Assessment Tools

Shows that you can explore the social meaning in an experience:

something you read (real or imagined), saw, overheard or experienced.

CONTEXT OR PURPOSE:
The experience upon which you are reflecting is clear throughout the piece. You have really thought about a broader meaning connected to human societies or cultures.

• You present the occasion clearly and vividly. (It may be a single experience or a web of connected experiences.)
• Your thinking about the occasion connects it to a bigger realization or new understanding of human societies that you got from the experience. (This realization may have come slowly or quickly like an "Aha!")
• You analyze your ideas from different points of view and go into depth about your thoughts.

ORGANIZATION:
The manner and order in which you reveal your thoughts helps the reader understand your growing awareness or deepening understanding of an important idea.

• Your opening does NOT contain your controlling idea, the final realization. It invites the reader to explore with you.
• Your organization slowly reveals thoughts and insights about the experience, like a flower bud opening.
• Your conclusion may involve a sense of wonder or a sense that your reflections are ongoing.

ELABORATION/CREATIVITY:
Your writing shows the creative use of language and details. It shows deep thinking about the experience and its meaning.

• You use a variety of strategies, such as vivid details, sensory language, exciting action, similes & metaphors, contrasts, conversations, history and historically accurate scenarios.
• You use the precise language of the social studies that best describe the experience and your realizations.
• Your ideas show complex thinking and leave the reader with more to think about.
• You may have helped the reader look at the world in a new way!

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