NAME:

FORMATIVE WRITING: Creative / Personal 5.00

ENGLISH 20.1 Ms. Toth

PERSONAL RESPONSE to Flowers for Algernon

SOCIAL EXPECTATIONS
The PURPOSE of this assignment is to challenge you to reflect critically, creatively, or personally
on Daniel Keyes Flowers for Algernon. This assignment will also increase your comfort and ability
with the Personal Response to Texts assignment that will appear on the English 30-1 Diploma
Exam.
ASSIGNMENT DETAILS
Having discussed and reviewed the requirements of a personal response in class, read the three
pieces of literature that follow and respond to the prompt below.
In the excerpt from Flowers for Algernon, Charlies parents Rose and Matt are told that their son
is unable to function in school and argue about the need to have a normal son during the context
of the novel. In W.H. Audens poem, The Unknown Citizen, the perspective of the average
person is depicted. In the photograph, Womens Fashion in the 1950s, presents an image of
the average fashion style in the 1950s.
What do these texts suggest about the necessity and value of adhering
to social expectations? In other words, must people adhere to social
expectations? Is there any benefit to doing so?
Support your idea(s) with reference to one or more of the texts
presented and to your previous knowledge and/or experiences.

GUIDELINES
In completing this assignment the following guidelines must be adhered to.
-

As with all personal response compositions, you must:

o Use a prose form;
o Connect to one or more of the texts provided in this examination to your own ideas
and impressions.
Your completed composition must be no less than two double-spaced (typed) pages of
text, and should be no longer than four double-spaced (typed) pages of text.
Your completed composition must be presented with evidence of all FIVE STEPS of the
writing process:
1. PLANNING It is required that you complete a P.R.A.F.T.S. plan as outlined below
(remember, the more detail and effort you put into your plan, the easier and more
successful the remainder of the assignment will be).
2. DRAFTING In order to easily facilitate revising and editing, ensure that your rough
work is double-spaced. It must also be printed.
3. REVISING This step must be completed on paper. Outline on the form attached to
this document.
4. EDITING - This step must be completed on paper. Outline on the form attached to
this document.
5. PUBLISHING Your completed composition must adhere to Ms. Toths formatting
guidelines and present evidence of each of the four steps above ON PAPER.

REMEMBER

As discussed, one of the most significant keys to a successful personal response is the creation of
a unique and individual voice whether that is yours (in a critical or personal response) or yours
through the lens of a character (in a creative response).
- The key here is to merge your own thoughts on the topic above with those presented by
the author(s) in your chosen texts.

A P.R.A.F.T.S PLAN
P PURPOSE

What is the purpose or theme of your composition?

- What are you attempting to achieve though your writing?

R ROLE

Who are you? What role are you taking on in composing this
speech?
- While this aspect is particularly relevant for a creative
response, be sure to consider your own personal
perspective and opinions in detail for a critical or personal
response. How are you approaching this topic? What
experiences and observations have influenced your
interpretation of the topic?

A AUDIENCE

Who is your intended audience?

- While Ms. Toth will be assessing your composition, he
does not have to be the intended audience. Be specific in
developing this area. Who would benefit most from your
message or theme?

F FORMAT

What written format will most purposefully capture the voice of

your writer and deliver your theme? Which format will most
effectively reach your audience?
- This step will be influence by those points already
planned and is of SIGNIFICANT importance.

T TECHNIQUE &
TONE

- What techniques and tones will allow you to most effectively

develop a unique and engaging VOICE and deliver your theme?
- Remember, while this is a CRITICAL writing assignment,
you do not have to use a FORMAL tone; write in the
manner that best suits your purpose and audience.

S SUPPORT

- What evidence will you draw from your selected text(s) to

support your composition and the delivery of its theme?
- What evidence will you draw from your own personal life to
support your composition and the delivery of its theme?

NAME:
FORMAL WRITING Required Component
ENGLISH ~ Ms. Toth

REVISING & EDITING RECORD

Personal Response to Texts
This is a REQUIRED component for your formal writing assignment; if this is not handed in with
your work, FULLY COMPLETED, your work will not be accepted. REVISERS and EDITORS,
regardless of what you think of your peers work, you must put at least one piece of
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM in the space below. It should be on the specific aspect of the text you
were asked to look at; failing that, comment on their work generally.
REVISING
PEER REVISOR #1: Ideas &
Impressions

NAME:

TASK:

COMMENTS:

> Specifically, you are asked to look

at your peers ideas and impressions
in response to the topic.
Does the composition present
a clear, specific, and definitive
theme in response to the
topic?
Does the composition respond
to at least one of the pieces of
evidence as presented in the
assignment?
Are the ideas mature and
insightful?

PEER REVISOR #2: Voice

NAME:

TASK:

COMMENTS:

> Ensure that your peer has

attempted to create a clear and
distinct voice that reinforces their
individual perspective.
Is the assignment unique?
That is, is it individually
memorable, or does it sound
like many of your other peers
assignments?
Is the voice uniformly
constructed throughout the
composition?
Has a discernible attempt
been made to use purposeful
techniques and tones?

EDITING
PEER EDITOR #1: Sentences,
Word Choices, Grammar, and
Punctuation

NAME:

TASK:

COMMENTS:

> Ensure that you peer has not

made any errors of grammar or
punctuation, and that he or she uses
a variety of words and sentence
types.

In this excerpt, Charlie recalls a memory from his past. His parents are told that Charlie is not
allowed to attend P.S. 13 and will need to attend a special school. In this flashback, an argument
arises between Charlies parents about whether or not Charlie is normal.
Keyes, Daniel. Flowers for Algernon. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing
Company, 1959. Print.

from Flowers for Algernon

In a dream last night I heard Mom screaming at Dad and the teacher at the elementary school P.S. 13 (my first
school before they transferred me to P.S. 222)...
"He's normal! He's normal! He'll grow up like other people. Better than others." She was trying to scratch the
teacher, but Dad was holding her back. "He'll go to college someday. He'll be somebody."
She kept screaming it, clawing at Dad so he'd let go of her. "He'll go to college someday and he'll be
somebody."
We were in the principal's office and there were a lot of people looking embarrassed, but the assistant principal
was smiling and turning his head so no one would see it. The principal in my dream had a long beard, and was
floating around the room and pointing at me.
"He'll have to go to a special school. Put him into the Warren State Home and Training School. We can't have
him here."
Dad was pulling Mom out of the principal's office, and she was shouting and crying too. I didn't see her face,
but her big red teardrops kept splashing down on me...
This morning I could recall the dream, but now there's more than that I can remember through the blur, back to
when I was six years old and it all happened. Just before Norma was born. I see Mom, a thin, dark-haired
woman who talks too fast and uses her hands too much. As always her face is blurred. Her hair is up in a bun,
and her hand goes to touch it, pat it smooth, as if she has to make sure it's still there. I remember that she was
always fluttering like a big, white bird-around my father, and he too heavy and tired to escape her pecking.
I see Charlie, standing in the center of the kitchen, playing with his spinner, bright colored beads and rings
threaded on a string. He holds the string up in one hand, turns the rings so they wind and unwind in bright
spinning flashes. He spends long hours watching his spinner. I don't know who made it for him, or what became
of it, but I see him standing there fascinated as the string untwists and sets the rings spinning...
She is screaming at him no, she's screaming at his father. "I'm not going to take him. There's nothing wrong
with him!"
"Rose, it won't do any good pretending any longer that nothing is wrong. Just look at him, Rose. Six years old,
and-"

"He's not a dummy. He's normal. He'll be just like everyone else.".
He looks sadly at his son with the spinner and Charlie smiles and holds it up to show him how pretty it is when
it goes around and around.
"Put that thing away!" Mom shrieks and suddenly she knocks the spinner from Charlie's hand, and it crashes
across the kitchen floor. "Go play with your alphabet blocks."
He stands there, frightened by the sudden outburst. He cowers, not knowing what she will do. His body begins
to shake. They're arguing, and the voices back and forth make a squeezing pressure inside him and a sense of
panic.
"Charlie, go to the bathroom. Don't you dare do it in your pants."
He wants to obey her, but his legs are too soft to move. His arms go up automatically to ward off blows.
"For God's sake, Rose. Leave him alone. You've got him terrified. You always do this, and the poor kid"
"Then why don't you help me? I have to do it all by myself. Every day I try to teach him - to help him catch up
to the others. He's just slow, that's all. But he can learn like everyone else."
"You're fooling yourself, Rose. It's not fair to us or to him. Pretending he's normal. Driving him as if he were an
animal that could learn to do tricks. Why don't you leave him alone?"
"Because I want him to be like everyone else."

Written by W.H. Auden, The Unknown Citizen alludes to a perfect American citizen. The Bureau
of Statistics summarizes that based on all of the reports he was a saint. He is a head worker,
owned regular things, and had an exemplary family. He does not have odd views and is normal
in every way. The poem concludes that he must have been satisfied with his life, as the Bureau
never heard otherwise.
Auden, W.H. The Unknown Citizen. Poets.org. N. P. 1939. Web. 19 March 2016.

The Unknown Citizen

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old fashioned word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Installment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace; When there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

In the photograph Womens Fashion in the 1950s, the typical outfit during this decade is
modeled. Following World War II, where fashion was very simple, the economy began to
boom and so did the fashion industry. Fashion began to emphasize conformity in society with
very specific styles of outfits. Womens fashion dictated their feminine role in society,
especially as the perfect housewife. During the 1950s there were limited options in
clothing style, and the style seen in the photograph below illustrates the normal dress for
women on a day-to-day basis.

COMMENTS:
Comments
please!
Annotations only.
Just a mark.

RESPONDING TO:

FFA Normal
Unknown

NAME:

Citizen

FORMATIVE WRITING: Personal 5.00

ENGLISH 20.1 Ms. Toth

Womens

PERSONAL RESPONSE to Flowers for

Algernon
Necessity and Value of Adhering to Social Conventions & Norms
Fashion

FORMATTING GUIDELINES
Before handing in your assignment, check off each of the following requirements.
- If the assignment is submitted without the following requirements being met, IT WILL BE
REJECTED. Do yourself and Ms. Toth a favour, and develop an eye for detail.
o Remember, I am happy to be your editor during the writing process, but once your
assignment is submitted, I am your marker, which is more akin to publisher than editor.
Hence, if you would like a published grade for your work, make sure your work is
publishable.
- The assignment must be submitted before the marked assignment is returned to the other students
in the course.

GUIDELINES:
NAME, CLASS, DATE
All PARAGRAPHS INDENTED
ORIGINAL TITLE
STANDARD MARGINS

12pt. FONT
DOUBLE SPACED
BLUE, BLACK, DARK PURPLE
INK
MIN. 1.5 FULL PAGES to MAX.
4 FULL

PLANNING

P.R.A.F.T.S.

REVISIONS, EDITS &

COMMENTS
- Minimum 1 Person
with detailed edits on
rough.

REQUIREMENTS
COMPLETE
IDEAS and IMPRESSIONS
POWERFUL
PLEASING
10
8
- The students
exploration of the
topic is insightful.
- Perceptions and/or
ideas are confident
and discerning.
- Support is precise
and aptly reinforces
the students ideas
and impressions.

PRESENTATION
POWERFUL
10
- The voice created
by the student is
convincing.
- Stylistic choices are
precise and the
students creation of
tone is adept.
- The unifying effect
is skillfully
developed.

PASSABLE
6

POOR
4

- The students
exploration of the
topic is generalized.
- Perceptions and/or
ideas are
straightforward and
relevant.
- Support is adequate
and clarifies the
students ideas and
impressions.

- The students
exploration of the
topic is vague.
- Perceptions and/or
ideas are superficial
and/or ambiguous.
- Support is imprecise
and/or ineffectively
related to the
students ideas and
impressions.

PLEASING
8

PASSABLE
6

POOR
4

PATHETIC
2

- The voice created

by the student is
distinct.
- Stylistic choices are
specific and the
students creation of
tone is competent.
- The unifying effect
is capably developed.

- The voice created

by the student is
apparent.
- Stylistic choices are
adequate and the
students creation of
tone is conventional.
- The unifying effect
is appropriately
developed.

- The voice created

by the student is
indistinct.
- Stylistic choices are
imprecise and the
students creation of
tone is inconsistent.
- The unifying effect
is inadequately
developed.

- The voice created

by the student is
obscure.
- Stylistic choices
impede
communication and
the students creation
of tone is ineffective.
- A unifying effect is
absent.

- The students
exploration of the
topic is purposeful.
- Perceptions and/or
ideas are thoughtful
and considered.
- Support is specific
and strengthens the
students ideas and
impressions.

PATHETIC
2
- The students
exploration of the
topic is minimal.
- Perceptions and/or
ideas are
undeveloped and/or
irrelevant.
- Support is lacking
and/or unrelated to
the students ideas
and impressions.

UNFORGIVEABLE
ERRORS
SUB-TOTAL:
TOTAL