Creative Nonfiction

Quarter 2 – Module 4:
Critiquing Creative Nonfiction
Creative Nonfiction – Grade 11/12
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 2 – Module 4: Critiquing Creative Nonfiction
First Edition, 2020

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Published by the Department of Education, SDO Nueva Ecija

Schools Division Superintendent: Jessie D. Ferrer, CESO V
Assistant Schools Division Superintendents: Mina Gracia L. Acosta, PhD, CESO VI
Ronilo E. Hilario

Development Team of the Module

Writer: Mira Pearl A. Baldoviso

Editor: Ma. Checilia S. Bagsic, PhD

Layout Evaluator: Lyndon M. Ibarra

Cover Designer: Mark G. Asuncion

Management Team: Jayne M. Garcia, EdD

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 What I Need to Know

This module was designed and written for the learners. After going through
this module, the learner is expected to: Write a mini critique of a peer’s work
based on coherence and organization of paragraphs, development of literary
elements, use of factual information, and other qualities concerning form and
content. (HUMSS_CNF11/12-IId-e-18), specifically:
1. Recognize the characteristics of a critique;
2. Peer-edit and revise other’s draft based on a well- written creative
nonfiction; and
3. Write a mini critique of a peer’s work.

What I Know

Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write your answers on a separate sheet of
paper.
1. It means to judge failings and weaknesses.
A. Assess B. Critique C. Critic D. Evaluate
2. It refers to to the systematic way of analyzing written words.
A. Assess B. Critique C. Critic D. Evaluate
3. The following statements are true about a critique, EXCEPT:
A. It is only professional writers can critique.
B. It is the ability to decide on the importance of something.
C. It considers how the work relates to a broader issue or context.
D. It gives the general opinion of the work.
4. The following are ways to evaluate a written work, EXCEPT:
A. Develop an understanding of the main argument or purpose being
expressed in the work.
B. Consider how the work relates to a broader issue or context.
C. State the writer’s name and the title.
D. State whether the writer is successful in making his/her point.
5. A creative nonfiction type that focuses on reflection and establishing an
emotional connection, rather than simply presenting the facts around personal
life.
A. Traditional Authobiography
B. Feature Story
C. Personal Narrative Essay
D. Memoir

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 Lesson
Critiquing Creative
1 Nonfiction
Before one can be a good writer, one should be a voracious reader. Reading helps
broaden knowledge and ideas. It is also a form of self-discovery and inspiration. It
can let you experience things that you never thought possible and can bring you to
places you can only dream of.

As you read, feedback and personal evaluation are being provided in a form of a
critique. While a critic is judging and finding the weakness of a written work, critique
is a systematic way of assessing and discerning written words to improve your writing
and other fellow writers. Thus, you need to learn how to critique to gain essential
skills in reading and writing.

What’s In

In the previous lessons, you learned tips in writing Autobiography, Feature Story,
and Personal Narrative Essay that will help you to be able to perform this task.

Identify which types of Creative Nonfiction are the following excerpts. You may
choose from the options given inside the box. Write the letter of your answer on a
separate sheet of paper.

A. Autobiography B. Feature Story C. Personal Narrative Essay

______1. “Are you ready?” asks the pathologist.

I nod, making a chalice of my hands, and he reaches down into the plastic bucket
and lifts my son’s heart and lungs out of the water. I feel a slight weight as if I am
holding a kitten or a bird.
I blink and the world turns sideways beneath me.”
~The Fateful Discovery a Woman Made After the Sudden Death of Her Infant Child
by Rebecca Gummere

______2. “I was born a poor man, the son of a school teacher in one of the smallest
towns in the Philippines -Baler. My father had, besides his salary, a two-hectare rice-
land which he cultivated. While I was a boy and during my early youth, my father
saved as much as he could from his meager salary and from what he could get from
his rice-field, only to have a few hundred pesos with which to give me an education.”
~Manuel L. Quezon

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______3. “Passing hence from infancy, I came to boyhood, or rather it came to me,
displacing infancy. Nor did that depart,—(for whither went it?)—and yet it was no
more. For I was no longer a speechless infant, but a speaking boy. This I remember;
and have since observed how I learned to speak. It was not that my elders taught me
words (as, soon after, other learning) in any set method; but I, longing by cries and
broken accents and various motions of my limbs to express my thoughts, that so I
might have my will, and yet unable to express all I willed, or to whom I willed, did
myself, by the understanding which Thou, my God, gavest me, practice the sounds
in my memory.
~The Confessions of Saint Agustine

_____4. “Eleven years after the devastation wrought by tropical storm ‘Ondoy’
(Ketsana) on September 26, 2009, we watched the same scenes of people on top of
their roofs, streets covered with floodwater, people wading through waist-deep water,
their possessions on their heads – in Marikina and some parts of Quezon City.
Two days later, we read messages of desperate pleas – and watched on various
platforms of social media –more heartbreaking scenes in Cagayan and Isabela
provinces, where neighborhoods and highways were covered with water. Authorities
called it “massive flooding, the worst one they had experienced.”
~Where are we in our disaster preparedness timeline?

_____5. One reason I think we get so angry mad at our children is that we can. Who
else can you talk to like this? Can you imagine hissing at your partner, “You get off
the phone NOW! No, NOT in five minutes …”? Or saying to a friend, “You get over
here right this second! And the longer you make me wait, the worse it’s going to be
for you.”

~Mother Rage: Theory and Practice by Anne Lamott

_____6. Despite having the second-largest number of infections in Southeast

Asia, the pandemic situation in the Philippines has provided an opportunity for all
stakeholders to strategically plan and innovate quality healthcare delivery during the
response, based on principles contained in the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging
Diseases (APSED III).

The World Health Organization (WHO) Philippines supports the Department

of Health (DOH) and subnational areas in the Philippines with technical expertise to
build up national and local level responses for expansion of diagnostic capacity, early
contact tracing and management, expansion of healthcare pathways and
strengthening surveillance systems and risk communication.
~WHO supports DOH and subnational areas in the Philippines for COVID-19
response

_____7. “It doesn’t mean you still want to be with that person,” he says. “It doesn’t
mean there’s something wrong with you. It means there’s complex physiology
associated with romantic attachments that probably stays with us for most of our
lives — and that’s not something to be afraid of, particularly if you had a great run.”

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 ~Your Brain’s response to Your Ex According to Neuroscience by Amy Paturel

_____8. “When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed
and the oppressor both. Some say that has now been achieved. But I know that that
is not the case. The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the
freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed. We have not taken the final step of
our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road. For to be free
is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances
the freedom of others. The true test of our devotion to freedom is just beginning.
~Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

_____9. Koreanovela, a word that has been coined through the combination of the
words Korean and Telenovela or television dramas, has long had a special place in
the hearts of many Filipinos. But, K-Dramas in the Philippines reached yet another
milestone as the wildly popular hit drama “Crash Landing on You” and “Itaewon
Class” came through the streaming application, Netflix.
~K-Dramas and K-Culture: A shared experience between the Philippines and Korea
during the pandemic by Han Dong-man

_____10. Saturday, June 20, 1942

“My father was 36 when he married my mother, who was then 25. My sister Margot
was born in 1926. I followed on June 12, 1929, and, as we are Jewish, we emigrated
to Holland in 1933, where my father was appointed Managing Director of Travis NV.
This firm is in close contact with the firm Kolen and Company in the same building,
of which my father is a partner. The rest of our family, however, felt the full impact
of Hitler’s snit-Semitic laws, so life was filled with anxiety. In 1938 after the
pograms1, my two uncles escaped to the USA.
~Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

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 What’s New
Read and comprehend the Personal Narrative Essay written by a High School
student and answer the questions that follow.

