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R.11.5.h

Description: Recognize and analyze use of ambiguity, contradiction, paradox, irony, sarcasm, overstatement, and understatement in text.
Maps to Reading Plus skills: 5A, 9A

Exemplars

5A: Examining Text Structure

5A: Examining Text Structure

Description: Examining Text Structure

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: K-39

K-39

Grade level: 11
Word count: 1650 words
Author: Christopher Morley
Synopsis: If you have ever been asked to write a certain number of words on a topic, you'll certainly understand the frustration expressed by the newspaper reporter who penned this essay.
Excerpt: (We ask you to observe our self-restraint. We might have said "drenching downpour of silver Long Island rain," or something of that sort, and thus got several words nearer our necessary total of 1100. But we scorn, even when writing against time, to take petty advantages. Let us be brief, crisp, packed with thought. Let it stand as drench, while you admire our proud conscience.)

Question: Irony occurs when words are used to convey a meaning that is the opposite their usual meaning. What is ironic about this part of the essay?
  1. Morley says he is writing succinctly, yet he rambles on for a paragraph about doing so.
  2. Morley describes a drenching downpour, yet there is no proof it has rained.
  3. Although he meets his own deadlines, Morley encourages others to take more time to write.
  4. While he has a talent for writing, Morley has decided to seek work that does not require any writing.

Writing
✓ standard met

Writing prompt: Explain an author's use of description in a selection, and how the description shaped the way you viewed and understood the person, object, or event described.

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