Teaching Adolescent Writers

Transcription

1 I. The goal of junior and senior high school is a high school diploma. No matter what interests and skills you have, your focus is earning your diploma. Why is a high school diploma important? Write an essay in which you explain your point of view. Use specific examples, reasons, and details to develop and support your point of view. 2. "Every man who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second, more personal and important, from himself."- Edward Gibbon Which education do you believe is most important; the education you have received inside the school system; or the education you have.received outside the school system? Why? Write an essay in which you 'explain your point of view. Use specific examples, reasons, and details to develop and support your point of view. 3. Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship have been identified as the pillars of character. Identify which of these pillars you believe is most important. Write an essay in which you explain your point of view. Use specific examples, reasons, and details to develop and support your point of view. 4. Students in this school district speak more than seventy-six languages! Many students enroll in classes to learn a second language. Do you think students should learn a language in addition to the language they already speak? Write an essay in which you explain your view. Use specific examples, reasons, and details to develop and support your point of view. 5. Taking a good look at ourselves is a useful thing to do. In this essay we want you to look at your strengths. Decide on one of your strengths as the topic for this essay. Write an essay in which you explain what you think is one of your most significant strengths. Explain why you think that strength is important by showing how that strength helped you in several instances. 6. All humans make choices or decisions daily. Some are important; some are not so important. We choose what clothes to wear. We decide whether or not to do our homework. We choose certain people for friends. Sometimes the decisions we make change our lives. Discuss an important decision you have made in your life. Explain the decision and how it affected you. Tell whether you would make the same decision again.

2 7. In our lifetime many people, places, and things change from what we remember from our youth. Sometimes the changes are subtle, like the repainting of a house down the street, while other times they are more obvious, like the demolition of a remembered landmark. In an essay describe a person, place, or thing that has changed in some way. Describe what it was like before the change and what it was like after the change. Tell your reader how you feel about the change. 8. We all dream about meeting a famous person, perhaps a movie star, a singer, or an athlete. We wonder, "What would it be like?" "Where would we go?" "What would we talk about?" If you could spend a day with a famous person, whom would you choose and what would you do? Identify a famous person with whom you would like to spend an entire day. Give details to explain how you would spend the day, where you would go, and what you would say. Make sure the reader knows why you chose this person. 9. All of us have heard about certain individuals who have become heroes when they were least expecting to. This may account for the fact that heroes are not born but rather are made by circumstances. What is your definition of a hero? Describe the characteristics of a hero. Cite a specific incident or circumstance where you believe someone acted heroically. 10. In twelve years of school most students spend time in more than fifty different classes and courses. With all that experience, students develop certain ideas about what they like and don't like about school and about the courses they take. Students have definite opinions about what schools "should" and "should not" be like. From your experiences, what ideas do you have for changing or improving schools? Identify one change you would make in order to improve your school. Explain how this change would make your school better or more effective. Give specific reasons to help the reader understand your position. II. The environment has become one of the major challenges of the past forty years. Air and water pollution, wildlife conservation, and control of waste materials are major concerns. Many individuals and groups have strong feelings about these issues. Do we have a responsibility to protect and preserve the environment? Why or why not? Give specific reasons to support your position. 12. Many television shows have characters who are teenagers. Although the people who write and direct these shows are adults, they try to portray the teenagers realistically. Sometimes these portrayals do not seem real to teenagers.

3 Write about a television show in which you think teenagers are portrayed realistically. Tell your reader what traits or actions make these characters seem real. 13. Another high school has just been built two miles from yours. A younger friend has the choice of attending your school or the new one next year. He has asked you to help him make the decision. Help your friend make the decision. Write a letter to your friend describing some of the advantages and/or disadvantages of choosing your high school. Try to be convincing. 14. In many novels, plays, and short stories, a character is challenged in some important way. As a result of the challenge, he or she changes for the good or for bad. The kind of change reveals an idea the author wants you to understand. For example, when a character becomes happier at the end of a novel than he was at the beginning, the author may be showing you what goes into making someone happy. Select one major character from a novel, play, or short story you have read. Write an essay in which you describe how the character changes and tell what the author wants you to understand about the character as a result of the change. The reader of your essay is familiar with the novel, play, or short story you select. 15. President Kennedy challenged Americans by saying, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." In some ways this philosophy can be applied to your school. Rather than only receiving benefits from your school, what can you do as a teenager to improve your school? Describe a condition at your school that needs improving, such as its appearance or the attitude of the students. Explain what you think you could do to help improve it. 16. During the time you have been in school, you have had many teachers. Each of these teachers was unique. Some of your teachers, such as art or shop teachers, had to have special talents besides teaching. Others, such as coaches and drama teachers, worked with students beyond the classroom. These qualities and teaching techniques made each of them different. Describe the qualities that make up an excellent teacher. Consider the good teachers that you have had and what made them good teachers. Use a specific anecdote(s) to support your description of an ideal teacher. 17. "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game."-vince Lombardi Explain what point the author is making in the quotation. Explain why you agree or disagree with the author. Give specific examples, reasons, and details to develop and support your point of view.

4 18. Your school newspaper is planning to publish a feature section on the best movies of the year, and, you have been invited to write about your favorite movie. Choose a favorite movie that you have seen. Write an evaluation of this movie. Support your evaluation with convincing details from the film. Don't just tell what happened. Consider such elements as why the main character and/or the setting was appealing, how you reacted to the central problem, and what feeling the film gave you. Convince other students who read your school newspaper that you favorite movie really is as good as you think it is. 19. "Sometimes we, ourselves, are our own worst enemies." From a novel, story, or play, select a character who seems to have, been his or her own worst enemy. Show how t4e character was able or unable to overcome these problems. Tell why you think the character was able or unable to do so. 20. A large number of students who begin high school do not graduate. Educators are concerned about this trend. Explain the cause of the high dropout rate from your point of view. Consider obvious and not-so-obvious causes. Support your explanation with examples from your own experience and/or from what you have read. 21. In an effort to reduce drug use on its campuses, the school district is paying an outside firm for the use of drug-sniffing dogs. These dogs are randomly brought on each campus to sniff student cars, lockers, and backpacks. In a multiparagraph essay, explain your position on this issue. Make sure the reader knows whether you support or oppose this policy. Support your thesis with specific examples and/or details. 22. In some high schools, many teachers and parents have encouraged the school to adopt a dress code that sets guidelines for what students can wear to school. Some teachers and parents support a dress code because they think it will produce an environment that is safer and more conducive to learning. Other teachers and parents do not support a dress code because they think it restricts the individual's freedom of expression. Should high schools adopt dress codes? Support your answer with specific reasons and examples to support your position. 23. We are all influenced by creative work found in our world. Choose a creative work (e.g. film, music, book, art, or poem) that has had a significant influence on you. Describe the work and tell the reader why the work is important to you. Make sure the reader understands how the work has influenced you.

5 24. The U.S. Postal Service has honored many individuals, from presidents to singers to cartoon characters, by placing their portraits on postage stamps. Whom would you nominate to honor with a postage stamp? Write an essay explaining to the reader whom you would choose to be honored on a postage stamp. Explain why that person should be honored, and support your nomination with specific examples and details. 25. Recent studies show that the amount of homework assigned to students is increasing. Students in kindergarten now are being assigned homework, and homework demands are intensifying at each subsequent grade level. Is this movement toward increasing homework a positive trend? Does more homework create more learning? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your experience and observations.