Writing Assignments (most recent at the top):
The Ratings Game (quickwrite) Steinbeck Book Supplementary Chapter Synopsis Informational Article (Nov. 3 to 14, 2011)
Persuasive Writing:
The information below is from the 2010-2011 year:
Rear-Round School Schedule vs Traditional School Schedule (5/2-5/9) click here
Collaborative Mystery Stories (April/May) - Title by Jonathan, Kevin, and Evan ()
- Title by Cameron, Jeremy, and Christian ()
- Title by Alex, Samir, and Matt ()
- Title by Joshua, Josh, and Ted ()
- The Lonely Lion by Erin, Jana, and Anya ()
- Title by Cade, Owen, and Ibrahim ()
- Title by Ciara, Nina, and Marissa ()
- Title by Abby, Zahra, and Karina ()
- Title by Jessica, Erica, and Amanda ()
- Title by Veerali, Norma, and Rebeca (Mrs. Bolei)
- Title by Ashley, Izzy, Chloe, and Jenna (Mrs. Pawell)
- Title by Christian, K.C., David, and Cody (Mrs. Underwood)
- Title by Parker, Kyle, and Johnny (Mrs. Borst)
- Adventures in Euphoria by Martin, Elijah, and Matt (Mrs. Breunling)
- Title by Connie, Sasha, and Laura (Mrs. Pawell)
- Title by Rory, Jon, and James (Mrs. Breunling)
- Title by Devon, Devin, and Nick (Mrs. Borst)
Autobiographical Excerpt (Mid March): Write a story about something important that has happened in your life. Use the following sequence of steps and do all of them.- Create a pre-writing document for an autobiographical excerpt. This can be a bullet list, a mind map, or even some annotated doodles. It should show a "focus and expansion" process. I explained and wrote one the whiteboard on Thursday.
- Next, move on to creating an outline from the expansion section of your pre-writing document. This should also be hand written and include section titles and bullet points.
- Third, build a rough draft from your outline. Grammar and mechanics don't matter much at this point, but be sure to create a good flow and appropriate 'voice'. Remember, even a writing such as this should have the components of a good story -- character, setting, action, climax, resolution.
- Now type up a rough draft and print it out (double spaced).
- During class you'll be getting suggestions for "revisions", which are large structural changes; as well as "edits", which are the smaller mechanical changes. Those will be done on the printed copy.
- Over the weekend, you will incorporate those changes into your typed copy, printed again, and then try to get it edited by one or more other people.
- Monday, you'll turn it in the results of steps 1, 2, 5, and 6.
As far as length goes, I didn't give a length guideline, or at least not intentionally. The whole essay should involve about 3 to 4 hours of total work time. I am assuming that time investment should yield about 2 tight pages, but length will vary greatly from student to student.
A Gift I Gave (January 3 to 7, 2011): As you get older your holiday focus will switch from getting to giving. Write a 3 or 4 paragraph essay that describes a situation in which you gave a gift to someone. We brainstormed possible paragraph topics during class on Monday and then you started the pre-writing process in your comp book. The essay itself should be finished and posted on your website (on the writing page) by Friday 1/7... yes, even you, StuCrew)
Creating a creative collaborative story (December 9, 2010 to January 3, 2011)
Groups of 4... my (random) configurations
Agree upon setting, plot, and storyline
4 roles: storyteller, dialog, details, mechanics
Create story and post on all of your websites on "writing" page
Other ideas (not assigned)
- Group (of common interest) blogs. One person chooses topic and writes the main piece. Others comment. English counts.
- Elements of humor... find, share, and analyze humorous writing.
- Five Card Flickr: http://web.nmc.org/5cardstory/index.php
- Video games and storytelling (YouTube video)
- Elements of Style, Twitter Version (blog post) http://blog.journalistics.com/2010/the-elements-of-style-twitter-edition/
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