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E4.4.E

Description: Make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society.
Maps to Reading Plus skills: 3B, 3B, 9A, 9A

Exemplars

3B: Analyzing Plot/Character

3B: Analyzing Plot/Character

Description: Analyzing setting, plot, and character

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: K-23

K-23

Grade level: 11
Word count: 2412 words
Author: Anton Chekhov
Synopsis: A wager between a banker and a lawyer yields an unexpected result.
Excerpt: "That cursed bet!" murmured the old man, clutching his head in despair. "He's only forty years old, he will deprive me of my last penny, marry, enjoy life, and I will look on like an envious beggar and hear the same dreaded words from him every day: 'I'm obliged to you for my life's happiness.' No, no, it's too much -- the only escape from bankruptcy and disgrace is that the man should die."

Question: Based on this excerpt, what conclusion can be made about the banker's motivations?
  1. His greed drove him to consider committing a terrible crime.
  2. His jealousy caused him to feign friendship while plotting revenge.
  3. His selfishness drove him to lie about the original wager.
  4. His pride caused him to openly reject his wealth while secretly hiding it.

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

9A: Comparing/Contrasting

9A: Comparing/Contrasting

Description: Compare, Contrast, and/or Integrate

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: K-33

K-33

Grade level: 11
Word count: 2751 words
Author: Ambrose Bierce
Synopsis: When a man thinks he sees a snake under his bed, his fear and anxiety grow with each passing moment.
Excerpt: The man groaned; the snake made neither sound nor motion, but its eyes were two dazzling suns and the reptile itself was wholly concealed by them.

It was a stuffed snake; its eyes were two shoe buttons.

Question: Read these excerpts from the selection. In which two ways do they work together?
  1. The first uses a metaphor to describe the snake's eyes.
  2. The second shows how the human imagination can easily augment reality.
  3. The first uses foreshadowing to describe the snake's eyes.
  4. The second shows how realistic toys can frighten children.
  5. Both excerpts show how people often have a fear of snakes.

Writing
✓ standard met

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

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

3B: Analyzing Plot/Character

3B: Analyzing Plot/Character

Description: Analyzing setting, plot, and character

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: K-14

K-14

Grade level: 11
Word count: 2134 words
Author: Nancy McCloskey
Synopsis: Citizens selected for jury duty learn about the importance of protecting individual rights.
Excerpt: Assizes were made up of 12 local "free and lawful men" who, under oath, made decisions based on their personal knowledge of the true property owner or heir. They dealt with civil, not criminal, cases and were different from modern civil juries in that the jurors were "self-informing." This means that panel members used their pre-existing knowledge as a basis for their decisions.

Question: Based on this excerpt, assize jurors were different from jurors in civil trials today because they
  1. already knew the details of the case.
  2. heard cases involving property issues.
  3. were composed of 12 lawful men and women.
  4. based their decisions only on evidence presented during trial.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Describe a character with whom you empathize, and explain why you feel this way.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions

9A: Comparing/Contrasting

9A: Comparing/Contrasting

Description: Compare, Contrast, and/or Integrate

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: K-43

K-43

Grade level: 11
Word count: 2281 words
Author: Kate Scoville
Synopsis: The hibakusha describe the bomb's aftermath, while communicating their hopes for a more peaceful world.
Excerpt: "Boys who remained in the middle of the playground shouted, 'Look, a B-29!' pointing at the sky. (Around that time, U.S. B-29 bombers often flew over the city. Whenever they came, an air-raid alert siren sounded; so a B-29 was a familiar sight to children.)

"I looked up and saw the silver-shining B-29 plane flying high in the blue sky, drawing a white arc with its vapor trail. 'That's pretty,' I thought.

Question: Read these two excerpts from the selection. For which two reasons can they be considered ironic?
  1. They show war eventually became a normal fixture in Japanese children's lives.
  2. They illustrate children's interest in a machine that would seconds later destroy their city.
  3. They show Japanese children spent most of the school day outside.
  4. They highlight the lack of preparation for war by the Japanese government.
  5. They reveal Japanese children lived in constant fear during this time of war.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Use a Venn diagram to compare two non-fiction selections on the same topic.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions