Baseline+Essay

Baseline Essay (Benchmark Below)
Assess by Sept. 22 ? Pull-Out Sept. 25 ||
 * Use SAT Rubric
 * SEPT. || Baseline Essay (writing) || Teach Critical Reading


 * Prompts address Reading/Writing Sequence 9th (A) and 11th (A & B).

Learning Outcomes

 * Utilize and master a number of deep reading strategies including “Marking the Text” “Writing in Margins” “Charting” “Chunking”
 * Read critically (identify theses, claims, text support, structure,) to better understand audience, author’s purpose, and content development (R 2.1, 2.2)
 * Read critically (identify theses, claims, text support, structure,) to better understand audience, author’s purpose, and content development (R 2.1, 2.2)
 * Demonstrate control of grammar, diction, and paragraph sentence structure and an understanding of English usage
 * Identify and compose sentences using the four basic sentence patterns
 * Identify and use transitions/coherence devices between sentences and paragraphs to demonstrate a clear connection among ideas, basic grammar, and punctuation.
 * Produce legible work that shows accurate word choice and spelling and correct punctuation and capitalization
 * Analyze and evaluate author’s implicit and explicit claims, assumptions or beliefs as credible and relevant (R 2.4, 2.5)

Eleventh Grade
2009-2010 Prompt: __Topic__

//Strip Searches in School// (AVID Weekly Article- LA-Times Washington Post 4/20/09)

The Constitution guarantees us legal rights some of which include freedom of religion and speech, as well as protection from wrongful persecution and unreasonable search and seizure (taking property). According to the LA-Times Washington Post article, "Strip Searches in Schools," a thirteen-year-old girl was strip searched by school officials because she had been accused of possessing and distributing prescription strength ibuprofen and anti-inflammatory pills to a friend.

Use the following questions to guide your essay writing: //Are there situations that should require a strip search? In what particular situation would it be all right to incorporate a strip search? Are strip searches inappropriate, why or why not? What other means of finding illegal materials might be used instead?//


 * Prompt:** //**Should school officials be permitted to strip search students?**//

__Directions__ Write an essay in which you **challenge** (disagree with) OR **support** (agree with) the following question //**Should school officials be permitted to strip search students?**//. Your essay/argument must include **background information** about the Savana Redding incident, contain a **thesis** indicating your overall position, **facts/examples** to support your thesis, **commentary/analysis** which explains your thinking and CONVINCES/PERSUADES you essay's reader (this is your purpose!).
 * Mark the text as you read the article.

It should be an example of your best writing. I will be looking at your:


 * organization (intro, body, conclusion-paragraphing)
 * clear position (thesis)
 * overall development (length and completion)
 * use of concrete examples (article, personal experience, observation, etc)
 * depth of thinking and logic (logos)
 * diction (academic vocabulary)
 * sentence structure (variety)
 * conventions of English (grammar and mechanics)

Benchmark Essay
Date: January 12, 2010 Calibration: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 (after school, 3-4pm) Marking the Text and Written Response: AVID Weekly article: //Texting Changes Life for Teens, Families// by Donna St. George

Does too much texting lead to an inability to focus and be 100% in the moment?

Some people today believe that the rise in texting among today’s youth has become an addiction to instant communication and gratification. It has created a generation who cannot appreciate the benefits of face to face conversation as well as led to a decline in writing skills such as spelling, word choice, and writing complexity.

Write a persuasive essay in which you agree, challenge or qualify the previous statement. Support your ideas with information pulled from the article and your own personal experience and/or observations.
 * Mark the text as you read the article.

Learning Outcomes

 * Utilize and master a number of deep reading strategies including “Marking the Text” “Writing in Margins” “Charting” “Chunking”
 * Demonstrate mastery of grammar, diction, and paragraph sentence structure and an understanding of English usage
 * Compose sentences using the four basic sentence patterns
 * Demonstrate accurate use of transitions/coherence devices between sentences and paragraphs to develop sophisticated connections among ideas, basic grammar, and punctuation.
 * Produce legible work that shows sophisticated word choice and accurate spelling and correct punctuation and capitalization

**12th (Persuasive):**

 * Mark the text as you read the article.

“Each of us is fascinated by stories of crime and violence. Perhaps we are curious about the varieties of experience that come to people, or perhaps we are cleansing ourselves of the violence of our own emotions.”

Your task is to provide an argument as to why and to what extent human beings are fascinated by stories of crime and violence. Support your argument with specific illustrations from your readings, studies, observations, or experiences.

It should be an example of your best writing. I will be looking at your:


 * organization (transitions from personal incident to implications to final awareness)
 * overall development (length and completion)
 * depth of thinking and logic (logos)
 * diction (academic vocabulary)
 * figurative language (sensory details, metaphors, similes, etc.)
 * sentence structure (variety)
 * connection to the universal (*hint- how might others connect with this particular idea?)
 * conventions of English (grammar and mechanics)

Date: By June 4th, 2011 Calibration: Monday, June 7th, 2010 (3-5 pm)/No calibration 2011 Speech to the Second Virginia Convention (Patrick Henry)
 * BENCHMARK ESSAY (Currently under revision for 2010-2011) **
 * For 2011 - We will only be using the Marine letter as our text.*


 * [[file:THE Marine.doc]]



On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry stood before fellow delegates at the Second Virgina Convention and thundered his famous challenge, "Give me liberty or give me death." Henry was one of the leaders of the growing opposition to British rule in the American colonies.

Consider the freedoms you see as vital to the success and/or happiness of mankind. Think of and reflect on a liberty you were given, enjoyed and lost. What did you learn about the importance of the liberty and freedoms we take for granted? For what liberties would you risk your life? Think about people who might be denied these same liberties. To what extent are we (privileged citizens) responsible for the safeguarding of those fundamental freedoms worldwide?

Write an essay that reflects on the questions listed above regarding human liberties.
 * Mark the text as you read the speech and letter.

It should be an example of your best writing. I will be looking at your:


 * organization (transitions from personal incident to implications to final awareness)
 * overall development (length and completion)
 * depth of thinking and logic (logos)
 * diction (academic vocabulary)
 * figurative language (sensory details, metaphors, similes, etc.)
 * sentence structure (variety)
 * connection to the universal
 * conventions of English (grammar and mechanics)

For Future Consideration:

The Captain in Joseph Conrad’s story //The Secret Sharer// confesses, “I was somewhat of a stranger to myself.” The captain discovered, through the course of the story, much about himself, much he had not known before. Some human beings discover that they have enormous good inside themselves. Mother Teresa is one example. Others show they contain enormous evil. Adolf Hitler sent millions to the gas chambers. Write an essay, based on personal experience, literature or history, in which you reflect on what exists inside the hearts of all people. What conclusion can you draw from your examples about the contents of the human soul? Are all men good or evil?

Consider the following statement by Henry Ford//: “Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this.”// Think about your own life as a series of experiences. You will remember some as happy and successful, but you will look back to others that were failures, with sadness. Write an essay which explores the significance of an experience in your life that you thought was a ‘disaster’ at the time, but which in retrospect made you a ‘bigger’ or better person.

Consider the following statement by Joe Clark//: “If there is no discipline, there is anarchy. Good citizenship demands attention to responsibilities as well as rights.”// Rules and regulations are a part of everyone’s life. Some are necessary, others seem unfair and in need of change. Consider a specific rule or regulation that you’ve had to deal with sometime in your high school career. What is its purpose? How does it affect you? Why do you endorse it, or why you think it should be changed? Keep the quote in mind as you reflect. (Hint: you don’t need to like a rule to understand its usefulness or necessity…)

Consider the following quote from Rudolfo Anaya’s book __Bless Me Ultima:__ //“If a person really wants to know, then he will listen and see and be patient. Knowledge comes slowly.”// In every experience, there is something to be learned-something to be used to further extend the ability to live life. Write an essay that discusses the experiences that teach us and cause us to grow and mature. Search for the meaning of the previous statements not only as they apply to you, but also as they apply to others who also grow, mature and change throughout life. You might consider that life does not consist of specific destinations, but is rather a journey of encounters, which tend to change and mold us as we are exposed to new and varied experien