Friday

Today - you should be working on your third essay.  I will be reading and commenting on your essays in class. 

On Monday, we will work on your presentations and on Tuesday you will be giving your presentations.  Note, all your essays will be due on Tuesday.

GRADING SCALE for Book Review/Personal Response:

4 – Book Review reads like a “real book” review but with a personal twist.  Summary is detailed but condensed.  Personal insight into why someone should read this novel.  Insight includes analysis and textual evidence, very few grammar errors in the writing. 

3 – Summary is detailed and condensed.  Personal insight into why someone should read the novel included.  Review might contain some grammar errors but they do not inhibit readability.

2 – Summary included, but could be overtly long or extremely short.  Personal insight into why someone should read the novel might be missing.  Review could contain multiple grammar errors that distracts the reader and/or affects readability.

1 – Brief reference to task. 

3) THE LITERARY ANALYSIS: Choose one literary element of the book and develop a thesis around it.  Back up your thesis statements with proof from the text.  This paper should be at least 3 pages.

Analysis Rubric:

FOCUS (Claims, set-up)	Hook, Thesis Statement, Order of development connects to an n overarching idea of the novel.  Thesis is manageable..  Hook and thesis are connected by idea.   Hook is witty or insightful.	Hook, Thesis Statement is present in the first paragraph. Hook and thesis are connected by idea.  Order of development is present.	There is a thesis statement but either it is not clear, or the order of development and/or hook is missing.	No thesis statement
Examples and Analysis	At least five pieces of evidence from novel.  Evidence is either direct quotation or paraphrases with page # citation.  Commentary explains relationship between evidence and thesis.	4-5 pieces of evidence.  Evidence is either direct quotations or paraphrases with page # citation.  Provides commentary on evidence; however commentary.  Relationship between evidence and thesis may not be thoroughly developed.	3-4 pieces of evidence.  Evidence maybe mere summary w/o connection to the thesis.  Or there are vague references to the text.  References could be vaguely relevant to thesis.  Little or no commentary (analysis).	No Analysis or examples or examples are unclear.  Repeats information already provide or simply restates the thesis as evidence.
Sophistication of Writing	Point of view is evident.  Clear sense of audience.  Ideas are original.  Work is engaging.  Precise, fresh and original words. Sentence variety.  Effective use of rhetorical devices such as parallelism or figurative language.	A sense of audience.  Conveys ideas to reader.  Use of rhetorical devices.  Engaging vocabulary.	Paper lacks energy.  Essay lacks focus and/or doesn’t persuade.  Language relies on repetition of the same words or there is an overuse of “to be” verbs.	Voice is not apparent, or doesn’t necessary seem that of the author.
Mechanics	One to three small mistakes	Three to five small mistakes that do not affect the reading of the essay	Five to ten mistakes	Numerous mistakes that impair reading

4) THE CONNECTION: 1-2 pages connecting the novel to a short story read in class.  You may focus on theme, characterization (think dynamic), or figurative language.

RUBRIC For Connection/Comparison Essay

	4	3	2	1
Thesis Statement	Clear and defendable thesis, hook and order of development connect with thesis	Defendable thesis, hook present	Thesis statement attempted, but might be clunky, wordy, or unclear	No thesis
Evidence	2 pieces of evidence for each point; evidence is analyzed and makes connections between the evidence and the thesis	Two pieces of evidence for each point; some analysis is made between the evidence and thesis but it might be taken out of context, misinterpreted or oversimplified	Evidence form at least two sources.  No analysis is made between the evidence and the thesis.	Body paragraphs either simply restate the thesis or the evidence is unclear or unrelated to the prompt, or less than two sources are provided.
Sophistication of Writing	Effective paragraph structures, high level vocabulary, vivid writing, varied sentence structures and effective rhetorical choices	Some high level vocabulary and some variety of sentence structures.  Some effective rhetorical strategies.	Essay use same words over and over again.  Sentences are wordy and/or clunky.	Student makes sweeping generalizations or comparisons that are oversimplified.  Very little variety in word choice and sentence structure.