The task
Students were asked to write a fictitious account of a trip to a foreign
country in order to learn relevant facts about that country. Students
were asked to present their research in the form of a travel log.
The travel log included both factual and fictitious information. The
sources used for this task included several brochures on England,
an encyclopedia, an interview with a teacher, and maps from Encarta,
a software encyclopedia. In this work, the student takes the role
of a criminal attorney who is a New York State lottery winner enroute
to London.
Circumstances of performance
This sample of student work was produced under the following conditions:
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| alone |
in a group |
| in class |
as homework |
| with teacher feedback |
with peer feedback |
| timed |
opportunity for revision |
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 a
Conventions, Grammar, and Usage of the
English Language: The student demonstrates an understanding
of the rules of the English language in written and oral work,
and selects the structures and features of language appropriate
to the purpose, audience, and context of the work. The student
demonstrates control of: |
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grammar; |
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paragraph structure; |
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punctuation; |
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sentence construction; |
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spelling; |
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usage. |
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Throughout this work, the student demonstrates, in virtually error
free writing, the ability to use a variety of sentence constructions,
appropriate punctuation, and the ability to manage the conventions
of grammar and usage.
The student used a number of linguistic strategies to convey the
mood of the story. For example:
 the use
of the present tense in the first journal entries gives the story
a sense of excitement and immediacy;
 switching
into the past tense in places gives the journal entries some variety
and adds authenticity; and
 the use
of British vocabulary and names gives voice and credibility to the
work.
There are some errors of punctuation. For example, in the first
sentence of the March 11 entry, the student put the period after
the quotation marks instead of before. These errors do not detract
from the overall quality of the work.
 b
Literature: The student produces work in
at least one literary genre that follows the conventions of the
genre.
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The personal account takes the form of a travel log of a visit to
London. The information is presented as journal entries organized
in chronological order. The student incorporated geographical, historical,
cultural, and popular information along with fictitious anecdotes
into a narrative with a beginning and an end. The student used a variety
of techniques to keep the reader’s interest including:
 developing
a persona for the narrator;
engaging the
reader with the narrator’s excitement in the first entry;
 tension and
drama; and
choice of
vocabulary words and names that are traditionally associated with
the British upper class. |
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The student
gathered information from a variety of sources to create a fictional
travel log of a trip to London. This demonstrates that the student
was able to take information in an assortment of forms and incorporate
it smoothly into the narrative.
c
Information
about the criminal system, which is in keeping with the persona
of the narrator, is interwoven with the episode of the attempted
robbery and the visit to the Central Criminal Court.
The
descriptions of elements of the English culture, which are derived
from factual sources, are incorporated into the travel log in
an authentic and believable manner. This strengthens the content
of the travel log and sustains reader interest. It also demonstrates
the student’s capacity to expand and develop information
using the plausible likes and dislikes of the narrator. 
The student made the connection between fast food in London
and fast food in the United States to share an understanding
of the newly acquired information.
