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—Author’s name

Unless you take tea with “Barb” Kingsolver or Arthur Miller, you MAY NOT call her/him by his/her first name

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

Weed #1—Author’s name

For example:

Kingsolver

› Barb argues that people should wean themselves off the industrial food pipeline.

Have you had lunch with this woman lately?

Weed #2—Title of Books

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—What’s the difference?

Novel Play Non-fiction

Fictional characters Fictional characters (usually)

Real characters

Divided into chapters Divided into Acts/Scenes

General Topics

Plot arc Plot Arc Plot = Added bonus!

Written as a script Based on fact

Weed #5—Answer the entire prompt

Defend, challenge or qualify Kingsolver’s stance on the industrial food pipeline.

D, C or Q Miller’s stance on the value of one’s reputation.

› What are these asking you to do?› What two things must you identify?

If you did not address both parts of the question, you DNAP (did not answer the prompt)

Remember our conversation about the Horace quote? First things first.› Retelling plot does not constitute argument

Weed #6—Use the text!!

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

Why is using the text important?

For example:

“In a world where all differences are considered a sin, John Proctor found his own. Humans are a creature of impulse, and I think everyone can understand that. Although it took Proctor more than enough time to control hi moral compass he allowed himself to give into his desire to be good, leaving his reputation in the dust. He announced his affair.”

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

Another--

“To clarify what the ‘industrial food pipeline’ is lies within the ingredients listing. The chemicals that are added into a simple burger bun that are preservatives or flavor enhancers. Furthermore the meat industry raises its animals as fast as possible. Fattening up the livestock, limiting exercise, constant antibiotics so the animals do not die in the pens in order to rush their carcass to the average American plat is a major portion in the pipeline. Sacrificing healthy benefits of fruit and vegetables, breeding animals only for their meat, and adding toxic molecular compounds into food is what the ‘industrial food pipeline’ represents.”

Roses!! Good use of textual evidence:

“Proctor’s fear is that his sons will not grow up standing up for what they believe in, but doing what they _____, Proctor says of his friends who have hung, “I blacken all of them when this is nailed to the church the very day they hang for silence (143).”

Roses!! What’s working here?

“People need to eat a variety of food such as vegetables, meat, and fruit. Kingsolver explains, ‘We’re a nation with an eating disorder, and we know it’ (18). Society knows and understands the problem at hand, but regardless, is not willing to do what it takes to change.”

Roses!! What’s working here?

“Arthur Miller…created John Proctor who was to embody the importance of reputation. At the beginning of the play, John Proctor would not turn in Abigail, a girl wrongly accusing people of witchcraft, to protect his reputation. Proctor was a man of integrity and honesty—except for the affair he had behind his wife’s back—and was someone the town could trust.”

Roses!! What’s working here?

“Arthur Miller penned The Crucible after bing falsely accused of supporting communism. The accusations left his reputation in ruins. But from the ashes of failure came new, fiery creature in the form of the play. The Crucible is a political commentary on not only the horrors of McCarthyism but what mankind will do in order to maintain a reputation.”

Scores:

9-0 8-0 7-1 6-5 5-9 Majority of scores

4-9 3-12 2-0 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)

SC Sub claim

SIB Say It Better—awkwardly written; rewrite

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!