1.  Life is full of momentous events that change the course of our futures. These events may occur because of a decision that someone makes or because of uncontrollable circumstances.  Describe a momentous event in your life and explain how it affected your future in a multiple-paragraph short essay.

2.  Think of something that is important to you that you learned in school or outside of school.  In several paragraphs, write a letter to your teacher explaining what you learned and why it is important to you.

3.  Write a comparison and contrast essay explaining the similarities and differences between two classes you are taking or have taken so that new students will be able to decide which class to choose. Since this is an assessment of your writing ability, be sure to refer to the scoring criteria provided to develop an appropriate letter to the editor.

4.  Today you can change places with anyone you would like to be. This person can be real or imaginary, from the past or the present. Write a letter to a teacher that explains why you would like to change places with this person.

6.  By the time you are a sophomore in high school you have been in many different classes.  Think about a memorable class. Write a multiple-paragraph letter to a teacher explaining why that class was memorable.

7.  School is not the only place to learn. Write a multi-paragraph letter to a teacher in which you identify something you remember learning outside of school and explain why this has been important to you.

8.  You have been asked to choose one or two items that will show what life is like in your high school in 2004. These objects will then be placed in a time capsule. (A time capsule is a container which holds objects. The capsule is usually buried in the ground or placed in a building’s foundation and then opened some time in the future.) Write a multiple-paragraph letter to your school board identifying one or two objects to be placed in your high school’s time capsule and explain why you have selected them.