My Greatest Instrument
Some people express themselves through beautiful art; others are masters of
the page and speak silently through writing. I, on the other hand, express myself
with the greatest instrument I have, my voice. I make my living by speaking to groups
large and small. Nothing gives me more satisfaction than public speaking, and my
interest in public speaking began when I was quite young.
At age eight I realized that I belonged in front of an audience. I started giving
demonstrations and speeches in local county 4-H competitions until I was eligible to
participate in state competitions. I won every state competition that I entered.
Soon other public speaking opportunities arose; I represented an artist named
Ann Cross at the Art Walk in Keene and was an active participant on the debate team
and the captain in eighth grade. During March of eighth grade, I had the best
opportunity yet to practice my oratorical skills: I was selected, out of all the students
entered in New Hampshire, to write and read a four-minute speech on national
television. My job was to introduce Elizabeth Dole, who at the time was interested in
running for president.
I was notified the day before the event and so had only one night to write and
memorize my speech. When I arrived the next morning in Bedford, New Hampshire,
I was greeted by photographers, camera crews, and newspaper reporters! Then I was
escorted backstage to meet Elizabeth Dole. After speaking briefly with her and having
her review my speech, we marched through a crowd of flashing bulbs to our places
on the stage.
Soon it was time for my speech. I was introduced, and as I walked to the
podium, I couldn’t help but smile at the audience. I had a feeling of complete
exhilaration flowing through my veins. When I finished, I received a standing ovation,
and Mrs. Dole surprised me by giving me a great hug and thanking me for my
comments on the importance of education. But even after she finished speaking, the
excitement was far from over.
I was with her for all her photographs, and I was interviewed for a few moments
by WMUR and later by the Keene Sentinel. After the media finished with us, I met
various supporters of Mrs. Dole’s. They were all happy to meet me and flooded me
with questions and praise. I truly felt on top of the world.
1. Does the writer have a clear but understated purpose to the essay?
2. Does the essay contain suspense or tension that is resolved in some way?
3. Does the essay make good use of concrete description, anecdote, and
dialogue?
4. Does the essay help you to feel the emotions rather than just describe the
emotions of the author?
5. Does the essay reveal a significant aspect of the writer’s personality?

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 What is It

As you read and understand the featured Personal Narrative Essay, you have
somehow performed a personal assessment of creative nonfiction. The questions you
answered are actually detailed questions to consider when responding to a given
written work.

What is a Critique?
Critique is a systematic way of analyzing written words. It came from the
French word kritikē, which is the ability to decide the importance of something. It is
a form of giving reaction and personal assessment as feedback on what you read. By
critiquing, you are acquiring skills in reading and writing as well as helping fellow
writers to improve.
Although you may not be a professional writer, in peer-critiquing, by giving
your response, as the reader of a text, your feedback is acceptable and it will be
appreciated by the author as you can easily identify the strength and weakness of
their writing. Thus, comment objectively and respectfully.

EXTRA!

The sandwich method is a form of feedback that wraps

negative feedback in praise. This means that the feedback discussion starts with
positive comments, and is followed by negative criticism, before appreciative words
are used again. The aim of this method is to create a pleasant atmosphere for
discussion and to relax the severity of the negative criticism.

How do you critique?

In critiquing, regardless of the type of creative nonfiction, consider the

following:
1. Content: Consider the topic and the way the topic is developed like the clarity,
its scope, subcategories, amount and type of examples, anecdotes, evidence,
etc.
2. Organization: Consider the text introduced and concluded, whether the
thesis is located in the most helpful place (direct or implied), how it is
structured, whether the order or extent of development is successful, as well
as how individual paragraphs are organized (clear topic sentences,
appropriate and concrete evidence, logical organization of evidence).
3. Style: Style can refer to the overall style: whether the tone is appropriate
(humorous, serious, reflective, satirical, etc.), whether you use sufficient and
appropriate variety (factual, analytical, evaluative, reflective), whether you use
sufficient creativity.

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4. Correctness: Correctness refers to grammar, punctuation, and form of
creative nonfiction.

What are the steps in writing a mini critique?

1. Annotate as you read.
2. Note the writer’s main point or thesis statement.
3. Divide the text into sections of thought and write a summary of each thought
in your own words.

What are the parts of a mini critique?

INTRODUCTION
Start your mini critique with sentences giving the following information:
1. Writer’s name.
2. The title and the source if any.
3. Thesis statement.

SUMMARY
Summarize the author’s purpose and main points/evidence cited that are
used for back up.

EVALUATION
1. Develop an understanding of the main argument or purpose being expressed
in the work.
2. Consider how the work relates to a broader issue or context.
3. State whether the writer is successful in making his/her point.

CONCLUSION
You may wrap up your creative nonfiction mini critique by:
1. Stating whether you agree with the writer or what part of the text made an
impact and deep impression on you.
2. Back up your decisions on agreeing and disagreeing or state your reasons.
3. Give your general opinion of the work.

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 What’s More
Memoir vs. Autobiography

Previously, you learned about the guidelines on how to write an autobiography as an

example of a creative nonfiction text. It is about the author’s personal information
and insights. Almost the same with an autobiography, a memoir is also the story of
a person's life written by that person but the difference between the two is that a
memoir focuses on reflection and establishing an emotional connection, rather than
simply presenting the facts around their life.

