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NJSLSA.R2

Description: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
Maps to Reading Plus skills: 1A, 2A, 2A, 2B, 2B, 2C, 7C

Exemplars

1A: Recalling Explicit Details

1A: Recalling Explicit Details

Description: Identifying explicit details including character, time, setting and speaker

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: H-8

H-8

Grade level: 8
Word count: 1818 words
Author: Tamara Ellis Smith
Synopsis: Roselind Franklin was a scientist whose contributions were ignored.
Excerpt: Fascinated by mathematics and numbers, she spent her free time studying mathematical concepts for enjoyment. In addition, she possessed an impressive memory, excelling not only in mathematics and science in school but also in athletics. Her friends described her as being the best at everything she attempted with her hand, her brain, and her foot. This early, repetitive, and intense training of both her mind and body probably shaped her subsequent steadfast determination and dedicated work ethic.

Question: Based on this excerpt, which two factors laid the foundation for Franklin's work ethic?
  1. athletic training for her body
  2. mathematical studies for her mind
  3. artistic endeavors for her creativity
  4. research success for her reputation
  5. learning from failure for her confidence

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Create a website for a non-fiction selection you read. Include the main idea and supporting details. Include images that would help viewers of your website better understand the topic.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

2A: Determining Main Idea

2A: Determining Main Idea

Description: Determining Main Idea and Themes

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: H-11

H-11

Grade level: 8
Word count: 1830 words
Author: Ben Robinson
Synopsis: On a memorable night in Florida, Cassius Clay faces Sonny Liston, the world champion.
Excerpt: No excerpt is available for this question.
Question: Which of these is the best alternative title for this selection?
  1. Beat the Unbeatable
  2. Try, Try Again
  3. Liston's Second Chance
  4. From Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: List three supporting details from a selection and explain how those details helped you determine the selection's main idea.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

2B: Analyzing Relative Importance

2B: Analyzing Relative Importance

Description: Determining Relative Importance

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: H-15

H-15

Grade level: 8
Word count: 1731 words
Author: Peter Kupfer
Synopsis: For ecotourists, it's all about preserving the environment.
Excerpt: Businesses like underwater hotels, helicopter tours, and wildlife theme parks are often guilty of greenwashing. Other examples of greenwashing might be a hotel that claims to be eco-friendly simply because it uses energy-efficient light bulbs, a wildlife park that sells items made from an endangered species, or a desert resort with a golf course that needs a lot of water.

Large corporations are often the worst offenders when it comes to greenwashing. These corporations make huge profits from the development of ecotourism projects, while the local communities often get few, if any, benefits. In Nepal, for example, more than 90 percent of the money from ecotourism is sent out of the country while less than 5 percent goes to the local communities.

Question: Put these greenwashing practices in order, from the most offensive and harmful to the least.
  1. A country, like Nepal, receives only five percent of the money from ecotourism.
  2. A wildlife park sells items made from an endangered species.
  3. A desert resort uses a lot of water to keep its golf course green.
  4. A hotel uses only energy-efficient lightbulbs and calls itself green.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Create a Facebook fan page for a selection. Include the most important information to share with fans.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

2C: Summarizing

2C: Summarizing

Description: Summarizing

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: H-16

H-16

Grade level: 8
Word count: 1759 words
Author: Diane Lang
Synopsis: A Mexican American author draws on her heritage for inspiration.
Excerpt: This novel and many of the author's other works reflect Cisneros' experiences while growing up. Like many young people, she struggled with cultural loyalties and feelings of isolation and low self-esteem associated with poverty. She often portrays the consequences of Mexico's economic hardships and the struggle of Mexicans to survive in America while endeavoring to acclimate to its culture.

Question: Cisneros is sympathetic to poor Mexican immigrants because
  1. she experienced the same problems of adjusting to a new culture.
  2. she researched the challenges they faced in coming to America.
  3. while growing up she had a best friend who was an immigrant.
  4. she read about the hardships in Mexico that drove people to leave.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Imagine you are an attorney. Prepare a summation of a selection you have read to present to a jury for deliberation.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

7C: Interpreting Images

7C: Interpreting Images

Description: Intepreting Images and Maps

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: H-38

H-38

Grade level: 8
Word count: 1787 words
Author: Luke Cooper
Synopsis: After parachuting into the dense jungle, the crew puts its fate into the hands of the natives.
Image:
Question image failed to load
Question: Based on the selection, which characteristic of this plane helps to identify it as a B-24 bomber?
  1. long, slender wings
  2. propeller engines
  3. flat, painted tail
  4. wide fuselage

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Can an image help you understand a selection's main idea or theme? Choose two selections you have read and explain how the image did or did not help you understand the selection.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

2A: Determining Main Idea

2A: Determining Main Idea

Description: Determining Main Idea and Themes

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: H-3

H-3

Grade level: 8
Word count: 1920 words
Author: Mary R. Dunn
Synopsis: Scientists hope to uncover buried secrets about dinosaurs.
Excerpt: No excerpt is available for this question.
Question: This selection is mainly about dinosaurs and
  1. what scientists are doing to learn more about them.
  2. how they roamed Earth during the Cretaceous Period.
  3. why they disappeared from the face of Earth.
  4. where exhibits of their skeletal remains can be seen.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: (Theme: change) Describe a character who underwent a major change and what happened as a result.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

2B: Analyzing Relative Importance

2B: Analyzing Relative Importance

Description: Determining Relative Importance

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: H-4

H-4

Grade level: 8
Word count: 1968 words
Author: Anonymous
Synopsis: Things go wrong when Cupid wounds himself with his own arrow.
Excerpt: Cupid prepared to obey his mother's orders. There were two fountains in Venus' garden, one of sweet waters, another of bitter. Cupid filled two vases, one from each fountain, and rushed to the chamber of Psyche, whom he found asleep. He shed a few drops from the bitter fountain over her lips, and then touched her side with the point of his arrow. At the touch she opened her eyes upon Cupid (himself invisible), who was so startled in his confusion that he wounded himself with his own arrow.

Question: The main reason Cupid falls in love with Psyche is he
  1. wounded himself with his own arrow.
  2. was obeying his mother's orders.
  3. mixed up the bitter and sweet water.
  4. was charmed by her golden locks.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Have you ever read a selection in which you felt the author "got off the track"? Describe parts of the selection that could be eliminated without affecting the overall plot.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions