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8.RL.2.A

Description: Structure Analyze how an author's choice concerning a text's form or overall structure contributes to meaning.
Maps to Reading Plus skills: 5A

Exemplars

5A: Examining Text Structure

5A: Examining Text Structure

Description: Examining Text Structure

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: H-7

H-7

Grade level: 8
Word count: 1853 words
Author: Karen Berman
Synopsis: An immigrant takes a grueling voyage to improve her life.
Excerpt: Sheyna was apprehensive as she boarded the ship, noticing that it looked bigger than her entire village! Beautiful ladies in feathered hats and gentlemen with walking sticks were boarding on another gangway. They were traveling in first class, which was for rich people. Her third-class steerage ticket entitled her to a bunk in a large room far below deck, where hundreds of bunks were stacked four high and her fellow passengers' possessions were crammed into every corner.

Question: How does the author highlight the poor conditions experienced by third-class passengers during their voyage?
  1. by contrasting them with the privileges of first-class passengers
  2. by exaggerating the effects of severe weather conditions
  3. by comparing them to the poor conditions of the ship's crew
  4. by noting that most third-class passengers did not speak English

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Explain why an author chose to organize a selection's plot in an unconventional way. What benefits or disadvantages resulted from the action being presented in this way?

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions