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lesson & unit viewer

Setting In the Spotlight: Setting IS the Spotlight

published on: 3/2/2009

Contributing Teacher(s): Diane Tinucci,

Subject Area: Communication Arts/Reading/literature,

Grade Range: High School (9-12)

Materials Needed:

• A literature textbook with a selection of quality short stories - obviously, the textbook used in the course. A high quality text used in our school is: Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia, published by Pearson Longman. Although this book is its Ninth Edition - earlier versions would be equally useful.

Objective: Students will learn:

1. The complete description/definition of setting in literature
2. The possible intended functions of a specific setting in author’s larger purpose. An attached Objectives file provides a list of possible setting functions.
3. How setting functions in a specific story under consideration
4. How to structure a lit analysis essay with emphasis on well-organized, well-reasoned, and specifically and intelligently supported body paragraphs
5. How groups function effectively

Essential Question:

Instructional Strategy: Prior Knowledge & Connections

Process Standards: Goal 1.1 develop questions and ideas to initiate and refine research
Goal 2.1 plan and make written, oral and visual presentations for a variety of purposes and audiences
Goal 4.1 explain reasoning and identify information used to support decisions
Goal 1.4 use technological tools and other resources to locate, select and organize information
Goal 2.4 present perceptions and ideas regarding works of the arts, humanities and sciences

Content Standards: CA1, CA2, CA4, CA5, CA6,

G.L.E.:
CA - Re - 2 - B - 09
(Reading, Develop and apply skills and strategies to comprehend, analyse and evaluate fiction, poetry and drama from a variety of cultures and times, Literary devices, Grade 9-12.)

Time Allowance: One to Two Weeks - then, occasionally over the third week as essays are written, peer revised, commented on and then submitted for final evaluation

Technological Resources:
The first assignment of this unit asks groups of students to develop a definition of setting in literature and then to use that definition to lead to specific explanation of "setting" in a story of group choice. The development of that definition will be derived from preselected Internet sites (see Setting Resources) as well as information read in literature textbooks. In addition, students may find stories for examination on the Internet. Finally, students will use word processing to create the final essay which demonstrates their understanding that setting is deliberately chosen to actively function in the story. Some teachers might have the ability to use Turn It In or some other such plagiarism discouragement software as the students submit their final essays.

Extensions:
Later AP Lit lessons will recall this unit and the basic mindset established with it. Certainly, one major aim in AP Literature is to prepare students to achieve successfully on the national spring exam. To that end, students write practice essays throughout the year, and they will be reminded frequently to keep the possibly functions of setting in mind as they devise and structure analyses. If this unit is used as a lead in to AP Lit by being offered at the end of the preceding year, then an obvious extension is recalling it the next semester. In our school, incoming AP Lit students read a summer book and write a few short response essays. If the Setting unit has already been taught to them, teachers consciously frame on response essay prompt to consider setting function.

Integration:
As stated before, the AP Literature mindset is that authors, aka artists and composers, deliberately create artistic experiences, and that their creation strategies and methods are aimed at effecting intellectual and emotional responses from their audiences. Of course, in AP Literature, we talk of how authors do this, but, in AP Lit, I continuously mention that all artists share this approach. We talk of how inclusion of film background music evokes emotion. We talk of the principles of drawing and how color and line and balance create different experiences. The natural connection to all artwork is continuously recalled in AP Lit. Connections are drawn, too, throughout the course, of the strategy of creation of a literary analysis essay or any analytical essay to writing a geometric proof. In both, steps of reasoning are explained in deliberate order to culminate in one large reasoning assertion. Connections are also drawn between the study on an author’s writing method and the realization that students, at times, are authors, and, as such, have literary tools to choose and manipulate to effect their own deliberate experiences.

Differentiation:
Just as the teacher can encourage sophistication in approach to the final literary analysis essay, the teacher can help classmates to choose essay topics commensurate with understanding levels. Offering all students such choice in the final essay is a natural differentiation strategy. Preapproval of topics assures that all will be studying some literary intention of worth at a quality understanding level.. Students will be happier workers in that they had great power over the choice of the topic of their final evaluation instrument. In addition, I said that if this unit were offered at the start of the semester, it would help the students “learn” the teacher and his or her grading methods. I like an essay commenting strategy I learned from and NCTE English Journal long ago. An article touted the value of commented profusely on the rough draft, as opposed to on the final draft, where, those improvement suggestions might go ignored in the search for the final grade. In commenting on the rough draft revised after student trade and grade revision, the instructor can be a partner in improvement before he or she “lowers” the red pen. I mention all this because, in carefully examining a rough draft, an instructor has an accurate read on the understanding and writing skill level of each student, which is essential in differentiation. From that informal essay feedback, the teacher can offer appropriate guidance, which is definitely differentiation. Now, grading that essay won’t be the first opportunity that the teacher has to gauge understanding. Student discussion will reveal at what pace and at what skill level students gain understanding of this method supports message approach to literature. Sometimes, I have played a bit with the essay assignment and made it a “quasi-essay,” my label for the partially written essay. In this variation, students write a complete introduction, conclusion and body paragraph of choice. For the remaining body paragraphs, students write main ideas and outline their intended inferences (commentary) and support (concrete details.)

Assessment:
Assessment is included with various assignments and activities. As unit objectives build on each other, so does assessment - with activity assessments checking understanding of skills leading to the larger understanding that authors deliberately build setting to serve their larger purposes of building the impact of their literary experience on its reader.

Description: This unit is presented later in the sophomore year, the year before students take AP Lit in our school OR early in AP Literature study. Basically, it begins to offer the mindset of: How does author method support message? Later in AP Lit study, we highlight various literary concepts one by one and speculate on how their choice drives story impact. Now, before that close study, we take a larger, yet manageable in its familiarity, literary concept, setting, and, after making sure the class is "on the same page" in understanding that concept, and explore how selection of setting functions beyond being just random scenery. This unit, then, takes students through development of a definition of setting, to the identification of all the components of setting in familiar and new short stories. A scene from the film, The Quiet Man http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045061/ and from Wuthering Heights http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032145/ are shown with set up to invite early discussion of components of setting and speculation as to its function. (In both, tempestuous weather mirrors tempestuous romance.) After that, students are directed to appreciate that setting functions beyond being a framework for a story and they are encouraged to speculate on functions in stories of choice. We read; we discuss; we read; we discuss. (Two forms of reading quizzes for two stories are included in the uploaded files.) To demonstrate their new awareness of the possible functions of setting in literature, students write a literary essay. If this unit falls later in the sophomore year, the essay serves as a final check on the students skill in choosing relevant, quality concrete details to support well reasoned inferences. If this unit falls early in the junior AP Lit year, this unit reawakens student writing skills AND helps students learn their new teacher's essay grading methods. In addition, this unit helps students learn how groups function in the new teacher's classroom.

Comments:

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Classroom Component:

Objectives Handout to Students

As we begin our AP Literature journey together, we will work to develop the AP mindset of analytically exploring literature.  Yes, the plot is engaging and the characters complex, but your new first question is “Why?”  What was the author thinking as he or she deliberately crafted the sequence of events, the people who would trip through it, or the stage on which it was set.  As we have begun to discuss, the generally guiding question is, “How does the “how” support the “what?”  Stated differently, consider“How does author method support message?”  What did the author want, intellectually and emotionally FROM the reader, and what did the author do, in the creation of the literary artistic experience to lead the reader to those ends?

So, let’s start examining components of a story and speculating on their intended function. Our first study “subject” is story setting.  From our “setting” unit, you will learn:

1. The complete description/definition of setting in literature
2. The possible intended functions of a specific setting in author’s larger purpose.  More common functions include, but are not limited to consideration of how setting:
   • supplies atmosphere
   • makes things happen
   • mirrors plot events for emphasis
   • predicts plot significant plot events
   • reveals the nature of certain people
   • prompts a character to a realization
   • enhances or distorts the reality of the presentation
3. How setting functions in a specific story under consideration
4. How to structure a literary analysis essay with emphasis on well-organized, well-reasoned, and specifically and intelligently supported body paragraphs.

