RI.9-10.6

Description: Craft and Structure Determine an author's point of view, perspective, and/or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view, perspective, or purpose.
Maps to Reading Plus skills: 6A, 6B

Exemplars

6A: Recognizing Author's Intent

6A: Recognizing Author's Intent

Description: Recognizing Author's Purpose

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: J-19

J-19

Grade level: 10
Word count: 2200 words
Author: Beth Renaud
Synopsis: Electronic waste, or e-waste, is the fastest-growing trash in the United States and it is quickly becoming a worldwide problem.
Excerpt: Carroll writes: "Choking, I pull my shirt over my nose and approach a boy of about 15, his thin frame wreathed in smoke. Karim says he has been tending such fires for two years. He pokes at one meditatively, and then his top half disappears as he bends into the billowing soot. He hoists a tangle of copper wire off the old tire he's using for fuel and douses the hissing mass into a puddle. With the flame retardant insulation burned away -- a process that has released a bouquet of carcinogens and other toxins -- the wire may fetch a dollar from a scrap-metal buyer."

Question: In this excerpt, the author includes the quote from Carroll's "High-Tech Trash" article most likely to
  1. illustrate how recyclers are taking advantage of desperate conditions.
  2. describe model recycling practices used in foreign countries.
  3. criticize a young recycler's lack of concern for his health.
  4. highlight an effective process of reclaiming scrap metal.

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: J-24

J-24

Grade level: 10
Word count: 2056 words
Author: Erica Cirino
Synopsis: This and many other urban legends are believable because they contain partial truths and scrambled facts.
Excerpt: Reminiscent of the original message in a game of "Telephone," urban legends are transformed over time. Such tales are usually scrambled versions of fact, teeming with particulars that convince us that they are true. Storytellers alter and embellish the truth to create startling, comical, or just plain weird myths. The existence of urban legends is proof that you should not believe all that you hear!

Question: You can tell that the author of this selection is probably someone who is
  1. skeptical.
  2. impatient.
  3. nostalgic.
  4. energetic.

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