Preview of 2nd Semester Final for Campbell Juniors

Tuesday, June 1, 2-3:30pm, Lab 327

Overview
The final will have three parts to it:
– a take-home response related to our Junior Themes;
– an in-class essay related to Song of Solomon; and
– a reading evaluation.
Only the first two, the take-home and in-class writing, will affect your semester grade.
The reading evaluation, which will be scored but not added to your total points for the
3rd and 4th quarters, will simply give both of us a sense of where you are as a reader at
the end of this year.

Take-home Response – roughly 2 pages long, written at home and turned in at the start of our final
Please choose one of the two options:
1) Choose the section from your Junior Theme that could use the most improvement
and then rewrite/fix it. You would also separately describe why you chose the
section.
– What section you choose could be based on
• missing evidence, information, and/or citations
• poor wording: vague, broad, unclear, repetitious
• unclear purpose within the paper, overall
• other qualities
2) Read another student’s Junior Theme so as to clearly and specifically praise one of
its strengths.
– A strength could be
• clear, guiding, well proofread wording / diction
• smooth integration of information and/or attribution
• organized, well blended ideas from ¶ to¶
• another quality

In-Class Essay – roughly 5 mins. of prep, 45 mins. of writing, and 10 mins. of proofreading; no length
requirements
Before the day of our final, you will submit your own interesting and challenging question that
could produce a thoughtful and supported response based on our reading and annotating of
Song of Solomon. Of the 20+ questions submitted, only three will be chosen as options on the
day of our final. Everyone will receive credit/points for their submitted question. Before the
final, you will be able to see all of the submissions, but you won’t know which will be chosen as
the final three options.
By keeping up with our reading, making the required annotations, and reviewing the posts of
leaders and shadow leaders, you will be able to create, submit, then respond to one of the
three questions during an hour of our ninety-minute final. You will be able to use your
annotated texts during the final, which you will turn in before leaving.
– A challenging and interesting question
• does not expect a simple, single answer, such as a character’s name
• requires quoted or paraphrased support that is always cited
• may require synthesizing the novel with information from outside of
the text
• could ask a reader to evaluate the meaning and/or use of a recurring
theme

Reading Evaluation – roughly 30 minutes long for both reading and responding in short phrases or
sentences
You will read a text by an American author that you’ve probably never seen before and then
you will be asked questions about
– its content (Who? What? Where?) and
– its explicit & implied meanings (How? Why?)
You will end by evaluating the piece, perhaps by making a prediction or by agreeing or
disagreeing with its tone/purpose/assumptions.