Monday, November 28, 2011

Peer Review Wed/TH

Bring draft 2 of essay 2 or 3.

Make sure your essay has a title, but remove your name.

Bring 2 copies.

Do NOT come to class and then ask if you can go print. Be on time. Bring printed copies to class. On time. :)

Monday, November 21, 2011

Self-Assessment Essay Instructions

Instructions for the Self-Assessment Essay
English 12 Final Portfolio


In order for your portfolio to be complete and ready for final assessment by outside readers, you must compose and include a self-assessment essay. This essay is the most important document in your portfolio, so it deserves your time and attention. In this essay, your task is to demonstrate that you have met, or haven’t met, the assessment criteria for English 12 as described in the portfolio assessment criteria document. The self-assessment essay should:

• Consider the assessment criteria categories one by one, describing how well you have met these criteria in the writing you have included in the portfolio.

• Make explicit and detailed reference to particular pieces of writing and places within those pieces that provide evidence demonstrating your accomplishments and/or your struggles in a particular area.

• Be brutally honest and straightforward in its description of your progress, accomplishments, and struggles.

• Highlight progress and change through the semester. Make it easy for your reader to see how your essay writing has developed over the course of English 12. No one expects you to be a “perfect” essay writer by the end of the course; instead, we value evidence of your growth as a writer.

• Explain the document you have chosen to include in your “writer’s choice” category (if you have chosen to include something). In order for this document to be valuable to your readers, they need to understand what you are trying to accomplish through the writing and why you have chosen to include it in your portfolio.

• Be an essay—meaning that it should be a focused, cohesive piece of writing in which you argue for your own accomplishments as a writer in English 12.

The self-assessment essay should avoid:

• Flattery of yourself and of your instructor.

• Unsupported and exaggerated claims of growth and change as writers and learners. Any claim you make regarding your growth as a writer must be explicitly supported by evidence drawn from the documents you have chosen to include in the portfolio.


Finally, it is vitally important that you take this self-assessment essay seriously and spend quite a bit of time working on it. It will serve as your readers’ “map” for your portfolio. It may strongly determine what your readers notice and value as they read over your coursework. Please take the time to do meaningful work on this essay before submitting a final version of it in your portfolio.

Portfolio Instructions

Assembly Instructions for your
Final Portfolio for English 12


Your portfolio should be in a pocket folder or another type of document holder that holds papers securely. A regular manila file folder is not an appropriate choice.

Inside the portfolio, you should arrange the following documents in a way that will be clear and helpful for your portfolio reader. Please be sure that everything is labeled clearly:

• Self-Assessment essay: Please present us with a single draft of an essay in which you reflect on your own progress and learning in English 12, as evidenced in the written work presented in the portfolio. Please see more details on the separate instruction sheet for the self-assessment essay.

• Two revised essays: Please present us with two essays that you have written for your English 12 class and that have gone through a process of drafting and receiving feedback from your teacher and peers. For each essay, we expect to see at least three drafts (a first draft with comments, a second draft with comments, and a final draft), but you may include more than three drafts.

• Optional –“Writer's choice”: If you wish to, you may present us with an additional document you produced as part of your English 12 class that you feel exhibits your strengths and/or growth as a writer and reader. This document could be a variety of genre; it could be a homework assignment, a journal entry, a single draft of an essay you are not including in another section of your portfolio, a Blackboard assignment, perhaps even a photocopy of annotations on your reading or your written feedback on a peer's essay. Think creatively in this category. Please provide a written explanation of the assignment or context for your "writer's choice" document in your self-assessment essay.

In addition to the items listed above, your final written exam for English 12 will be placed in your portfolio by your teacher.

A few tips and requests from the portfolio readers:

• Please do not staple the entire contents of the portfolio together. This makes it extremely difficult to look through drafts and to look through the portfolio as a whole.

• Please do label everything very clearly--particularly the drafts of your revised essays. We will look at the revision process you engaged in with each essay, so we need to be able to look at your drafts in the order you wrote them.

Due Dates

Friday, Nov 25, Noon: Essay 3 Draft 1 (optional)
Monday/Tuesday November 28/29: In-class final exam. No lab.
Wed/TH November 30/December 1: Peer Review Essay 2 or 3, draft 2.
Monday, Dec. 5: Portfolio due.

Get thee a 2 pocket folder, and put your name and my name on the front.

Wiki

Hi, Guys.

Because I can't upload files to the blog, I made a wiki!

http://hunteng12.pbworks.com

There are norming session essays for the Classical Argument, as well as the reading for the final, in case you lose yours.

Woot.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Essay 3

For Essay 3:

Essay 3 is a classical argument of your choice based on our readings in Exploring Language. You choose an issue from the topics we've read and discussed.

For example, we read essays about English as the global language. I want to argue that sign language should be our global language. I'm going to use the readings from Exploring Language to supplement my argument.

You should use 4 sources for this essay. All of which can be from Exploring Language, there are essays on all the topics we didn't use for class.

You can use other sources, but, you have to be able to cite them correctly.


