Writing Assignments

Students could be assigned an essay by one of the early proponents of the form, like Francis Bacon. I realize that this would be more feasible in some high school classes than others, but I think the chosen essay could be worked through in most classes. When Bacon was introduced, I would like to also introduce the sense of "essay" the Renaissance writer would have used: "to muse". Once the assigned article was read and the genre understood (through class discussion or readers notebooks), I would suggest one or two quotes to form their own response.
The quotes would serve as a basis for their own opinion of whether or not Bacon had been successful in what he was saying. The students would use the suggested quotes as a starting point, but must include one additional quote to support their stance.
The conlusion of the reflection would contain the student's own opinion on whether the essay was the appropriate forum to make a point about whatever the writer (in this case Bacon) was aiming for, or perhaps a different style may have been more useful.
I believe that this assignment would pretty well cover all of the goals of successful reading and comprehending: content and analysis would be discussion led (or maybe in group work), while interpretation and integration would result from their own writing.