Grade: 11 Course: American LiteratureDate Task Was Completed: August 20, 2010Description of the Task: Students will read works listed below and will look specifically for the elements of colonialism works of these authors and cite examples. Students will complete the Elements of Colonialism Chart (see next slide) as they work through each of the poems, sermons, autobiographies, and historical documents; and, after they have completed the chart they will relate these colonial elements to the seminal ideas of time via a brief, process essay explaining how the contemporary context of the Colonial period in American literature influenced the works produced during that time period. The pieces of literature are: Circumstances of the Task:

Each student were asked to read the following pieces in their textbook: Here Upon Some Verse upon the Burning... by Anne Bradstreet Huswifery by Edward Taylor Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Edwards The Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin Speech to the Virginia Convention by Patrick Henry The Crisis, No. 1 by Thomas Payne The Autobiography of the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson

Students will work individually to complete the Colonialism Chart or a “Thinking Map” of their choice to prewrite. Students will work individually to write expository essays. Students were allowed several days to conduct research and compose

the piece. This unit was done in class with peer and teacher conferencing.

Standards: ELAALRL3 The student deepens understanding of literary works by relating them to their contemporary context or historical background, as well as to works from other time periods. The student relates a literary work to primary source documents of its literary period or historical setting; the student: a. Relates a literary work to the seminal ideas of the time in which it is set or the time of its composition. ii. Colonial/Revolutionary/National literature ELA11W2 The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres. The student produces expository (informational) writing to explain an idea or concept and/or convey information and ideas from primary and secondary sources accurately and coherently; the student: a. Engages the interest of the reader. b. Formulates a coherent thesis or controlling idea. c. Coherently develops the controlling idea and/or supports the thesis by incorporating evidence from both primary and secondary sources, as applicable. d. Conveys information and ideas from primary and secondary sources, when applicable, accurately and coherently. e. Includes a variety of information on relevant perspectives, as applicable. f. Maintains coherence by relating all topic sentences to the thesis or controlling idea, as applicable. g. Structures ideas and arguments effectively in a sustained way and follows an organizational pattern appropriate to the purpose and intended audience of the essay. h. Demonstrates an understanding of the elements of expository discourse (i.e., purpose, speaker, audience, form). i. Incorporates elements of discourse from other writing genres into exposition. j. Enhances meaning by employing rhetorical devices, including the use of parallelism, repetition, and analogy. k. Uses language, point of view, characterization, style, and related elements effectively for specific rhetorical and aesthetic purposes. l. Attains closure (i.e., by including a detailed summary of the main points, restating the thesis, generalizing the thesis or controlling idea for additional purposes, or employing a significant quotation that brings the argument in the composition together).

Student Work: Please see next page.

Teacher Commentary: Colonial and Revolutionary Writing EssayEngages the Reader: The writer uses several strategies that engage the reader. She begins with a quotation from the Bible to set the stage that many of the writers of this period wrote about God and His influence on their lives (“God’s word is alive and working…”). Then she follows those thoughts with the understanding that God is an influence in many people’s lives today, but was more of a way of life with colonial time.Throughout the piece, the writer includes some personal experiences and her own views that are connected with the content of the poems, sermon, speeches, and historical documents she read. She also incorporated her beliefs of how society today is not willing to take risks, while those in colonial times were more willing to take chances for the freedom and the religion they so needed in order to survive. These things worked together to engage the reader by allowing him or her to make connections to the information. Develops a controlling idea and develops the topic with supporting details: The writer introduces the controlling idea by stating: “God is slipping away from people’s lives today, but in the colonial period, He was more valuable more than valuable; He was everything.” She then goes on to establish the idea many of the pieces of literature from this time period discuss God or their faith in God. She basis a great deal of her first supporting paragraph stating how many of the pieces used their faith to explain events and hardships they endured. She furthermore cites specific documentation from the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” to support her assumptions about faith and God being important to the writers during the colonial and revolutionary period. Her final statement includes real life applications that she feels are important to our society and she states, “They took the chance and let the will of God play out in their lives and the outcome was one we can learn from.”Creates an Organizing Structure: The writer was organized in her thoughts and developed paragraphs that flowed and made sense both chronologically and logically. She discussed early colonial pieces first and then followed up with some information from the political documents of the time.Excludes Extraneous Information: All of the information within the piece was relevant to the controlling idea. Provides a Sense of Closure: In the conclusion, the writer comes back to her idea that today’s society needs to be willing to take risks for our beliefs and our faith. She restates ways that our forefathers looked upon faith and the struggles and faced them head on for the freedoms we are able to appreciate today. She completes the paper with a challenge that maybe today’s society should use that same faith and be willing to take chances to ensure that same freedom.Demonstrates the Use of Appropriate Grammatical and Mechanical Structures: There were very few errors if any errors and they did not detract from the overall piece of writing.