CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.9

Description: Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
Maps to Reading Plus skills: 9A

Exemplars

9A: Comparing/Contrasting

9A: Comparing/Contrasting

Description: Compare, Contrast, and/or Integrate

SeeReader
✓ standard met

Selection: I-46

I-46

Grade level: 9
Word count: 2076 words
Author: Joe Novelli
Synopsis: Nive grew up surrounded by whales, icebergs, and the swirling northern lights, and was motivated to use her talents to create and explore.
Excerpt: Greenland is known for its extreme seasons and the bizarre effects of being positioned so close to the North Pole. Notable among these is the daylight, with the summertime sun never fully disappearing, setting upon the horizon only to rise again a few hours later. The viewer's perception of this is a continuous transition between sunset and sunrise, causing brilliant swathes of color dancing over the sky for hours.

The extreme seasons' flip side is the impenetrable darkness of winter, lasting all day and night with only soft dusk for a few daytime hours. But this harsh period of perpetual night provides an utterly awe-inspiring experience: watching the Northern Lights sweep and spiral across the sky like a celestial ballet of greens and purples. The lights arc from horizon to horizon, bending and swirling around one another at alarming speeds. The motion of the spiraling lights in the center of the arc gives one the perception of a living sky, breathing and pulsing.

Question: How do these two paragraphs work together?
  1. They both illustrate contrasting examples of the uniqueness of Greenland's extreme climate.
  2. They both illustrate similar climatic phenomena and how they effect Greenland's environment.
  3. They both illustrate how Greenland's environment affects its economy and cultural arts.
  4. They both illustrate the aesthetic influence Greenland's environment has on Nive's songwriting.

Writing
✓ standard met

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

Evaluator

Organization: Certica Solutions