Read and comprehend a sample mini critique of Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir Eat, Pray,
Love from The New York Times’ Revisiting Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ (June
7, 2019).

In Elizabeth Gilbert’s 2006 memoir “Eat, Pray, Love,” the novelist and
journalist chronicle her journey across Italy, India, and Indonesia. Early on in
“Eat, Pray, Love,” her travelogue of spiritual seeking, the novelist and
journalist Elizabeth Gilbert gives a characteristically frank rundown of her
traveling skills: tall and blond, she doesn’t blend well physically in most
places; she’s lazy about research and prone to digestive woes. “But my one
mighty travel talent is that I can make friends with anybody,” she writes. “I
can make friends with the dead. … If there isn’t anyone else around to talk to,
I could probably make friends with a four-foot-tall pile of Sheetrock.”

This is easy to believe. If a more likable writer than Gilbert is currently

in print, I haven’t found him or her. And I don’t mean this as a consolation
prize, along the lines of But she’s nice. I mean that Gilbert’s prose is fueled by
a mix of intelligence, wit, and colloquial exuberance that is close to irresistible,
and makes the reader only too glad to join the posse of friends and devotees
who have the pleasure of listening in.

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 What I Have Learned
After reading, Revisiting Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ complete the table below
with the parts of a mini critique.

Parts Guide questions

State whose memoir and the title
INTRODUCTION of the memoir.

What is the thesis statement?

SUMMARY Summary of the memoir.

EVALUATION Did the writer like the memoir?

Why or Why not?

CONCLUSION What is the writer’s general

opinion of the memoir?

What I Can Do

Peer–Critiquing

Activity 1

You will be assigned to critique a classmate’s autobiography written in the previous

lesson. Write a 300 to a 400-word mini critique of your classmate’s autobiography
following the steps and the parts of writing a mini critique on pages 7-8. Use a
separate paper for your mini critique.

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You will be graded following the rubric below.

1 Point 2 Points 3 Points 4 Points 5 Points

Positive
Feedback Positive Positive Positive Positive Very
feedback was feedback feedback was feedback was descriptive
Critique not was given relevant and relevant and and thorough
included what and somewhat the
descriptive
you liked most somewhat descriptive description
about the text: descriptive, was fair
but not
relevant to
the text
Suggestions
Suggestions Suggestions Suggestions Many Suggestions
Your were made were made were made suggestions were well-
suggestions but showed a but lacked and were made considered,
showed that lack of effort detail descriptive but could thorough, and
you carefully but not have been fair
read your effective more
classmate's towards the descriptive
autobiography text

Grading Your Comments

Classmate More Comments Comments Comments were thorough
comments were not need to be were fair but and complete
Your should have descriptive more could have
comments on been made descriptive been more
your thorough
classmate's
autobiography
were
descriptive.

(https://www.rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?sp=yes&code=D93879&)

Activity 2
Revise your classmate’s autobiography based on a well- written creative nonfiction.
Take note of the criteria below from which you will be graded. Use a separate paper
for the revised autobiography.

Creativity-----40 %
(words,style)
Content--------40 %
(clarity)
Impact---------20%
100%

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 Assessment
Read again the Personal Narrative Essay, My Greatest Instrument on pages 4-6. Using
the comprehension and guide questions that you answered, write a 300 to 400-word
mini critique. Use a separate paper for your own mini critique. You will be graded
based on the rubric below.

Criteria 5 Points 3 Points 1 Point

Organization The Paper is well
organized, has a very
clear intro, body and
conclusion. The purpose
of the paper is clear from
the very beginning and
the name and author of
the text are made clear
early in the paper.
Summary The text is clearly but
succinctly summarized -
only the key points of the
text are touched upon.
Critique Strengths and
weaknesses that are
central to the text are
addressed.
Language There are no
Mechanics grammatical errors or
typos.
The Paper is The Paper is not
organized, has an well organized, has
intro, body, and an unclear or non-
conclusion. The existent intro, body,
purpose of the paper and conclusion. The
becomes clear purpose of the paper
within the paper is unclear and the
and the name and name and author of
author of the text the text are not
are mentioned stated or stated late.
within the paper.
The text is clearly The text summary is
summarized, but unclear or overly
some sub-points are detailed.
addressed along
with the main
points. The
summary is not
succinct.
Strengths and Strengths and
weaknesses that are weaknesses are
peripheral to the addressed
text are addressed. peripherally, weakly,
or not at all.
There are few There are many
grammatical errors grammatical errors
or typos and/or typos

(https://www.rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?code=A22B44&sp=true)

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 Additional Activities

Critiquing Task

Ask a classmate for a copy of his/her personal narrative essay done in the previous
lesson. Then, using the Sandwich Method in providing your feedback (please refer to
page 7) and following the steps and the parts of writing a mini critique, write a
critique of your personal narrative essay. Use a separate paper for your “sandwich
method” feedback.