In addition, you will learn how groups function in this classroom to contribute to overall class learning AND my expectations and procedures in essay grading.

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          Settling on Setting

We are about to study “setting” in short stories: what it is and “why” it is. Before we proceed, we, as a class, need to have common understanding of the “what. Your group’s task is to create a Setting Template: a worksheet that one might fill in with specifics of any short story to fully identify its setting.  So, your group needs to agree on a complete definition of what setting is.  What, besides “where” the story takes place, makes up literary setting?  Identify those components: structure them in a clear “fill in the blank” format, and …. Fill in your Setting Template with the setting information from the beginning of any novel your group chooses that you have already studied here at Lafayette.

You and your group members will be given one day in the library and a Setting Resources list to research the information you need, and a few days later, you will be asked to make a presentation to the class of your findings.  The grading guidelines on the back of this page should help you know what is important about completing this assignment in a quality manner.

Report Assessment Criteria - 25 Points

Each group member will receive the same score. 

Presentation Criteria

1. Clear Purpose - Audience knows why you are presenting this information.  You have developed a central idea around which all your information revolves and you have clearly stated this focus (your thesis) to the audience.

Clear, stated (5)

Apparent (3)

Unclear, Inconsistent (1)

2. Sufficient, Specific, Relevant Information - You are sharing quality as well as quantity information that directly pertains to your topic focus.  What you share is worth knowing and is enough to impart more than surface understanding of the concept of literary setting.  Your template requests complete information and you have supplied complete information within it relative to setting.

Lots (8)

Much (6)

Some (5)

3. Clear Organization - You present your organization in a deliberate, logical order, so your listeners have an easy time following your ideas.

Definitely (3)

Reasonably (2)

Sometimes Unclear (1)

4. Template Presentation - You have clearly and graphically presented your completed template.  In addition, you have clearly explained its organization and contents.

Something Great (5)

Something (4)

Nothing (0)

5. Team Spirit - Everyone in the group is responsible for participating in the presentation report. No one person should dominate the speaking.  All for one NOT one for all.

All (4)

Few (2)

One (1)

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Setting

Short Definition – Scroll down

• http://www.buzzle.com/articles/elements-of-literature.html

Bedford Reader Glossary of Literary Terms

• http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/literature/bedlit/glossary_p.htm

Describing Setting

• http://www.learner.org/interactives/literature/read/setting1.html

What Setting Tells Us

• http://www.learner.org/interactives/literature/read/setting2.html

Setting and Meaning

• http://aliscot.com/ensenanza/1302/setting.htm

Trifles Analysis

• http://vccslitonline.vccs.edu/Trifles/setting.htm

How To Develop Setting in Fiction

• http://www.ehow.com/how_2053410_develop-setting-fiction.html

Importance of Setting in Fiction

• http://www.fictionfactor.com/articles/setting.html

Setting the Story from ArtsEdge

• http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/2235/

From Sogang University English Resource Center – Notes

• http://serc.sogang.ac.kr/erc/Literature/Setting.htm

Importance of Setting in Children’s Literature

• http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/347060/the_import...setting_in_childrens.html

Setting Suggestion

• http://members.fortunecity.com/nadabs/literature-setting.html

Exploration of Author Rationale in Elaboration of Setting in Fiction

• http://litera1no4.tripod.com/setting_frame.html

Possible Functions of Setting – Humboldt University

• http://www.humboldt.edu/~tdd2/Setting.htm

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Setting Template Components

The setting template ultimately chosen by the class will contain the following essential components and any additional information agreed upon by the class:

Setting-

Place

• larger physical location (country, planet, plot of ground, realistic or fictional)
• specific physical location (in or around what structure, what room of the house?)

