YES! Writing Competition

[Teacher Bot]

Fall 2012 National Student Writing Competition:

This fall, students will read and respond to the YES! article, “Living Large in a Tiny House,” by Dee Williams. Dee’s story is about why she chose to move from her 3-bedroom bungalow to an 84-square-foot house—a place where she keeps no more than 300 items and has never been happier.

Prompt: Write an essay of up to 700 words answering the question, “If you had the choice, what size house would you live in? What are important features your house would have, and what would you intentionally avoid?”

Article ---> www.yesmagazine.org/issues/sustainable-happiness/living-large-in-a-tiny-house

The deadline for essay is October 26, 2012.


How does it work?

1. Students read and respond to the YES! article with an up to 700-word essay.

2. Submit one essay, along with student release form.

3. For each of the following categories, YES! staff (and possibly the author of the article) will select one essay that we feel is well-written, compelling, and captures the spirit of the article:

Grades 6-8
Grades 9-12
College/university
Powerful Voice (for an author whose essay is uniquely powerful or thought-provoking)

The selected essays will be featured on the YES! Magazine website and in our online education newsletter, reaching thousands of YES! readers, including over 26,000 teachers.


Common Core State Standards:
This writing competition meets several Common Core State Standards for grades 6-12, including the following Writing and Reading: Informational Text Standards: W.3, W.4, RI.1

What are the essay requirements?
Respond to the article and writing prompt provided by YES!
Reference the article.
No more than 700 words.
Must be original, unpublished work.

In addition, we are evaluating essays for:

Grammar
Organization
Strong style and personal voice. We encourage writers to include personal examples and insights.
Originality and clarity of content and ideas

[Mya Mays]

I would live in a Large light blue house with a pool. Inside the house there would be 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 1 living room , 3 computer rooms, and 1 kitchen. In the bedroom's there would be a T.V. , a bed, a desk , a closet , 2 windows, and some covers for the bed. In the bathrooms there would be a bath tube , a toilet , a towel rack , and a sink. In the living room there would be a T.V. , a sofa ,1 window, and a table. In the kitchen there would be a stove , T.V. , table , a refrigerate , a sink, 3 windows , 5 counter , and 8 chairs.
In the computer rooms there would be a T.V. ,a computer , a table to hold the computer, and a sofa. Outside i would have yard with a swing and a slide. I would have little yellow play house in the back.