Object Essay
You will write a three-paragraph essay that describes a specific object that is very important to you. This object should represent you: your values, your personality, and your feelings. In the three paragraphs you will describe the object, provide history and background about the object, and explain what this object tells others about you.

Place Essay
You will write a multi-paragraph essay about a specific place that is vivid in your memory because it is associated with personal feelings. You are writing for an adult audience and the purpose of your essay is to convey the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, and emotions of the place you are describing. In other words, you are showing the audience why this place is important to you.

Character Sketch
You will write a multi-paragraph essay about a person you have known for a long time. The person you choose as your subject should be someone you know very well so that you have enough material for your sketch. Show the person in action, in a setting that is typical for that person; rather than telling the reader what the person is like, show what that person does. You are writing for an adult audience and the purpose of your essay is to convey the characteristics, personality, interests, talents, and idiosyncrasies of the person you are describing. In other words, you are showing the audience why this person is interesting and unique. This character sketch should present the person so vividly that your reader will feel she or he has actually met the person.

Independent Reading Project
You can learn lots about good writing by reading. Reading provides us an opportunity to explore other people’s writing styles and, of course, to enjoy a good story. For this project, you must read a book of at least 200 pages. It can be any book of your choosing—a book from “Oprah’s Book Club” list, a biography of someone you admire, a science fiction novel you have been waiting to read—this book is your pleasure reading. While you read, you will respond to the book by writing journal entries.

Close Reading
This writing assignment is your opportunity to demonstrate your expertise on your independent reading project; you will demonstrate that expertise in a close reading of a passage. A close reading might address elements of plot, characterization, setting, symbol, word choice, mood, tone, and/or theme

Book Review
This writing assignment is also based on your independent reading project. The goal of a book review is to give readers information that will enable them to decide whether or not they themselves would wish to read the book. More than a plot summary, a review assesses how well an author uses literary elements to effectively tell a story.

Restaurant Review
You will write a three-paragraph review of a restaurant at which you have recently dined. Your experience might have been positive or negative. Your goal in a review is to give information which will enable a reader to decide whether or not he/she would wish to dine in the restaurant.

Personal Essay
Prior to writing this essay, you will spend two or three classes reading and responding to a variety of personal essays and their writing styles. Your essay, like the models, can be politically motivated or focus on an illuminating observation. You can choose a topic that is intensely serious or frivolous and humorous. The object of this essay, however, is to show your reader something NEW about the world around him or her.

College Essay
The purpose of the college essay assignment is to familiarize you with the college application essay writing process. You will visit the CCHS Guidance web site and browse their suggestions; you will explore essay/personal statement prompts from colleges and universities in which you might be interested; you will review the Common Application. You will not be required to send the essay you write to any colleges, but you may find that your work now will help make writing your actual essay a little easier.

Literary Analysis
The literary analysis is a type of essay that you are asked to write frequently in your English classes. Keep in mind as you prepare and write, that the literary essay is essentially a persuasive essay: you have a main point, or thesis, that you are trying to prove; you need to divide that main point into smaller manageable parts to build your argument—your body paragraphs; and you need to support those points with evidence, quotations and examples from the text. Finally, you need to pull your ideas together in the conclusion.

Speech Assignment
In this assignment, you will study the art of speech writing and presenting by reading William Safire’s essay “An Introductory Address” from Great Speeches in History and listening to some of the most famous speeches of the twentieth century. You will craft our own speech (on any subject which you choose) carefully employing the techniques and rules you learn from Safire. Finally, you will prepare your speech for presentation. You will not be presenting your own speech to the class; you will be acting as speechwriter for another student.