Middle schoolers complete a writing assessment task to demonstrate their ability to craft a narrative based on a variety of informational texts. They view West of the West's documentary Magic Isle, read three print resources about the island, and then craft a narrative about an imaginary hike on Catalina Island.

Concepts

Narrative Writing, research writing

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• The supplemental readings are dated (2010); consider updating the articles to present writers with more current information about the island

Classroom Considerations

• The assessment presumes writers have viewed the West of the West's documentary, The Magic Isle—Catalina Island
• Learners should have experience crafting narratives and experience with such writing tests

Pros

• The 16-page packet includes the text of the three print resources, discussion questions, directions for the narrative performance task, images, a scoring guide, and links to additional resources

Cons

• Beware the typos and grammar errors in the articles
• The photo image of the rubric is not legible; the rubric would need to be reformatted

Common Core

RI.4.2 RI.4.10 RI.5.2 RI.5.3 RI.5.10 W.4.3.a W.5.3.a W.6.3.a