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Reflection as a Writer

School: Pittsburgh Public School

City/State: Pittsburgh, PA

Grade(s): 8

Format(s): Essay

Subject(s): English Language Arts

Type(s): Argument/Opinion

Writing Assignment Description

This end-of-year written reflection was created by a female student as a final class assignment, reflecting on her work as a writer across the course of the year.

This piece was brought to the attend of Models of Excellence founders in 1990 by teacher Kathy Howard from Pittsburgh, who was working with the Harvard Project Zero Arts Propel portfolio project.

How This Writing Can Be Useful

  • Reflection that is in itself a compelling piece of writing: a narrative told as an engaging story with a complicit relationship with the reader (e.g. personal, familiar notes to the reader – “All right…” “Oh, well…”
  • Playful, humorous, self-deprecating, creative in its voice; keeps the formal, clear, sequential structure of the essay while being informal in its tone.
  • Sophisticated in analytical perspective, ideas and understanding
  • Powerful variety of sentence structure and use of vocabulary
  • Explanation of the process of writing critique in the classroom is powerful, beautiful, poetic (e.g., “It was easy to that a piece was good but now we had to give the specific latitude and longitude of the good parts”)
  • Ending is a moving eulogy to a rich classroom

Common Core State Standards

Standard Long Term Learning Target
W.8.1
  • I can write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
W.8.4
  • I can produce clear and coherent writing that is appropriate to task, purpose and audience.
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