Senior English--10/17/2012

Jump Off

--Place your homework in the black basket on the front table (a sheet of paper with your name and essay topic[s] written on it).

--While you’re up at the front table, pick up the sheet with the list of questions/prompts on it and a highlighter.  Before you begin reading the list of questions, align your mind to your purpose—while reading:

• Circle all questions/prompts on this sheet that “match” your topic.
• Highlight the words “you” and “your” each time that you see the words in a question/prompt.

--Purposefully read the list of questions/prompts.  If you have brought in an actual application that you are working on completing, do the same with the questions/prompts included therein.

--Mr. Martin MODELS as necessary using an essay written by a past student.

S. the C.

--agenda/rationale/HW

--discuss J.O. work:

• Draw cards--students share topic and question/prompt selected as a match.
• What did you notice about “you”?  So what?!

Writing Workshop -- College Admission/Job Interview/Military Essay

--It is imperative that you clearly answer the question/address the prompt, and doing so in a basic manner initially is a good starting point (a rough thesis, if you will)--Mr. Martin MODELS with same essay written by a past student.

--Your turn!--when finished, set your work aside for use later in the class block.  

--Transition--pick up the assignment sheet from the front table.

--Before reading, let’s set our purpose together.  Ideas?

--Purposefully read the assignment sheet.

--Notice that you have several options—here’s why: NON-NEGOTIABLE IN SENIOR ENGLISH--mastery of writing as per college and career readiness standards; NEGOTIABLE IN SENIOR ENGLISH—what you write about to master these skills.

--This assignment will be included within your Writing Portfolio:

• First of all, how many of you have a Writing Portfolio?  (You should--get one ASAP!  Mrs. Korndoerfer may still have some extra binders if you need one.)
• Certain writing pieces from the school year will be included within the Writing Portfolio.  The first of these assignments is the College Admission/Job Interview/Military Essay; other pieces, however, will not be included.  Mr. Martin will let you know which pieces are “Writing Portfolio pieces” prior to beginning the writing process.
• In order to be accepted for inclusion within the Writing Portfolio, a writing piece must receive a score of 80% or higher, as this is the score indicative of mastery deemed appropriate by Mr. Martin.  (If, then, you receive a score of 80% or higher on the College Admission/Job Interview/Military Essay, you can simply make a copy of the writing piece and place it within the Writing Portfolio--you have already demonstrated mastery!). 
• Any Writing Portfolio writing piece that does not meet the mastery score upon return to you following Mr. Martin's scoring must be revised and resubmitted.  Prior to resubmission, you must highlight all changes that you have made.  Then, print out and resubmit both your original piece and the updated version.  (For example, if you receive a score of 77% on the College Admission/Job Interview/Military Essay, you must revise your essay as per the suggestions included on your essay and rubric.  This might include changing your hook, reordering your body paragraphs, including some commas, etc., highlighting all changes, additions, etc.)  
• When resubmitting revised work, you must make an appointment with Mr. Martin so that you and he can go through your revisions together.  In fact, it would be a good idea to make an appointment prior to revising your work so that you and Mr. Martin can process through your original writing piece together as well. 
• Once an assignment is resubmitted in this manner, Mr. Martin will re-score the assignment in order to determine a score for the assignment as it pertains to the Writing Portfolio overall score.  Please be aware that your original score for the assignment "is what it is".
• Within the last five weeks of the school year, we will work on finishing up our Writing Portfolios.  Yet, as soon as a writing assignment that will be included within the Writing Portfolio is handed back, you can and should begin the revision process so that the end of the year will be less stressful.  Mr. Martin strongly suggests that you "get on it" right away! 
• The Writing Portfolio will be scored at the end of the school year and be included substantially as part of your grade.  (For example, if you have five assignments within the Writing Portfolio with scores of 86%, 98%, 90%, 85%, and 89%, your writing grade would be an 89.6%.)  If any writing pieces are missing from your Writing Portfolio, you will receive an Incomplete. 
• How might your knowledge of the Writing Portfolio and its workings impact your writing process on future writing assignments (especially those that will be included within the Writing Portfolio)?     
• If you have already achieved mastery on an assignment, can you still work on revising the assignment to improve it further and increase your Writing Portfolio score? 

--Transition--take out the reading about writing college admission essays that was handed out last class (sheet with additional brainstorming questions)--we will take a look at the next part of this sheet and consider the implications with regard to your writing assignment.

--Read about the importance of telling a story--Mr. Martin provides a tip about anecdotes/hooking the reader and shares an example from the same essay written by a past student.

--Clear your desks of all but your notebook and a writing utensil—date the page (10/17/2012), and label the page “My First Major S.E. Writing Assignment--Here Goes!...”

--Quick-write your introduction--10 minutes (Do we need to review how quick writes work?):

• “Drop” readers right into the middle of an anecdote.
• Make the readers feel as if they’re right there with you in the moment.
• Appealing to the five senses might help!
• Build toward your basic address of the prompt/answer to the question from earlier in class, as this will work for now as a rough thesis statement.

--Would any brave souls care to share?  (Mr. Martin will collect, scramble, and read aloud so as to “take the edge off” if you’d like!)

--Discuss shared introductions through the lens of “pros and grows”.

Closure -- Trade your quick write with someone nearby.  Then, read the quick write that you have in front of you.  Your purpose is to answer this question: What do you learn about the author of your essay based on what you have read?  Write your answer(s) to this question underneath the quick write, and return the quick write to your partner when you have finished.

Looking Ahead -- Vocabulary Unit #1

--Go over the Unit #1 vocabulary exercises as preparation for the quiz next class (if time permits).

HW

--Prior to next class, reread your writing from today’s Writing Workshop block.  Make any necessary changes in order to improve your writing piece.  Depending on your level of satisfaction with what you created today, you may need to go ahead and start writing again from scratch.  Once you’ve got a satisfactory start, continue writing/jot down ideas for how to move forward in the process.  Remember that your essay must have a point; it’s meant to convey your personality qualities in a manner that an application simply cannot.  Be reflective as per today’s “Closure”: Have you begun conveying your qualities already?  If not, how might you do so throughout the rest of your essay?

--Essays are due at the beginning of class on 10/25/2012.

--The following website is pretty helpful!: http://www.essayedge.com/college/common-application

--The quiz for the Unit #1 vocabulary words will take place next class--review! (What study strategies have brought you success in the past?)