Time

• Time of Day – Does it change?
• Time Passage- Is it reasonable or unusual in some way?
• Time of Year – How long does story action take?
• Historical or Social Period

Environment

• Weather – realistic or fictional? Changeable?
• Prevailing notable social, moral, economic or political conditions?

What aspects of setting are noticeably absent?

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Setting Our Setting Course       

Let me share my plan for our study of setting in literature, so you will know how you will be acquiring the learning I have planned for you.

1. As a class, first in the group within which you will work for this entire setting unit, and then, together, we have chosen setting template and modified it to even higher excellence. 

2. You will read “To Build A Fire” by Jack London, and in your group, complete the setting template completely for that story.

3. As a class, we will discuss and compare our setting templates to collectively FULLY ferret out understanding of Jack London’s setting creation.

4. You will read “Greasy Lake” by T. Coraghessan Boyle and complete the setting template independently, turning in one for my review and keeping one for discussion.

5. Together we will review and discuss possible specific functions of setting. Some, I have listed in your Objectives handout. Others, we will add from:

   a. Possible Functions of Setting – Humboldt University
   http://www.humboldt.edu/~tdd2/Setting.htm

   b. From Sogang University English Resource Center – Notes
   http://serc.sogang.ac.kr/erc/Literature/Setting.htm

6. In class discussion, we will revisit “To Build A Fire,” and “Greasy Lake” and speculate on functions of setting.

7. After reading “The Storm” by Kate Chopin independently, your group will speculate on setting function and outline a brief essay paragraph responding to:  How does setting function in “The Storm?? (I have attached a sample outline file )

8. You will read “A Pair of Tickets” by Amy Tan and prepare your contribution to class discussion on the components and function of setting in that story.

9. We will discuss the essay assignment.

10. You will choose your story, create your thesis, and have your paper topic approved by me.

11. You will write, peer revise, revise and submit a draft for my comments, and submit your final essay.

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AP Lit Setting Function Essay - Peer Revision Guidelines

Please open your essay rough draft and save it under a new name, like its title plus the word “revision.”  Keep this new file open.

This sheet will travel with and be turned it with the rough draft of its essay.  It provides the task of each of the three revisers who will spend fifteen minutes enjoying and interacting with the essay.  Each reviser must start the revision session by skimming the entire essay and responding to the assigned issue below.  After offering quality comments and suggestions relevant to the required issues, the reviser is free to mark and comment on additional worthwhile writing issues.

1. Read the introduction and underline what you feel the thesis to be.  Is this thesis clearly stated and on topic?  Does it specifically identify reasonable function(s) of setting in a story?  Does it clearly indicate the organization of the paper to follow?  Is the introduction engaging and free of empty generalizations? Is the title engaging and appropriate?

Issue 1 Reviser’s Name ____________________________________________

2. Read the thesis and then the first body paragraph. Within it, are inferences/ commentaries- regarding setting function fully supported and illustrated by specific story references?  (Story references can either be actual quotations or specifically described story examples.)  Do multiple story references support each inference?  If the author used quotations, did he or she blend them smoothly into sentences, rather than just dropping them in? Does a main idea introduce the paragraph’s intention and a summation comment review what the paragraph’s discussion has accomplished?

Issue 2 Reviser’s Name_______________________________________________

3. Read the thesis and then the final body paragraph. Within it, are inferences/ commentaries regarding setting function fully supported and illustrated by specific story references?  (Story references can either be actual quotations or specifically described story examples.)  Do multiple story references support each inference?  If the author used quotations, did he or she blend them smoothly into sentences, rather than just dropping them in? Does a main idea introduce the paragraph’s intention and a summation comment review what the paragraph’s discussion has accomplished?

Issue 3 Reviser’s Name ____________________________________________

Everyone should be highlighting, in addition:

The indefinite “you.” Sentence fragments Absolute words: (all, never, none, etc.)

Forbidden Partners; This      That     There } + { to be verbs Here      It

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Clear Thinking is Clear Writing: Writing the Function Essay

1. Understand the writing prompt or the question you are being asked

How does the author use certain devices to accomplish his or her intention?
How does the HOW support the WHAT?

