CURRICULUM MAP: 10042.map
Sophomore Writing Workshop (ACP/SCP/GEN) 121, 122, 123
Writing in the Descriptive Mode
TIME FRAME: 5-8 days
GRADE: 10
CONTACT:
MAP LEVEL: 4
23.2 LANGUAGE ARTS - EXPLORE AND RESPOND TO LITER
23.2.1.9.1
-- Students will identify the various conventions within a genre and apply this understanding to the evaluation of the text.
23.3 LANGUAGE ARTS - COMMUNICATING WITH OTHERS
23.3.1.9.2
-- Students will listen to or read a variety of genres to use as models for writing in different modes.
23.3.1.9.4
-- Students will write to delight in the imagination.
23.3.2.9.1
-- Students will determine purpose, point of view and audience, and choose an appropriate written, oral or visual format.
23.3.2.9.2
-- Students will apply the most effective processes to create and present a written, oral or visual piece.
23.3.2.9.3
-- Students will revise texts for organization, elaboration, fluency and clarity.
23.4 LANGUAGE ARTS - ENGLISH LANG CONVENTIONS
23.4.1.9.2
-- Students will recognize and understand variations between language patterns.
23.4.2.9.1
-- Students will use sentence patterns typical of spoken and written language to produce text.
23.4.2.9.2
-- Students will evaluate the impact of language as related to audience and purpose.
23.4.3.9.1
-- Students will recognize the difference between standard and nonstandard English and use language appropriately.
23.4.3.9.2
-- Students will demonstrate proficient use of proper mechanics, usage and spelling skills.
23.4.3.9.3
-- Students will use resources for proofreading and editing.
What makes descriptive writing effective?
What is Description?
Much of the pleasure we take in the world around us comes to us through our senses. We observe the beauties of nature, listen to music, enjoy the feel of comfortable clothing, or the tastes and smells of our favorite food. Description is writing that uses precise details to show the way something looks, tastes, smells, sounds, or feels. Effective description re-creates a scene or an image so that readers can perceive it for themselves.
How Description Fits Into Your Life
You probably use descriptive language every day to convey your experiences to others. If a room is cold or a lemon is sour, description can help your audience form a precise mental picture. Widespread in writing, as well as speaking, description appears in everything from a postcard you send friends about a tourist attraction you've visited to a science report you write in school. Descriptive language is also likely to come up in business letters, office memos, resumes, and most other writing you do for your future business career.
(Prentice Hall. Writer' s Solution. Platinum Sourcebook, Annotated Teacher' s Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997, 2-3)
Paper Options:
* Description of a person
* Description of a place
* Description of an object/thing
Paper Expectations:
* MLA format
* Beginning, middle, end, and title
* Sensory language (show, don' t tell; effective diction choices)
* Specific detail (an anecdote for description of a person)
* Figurative language
* Acceptable level of fluency
* Grammatical correctness
When writing in the descriptive mode students will:
-- Develop and utilize prewriting skills and strategies,
-- Develop and incorporate drafting skills,
-- Develop and implement editing skills and strategies (peer and self),
-- Recognize and integrate writing that appeals to the senses,
-- Elaborate on detail,
-- Improve diction,
-- Recognize and integrate figurative language,
-- Produce a final draft that meets standards of acceptability in fluency and grammatical correctness.
All students will:
-- Be instructed in the steps of the writing process,
-- All students will be shown models of quality writing in the descriptive mode,
-- Conference with his/her teacher to discuss the quality of his/her writing and to determine the steps necessary for improvement,
-- Receive written feedback on the quality of their descriptive writing.
Assessment of student writing in the descriptive mode includes student-teacher conferencing to determine successful completion of editing, as well as meeting standards for acceptable quality of the final draft. Each teacher will provide written feedback of the drafts and of the final paper.
Prentice Hall. Writer' s Solution. Platinum Sourcebook. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, 1997.
Samples for description of a thing may include:
“Fire Ant Picnic” by Marion Bernhardt
“High Tide in Tucson” by Barbara Kingsolver
“No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch” by Ann Hodgman
"Bunny" by Jamie Lee Swift
Samples for description of a person may include:
"In Memory of a Friend" by Mitchell Schwaber
"She Sounded Like God" by Molly Ivins
“The Meanest Man I Ever Met” condensed from Leaving Home by
Art Buchwald
Samples for description of a place may include:
Excerpt from Travels with Charley in Search of America by John
Steinbeck
"Into the Terrible Night" by Barbara Kingsolver
“Down the River" by Edward Abbey
All sample essays can be found on the eschool website in the SWW folder at .