The American Journey:
A Sequence of Writing Assignments
Cassandra Shott
Dr. Hall
Eng 110 – Section 72
Draft 1
March 30, 2005
Table of Contents
Introduction. 1
English-Language Arts Standards.
3
Theoretical Rationale. 5
Overview.. 6
Assignment Sequence. 8
Travel Journal 8
Topic and Setting. 10
Annotated Source List 12
Creative Essay. 14
Hypertext Map. 17
Published Hypertext Document 18
Works Cited. 20
My class is an eighth grade
combined Language Arts and Social Studies class in a small, semi-rural town in Riverside County. My students are a diverse
group, consisting of 11 Caucasian students, 14 Mexican-American students and four African-American students. Five of these
students are English Language Learners, but the number of bilingual students is even higher. About
half of the class receive free or reduced lunches, so we are a fairly average classroom n Southern California. Our school
does provide us with great technological resources, however. All of our classrooms include wireless Internet service and we
average about 3 students per computer.
My class has been studying
the idea of American journeys all year in both history and language arts. We have learned about the founding of the United
States, immigration, westward expansion, the Trail of Tears and the Underground Railroad. All of these topics deal heavily
with the idea of a great, life-changing journey. We have been working on several genres of writing as well. My students have
written small research papers, argumentative pieces, poetry, and literature responses. They have not had much experience within
my classroom writing narrative texts, but they have done it often in previous years. Their research methods need a lot of
help, and I have been struggling to get them deeply involved in any research project. We are now nearing the end of the school
year and they will be moving on to high school. This will be a major change for them, but I feel that an exciting project
that they can become personally involved in will be beneficial to their growth as students and give them a deeper understanding
of themselves as people.
Throughout the year we have read many primary source documents from American history, written by people who were on
journeys. My students have found these interesting, but I do not feel that they have a deep understanding for what people
went through in our history. Having rote knowledge of American history is not enough for me; I wish that my students gain
the understanding that comes with putting yourself in the shoes of another. I also believe that my students would benefit
from having a larger audience for their work. They are getting older and have grown tired of just seeing the teacher’s
comments across the top of their paper. I would like them to experience publishing their work for a larger audience. My goal
for my students is for them to gain a deep understanding for the people who built America. I also want them to compose a creative
work of fiction that will be published and appreciated by a larger audience than just me and their classmates. I hope that
they will develop a passion for writing, and understand how they can use research, reflection and creativity to craft a wonderful
work of writing.
There are many standards
that are addressed in this sequence of writing assignments. All of the assignments will be held to standard grammatical and
written language conventions. This is defined as an eighth grade standard in the written and oral language section number
1.0. It is important that my eighth grade students be able to use correct grammar, sentence structure, and spelling conventions.
They will soon be moving on to high school and will fall behind if they are unable to communicate clearly in the written form.
I will hold all of my students to these standards.
Reading standard 3.4 states that students will analyze the relevance of the setting to the mood, tone, and meaning
of the text. For assignment two my students will be writing a brief summary of the topic and setting that they wish to
write about. We will then have small group discussion of these topics and settings to help the students work on their ideas
and analyze new ways of approaching their topic and the way that their setting will affect their piece. I believe that this
standard applies to writing as well as reading. Reflective readers who can understand the importance of setting are more able
to become writers who can use setting as a way of more effectively communicating to other readers.
Most importantly my assignment sequence highlights many of the eighth grade writing standards. First is the ability
to establish coherence within and among paragraphs through affective transitions, parallel structures, and other writing
techniques (Writing, 1.2). We will discuss this when working on our essays, but it will become more important during the
hypertext portion of this sequence. Hypertext is a nonlinear writing style and transitions are very important to the readability
of the piece. Rather then making one paragraph flow straight into the next, the reader can choose various paths from within
a paragraph. These links have to flow well in within the paragraph and when a reader moves to the next page, the connection
between the two must be made with transition. The hypertext map assignment focuses heavily on creating solid transitions that
help the piece to flow. The rewriting of the essay in hypertext will also serve as a revision period for my students. They
will have to look at their piece in a new light because it will be constructed in a new format. This revision ties to writing
standard 1.6, which states that students will revise writing for word choice, appropriate organization, consistent point
of view, and transitions between paragraphs, passages, and ideas. We will spend time peer reviewing papers and discussing
changes that can be made or areas where more detail or information is needed.
