1.

PURPOSE:
PURPOSE By writing a variety
y of additional essays on topics of your choice,,
you are expected

• To apply the feedback you received on your formal essays.

essays
• To refine your skills in your personal target areas.
• To reflect accurately and honestly on your writing skills.
• To demonstrate thoroughness, initiative, and a genuine concern for self-
improvement.

2. REFLECTIONS: For each enrichment essay, use the template found at the
following address:
http://teacherweb.com/RI/EastGreenwich,HighSchool/DeCubellis/EGHSEngl
ishEssayFormat.dot

Include a brief reflection section at the outset and copy this reflection into
the digital portfolio’s reflection sections:

• Why you chose the topic and type of essay you did.
• Which particular target areas and essay requirements on which you chose
to focus and why.
• Direct quotations
q from previous essays and your enrichment essay to
highlight your progress (i.e. a “before and after”).
• Use the following template which includes an honor pledge:
http://teacherweb.com/RI/EastGreenwich,HighSchool/DeCubellis/EGHSE
nglishEssayFormat.dot
 Sample Reflection (Ensure yours in not derivative.):

For my first essay, I wanted to write a narrative from my mother’s point of view. This narrative
was based on a previous narrative I had written about my stress in school and my mom’s involvement
with that stress. With the last narrative, I wrote from my point of view with my own emotions,
opinions, and outlook on the situation I was experiencing, while my mother played a major character
through the story. While writing my previous narrative, I thought about my emotions and how I was
feeling yet never though of my mother’s emotions as she saw her daughter experiencing one of her
roughest times during high school. For my second essay, I wanted to go back and put myself in my
mom’s shoes and see how she felt from a mother’s point of view from a mother’s “side of the story.”
I wanted to use this narrative as a way to try and understand my mom’s feelings while I was
experiencing this rough time. For this essay, I focused more on stylistic writing to improve myself as
more of a unique storyteller. Still trying to focus on the traditional rules of grammar, I tried to
create new ways of expressing what happened through a different perspective. Stylistically, I try to
avoid clichés. For one of my previous essays, I had explained my emotions by using a cliché, saying my
“head was ready to explode with stress.” For this essay, I tried avoiding clichés by expressing
descriptions in different ways. For one of my descriptions as a child, I wrote that my mother knew I
was going to be a sharp and strong daughter before I “took her [my] first steps, spoke her [my]
first words, and devoured her [my] first clumps of Playdoh.” With this sentence, I tried to
incorporate a new and original description rather than writing something unoriginal or worn out. I
tried to incorporate more stylistic techniques throughout my narrative to more meaning to the story
as I told it from my mom’s point of view.

3. DUE DATES: You will submit your enrichment essays and reflections by
uploading them to your digital portfolio before the end of each quarter.

Qtr. 1 Qtr. 2 Qtr. 3 Qtr. 4

Number of TBA FOUR TWO FOUR
Submission
s
Due Date Mon. Fri. Mon. Friday.
Friday
Oct. 30th Jan 12th March 26th June 13th

4. PORTFOLIO:
PORTFOLIO By June 13th, you must have all of your work uploaded
including a brief summary and your reflections for each assignment. After
this date, the portfolio will lock you out, so be sure your work is in well in
advance.

Possible Topics:

You must submit a minimum FIVE meticulously proofread essays, one of which must be in
response to the underlined prompt below. Note: You may NOT recycle or revise an
essay written for this or another class.
 MUSIC: Pick a song with lyrics that are meaningful to you, and write a thematic essay which
showcases your close-reading skills.

 POETRY: Pick a poem that is meaningful to you, and write a thematic essay which showcases your
close-reading skills.

 FINE ART: Pick a painting or other work of art that is meaningful to you, and write a thematic
essay which showcases your close-reading skills.

 FILM: Compare and contrast the story of Oedipus Rex and the film Minority Report directed by
Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise. (You may choose another film if you like, pending
teacher approval.)

 FILM: Conduct some light research on how to write a movie review. Write a publishable movie
review for a film that is currently showing. (Don’t forget to bring a notepad to the theater!)

 PERSUASION: Propose a unique solution to a problem that bothers you and write a persuasive
essay which supports your proposal. Incorporate varied evidence of your understanding of ethos.
logos, and pathos as powerful persuasive techniques. Your tone may be serious, sarcastic or
humorous, but it must be effective and well-supported.

 OP-ED: Read the editorial and op-ed pages of the newspaper for a week to familiarize yourself
with the latest news topics. Applying all of the skills you have learned, write persuasive op-ed
piece of your own, and submit it to the newspaper for publication.

 NARRATIVE: Pick a character from one of your previous narratives and rewrite the narrative
from that character’s point of view. (For evaluative purposes, be sure to include the original
narrative in your submission.)

 OTHER: Pick any one of the following textual aspects to examine in detail in a work of your choice
(e.g. a short story, poem, essay, or song). In a formal essay, explain the textual aspect’s purpose
in the work. (This assignment choice may be repeated for credit using a different aspect and
work.)

o Tone

o Diction

o Syntax

o Point of View

o Structure
 YOUR CHOICE: Pick a unique topic not on this list. Proposal pending teacher approval. Note:
You may NOT recycle or revise an essay written for another class.