Overwhelming Challenge is the intentionally misleading title of the Middle School Errors Writing Workshop. I also like to call it "Rush Hour". This is a challenge that I do typically during the second semester of a school year and carry it into the following days.
Introduction - Day One
Greetings students. Welcome to your first challenge of the second semester. There are times when you have to write with a time limit. The clock is your enemy. The SAT will ask you to write a two-page essay in 25 minutes with an unknown prompt. The AP Literature test will ask you to write three two-page essays in two hours. To consider yourself college ready you should be able to produce concise and coherent answers to essay prompts quickly.
Today you will write 2 two-page essays on prompts that have not been announced until today. You will be responsible for managing your time as you write, and be sure to save enough time to complete the second essay with the same quality. The time remaining will be projected on the front screen at all times. To make you feel the time pressure, the timer will be made as large as possible so that you can see your opponent clearly.
You may begin writing when I start the clock. Both essays are expected at the end of the period.
Middle School Errors Workshop - Day Two
Now it is day two. The essays from the challenge are returned to the student without being read or graded. The students should be given time to look at their work through English teacher eyes.
Writing under time pressure reduces our skills to the level of our instincts. We will do what we are trained to do as best we can. You will write the way you have done for years and will likely ignore any strategies that have not been mastered. Your handwriting will be worse than normal, and will get even worse as our endurance fades. Odds are that you will not brainstorm, outline, bubble cluster, spider diagram, or any other pre-writing mechanism you have been taught. All of your errors that should have been eliminated in middle school are going to be on display for you to see.
As a class we will check out essays for possible mistakes one at a time privately. You are going to be checking a few boxes and feel bad. Learn from them. You are going to be checking a few boxes and feel good. Be proud and content because you have met expectations for your grade level. Some checks will not apply to your essay. Skip those.
Extra Rounds
Depending on the needs of the class, you can do more with this essay.