Do Now:Find the mean, median & mode

for your class’s writing pre-assessment

5, 5, 5, 4, 6, 2, 5, 6, 5, 3, 5, 3, 6, 5, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 4, 5, 6, 7

Period 1

Do Now:Find the mean, median & mode

for your class’s writing pre-assessment

3, 4, 3, 5, 5, 3, 5, 4, 6, 6, 5, 5, 5, 6, 3, 4, 5, 6, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4, 6,

6, 5

Period 2

Do Now:Find the mean, median & mode

for your class’s writing pre-assessment

6, 5, 5, 4, 5, 2, 3, 6, 6, 6, 4, 7, 5, 5, 6, 4, 4, 5, 6, 5, 5, 6, 4, 5,

5, 6, 4

Period 3

Do Now:Find the mean, median & mode

for your class’s writing pre-assessment

3, 6, 5, 5, 5, 2, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Period 4

Do Now:Find the mean, median & mode

for your class’s writing pre-assessment

3, 4, 5, 6, 4, 4, 6, 5, 6, 5, 7, 5, 4, 5, 7

Period 5

Writing Goal:

• Add 3 points to your pre-assessment score

2008-2009 = 77% achievement rate

Top 8 Timed Writing Tips:

• An essay requires that you write more than one paragraph!

Tip # 1

•Note: There is no magical 5 ¶ essay – the

number of ¶s will depend on your argument;

however, it’s hard to prove a thesis with not

only 1 ¶ but also with only 1 body ¶

Action step:

• Re-read your essay & insert the ¶ symbol any time you begin a new topic or idea

Top 8 Timed Writing Tips:

• Your intro ¶ should end with your thesis

Tip # 2

Top 8 Timed Writing Tips:

• Thesis statements & topic sentences should be level 2 (answer “So What?”)

Tip # 3

specificsubject

+ specific stanceon subject

Examples:

1. “Adversity can bring out the best and worst in people, sometimes simultaneously. A good example of this can be found in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, as well as in day to day life.”

2. In literature, there are heroes all the time who are faced with a challenge that seemsalmost impossible, but they rise to the challenge.

Action step:

• Find & highlight your thesis statement as well as all your topic sentences

Action step:

• Ask a peer to double check your thesis as well as your topic sentences. If the statement is level 2, have them initial it. If not, you must fix it. A different peer must initial each statement.

Top 8 Timed Writing Tips:

• If asked to defend, challenge, or qualify a person’s claim (Horace), it behooves you to mention that person’s name – if not in your thesis then at least in your intro ¶ (if not, you’re probably writing a level 3 essay instead of level 2)

Tip # 4

Action step:

• Put a square around the 1st time you mention Horace

Top 8 Timed Writing Tips:

• AP = ANSWER THE PROMPT

Tip # 5

Your thesis should connect directly to the prompt & each topic sentence should connect directly to your thesis

Common mistakes:1. Not connecting adversity back to character development2. Confusing adversity with diversity3. Arguing what type of adversity is most important

Top 8 Timed Writing Tips:

• When time allows, begin your essay with a grabber:

Tip # 6

Types of Grabbers:

1. Quotation (preferably not from the prompt): “Life is a collection of hardships, struggles, diseases and happiness that ‘is like a box of chocolates: you never know what your [sic] gonna get’” (Forrest Gump).

2. Anecdote (short story): “As a child, a favorite phrase of one of the priestesses at my church was, ‘In order to produce light, one must endure burning.’ I remember the simple truth of the statement struck me even then, at eight or nine years old. Since then, I’ve carried the picture of a burning candle in the recesses of my mind, a token to the sometimes profitable role adversity plays in our lives.”

3. Startling fact or statistic

45 % of students began with the quotation in the prompt

Action step:

• Put a smiley face next to your first sentence if it’s an effective grabber

Top 8 Timed Writing Tips:

• Scholarly writing requires that you write in 3rd person except when referencing a personal experience

Tip # 7

Action step:

• Circle any 1st (I, we, mine, ours) & 2nd person (you, your) pronouns that you use outside a personal anecdote (for example, “I believe”)

Helpful hint: Never address the AP reader – either directlyor indirectly: “I am also positive that whoever may bereading this essay right now can think back to that pivital[sic] point in their life that made them who they are today;I know I can.”

Top 8 Timed Writing Tips:

• Back up your claims with evidence: text-to-text, text-to-world & text-to-self connections!

Tip # 8

Helpful hint: Save these examples for body ¶s

Text-to-text Connections

• Into the Wild• The Jungle• Beowulf• Stardust• A Series of Unfortunate Events• The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane• Oliver Twist• Cinderella Man• The Outstretched Shadow• Coyotes• The Edge• A Christmas Story• Hercules• Saturday• Eragon• Princess Diaries

Text-to-world Connections

• Columbus• Joan of Arc• 9/11• Feminist movement• Sports• Holocaust• Thomas Edison• Manhattan Project• Transcontinental Railroad• Natural disasters• Sistine Chapel• Julius Caesar• Great Pyramids• Financial recession