Prompt Choices

1)       As part of the jury in the case against Tom Robinson, persuade your fellow jury members that they need to vote to convict Tom Robinson.

Topic:

Audience:

Purpose:

2)       As a member of the jury, you feel very strongly that the evidence presented against Tom Robinson is not convincing enough to convict and suggests reasonable doubt.  Write a statement in which you persuade your fellow jury members that they should vote to acquit Tom Robinson.

Topic:

Audience:

Purpose:

Content Requirements:

1)       Minimum of five paragraphs (You may have more than five paragraphs, however.)

2)      Must have an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

3)      Make your position clear and direct.  Your position statement must be in the introduction as we have discussed in class.

4)      One of your paragraphs must address the other point of view using concession/rebuttal which we talked about in class (see your notes).

5)      You must make at least three direct references to details and evidence presented in the novel regarding the case.

6)      Use in-text citations when ever you make a direct quote or paraphrase information from the novel.

7)      Make sure you provide ample evidence to support general statements that you make in your essay.

Presentation:

1)       Your essay must be typed.

2)      12pt font

3)      You may use Calibri, New Times Roman, Bookman Old Style, Cambria, or Arial fonts.

4)      You must double space your essay.

5)      You must title your essay with an original title.

6)      You must include page numbers in the upper right hand corner of the page which you can do in word.  If you do not know how, ask someone for help.

7)      You must indent the first line of every paragraph and maintain 1” margins all the way around which are the default setting in Microsoft Word.

8)      You must follow MLA format for in-text citations and the bibliographic entry at the end of your essay for To Kill a Mockingbird and any other resources you might use.  Remember that we went over this in class together and you were given a lavender sheet with this information and examples. 

9)      Your final essay should be turned in with the blue assignment packet on top and the essay underneath.

Essay Timeline:

Note:  A total of 50 completion points will be assigned during the course of this assignment for meeting the deadlines below.  Students will be expected to keep this assignment sheet in their binder so that Mrs. Daman can do deadline checks for everyone and be able to make note.

1)       May 9^th Pre-write/brainstorming due __________/10

2)      May 13^th Students will have a position statement, introduction, and an outline of the essay completed. __________________/10

3)      May 13^th Two copies of the first draft ready at beginning of the period __________/10

4)      May 15^th A copy of the revised draft of the essay ready at the beginning of the period ______________/10

5)      May 20^th Final Essay is due with the blue assignment packet attached on top of your essay with your bibliography as the last page. __________________/10

Total points for being on time = ______/50 points

Scoring of the Rubric:

NOTE:  This essay will receive a number of different scores and the information below will explain how the scores will be awarded and weighted.

1)       Completing work on time:  Because so many students have struggled with meeting deadlines on long-range assignments in the past, students will receive up to 50 points in the category of Assignments.  The points will be earned based on the deadlines listed above.  Remember Assignments are 25% a student’s grade.

2)      Rubric Scores:  The rubric scores for Ideas/Content, Organization, Style will be calculated as Assessment Scores.  For clarification, this assessment is a formative assessment which means that the intent behind the assessment is to determine how much you have learned at this point after the work we have done regarding techniques for writing persuasively and how much you understood about To Kill a Mockingbird.  Remember Assessment scores are worth 60% of a student’s grade.   

3)      Other Rubric Scores:  The rubric score for Presentation will be put in the Assignment category (25% of a student’s grade) because the score for presentation is based upon simply following directions.

Persuasive Rubric:

Below is the rubric that will be used to score this writing assignment.  Anyone who would like to strive for earning a 4 in one or more of the Writing Traits below needs to be able to provide evidence of each criterion in the that trait.  Remember that a 4 indicates not only mastery but a sophistication of understanding that far exceeds the standard.  A 3 indicates solid mastery of the skill or content.  A 2 means you are on your way to mastery but you have not mastered the skill yet.  A 1 means there is just not enough information for the teacher to assess mastery of the skills.   Examples will be provided for each rubric level.