Professional Documents
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Dr. Hartman,
I sincerely wish that I had worked more closely with Emily on this assignment. I did
not do all that I could have to cultivate a classroom atmosphere via the internet. I
should have spoken directly with her about her process work and had her submit
that process work to me so that we could talk about it. There are several aspects of
the assignment that I should have talked through with her before I expected her to
read between my lines.
I changed just a few things about the overall design of the assignment, but the
majority of the work I am displeased with lies in the execution (assigning) of the
project and it is those things that I would fix. I laid all of my intentions out on paper
but not being present in a classroom atmosphere made me lazy I think. I was not
sure how to approach the assigning portion of the project other than to email Emily
with the appropriate handouts and tell her to let me know if she had any questions.
If I could reassign this writing project I would do so over video conference so that we
could talk about exactly what needed to happen with her story.
I also realize that I should have amended the rubric to reflect the environment for
the assignment in Emilys case and I have altered the rubric and Emilys grade to
compensate for those changed. I removed two portions of the rubric that I did not
use with Emilys assignment because they were irrelevant.
I can say that I enjoyed creating the assignment and I still think that this would be
fun to give to students one day. I have a dear friend who is a writing teacher at a
homeschool co-op in North Carolina and she asked my permission to use this
assignment with her students in the fall. I was able to share some of my reflections
with her so that she can modify the assignment for her classroom as well.
Thank you,
Sarah Anne
3
The standards that this assignment meets are as follows:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective
technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3.a
Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or
observation,
establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a
narrator and/or
characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or
events.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3.b
Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection,
and multiple
plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3.c
Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one
another to create a coherent whole.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3.d
Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to
convey a vivid picture
of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3.e
Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced,
observed, or
resolved over the course of the narrative.
Production and Distribution of Writing:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and
style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations
for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.5
Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting,
or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a
specific purpose and audience. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate
command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grades 9-10 here.)
4
Works Cited:
Common Core Standards Initiative. Common Core State Standards Initiative:
Preparing Americas Students for College and Career. Common Core
Standards Initiative, 2015. Web. 21 February 2015.
<www.corestandards.org>
(Student Handout)
We Built This City: Creating a Town through Short Stories
9th grade Literature: Spring 2015
Introduction: (What are we doing?)
We are beginning a semester long project in which we will create
a town together as a class (like William Faulkners Yoknapatawpha
county). We will decide on a setting, time period, demographic
and name for the town we create. After weve created our fictional
town, you will each write a short story about a character (or
multiple characters if you wish) who live in this fictional town. You
will go through each step of the writing process with your short
story in peer review groups and we will work throughout the
semester on completing your stories. When your stories are
finished we will share them as a class and then create a city map
of all our characters and where they live in our fictional city.
Purpose: (Why are we doing this?)
Storytelling is a very special form of art that allows us to create a
world in which we want our characters to live and then create
events, settings, and lifestyles for our characters to inhabit. I want
you all to see that you can create worlds with your words. I want
you all to see how precious your creativity is to the real world
that we live and breathe in every day.
Requirements: (What has to be in it?)
We will create the fictional town together and then everyone will
receive a handout of the specifics we outline for personal
reference during your creative process.
Your story should include:
-a narrative of a character who lives in the fictional town we
create
-a setting
-sensory descriptions (sight, sound, taste, touch, hearing)
-dialogue
-a PLOTLINE (this story has to move)
This story needs to have a beginning middle and end. I
want the final copy that you turn in to me to be a
finished product with an exposition, conflict, climax,
falling action and resolution.
-3 to 5 double-spaced pages
We will also create the town map together and everyone will
contribute to this process at the end of the project.
You are individually responsible for the development and
execution of your own creative process throughout the duration of
the project.
Notes: (Anything else I need to know?)
This is supposed to be fun. Enjoy working with your classmates to
create this fictional town. The more each of you enjoys the project
and really interacts with the assignment, the more all of us will
enjoy the project. Ill be writing a story along with you guys to
populate our town so well all get to experience it together.
Due Dates: (When do we need to turn this in?)
Excee Meets
ds (4 (3
point points)
s)
Somewh
at
meets
(2
points)
Does
not
meet
(0
points)
Emily Lewis
Ms. David
Writing Assignment
8
March 30, 2015
9
assignments, we really have no choice of whether or not we will stay. We
have to.