Journal Guidelines

As you will be taking the HSPA and the SAT/ACT this year, it is ESSENTIAL that you prepare for the writing section since you have been consistently been preparing for the reading throughout your high school career and the writing less so.  Through the HSPA prep journals, you will learn how to efficiently create outlines, properly structure persuasive and expository essays, keep an eye out for common errors and revise for final drafts.

Grading:  The purpose of practice is to improve through critique and revision of methods; this will be reflected in the grading here.  For the first marking period ONLY – your grade will be based solely on:

·         the essays attempting to address the prompts (not random rambling)

·         their having outlines (with rule of three)

·         their being 5 paragraphs each

·         being 1 page for persuasive and 1.5 pages for expository (which should be easy if done right)

What does this mean?  As long as you meet the four above requirements, you will be GUARANTEED an A for a TEST grade (90 for complete, 100 for “passing” and complete.  This is an easy way to augment your grade for the marking period by simply completing the assignments.  At the conclusion of the first marking period I will read two of your four submitted essays and identify the errors therein, give them an HSPA score (1-6 **which is the important number**) and provide you with further requirements for the following set of essays specifically designed for YOUR needs.  Why?  So that you break the bad habits and are successful on the testing later in the year.

In the Future:

The first set will provide your baseline, but the point is to get better, so once you have completed the first set, the grading will change accordingly.  In the subsequent sets, you will be responsible for the initial four criteria AND following the instructions as noted on the current grading sheet.  If any are ignored, you will lose points.  ALSO, you are expected to receive a higher HSPA score (1-6) than you did on the set before or your grade will be affected.  Perhaps this sounds difficult, but if you put forth an effort and follow the instructions as given, you will DEFINITELY improve your score and this will be another easy A.

So what’s stopping you from intentionally doing a crummy job on the first set of essays intentionally?  Well, you will be rewarded with less work.  Since the purpose is improvement, if you show ADVANCED ability in one of the essay types (5.5-6), you will be exempt from one or all of that style in the following set of essays.  So, this should be your goal EVERY TIME.  The more seriously you take these essays, the better you will do.