| The task Students were asked to produce a written response to a piece of literature over a ten day school vacation. This student chose to create a piece of historical literature in the form of a diary, emulating the style of the book, A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple, by Kathryn Lasky. The student was further inspired by the classroom visit of an author who specializes in journal writing. This work sample is an excerpt from the eight page work. |
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What the work shows b
Literature: The student produces work in
at least one literary genre that follows the conventions of the genre. |
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| The diary takes the form of a historical fictional account of a trip on the Mayflower. The student used historical details gathered from reading A Journey to the New World. The work successfully combines the historical information with some fictional elements to advance a story through characterization, plot, and setting. | |
The information is presented in a series of journal entries and is
organized in chronological order. Since this is a first person narrative,
the student’s emulation of the language and style of the writing
in A Journey to the New World is appropriate for the format
and gives the work authenticity. |
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| The naming of dates, people, and provisions for the baby demonstrate the interplay between factual information and fictional information typical of historical fiction. | |
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The student replicated the author’s voice to develop reader interest
and create the persona of a girl who lived in the seventeenth century.
The use of key expressions from seventeenth century English in the
first sentence further enriches the context by creating an aura of
authenticity and accuracy. The student
kept the writing focused and to the point. The tone and Emily’s
persona is maintained throughout the work through attention to detail
along with some vocabulary common to the period (e.g., “I will
not call thee silly names…” ). In addition, the very format
of the writing (the diary) which is highly subjective and engaging,
reinforces the persona.  The context,
a journey on the Mayflower, is clearly stated in the second journal
entry. |
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Many of the historical details of the book have been incorporated
into the student’s work, for example, the fears of the passengers. There are some errors in spelling (e.g., “seperated” instead of “separated” in the journal entry of September 17th) and usage (e.g., “be” instead of “is” in the final sentence of the September 26th journal entry). Some of these errors, especially the latter, are the result of the student’s attempt at mimicking 17th century dialect. |
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