Ms.

Hammond, 2014
1

Unit: Personal Writing
Grade 11 English

Unit Duration: 3 weeks (ish)
Unit Dates: September 3rd September 19
th
(or perhaps, a tad later)


Unit Overview:
The goal of this creative nonfiction introductory unit is to 1) become familiar with my students and
2) have students become familiar with both one another and themselves. This will be achieved by
exploring learning styles, personal writing, and goal setting. Students will use what they learn from
reading several examples of personal writing in the iLit texts to complete the units culminating
activities based on their own lives and experiences. Another major focus of this unit is language use.


Topics Covered:
Preferences and recommendations
Working with visuals
SMART goal setting
SEXY paragraphs
Responding to text
Writing variables
Structure & form


Unit Assignments & Grading Breakdown:


Assignment


% of Unit Grade

Tentative Due Date
The Best Ever Mini-Assignment 10% Week 1
Personal Mandala 20% Week 2
Autobio/Bio/Obituary 20% Week 3
Memoir 50% Week 3


Unit Texts & Resources
Martin Schoeller Celebrity Portraits (photographs)
This Picture Represents Me (creative visual)
The Eulogy and Obituary of Ermintrude Thusnelda VonShepdaele
Perspective by Taryn Orchard (autobiography)
Life is But a Dream by Beyonce Knowles (autobiographical film)
Beyonce by Beyonce Knowles (video album)
Life After Death by Kali Joye
Micro-Memoirs from Remix by iLit
Shape up Flabby Writing with Stronger Words (article)
10 Words to Cut from Your Writing (article)
Ms. Hammond, 2014
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Unit Assignment Descriptions:

The Best Ever Mini-Assignment
For the first assignment of the Personal Writing Unit, you will begin exploring who you are by
exploring your preferences. You will have to select your favorite item in particular form and genre
categories (including movie, book, YouTube video, etc.), then explain your selection with reference
to your preferences. Afterwards, you will write a paragraph recommending one of your items to
someone you know, based on their preferences.

The Personal Mandala
This is an assignment that requires you to really delve into your understanding of 1) what defines
you as an individual, and 2) what makes an effective visual. A mandala is a circular arrangement of
symbols that represent your inner self, and your connection with the world. You will be creating
your own mandala based on the people, objects, activities, attributes, and goals that help define
who you are. Prior to creating your mandala, you will explore a variety of images and the visual
elements and techniques that make them effective, so that you may incorporate them into your
assignment.

Autobiographical Writing Piece
While the Mandala measured what you know about visual elements, this assignment will measure
what you know about written ones. We will look at 3 different types of autobiographical writing:
autobiographies/biographies, obituaries, and eulogies. We have also taken a close look at The
Writing Variables. Then, you will choose one of these three forms and create your own! The subject
of your written piece can be you or someone you know (note: if you choose the second option, you
will need to conduct a conversational interview with this person to ensure that you have all the facts
right, and you will need to make sure that you use language of respect in your written piece).

Personal Memoir
For your final piece of written piece, you will be writing a memoir a form of creative nonfiction
(so, whatever you write about must be based on true events) that has a structure resembling a story.
You can choose whomever, whatever, or whenever you would like to write about, as long as you are
able to reflect upon why that person, pet, place, or thing has been significant in your life. You will
use this piece to show off your ability to generate, organize, and edit your ideas, as well as your
ability to use electrifying language Along with your memoir, you will be expected to complete an
explaining your writing variables sheet (based on an aesthetic piece of writing the memoir),
which will mirror what you will find on your final exam!













Ms. Hammond, 2014
3
Ongoing Assignment Descriptions:
In addition to the assignments within this particular unit, you will also be responsible for journaling twice a
week, and working on your independent novel unit on an ongoing basis throughout the entire semester. Here
is a description of the shenanigans involved in each:

1) Journaling Assignment:
This ongoing assignment will be worth 5% of your entire grade. It is designed to keep you writing about things
that YOU want to write about, and to provide a platform for you to practice all the lovely things you are
learning in class. You are required to submit 2 journal entries per week (and, yes, you will be given class
time to work on these). The topic of one entry will be whatever tickles your fancy, and the topic of the other
will be goal setting.

Topic #1: Your Choice
You may write about whatever you like. If you had a rough weekend, write about your rough
weekend. If you really like hotdogs, write about hotdogs. If you cant make up your mind, draw a
journal jogger from the bucket, and write about that.

Topic #2: Goal Setting
You will use this journal to practice setting and achieving SMART goals (we will discuss what the heck
these are in class). Over the course of the semester you must set at least 3 goals, 1 of which has
to do with ELA. The other goals you set can be about absolutely anything, either inside or outside of
your life at school.
o ELA Examples: Expand my vocabulary by 10 words within the next 30 days; get full marks
on a SEXY question within the next 2 weeks, etc.).
o Absolutely Anything Examples: Complete the 5K marathon on November 23; be able to eat
26 hotdogs in one sitting (bun included) by January 25.
You are welcome to set more than 3 goals. While you are only required to set 3 goals, you are still
required to write about your progress (including triumphs, frustrations, changes made, etc.) in
achieving these goals every week.
__________________________________________________________________

2) Independent Novel Unit:
In addition to the units we will be exploring as a class, you will be working independently (meaning by
yourself and on your own time but yes, I will give you some class time, too) to complete a collection of
written pieces based upon a text of your choosing.

Between September 3
rd
and January 23
rd
a reasonable goal would be to read 3 novels (this
includes graphic novels, of course). Though you should aim to read more than one novel, your final
assignment for your independent novel study requires you to choose only one. The purpose of this assignment
is to test your knowledge of 1) various forms, and 2) characterization and point of view. You will be given a
list of forms to choose, from which you will select a minimum of 5 different ones. The trick to this assignment
is that you will not always be writing from YOUR point of view, but from the point of view of characters within
your novel, as well. For each form you choose, try to write from the point of view of a different character
(*Note: some of these forms will require you to write from YOUR point of view. You may choose 1 of these).

A list of potential forms (feel free to come up with your own, and run it by me):
-Diary Entry -Review/recommendation -5-Star quote explanation
-Letter/email -Creative visual -Short story
-Poem -Memoir -Chapter continuation
-Monologue -Personal essay -Chapter re-write
-Storyboard/comic -Map -Alternate ending
-Dialogue -Advertisement -Film casting
-Song -Video -Website
-Newspaper article -Wanted ad -Obituary or eulogy
-Toast -Rant -Character box
-Autobiography -Facebook page -Something else

For now, focus on reading your books (you will get a small amount of class time every day, and a large amount
of class time on most Fridays), and thinking about which forms you will choose. You have 5 months to
complete this assignment, so if you want to pace yourself, a good goal would be to write 1 piece per month.