Shared Assignment

This is my sharing of an assignment that we just finished last week. I give my 11th graders this essay to write right after they have completed the reading of Elie Wiesel's book Night. Here are scanned images of the assignment prompt and the grading rubric I give them for the essay they have to complete in a one day--55 minute class period (click on image to view full size):

This is Example #1) of one student's in-class essay she completed and submitted on prompt #2:

There are many different actions to take to prevent another Holocaust or genocide from happening in the twenty first century. Many people don’t want something like that to ever happen again so therefore they are more aware of a genocide repeating unlike people in the twentieth century. Countries around the world try to keep the peace, which also helps the world not repeat the past. Preventing another genocide is not only a country’s responsibility but each individual’s responsibility as well.

History plays a big role in the world today. It helps us keep history from repeating itself in some ways and helps shows the different approaches leaders took on situations that occurred. Hitler left behind a horrible, lasting legacy from the Holocaust that know one will forget. In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, in the beginning chapters none of the Jewish people knew what was going on or what to expect. Knowing that the Holocaust really happened and reading books about it makes people even more aware about genocides and that it could happen again.

What ended the Holocaust was other countries coming into world war two and taking Hitler out of power. Even today powerful countries go to other countries to form a new government or remove a leader. America is one example of a country that tries to keep the peace. America has established new governments in countries and removed harmful leaders. If some countries didn’t involve themselves in situations when a country is being taken over, that situation could lead to genocide.

In this world today there are so many different people with different morals and different virtues, it’s impossible for the world to agree on one thing. Hitler didn’t like people that were different or didn’t believe in the same values. Hitler saw the Jews as a threat to him. If individuals fight for their freedom and don’t let their lives be dictated, then there is a less likely chance that history will repeat itself.

In conclusion, people are always going to disagree on things, but if people learn to accept those differences then the world could become a better place. Since there is so many problems such as differences and racism there really is no stopping the past from repeating itself but the world still can try and prevent it from happening.

Continued comments: This is an in-class, one draft essay assignment that I like to use to help them prepare for "on the spot written responses" to their readings in the future. I have given them notes on some terms and definitions in class earlier in the week, words like morals, virtues, and ethics. We also talk about moral duty and principles, character and good and evil, even chastity in preparation for this essay. This assignment worksheet came from a ACTE conference "idea exchange' I attended years ago in Soldotna. I've used it ever since.

This is Example #2 of the same assignment. This one was done on prompt #1:

In today’s society white people are discriminated against in almost every country but those controlled by white people. In Africa white people are white devils because of past experiences even though times have changed. Almost every race of people can get scholarships and financial help just because they are not white. Native Alaskans get free medical because they are native Alaskans. If there was a scholarship out there that was only for Caucasian people then every other race would cry white supremacy and say we were discriminating against them. The main issue today is not white Americans discriminating against colored people or native people, it's the native and colored people holding onto grudges that have occurred decades ago and using it as leverage against "white devils"

The truth of the matter is that white people in the past have done some horrifying things to other races. We have discriminated, we have hated other races, we have hated those who don't follow our religion. We have also taken steps and made laws and projected ideas that nullified and will hopefully banish those ideas. There are relatively few white people that honestly hate black people, or Asians, or Mexicans nowadays. Even those that do are usually older people or young adults who had parents that tried to breed those thoughts into their heads. Children don't even notice that their friend that they can’t hang out with is black and that that is the reason why. Racism and discrimination occur from two main areas of influence; personal experiences that incur those thoughts and parents teaching their children lies.

White people have overall forgotten their racist past, we have noted it but have decided not to follow it. There are many "black only" neighborhoods that will shoot or beat up white people just for entering, even unknowingly. There have not been cases of white only neighborhoods that beat up black people, at least not in recent history. These ignorant gang members that "stick with the brothers" and "stay true to their homies" only further increase racism and prejudice. The church teaches people to forgive and forget, if more people followed that then this world would be much better off.

Hitler hated Jewish people because he believed their personalities and actions caused job and money losses as well as economic failure. One man, influencing an entire country of people on his personal grudges that were not at all well founded was the direct cause of approximately six million Jewish deaths. At the rate that Mexican, African American, and Asian people are populating America it won’t take too long for white people to become the minority. Then what will it take but one very smart racist person to gain control and eliminate the white race. Hitler nearly succeeded in taking out all of the Jews and he had a much less powerful country that we do. We must eliminate the racist and prejudice way of thinking. White people are power-hungry devils to many people and they believe that we want to suppress them. In reality there are huge amounts of white pacifists and people that want to get along. Almost everybody looks at what Hitler did with disgust and there is a very small minority, most with possible psychosis, that agree with it.

White people have given up chances for a higher education in an attempt to alleviate the racial discrimination between others and us. We know what we did in the past was wrong but the fact that African Americans can't find it within themselves to forgive our ignorance is astounding. White people have been cruel and killed others but there is not a race in history that has never had a time where a dictator killed mass amounts of people for no good reason. Muslims hate Israelites because of some event that no living person can say they honestly remember. It is sickening to the heart to watch people give their lives because of their skin or because of their home. If people could just forgive their ancestors enemies and forgive others for their mistakes then racism will be able to disappear. If fathers and mothers could stop hating their enemies in war or who raped them or who killed their father for looking at them wrong and understand it is not black people or Asian people or Mexicans that did it, that it was just one person, then this world has a chance. If not then there will be hatred, despair, and death.

I've included both of these sample writings for varies reasons. I believe one of the hardest things to do is grade student works on merit alone and not be influenced by what position the student takes or... I have to tell myself to not get upset if the language they use or the position they take isn't mine. As long as they have a solid argument and have written the essay following the directions I have to give them the grade it merits. When I grade these essays I often have to remove myself from the evaluation and just look for the elements the rubric said I'd be looking for in their essays. I can discuss, debate or argue with them about their position later. And I often do just that.

I also have to remember these are young adults, 11th graders, not my peers. Example #1 is from a young lady who has had me before and even though she's not one of my more gifted students she has learned to "play my game". She knows what I want and tries to give it to me. Example #2 is from a young man who is searching for his place in the world, trying on different hats and pushing the borders a little to experiment with adulthood. He is also dating a young Asian and spends a great deal of time with her parents and grandparents.

I would give them both about a forty or forty-five for their effort. Maybe even a fifty on #1 because she mentions the novel and plays with the terms we discussed in class a little. Like I said she's gotten use to my grading. What do you think? Am I too easy? I would hope that if given time, rewriting would clean up the minor errors and possibly fix some of the arguments, but...

I like to think these in-class essays fulfill that"writing to learn and learning to writes" practice. Kinda an extemporaneous on-your-feet thinking thing but in writing. I try to make positive responses in the margins when I'm grading them, I might mark a few grammatical errors but... then using the essay format as a grading rubric (5 pts. each/5 paragraphs w/10 more points for the thesis statements and 5 pts for each topic sentence equaling 50 pts. in all) I give them a grade.

If anyone sees a better way to assess this assignment please tell me or if you have a better tool for essay writing or responding to their readings, I would love to have the help. Like I admitted earlier this is not my original idea in the first place. I just really like it for a change. I just get tired and so do my students of my super long, tedious essay tests especially this time of year. I guess that's more than enough said; so I'll close with a thank you in advance for any assistance or teaching tools you see to forward my way. JJ