Lit 10 Writing Assignments

Before looking at the actual writing assignments, lets begin by identifying the Georgia Performance Standards they will address as well as the process we will use in this class.

The Standards:

ELA10W1 The student produces writing that establishes an appropriate organizational structure, sets a context and engages the reader, maintains a coherent focus throughout, and signals a satisfying closure.

ELA10W2 The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres.

ELA10W3 The student uses research and technology to support writing.

ELA10W4 The student practices both timed and process writing and, when applicable, uses the writing process to develop, revise, and evaluate writing.

As you compose your rough drafts, you should always keep these standards in mind. They will also be instrumental in our editing process.
The Writing Process:

You will receive three grades for each of the four writing assignments you will complete:

1. Rough Draft -- have two pages of double-spaced Times New Roman 12-point text by the day it is due for editing.
2. Editing -- You will edit with one of your peers. This is a timed exercise, and it should be easy to earn a high score on this portion of your writing process.
3. Final Draft -- This will be my evaluation of your writing. You may complete more drafts to earn a higher score if you choose. Any essay scoring below an 80 will need to be revised.

Your Writing Assignments:

Writing One: Autobiographical Writing -- I don't think you can fit your entire life into two double-spaced pages, so you should focus on one important moment that sticks out to you.  You should also spend some of your essay explaining why this moment was so important, as well as how it may have changed you, taught you something, or made you appreciate (or dislike) something.


Writing Two: Persuasive Writing --Persuasive writing is a form with which you are probably very familiar. It appears in newspapers and magazines, and you are likely to have already written your fair share of persuasive writing. The topics for the Georgia High School Graduation Writing Test are usually persuasive in nature.

Persuasive Writing is a piece of writing in which you try to persuade someone to agree with you or to convince them to share your opinion of something.
You may choose a political issue like immigration, upcoming elections, state graduation tests, drivers' licence policies for teanagers, or the war in Iraq to attempt to get others to share your feelings on the issue.
You may choose to argue that your favorite entertainer, athlete, team, television show or movie is the best.
You may choose to convice people that something going on today needs to be changed.
You can read some good examples of persuasive writing here, here, here, and here.
EVIDENCE is one of the most important elements of persuasive writing. If you are attempting to change someone's mind, or influence their opinion, you need to provide examples of why you feel the way you do.

Some Student examples that may be helpful to you:

Curt Cobain did not Kill Himself -- Morgan Chapman

Immigration -- Carlos Baires

Monopoly at McDonald's is not a Rip-off -- Anisha Hayes

The Attendance Policy is Dumb -- Toikia Hancock

Lit 9 Writing Assignments

Before looking at the actual writing assignments, lets begin by identifying the Georgia Performance Standards they will address as well as the process we will use in this class.

The Standards:

ELA9W1 The student produces writing that establishes an appropriate organizational structure, sets a context and engages the reader, maintains a coherent focus throughout, and signals a satisfying closure.

ELA9W2 The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres.

ELA9W3 The student uses research and technology to support writing.

ELA9W4 The student practices both timed and process writing and, when applicable, uses the writing process to develop, revise, and evaluate writing.

As you compose your rough drafts, you should always keep these standards in mind. They will also be instrumental in our editing process.
The Writing Process:

You will receive three grades for each of the four writing assignments you will complete:

1. Rough Draft -- have two pages of double-spaced Times New Roman 12-point text by the day it is due for editing.
2. Editing -- You will edit with one of your peers. This is a timed exercise, and it should be easy to earn a high score on this portion of your writing process.
3. Final Draft -- This will be my evaluation of your writing. You may complete more drafts to earn a higher score if you choose. Any essay scoring below an 80 will need to be revised.

Your Writing Assignments:

Writing One: Narrative Writing -- A Narrative is simply a piece of writing that describes a series of events.  Think of the people we call "narrator" in a story, play, or movie -- their job is just to explain what is going on.  For your narrative, you can choose to describe a series of events that you experienced firsthand, something that happened to someone else, or you can create a piece of fiction.

This should be a good opportunity to get your wheels turning without having to worry about evidence or other more complex elements.

Writing Two: Persuasive Writing --Persuasive writing is a form with which you are probably very familiar. It appears in newspapers and magazines, and you are likely to have already written your fair share of persuasive writing. The topics for the Georgia High School Graduation Writing Test are usually persuasive in nature.

