English 10 Essay due Feb 26 - 27

The Assignment

According to writer Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation and Chew on This) and filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me) Americans are suffering from the increasing presence of fast food. Customers who eat the food and employees who sell it are being victimized, according to the book and the film.

Many would argue that it is up to the individual where he/she chooses to eat or to work. Yet, billions of people still eat this food, and millions work for these companies, and it probably isn’t because they like being overweight or underpaid.

Do you think these problems are entirely the fault of the individual, or should the companies take more responsibility for solving them?

Write a multi-paragraph essay (minimum four paragraphs) expressing your thoughts on this subject. You may focus on the food itself, and its nutritional value, or the way the employees are treated, or both. (Employees can mean restaurant workers or the workers in the slaughterhouse.)

Structure

Your first paragraph must be an introduction containing a topic and a thesis statement. Remember, the thesis statement is the most important statement in your essay; this is where you tell the reader what it is you are going to prove.

Your last paragraph must be a conclusion with a restatement of the thesis, but not an identical sentence to the one in the introduction.

In between the first and last paragraphs are your body paragraphs. You may write these any way you want, but you also have the option of using the shaper (attached) to make sure you have the right balance of concrete details and commentaries. If you use the shaper correctly, it will guarantee you a passing grade.

If you do not use the shaper, just make sure each paragraph contains both facts and opinions based on these backs. You don’t have to follow the exact ratio (1 CD with 2 CMs) and it doesn’t matter if the opinion comes before or after the fact – a fact and an opinion can even be in the same sentence.

But all facts and opinions should also connect in some way to the thesis statement from your first paragraph.

Due dates

The rough draft is due on Monday, February 26 (for block 3) and Tuesday, February 27 (for block 5)

The final draft – which must be typed and properly formatted – is due Friday, March 2 for both blocks (block 5 does not meet that day, so be sure to email it by 5:00 p.m.).

English 9 writing assignment, due 2/26

Writing Assignment for English 9

Letter about Colin Singleton

Pretend you are someone who is well acquainted with Colin Singleton, the protagonist of John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines. You can be Hassan or Lindsey, or you can simply be yourself and imagine that Colin is your good friend.

Colin has applied for a job at a library, but he needs a character reference from you (which is basically a letter of recommendation).

You need to write a letter to Ms. Patricia Penciltip, the head of the library, telling her true things about Colin that you think will help him get hired.

· Be sure to use events and ideas from the book to make your point as you try to persuade Ms. Penciltip to hire Colin.

· Use proper formatting, with your address and Ms. Penciltip’s address (make it up) in the appropriate positions on the page.

· This letter must be at least one FULL page, typed, double spaced. If you handwrite it, it must be TWO pages, single spaced.

This is due on Monday, February 26 – so you have 12 days! There will probably not be any class time reserved for this assignment; it is a homework project. Still, if you have trouble getting started, please bring it up in class and I will set aside some time to work with you.

Good luck!

Terry

Checkpoints - English 10 and 10H

The remaining three checkpoints are due on the following dates:

Checkpoint 2 Due Friday, February 23
Checkpoint 3 Due Friday, March 23
Checkpoint 4 Due Friday, April 20

Final presentations -- Currently, the plan is to do final presentations during the three-hour period reserved for our final during the last week of school. However, pending the avialablity of students and parents, it may be possible to schedule 90 minute evening presentation of the projects for parents and other interested parties. You are all working very hard on these projects, and I think it would be very rewarding to share them publicly.