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E1.8.A

Description: Analyze the author's purpose, audience, and message within a text.
Maps to Reading Plus skills: 6A, 6B, 6B

Exemplars

6B: Recognizing Persuasion

6B: Recognizing Persuasion

Description: Recognizing Persuasive Devices

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: I-41

I-41

Grade level: 9
Word count: 1904 words
Author: Luke Cooper
Synopsis: Gustavo Dudamel embodies the power and magic of music.
Excerpt: "Music does more than nourish the human spirit," he adds. "Its very practice instills focus and discipline, respect for others, a spirit of collaboration, and many other positive values that make us better citizens of the world."

Dudamel is convinced that classical music can be a powerful force for social change. "When a little boy or girl, especially from a disadvantaged community, goes to [play in] the orchestra, it can change the life of a family and a community," he explains.

Question: The author of this selection is most likely to agree with which of the following statements?
  1. Music instills values that can be a powerful force for making people and the world a better place.
  2. Classical music is an elite art form that holds no interest for today's young people.
  3. A conductor of an orchestra has a responsibility to follow the musical score as the composer intended.
  4. A more mature conductor usually can generate more excitement than a younger one.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Write a summary of a selection from a perspective that is opposite from the selection.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

6A: Recognizing Author's Intent

6A: Recognizing Author's Intent

Description: Recognizing Author's Purpose

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: I-43

I-43

Grade level: 9
Word count: 1906 words
Author: Katherine Menard
Synopsis: During these events each team, called a "colla," builds and dismantles its own human tower.
Excerpt: These human towers, called castells, are a longstanding and beloved tradition of Catalonia, a region in easternmost Spain. The art and craft of assembling (and instantly disassembling) castells dates back to the early 1700s, but has grown enormously in popularity in recent years. Castells are featured at special festivals, most of which are held in the vicinity of Barcelona, the largest city in Catalonia.

Question: What is the author's purpose in describing other towers in the beginning of this selection?
  1. to highlight the cultural significance of the castells
  2. to demonstrate how much more difficult it is to build physical towers than castells
  3. to suggest that the castelliers should invest their energy and talent in more permanent structures
  4. to show that large cities have erected significant structures

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Describe how the author of an argument tries to prove that he or she is right.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

6B: Recognizing Persuasion

6B: Recognizing Persuasion

Description: Recognizing Persuasive Devices

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: I-6

I-6

Grade level: 9
Word count: 1546 words
Author: Henry David Thoreau
Synopsis: Have you ever felt that life is just work, work, work? That's just what Thoreau felt too, over 150 years ago.
Excerpt: Imagine a man was tossed out of a window when he was an infant, and so made paralyzed for life. Or imagine he was scared out of his wits by an unexpected attack, bound to an inability to think or reason. To most men today, either of these unfortunate events is regrettable chiefly because the man was incapacitated for business! I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, to life itself, than this incessant business.

Question: How is this part of the selection written?
  1. as an emotional appeal to connect with readers on a personal level
  2. as a presentation of facts that are supported by extensive research
  3. as an analysis of historical events that explains why certain problems repeat
  4. as a sentimental flashback that shows how much people have in common

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Imagine you want to make a documentary about a non-fiction selection you read. Describe the steps you would need to take to make your documentary as accurate and unbiased as possible.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions