We all have places that are special to us. It might be your hometown, your kitchen, or the first place you live on your own. This essay is an opportunity to bring us, as your readers, to a place that has significance to you and show us why it is important.
The purpose of this essay is to give you the opportunity to use your own thoughtful, critical observations in support of an argument. You will use details and description about the place you choose in order to make a bigger point about the place itself.
Instructions:
Think of a place that has deep significance to you. It could be a place you feel connected to, a place that has impacted you or a place where you grew up. It could be any kind of place: indoors or outdoors, as large as a country or as small as a room. It could be a digital place, like facebook or youtube. It could be a bathroom, a village, or a state.
Your description could include any of your senses. Maybe you want your reader to see, smell, feel, hear, or even taste the place. You might want to include descriptions of the landscape, people, feeling, language, weather, structures, culture, and food of the place. Choose the details you include wisely. Try to form your description so that it conveys to your reader why this place is significant.
Bring your readers to this place and make us want to go there. Write about why this place is significant to you and why it is different from other places. Make it so that your readers can really get a feel for the place. Help us see why it is an important place, both to you and in general.
Format:
Write approximately 700-1000 words on this place. Double space your paper. Use a legible, 12-point font and one-inch margins. You do not need to cite works for this paper. It should be based on your own personal experience and observation.
Practical Considerations:
The first draft of your essay is due on Thursday, February 6th. Bring a hardcopy of your draft to class for peer review. You will also share a copy with me on google documents. This draft will be worth 3 percent of your final grade.
The second draft of your essay is due on Tuesday, February 11th. Bring a hardcopy of your draft to class. This draft will be worth 2 percent of your final grade.
The final draft of your essay is due on Thursday, February 13th. You will share a copy with me on google documents by the beginning of class. This draft will be worth 10 percent of your final grade.
Grading Rubric:
The first and second drafts of this essay will be worth 3 and 2 points, respectively. They are all or nothing points. If you bring your first draft to class and share it with me on google documents before class begins, you will get 3 points. If you do not, you will get 0 points. The same goes for bringing your second draft to class: you will earn 2 points or 0 points.
The final draft will be graded on the following rubric and will be 10 percent of your final grade.
Content: 5 points
Organization: 3 points
Mechanics: 2 points
LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW IF YOU USED THIS IN YOUR CLASSROOM. HOW DID IT GO? WOULD YOU DO IT AGAIN? DID YOU MAKE ANY MODIFICATIONS?