Writing Policy

Into The Wild Culminating Essay

Work Day

Don't waste informal speaking and writing opportunities; that is when you practice/hone your skills. 

Tomorrow you will write your essay in the following places:

2nd period - Library Floor Basement
5th period - DC
6th period - Library Floor Basement

Into The Wild Culminating Essay 2016 (100 points)                                                         

3AP Language and Composition

Choose from one of the following prompts and write a thoughtful essay. After typing your paper, submit it to turnitin.com and print a hard copy to hand in to me.

Argument Option 1: Consider carefully the following quotation from the “Author’s Note”:

Some readers admired the boy immensely for his courage and noble ideals: others fulminated that he was a reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity—and was undeserving of the considerable media attention he received (xi). --Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

Opinions on McCandless are clearly wide-ranging. What is yours? Write an essay in which you argue your view of McCandless, making sure to address possible counterarguments/opposing views. In a nod to Krakauer’s style of synthesizing information and opinions from diverse sources, support your argument with references from a variety of sources and chapters in the book.

General Guidelines:

Make sure your argument is central; use the sources to illustrate and support your reasoning. Avoid merely summarizing the sources. Support your argument with references to Into the Wild, as well as other appropriate evidence and examples from your readings, observations and experience. Indicate clearly which sources you are drawing from, whether through direct quotation, paraphrase or summary. MLA format, one inch margins on all sides. A minimum of five direct quotations, 1 ½  pages (single-spaced, Times New Roman) minimum, an original title for the essay, submitted to turnitin.com and a paper copy to me.

Argument Option # 2:

Consider the distinct perspectives expressed in the following statements:

If you develop the absolute sense of certainty that powerful beliefs provide, then you can get yourself to accomplish virtually anything, including those things that other people are certain are impossible.

--William Lyon Phelps, American educator, journalist, and professor (1865–1943)

I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn’t wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.

--Bertrand Russell, British author, mathematician, and philosopher (1872–1970)

In a well-organized essay, take a position on the relationship between certainty and doubt. Support your argument with references to Into the Wild, as well as other appropriate evidence and examples from your readings, observations and experience. Explain where Phelps and Russell’s view fit in with your own. In this essay you may synthesize observations from outside sources, but focus primarily on Into the Wild; make sure that at least half of the quotes you use are from Into the Wild.  A minimum of five direct quotations, 1 ½  pages (single-spaced, Times New Roman) minimum, an original title for the essay, submitted to turnitin.com and a paper copy to me.

ADVANCED PLACEMENT ENGLISH

The “AP Rubric”