Research is another important section of this assignment sequence. Writing standard 1.4 states that students will plan
and conduct multiple-step information searches by using computer networks and modems, the Internet is a vital piece of
my assignment sequence. The students will be using it both as a resource and as an audience. I will require an annotated source
list, encouraging students to organize the information that they find online and use the most important parts. The Internet
is vast and finding relevant information can be disorienting, an annotated source list will help my students to organize what
they have found and use it to their advantage.
Finally
my students will be composing a 700 word essay, which is writing standard 2.0. This essay will be based on the above standards
as well as meeting standard 2.1, where students will write biographies, autobiographies, short stories, or narratives.
Writing standard 2.1 also makes several other points, which will be a part of the assignments requirements and important in
the assessment of my students work. These include well-chosen details, revealing the writer’s attitude, and employing
descriptive strategies. Following these hallmarks, my students will explore themselves and the importance of the American
journey.
The best tasks for learning
are those that are active and meaningful. This assignment sequence is both of these things. John Mahyer points out that “without
[] an active role in their learning experiences in school, [students] will never be able to continue to be active, self-motivated
learners after they leave school” (p. 287). What a student does or does not do after school is the true judge of the
success of an education itself. I want my students to be independent and intrinsically motivated learners. I believe that
this assignment sequence encourages active learning because students are keeping personal journals, choosing their own topics,
and planning their research. We will also be discussing our papers in small groups and making multiple revisions for different
formats. Discussion in the classroom is vital to learning. Hillocks goes in depth about the importance of “the need
for active discussion of ideas and language, for continuing dialogue about meanings, especially in class rooms” (p.
7). Incorporating in class discussion of ideas is a very simple way to encourage active learning.
The ability to move forward in creating a creative or personal narrative is very useful in one’s life. We use
narrative to explain, share our feelings, and relate experiences. It is a primary format for daily communication. The usefulness
of learning such a genre cannot be underestimated. The assignment sequence that I will outline in the pages to follow is also
profoundly meaningful to the writer/learner. The paper is not merely going to be created in order to turn in to the teacher.
Instead I have expanded the audience out beyond the walls of the classroom, giving my students the chance to become web published
authors in their own right.
Your main
writing task for these next eight weeks will be to create a narrative with a researched historical setting for eventual publishing
on the World Wide Web.
For this
assignment you will do the following:
v
Research a period of American history which is interesting to you.
v
Reflect on journeys that you have experienced
v
Use both personal experience and research to develop a creative essay.
v
Use hypertext to publish your narrative on the World Wide Web.
There
are several purposes for this project:
v
You will gain in-depth knowledge about a period of American history
and the experiences of those who lived then.
v
You will reflect upon your own experiences as a traveler and gain
deeper understanding of the people in our nation’s history who have undergone great journeys.
v
You will compose a work of creative fiction using researched details.
v
You will experience writing and publishing for a larger audience
(ie. The World Wide Web).
I have
divided this project into a series of steps so that we can work through it together. Each step will be an assignment in itself,
all leading up to a completed hypertext page that you can share on the World Wide Web. I have included an assignment description
for each of the steps so that the progression is clear and successful. The assignments are as follows:
1) Travel
Journal – In this journal you will reflect on travel experiences of your own as well as those of other’s that
you have either heard or read about.
2) Topic
and Setting – You will write a short summary of your topic and the setting of your story. We will then discuss these
topics and settings in small discussion groups.
3) Annotated Source List
– A list of your sources with short summaries and personal comments on each source.
4) Creative Essay –
A 700 word creative narrative about a journey from American history.
