Extra Credit on State Standards
Reading – 2.0 Reading Comprehension:
2.3 Verify and clarify facts presented in other types of expository texts by using a variety of consumer, workplace, and public documents.
The texts that were used for the project carried by type as well as carried some of the same information in order to verify facts. The three different sources, which were a periodical, a biography, and a website were used to cross reference facts and verify the validity of the sources.
2.5 Analyze an author's implicit and explicit philosophical assumptions and beliefs about a subject.
In order to gain a thorough understanding of Chaplin, a lot of research had to be done about him. Through his autobiography he reveals a lot about how his mind works, and by analyzing his language and tone towards certain subjects I was able to gain more understanding of what he thinks. Using this knowledge of his mind, I wrote two genres where I put myself in the mind of Charlie Chaplin and wrote as him, which should demonstrate the skills needed for this standard.
Writing – 1.0 Writing Strategies:
1.1 Demonstrate the understanding of elements of discourse (e.g. purpose, audience, speaker, form) when completing narrative, expository, persuasive, or descriptive writing assignments.
All of the genres that I had to write for this project all were based on the fact that they were written for a specific purpose and audience. To demonstrate the understanding of the speaker, two of my genres had to be from the view of my MGP person, giving it a different speaker, which would be Charlie Chaplin himself. All of the genres had SOAPS done for them beforehand, which helped with identifying many of the elements of discourse. The different genres also display different levels of complexities and different writing styles. The newspaper article had to be professional and unbiased, whereas with his personal blog I was able to write in a more casual manner.
1.2 Use point of view, characterization and style (e.g. use of irony) and related elements for specific rhetorical and aesthetic purposes.
Point of view had to be utilized in this project because two of the genres had to be from Chaplin’s perspective and the other three had to be in mine. A variety of styles had to be used for specific purposes throughout these genres. For example, in my childhood journal I had to delve into the mind of Chaplin as a child and then use more complex language to analyze those thoughts. Tone had to be used in all of the genres as well, such as the newspaper article which gives off a tone of reverence towards Chaplin.
1.3 Structure ideas and arguments in a sustained, persuasive, and sophisticated way and support them with precise and relevant examples.
The genre that best exemplifies this is the newspaper article on Chaplin and Peters. I had to give a specific opinion and then support that opinion with examples and analysis of the two people. Also in the annotated bibliography, we had to state how the sources were relevant and provide information to back that statement, as well as back the validity of a document.
1.4 Enhance meaning by employing rhetorical devices, including the extended use of parallelism, repetition, and analogy; the incorporation of visual aids (e.g., graphs, tables, pictures); and the issuance of a call for action.
Rhetorical devices were spread out throughout all the writing portion, but the main part of the standard the MGP meets is the visual aid. The visual representation of our person had the purpose of giving an image of what the person looked like as well as what they stood for.
1.5 Use language in natural, fresh, and vivid ways to establish a specific tone.
The genre that best exemplifies this standard is Chaplin’s blog, where I used the language to establish Chaplin’s specific tone towards women. Chaplin had affairs with many women and often spoke of their beauty and not personality. His demeaning tone towards women is exposed in this genre by the use of casual language as well as what many consider derogatory terms towards women.
1.6 Develop presentations using clear research questions and creative and critical research strategies.
This standard was definitely met with the inclusion of the annotated bibliography. The annotations made us question the validity of the documents and use the information presented to determine whether it was fake or not. The use of many sources to gain information meets the requirement for critical reading strategies.
1.7 Use systematic strategies to organize and record information.
Systematic strategies used were when we took book notes on the biography of our person, which was a major source of information. The annotated bibliography organized this information clearly and even provided commentary on the documents by the use of annotations.
1.8 Integrate databases, spreadsheets, and graphics into word processed documents
A lot of my project was based on this standard. The parts of my project that meet the standard is my visual representation, childhood journal, newspaper article, letter, and timeline. In all of these I used Photoshop CS3 as well as Word 2007 to integrate graphics into my word processed documents and increase the visual appeal of those documents.
1.9 Revise text to highlight the individual voice, improve sentence variety and style, and enhance subtlety of meaning and tone in ways that are consistent with the purpose, audience, and genre.
As we were given a lot of time for this project—one semester to be exact—we were able to proofread and improve our work many times. The SOAPS that I did beforehand for my genres was helpful in identifying the purpose, audience, tone, and genre. I also asked others to proofread my work so I could make improvements that way as well.
Writing – 2.0 Writing Applications
2.1 Write fictional, autobiographical or biographical narratives.
a.Narrate a sequence of events and communicate their significance to the audience.
b.Locate scenes and incidents in specific places.
c.Describe with concrete sensory details the sights, sounds, and smells of a scene and the specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of the characters; use interior monologue to depict the characters' feelings.
d.Pace the presentation of actions to accommodate temporal, spatial, and dramatic mood changes.
e.Make effective use of descriptions of appearance, images, shifting perspectives, and sensory details.
In my introduction for the MGP I had a small biography about Chaplin which gave a brief glimpse into his life. Through the use of the timeline and the entire project combined, people are able to determine an overall vision of Chaplin through analysis of the genres, visual representation, and timeline. Much of my work was also fictional because I had to write in ways which made the work seem authentic, although it truly wasn’t. Also the two genres in Chaplin’s perspective use real facts, but present those facts in Chaplin’s perspective.
2.3 Write reflective compositions.
a.Explore the significance of personal experiences, events, conditions, or concerns by using rhetorical strategies (e.g., narration, description, exposition, persuasion).
b.Draw comparisons between specific incidents and broader themes that illustrate the writer's important beliefs or generalizations about life.
c.Maintain a balance in describing individual incidents and relate those incidents to more general and abstract ideas.
My childhood journal and Chaplin’s blog are reflective of Chaplin’s own life. I use the information that Chaplin has given me to write about what shaped him into the man he became and how events in his life affected him. All of these specific incidents produce Chaplin’s unique view on life, and through the analysis of those events one is able to apply broader themes to the specific incidents and gain an understanding of his generalizations about life. All of the events that shaped his childhood can be brought into general as well as abstract terms. He lived in poverty, a common problem throughout the world, and his parents were separated, which is also a common incident.
2.4 Write historical investigation reports
a.Use exposition, narration, description, argumentation, or some combination of rhetorical strategies to support the main proposition.
b.Analyze several historical records of a single event, examining critical relationships between elements of the research topic.
c.Explain the perceived reason or reasons for the similarities and differences in historical records with information derived from primary and secondary sources to support or enhance the presentation.
d.Include information from all relevant perspectives and take into consideration the validity and reliability of sources.
e.Include a formal bibliography.
Many of the sources that I used were often used to cross reference each other and gain more information about the topic that was being researched. The book and periodicals, for example, both have the same events but present it from different points of views. The annotated bibliography compared the documents that I used in this project and made me take into consideration the validity of sources. Both primary sources, such as the autobiography, and secondary sources, such as websites, were used to analyze information from different points of view.
2.6 Deliver multimedia presentations
a.Combine text, images, and sound and draw information from many sources (e.g., television broadcasts, videos, films, newspapers, magazines, CD-ROMs, the Internet, electronic media-generated images).
b.Select an appropriate medium for each element of the presentation.
c.Use the selected media skillfully, editing appropriately and monitoring for quality.
d.Test the audience's response and revise the presentation accordingly.
The website that I made is one big multimedia presentation. Also for the formal presentation for MGP, we have to have a visual or audio part to enhance the presentation, thereby creating another multimedia presentation.
