The WRITING grades for this class will be largely based on YOUR COMMENTS on this website. You can write from ANY device that has an internet connection!
Comments of MORE than 130 words count for writing credit.
Comments of LESS than 130 words count as participation credit.
All comments on the site are graded for QUALITY.
General Expectations:
Have CONVERSATIONS with other students. Avoid “general” statements…get SPECIFIC and string 4-5 sentences together to DEVELOP a single point.
We are NOT simply writing down WHAT we see…we are attempting to extend information BEYOND the what’s given, or our opinion on it. We are EXPLAINING generalizations and DRAWING CONCLUSIONS and providing EVIDENCE and CONNECTING our ideas to larger concepts (like artistic principles, or science, or psychology, or history, or sports, politics, or whatever!).
So, yeah— Go beyond the OBVIOUS and EXPLAIN yourself.
To make this methodology clear, see it in action below with actual writing samples from a High School Freshman Class I taught in an Intro to Photography class, aligned with a Washington State LT 09 Evaluation Rubric below.
Level 1: (60-70%)
States an opinion or makes general statements about a subject, artist, or artist’s audience.
Student Example:
William Eggleston’s photos are really cool photos. I love the old days. I like looking back at the past. I really think these pictures deal with dull colors. And I think the main colors would be the tans and teals because that is mainly the colors you see in all of his pictures. They are very vintage pictures and I love that about them. Is that all the pictures he takes is old time pictures? If he does, that is pretty cool. And I love his style of photography. He is definitely a really good and awesome photographer. I would love to see more of his work! I will definitely take some ideas from him on our next color photo assignment.
Level 2: (70-80%)
Identifies an opinion or general statement about the subject
AND
provides reasoning (explains WHY)
OR
explains the artist’s purpose and/or intended audience.
Student Example:
Eggleston has some great pictures and this is one of my favorites. I like how he took this picture from the ground level. It makes it seem like the bike is bigger than the background homes and the car that is in the car port. I like how the bike isn’t in perfect pristine condition. The fact that the bike is all worn and the wheels look like they have seen better days. It shows that this bike was used and used often by some kid to move around enjoying his freedom that he got when his parents got him his very own bike. I like how the photos are taken in the sixties and seventies, it gives the photo a kind of time traveling feel to them because you kind of go back in time when looking at photographer’s photos.
Level 3: (80-90%)
Explains reasoning of ideas/themes to demonstrate understanding of the image/text
AND
Explains the artists’s purpose and/or intended audience
OR
Extends information beyond the image/text by explaining generalizations, citing outside evidence, and drawing conclusions.
Student Example:
After reading the article about our photographer of the week and then really looking into the photos, I’m confused as to why people were hatin’ on his work. These photos are amazing to me. They may be everyday ordinary things, but I think that just draws attention to the way they’re photographed and that’s what makes them so expressive. I am a person that likes old, antique-looking things and these photos really make me feel transported to a different time and place. As the reading says, “Perfect or not, the images quickly became influential classics.” These photos are really prominent and the way he used natural tones and then big splots of color is really cool—Those natural tones really make the bits of color that are there POP! I’m going to remember this when shooting for the color challenge…lots of dull stuff, and then BAM—a vibrant color for emphasis.
Level 4: (90-100%)
Evaluates reasoning of ideas/themes AND makes judgments to demonstrate understanding of the overall context of the image/text.
AND
Evaluates artist’s purpose and/or intended audience in order to judge the effectiveness of the image
AND
Extends information beyond the text by explaining generalizations, citing outside evidence, drawing conclusions
OR
connects to larger concepts/ideas.
Actual Student Example:
These photos really strike a chord for me. My dad was born in Louisiana and raised in Mississippi and this is much how he described it. The cotton belt is one of the very last places on the United States that is almost frozen in time in a sense, and I would love to go there one day. Eggleston’s photo of the Gulf gas station sign reminds me of a favorite movie of mine (Two Lane Blacktop (1976)) which involves two men who travel across the country (on the historic Route 66) and make their living drag racing for money. There is a scene where they pull off the highway to get gas at a service station. I think it may have even been a Gulf station? Maybe Sinclair? Regardless—some oil company you don’t see too often present day. Anyways, the scenery is the exact same, a lone two lane blacktop, a deteriorating sign, and fields with lonely cottonwoods in them.
Rural Mississippi is a very somber place, according to my dad. Long, completely flat fields with tiny solemn stands of trees and brush as far as the eye can see, and diminishing, sleepy towns of <300 souls each scattered here and there. I feel that Eggleston’s photos evoke exactly that emotion. Most of the colors in his photos are not vibrant. They are somber, dull colors. I feel that it really expresses that feeling of melancholy one may get in the rural deep south. Especially the one of the two men outside of the Impala with the door open and one man about to get out, both with their hands in their pockets and deadpan expressions. I am completely mesmerized by this photo! What could be the possible explanation behind this situation? It’s bizarre…and is probably one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while. It captures this vaguely racist tone—the black man behind the white man; the black man wearing white (a symbol of “purity”) servant’s clothes. Whoah.
Do you see differences between these four writing samples?
Which did you enjoy reading more?
Which left you feeling more curious and engaged?
*Note: The Discussion Rubric on Canvas is the scoring chart I use. It takes the total QUANTITY of comments you made during the grading period and gauges them by the rubric QUALITY percentages.