Ms. Richmond
English 221
Othello Vocabulary Challenge
Directions: The point of learning the definitions of vocabulary words is so you can understand the
reading when you see these new words and so you can later use them in your own writing and speech.
Instead of a regular vocabulary test, this time you are asked to create a very short story that uses at
least 10 of the 65 words from the Othello unit. You should use your vocabulary squares to help you do
this.
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Your story should be fiction. Be creative!
The story should be at least one page, although you may go longer if you need more text to use
all 10 of the vocabulary words.
o You will later develop this very short story into a larger short story for the Short Story
unit. Keep that in mind as you write.
o Please keep this assignment very short, as directed. Don’t hand in a full-blown short
story. Keep it simple.
Make up your own sentences from your own mind, not by copying them. Plagiarism is wrong
and will result in a zero on the assignment and being reported to Mr. Norton.
Please place the vocabulary words in bold font so that they can be easily recognized.
o If words are not in bold, I cannot guarantee that you will receive credit for using them
all.
Your grade will be based on whether you used the word correctly (this includes meaning and
form) and if you use it in a meaningful sentence as part of a story that makes sense.
o Examples:
 Good sentence: Iago and Cassio conversed about Desdemona, but Othello
thought they were speaking of Bianca.
 Incorrect form: Iago and Cassio conversation about Desdemona, but Othello
thought they were speaking of Bianca.
 Incorrect form means that you understand the word’s meaning, but you
used a variation, wrong verb tense, etc., making the sentence
grammatically incorrect.
 Incorrect meaning: Iago and Cassio conversed over the fence in search of Turks.
 Bad sentence: Iago conversed.
Rubric for Othello Vocabulary Challenge
Name ____________________________________
CATEGORY
Meaning
A
All vocabulary
words convey
their correct
meanings.
The form for all of
the vocabulary
words is correct.
All sentences that
use Othello
vocabulary are
meaningful.
B
One to two words
do not convey
their correct
meanings.
One to two words
have incorrect
form.
Most sentences
that use Othello
vocabulary are
meaningful.
C
Three to five
words do not
convey their
correct meanings.
Three to five
words have
incorrect form.
Several sentences
that use Othello
vocabulary are not
meaningful.
Storyline
The storyline
makes sense.
The storyline has
weaknesses.
The storyline has
several
weaknesses.
10 Words
At least 10 Othello
vocabulary words
are used.
Author makes no
errors in grammar,
spelling or
punctuation that
distract the reader
from the content.
Eight to nine
Othello vocabulary
words are used.
Five to seven
Othello vocabulary
words are used.
Author makes
more than 10
errors in grammar,
spelling or
punctuation that
distract the reader
from the content.
Form
Sentence Quality
Mechanics
Length
A Guide to Critical
Writing
The story is at
least one page.
The assignment
includes a correct
heading, title,
page numbers,
etc.
F
More than five
words do not
convey their
correct meanings.
More than five
words have
incorrect form.
All/almost all
sentences that use
Othello vocabulary
are not
meaningful.
The storyline does
not make sense
and/or has
inappropriate
subject matter.*
Less than five
Othello vocabulary
words are used.
The story is
unreadable due to
the number of
errors.
The story is less
than one page.
The assignment
does not fulfill the
requirements
listed in A Guide to
Critical Writing.
* Inappropriate subject matter could lead to a zero on the assignment.
Advice on Expanding the Story:
Grade: