Class Assignments

Assignment 4: Chain Writing- An exercise in creative writing

In class, we will start a chain with each student writing a few sentences.  From this, you will take the story and add your own ending.  Be creative with this and have fun.  This is the last assignment for this camp.  I hope you all had fun and most importantly improved your writing.

Next week, the top 3 bloggers will be announced from each class.  Good luck!

Assignment 3: Reflective Essay: In response to "Spring" or "What adults can learn from kids"

In class, we watched the first chapter "Spring" in Kim Ki Duk's film "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring."   and  Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids.  The purpose of this essay is to write a simple "reflective essay" with the following in mind:


In the film, what lesson do you think the monk is trying to teach the young boy? Reflectively relate this learning process to your own personal experience.  

In the film, what lesson is Adora trying to teach adults? Reflectively relate this to your own personal experience and give examples.

Here is a simple outline for structure: 

1. An introduction with a very brief summary of what you saw in the film.  Try to limit your summary to about 4 sentences.  If we over-summarize, our reader will become bored.
2. A Body Paragraph where you relate your own personal experience.  As children (and even adults), we often "learn a lesson" from our parents or teachers.  Have you had similar experiences?  Can you provide a personal anecdote? This section of your essay is the most important, and can be more than one paragraph.  
3. A conclusion.  What is your overall opinion on how the old monk taught the young monk or how Adora presented her thoughts to the audience?  Was it too harsh?  Was it effective?  How should teachers and parents teach children? How should children teach parents and teachers?

When you transfer your in-class writing onto your blog, please title it "Reflective Essay:_________" with a suitable title of your own showing which video you are writing about.  To help interested readers know what you are talking about, please include this video from YouTube or the TED Talk, as they may wish to watch it themselves to form their own opinion.

Part 2



 

You can also chose to write about this video by Adora Svitak, a 12 year old blogger:

Adora is a blogger, visit her blog here:
 http://adorasv.blogspot.com/

If you need more help writing a reflective essay, please check out the following link:
http://www.essaywritinghelp.com/reflective.htm

The paper should be 500 words.  Good luck and I look forward to reading your blogs soon.

 

Assignment 2- Argumentative Essay

For this assignment, you will be writing an argumentative essay.  The topic of the essay is "Kony 2012".  Let's check it out:

Now that you have watched the video, you need to decide if you agree or disagree with what you have seen.  This will form your "thesis sentence".  For the remainder of the paper, you will present sources and evidence to support your thesis. The questions are:

Do you agree or disagree with the use of the video to capture Joseph Kony by making him famous, why or why not? 

Or do you agree with making criminals like Kony famous or not?

Some critics disagree with the video, you can watch a video against Kony 2012 here:

Things to remember when writing your argumentative essay:

You MUST choose one side or the other when you write an argument paper!
Don’t be afraid to tell others exactly how you think things should go because that’s what we expect from an argument paper. You’re in charge now, what do YOU think?

Do…	Don’t…
…use passionate language	…use weak qualifiers like “I believe,” “I feel,” or “I think”—just tell us!
…cite experts who agree with you	…claim to be an expert if you’re not one
…provide facts, evidence, and statistics to support your position	…use strictly moral or religious claims as support for your argument
…provide reasons to support your claim	…assume the audience will agree with you about any aspect of your argument
…address the opposing side’s argument and refute their claims	…attempt to make others look bad (i.e. Mr. Smith is ignorant—don’t listen to him!)

Please visit this link for more information:
http://www.roanestate.edu/owl/Argument.html

 The essay should be 500 words.  Please post your final draft after having it edited and making revisions.  Good luck!

Assignment 1- Three Things I know to be true

The first writing assignment is to share three things you know to be true.  These three things can be about anything you want- yourself, the world, a fact, science or anything else you can think of.  Remember to chose three things that you feel are interesting (no name, age or nationality allowed!).

Start with an introduction.  Tell your reader what this blog post is about.  Next, write the body.  The body will be 3 paragraphs each one starting with the thing you know to be true. Finally, write a conclusion to summarize what you have shared.

For a great example of this, please visit Nabi's ( my dog) blog.  He has written the assignment already and loves comments!

http://nabispaws.blogspot.kr/

Have fun wiriting, I look forward to reading your posts.  After you have completed your assignment, please click on a classmates blog and leave a comment for them.