Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
Title:
Grade:
Claim(s):
Assessment Target(s):
Standard(s):
Bloom's Taxonomy Level:
DOK Level:
Score Points:
Difficulty:
Copyright
Freedom of Speech Performance Task
11
Claim 2:
Students can produce effective and well-grounded writing for
a range of purposes and audiences.
Claim 4:
Students can engage in research/inquiry to investigate
topics, and to analyze, integrate, and present information.
Claim 2:
4. COMPOSE FULL TEXTS: Write full explanatory texts,
attending to purpose and audience: organizing ideas by
stating a thesis and maintaining a focus/tone; developing a
complex topic and subtopics, including citing relevant
supporting evidence (from sources when appropriate) and
elaboration, with appropriate transitional strategies for
coherence; and developing a conclusion that is appropriate
to purpose and audience and follows from and supports the
information or explanation presented (e.g., articulating
implications or the significance of a topic.)
Claim 4:
2. ANALYZE/INTEGRATE INFORMATION: Gather,
analyze, and integrate multiple sources of
information/evidence to support a presentation on a topic.
3. EVALUATE INFORMATION/SOURCES: Use reasoning,
evaluation, and evidence to assess the credibility and
accuracy of each source in order to gather and select
information to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Evaluate relevance, accuracy, and completeness of
information from multiple sources.
4. USE EVIDENCE: Cite evidence to support arguments or
conjectures.
Part 1: C4T2: RI-1, RI-7; W-8, W-9; C4T3: W-8; C4T4:
W-1b, W-8, W-9
Part 2: C2T4: RH-1, RH-7, RH-8, RH-9; W-1b, W-8, W-9
Part 1: Understand, Analyze, Apply
Part 2: Analyze, Evaluate, Create
Part 1: 3, 4
Part 2: 4
15 points possible
Hard
2016 Key Data Systems
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Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
(2015). The history of freedom of speech. Zeitung Region.
Retrieved from http://www.zeitung-region.info/thehistory-of-freedom-of-speech.php
(2015). Freedom of expression: history. Democracy Web:
Comparative Studies in Freedom. Retrieved from
http://www.democracyweb.org/expression/history.ph
p
(2015) First Amendment timeline. First Amendment Center.
Retrieved from
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/firstamendment-timeline
Smith, D. and Torres, L. (2006). Timeline: a history of free
speech. The Guardian. Retrieved from
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/feb/05/relig
ion.news
(2014). The XYZ Affair. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved
from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic
/651019/XYZ-Affair
Resources:
(2015). The Alien and Sedition Acts: Defining American
Freedom. Constitutional Rights Foundation. Retrieved
from http://www.crf-usa.org/america-responds-toterrorism/the-alien-and-sedition-acts.html
(2015) The Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798. Retrieved from
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/laws/alien_seditio
n.html
Rosen, J. (2002). Fighting words. Legal Affairs. Retrieved
from http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/May-June2002/scene_rosen_mayjun2002.html
Hudson, D. (2003). Fighting words. First Amendment Center.
Retrieved from
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/fighting-words
Clark, S. (2006). Misconceptions about the fighting words
exception. Foundation for Individual Rights in
Education. Retrieved from
http://www.thefire.org/misconceptions-about-thefighting-words-exception/
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Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
Heinze, E. (2014). Nineteen arguments for hate speech
bans—and against them. Free Speech Debate.
Retrieved from
http://freespeechdebate.com/en/discuss/nineteenarguments-for-hate-speech-bans-and-against-them/
N/A
Task should take approximately 120 minutes in total.
Part 1: (Approximately 50 minutes) Students will examine
and take notes on the texts provided to them. Students will
answer the research questions which ask students to
evaluate the sources provided to them.
Notes:
Task Overview:
Teacher
Preparation/Resource
Requirements:
Time Requirements:
Copyright
Part 2: (Approximately 70 minutes) Students will refer to
their answers from the research questions in part 1. Students
will compose a full-length explanatory essay based on the
given prompt. Students are allowed to access the texts that
they read and their answers to the research questions within
part 1 but cannot modify their responses.
The teacher should assure that sufficient blank paper and
writing utensils are available for student note taking.
Task should take approximately 120 minutes.
