Take me seriously! Produce formal writing
Teacher Lorraine Dodd
| YEAR
|
NCEA LEVEL
|
DURATION
|
| 11
|
1
|
3 weeks
|
| Achievement Standard Being Assessed
|
Achievement Criteria
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| AS90053 (English 1.2): Produce formal writing
|
- Express idea(s) with supporting detail in a piece of formal writing.
- Use a writing style appropriate to audience, purpose and text type.
- Structure material in a way that is appropriate to audience, purpose and text type.
- Use writing conventions without intrusive errors.
|
Introduction
Take Me Seriously! is a formal writing unit to prepare students for AS90053 (English 1.2): Produce formal writing
. The unit steps students through the process of generating thoughts in response to a chosen topic and developing a structured, coherent and formal written response.
By the end of the unit, students will write a coherent response of at least 250 words that expresses and argues a viewpoint about a chosen topic. They will express ideas with supporting detail, use a writing style and structure appropriate to audience, purpose and text type, and use writing conventions without intrusive errors.
This unit will prepare students for the piece of formal writing they will probably write at the end of the year in the external exam. While that piece will be written under exam conditions, formative work should still involve taking students through the processes that contribute to producing quality, structured writing.
Formative assessment will take part throughout the entire unit. The drafting and revising time should all be regarded as opportunity for formative assessment. Students should have plenty of opportunity to practise new skills, to learn and create new knowledge and gain feedback. During this time, the teacher will work alongside students to provide them with as much feedback as is appropriate about the progress they are making towards the outcomes. This feedback is likely to be oral for the most part, but may also be written.
The unit that follows is addressed to students and can be used directly in the classroom.
Teaching and learning activities
Select and adapt these learning activities to best meet the needs of your students, and to fit the time available:
Take me Seriously!: Overview
Having an opinion and making a point is one of the great pleasures in life. We all love to feel confident and wise when we've got something to say and we love to think others are listening to us and taking us seriously. If we want others to listen to us, then we need to become familiar with producing a balanced perspective. When we have a conversation, it's not about sharing one idea loudly and forcefully. It's about being open enough to explore a range of ideas and then feeling comfortable to choose one of those ideas to believe more strongly in, for the time being. One way to become a confident conversationalist and encourage others to take us seriously when we're making a point is to put ideas together in a piece of formal writing. This unit will support you to produce a piece of formal writing that expresses your ideas about something in life that's important to you.
Learning task 1
Learning task 2
Learning task 3
Learning task 4
Assessment
Your teacher will assess your piece against the the
assessment_t (RTF 396KB)
you have already been provided with. It is based on the Assessment Criteria of the Achievement Standard. Since this has been a polished piece, and your final piece will be written under exam conditions, you may receive a higher grade than in the exam.
Teachers should view these examples
of writing for curriculum levels 1-5 for Argument writing, produced as part of the English Exemplar Project.
See the Panel Leader's report
for this achievement standard.
