Image borrowed from this blog post.
The Stuff of Growth
On Monday, regardless of class and grade level, you were given a checkpoint assignment. Below are three anonymous, exemplary submissions, presented with minimal commentary. Carefully read the exemplar for your class’ assignment. Then type up an actionable analysis. That bolded phrase breaks down like so:
- actionable | Your analysis must indicate actions you can take in the future. Focus on what you did or didn’t do in comparison to the relevant exemplars, and then use that to discuss what you will do next time.
- analysis | You need insight into precisely what makes this work exemplary. Talk about specific elements: use of detail, arrangement of ideas, meaningful insight, overall approach, etc.
This is peer ETA work, or an attempt to learn by analyzing and emulating a peer. It bolsters and in some cases supplants individual and group feedback. With that in mind, today’s submission — what you submit to Google Classroom later — should meet certain criteria:
- It must be significantly developed, which means you can’t write a few sentences and call it a day.
- It must be significantly detailed, which means you need to cite specifics from the exemplar.
- It must have some sort of shape, which means you can’t just throw your thoughts on the page haphazardly.
If you have questions, ask them (quickly!) in the comment section at the bottom of this post.
Quick FAQ
Q: Why include all three exemplars in one post?
A: Same answer as last time: The skills and traits of this course are universal. The goal of peer ETA work isn’t to copy the exemplar; the assignment is over, and “corrections” aren’t a thing in here. You can only benefit from today’s writing if you look beneath the specifics and focus on actionable analysis — in this case, what the best kind of metacognitive and reflective writing looks like, regardless of the assignment. A junior can learn a lot by reading the most effective work by a tenth grader, an AP student could benefit from the work done over in Regents, etc.
10R Exemplar
Tenth graders wrote short stories, which is a bit more fun than a traditional essay1. The most important step, however, was their understanding of authorial choice. This exemplar identifies specific language and elements that create everything from character motivation to suspense. It’s quite good.
[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2FQ2D1-RE10-EX.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=400px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]
11R Exemplar
Just like all of these, this brief bit of metacognition was attached to a copy of the central writing response itself, and that response was developed enough to need a bit of analysis moving forward. If you don’t invest in the first part of the writing process, this reflective and metacognitive loop won’t work, and that top GAP tier will stay out of reach.
[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2FQ2D1-RE11-EX.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=400px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]
AP Exemplar
This last one is thoughtful and specific, and it weaves in our reading and writing background authentically. It also references K-pop, which still surprises me by being a thing. Why, I remember when it was just S.E.S. and Drunken Tiger, and everything had to be imported on CDs from YesAsia. Now it’s as ubiquitous as any genre of music. (It’s strange, by the way, to date oneself through Korean pop music.)
[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2FQ2D1-AP11-EX.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=400px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]
Not that we write traditional essays, but the comparison still stands. ↩