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Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
Your Assignment:
Your teacher announces to the class that a national history magazine is
sponsoring an essay contest. The contest calls for essays focusing on issues
surrounding the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The
student essays will be compiled and shared at a local history fair, and the
audience for the essays will be other students, teachers, and parents. If your
essay wins a prize in the contest, it will be printed in a national publication and
have a much wider audience.
To prepare yourself to write this essay, you must do research on topics
related to the freedoms granted in the First Amendment and how it has been
interpreted throughout American history.
After you have reviewed these sources, you will answer some questions
about them. Briefly scan the sources and the three questions that follow. Then,
go back and read the sources carefully so you will have the information to
answer the questions and finalize your research. You may take notes on the
information you find in the sources as you read.
In part 2, you will write an explanatory essay on a topic related to the
sources.
Instruction:
Directions for Beginning:
You may now look at the sources. You can look back to these sources as
much as you would like. Be sure to take notes when reading. You may want to
use them while you are writing your essay.
Research Questions:
After examining the research sources, use the rest of the time in part 1 to
answer three questions about them. Your answers to these questions will be
scored. Also, your answers will help you think about the information you have
read, which should help you write your essay in part 2.
You may refer back to your scratch paper to review your notes when you
think it would be helpful. Answer the questions in the spaces below the
questions.
Your written notes on scratch paper will be available to you in part 1 and
part 2 of the performance task.
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Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
Source 1
This historical article, written by a historian, was published on March 29, 2011,
in the magazine Practical History. It describes the history of freedom of speech
in modern human society.
Freedom of Speech: A Historical Benchmark
By: Andrew James Miller
In the year 399 B.C.E, the influential Athenian philosopher Socrates was
tried and found guilty by a jury of his peers. His sentence was to drink a poison
made from hemlock. What was his crime? Corrupting the youth of Athens by
encouraging them to question authority. He also lectured them about gods that
were not recognized by the state. At his trial, the great thinker made a
statement to the men who had condemned him to death. He said, "If you
offered to let me off this time on condition I am not any longer to speak my
mind... I should say to you, 'Men of Athens, I shall obey the Gods rather than
you.'"
Modern democracy originated in Greece. The freedom to express ideas
and opinions in written form was valued by Greeks as early as the epic poet
Homer, who wrote in the eighth century B.C.E. Pericles, the leader of Athens at
the time Socrates was born, supported freedom of speech as one of the defining
qualities of Athens. He viewed it as one of the great distinctions between it and
its bitter rival, Sparta. The fact that a society that valued these freedoms so
highly would execute one of its greatest citizens simply for taking advantage of
them is among the first quandaries in the history of freedom of speech.
Passage/
Stimulus:
Anthropologists have long considered modern man's capacity for speech
to be the trait that defines us as superior to other species, and our development
of written language is extolled as one of mankind's greatest inventions. The
people of the Roman Republic valued their freedom of speech, and it was a
chief tenet in early Islamic culture as well. Restrictions on what could and could
not be said did not truly exist until the Middle Ages, when monarchs and the
Catholic Church felt the need to limit threats to their own power. With this new
concept of censorship soon came the Magna Carta, a document that the
repressive King John of England signed under the force of his nobles. While the
Magna Carta did not directly address freedom of speech, it did recognize the
rights of both nobles and ordinary Englishmen by proclaiming that the king
himself was subject to the same laws as all citizens. This foundational document
provided a framework for many that would follow, including the American
Declaration of Independence.
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Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
Even with censorship limiting what could be said, it was rarely exercised
at the time. Books and other written materials were uncommon, as they were
difficult to produce. As a result, a person's words usually could not go far
enough to pose a threat. This changed in the fifteenth century, when German
goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg created the first printing press that uses
movable metal type. Finally allowing for the mass production and distribution of
books, the Church soon found it more difficult to censor works such as Nicolaus
Copernicus's De revolutionibis orbium coelestium (1543), which presented the
heretical view of planetary motion around the Sun rather than the Earth.
With the Protestant Revolution, the followers of Martin Luther sought to
distinguish themselves from Catholics by allowing greater freedom of ideas and
expression. However, circumstances soon found it necessary for Protestant
societies to impose censorship as well. In England, Parliament passed the
Licensing Order in 1643 that greatly limited the content of published materials.
In response to this restrictive law, the poet and civil servant John Milton
published the first—and arguably greatest—essay in defense of freedom of
expression, the Areopagitica. "He who destroys a good book, kills reason itself,"
wrote Milton. While the idea that truth is most likely to emerge in a "free and
open encounter" is not a new one today, in Milton's time this was a fresh
argument against laws such as the Licensing Order. And while this argument
was rejected when Milton expressed it in 1644, the Licensing Order did not
endure. Only a few decades later, the 1688 Glorious Revolution brought King
William III and Queen Mary II to power, with one major difference. Their rule
would be a constitutional monarchy replete with a Bill of Rights ending
"unfettered licensing" in Great Britain.
Nowhere in history was freedom of speech more foundational than
during the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. One of the century's
greatest philosophers, the Frenchman Voltaire, summarized this importance
succinctly in a letter written to an abbot whose views he disagreed with:
"Monsieur l'abbé, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it
possible for you to continue to write." Enlightenment thinkers exalted science
and reason, ideas they felt could not progress without the freedom to express
them. Soon, Sweden became the first country in Europe to abolish censorship,
quickly followed by Denmark and Norway. The writings of philosophers such as
Voltaire, the Englishman John Locke, and the American Benjamin Franklin
helped propel revolutions in favor of individual freedoms. In 1789, the French
National Assembly's Declaration of the Rights of Man included the right to own a
printing press as well as that of free expression. Two years later, it was
followed by the adoption of the newly founded United States' Constitution, with
a Bill of Rights that firmly established this right in its First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of
the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances."
Miller, A.J. (2011). Freedom of speech: a historical benchmark. Practical
History. Retrieved from http://practicalhistory.com/freedom
ofspeechahistoricalbenchmark/
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Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
Source 2
This historical article, published on October 14, 2009 in the journal America
Then and Now, discusses the Alien and Sedition Acts.
An Early Challenge to the First Amendment
By: Dr. Susan T. McDaniel
The First Amendment to the United States Bill of Rights guarantees
freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and the press to all American citizens.
These freedoms are allowed to even those whose opinions are unpopular or
critical of those in power. These freedoms have been brought into question
many times since the drafting of the Constitution, particularly in times of crisis
such as war. But the first time these freedoms were threatened by federal law
was very early in the nation's history.
Conflicts between American political parties are nothing new. The rivalry
between the Federalists and Republicans of the late eighteenth century was
unmatched. Each party viewed the other as a major threat. Wealthier
Americans largely supported the Federalists, the party of George Washington
and John Adams. Federalists believed that once a politician had been elected to
office, it was uncouth to publically criticize them. Democratic-Republicans were
the party of Thomas Jefferson and of farmers, urban laborers, and immigrants.
They encouraged political dissent as a form of patriotism.
One issue that the two parties firmly disagreed concerned the French
Revolution. Only a few years prior, the king of France had been removed from
power and executed, along with the majority of his nobles. The common people
then established a Republican form of government. Jefferson and his
Democratic-Republicans supported the Revolution as an example of democracy
in action. The Federalists decried its descent into mob rule and disorder. After
the election of 1796, with John Adams and a mostly Federalist Congress in
control, tensions between the current government and Republican France were
rising.
In response, President Adams sent a delegation to France to meet with
three French ministers. He hoped that this meeting would encourage a positive
diplomatic relationship. But the opposite occurred. The ministers demanded
millions of dollars in bribes, threatening "the power and violence of France" if
they were not paid.
This incident was known as the XYZ affair. It infuriated American
Federalists. War between the two countries appeared inevitable. Many
Americans trembled at the thought of a French invasion. French spies were
rumored to be living and operating among them. Democratic-Republicans
correctly considered these fears to be unfounded. Instead of listening to many
of his Federalist peers, Adams avoided declaring war and instead proposed a
land tax to potentially pay for a war. He also proposed laws to make the nation
more secure from foreign threats.
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Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
The Federalist majority passed these laws, the Alien and Sedition Acts,
in 1798. The Alien Acts were passed first. They affected mostly immigrants.
These three laws extended the time an immigrant would have to wait to be
naturalized. They allowed for the deportation of immigrants from enemy nations
and of non-citizens who were suspected of plotting against the United States. If
war with France had been declared, about 25,000 French immigrants would be
expelled from the United States. And since most immigrants were DemocraticRepublicans, it was clear that the Federalists hoped to gain politically from
these laws.
The Sedition Act, which followed the Alien Acts, affected far more
Americans. This restrictive law stated that "if any person shall write, print,
utter, or publish, or shall cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered or
published, or shall knowingly and willingly assist or aid in writing, printing,
uttering or publishing any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings
against the government... with intent to defame the said government... shall be
punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment
not exceeding two years." In other words, the Sedition Act directly limited the
freedoms allowed in the First Amendment. While this fact was argued heavily by
the Democratic-Republicans in Congress, the Federalists countered that this
amendment only concerned censorship of ideas that had not yet been
expressed—not those that had been spoken or printed.
Twenty-five people were prosecuted and ten convicted under the
Sedition Act, nearly all outspoken Democratic-Republicans. The first was
Vermont congressman Matthew Lyon, who opposed the land tax and criticized
Adams's "continued grasp for power." A Jefferson supporter was convicted for
publishing a pamphlet that suggested Adams had appointed corrupt
ambassadors and judges, while another was arrested for petitioning to repeal
the Sedition Act.
In the end, however, the people of the United States had their voices
heard. In 1798 and 1799, Jefferson and James Madison wrote two resolutions
protesting the acts that were passed by the legislatures of Virginia and
Kentucky, respectively. Citing the Tenth Amendment, these resolutions nullified
these laws in these two states. And in 1800, the debate was effectively settled
when Adams's first presidential term became his last. One year after Thomas
Jefferson was elected as the third president of the United States, the Alien and
Sedition Acts were allowed to expire.
McDaniel, S.T. (2009). An early challenge to the First Amendment. America
Then and Now. Retrieved from
http://americathenandnow.com/anearlychallengetothefirstamendment/
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Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
Source 3
This historical article, written by historical reporter Terrence Webb, was
published on January 22, 2013, in the journal Free Speech Quarterly. This
article explains why there are exceptions to freedom of speech under the First
Amendment.
The Fighting Words Exception
By: Terrence Webb
The First Amendment to the United States Bill of Rights guarantees
freedom of speech. But what would happen if a person were to shout "Fire!" in
a crowded movie theater when there was no fire at all? The result would be
utter chaos or worse. The decision to do such a thing would put innocent people
in harm's way while accomplishing nothing positive. For this reason, most
people agree that the First Amendment should not protect such an action. But
what if a person were to shout offensive language at a police officer without any
provocation? A judge may rule that this type of speech falls into another
category that has no constitutional protections—what are known as "fighting
words."
Different states have different definitions of what constitute fighting
words. Generally speaking they are "words which would likely make the person
whom they are addressed commit an act of violence." Fighting words are
meant to provoke in a negative way or to incite anger in others. They include
baseless insults, profanity, and racist, sexist, or other hateful language.
The origins of laws against fighting words can be found in the
nineteenth-century practice of dueling. While widely accepted in its time, today
it seems barbaric and unreal to Americans. Particularly common in the
American South, when one gentleman was insulted by another he would feel
the need to defend his honor by challenging his rival to a duel. Duels seldom
resulted in deaths. Nonetheless, they were illegal throughout the nation.
Enforcing anti-dueling laws was difficult, thus authorities found it easier to
enforce laws outlawing the words that incited duels, such as "coward," "rascal,"
or "liar." After the practice of dueling faded from American culture, laws against
fighting words endured.
The outlawing of profane and abusive language was not challenged until
the next century. One example was a city ordinance in Rochester, New
Hampshire, which prohibited calling others "any offensive or derisive name" in
public. In 1941, a Jehovah's Witness named Walter Chaplinsky was distributing
leaflets on the streets of Rochester when a police officer approached him and
told him that several people were complaining about his activities. Chaplinsky
responded by calling the policeman a "racketeer" and telling him that "the
whole government of Rochester are Fascists or agents of Fascists." Insults such
as "racketeer" and "Fascist" were prohibited under the city ordinance,
prompting Chaplinsky's arrest and conviction.
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Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
Chaplinsky responded by challenging the law, claiming that the
ordinance he was convicted under violated his First Amendment rights. The
case Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, and
in a unanimous opinion it disagreed, ruling to uphold Chaplinsky's conviction.
The Court's opinion read as follows: "There are certain well-defined and
narrowly limited classes of speech, the prevention and punishment of which has
never been thought to raise any Constitutional problem. These include the lewd
and obscene, the profane, the libelous, and the insulting or 'fighting' words—
those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate
breach of the peace."
Since Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, the U.S. Supreme Court has been
far more limiting concerning the fighting words exception to the First
Amendment. Seven years later, the Court overruled a fighting words conviction
in Terminiello v. Chicago, in which a priest made very critical political and racial
comments to a crowd of protesters. Through the next decades, several other
cases were overruled by the Court as well. In lower courts, rulings on fighting
words cases have been highly inconsistent, with the legality of an offensive
statement often depending on the individual judge's discretion. It is likely that
the constitutionality of this category of speech will continue to be debated
heavily in the future.
Webb, T. (2013). The fighting words exception. Free Speech Quarterly.
Retrieved from
http://thefreespeechquarterly.com/thefightingwordsexception/
Source 4
This is a letter to the editor from a reader of The Belleville Inquisitor. It was
published on February 1, 2015, and it gives an argument for limiting what one
person can say to another in public.
All Freedoms Are Important!
By: Tommy Linden
Dear Editor,
As I do every weekend, last Saturday morning I made a trip to my local
grocery store, Brezo's, to buy my weekly groceries. I am a loyal customer of
Brezo's because my experiences there have always been peaceful and pleasant
ones; their produce is always fresh, the employees in the meat department
always remember how I like my roast cut, and the cashiers never fail to smile
and wish me a wonderful day as I leave.
This shopping trip, however, was far from pleasant. It is my
understanding that some of the employees of Brezo's are striking in favor of
higher wages. That is their right, and I certainly do not fault them for it, but
these employees who were on strike were gathered around the front doors in
an unruly mass that had to be controlled by a team of police officers. I tried to
avoid drawing attention to myself, but soon found it impossible when one
employee called me by name. He then began to yell a variety of insults at me,
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Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
calling me greedy, selfish, and unconcerned about the people who have baked
my bread and stocked the food I eat on Brezo's shelves.
My feelings were badly hurt by these comments because I was not trying
to harm anybody, and I am definitely not opposed to Brezo's paying their
employees higher wages—even if it means my grocery bill will be slightly higher
each week. When I tried to respond to the striker, he only continued to yell
insults at me, some of which were extremely crude. Finally, I asked one of the
police officers to order the strikers to calm down. He merely shook his head and
explained to me that this group had secured an attorney who had already
threatened the store with a lawsuit if their protest was interrupted. Apparently,
these individuals' First Amendment rights to freedoms of speech and assembly
would be violated if the police were to ask them not to insult customers. I
quickly shuffled through the door and bought my groceries as soon as possible
before braving the crowds as I left; I am pleased to report that the employees
who were not on strike kindly apologized for my ordeal.
What I went through on Saturday made me question our country's
values and the freedoms that we enjoy. It is true that the First Amendment
guarantees the right to say what we want about whom we want. This is a very
good thing in the sense that it allows us to criticize our elected officials and
potentially prompt change in our government and society.
With our country's freedoms, including those protected by the First
Amendment, there should be no absolutism. If freedom of speech were allowed
with no exceptions whatsoever, it would be legal to kill another person if their
death was meant as a statement. Freedom of speech is not the only value that
our nation should hold dear. What about human dignity, equality, freedom to
live without harassment and intimidation, social harmony, mutual respect, and
protection of one's name and honor? When these rights are infringed upon by
one person's exercising their First Amendment rights, which should prevail?
The founding fathers that authored the Constitution and its Bill of Rights
intended for their words to be used to protect freedom of expression, including
ideas and opinions—not mindless insults. The striker who belittled me outside
the grocery store knew me by name but knew little else about me. He may
have also remembered what type of flowers I usually buy for my wife or that I
always pick up some extra sockeye salmon when it is on sale. But what grounds
did he have to call me selfish or greedy? If he knew me well, he would know I
am far from being either.
It has also bothered me to think about how this protest would have
affected my grandson if he had been with me that day—as badly as my feelings
were hurt, he would have been far more upset. Before "exercising your rights,"
please think about whom you may be hurting and whether expressing your
views is worth doing so.
What it all boils down to is that this is an ongoing battle between a silent
majority and a very vocal minority. I deeply feel that most people will agree
with me—as sacred as our constitutional rights are, they should have their
limits. Of all the rights we as Americans should be allowed, the freedom to live
in peace should be the dearest to all.
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Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
Sincerely,
Tommy Linden
Linden, T. (2015). All freedoms are important! The Belleville Inquisitor.
Retrieved from
http://thebellevilleinquisitor.com/February_01_2015/allfreedomsareimpo
rtant/
Prework:
None
Using the information you have just read from the articles and letter to the
editor, answer the questions below.
1. While the purpose of each source is different, some of the sources have
similar ideas. Identify and explain one idea that is shared by at least two
of the sources. Provide two pieces of evidence, one piece of evidence
from each of the two sources, to support your explanation. Identify the
source of each piece of evidence by title or number.
2. Mark the boxes to show the source(s) that would most likely be relevant
to researching the ideas in the left column. Some sources will have more
than one box selected.
Source 1:
Freedom of
Speech: A
Historical
Benchmark
Part 1
Copyright
Source 2: An
Early
Challenge to
the First
Amendment
Source 3:
The Fighting
Words
Exception
Source 4: All
Freedoms
Are
Important!
Freedom of
speech should
be limited in
some
circumstances.
People will
retaliate when
freedom of
speech is
limited.
The
Constitution's
ratification
was an
important
event in the
history of free
expression.
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Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
3. The First Amendment is open to interpretation. Provide two pieces of
evidence from different sources that support this claim and explain how
each example supports the claim. Justify your response by identifying
the source of each piece of information by title or number.
End of Part 1
Directions:
You will now review your notes and sources and plan, draft, edit, and
revise your writing. You may use your notes and refer to the sources. Now read
your assignment and the information about how your writing will be scored,
then begin your work.
Your Assignment:
After completing your research, you share your findings with your teacher.
The teacher suggests that you use your research to formulate a thesis
concerning freedom of speech.
Using the sources you have found, craft a thesis describing an issue
concerning freedom of speech. Once you have a thesis, select the most
relevant information from your sources to support the thesis. Then, write a
multi-paragraph explanatory essay explaining your thesis. Clearly organize
your essay and elaborate on your ideas. Develop your ideas clearly and use
your own words, except when quoting directly from the sources. Be sure to
reference the source title or number when quoting or paraphrasing details or
facts from the sources.
Part 2
Make sure you attend to your audience (other students, parents, teachers,
and ultimately the contest judges) and that you attend to purpose (to explain
one issue concerning freedom of speech to your readers).
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Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
Explanatory Essay Scoring:
Your explanatory essay will be scored using the following:
1. Organization/purpose: How well did you state your thesis and
maintain your thesis with a logical progression of ideas from beginning
to end? How well did you narrow your thesis so you can develop and
elaborate the conclusion? How well did you consistently use a variety of
transitions? How effective was your introduction and your conclusion?
2. Evidence/elaboration: How well did you integrate relevant and
specific information from the sources? How well did you elaborate on
your ideas? How well did you clearly state ideas using precise language
that is appropriate for your audience and purpose?
3. Conventions: How well did you follow the rules of grammar usage,
punctuation, capitalization and spelling?
Now begin writing your essay.
Manage your time carefully so that you can:
 plan your multi-paragraph essay
 write your multi-paragraph essay
 revise and edit your final draft of your multi-paragraph essay
For part 2, you are being asked to write a multi-paragraph essay, so be as
thorough as possible.
Remember to check your notes and your prewriting/planning as you write and
then revise and edit your essay.
End of Part 2
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Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
Scoring Rubric for Part 1:
Scoring Rubric 1: Analyze/Integrate Information (Claim 4, Target 2)
The response gives sufficient evidence of the ability to gather, analyze, and
integrate information within and among multiple sources of information.
The response gives limited evidence of the ability to gather, analyze, and
integrate information within and among multiple sources of information.
A response gets no credit if it gives no evidence of the ability to gather,
analyze, and integrate information within and among multiple sources of
information.
2 Points:
1 Point:
0 Points:
Rationales 2: Evaluate Information/Sources (Claim 4, Target 3)
Source 1:
Freedom of
Speech: A
Historical
Benchmark
Source 2: An
Early
Challenge to
the First
Amendment
Freedom of
speech should be
limited in some
circumstances.
People will
retaliate when
freedom of
speech is
limited.
Correct answer
The
Constitution's
ratification was
an important
event in the
history of free
expression.
Correct answer
Source 3: The
Fighting
Words
Exception
Source 4: All
Freedoms Are
Important!
