RL.MC.8.1

Description: Analyze characters, settings, events, and ideas as they develop and interact within a particular context. Describe how a plot in a narrative or drama unfolds and how characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution; determine the impact of contextual influences on setting, plot and characters.
Maps to Reading Plus skills: 3B, 3C, 5A, 9A

Exemplars

3B: Analyzing Plot/Character

3B: Analyzing Plot/Character

Description: Analyzing setting, plot, and character

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: F-11

F-11

Grade level: 6
Word count: 1680 words
Author: Adapted from a story by Lewis Carroll
Synopsis: Alice lets her curiosity get the better of her, as she tumbles into a world of fantasy.
Excerpt: In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how she could possibly get out. The rabbit-hole went straight like a tunnel for some distance. Then it dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself tumbling down a very deep well.

Question: What does Alice's decision to jump into the rabbit-hole tell about her character?
  1. She sometimes overlooks the results of her actions.
  2. She would do anything to help an animal in trouble.
  3. She always weighs the pros and cons of a situation.
  4. She likes to be with others rather than by herself.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Imagine you are the main character in a selection you read. Would your emotional reactions to events in the selection be the same as those of the actual character? Explain why or why not.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

3C: Analyzing Cause/Effect

3C: Analyzing Cause/Effect

Description: Analyzing Cause and Effect

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: F-12

F-12

Grade level: 6
Word count: 1756 words
Author: Mike Buchanan and Diane Lang
Synopsis: A lost pet uses every ounce of his energy to find his way home.
Excerpt: The vet pulled the dog's mouth open to examine his teeth and looked at me. "You don't really think this is your dog?" He frowned at me, stepped away from the table and said, "Those stories you read are seldom, if ever, accurate, but certainly misleading."

Question: Why is Dr. Jacobs skeptical that the dying dog is Jeff?
  1. The vet felt stories on returning dogs are misleading.
  2. The dog tried to bite the vet with his teeth.
  3. The dog would not open his mouth for the vet.
  4. The vet thought the dog had more spots than Jeff.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Give an example of how recognizing cause and effect helped you better understand the plot development of a selection.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

9A: Comparing/Contrasting

9A: Comparing/Contrasting

Description: Compare, Contrast, and/or Integrate

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: F-28

F-28

Grade level: 6
Word count: 1784 words
Author: Anonymous
Synopsis: After Loki delivers the goddess Idun into the hands of the evil giant, he must develop a tricky plot to get her, and her apples, back again.
Excerpt: One thing the gods prized above their other treasures in Asgard, their heavenly home, was the beautiful fruit of the goddess Idun. The fruit was kept by the goddess in a golden chest and given to the gods to keep them forever young and fair. Without these apples all their power could not have kept them from getting old like the lowliest of mortals. Without these apples of Idun, Asgard itself would have lost its charm, for what would heaven be without youth and beauty forever shining through it?

Little by little the light of youth and beauty faded from the home of the gods, and they themselves became old and tired. Their strong, young faces were lined with care and wrinkled by age. Their dark locks passed from gray to white. Their flashing eyes became dim and hollow. Idun's husband, the god of poetry, could make no music while his beautiful wife was gone he knew not where.

Question: What do these two excerpts tell the reader about the change that the loss of the apples of Idun had on the heavenly kingdom of Asgard?
  1. It became a place where joy was replaced by worry.
  2. It became a place where everyone remained young and fair.
  3. It became a place where music and poetry were banned.
  4. It became a place where the gods could be happy.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Compare and contrast the views expressed by a fictional character to your own views.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

5A: Examining Text Structure

5A: Examining Text Structure

Description: Examining Text Structure

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: F-12

F-12

Grade level: 6
Word count: 1756 words
Author: Mike Buchanan and Diane Lang
Synopsis: A lost pet uses every ounce of his energy to find his way home.
Excerpt: A rabbit bounded across the parking lot and into the shadows of the woods, with Jeff racing after it, barking furiously.

Mom and Dad chased him and called his name, but all we could hear was Jeff barking until it became quiet.

For several days, when I stepped off the bus from school, I expected to see Jeff, but the yard was empty.

The next afternoon, when we took Fluff for her annual veterinarian checkup, Mom explained to Dr. Jacobs how Jeff had run away.

Question: The narrator of this selection is a
  1. child.
  2. mother.
  3. dog.
  4. vet.

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