Weeds and RosesSummer Assignment

What are Weeds & Roses? As I read through essays, I take notes

of common errors, mistakes, misreads, etc.

At the end, I compile a list of the most grave, most heinous errors…› These are the WEEDS!!› You must pluck them

from the garden of yourpaper!

And the roses? The lovely, delicate, fragrant blooms

cultivated in the craft of your writing. Cherish these. Plant more. Watch them

grow.

Yes, you may be up here! Learning experience Truth is stranger than fiction Peer support

Weed #1—Lunchin’ With the Ladies

Unless you take tea with “Fran” Prose or Margaret Talbot, you MAY NOT call them by their first names

Acceptable ways to reference authors:› First and last name (1st time mentioned)› Last name only› “the author”› He/she

Weed #2—Title of “Articles” Take note, ladies and gents, boys and

girls, children of all ages…for the rest of your life, this will remain true:

Underline “Quotes”Long works: “Short works”Books “short stories”Plays “title of an act”Albums “Song”Epic poems “Poems”Magazines “Articles”

Weed #3—Write in Pen My eyes are old and crusty. They hurt. I

wince often. They scratch under my eyelids. Sometimes they moan like a ninety-year-old man with a cane.

Pen helps me see. Pen helps me read all of your wonderful words. Please use pen.

Weed #4—Answer the prompt First, you’ll need to figure out what the

prompt asks you to do:› Choose one of the following quotes below.

Compose an essay that defends, challenges or qualifies the quote of your choosing.

› What are you asked to do?› What two things must you identify?

Now, let’s break it down:“It seems that the valedictorian is a status designed

for a simpler time, when fewer people aspired to college. It isn’t entirely suited to a brutally

competitive age in which the dividing line between those who go to college and those who don’t may be the most significant fissure in American society,

and in which the children (and parents) of the upper middle classes have been convinced that going to an exceedingly selective college is the

only way to insure wealth and happiness.” What is Talbot’s argument in this excerpt? What then, must your argument discuss?

How about this one?“Teaching students to value literary masterpieces is

our best hope of awakening them to the infinite capacities and complexities of human experience,

of helping them acknowledge and accept complexity and ambiguity, and of making them love and respect the language that allows us to smuggle out, and send one another, our urgent, eloquent dispatches from the prison of the self.”

What is Prose’s argument in this excerpt? What then, must your argument discuss?

Rule #1: Spend AS MUCH

TIME AS IT TAKES to make

sure you understand and

can correctly respond to the

prompt.

Weed #5—Use what you’ve got!

Do you remember what I asked you to prove in this short answer?

Why is using the text important?

Weed #5—Use what you’ve got!

If a cute girl gave you her number, you’d use it, right??

Likewise, if you have access to the text or even a morsel of the work is given to you, USE it!› MUST mention author’s name› MUST mention title of work› MUST paraphrase the author’s argument› MUST use quotes from the work› Quote it! Don’t plagiarize it!

Weed # 4—Use what you’ve got!

For example:› “According to Margaret Talbot in her article

‘Best in Class,’ having a valedictorian has become more of a hardship than a good thing.”

› What is working in this sentence? › What does this sentence suggest about our

student author?

Weed # 4—Use what you’ve got!

“Principal Daniel Kennedy recalled, ‘The kids were doing everything they could to battle it out.’”

“…she writes, ‘the graduation ceremony, and in particular the valedictory, served an important purpose for proponents of publicly funded secondary education’” (Talbot 8).

How is the text functioning? In what way does it aide the student author’s argument?

For example: “Many parents believe it is necessary to their

child to go to a great college, but Talbot even writes that students say valedictorianship doesn’t even matter once in college. There are so many valedictorians it doesn’t matter any more. This shows the status only matters in high school....”

Where would the use of the text be helpful in this paragraph? What would it do for the writer?

Another-- “To be valedictorian one has to have

the highest GPA and after that the most credits. In turn, if students are competing for valedictorian then many students are getting into colleges easier and with grants and scholarships. That is bettering the whole next generation and is improving work ethic.”

Roses!! Good use of textual evidence:

“In Margaret Talbot’s article, ‘Best in Class,’ she shows her audience problems that are arising from the title valedictorian, but shows students would literally and metaphorically ‘claw and scratch [at each other] to get to the top’” (Talbot 3).

Roses!! What’s working here?

“A woman could have dropped out of high school, work at the local butcher shop, have three babies and still be happy.”

Roses!! What’s working here?

“Times change. No one can stop the come and go of fads and fashions, but must we say goodbye to traditions that have been years in the making just as easily as saying it to an old outfit? Why should we let go of something meaningful just because it may not be as simple to achieve as in previous years? Valedictorians are a perfect example of said tradition. Many schools have let go of their valedictorian and salutatorian status either completely or by replacing it with many more ‘top students.’ This decision that our society has made is easily one of the most laughable mistakes made in recent history..”

Roses!! What’s working here?

“Even if one does not achieve the honor of valedictorian or like titles, in today’s society greatness is still possible. In the article ‘Best in Class’ by Margaret Talbot, there are two students mentioned in particular who battle for the valedictorian status. The winner, Denny Davies, is now a prestigious ‘captain in the Air Force and is stationed in Germany’ (Talbot 2). The loser, Kylie Barker ‘is now pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemistry at Northwestern University’ (Talbot 2). Both of these academic warriors are currently in prestigious career paths with a high amount of accolades. Even though Barker was not named a valedictorian, she still became a great person who is contributing to the world we live in. This makes the title of valedictorian inconsequential, and therefore, it loses its validity.”

Scores: 9-0 8-0 7-2 6-5 5-6 Majority of scores 4-15 3-11 2-6 1-0

My Scoring Marks:+ Good! Can be attached to another mark

AP or AP Answered the prompt or did not answer the prompt (DNAP)

VC Verb choiceWC Word ChoiceSC Sub claimSIB Say It Better—awkwardly written; rewrite

T Transition

Other marks you can’t read? Ask!

You wrote it, now what?

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts…” Anne Lamott

RER!!Reflection, Editing & Revision!