Persuasive Writing is a piece of writing in which you try to persuade someone to agree with you or to convince them to share your opinion of something.
You may choose a political issue like immigration, upcoming elections, state graduation tests, drivers' licence policies for teanagers, or the war in Iraq to attempt to get others to share your feelings on the issue.
You may choose to argue that your favorite entertainer, athlete, team, television show or movie is the best.
You may choose to convice people that something going on today needs to be changed.
You can read some good examples of persuasive writing here, here, here, and here.
EVIDENCE is one of the most important elements of persuasive writing. If you are attempting to change someone's mind, or influence their opinion, you need to provide examples of why you feel the way you do.

User Agreement

Using a weblog for our classwork will require some parameters for your safety and the quality of everyone's work. First, you should recognize that your work, as well as mine will be published for the entire on-line world to see. This will ultimately make us all responsible for better and more original output than ever before. By visiting other students' weblogs, you will be able to view all their work, and it will also make it easy for me to see who is not making an effort to submit work that is original.

Once you create your own weblog for this class, I will add it to the class blog roll so everyone's work can be accessed from this page. I encourage you to look at your peers' work for ideas or inspiration, but what you submit must be your own. Language Arts lends itself well to this format since you will be asked to respond to the literature and history we study with your own ideas and opinions. There are no right or wrong answers in a Language Arts class, so looking at other students' ideas can help you. It can also create problems if you choose to be lazy.

I will leave comments about your work. These comments will usually instruct you on how you can improve your work. Please make sure you check your comments and your e-mail regularly, and make sure you are finished with one assignment before moving to the next.

Since this weblog will be part of your education at Classic City High School, any activity on your weblog should be considered school activity, even if it is done outside of school. You should feel free to create posts that are not school related, but you should also be sure to refrain from anything that could be considered inappropriate. This includes, but is not limited to: references to alcohol or drugs, violence, or gang activity, foul language, nudity, threats, etc.

Plagiarism is submitting someone else's work as your own. This can be done in many ways: copying work from Wikipedia, classmates, Sparknotes, etc. If you plagiarize your work, you will receive a zero -- no questions asked.


THE USER AGREEMENT:

1. I agree to submit original work to my weblog. I realize I will have the opportunity to view my peers' work, and I will use this opportunity constructively. I understand that if I choose to plagiarize, I will receive a zero for the work in question with no option to redo the assignment in question.

2. I agree to keep my weblog appropriate for Classic City High School. I understand that if innapropriate material were to appear on my weblog, be it from myself or an outside comment, I will be asked to remove it. Failure to do so will result in my weblog being removed from the class roll. I also understand that refereneces to illegal or dangerous activities will be reported since it is the legal responsibility of my teacher.


Classroom Procedures and Expectations
Dana Siegmund
Classic City High School

NovaNet:
You are required to score at least an 80% on all post-tests.

You should take notes on all your lessons to use when you take the post-test. Pasting screen shots onto Powerpoint is not taking notes.

I will check your notebook four times during the semester, and these grades will be factored into your total NovaNet score.

I will not override prescriptions after your pretest, unless it is a special circumstance.

If you score lower than a 70 on a post-test, I will reassign prescriptions

Leaving the Classroom:
Please let me know you need to leave before doing so.

Once you leave, take care of your business and come right back. Do not disturb other classes.

If you plan to purchase anything from Jittery Joe’s, you will need the pass.

If your trip is not absolutely necessary, please do not be surprised if I say “no”.

If you are gone for 15 minutes of any class period, I will mark you absent.

Administrative Absences:
If you did not come to school to work, I will mark you absent and ask you to leave.

You shouldn’t take this personally.

There is a waiting list full of people waiting to be a student at Classic City High School PLC, and if you are not making the best use of your spot, it will soon be someone else’s.

Great Headphone Issue:
Some people work well with headphones and others do not.  If you choose to use headphones, you should have your own.  I have a couple sets that are reserved for projects that require them.  Students using headphones need to use them responsibly.  If your headphone use is disrupting yours or other students' work (completely at my discretion), your privileges will be suspended (see Internet Use as well).


Internet Use
The Internet is an extremely useful educational tool, but it can also be misused.  If your Internet use becomes detrimental to your progress (including music), your Internet privileges will be blocked.  Students who attempt to circumnavigate this decision will receive an administrative absence.

Food:
Food is great. Pick up your trash.

Mobile Phones:
I will follow the mobile phone policy explained in the Classic City High School Handbook.

The Classroom:
Please leave it in the condition you found it.

Push in your chairs.

Put books away.

Pick up after yourself. 