5) Hypertext Map –
The paper you wrote in assignment 4 will be broken up and mapped to prepare for publishing your hypertext.
6) Published Hypertext Document
– A multiple page hypertext document which includes various links within the pages that helps your audience to share
your journey with you.
Relationship to Course Content Objectives
During
the eight weeks of this unit you will be keeping a journal of your personal experiences with both journeys in your personal
life and reflections on journeys we have read about in class. This journal will be shared between you and me, and will serve
as a record of ideas and inspiration. Reflection is an important part of this writing process and your journal will become
a way to remember your ideas and show how your thinking has changed over time.
Your Interest in and Understanding of the Topic
Your travel journal is
a place to sort out your experiences, reflections, and story ideas for this project. It will be with you throughout the entire
process and you should use it as a way of keeping track of your thoughts and progress. I will also be reading through these
journals and can help you in places where you seem stuck or make note of wonderful observations and reflections. The entries
in your journal can track your research and should contain reflections on readings both in class and out. Even conversations
you have had with others can find a place in this journal. You may draw pictures, cut and paste photos or anything else that
is helpful to you as a writer for ideas and inspiration.
Purpose
This journal will be kept
so that you can gather information and plan your final hypertext project. It will also be a way of communicating privately
with me so that I give you help when it is needed. The journal should help you to sort out your thoughts and keep your project
organized. Finally, your travel journal will help to keep your entire project moving forward toward your final hypertext.
Audience
The travel journal will
be primarily for you, but also so that I can follow your processes of researching and writing a creative essay. You can use
the journal to collect your own thoughts as well as to communicate with me throughout the project. I will be reading these
journals and answering questions or giving assistance where needed. It will be a two-way communication for us over the course
of this project.
Conventions and Genre or Form
You will use a spiral bound
notebook to keep your journal in. It will be handwritten, but your writing must be neat and legible. You will also write down
the dates of all entries. Your entries can be brief, but must be detailed and show deep thought and reflection.
Sources of Information
Information for your journal
will mostly come from your own experiences and feelings. Passages from books, primary sources, and class discussions can be
great sources of information and inspiration as well. All resources that you find interesting or useful need to be documented
with bibliographic information.
Assessment
I will be collecting your
journals every two weeks throughout this unit. I expect you to keep writing in this journal throughout the entire project.
At the end of this unit I will be collecting the entire journal and points will be awarded based on how often you wrote and
the quality of your reflections.
Relationship to Course Content Objectives
Choosing a topic can be
the biggest obstacle to overcome in writing an essay. This assignment will give you a chance to explore your ideas with your
classmates and me. Through exploring your ideas with each other you ideas for your piece will become more concrete in your
mind. Setting plays a major part in writing and it is important to put time into creating your setting.
Your Interest in and Understanding of the Topic
It is important to consider
how your setting will affect the mood and tone of your piece. Discussing this with classmates may bring out angles that you
had not thought of and will help you to think through the topic of your piece. It is important to discuss ideas for writing
in order to see how audiences will react to your finished piece. Discussion can also help you to solidify your idea in your
mind before beginning to write. The written portion of this assignment will serve as a launching point for discussion, it
should by know means become the ceiling for discussion.
Purpose
The topic and setting paper will serve as a way to get your ideas down on paper and for you to receive some input back
on them. The small group discussion should stimulate some good conversation about a wide variety of topics which people have
chosen to write about. You may decide during the discussion to amend your topic or setting, and this is fine.
Audience
The audience for this short
paper will primarily be your classmates, but I will also collect it and look over what you have selected. You will be discussing
these topics within a small group and making changes as you see fit. This paper is not a contract; you may make changes in
your setting and topic. Changes are a natural part of the writing process. I want you to talk over your ideas with your classmates
and receive input on your essay.
Conventions and Genre or Form
This will be typed, double-spaced,
and in 12 point font. Please bring two copies so that you can make notes for yourself on one and hand in the other to me.
This should be no longer than a page, but no shorter than two paragraphs.
Sources of Information
Drawing from what you have
learned in class this year and your own personal experiences form a rough summary of your topic and setting idea. You do not
need any deep research here, just your own mind and background knowledge.
Assessment
Both the written summary
and your participation in our small group discussion will be important in your grade for this assignment. I will expect you
to come prepared to small group discussion, with a complete summary of your topic and setting on paper. This topic and setting
paper will be collected by me and I will be meeting with each of you to discuss your topic. I also expect that you will be
an active participant in your small group, making suggestions to others and helping each other to solidify for ideas for topic
and setting.
Relationship to Course Content Objectives
Research is important for
all writers. Planning and organizing research makes writing much easier and more enjoyable. An annotated source list includes
a short summary of each of your research sources, including details that are important to your essay. The annotated source
list that you will create can be shared with other people interested in the same topic or time period to create a larger network
of information for all of us.
Your Interest in and Understanding of the Topic
Your annotated resource
list will be your chance to summarize and organize your resources. By writing the annotations you will gain a larger understanding
for the research you have collected and understand which parts are most important to your final project.
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to help you organize your sources and to share the resources around the
classroom. The sharing of resources is important in community of authors. It is important that you organize your resources
in one place and that you are able to pull the most important information from them. An annotated resource list can help you
to achieve these goals and move forward in the writing process.
Audience
The audience for this assignment
will be people who are interested in learning more about the period of American history that you have selected. Rather then
having to begin their research from scratch, I want your resource list to serve as a launching point. Make sure that you describe
the sources with enough detail that someone with little knowledge of the topic would be able to determine if the source was
interesting and useful to them.
Conventions and Genre or Form
Your list must be typed,
double-spaced and in 12 point font. You will include a minimum of five sources. For each source include a complete citation.
Then write a paragraph summarizing the source and explaining how the source in useful to you and your topic. The finished
document should be about 2-3 pages long.
Sources of Information
We will be visiting the
library and searching online for resources. Articles, speeches, journals, and many other resources are available on the Internet
to enrich your understanding of the time period you are interested in writing about.
Assessment
Your resource list will
be graded based on the number of sources that you have included and the completeness of your summaries. You resources must
be relevant to your topic and you must show me how you will be using them to write your paper.
Relationship to Course Content Objectives
Writing a creative essay
is a great way to write for pleasure. It will allow you to reflect on what we have learned about American history this year,
people who packed up their lives and left on life-changing journeys. We have learned about many different journeys in American
history and this essay will give you a chance to put this information to a creative use. You will be incorporating both your
reflections from your journal and the information from your research to develop a creative narrative of your own.
Your Interest in and Understanding of the Topic
Writing creatively is a
great way of reflecting on books you have read and topics that you have studied. To walk in another person’s shoes is
a powerful way to learn about our history and has much longer lasting effects that merely reading about another’s experience.
We have all had experiences where we went through a change or embarked upon a journey. We can relate to those who moved thousands
of miles, even though we may have only moved to the next city.
Purpose
This essay has several
purposes.
ü
This creative essay will serve as the basis for the hypertext that
you will later create. Many people find it easier to create a hypertext if they have first written it down in a linear way.
ü
This creative essay will be a way of sharing your feelings and reflections
with a much larger audience.
ü
This essay will help you to gain an appreciation of the people in
American history that we have been studying.
Audience
Your creative essay will
be shared with your classmates and later, a larger audience on the World Wide Web. It should also be of meaning to you as
the author, a reflection of your feelings and experiences.
Conventions and Genre or Form
This will be typed, double-spaced
and in 12 point font. The essay should be at least 700 word sin length, or about 4 pages. This will be a creative endeavor,
so it is up to you to decide the format for your essay. Do not copy from any of your sources, they are meant to give you an
understanding of the time period, not to provide you with your whole piece. This assignment will consist of two drafts, so
be prepared to share your first draft with your classmates.
Sources of Information
You will use your sources
from your annotated source list. You can also use conversations, interviews and most importantly, your own brain! You do not
need text references, just a general feeling and understand of the time period and details that show your research and knowledge.