 

 

 

2. Identify the WHAT

 

 

 

3. Identify the HOWs and mentally consider which HOWs to use in this paper

 

 

 

4. Write a first thesis
   Make this general “thesis” specific to the task:
   In [short story], [author] uses [these aspects] of setting to [accomplish this setting function.]

 

 

 

 

5. List examples/concrete details to use in the paper and categorize according to the larger segments of thesis each supports.  (use another sheet of paper)

 

 

 

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6. Write main ideas for each body paragraph and organize in some deliberate order

a. Chronological                   b. order of importance                   c.  some other logical

 

 

 

 

7. Assign examples/concrete details from list to relevant main idea and organize

8. Recall an important responsibility as you write and connect concrete details to the ideas they suggest/commentary: You will not only need to explain how the concrete details support the larger main idea of the paragraph, you will also need to suggest and/or explain how such concrete details are examples of your chosen device.

9. Write your rough draft all in one sitting without worrying about anything other than getting your ideas down.

10. In your conclusion, describe what your explanation suggests as a whole without repeating your thesis.

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Setting Function Literary Essay – 110 points

Name                                             

Writing prompt for setting function final essay: In this {short story,} how does the author’s created setting function to support and enhance and highlight some aspect of the author’s intended message? (How, beyond just providing a backdrop for the action, does the setting do more to support the author in deliberately building experience for the reader?)

Writing this essay will demonstrate your skills in:

1. Formulating a clear, specific, relevant, meaningful thesis for an essay which connects your choice of combination of various literary elements (first person point of view, humor, and/or irony) to communication of theme.
2. Formulating clear, specific, relevant main ideas for THREE body paragraphs.
3. Selecting and reporting specific story incidents and examples to support, explain, and clarify the body paragraph main ideas which in turn fully support the essay thesis. (Whereas a body paragraph should contain AT LEAST three “chunks” [chunk=commentary connected to concrete story detail from which it is derived], yours each contain TWO chunks for practice with a bit of a break.)
4. Writing concisely with no redundancies or “Forbidden Partners.”
5. Using passages directly from the book and leading smoothly into them.

Due Tuesday, ---, for no points whatsoever:
The entire rough draft of your essay, either:

1. Emailed to me sometime Monday, ---
2. Contained on disk or CD or flash drive – Carried in electronic form

Due Friday, ---, for 20 completion points.
The revised rough draft:

1. You have considered the comments offered on your rough draft and you have made improvements that you thought were appropriate.
2. You have underlined your thesis on the revised draft.
3. You have underlined the main idea of each of your paragraphs.
4. You have indicated which TWO body paragraphs I am to read and revise.
5. On the back or on a separate page, you have written:

1. The single most significant thing you did to revise your paper
2. A question or concern for me regarding this writing

This revised rough draft is double or triple spaced and attached to the rough draft and its related comments.

Failure to submit either of the above on time will result in you having the final draft counted late and receiving the appropriate penalty.  Failure to submit an electronic, computer file of your rough draft will result in you having the final draft counted late and receiving the appropriate penalty.  If you are absent, you should make every attempt to email your paper to me.

