Just about all of the major writing assignments you will do in this class will go through the critique process on your blog. Your classmates and your teacher will comment on your posted draft to help your finished essay attain the standards of effective writing. This is your chance to practice critiquing to prepare for the Roots and Recipes essay.
Sample Paragraphs from a Roots and Recipes Essay:
Gingerbread cookies are a wonderful part of my family's Christmas celebrations. The amazing smell of this delicious treat, the spicy aroma of ginger and cinnamon and cloves, always awakens fond memories of holidays past.
The kitchen was my favorite place to be, to watch all the ingredients and the making of those cookies! I eventually progressed from just watching, to baking the gingerbread. Even though it takes much time and effort, it is something I enjoy because of the satisfaction of turning out a perfect batch.
As children we looked forward to the baking of those special delights but even more to decorating the houses we would make with the gingerbread. It was so much fun to place the different kinds of candy onto our houses. All the cousins and aunties and uncles and grandma and grandpa would get together after dinner on Christmas Eve to decorate their houses. There was much laughter as people tried to out do each other in their creations!
Now, the gingerbread making has been taken over by the younger generation, and the decorating is shared with boyfriends and girlfriends and newlyweds! It is truly a family tradition.
Commentary Process
You will discuss and post as a team. Be sure to include each member's name so that all can get credit.
- Start by reviewing the rubric, so that you know what is expected in this essay.
- Begin your commentary with the positive elements of the piece, but be specific! There is nothing worse, or more insincere than a comment like "I loved your essay!" Instead, you can comment on
- Specific details that helped you visualize what was happening, good sensory detail, for example.
- Details that brought out the writer's voice, that gave authenticity to the experience. For example, IF I had shared the detail about my nephew Jesse, who loved to populate his gingerbread houses with soldiers and dismembered snowmen, THAT would have been strong voice.
- Good organization: you could see the time sequence or spatial sequence clearly.
- Then, get into ideas for improvement. Here, it is most helpful if you can express your comments as questions. Thus, instead of saying, "You need more specific detail" you can ask the question, "Can you describe the kitchen utensils used to make these cookies?"
- Again, go back to the rubric for your comments. DO NOT JUST REPEAT STUFF FROM THE RUBRIC. Instead, ask questions that will help guide the writer to attain those standards.
Good luck :) I will comment on and assess all of your team critiques so that you will have a better idea of how to do this on your own.
