Hello,
below you will find a copy of the out of class essay #1 assignment, distributed and discussed in class on Wednesday.
English 5, Fall, 2014
Instructor: C. Fraga
Out of
Class Essay Assignment #1--200 points possible
Assigned:
Wednesday, September 17
Rough Draft Due
(optional) no later than: Monday, Sept. 29 (typed, MLA format)
Final Draft Due Monday,
October 13
REMINDER: IF YOU CHOOSE
TO SUBMIT A ROUGH DRAFT, THEN YOU MAY REVISE THE ESSAY ONCE YOU RECEIVE YOUR
GRADE, AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WISH.
Reminders:
·
Please underline your
thesis statement.
·
Please attach your rough
draft to the back of your final draft when submitting.
·
This essay must follow
MLA format for the set-up of your essay. No Works Cited page is required since
you will not be conducting any outside research for this essay.
THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF HOME
Essay
Prompt: This essay asks you to
employ your narrative, descriptive and analytical writing skills.
Consider your childhood
and write about a place where you felt most comfortable, safe, happy and
content. This place COULD be your actual house, or a room in your house, but it
could be ANYWHERE. (your grandparents’ home; the school yard; the playground at
a neighborhood park; Little League games; dance class; the tree house your dad
built for you, etc.)
Your essay must include a
detailed description of this place and the story of this place—what happened
here? Why did this place bring a sense of comfort and safety and enjoyment to
you? What did you do when you were at this place? And finally, why do you think
it was so significant and memorable for you? Looking back, does this place in
any way reflect or symbolize or help define who you are today? Why or why not?
Be specific.
Your goal is for the
reader to actually SEE this place and UNDERSTAND its importance and effect on
you as a young child. Perhaps the reader will also get a sense of your
personality, sensibility and passions.
FOR THE
PURPOSE OF THIS ESSAY ONLY, I AM ASKING YOU TO ORGANIZE IT IN A CERTAIN
WAY—NARRATIVE FOLLOWED BY ANALYSIS. We will discuss this at length IN CLASS. You will want to take
notes during the discussion. J
REQUIRED
LENGTH:
I do not believe in
giving my students a specific page length requirement or word count
requirement. Part of being a successful writer is knowing how to address a
prompt accurately and fully and knowing when to stop writing. I WILL suggest
that it would be challenging to complete this assignment in less than at least
three pages. Not impossible, but challenging.
