Writing Program

To prepare our students to meet the challenges and demands of our modern world and to prepare them to enrich themselves and their communities through effective writing, we present a balanced outline that meets the requirements of our standards and the needs of our students.

High school students across the diocese will practice all stages of the writing process and follow the plan provided. This will ensure consistency among students across the diocese.

The bolded information in the General Guidelines for each grade traces the development of paraphrasing, summarizing, and citing source material to train students to avoid plagiarism.

Writing assignments may be completed in any order except where noted. At least one assignment must be completed each quarter. In the case of transfers within the Archdiocese, please send the writing folder to the new school; the teacher in the new school should make sure the student completes what was not covered if the transfer is mid-year.

GRADE 9

Required writing assignments

•         Compare and Contrast (Informative)

•         Research-using at least 1-2 sources

•         Argument

•         Narrative

General guidelines:

•         Students will practice all stages of the writing process.
•         Students will use Noodletools to create a works cited page and for parenthetical citations.

•         Students will use the notecard function of Noodletools to create a section of the document to paraphrase.

•         Students will assert a claim, acknowledge a counterclaim, and provide reasons and evidence for that claim from their knowledge,
        experience, and outside reading.

•         Students will “use words, phrases, and clauses to link major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between
        claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims.”

•         Students will demonstrate an awareness of audience and use and maintain an objective and formal tone.

•         Students will demonstrate consistent attention to the conventions of standard English.

GRADE 10

Required writing assignments

•         Cause and Effect OR Problem/ Solution (Informative) NOT Compare and Contrast

•         Argument

•         Argument with research--2-3 sources; approximately 3 pages in length

•         Narrative

General guidelines

•         Students will practice all stages of the writing process.

•         Students will use Noodletools to create a works cited page and for parenthetical citations.

•         Students will use the notecard function of Noodletools to create sections of the documents to paraphrase and quote directly.

•         Students will demonstrate an ability to imbed quotations seamlessly.

•         Students will assert a claim, acknowledge a counterclaim, and provide reasons and evidence for that claim from their knowledge,
        experience, and outside reading.

•         Students will “use words, phrases, and clauses to link major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between
        claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims” (CCSS ELA).

•         Students will demonstrate an awareness of audience and use and maintain an objective and formal tone.

•         Students will demonstrate consistent attention to the conventions of standard English.

GRADE 11

Required writing assignments

•       Analysis: Rhetorical, Literary, or Documentary

•       Argument

•       Argument with research--3-5 sources (at least two digital); approximately 3 pages in length

•       Narrative - College Essay Part I ^required fourth quarter

General Guidelines

•       Students will practice all stages of the writing process.

•       Students will use Noodletools to create a works cited page and for parenthetical citations.

•       Students will use the notecard function of Noodletools to create sections of the documents to paraphrase and quote directly.

•       Students will demonstrate an ability to embed quotations seamlessly.

•       Students will assert a claim, acknowledge a counterclaim, and provide reasons and evidence for that claim from their knowledge,   
 experience, and outside reading.

•       Students will demonstrate an ability to develop claims and counterclaims thoroughly, “supplying the most relevant evidence for each while
 pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible
 biases” (CCSS ELA).

•       Students will “use words, phrases, and clauses to link major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between
 claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims” (CCSS ELA).

•       Students will demonstrate an ability to maintain an objective and formal tone.

•       Students will demonstrate consistent attention to the conventions of standard English.

GRADE 12

•         Narrative - College Essay Part II ^required first quarter

•         Analysis—Rhetorical, Literary, or Documentary

•         Argument

•         Researched Argument—using 5-7 outside sources (at least three digital); approximately 5-7 pages in length

General Guidelines

•         Students will practice all stages of the writing process.
•         Students will use Noodletools to create a works cited page and for parenthetical citations.
•         Students will use the notecard function of Noodletools to create sections of the documents to paraphrase and quote directly.

•         Students will demonstrate an ability to embed quotations seamlessly.

•         Students will demonstrate an ability to develop claims and counterclaims thoroughly, “supplying the most relevant evidence for each
        while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values,
        and possible biases” (CCSS ELA).

•         Students will assert a claim, acknowledge a counterclaim, and provide reasons and evidence for that claim from their knowledge,
        experience, and outside reading.

•         Students will “use words, phrases, and clauses to link major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between
        claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims” (CCSS ELA).

•         Students will demonstrate an awareness of audience and use and maintain an objective and formal tone.

•         Students will demonstrate consistent attention to the conventions of standard English.

ALL GRADES

Review the Writing Process

•        Prewriting

•        Drafting

•        Revising

•        Proofreading

•        Publishing

General information

•        Stress recursive nature of writing

•        Practice peer and self-evaluation techniques

•        Refine proofreading skills

Grammar/ Usage (including but not limited to)

•        Run-ons and fragments

•        Pronoun/antecedent agreement

•        Subject/verb agreement

•        Tense shift

•        Point of view shift

•        Spelling

•        Punctuation and capitalization

•        Contractions

•        No use of 1/you

Style (including but not limited to)

•        Development of voice

•        Use of parallel structure

•        Precise word choice/ diction

•        Avoidance of repetition of words, phrases, and ideas

•        Varying of sentence beginnings

o Prepositional phrase
o Gerund phrase
o Participial Phrase
     Avoiding repetition of words and ideas and phrases

Logic

•        Fallacies

•        Appeals

•        Rhetoric