Classroom Syllabus:
The Secrets of Writing
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Teacher: Miss Millette
Office: EDU 601
Office Phone: 1 (207) 555-9142
Office Hours: Tues. - Thurs. 10:30- 11:30
Mon. and Fri. 3:00-4:00
E-mail: megan.millette@maine.edu
Summary of Unit
Welcome to our unit on The Secrets of Writing! I am sure we have all wanted to know the secrets behind
writing to help us through further school, make essays seem easier, and allow us a basic understanding of
writing enough to do what we wish with it. Writing occurs in every aspect of the real world and in order to
understand it all better there are some things we must learn. In this unit we will be learning how there is
meaning in writing, why we need a strong structure in our writing, as well as how to use effective
techniques to enhance our writing. Since we are living in a digital world where one uses technology in
many ways we will be privileged to use technology in Type II ways that will help make writing seem more
exciting. These Type II technologies include iMovie, Wikispaces, tumbleblogs, prezi, capzles, and
persuasion maps. If you don’t know what these systems are don’t worry you will have an understanding of
each one by the time you are done this unit and we will work through any problems faced. This will be an
exciting unit that incorporates many different forms of writing to help you gain a mastery of writing. The
unit will conclude with a performance task where you will write your own story or book of poetry that puts
you in the shoes of a writer trying to publish a piece. You will be asked to try and persuade Scholastic
Publishing Company to publish your work in a creative way.
Establish Goals
Common Core Standards
Content Area: Writing
Grade Level: Grade 9-10
Domain: Literature
Standard: Text Types and Purposes
Students will understand that
•meaning is found in writing.
•they must have a strong structure.
•using effective techniques help their writing.
Essential Questions
•How is there meaning?
•Why do you need a strong structure?
•How would you use effective techniques?
Students will know
•Important Events and People:
characters, protagonist, antagonist, sequence
of events, plot lines, setting, clarify relationships
between characters, etc.
•Critical Details:
Fluency in writing, descriptions, sensory language
Point of View, using literary devices, etc.
•Vocabulary:
thesis, topic, protagonist, antagonist, climax, plot,
style, structure, literary devices, fluency, POV,
sensory language, pacing, cohesion, transitions,
dialogue, writers voice, etc.
Students will be able to
•Synthesize an idea based on structure.
•Illustrate their opinion through written
language.
•Decide how structure will emphasize
meaning.
•Analyze what techniques show their
point more clearly.
•Relate their feelings to others through
their writing.
•Recognize their voice through writing.
Performance Task Overview
Scholastic Publishing Company has been on a quest to find their next bestselling authors.
In order to make this process easier they have started a contest where one lucky group of
four will get a chance to make their dreams of being famous writers a reality. This is your
chance at fortune and fame. All you have to do is write a story or book of poems and
submit them. From there you will be randomly assigned a group of four including
yourself. Your mission is to take your group's pieces and find a way to fit them all in a
movie you will create. The board members of the Scholastic Publishing Company will be
judging all the videos and picking their favorite, so make sure it is creative and eyecatching. Good Luck!
Expectations
Absent/Late Policy: There will be a lot rolled into each class and you are expected to be here for every
class. However, if an emergency comes up and you are unable to come to class there will be a folder on my
desk that is green for work you missed and it will have your name on the top be sure to come in and grab it
sometime when you return. There will also be a blue folder to put work that was due on the days you were
absent. In order to get credit for anything when you are absent, a copy of it should be placed in this spot. If
you are having trouble or seem lost come and talk to me I will be happy to help. You can also look to your
fellow classmates though it may cause more confusion in which case you would come to me during office
hours.
Assignment Expectations: All written work should be done in a word processor double spaced in 12pt
Times New Roman font with 1" margins on all sides unless specifically specified by me. All assignments
should be passed in on time late assignments will not get full credit and have a possibility of being no credit
at all. If you have a reason for your assignment being late please come talk to me and we can work it out if
it is a reasonable excuse. Just not doing an assignment or forgetting to do one is two explanations I will not
take into consideration. Any formal writing assignments should be read over numerous times before
handing in the final drafts you do not want careless typing mistakes to be the reason why you went down a
letter grade. Be precise and careful when checking over assignments before being handed in. On specified
assignments I will give students a chance to fix errors and pass in again but only when I specify this is not
for every assignment. Also, if you ever receive a grade that you are not happy about please come speak
with me. I will be sure to hear what you have to say and we can go over it to see what we can do about the
grade.
Class Expectations: It is expected that you come to class prepared. You should also follow the rules and
guidelines brought forward during the first class. They will be posted in the room so please follow them.
Behave and follow rules and we will have a great class. Respect should always be shown to fellow
classmates as well as your teachers. In this class I pride myself on my students having respect for one
another as well as for themselves and the teacher. Please just follow the rules and we will have a great
classroom experience.
Plagiarism Policy: The school has strict rules on plagiarism just like most schools. In this class we will
follow the rules brought forward by the school. If you ever need remembering of these rules they are in
your student handbook on page 7. Be sure to look there when questioning what plagiarism deals with. If
you have lost your handbook come talk to me and we will get you another. It is always better to over cite
than to under cite so when in doubt just cite. This is a crime so any accounts of plagiarism will mean that
you will receive a zero for that assignment and be sent to the principal. If you have any questions don't
hesitate to ask me and I will be happy to help you.
