Name: _________________________________ Date: __________________
MY BEST FRIEND – A WRITING ASSIGNMENT
As people come of age, their friends are often an important influence on their growth. Often in
coming of age novels and films, the protagonists’ friends help guide them toward moral
development.
For this assignment, you are being asked to think about an important friend – your best friend
– and the impact they are having on your own coming of age. Your task is to write a onepage, single spaced, 12-point font description of your best friend.
Although you don’t have to respond to each of these questions in your writing, you may want
to think about these questions and prompts to get you stared:
 When, where, and how, did you and your best friend meet?
 Describe a challenging situation that you and you best friend faced together. How did
this obstacle affect your friendship?
 What is the best piece of advice your best friend has ever given you?
 Where do you see your friendship in five years from now?
You may wish to include a picture of you and your best friend with your assignment when you
hand it in. You may also want to use the exemplar provided to give you ideas on how to complete
this assignment. There will be some class time provided to work on this assignment, but you may
need to do some work outside of class on it. Class time will also not be provided on computers for it
to be typed.
DUE DATE: _________________________________________________________________________.
The rubric below will be used to evaluate your work:
Criteria
Level R
Level 1
(0-4 Marks) (5 Marks)
Level 2
(6 Marks)
Level 3
(7 Marks)
Level 4
(8-10 Marks)
Generate,
gather, and
organize ideas
and
information to
write
for an
intended
purpose and
audience
Use editing,
proofreading,
and publishing
skills and
strategies, and
knowledge of
language
conventions, to
correct errors,
refine
expression, and
present
their work
effectively
Writing is not
submitted,
contains
inappropriate
and limited
details, and does
not describe how
their best friend
has assisted their
coming of age
Submission is not
submitted, is
submitted but
contains many
spelling and
grammatical
errors, and does
not illustrate
how their best
friend has
assisted in their
coming of age
Writing contains
somewhat
appropriate
content which
contains some
detail and may
describe how
their best friend
has assisted their
coming of age
Submission
contains some
spelling and
grammatical
errors, and uses
language
somewhat
effectively to
illustrate how
their best friend
has assisted their
coming of age
Writing contains
appropriate
content which is
detailed and
describes how
their best friend
has assisted their
coming of age
Writing contains
appropriate
content which is
highly detailed
and thoroughly
describes how
their best friend
has assisted their
coming of age
Submission
contains few
spelling and
grammatical
errors, and uses
language
effectively to
illustrate how
their best friend
has assisted their
coming of age
Submission is
virtually free of
spelling and
grammatical
errors, and uses
language with a
high degree of
effectiveness to
illustrate how
their best friend
has assisted their
coming of age
Total: _______/20
Writing contains
limited
appropriate
content with
few details and
loosely describes
how their best
friend has
assisted their
coming of age
Submission
contains several
spelling and
grammatical
errors, and uses
language with a
limited amount
of effectiveness
to illustrate how
their best friend
has assisted their
coming of age
Name: _________________________________ Date: __________________
MY BEST FRIEND – EXEMPLAR
I first met my best friend at the start of my second year of university. It was a Friday
night, and we were at a dinner party. As soon as we started talking we realized we
had lots in common and that this was the start of an amazing friendship.
It turned out she lived in the same apartment building as I did, and we spent most of
that first weekend together. Before long, her twin brother and my roommate began
dating, and we started seeing a lot more of each other.
We quickly discovered that our knowledge of the TV show Friends only rivaled that of
each other, and were overjoyed that we had someone to go see the Backstreet Boys
with when they came to play in London, Ontario. Our loves of 90s chick flicks, all-youcan-eat sushi, and Starbucks lead to many fun outings and evenings in.
As the only two history students in our group of friends which consisted mostly of science
majors, we found ourselves spending lots of time in the library and studying together
for common exams. We took a course together in third year, and I don’t think I would
have made it through the difficult subject matter of that course without our weekly
dinner before class and debrief session on the trip home afterwards.
We both planned on taking a year off after we finished undergrad. It was our plan to
move to Toronto together from London and live and work in the city. We dreamed
about living in the Annex and frequenting our favourite coffee bar, Aroma. It was,
however, never meant to be.
Our lives took us in very different paths. While I moved to Toronto for teacher’s college
at U of T, she ended up in New York at law school. We both aren’t very good at
keeping in touch, but our friendship is so strong that on the rare occasions that we do
speak to each other it feels as though no time has passed.
We’ve been through many good times, and also many bad times. She taught me to
always laugh through your tough times, a mantra that has successfully gotten me
through some difficult situations with her and on my own. She also taught me that a
true friendship withstands the test of both time and distance.
Even though we only speak a few times a year, and see each other even less, I know I
can always count on my best friend when the going gets tough, and when I’ve got lots
to celebrate. That, for me, is the true meaning of friendship.