Essay #1:

What Writing Means to Me

Why?

• Summer workshop and talking about grammar
• Want them to see what writing is and could be
• Not assignment
• Assess where they are

What I Did

• 3 weeks of semester
• Interspersed lessons on grammar (summer workshop)
• Side note-now am having success with ACT English
• Read and discuss essays on what writing means to writers and people
• Analyze the essays and apply to their draft
• Quickwrites about how they feel about writing

Reading and Annotating

Use these annotation marks:

X ! ? +

(zoned out) (important) (question) (connection)

(At least! Please use more!)

Model Narratives

Read the first three narratives (Vigna, anonymous, and Chartrand).

Pay attention to how the writers organize and expand their thoughts.

Use these annotation marks:

X ! ? +

(zoned out) (important) (question) (connection)

(At least! Please use more!)

Person wearing black begins.

1. Which narrative did you like best? Least? Why?
2. What did you annotate as being important (!)? Why?
3. What connections (+) did you annotate?
4. What questions (?) did you annotate? Why?
5. How do these narratives help/hinder you writing your own narrative?

Analyzing Vigna’s Narrative

Answer the questions about Vigna’s narrative.

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Be prepared to discuss your claims as a class.

Links to Resources

edutopia: 4 Ways to Help Student Writers Improve

Essay Assignment and Rubric

Narrative Beginnings & Endings

Narrative Examples Analysis

What Writing Means to Me-Examples

Common Writing Challenges for High School Writers

Slide-Possible Articles I Found After

Links to Student Essays

Essay #1 (Student who enjoys class.)

Essay #2 (Student who does not like class and made it very clear day 1).

Essay #3 (SHOCKED. This student is tardy and has an aura of disdain for anything I do in class.)

Essay #4 (Very little revision help needed. She applied many of the advanced writing lessons I taught.)

Essay #5 (Student shared more personal thoughts on writing ability.)