Assessment
Spelling, grammar, punctuation,
and sentence structure will all be important in your final essay. You will also be graded on how well you incorporate historical
details into you story and on the depth of reflection that your writing shows. I want you to adhere to the conventions that
I have listed above and I want to see that you have put time and effort into crafting your essay. You must have your first
draft prepared for peer revision in class and make the appropriate revisions for a final draft. I will give you feedback on
this essay that you can use in crafting your final, published hypertext document.
Relationship to Course Content Objectives
The hypertext map is a
way of taking your linear narrative that you composed during assignment 4 and breaking it up in preparation for developing
your hypertext. It is important to consider which sections can stand by themselves and what the most affective transitions
are between pages. Breaking down an essay into its various parts can often help us to revise and see our writing in a new
light.
Your Interest in and Understanding of the Topic
Working with hypertext
can be disorienting at first. Creating a map can help you to sort through the process and make you take a deeper look at your
writing. You will highlight important sections and phrases. These will become links and move the reader to connected sections
of your hypertext. Transitions are very important, so you will need to pay close attention to them.
Purpose
The hypertext map is an organizational tool for
creating your hypertext document.
Audience
The audience for this hypertext
map is primarily you. It will also serve as a way of communicating to me as the teacher about your progress and understanding
of the assignment. These maps may be shared with classmates for input, but it is not required. They are an organizer for you
as a writer, so that you do not get lost while working on the final hypertext version of your essay.
Conventions and Genre or Form
This can be done in a variety
of ways, but should include a map or diagram and a separated essay. The links in each section should be clearly marked and
all pages must have a short heading. Also include a list of the headings and how many pages your document will have. Any text
should be typed rather than hand written.
Sources of Information
This will be based on your
creative essay. I will also provide the class with examples of hypertext maps.
Assessment
You hypertext map will
be graded based on the quality of your transitions, your choices on page breaks and the quality of your completed document
map. There are several organizational strategies that you may use, but they all must be neat, legible, and useful to you in
the planning of your final hypertext document. I will be discussing these maps with each of you so that both you and I understand
the direction in which your document in heading.
Relationship to Course Content Objectives
Your final hypertext document
will be published on the World Wide Web to share with friends, family, and the much larger audience out on the Web. You will
not just be creating a story that moves from start to finish, but rather a hypertext document that can be interacted with.
You may include pictures, links to other pages and various multimedia. It is even possible to receive feedback on your hypertext
creation from the readers on the Web.
Your Interest in and Understanding of the Topic
Your final project for
this unit is to design a hypertext based on the creative essay that you wrote for assignment 4. You will share this hypertext
on the World Wide Web. Publishing a written work for yourself and for praise
is a highly rewarding experience and hope that you have enjoyed this process.
Purpose
The purpose of creating
a hypertext version of your creative essay is twofold:
ü
To create an interactive journey for your readers
ü
To share your work with a much larger audience
Audience
The audience for this final
hypertext is virtually unlimited! We will be posting our creations on the World Wide Web for everyone to see. We will be sharing
them with other students, teachers, our families, and friends.
Conventions and Genre or Form
You will construct your
final hypertext by using StorySpace in the computer lab. It should include some media elements, either pictures or
sounds. The final document will be published on the school district’s web site to share with the world.
Sources of Information
This assignment is based
on your creative essay and hypertext map. You will also be using the Internet and library to find possible pictures and other
media for your final hypertext document.
Assessment
Your hypertext document
will be graded based on ease of navigation, creativity and use of a theme. Flashy graphics and music are not as important
as working links and a believable atmosphere. I want to see that you have considering the tone and setting of your piece when
adding colors and images. Your hypertext needs to illustrate interactivity with the text, letting readers share your journey
with you.
Hillocks,
George, Jr. Teaching Writing as Reflective Practice. New York: Teacher’s
College P, 1995.
Mayher,
John S. Uncommon Sense. Portsmouth, NH: Boyton/Cook Publishers, 1990.
