Writing Is Making Sense of Our Personal Stories

WRITING I

(SECONDARY)

ESSENTIAL UNIT 2 (E02)

(The Personal Essay)

(July 2014)

Writing is making sense of our personal stories.

Unit Statement: The student will explore the significance of their personal experiences and the people and places and artifacts that may have had a defining role in the student’s development. The objective of this unit is to develop descriptive and narrative writing skills which are important in all areas of the student’s academic and personal life. The student will compose a minimum of three short (500 word) pieces of personal writing including one narrative. (E02) should be used to teach (E01) The Writing Process as a critical thinking skill. The time frame for this unit, if taught in conjunction with (E01) The Writing Process, is approximately twenty-seven classroom hours.

Essential Outcomes: (must be assessed for mastery)

1. The Student Will annotate elements of effective writing (character development, specific details, narrative structure, conflict and dialogue) in the personal narrative model texts.

2. TSW describe with specific details.

3. TSW revise for specific, active verbs.

4. TSW develop a text that reveals the personality of the narrator.

5. TSW construct a narrative with conflict.

6. TSW structure the text following thematic or chronological sequence.

7. TSW incorporate dialogue within the text.

8. TSW revise the text to demonstrate showing versus telling.

Introduced Outcomes: (taught, not assessed)

1. The Student Will formulate interview questions related to a particular topic in the student’s essays.

2. TSW peer review a fellow student’s autobiographical piece(s).

3. TSW self-assess writing completed for this unit.

Practiced/Ongoing Outcomes: (development is ongoing)

1. The Student Will annotate and analyze model texts to define effective writing.

2. TSW use reading and vocabulary building strategies to improve English proficiency.

3. TSW present a selected text from the autobiographical pieces in the oral tradition of storytelling.

4. TSW create a series of interview questions related to discovering significant influences in a person’s life.

Key Terms and Concepts:

QSI WRITING I SEC E02

Narrative

Plot

Conflict

Artifact

Telling / Showing

Sensory Details

Figurative Language

QSI WRITING I SEC E02

Suggested Student Materials: (provided by school)

· “Autobiography.” Reading Critically, Writing Well – Chapter 2 (pp 19-80).

· “Narrative Writing.” Write Source (pp 88-143)

Suggested Professional Materials For Teachers: (provided by school)

· “Autobiography.” Reading Critically, Writing Well – Chapter 2 (pp 19-80).

· “Narrative Writing.” Write Source (pp 88-143)

Additional Resources: (may not be provided by school)

· House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

· In Brief: Short Takes of the Personalby Judith Kitchen & Mary Paumier Jones, editors

· In Short: A Collection of Brief Creative Nonfiction by Judith Kitchen & Mary Paumier Jones, editors

· In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction by Lee Gutkind, editor

· Short Takes: Brief Encounters with Contemporary Nonfiction by Judith Kitchen, editor

· The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate, editor

Technology Links:

· Destiny Webpath Express (found in school library)

· The Norton Field Guide To Writing (on-line)

· OWL: Purdue Online Writing Lab

· “This I Believe” (National Public Radio Archive)

· PB WORKS: On-line wiki used for drafting, revising, peer revising and editing.

Suggested Tools and Assessment Strategies:

Follow Donald Murray’s The Craft of Revision (E01 The Writing Process) to produce the texts for this unit.

Descriptive Details:

Ø Create a chart based on the five senses. Students add examples from the model texts and from their own writing.

Ø Create Venn Diagrams with the five senses – the middle (connecting circle) should be a specific impression (for example – ANGER) and all of the senses should illustrate the single impression. This will help students realize how smell and feeling might also be used rather than always relying on sight for descriptive details.

Dialogue:

Ø Students create a dialogue that conveys an idea about a person. Read dialogues. Classmates can guess what character trait is being revealed through the dialogue.

Ø Students write the same dialogue but revise the dialogue to represent formal, informal, colloquial/slang styles.

Revision: SHOW/Tell

Ø Provide students with basic sentences (The girl was wearing a beautiful dress.) Students formulate questions that are not answered in the statement (Who is the girl? Why is she wearing a dress? Where is she at? What kind of dress? What color of dress? Is it a designer dress? …) Students use the specific answers to revise the original sentence. Follow-up discussion: Which details are significant? Activity will aid students in generating specific details through questions and in selecting significant details to create a specific meaning.

Use the “Reading a Draft Critically” (RCWW 75-77) and “Troubleshooting Your Draft” (RCWW 78-79) to help students during the drafting and revision process.

Attached Rubric may be used to assess ALL essential outcomes (TSWs).

RUBRICS FOUND ON FOLLOWING PAGES………………………………………..

(E02) The Personal Essay (Unit Assessment Rubric)

Student Name: ______Date: ______

To receive a ‘B’ in the unit, a student must demonstrate “MASTERY” of all TSWs.

*To receive an ‘A’ in the unit, a student must demonstrate “ABOVE MASTERY” on TSWs 2- 5 and 7-8.

TSW / ‘A LEVEL / ‘B’ LEVEL / NOTES:
(TSW-1)
Annotate elements of effective writing / Offers insightful and perceptive explanations of effective writing in the texts. / Highlights specific elements of effective writing.
(TSW-2)*
Describe using details / Enhances the meaning of the text with selective details and figurative language. / Creates a visual image.
(TSW-3)*
Revise for strong, active verbs / Revises text with significant, active verbs to enhance imagery with limited prompting from the instructor. / Revises verbs based on prompting and feedback.
(TSW-4)*
Develop text that reveals personality of the narrator / Develops character with a specific focus significant to the topic of the piece of writing. / Develops basic image of character with descriptive details.
(TSW-5)*
Construct a narrative with conflict / Introduces and resolves a specific conflict that is central to the narrator’s personality. / An element of conflict is evident in the narrative.
(TSW-6)
Structure narrative according to chronological/thematic sequence / Illustrates thoughtful planning that contributes to the meaning and represents understanding of paragraphing and sequencing of text. / Follows a clear organizational structure.
(TSW-7)*
Incorporate dialogue into the text / Conveys specific, significant information that enhances the development of character or plot / Uses dialogue within the text with correct formatting.
(TSW-8)*
Revise text from “telling” to “showing” / Relies almost exclusively on showing and justifies any use of telling (in writing conferences or in self-assessments). / Illustrates an awareness of the difference between showing and telling through specific examples of revision.

Name: ______Date: ______

(E02) The Personal Essay (Suggested Student Self-Assessment Rubric)

Examples of Effective Writing:

Copy and paste (5) examples of “EFFECTIVE WRITING” from your Personal Essays. In the “explanation” column, discuss how the sample you have provided exemplifies EFFECTIVE WRITING. (Explanation should discuss the quality of the writing in terms of “how” it is written – not what the identified text means.)

Your Text: / Explanation:

Understanding Revision:

Select (3) examples of how you revised one of your Personal Essay texts. In the first column, copy and paste the initial text. In the second column, copy and paste the revised text. In the “Explanation” column, explain what guided you in making this revision and why the revised text is “more effective.”

Your Initial Text: / Revised Text: / Explanation:

Model Texts:

In a brief paragraph using specific references to one of the model texts annotated in this unit, discuss how the model text influenced your own writing.

YOUR RESPONSE:

The Significance of Writing:

In a brief paragraph, discuss how writing about one of your topics for this portfolio has affected your understanding and/or appreciation of the subject of your essay.

YOUR RESPONSE:

QSI WRITING I SEC E02