Benchmarks: 900 Points Total
•Wikispaces (150 points): Students will use wikispaces.com to create a wikispace page that is their
first written paper. Throughout your writing process you will constantly post on their page starting with a
thesis statement and supporting facts. It will then change into a full rough draft. Throughout the process we
will be able to look in the your history and see their progress throughout the writing process and be able to
give them feedback. Please include at least 2 hyperlinks with relevant information that your classmates
could use while putting together an essay, persuasive piece, or story in the future. Please also include two
links that describe the history event you choose for a topic and wrote about. This will help your classmates
as they read your work. This project will be done individually, but you will break into groups for
constructive feedback before editing and passing it in. Please feel free to include more resources if you
believe the resources will be helpful. If you have never used a wikispace before I will take you through
how to get a username and also how to utilize a wikispace. Keep in mind your wikispace should be easy to
navigate and easy to understand because your fellow students may be using it as a resource. Also, please
give proper credit to any ideas, written, visual or auditory information you take from other websites or
resources. Always remember to look at the plagiarism policy brought forward in the syllabus.
•Persuasion Maps (150 points): Students will use
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/persuasion_map/ to create a persuasion map.
This persuasion map will consist of an opinion and information found to back up your opinion. You will
start by picking a topic that can be viewed in more than one way. You will then need to decide on a clear
thesis statement to go along with this topic and list the main idea you will be discussing. From here you
will do research to find evidence to back up your thesis and answers the questions a reader might have in
order to help persuade them to agree with you. Make sure as you look for information for support that you
cite your sources in the proper way giving credit where credit is due. Then you will fill in the persuasion
map online with the information you found and print your persuasion map. Don't worry if you are afraid
because you do not know how to set up a persuasion map we will have a tutorial in class. If you have
further questions feel free to ask me and I will be sure to help. You will use your persuasion map as a rough
draft of your paper and then make it into a persuasion paper. You will share both the persuasion map and
paper with your classmates and have a discussion to see how your opinion could be persuasive and
influence others views. This will help you see how having a certain voice and structure to your paper will
help increase people to be persuaded to see your opinion. The set-up of a persuasion piece is crucial
because you want the evidence to be laid out in a creative way that also anticipates what the reader will
think in trying to contradict you and prove them wrong before they have a chance to do so. It can be a fun
assignment where you show passion and logic in your written piece.
•Capzles (100 points): You will be creating two capzles at http://www.capzles.com. One of your
capzles will be filled with information and events that are scattered and out of sequence. Then have the
other capzle filled with the events and information in order. Describe how this shows you the importance of
structure in writing in a paragraph attached. Be prepared to show it to your fellow peers and see how they
feel about the capzles. This will be a good representation of how information put in the right order can
impact people. Please remember to cite the sources you use and give credit where credit is due. If you are
nervous about using capzles don't worry we will discuss it in class. If you miss class or do not understand
fully come talk to me sometime after class or during office hours and I will be happy to help.
•Prezi (150 points): You will be using Prezi to help do a presentation on writing techniques. You will
be split into groups of four. Each group will receive a few effective writing techniques. Using the
techniques you were assigned, you will create a prezi to present to class. This will have all the techniques
as well as the information about them the class will need to know and two ways to use each. You may also
include movies, pictures, and anything else you believe will help your fellow classmates understand the
information better. Please cite correctly and give credit. I will be showing everyone how to use Prezi as
well as show them how to add certain things such as movies onto their Prezi. The Prezi website is
http://prezi.com/.
•iMovie (250 points): This will be our final assignment and it will consist of two parts. The first part
you will be doing some writing. You will be able to choose whether you want to write a book of poetry or a
story. This piece, whichever you pick, must include all the many aspects learned throughout the unit such
as persuasion, writer's voice, structure, POV, etc. This piece must be a minimum of five poems and a three-
page story. There will be no maximum because you need to feel as though you are a real author writing
something worth publishing so feel free to write as much as you want just keep in mind you will have
another part. You may add more to it after the assignment is passed in. After writing your pieces you will
be asked to turn it into a movie trailer using iMovie or Movie Maker. The catch is you are going to pretend
that this movie trailer is your pitch to a publishing company to get them to publish your story as their next
bestseller. You must create a piece your own to turn into a movie entire trailer. With your movie trailer you
must have a small persuasive speech to pitch to the publishing company. This only has to be one to two
minutes. For the second part of the assignment you will be put in groups of three based off which piece
type you share in common with those people. For instance, people writing poetry will be paired with others
doing poetry. The reason this is paired is to give you a cast to use during the filming of your trailer. Each
person must have their piece represented as well as have their own individual speech for the company. The
way you mix each other’s trailers together is completely up to you. This will be an exciting process. Be
sure to have credits and cited sources can fit in this section. Make sure the piece itself though is all your
own work. I will discuss and give a tutorial over iMovie and Movie Maker, so do not panic you will have a
basic understanding of both.
•Tumbleblogs (100 points): For this section you will be given journal entries to write. However,
instead of writing in a journal you will be posting them on a tumbleblog. This tumbleblog will be your own
space to write and let the creativity flow. Though your peers will be asked to read and give feedback as
well as you will present these so please make sure that the information on the page is thing you don't mind
others seeing. Also you will be able to add links and movies that go with what you are discussing to help
students better understand your writing. In this section you will be developing a writer's voice in your work.
You must share at least three entries in the class that show that you developed a writer's voice. Each blog
entry must have at least two extras whether they are sights, movies, music, pictures, etc. Please get creative
and don't forget to cite sources. We want everyone to be safe and follow plagiarism rules very carefully.
Grading Scale
A (93 -100), A- (90 - 92), B+ (87 - 89), B (83 - 86), B- (80 - 82), C+(77 - 79), C (73-76), C- (70 - 72),
D+(67 - 69), D (63 - 66), D- (60 - 62), F (0 - 59)