Social Awareness Writing Project Due Wed December 3 (Revised)

Writing Assignments for Social Awareness

Social action is all around us. People in our families, communities, and throughout the world are making changes and working toward justice. Here is a writing project to help you investigate the world and explore issues that are meaningful to you.

1.        Media/News Immersion: Watch the news and/or read a newspaper every day. Keep a daily diary for at least five days. For each day, choose 1 or 2 articles/news stories to focus on. Summarize the news story and write about your reaction to it. What does it make you think, feel, and/or know? Finally, write a final reflection on what you learned and realized from the experience.

2.        Observe your surroundings (school, home, neighborhood, media). Write a list about all the scenes or situations you come across on a daily basis that you think are unfair and/or not right in some way. Pick one of the ideas from your list and write a longer entry about it - 2-3 paragraphs. Describe the problem, what's wrong with it, cause and effect, and possible solutions.

3.        Find a true story about someone who changes the world every day (even in a small way). Interview and write about the person.

4.        Write a reading response on a social issue in a literary work (your independent reading book, short story, essay, or poem/song). Write a 3-5 paragraph reading response. What problem/issue is it about? What is the message? What does the text make you think, feel, and/or know about the issue?

5.        Write an original literary piece (poem, song, short dramatic scene, personal narrative, etc.) responding to a specific social problem/issue. Be creative, detailed, and specific. Also, write 1-2 paragraphs describing your process in writing the poem and what problem/issue it is about. 

6.        Write a response to a work of art, film, or performance that makes you think about justice and/or social issues.

7.        If there is a topic you feel is appropriate for this assignment that is not listed here, please see me.

Choose 3 to write, and make a booklet to hand in. Due Monday November 24. Please include a Works Cited page. 

You will be assessed on the following:

o Thoughtfulness and creativity     o Details/completeness;  each writing piece should be fully developed    o Clear, effective writing    

o Presentation: completed on time; neat and professional presentation; include table of contents and a 1-2 paragraph overview.

Classwork: choose 1 or 2 and start drafting in your notebook.

Name: ______________________________  Class: ______ Social Awareness Writing Project Rubric

Criteria	1: Limited	2: Basic	3: Satisfactory	4: Sophisticated
Title + type of writing: Focus: has clear focus Organization: the structure helps support the focus; there is an effective beginning, middle, and end Evidence + elaboration: there is a variety of creative and specific details Writing for an audience : grammar is correct; word choice communicates ideas effectively
Title + type of writing: Focus: has clear focus Organization: the structure helps support the focus; there is an effective beginning, middle, and end Evidence + elaboration: there is a variety of creative and specific details Writing for an audience : grammar is correct; word choice communicates ideas effectively
Title + type of writing: Focus: has clear focus Organization: the structure helps support the focus; there is an effective beginning, middle, and end Evidence + elaboration: there is a variety of creative and specific details Writing for an audience : grammar is correct; word choice communicates ideas effectively
Preparation and Presentation Neat and professional presentation; typed and printed out Include an overview of the packet; list and briefly describe each writing piece Published on time

Student mentors:

Tulah's Media/News Immersion entry:
http://mylifeinchapters28.blogspot.com/2010/10/medianews-immersion-in-progress.html

Tomin's analysis of the song "Changes" by Tupac Shakur:
http://infinitebookapocalypse.blogspot.com/2010/11/changes-by-tupac-shakur.html

Solana's entry on a poem by Maya Angelou:
http://booksarehumanityinprint.blogspot.com/2010/11/equality-and-i-will-be-free.html