To agree, post a comment to this message like this:
I agree to Mr. Siegmund's Weblog User Agreement as well as his Classroom Procedures and Expectations.
I will not add your weblog to the class roll until I receive a comment from you like the example above.

Before Unit One -- The Standards (Lit 9)

Let's start this class with something you will be doing in every single unit you complete -- a discussion of the Georgia Performance Standards, and what they actually mean.  Below you can see I have copied one of the standards for American Literature (Lit 11):

ELA9RL1 The student demonstrates comprehension by identifying evidence (i.e., examples of diction, imagery, point of view, figurative language, symbolism, plot events and main ideas) in a variety of texts representative of different genres (i.e., poetry, prose [short story, novel, essay, editorial, biography], and drama) and using this evidence as the basis for interpretation.

Read it one more time.
I wanted to start with this one since it is one that covers much of what we will do through the course of the class.  Think about what it means.  I realize this is not written in the way we usually talk, so let's work on translating it.

Your task:
Create a post on your blog called "Georgia Performance Standards", and then simply explain what you think the above standards mean.  It should not take you any more than three sentences.  Once you are done, you may want to add why mastering a standard like this is important.

Next:
Take a look at this standard as well:
ELA9RL3 The student deepens understanding of literary works by relating them to contemporary context or historical background.

Once you have reviewed this one, follow the above directions one more time.  Keep in mind that you are explaining what you think this standard means, and that there are no right and wrong answers at this point.

Once everybody has finished, we will have a brief discussion.

Short Story Project -- THEME

OPENING:  This project will specifically address the following Georgia Performance Standard:


ELA9RL2 The student identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of theme in literary works from various genres and provides evidence from the works to support understanding.


Take a moment to read it a few times while thinking about what it might mean.  Then create a post on your blog called "Short Story -- THEME", then post the following:


1. Translate this standard into your own words, and then add a sentence or two describing what you expect from this project.


 MINI LESSON:


 "Theme" is the central idea of a work of literature. This does not mean "theme" is the same as the subject of a piece of writing. The subject of a piece of writing can be described in a word or two, "baseball", "farming", or "The Holocaust" to list a few examples. The theme is what the author wishes to reveal about the subject.
Some Examples:
Romeo and Juliet:
Subject: Young Love
Theme: Young love is often more important than family
Boyz in tha Hood:
Subject: Life in South-Central Los Angeles
Theme: Gang life is dangerous even for those who do not actively engage in it.
Back to the Future:
Subject: Time Travel
Theme: Though many people would like to change their pasts, their lives may end up worse if they did.

WORK PERIOD:


For this project, you will need to select a short story to read. Below are some suggestions of stories that are good for discussing theme:
Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird by Toni Cade Bambara -- page 266 in gold anthology
Independence by Ruth Sasaki -- page 278 in gold anthology
American History by Judith Ortiz Cofer -- page 290 in gold anthology
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson -- page 34 in green McGraw Hill anthology
A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor -- page 86 in green McGraw Hill anthology
If you would like to read another story that is not on this list, show it to me before you begin.
When you are finished reading, post the following to your weblog:

2. Write a 2-3 paragraph response to the story you read. Please focus more on how you felt about the story than writing a summary.

3. What was the subject of the story? What was the theme? Look at the examples above if you need to. What do you think about what the author was trying to reveal about the subject? Do you agree with the author? Answer these questions in a short paragraph.

4. How does the author's words support the theme they are trying to convey. In other words, how can you tell what the author thought about the subject, and how can you tell what the author was hoping you would think when you finished the story. Make sure you provide some direct evidence from the story to support you r response.

5. Think of your favorite movie. Explain the subject of that movie, and then the theme. How does the person who created this movie deliver the theme? Describe the themes that let you know how the author feels about the subject and convinces viewers to feel the same.

CLOSING:

Review the standards I have listed below, and with direct evidence from YOUR work, explain how you have addressed at least two of the three.


ELA9RL1 The student demonstrates comprehension by identifying evidence (i.e., examples of diction, imagery, point of view, figurative language, symbolism, plot events and main ideas) in a variety of texts representative of different genres (i.e., poetry, prose [short story, novel, essay, editorial, biography], and drama) and using this evidence as the basis for interpretation.


ELA9RL2 The student identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of theme in literary works from various genres and provides evidence from the works to support understanding.


ELA9RL3 The student deepens understanding of literary works by relating them to contemporary context or historical background.



When you are through, self-evaluate your work with the help of the Rubric for Weblog Posts, and then leave me a comment to this message telling me you are through.