8.RI.2b

Description: Determine a central idea of a text. Provide an objective summary of the text.
Maps to Reading Plus skills: 2B, 2C

Exemplars

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