Final Exam is NOT Collaborative

Sometimes well intentioned helpers will step in and support a student in their writing.  On some assignments, this is totally appropriate.  On other assignments, this is strictly forbidden.


For this final, the writing must be 100% the student's own original work. 

Students are not to work with teams or partners on this project.  Also, students are to do their own work without the assistance of parents, tutors, siblings, other family members, etc.

To do otherwise is considered to be cheating, otherwise known as academic misconduct.

CRITERION TOP TEN TIPS

1 – You don’t need to indent in Criterion.

2 – You don’t need a title in Criterion.

3 – Hit enter twice to break up your paragraphs.

4 –  When you go back to revise, if you are accidently typing over text press the “INSERT” key on your keyboard.  This will push over the text and make room for what you are writing.

5 – Don’t assume that Criterion is always right.  Criterion flags only what it doesn’t understand.  This doesn’t mean that what you wrote is necessarily a problem.  Only use the red flags and comments as tools to double check your work. 

Sometimes Criterion will flag a problem in one category, when the simple fix is in another category.   Or, sometimes Criterion will flag what it thinks is a problem, when the proposed solution actually makes the writing worse!  Rely on your own common sense.  Read it out loud to see if it works.  Try rephrasing your words a couple different ways and resubmitting it to see if it both sounds good to you and works for Criterion as well. 

Never, EVER make your writing worse because of a machine.  Writing is a very complex human endevour and you are much smarter than the machine.  Think of it as a checking tool, not the final authority.

6 – Don’t always worry if Criterion believes that you misspelled something.  Proper nouns are commonly not recognized by spell checkers.  (See rule #5.)

7 – Some students have had luck typing their essays in Microsoft Word first, and then cutting and pasting it into Criterion before using the Checking Tools.  This also helps you to avoid losing your work due to internet problems.

8 – Vary your sentence structures for a higher score.  Long sentences.  Short sentences.  Compound sentences.  Complex sentences.  Simple sentences.  Add appositive phrases.  Add gerunds.  Make your writing interesting structurally.

9 – Vary your word choices.  Unless you have to, avoid repeating the same name, places, or things over and over.  At the very least change the position of these repeated words in your sentences.

10 – Upgrade your word choices.  “Cardiac Arrest” is better than “heart attack.”  “Excavating” is better than digging.

We found this copy of the same version of Narcissus from the textbook available for free online.  Feel free to use this as a tool.

http://cmsamerican.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Echo.pdf

CERS FINAL EXAM - 200 points

Prompt:

When thinking about Roger Lancelyn Green’s retelling of the Greek myth “Narcissus,” some might argue that of the two characters Echo was the greater fool.  Still, others might argue that Narcissus was the one who acted more foolishly.

Make a claim for either side and back up that claim with evidence from the source text and reasoning.  Finally, synthesize your argument.  

YOUR TOPIC SENTENCE:

The paired passage “The Man Who Preserved Blood” illustrates how Dr. Charles Drew researched the means to collect and preserve human blood, worked for the Red Cross, and took a stance against racism.

KEY FACTS

·       In 1933 he worked in the ER as a doctor

·       A little girl was in an accident and died because there was no way to store blood.

·       Drew researched and found a system to collect and store blood.

·       Became a Red Cross director who collected blood for the U.S. military.

·       Resigned in protest when blood was not accepted from African Americans in 1941.

·       The ignorant act was lifted and now skin color doesn’t matter for blood donation.

Power Words

Blood banks	Preserve	Supply	Storage, Store, Conserve	Systematic / Systematically
Collection	American Red Cross	U.S. Armed Forces	Ignorance, ignorant	African-American
Caucasian	Donars	Relentless	Resignation, Resign	Policies
Eligability, Eligable	Sanguinary Fluid	Hematology	Hemotologist	Medical
Employment	Donate	Bestow

Email final paragraph to:  

jc14bps@birmingham.k12.mi.us