Welcome to American Literature and Composition!

Week of August 4, 2009

Tuesday: Practice with Rubric Making – We will work together to practice creating rubrics to guide our work. We will begin by creating our classroom rules together.

Wednesday: We will begin class with a video, “Shift Happens,” which will open a discussion about how learning in the 21^st century has changed and why. We will then use a PowerPoint presentation to explore the importance of writing. Finally, if time permits we will work with partners to read, evaluate, and rank sample persuasive essays.

Thursday: Finish ranking essays, record and be ready to explain your rationale for ranking order in class discussion. After ranking is done, we will discuss the essays—what was good, what was bad, etc. and begin creating a rubric for an effective persuasive essay.

Friday: Introduction to the six traits of writing. More practice with sample essays. Begin “attacking” the prompt.