English 10/Hilliard
Semester Exam
2014-2015
Your task: Write a deeply reflective “narrative of learning” essay synthesizing what you’ve learned
throughout the course and in Food Lit.
So, you’ve done the heavy lifting – you’ve sharpened your reading and analysis skills. You’ve
thought deeply about literature and ideas. You’ve completed high-level, evaluative assignments. And
you’ve applied these skills to whatever we’ve studied in class – most recently, Food Lit.
You have the dots. Now you need to step back and see what you can make or how you might
connect them.
During our Food Lit unit, you have studied the following:









Good Food map
Food Inc. Philosophical chairs
Food Inc. documentary
“Nil by Mouth” by Roger Ebert
“The Importance of Eating Together” from The Atlantic
New York Times photo essay “Why does it matter that families eat together?”
Storehouse photo essay including original claim
“Family Dinner” food day
Good Food interview
NEED TO KNOW
A “narrative of learning” is a synthesis essay that uses the first person point of view to narrate
your ideas and connections and to report on your learning.
A synthesis essay is the combination of different ideas to form an original idea or claim.
First person essays are conversational narratives that use “I”.
For your exam, you must:
1. Complete the pre-writing
2. Write an essay in the lines provided, appropriately and thoughtfully answering the prompt.
Essay Outline
I. Paragraph #1: Introduction
Give some information and background about our unit of study.




What did we study?
What were the goals and objectives?
What were the lead-in activities?
What was the atmosphere of class?
II. Paragraph #2: Narration
Provide a short anecdote about your thoughts about the topic before our unit of study.
Tell a story beginning with the sentence, “I always thought good food was…”



How did you view food?
What trends emerged in your group’s food maps?
What did you think about studying food in English class?
Thesis: (Your original claim answering the question “What is good food?”)
III. Paragraph #3: Support paragraph 1
Supporting Evidence #1:
Evidence from a source1 that supports your claim – provide source and quote:
Give your own concluding thoughts on the topic:
IV. Paragraph # 4: Support paragraph 2
Supporting Evidence #2
Evidence from a source that supports your claim – provide source and quote:
Give your own concluding thoughts on the topic:
V. Paragraph # 5: Conclusion.
End with a story, question, or some new insight.
1
Sources include everything listed on first page.