MY FINAL DRAFT

T1 Summative Writing Assignment (Singaporean short story)

Title: MY TRUE INTEGRITY

It was another Language Arts class and everyone in class was listening attentively in class. This year’s Language Arts teacher was very friendly and what was more was that her lessons were very interesting. We had Language Arts lesson three times a week and everyone looked forward to it very much. As we was still studying in Secondary 1 in Singapore after taking PSLE and not much was expected from us in class as we were still new to the school.

This term we learnt analysis of stories and poems and many of us were very excited about it. Later in class, Ms Tan, our Language teacher told us that we were to do a project by ourselves. As it was our first time doing projects for Language Arts, we were of course as happy as a lark when we heard the news. Our assignment was to create our own poem and then give a presentation on our own poem about why we had written our poem in that particular way. Ms Tan even added that if we did well, she would award additional ACE points to us and also get a small token from her. Everyone was as busy as a bee and started discussing on the poem. I chatted along but I still did not have a speck of idea on what kind of poem to write about. I wanted to write an outstanding poem better than my friends and get the additional ACE points and also the small token.

We had to present our work in two days time which was on Friday since it was Wednesday then. That day, I went home and started to do my homework. I Worked as hard as an Alabama cotton picker and finally finished my other homework and decided to start on my Language Arts project. I spent much time brainstorming but still, after cracking my brain, I was still empty of any ideas. I surely cannot miss this good opportunity to get rewarded. Since I could not get any ideas, I decided to see what my friends had come up with the next day.

The next day, I asked my best friend Timmy if he had already started on the project that the Language Arts teacher had given. He said that he wrote about his school life and even had a rhyming pattern. As I still had not come up with an idea, I was indeed under going much stress since my peers had already done their poems.
That day after school, I was really desperate for help. The presentation was just tomorrow and I had not even written a single word. I had spent many countless hours thinking of my poem but still had not found an ideal poem. I became more and more desperate as the minute went by soon, I had a way to get a good poem. I decided to surf the web for an ideal poem. This will sure work I thought to myself. I will sure have additional ACE marks. After surfing for less than an hour, I found the most perfect and ideal poem. I immediately copied it and paste it in my powerpoint slides for my presentation the next day. I was truly satisfied with myself.

The next day, I went to school as bright as a button ready for my presentation. Finally, Language lesson came. I waited patiently until it was my turn to present. Soon, it was my turn. I confidently went up to give my presentation. At the end of my presentation, the class applauded for my fantastic presentation and my face flushed like a red tomato. When Ms Tan gave me my comment, she also told me to meet her after school that day. I thought that she was absolutely satisfied with my performance and wanted to praise me for it after school.

When the bell for the end of school rang that day, I went to the office with a spring in my steps towards the teachers’ office to meet Ms Tan. To my utter dismay, instead of praising me for my good work, she instead asked me if I had done it myself. I had no choice but to tell her the truth. She told me that it was wrong to take other people’s work and treat it as their own. This means to have integrity. Ms Tan told me to redo my project and told me to show it to her when I am done.
After a few days of thinking, I finished my original work and showed it to her. She praised me for it and said that this was a well done job. The feeling of the sense of achievement was even grater than I thought.

From this incident, I understand that it is important to have integrity in life so as to be successful in life. I admit that I felt the true sense of achievement only after I did my project on my own. I will surely never lose my integrity again as it does not make me a better person and only when you have integrity will you feel the real sense of achievement and happiness which cannot be compared to any other way my own live your life.

880 WORDS

THE END