Period 2: Life Advice That Works

Finish Strong.

First Quarter ends @ 2:15 on Friday afternoon. Please keep this in mind. As you know, vocabulary quizzes can be taken once a day until the end of the quarter and major assignments can be rewritten (if they were turned in on time) for the highest grade possible. Consult with snapgrades on how to best end the quarter (and make sure there are no mistakes in your gradebook--your grades are your responsibility too.)

10.26.09. 2nd draft of College Essay due. Argumentative Essay due. In class, we will do our presentations on A Doll's House as test prep.

10.27.09. No class, due to rotation.

10.28.09. finish presentations.

10.29.09. In-class 'essay-test' on A Doll's House (prompt is on page 4). This test is open book & open notebook. You will complete essay in my room over two class periods. If you need extra time, you must stay after school to complete. You may not take essay out of the room.

10.30.09. Finish Essay test. Will be graded on the following Rubric (rubric is on page 4). Reader's Notebooks will be collected and scored for the quarter based on the following rubric.

Things to keep in mind:

• I usually arrive an hour early to school. I am free periods 1, 4, & 5. I will be after school on Tuesday and Wednesday until 4:00ish.
• I will not be here on Thursday and Friday (professional development.) This will not affect your classroom experience. You will still report to class and take essay test.
• Highlighted phrases are links to assignments and rubrics. Please consult them!

Period 6: Life Advice That Works

Finish Strong.

First Quarter ends @ 2:15 on Friday afternoon. Please keep this in mind. As you know, vocabulary quizzes can be taken once a day until the end of the quarter and major assignments can be rewritten (if they were turned in on time) for the highest grade possible. Consult with snapgrades on how to best end the quarter (and make sure there are no mistakes in your gradebook--your grades are your responsibility too.)

10.26.09. 2nd draft of College Essay due. Argumentative Essay due. In class, we will do our presentations on A Doll's House as test prep.

10.27.09. finish presentations.

10.28.09. In-class 'essay-test' on A Doll's House (prompt is on page 4). This test is open book & open notebook. You will complete essay in my room over two class periods. If you need extra time, you must stay after school to complete. You may not take essay out of the room.

10.29.09. Finish Essay test. You will be graded on the following Rubric (rubric is on page 4). Reader's Notebooks will be collected and scored for the quarter based on the following rubric.

Things to keep in mind:

• I usually arrive an hour early to school. I am free periods 1, 4, & 5. I will be after school on Tuesday and Wednesday until 4:00ish.
• I will not be here on Thursday and Friday (professional development.) This will not affect your classroom experience. You will still report to class and take essay test.
• Highlighted phrases are links to assignments and rubrics. Please consult them!

Argumentative Essay

Due: Monday 10.26.09 in class. If papers are not typed, Times New Roman, 12pt. font and double spaced when you walk into class, it will be considered late. Textual evidence must also be properly cited.

The 2nd draft of your college essay is also due.

Choose one of the following two prompts:

• Who is the least sympathetic character is Ibsen's A Doll's House?
• Who is the most sympathetic character is Ibsen's A Doll's House?

You will be graded on the MHS Open Response Rubric.

College Essay Scoring Guide

Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies for Self-Portrait” (1976) is expected to sell for between $25 million and $35 million at Christie’s New York.

50 points--Grammar, mechanics, typos, spelling, & usage. Remember, this is your only impression to show yourself through language. No matter the content of your essay, careless mistakes make you seem--well, careless. And you do not want the college admissions team to think you are apathetic. I expect you to make sure the essay is flawless. I would be happy to suggest how to phrase things grammatically better, but I should not be spending my time fixing your careless typos and spelling errors (and I won't).

• 50 points--Writer demonstrates control of sentence structure, grammar and usage.
• 40 points--Errors do not interfere with communication. There are few errors relative to length.
• 30 points--Errors interfere with communication.
  

50 points--Insight and creativity, readability, and is your essay compelling? A note to remember your audience here and the purpose of your essay: All writers do this on some level--we consistently look at audience and purpose when we analyze writing. If you are using this to apply to college, keep in mind that the admissions officers are looking for intelligent and motivated students who will be successful at their school. Your essay should:

• Be personal (instead of general)
• Be concrete (instead of abstract--can you make your reader "see" your world?)
• Include anecdote (instead of summary--this is not a resume)
• Include a hook or lead
• Have sophisticated and / or subtle organization
• Show a sophisticated or subtle mastery of language
• AND AVOID CLICHE!

PLEASE PRINT THIS PAGE OUT AND ATTACH TO THE BACK OF YOUR ESSAY SO I CAN WRITE COMMENTS. WHEN YOU PRINT, MAKE SURE YOU ONLY PRINT THIS PAGE.

College Essay Scoring Guidelines

image: Jay DeFeo The Veronica, 1957; painting; oil on canvas, 132 in. x 42 3/8 in. (335.28 cm x 107.63 cm); Collection SFMOMA, Gift of Irving Blum; © Estate of Jay DeFeo / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The prompts provided are often a starting point—it’s not really about which prompt you choose to answer, but HOW you use the topic to write an essay.

Remember Borges, “people tend to prefer the personal to the general, the concrete to the abstract”. You will notice that the questions are vague, repetitive, and general. You could almost adapt any good essay to fit a prompt.

Anyway, here are the common application prompts:

Personal Essay Please write an essay (250 words minimum) on a topic of your choice or on one of the options listed below, and attach it to your application before submission. Please indicate your topic by checking the appropriate box. This personal essay helps us become acquainted with you as a person and student, apart from courses, grades, test scores, and other objective data. It will also demonstrate your ability to organize your thoughts and express yourself.

• Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.


• Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.


• Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
  Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.


• A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.


• Topic of your choice.
  
  

Image of Jay Defeo working on an early draft of "The Rose."