9-8	Superior papers. The central idea (thesis) is intelligently chosen, focused, and developed with originality and imagination. Discussion acknowledges complexities, ambiguity and contradictions.  Essay reveals a sophisticated understanding of the passage/reading or topic. There is clear-cut organization - a clear central idea which is logically and skillfully subdivided (paragraphs), and developed by specific details.  The evidence and explanations used are appropriate and convincing, and the argument is especially coherent and well developed. The sentences are clear and logical and varied in structure.  The word choices (diction) are exact.  The paper is all but perfect in grammar, punctuation and spelling. In short, they are particularly impressive in their control of language.
7-6	Good papers. These papers are not quite as thorough, perceptive or creative as 9-8 papers; nevertheless, the paper is built around a good, focused, central idea (thesis).  Essay reveals a strong understanding of the passage/reading or topic. They are well-written but with somewhat less stylistic maturity and control than 8-9 papers. Still, the sentences on the whole are correctly and logically constructed, and the word choices are reasonably exact. In short, while they demonstrate the writer's ability to analyze a literary work or develop an argument, they contain less mature prose and reveal a more limited understanding of the complexities of topic(s) or theme(s) than do the papers in the 9-8 range.
5	Adequate papers.  Sometimes rather safe, these essays might not reveal the depth of insight or have the development that 6-9 papers possess. The central idea is adequate and relatively focused; however, the discussion of meaning or development of argument may be formulaic, underdeveloped, mechanical, or inadequately supported by the chosen details. Typically, these essays contain less sophisticated insights and/or writing than the stronger papers.  Nevertheless, the writing conveys the writer's ideas, stays mostly focused on the prompt, and contains at least some effort to produce analysis, direct or indirect. These essays reveal less control over the elements of composition and are not as well conceived, organized, or developed as the upper-half papers.  Sentences are at least logical and clear, even if they are not always smooth. Word choices are generally appropriate, though with occasional lapses.  The essay is relatively free of grammatical faults, although it contains some errors of punctuation, spelling, and other mechanics. Essentially, the writing may contain lapses in diction or syntax, but generally the prose conveys the student’s ideas.
4-3	Marginal Papers.  Discussion is likely to be unpersuasive, perfunctory, underdeveloped or misguided. The meaning they deduce or the argument they develop may be inaccurate or insubstantial and not clearly related to the question. Part of the question may be omitted altogether. The writing may convey the writer's ideas, but it reveals weak control over such elements as diction, organization, syntax or grammar. Typically, these essays contain significant misinterpretations of the question or the work they discuss; they may also contain little, if any, supporting evidence, and practice paraphrase and plot summary at the expense of analysis or argument.
2-1	These essays compound the weakness of essays in the 4-3 range and are frequently unacceptably brief. They are poorly written on several counts, including many distracting errors in grammar and mechanics. Although the writer may have made some effort to answer the question, the views presented have little clarity or coherence.

A Guide to Mr. Wesley’s Writing Assessment Policy

To speed the grading process and encourage students to learn to self-identify areas for improvement in their writing, I will do the following when assessing papers:

-        Spend a maximum of 10 minutes reading and assessing each paper; if issues with the paper require more time than that, I will ask the writer to conference with me before or after school. Written comments at the end of paper will be limited to a sentence or several bullet points.

-        Most of my annotations will be brief and simple; they are designed to alert the student to the presence of a strength or an area that needs improvement; they are not intended to serve as specific edits or revisions.

-        In the case of weaknesses/areas for improvement, I prefer the writer first attempts to figure out what the problem might be; if they can not identify and fix the problem, I encourage them to schedule a writing conference with me. In my 18 years of teaching, I have observed that most high school students can, with a little bit of direction, identify their writing problems; if after a concerted effort, they can not identify or figure out how to fix a problem, they should schedule a face-to-face conference (10 mins) with me.

-        My most common (and briefest) annotations are the following:

o   A star           in the margin indicates something good

o   A straight line drawn under a portion of text either simply acknowledges a point made or indicates something done well

o   A minus sign (-) in the margin indicates some sort of problem in the adjacent line/passage

o   A squiggly line under the text or in the margin may also be used to indicate some problem

 

o   A circle may also be used to indicate a problem, especially with spelling, lack of italics, capitalization, or punctuation (or missing punctuation)

-        Occasionally my annotations will be more specific:

o                means “well said” for something particular astute and/or well written

o                               means “awkward” wording (syntax, diction, or both)

o   “S” or “syn” means a problem with syntax (sentence structure)

o   “D” or “WC” means a problem with diction (word choice)

o   “P” means a problem with punctuation

o   “I” means italicize

o   “C” or three lines under a letter mean capitalize

o   “?” means something doesn’t make sense or is missing

Rewrite Policy…

Student must have completed all draft and peer reviews to be eligible for some form of rewrite.

Rewrite and revision work will be offered for most major process papers (and some in-class papers) and the rewrite may take several forms; the type of rewrite offered will be dependent on Mr. Wesley’s professional judgement about what will promote the most learning while still being fair and reasonable for the student(s) and teacher.  Rewrite options will typically be one of the following listed below, and Mr. Wesley will determine which type of rewrite a student(s) a may complete.

1)     Focused revision targeting one or two specific skills

2)     Complete rewrite requiring a new paper in response to a new prompt or a completely new approach to the original prompt