Classical Argument Format:

Introduction: Stylized and Dazzling

Background: Background information, historical information, groundwork (What is the basis of this argument?)

Argument: Probably 2 solid paragraphs

Counter-Argument: a nod to the other side, usually a paragraph

Rebuttal: countering-the counter argument "They have good points, but I'm still right because..." your best arguments should go here.

Conclusion: Stylized and Dazzling

Thursday, November 10, 2011

For Monday, and Lab Tues/Th

Persepolis to p. 206

Also, we're in the lab (same place) all Tuesdays and Thursdays for the rest of the semester! Woot!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Due Dates for the rest of the semester

All assignments except final portfolio due at 11:59pm.

Wed 11/9: Essay 2 Topic and organization
Wed 11/16: Essay 2 Draft 1
Wed 11/23: Essay 3 Draft 1

The week of November 28--2nd Drafts peer reviewed, take final exam, write self-assessment essays.

Portfolios Due: December 5.

For Wed

"With These Words I Can Sell You Anything" by William Lutz.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Essay 2 Assignment Guidelines

Compare and Contrast two writers, based on their writing and ideas.

Using readings from Exploring Language (or the August and Tannen articles), choose 2 that inspire to discuss both the craft of how they wrote, as well as the ideas they express through their writing.

You will analyze their writing, based on our questions from the analysis think sheet. You will analyze their ideas using the skills you've gleaned in discussion.

Whose essay is written better to express their ideas? Whom do you agree with more? Why?

Topics we've discussed so far: bilingualism, gender verbal styles, censorship, textspeak, advertising and media, nonverbal behaviors, American English.

General outline:
Intro
Compare Rhetoric
Compare Ideas
Which is written more effectively
Conclusion

Compare and Contrast Organization

Compare and Contrast Organization

For example… Jane Austen’s Heroine Qualities

Elizabeth (P&P) Sassy & Traditional
Emma (Emma)

Paragraph 1
Elizabeth and Emma, Sassy

Paragraph 2
Elizabeth and Emma, traditional

OR

Paragraph A
Elizabeth is sassy and traditional

Paragraph B
Emma is sassy and traditional

For YOUR essays:

Option 1:

Paragraph 1: Essay 1 Ideas and Rhetorical Critique (or Rhetorical and Ideas Critique)

Paragraph 2: Essay 2 Ideas and Rhetorical Critique (or Rhetorical and Ideas Critique)

Paragraph 3: Discussion of the essay you feel is most successful and why

OR

Option 2:

Paragraph 1: Discuss Essay 1 and Essay 2 rhetorically (or ideas)

Paragraph 2: Discuss Essay 1 and Essay 2 ideas (or rhetorically)

Paragraph 3: Discussion of the essay you feel is most successful and why

Don’t forget stylized intros and conclusions. :) Woo to the hoo.

Essay 2: Compare and Contrast Evaluation Sheet

Evaluation of Essay 2 (Compare and Contrast)
Essayist:__________________________

Title: Does your title forecast the issue or problem your essay examines and make readers want to read on?

Exceptional__ _____ Proficient__ X ______ Needs Work__ ____



Introduction: Engaging and compelling?

Exceptional__ _____ Proficient__ X ______ Needs Work__ ____


Ideas Critique: Clear, objective, analytic discussions of the ideas and purpose of both essays.

Exceptional__ _____ Proficient__ X ______ Needs Work__ ____

Rhetorical Critique: Detailed analysis of the writing: including style, rhetoric, ethos

Exceptional__ _____ Proficient__ X ______ Needs Work__ ____

Evaluation: Consideration of which essay is more successful at convincing the reader, and why

Exceptional__ _____ Proficient__ X ______ Needs Work__ ____


Conclusion: Is it stylized? Does it end profoundly?

Exceptional__ _____ Proficient__ X ______ Needs Work__ ____

Mechanics and Style:

Does the author provide enough transitions to help the reader see how points are connected?


Exceptional__ _____ Proficient__ X ______ Needs Work__ ____


Are there enough Level #1 examples to illustrate and support your ideas (facts, quotations, statistics, anecdotes from your own experiences. . .).

Exceptional__ _____ Proficient__ X ______ Needs Work__ ____

Style: Is there a sense of voice in this writing? Is there a personality behind the writer, or, does this read like textbook writing?

Exceptional_______ Proficient__ X _____ Needs Work__ ____

The author's writing demonstrates careful editing with attention to stylistic choices such as use of strong verbs, use of attributive tags, strategic use of punctuation and unified paragraphs. Writer uses logos, pathos, and ethos to give their writing depth.

Exceptional_______ Proficient___ X _____ Needs Work_

Careful use of attributive tags and in-text citations:

Does the author introduce borrowed words or ideas by using attributive tags? Are all borrowed words and facts noted with in-text citations with the page number?


Exceptional__ _____ Proficient__ X ______ Needs Work__ ____



Works Cited:


a. Is it in proper format?

Proficient__ X ______ Needs Work__ ____


b. Is the text hanging?

Proficient__ X ______ Needs Work__ ____


c. Is it in alphabetical order?

Proficient__ X ______ Needs Work__ ____