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 13
What I have Learned? What I know?
Answers of the students may vary. 1. C
2. B
What I can do? 3. A
Activity 1: 4. A
Answers of the students may vary. 5. D
Activity 2:
Answers of the students may vary. What's In?
1. C
2. A
3. A
4. B
5. C
6. B
7. C
8. A
9. B
10. A
What’s New?
Assessment Answers of students may vary.
Parts Guide Questions
INTRODUCTION 1. State whose memoir and 1. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
the title of the memoir. 2. Early on in “Eat, Pray, Love,” her
travelogue of spiritual seeking, the novelist
2. What is the thesis and journalist Elizabeth Gilbert gives a
statement? characteristically frank rundown of her
traveling skills: tall and blond, she doesn’t
blend well physically in most places; she’s
lazy about research and prone to digestive
woes.
1. Summary of the memoir.
1. The novelist Elizabeth Gilbert chronicles
SUMMARY her journey across Italy, India, and
Indonesia by writing a memoir of her
travelogue and spiritual seeking.
1. Did the writer like the
memoir? Why or Why not? 1. The answers of the students may vary
based on their personal evaluation of the
writer’s critique but take note that the
writer liked the memoir along this line, “I
mean that Gilbert’s prose is fueled by a mix
of intelligence, wit and colloquial
exuberance that is close to irresistible, and
EVALUATION
makes the reader only too glad to join the
posse of friends and devotees who have the
pleasure of listening in” and the memoir left
the writer impression with unresolved
things in the memoir along this line, “ I
found myself more interested, finally, in the
awkward, unresolved stuff she must have
chosen to leave out.”
1. What is the writer’s 1. The answers of the students may vary
CONCLUSION general opinion of the but note that the memoir was healing and
memoir? interesting to the writer.
Answer Key
References
A. Books:
Barrot, Jessie S. Academic Reading and Writing Skills for Senior High School.
C&E Publishing Inc. Quezon City. 2016.

Barrot, J.S. and Sipacio, J.F.S. Communicate Today English for Academic &
Professional Purposes for Senior High School. C&E Publishing Inc. Quezon
City. 2016.

Vibal. Creative Nonfiction Senior High School Self Learning Modules. Vibal
Group Inc. 2020.

B. Websites:
Essay Critique Guidelines Guidelines. Retrieved November 16, 2020 from
https://www.goshen.edu/academics/english/essay-critique-
guidelines/#section-2
http://www.quezon.ph/familyinfo/autobiography-of-manuel-l-quezon-from-a-
privilege-speech/
https://thewritelife.com/personal-narrative-examples/
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3296/3296-h/3296-h.htm
https://mb.com.ph/2020/11/18/where-are-we-in-our-disaster-preparedness-
timeline/
https://www.who.int/philippines/news/feature-stories/detail/who
supports-dohand-subnational-areas-in-the-philippines-for-covid-19-response
http://www.januarytwenty.net/long-walk-to-freedom-excerpt/
https://www.hillsboro.k12.oh.us/userfiles/79/Classes/683/Anne%20Frank%20
%20The%20Diary%20of%20a%20Young%20Girl.pdf
https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2020/07/30/2031629/k-dramas-and-k
culture-shared-experience-between-philippines-and-korea-during-pandemic
https://k12.thoughtfullearning.com/studentmodels/my-greatest-instrument
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/07/books/review/elizabeth-gilbert-eat-pray
love.html
https://www.rcampus.com/iRubrics
The Sandwich Method. Retrieved November 16, 2020 from
https://www.ionos.com/startupguide/productivity/sandwichmethod/#:~:te
xt=The%20sandwich%20method%20is%20a,appreciative%20words%20are%
20used%20again
What is a Memoir? By Jessica Dukes
Retrieved 16, 2020 from https://celadonbooks.com/what-is-a-memoir/
Writing a Critique. Retrieved November 16, 2020 from
https://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/write/critique.jsp

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