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Name

Setting Function Literary Analysis Essay
Grading Guidelines – 110 points

Grading Criteria	Pts Possible
Essay title is creative and relevant. (3)       It is not obvious. (1)	1  or   3
Attention Getting strategy is truly engaging and logically connected to thesis idea	/6
Thesis is clear, specific, relevant and meaningful.  Thesis clearly communicates cause and effect connection between communication of theme and chosen literary element(s).	/6
Body Paragraph One contains: Clear, specific, relevant main idea relevant to thesis Three specifically reported story details illustrating main idea Explanation and elaboration of how each reported story detail, does, in fact, relate, connect and support the paragraph’s main idea	/4 /8 /8
Body Paragraph Two contains: Clear, specific, relevant main idea relevant to thesis Three specifically reported story details illustrating main idea Explanation and elaboration of how each reported story detail, does, in fact, relate, connect and support the paragraph’s main idea	/4 /8 /8
Body Paragraph Three contains: Clear, specific, relevant main idea relevant to thesis Three specifically reported story details illustrating main idea Explanation and elaboration of how each reported story detail, does, in fact, relate, connect and support the paragraph’s main idea	/4 /8 /8
Paper is free of Forbidden Partners. Writing is not redundant and wordy.	/6
Direct quotations are smoothly blended into sentences.	/6
Paper is effectively and clearly organized	/5
Conclusion is appropriate and satisfying	/8
Mechanical errors (spelling, grammar, usage, etc.) do not detract from communication	/8
Grade sheet and “commented on” revised rough draft are included with turn in	/2

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Reading Quiz: “To Build A Fire” and “Greasy Lake” 18 points

Name

I am only looking for correct information, so consider how you might communicate the most information in the least words.  Complete sentences are not required.  Each question is worth two points

“To Build A Fire”

1. What caused the second fire the man built to go out?

 

2. The dog felt “apprehension of the man” because it “has never known the man to speak in such a way before” when he called the dog to him.  What was the man thinking that put that tone in his voice?

 

3. What advice from the old timer from Sulpher Creek kept running through the man’s head?

 

4. What was the last thing the dog did in the story?

 

“Greasy Lake”

1. What did the speaker feel was a huge mistake he made as he left the car?

 

2. The speaker took a tire iron from the car.  What did he do with it?

 

3. Al, “the greasy character,” used the same tire iron later in the story.  How did he use it?

 

4. When the speaker was hiding in the lake, what large item did he bump into?

 

5. Where did the speaker find his keys when he was ready to drive home?

 

 

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Setting Stories

1. We will highlight these in our early discussions of the components of setting and possible functions:
1. The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
2. Diary of Anne Frank
3. To Build a Fire by Jack London
4. Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut

2. We will read and discuss presence and function of setting in these:
1. The Storm by Kate Chopin
2. To Build a Fire by Jack London (if not common knowledge and used above)
3. Greasy Lake by T. Coraghessan Boyle
4. A Pair of Tickets by Amy Tan
   
   
3. We will read a few more of these as class needs dictate. The rest, (as they are conveniently contained in our AP Literature textbook, will be offered as choice stories for the writing of the setting function essay.
   1. A & P by John Updike
   2. Araby by James Joyce
   3. The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck
   4. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway
   5. The Five-Forty-Eight by John Cheever
   6. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
   7. The Gospel according to Mark by Jorge Luis Borges
   8. The Lady with the Pet Dog by Anton Chekov
   9. Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield
   10. No One’s a Mystery by Elizabeth Tallent
   11. The Open Boat by Stephen Crane
   12. Paul’s Case by Willa Cather
   13. A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
   14. Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston
   15. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
   16. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
   17. Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne

D. You may choose ANY non previously read or studied story NOT on this list for the subject of your final essay WITH approval from me.

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How Does Setting Function in the Short Story?    Our First Paper Together: I Learn You, and You Learn Me!

Points Possible		Thesis	Support	Organization	Communication
40	clearly, specifically stated insightful, creative thesis which fully addresses the prompt: How does setting function in the story?  (6)		relevant, correctly cited sufficient specific examples [CD] are clearly connected to thesis concept through clear sufficient explanation [CM] (26)	clear, logical, effective structure of ideas   (4)	ABSOLUTE: Paper is written in third person with no reference to the indefinite “you.”  For now, “to be” verbs are acceptable. no distracting mechanical errors (spelling, punctuation, usage, sentence structure, word choice and usage) exist. (4)
36	clearly, specifically stated correct, applicable thesis which fully addresses the prompt: How does setting function in the story?  (5)		Relevant, sufficient specific examples  [CD] are clearly connected to thesis concept through clear explanation [CM] (24)	clear, logical structure of ideas (3)	no distracting mechanical errors (spelling, punctuation, usage, sentence structure, word choice and usage) exist  (4)
32	clearly stated correct, applicable thesis which addresses the prompt: How does setting function in the story?       (4)		At least two relevant specific examples  [CD] are clearly connected to thesis concept through explanation [CM] (22)	clear, logical structure of ideas (3)	few distracting mechanical errors (spelling, punctuation, usage, sentence structure, word choice and usage) exist. (3)
28	declarative sentence indicates causal relationship between setting and its function in the story.   (3)		Relevant, if general examples  [CD] are reported and many of them are related to thesis concept through explanation [CM]  (21)	sequence of ideas is generally clear and easy to follow (2)	several distracting mechanical errors (spelling, punctuation, usage, sentence structure, word choice and usage) exist. (2)

