8.7.B

Description: Analyze how characters' motivations and behaviors influence events and resolution of the conflict.
Maps to Reading Plus skills: 2A, 3B

Exemplars

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

3B: Analyzing Plot/Character

3B: Analyzing Plot/Character

Description: Analyzing setting, plot, and character

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: H-32

H-32

Grade level: 8
Word count: 2030 words
Author: Anna Fisher
Synopsis: Many people escaped from East Germany through tunnels under the Berlin Wall, but some did not make it.
Excerpt: "It's the anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall," Gram unexpectedly remarked, as Maggie started back into the kitchen. "Do you know about the wall that separated West Berlin from East Berlin?"

Maggie paused and faced her grandmother. "Of course, Gram, we studied the Cold War in history class. People from the eastern side couldn't escape, while those on the western side were free."

Then, one day, we watched as members of the Soviet militia brought out rolls of barbed wire, stringing it along the east-west border. Living conditions had worsened in East Germany, as the economic situation became bleak; in fact, government officials forced people to work on state-owned farms because there was a food shortage.

Question: In which two ways were the lives of people in East Berlin different from those in West Berlin?
  1. East Berliners could not travel freely to and from the area.
  2. East Berliners experienced shortages of food.
  3. East Berliners were not permitted to get an education.
  4. East Berliners had to turn in all their valuables to the government.
  5. East Berliners had no means of sending letters through the mail.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: How could an author use a change in setting to show the journey of a fictional character from innocence to maturity? Give an example from a selection you have read.

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions