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The last day of the week, students in my Health Life Management Skills class participate in a Choice Day lesson. Choice Day is divided into two prioritized parts.

The first part of Choice Day involves completing all written work for the week. After completing all previously assigned work, students are required to participate in a bonus point activity. The bonus point is a reward similar to the bonus foul shot in basketball; it´s not an option or extra credit. The bonus point involves finding a current event article and writing an essay explaining how the current event relates to Health Life Management Skills. After writing the essay. students evaluate each others essay using grading guideline developed for Health Life Management Skills. I have included an Essay Grading Guideline with this paper. Essays are scored zero to four by each student reader. After a minimum of four different students have read and scored the essay, scores are averaged. The average score is added to the student´s points for grading purposes (bonus points).

The Bonus Point lesson allows students time to explore topics that are both interesting to them and current. The Daytona Beach News-Journal provides students with very current articles related to all of the five components of health and wellness: physical, social, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

Each week the highest scored essays are added to a collection of class writings. Highest scored writings are kept in a folder and used as examples for present and future students. Students demonstrate insight when writing and excellent critiquing skills when reading their peers´ essays. Most students are motivated to have their essays included in the folder. At some point students will send essays into the editor of The News-Journal for consideration as Letters to the Editor, this has not yet happened.

With information often being outdated shortly after it´s published, the Newspaper in Education Grant makes it possible to develop a very current lesson that supplements the information found in our textbook. This would not be possible without the help of the NIE Grant. The articles my students select to read are helping them form good lifestyle decisions today. Also, I feel many of my students will continue to make good lifestyle decisions because of this experience with the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Essay Grading Guideline

Name:__________________ Date:_____________

Topic Title: ____________________

The on - topic, clearly focused essay follows a clear plan:
-- thesis statement clearly states main idea of the essay and is a complete sentence;
-- each statement is relevant to the thesis;
-- writer has provided 3 - 5 relevant, specific details for each paragraph and has presented them in logical order;
-- the introduction is effective and easily moves from attention - getting statement to the thesis ( the last sentence in the first paragraph);
-- punctuation is appropriate and helpful to the reader;
-- there is an effective concluding paragraph which reminds the reader of the content of the essay and clearly reaffirms the thesis;
-- the paper is not necessarily flawless, but it shows full control of material.

This on - topic essay has most of the characteristics of a 4 paper, but:
-- the information may be a little thin;
-- there may be lapses in the organizational pattern.

This essay is identified by the following:
-- has a focused topic;
-- may contain extraneous or loosely related information;
-- information is thin;
-- introduction is ineffective and/or irrelevant.

This essay:
-- minimally addresses topic;
-- contains unrelated or undeveloped information.

This essay is unrelated to the topic.

Jeffrey Bishop
DeLand High School

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