Hello!
How are you? Here is our spring final writing assignment (中間「前学期」作文).
Themes
You have a choice between two (2) different themes:
・Writing about works of art
・Writing about a problem or controversy in an area of science or technology
About the first choice:
For this topic, you can look in the Listening & Speaking textbook about some different works of art - or search out some works of art on your own on the internet. I could
also select some works of art to post on this blog as well.
You can write about one (1) work of art, or for an extra challenge, choose two (2) works of art and compare and contrast (比較対照して) them. If you choose this challenge, look for these points in your comparison and contrast:
Dynamics of artistic composition (美学、美術の構成) - (for example, color, space, relationships
of people and/or objects to each other)
Possible story or scenario that the work of art shows or gives ideas about (for example,
mood, feelings of people, conditions of objects or the place where the people and/or objects
are)
Finally, choose the work of art you prefer (好む) and show what you believe to be a short story
or scenario that comes to your mind when you see or think about this artwork.
About the second choice:
For this topic, think about some problem or controversy (問題、議論) in an area of
science or technology – for example, a problem with a drug or medication in research,
or a technological application. Here are some examples of such problems:
・The false data in the research of Haruko Obokata and the trouble in her research institute
・The use – and misuse – of private data by social media companies such as Facebook
・The ways in which social media has spread fake news and other false information
・The relationship between humans and artificial intelligence (AI) and possible problems
Themes
You have a choice between two (2) different themes:
・Writing about works of art
・Writing about a problem or controversy in an area of science or technology
About the first choice:
For this topic, you can look in the Listening & Speaking textbook about some different works of art - or search out some works of art on your own on the internet. I could
also select some works of art to post on this blog as well.
You can write about one (1) work of art, or for an extra challenge, choose two (2) works of art and compare and contrast (比較対照して) them. If you choose this challenge, look for these points in your comparison and contrast:
Dynamics of artistic composition (美学、美術の構成) - (for example, color, space, relationships
of people and/or objects to each other)
Possible story or scenario that the work of art shows or gives ideas about (for example,
mood, feelings of people, conditions of objects or the place where the people and/or objects
are)
Finally, choose the work of art you prefer (好む) and show what you believe to be a short story
or scenario that comes to your mind when you see or think about this artwork.
About the second choice:
For this topic, think about some problem or controversy (問題、議論) in an area of
science or technology – for example, a problem with a drug or medication in research,
or a technological application. Here are some examples of such problems:
・The false data in the research of Haruko Obokata and the trouble in her research institute
・The use – and misuse – of private data by social media companies such as Facebook
・The ways in which social media has spread fake news and other false information
・The relationship between humans and artificial intelligence (AI) and possible problems
You are not limited to these examples of problems and issues, but these are some good examples.
Special note:
Special note:
For both of these different choices, I will gather your writing on this topic into a collection called The Little Book of Big Things - a book about student writers’ feelings, opinions, issues and perceptions (認識) about different topics.
How much to write
I would like you to write 4-5 paragraphs – but if you can go longer that would be great! I would like you to write as much as you can, because your work may be published (出版した) on this blog and in The Little Book of Big Things collection.
As I have said before, anything shorter than three (3) paragraphs will not be acceptable. Please remember that our time is tight - so you might not have the time to re-write.
I will review as much of your work as I can on July 15th (7/15). I may ask you to re-write, or re-work your content, if I see that you are behind or if you need more advice or suggestions from me about the assignment.
Please do not write line-by-line sentences. Remember that you are writing paragraphs (段落), not lists of sentences. On 7/15, I will ask you to re-write if I see that you are only writing lists of sentences about your topic.
I will review as much of your work as I can on July 15th (7/15). I may ask you to re-write, or re-work your content, if I see that you are behind or if you need more advice or suggestions from me about the assignment.
Please do not write line-by-line sentences. Remember that you are writing paragraphs (段落), not lists of sentences. On 7/15, I will ask you to re-write if I see that you are only writing lists of sentences about your topic.
I will review with you guidelines in class on about Word formatting for your final drafts.
Deadline (締め切り)
There will be two (2) deadlines this time - you can choose which one you would like to try for: An earlier one on July 22nd (7/22), and a final one on July 29th (7/29).
Now - if you believe you can completely finish by 7/22, you can turn it in early - but I will review it first. If I see that it needs more work, I will ask you to work on it more and turn it in on 7/29.
If you feel you need more time and have to turn it in on 7/29, that is okay - you will not be late.
On either day - 7/22 or 7/29 - you will hand in a final version (完成版). You should select your theme and topic in it that you are interested in, and begin writing from now – do not wait!
Now - here are the board notes for our class on 7/1:
Now - if you believe you can completely finish by 7/22, you can turn it in early - but I will review it first. If I see that it needs more work, I will ask you to work on it more and turn it in on 7/29.
If you feel you need more time and have to turn it in on 7/29, that is okay - you will not be late.
On either day - 7/22 or 7/29 - you will hand in a final version (完成版). You should select your theme and topic in it that you are interested in, and begin writing from now – do not wait!
Now - here are the board notes for our class on 7/1:
Good luck! I will look forward to reading your great writing – and please relax over the summer for a job well done!
Image: Personal photograph. All rights reserved.