Correct answer
Correct answer
Correct answer
Scoring Rubric 3: Use Evidence (Claim 4, Target 4)
The response gives sufficient evidence of the ability to cite evidence to
support arguments and/or ideas.
The response gives limited evidence of the ability to cite evidence to support
arguments and/or ideas.
The response gets no credit if it provides no evidence of the ability to cite
evidence to support arguments and/or ideas.
2 Points:
1 Point:
0 Points:
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2016 Key Data Systems
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15
Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
Scoring Rubric for Part 2:
Scoring Rubric Explanatory Writing for Statement Purpose/Focus and Organization:
The response:
 Is an explanatory essay on an issue related to freedom of speech
 Has an organization that is fully sustained
 Discusses an issue that is clear and maintained throughout
 Supports claims with many reasons and evidence
 Has consistent use of a variety of transitional strategies to clarify the
relationships between and among ideas
 Has a strong connection between and among ideas, reasons, and
evidence
 Has an effective opening and closing for audience and purpose
The response:
 Is an explanatory essay on an issue related to freedom of speech
 Has an organization that is adequately sustained
 Discusses an issue that is adequate and generally maintained
 Supports claims with some reasons and evidence
 Has adequate use of a few transitional strategies to clarify the
relationships between and among ideas
 Has an adequate connection between and among ideas, reasons, and
evidence
 Has an adequate opening and closing for audience and purpose
The response:
 Is an explanatory essay on an issue related to freedom of speech
 Has an organization that is somewhat sustained
 Discusses an issue that is uneven in parts of the essay
 Supports claims with few reasons and evidence
 Has uneven use of transitional strategies to clarify the relationships
between and among ideas
 Has weak or uneven connections between and among ideas, reasons,
and evidence
 Has a weak or absent opening and closing for audience and purpose
The response:
 May be an explanatory essay on an issue related to freedom of speech
 May have an organization that may or may not be sustained
 May discuss an issue weakly
 May or may not support claims with reasons and evidence
 May or may not use transitional strategies to clarify the relationships
between and among ideas
 May or may not have connections between and among ideas, reasons,
and evidence
 May or may not have an opening and closing for audience and
purpose
The response gets no credit if the organization is insufficient, includes copied
text, includes a language other than English, is off-topic, or off-purpose.
4 Points:
3 Points:
2 Points:
1 Point:
0 Points:
Copyright
2016 Key Data Systems
©
16
Grade 11 ELA Freedom of Speech Performance Task Teacher Booklet
Scoring Rubric Explanatory Writing for Evidence and Elaboration of Evidence:
The response:
 Is an explanatory essay on an issue related to freedom of speech
 Provides thorough, effective elaboration using relevant details,
reasons, and evidence
 Clearly develops and supports the author's thesis
 Enhances the thesis with references to research sources
 Effectively uses language and tone that advances the purpose
The response:
 Is an explanatory essay on an issue related to freedom of speech
 Provides adequate elaboration using relevant details, reasons, and
evidence
 Adequately develops and supports the author's thesis
 Enhances the thesis with some references to research sources
 Adequately uses language and tone that generally advances the
purpose
The response:
 Is an explanatory essay on an issue related to freedom of speech
 Provides some elaboration using uneven or inadequate details,
reasons, and evidence
 Somewhat develops and supports the author's thesis
 May enhance the thesis with some references to research sources
 Unevenly uses language and tone that may or may not advance the
purpose
The response:
 May or may not be an explanatory essay on an issue related to
freedom of speech
 Provides minimal elaboration using little or no details, reasons, and
evidence
 May or may not develop and support the author's thesis
 May or may not include references to research sources
 Uses little or no language and tone to advance the purpose
The response gets no credit if no elaboration is provided, or if the thesis is
insufficient (includes copied text), in a language other than English, off-topic,
or off-purpose.
4 Points:
3 Points:
2 Points:
1 Point:
0 Points:
Scoring Rubric Explanatory Writing Rubric for Conventions:
The response:
 Has adequate use of correct sentence formation, punctuation,
capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling
The response:
 Has limited use of correct sentence formation, punctuation,
capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling
The response gets no credit if it demonstrates little or no command of
conventions, has infrequent use of correct sentence formation, punctuation,
capitalization, grammar usage, and spelling. The response gets no credit if it
is in a language other than English, is illegible, off-topic, or off-purpose.
2 Points:
1 Point:
0 Points:
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2016 Key Data Systems
©
17