help students see how informed, persuasive writing can amplify voices, create empathy, and drive authentic connection to stories around the world.

Objectives

Students will read, annotate, analyze and discuss high-quality global health reporting from the Pulitzer Center.
Students will read, evaluate and synthesize information about the three modes of persuasion (ethos, pathos, and logos).
Students will read, analyze and discuss 1-2 student-written open letter samples.
Students will identify and research a supplementary underreported global health story about which they are passionate. They will use this research to do step 5.
Students will craft an open letter on their selected topic.
Students will read, evaluate, and edit the work of their peers.
Students will edit their written piece and be encouraged to submit it for publication.

Essential Questions

How do journalists craft compelling, well-reported articles on how policy decisions in the U.S. impact global citizens?
How can rigorous reporting and strong storytelling shape national understanding and policy-making around global health issues?
Which factors – ethical, political, socioeconomic – influence who receives adequate health care in the U.S. and around the globe?
How can students use rhetorical devices of persuasion as well as strong writing skills to advocate for change with global health inequity stories?

Performance Task

Students will research, report, write, edit, and refine an open letter on a topic related to an underreported global health inequity or a health inequity occurring currently in America. These inequities may be tied to recent funding cuts. The writing they produce should:

Be 500-600 words.
Be about a current global or local health inequity affecting a vulnerable population.
Make use of the three Modes of Persuasion we studied in class (ethos, logos, pathos).
Identify and refute a counter-argument.
Use a Pulitzer Center article as one form of evidence.
Use at least two other pieces of evidence (anecdote, reporting, direct quotes from interviews, recent students, etc.).
Include a “Call to Action” – steps readers or the recipient of the letter can/should take to address the health inequity being explored.

After reading, discussing and analyzing their assigned article from The Children Left Behind series, students will study the three main rhetorical devices or persuasion (ethos, logos, and pathos). They will use the Pulitzer Center archives to find a global health story that intrigues them. Finally, they will write an open letter on the topic, using at least one Pulitzer Center article as evidence to advocate for a specific change or “call to action” they’d like to see undertaken.

Assessment

I will check the students’ Article Analysis Template for Completion.
I will observe students' jigsaw lesson discussions to make sure each class member speaks/shares.
I will assess student exit cards to make sure they are making robust connections between articles and seeing how funding choices made by the United States government impact communities all over the globe.
I will assess their open letter writing pieces using the list above and one of the rubrics in my folder.

Notes on Context & Content Advisory

This unit was developed for 9-12 grade journalism students at a high performing public high school in New York City. Students accessing this short unit have already studied some basic journalism skills and techniques; they are already familiar with different types of articles (Op-Eds, feature articles, and hard news stories, to name a few). They also have already done work to evaluate and write leads, kickers, and proper article attribution. Some may have already studied the three primary modes of persuasion (ethos, logos, and pathos) in 9th grade.