S1) Most employers are looking for specific characteristics in a potential employee. For example, they look for someone who is responsible and hard-working, and often they look for a person who hasexperience. Write to persuade a future employer that, even though you may not have experience in the type of work you seek, you are a good candidate to hire. Use reasons and specific examples to support your response
S2) To conserve energy and resources, some businesses have adopted a four-day work week, with each day consisting of ten hours. Should your school follow this model by extending the school day two hours? After considering the benefits and disadvantages to a four-day school week, take a position on this issue. Support your response with reasons and examples.
S3) Many students become involved in extracurricular activities to enrich their educational experiences, and some even become involved in so many activities that they have little time to study or complete homework assignments. Should schools control student involvement in extracurricular activities, or should the decision regarding extracurricular involvement be left to students and their families? Take a position on the issue. Support your response with reasons and examples.
S4) Some people believe in praising a student’s work to build self-esteem, even if the work is not the student’s best effort. They believe that students must be self-confident in order to learn. Others believe that praise given for deficient work undermines learning by lowering standards. They believe that the source of true self-esteem is achievement. Does true self-esteem come from praise or does it come from achievement? Take a position on this issue. Use reasons and specific examples to support your ideas.
S5) In his book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum lists these simple lessons: put things back where you found them, play and work some every day, hold hands and stick together. Do you agree or disagree that these lessons apply to life today? Or is life too complicated for such simplicity? Take a position on the issue. Support your response with reasons and examples.
S6) Some schools do not use a typical grading system focused on homework, quizzes, and tests. Instead, students are givestudents are given a long-term assignment and must produce a project and oral presentation to show what they have learned. Do you believe this grading system is a more effective way for a teacher to evaluate student learning than traditional grades? Take a position on this issue. Support your response with reasons and examples.
S7) Many believe that in democratic societies a free education is each citizen’s right. Others see education as a privilege, one that must be earned. In the United States, should education be considered a right or a privilege? Take a position on this question. Support your response with reasons and specific examples..
S8) It has been said, “Failure is not the worst thing in the world. The very worst is not to try.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Take a position on this issue. Use reasons and specific examples to support your opinion.