Tuesday: Cole, Jae-You, Anayat and Ori present Why Be Polite
Wed: Devon, Taylor and Adam present My Speech to the . . .
Wed: Sam, Ben, Vigan and Nathan When Does a Boy . .
Thurs: Mitch and Jake present Grim Fairy Tales
This weekend work on your personal essay. Interview someone pertinent to your topic. Criteria are below.
I returned the tests, the poems, and the USSR forms today.
We have four weeks to prepare for your final exam.
You may feel like you need extra help. Plan to stay after school Wednesdays for tutoring. If you are doing well, offer to tutor.
If you need a template for the literary paragraph structure--ASK!
At this stage, you need to create a plan.
Keep reading whenever you can. At least 30 minutes five times a week. Improve that vocabulary.
Essay
Criteria:
- Creative title
- Typed, double spaced
- EDITED, EDITED, EDITED
- Clearly organized – Put a lot of thought into organization
- Notes, outline, drafts attached – development must be apparent
- Bibliography
- Personal Interview: You must interview someone key to your topic and submit a recording or a written copy.
This
is the final project for this unit and it is worth a significant
number of marks. Take your time, plan, do a fantastic job!
*
Note: Essays must be original work, created for this class.
Original
Essay Ideas:
Ask
yourself:
What
is my most interesting story? What am I most interested in? What
makes me furious? What do I find outrageously hilarious / sickening
about human nature? What can I talk about in a fair degree of detail?
What do I have to say that needs to be said? What breaks my heart?
What makes my heart sing? What makes me unique? What have I taught,
learned, influenced? What is my greatest wish? What is my family's
best story? What is my best or worst memory? Who do I feel needs to
be honored.
Structure:
- Have a HOOK. Make your opening lines irresistible to your audience. Strongly consider starting in the middle of action.
- Organize your details to take your audience on a deliberate journey.
- Do we need background information? Do we need a setting? Do we need to think about some questions? Do we need a context or scenario? Do we need an image?
- How many examples / details are appropriate? What order should they go in? Are they chronological? Should one be a flashback? Should one consider the future? Are they interesting?
- Have a thesis. Make sure it is clear. (it should be implied through detail – show, don’t tell)
- Other Considerations
- use appropriate tone and diction for the style of your essay
- use consistent and appropriate tense
- Write every sentence as clearly as possible. Don’t use 10 words when you could say it more clearly in 5.
- check for clichés and boring images and details
- Read your essay out loud to someone. Have someone read it out loud to you.
- THE POWER OF ANY ESSAY IS IN ITS DESCRIPTIVE DETAILS! WE NEED TO SEE, HEAR, SMELL, SEE, TASTE, AND FEEL WHAT YOU ARE DISCUSSING.
- Often essays need a bit of research to verify facts. Don't be lazy, talk to your family and friends, hit Google etc...
- Literary Techniques: All great writing uses the tools of the trade: anecdotes, parallelism, unique, personal detail, allusion, rhythm, sentence variety, strong verbs, many small paragraphs, dialogue, direct and indirect quotes.
- Read the essays we have studied and use them as your models.
Due
date: _____________________________________________________
English
12 Personal Composition Name:
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Category
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Comments |
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Organization (5) |
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Descriptive Details (10) |
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English Conventions (10) |
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Essay Tool box (5) |
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Style (5) |
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Overall Impression (5) |
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