Example of a Personal Response for a Pervious Year Diploma (2009)
PERSONAL RESPONSE TO TEXTS ASSIGNMENT Suggested time: approximately 45 to 60 minutes
You have been provided with three texts on pages 1 to 4. In “The Jackhammer Syndrome” by Al Purdy, the speaker recalls transcendent moments of elation as he walks about in his business suit. In the excerpt from The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, Laroche is characterized as an individual who pursues his personal obsessions while maintaining an unconventional code of conduct. In Gilbert Garcin’s Diogenes or Lucidity, a man in an overcoat and business suit carries a light bulb.
The Assignment
What do these texts suggest about the conflict between pursuing a personal desire and choosing to conform? Support your idea(s) with reference to one or more of the texts presented and to your previous knowledge and/or experience.
In your writing, you must
• use a prose form
• connect one or more of the texts provided in this examination to your own ideas and impressions
Personal Response to Texts Assignment
Initial Planning
To which of the provided texts are you responding? What is the connection between the text(s) and your response?
I am choosing to respond to the two following texts, “The orchid thief” and Diogène ou la Lucidité, the picture provided. The connection between the picture and the story is that no matter what you choose to do with your life, as long as your living your dream as you see fit without acting on shame.
What idea do you intend to explore and how does it address the topic?
I intend to explore the idea that one’s self should choose to live their life as one sees fit.
State your choice of prose form. Choose from prose forms that you have practiced in English Language Arts 30–1. You may respond using a personal, creative, or analytical perspective. Do NOT use a poetic form.
An analytical perspective.
ANALYICAL ESSAY
What do these texts suggest about the conflict between pursuing a personal desire and choosing to conform? Support your idea(s) with reference to one or
You have been provided with three texts on pages 1 to 4. In “The Jackhammer Syndrome” by Al Purdy, the speaker recalls transcendent moments of elation as he walks about in his business suit. In the excerpt from The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, Laroche is characterized as an individual who pursues his personal obsessions while maintaining an unconventional code of conduct. In Gilbert Garcin’s Diogenes or Lucidity, a man in an overcoat and business suit carries a light bulb.
The Assignment
What do these texts suggest about the conflict between pursuing a personal desire and choosing to conform? Support your idea(s) with reference to one or more of the texts presented and to your previous knowledge and/or experience.
In your writing, you must
• use a prose form
• connect one or more of the texts provided in this examination to your own ideas and impressions
Personal Response to Texts Assignment
Initial Planning
To which of the provided texts are you responding? What is the connection between the text(s) and your response?
I am choosing to respond to the two following texts, “The orchid thief” and Diogène ou la Lucidité, the picture provided. The connection between the picture and the story is that no matter what you choose to do with your life, as long as your living your dream as you see fit without acting on shame.
What idea do you intend to explore and how does it address the topic?
I intend to explore the idea that one’s self should choose to live their life as one sees fit.
State your choice of prose form. Choose from prose forms that you have practiced in English Language Arts 30–1. You may respond using a personal, creative, or analytical perspective. Do NOT use a poetic form.
An analytical perspective.
ANALYICAL ESSAY
What do these texts suggest about the conflict between pursuing a personal desire and choosing to conform? Support your idea(s) with reference to one or