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continued

Points Possible		Thesis	Support	Organization	Communication
24	indication of connection between story and setting is communicated in some form (2)		relevant examples are reported  [CD] and related to thesis OR thesis concept is supported through explanation with few or no specific examples [CM] (18)	sequence of ideas is generally clear and easy to follow (2)	several distracting mechanical errors (spelling, punctuation, usage, sentence structure, word choice and usage) exist. (2)
20	main idea relating to setting is present   (1)		story details indicating interaction with the story are present   (17)	some difficulty exists in following/ understanding the relationships between ideas (1)	numerous mechanical errors (spelling, punctuation, usage, sentence structure, word choice and usage) exist  (1)

 

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Name                                                      How Does Setting Function in the Short Story?               40 Points

Points Possible	Thesis	Support	Organization	Communication
40	Clearly, specifically stated, insightful, creative thesis fully addresses the prompt: How does setting function in the story?  (6)	Relevant, sufficient specific story examples (CD) are clearly connected to thesis concept through clear, sufficient explanation. (CM) Directly quoted story examples are blended into writing. (26)	Clear, logical, creative, yet effective structure of ideas (4)	No distracting mechanical errors (spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, word choice or usage, indefinite “you,” absolutes, Forbidden Partners) exist. (4)
36	Clearly, specifically stated, correct thesis fully addresses the prompt: How does setting function in the story?  (5)	Relevant, specific story examples (CD) are clearly connected to thesis concept through clear explanation. (CM) Directly quoted story examples are blended into writing. (24)	Clear, logical, effective structure of ideas (3)	No distracting mechanical errors (spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, word choice or usage, indefinite “you,” absolutes, Forbidden Partners) exist. (4)
32	Clearly stated, correct thesis  addresses the prompt: How does setting function in the story?  (4)	Relevant, specific story examples (CD) are connected to thesis concept through explanation. (CM) Many directly quoted story examples are blended into writing. (22)	Clear, logical structure of ideas (3)	Few nondistracting mechanical errors (spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, word choice or usage, indefinite “you,” absolutes, Forbidden Partners) exist. (3)

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continued

Points Possible	Thesis	Support	Organization	Communication
28	Connection between story and setting is communicated in a declarative sentence. (3)	Relevant, if general, examples (CD) are reported and many of them are related to thesis concept through explanation. Some directly quoted story examples are blended into writing. (20)	Sequence of ideas is generally easy to follow –may be traditional five paragraph form (2)	Few nondistracting mechanical errors (spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, word choice or usage, indefinite “you,” absolutes, Forbidden Partners) exist. (3)
24	Connection between story and setting is communicated in some form. (2)	Thesis concept is supported by more general mention of story examples and/or explanation supported by few to no examples. (18)	Sequence of ideas is generally easy to follow –may be traditional five paragraph form (2)	Several distracting mechanical errors (spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, word choice or usage, indefinite “you,” absolutes, Forbidden Partners) exist. (2)
20	Main idea relating to setting is present (1)	References to story and setting are present (17)	Some difficulty exists in understanding relationships between ideas. (1)	Numerous distracting mechanical errors (spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, word choice or usage, indefinite “you,” absolutes, Forbidden Partners) exist. (1)

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