Timed Essay Writing
Why is on-demand writing important? 1. SOL s 2. SAT s 3. AP exams 4. Employers require writing samples 5. Trains you to think on your feet
Steps in On-Demand Writing A. Attack the prompt B. Brainstorm possible answers C. Choose the order of your response D. Draft the response E. Edit the draft
A. Attack the prompt 1. Circle words that ask you to do something, and other important verbs 2. Circle literary terms 3. Draw arrows to focus on what the question wants Write a multi-paragraph essay in response to the following prompt: How does Gary Soto in his poem Oranges get across his narrator s first romantic experience using figurative language, characterization, and imagery, including other appeals to the senses?
B. Brainstorm possible answers 1. Use graphic organizer or outline 2. Big ideas for paragraph topics 3. Supporting evidence for paragraph fill on page 84 Figura've language: similes, standard metaphors, implied metaphors, personifica2on, symbolism, etc. Characteriza'on: what the character says, does, and thinks, what others say, do, and think because of the character, and physical descrip2on. Imagery and other appeals to the senses: author s or poet s appeals to our sense of sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell.
Step C: Choose the order of your response We used this spider diagram to choose the order of our response by section and by points within each section.
Figurative language Frost cracking - implied metaphor Bell bringing a saleslady - implied metaphor Cars hissing - implied metaphor like coats - simile Imagery and appeals to other senses colors: orange, yellow light, rouge (red) face, gray fog, brown chocolate small sounds: crackling, the tiny bell A dog barked, hissing cars oranges - symbol lady s eyes met mine, and held them candies tiered like bleachers Here s how we did it. Characterization Establishing narrator s character though what clerk did. Establishing girl s character though what she did - slow grin
Soto gets across his narrator's experience through imagery and other appeals to the senses. Soto like contrast, and he contrasts colors, temperatures, and even ages of things. Bright colors represent the young couple and their young lives. The boy has oranges in his jacket pocket, and he pays for part of his girl's chocolate bar with one of them. By contrast, "the gray of December" stands for the couple's drab surroundings. The porch light "burned yellow / Night and day, in any weather." This line contrasts the girl's bright yellow light with the weather, which in this poem is drab and dull. It suggests that their young love -- their young lives -- will win out no matter what comes at them. There are other colors, such as the girl's "rouge" and the brown chocolate bar, that the poet contrasts against the gray, drab surroundings. The narrator s relationship with his new girlfriend seems brighter and warmer against the drab backdrop. Colors aren't the only thing that Soto uses to establish this contrast. He also contrasts warmth and cold... D. Draft the response. We drafted a body paragraph like this one in class together, then we developed another leg of the spider diagram into a body paragraph individually. Topic sentence Points Evidence Concluding sent.
The smallest contrasts, taken together, can create mood and meaning. Gary Soto s poem Oranges uses contrasts between brightness and dullness, young and old, and happiness and menace to get across a wonderful first romantic experience between the narrator and his new girlfriend. The twelve-year-old and his new friend walk through a drab, December day to the drugstore, where a sympathetic clerk accepts his offer of a nickel and an orange to pay for a ten-cent chocolate bar for his girlfriend. Soto gets across his narrator s first romantic experience by using figurative language, sound devices, and style. D. Draft the response. This is a possible introductory paragraph. It has a hook, a lot of stolen material (the writer s name, the genre, and the work s name) a short summary to orient the reader and to lead to the thesis, and a thesis statement. The thesis statement turns the prompt question into a sentence.