Title of Unit – Romeo and Juliet
Subject – English II
Grade Level – 10^th grade
Submitted by: R. Harrelson

Grasps Performance Task

Goal – The goal is to make students aware of the process of creating an article for a newspaper or even the layout of a newspaper.

Role – The students will assume the role of a newspaper reporter/editor.

Audience – The target audience would be middle aged citizens of a large city.

Situation – Students will brainstorm the different sections that are featured in a newspaper and assume the role of an editor.

Product – Students will be creating their own newspaper based on Romeo and Juliet. They will need to design the title of the paper and everything that the paper contains. Examples: headline story of a crashed party, a wedding announcement for Paris and Juliet, an advice column where Juliet writes in for advice about her forbidden love, a comic strip.

Standards – Students will be graded based on the layout and the content of each individual part.

See rubric.

Romeo and Juliet

Performance Task Rubric

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Content	Covers topic in-depth with details and examples. Knowledge of the text is excellent.	Includes essential knowledge about the topic. Knowledge of the text appears to be good.	Includes essential information about the topic but there are 1-2 factual errors.	Content is minimal OR there are several factual errors.
Originality	Project shows a large amount of original thought. Ideas are creative and inventive.	Project shows some original thought. Work shows new ideas and insights.	Uses other people's ideas (giving them credit), but there is little evidence of original thinking.	Uses other people's ideas, but does not give them credit.
Sources	Source information collected for all graphics, facts and quotes. All documented in desired format.	Source information collected for all graphics, facts and quotes. Most documented in desired format.	Source information collected for graphics, facts and quotes, but not documented in desired format.	Very little or no source information was collected.
Attractiveness	Makes excellent use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance the presentation.	Makes good use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance to presentation.	Makes use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. but occasionally these detract from the presentation content.	Use of font, color, graphics, effects etc. but these often distract from the presentation content.
Presentation	Well-rehearsed with smooth delivery that holds audience attention.	Rehearsed with fairly smooth delivery that holds audience attention most of the time.	Delivery not smooth, but able to maintain interest of the audience most of the time.	Delivery not smooth and audience attention often lost.
Mechanics	No misspellings or grammatical errors.	Three or fewer misspellings and/or mechanical errors.	Four misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	More than 4 errors in spelling or grammar.