1. Connellsville ELA Writing Curriculum K-6
Grade 8
October 2, 2014

2. Agenda Writing Curriculum PSSA: What’s New? Questions Adjustments
Text Dependent Analysis (TDA)
Evidenced Based Selected Response
2-Part Questions
2-Answer responses
Stand Alone Grammar Questions
Mode Specific Writing Prompts

3. Writing Rubric

4. Functional Scoring Rubric
“3”
Clear
Logical
Adequate & Relevant
Sufficient
Established & Maintained
“2”
Vague
Inconsistent
Inadequate
Weak understanding
Underdeveloped
Many errors

5. Text Dependent Analysis TDA

6. How does it fit?
PA CORE STANDARDS
1.4 Writing

7. CC.1.4.(_).S Response to Literature
How does it fit?
PA CORE STANDARDS
1.4 WRITING
CC.1.4.(_).S Response to Literature
Eligible Content to 1.1.6

8. What do students need be able to understand and do?
Item & Scoring Sampler page 22
Refer to rubric sheet included earlier in packet.

9. Text Dependent Analysis TDA
What does it look like?
Grade 7: Read passage beginning on pg. 6
“Mission of Mercy”
Grade 8: Read passage beginning on pg. 6
“Joe’s Reward”

10. TDA
Score Point 3
Score Point 2

11. Text Dependent Analysis
Read: Nail Soup
Poem of Stone Soup

12. How are they going to find the words?
Close Reading
(AKA: Comprehension Strategies)
Contrasts and Contradictions -
Again and Again
Words of Wiser
Beers, Kylene, and Robert Probst.
Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2013

13. Contrasts and Contradictions
When he came into the room he could see that the woman was not so badly off as she had pretended, but she was a greedy and stingy woman…
“You don’t look as if you could ask anyone to have anything!...”
“She was quite awestruck at the man and his grand connections”
Grade 6 PSSA Item Sampler, pp.7-9

14. Again and Again
“But what one has to go without, it’s no use thinking more about,”
“This broth would be good enough… if I had only a bit of___”
Grade 6 PSSA Item Sampler, pp.7-9

15. Words of Wiser
“My good woman,” said the man, “you must not be so cross and hard-hearted, for we are both human beings and should help one another, it is written.”
Grade 6 PSSA Item Sampler, pp.7-9

16. What It Makes Me Think About
Two Column Think Sheet
What the Piece is About
Battered, torn, hungry, worn
Clever plan
Soup…with doubt
Herb, meat, carrots, onions
Completely unaware
Battle won with kindness – greed a distant blindness
Taught: virtue of caring, act of sharing
What It Makes Me Think About
Soldiers were tired, hungry, poor?
“clever” = trick?
Who is “they”?
Veg soup
Townspeople didn’t know about plan
Soldiers - clever and kind People - no longer greedy
Lesson

17. Contrasts and Contradictions
When he came into the room he could see that the woman was not so badly off as she had pretended, but she was a greedy and stingy woman…
“You don’t look as if you could ask anyone to have anything!...”
“She was quite awestruck at the man and his grand connections”
Grade 6 PSSA Item Sampler, pp.7-9

18. Again and Again
“But what one has to go without, it’s no use thinking more about,”
“This broth would be good enough… if I had only a bit of___”
Grade 6 PSSA Item Sampler, pp.7-9

19. Words of Wiser
“My good woman,” said the man, “you must not be so cross and hard-hearted, for we are both human beings and should help one another, it is written.”
Grade 6 PSSA Item Sampler, pp.7-9

20. Two Column Think Sheet What the Piece is About
Battered, torn, hungry, worn
Clever plan
Soup…with doubt
Herb, meat, carrots, onions
Completely unaware
Battle won with kindness – greed a distant blindness
Taught: virtue of caring, act of sharing
What It Makes Me Think About
Soldiers were tired, hungry, poor?
“clever” = trick?
Who is “they”?
Veg soup
Townspeople didn’t know about plan
Soldiers - clever and kind People - no longer greedy
Lesson
The Lesson is a good place to begin!

21. 4-Square Organizer Intro Theme: Trick
All well fed, happy in the end because shared
Clever
Got people to help make soup out of something that was not food nail or stone. People added stuff – shared without being asked - virtue
What one has to do without…broth would be good if only
Used his brain to get people to contribute, didn’t beg, or nag but got them to do what he really wanted
Theme: Don’t be so cross…all need to share. Lesson: virtue of caring, act of sharing
Plan or Trick
grand connections – king and queen
Soldiers hatched a clever plan that townspeople never caught on to
Got people to add stuff
Plan a secret because people don’t like to be fooled or made to look foolish
Kind
Very agreeable, make old lady feel special – even got to sleep on her bed!
Soldiers smiled in silence means they didn’t ruin the lesson by telling people what they did wrong.
People want to help out or join in if you are kind

22. Selected Response Questions

23. What do they look like? Item Scoring Sampler: Grade 7, page 17

24. READ DIRECTIONS!! What do I have to teach?
There can be more than one right answer!

25. Evidence from Passage:
Type of Question
Evidence from Passage:
Main Idea and Key Details: Generalizations, Theme, Central Idea, Claims CC.1.2._.B,
Text Analysis
Character Traits
Inferences
Craft and Structure:
Author’s purpose
Point of View
Key Details – Most relevant
Line(s)/Sentence(s) /Quote(s) that support answer

26. Look Closely:
Question
Response
Part One: Which generalization about rowboats is MOST supported by events in the passage? Part Two: Which sentences BEST support the answer in Part One? Choose TWO answers.
Rowboats can become unstable with sudden movements.
“ ‘Be careful!’ came in a warning from Joe, as the boat began to rock.”
“Just then her foot slipped and she fell on the gunwale, causing the boat to tip more than ever.”

27. Stand-Alone Multiple-Choice Questions
Grammar

28. GRAMMAR

29. GRAMMAR
OE.8. D.1.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage.
D Explain the function of verbals (i.e. gerunds, participles, and infinitives) in general and their function in particular sentences.
D Form and use verbs in the active and passive voice.
D Form and use verbs in the indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, and subjunctive mood.
D Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb voice and mood.
D Place phrases and clauses within a sentence, recognizing and correcting misplaced and dangling modifiers.
D Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in pronoun and number and person.
D Recognize and correct vague pronouns (.e., ones with unclear or ambiguous antecedents).
D Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb tense.
D Produce complete sentences, recognizing and correcting inappropriate fragments and run-on sentences.
D Correctly use frequently confused words (e.g., to, too, two; there, their, they’re).
D Ensure subject-verb and pronoun- antecedent agreemtment.

30. Look Closely:
D.1.1.1
In which sentence does the underlined group of words function as an adjective?
The student wrote a fascinating story about running her first race.
Recording the the fish population was the first task of the research study.
By attaching a small part to the engine, the mechanic finished the repairs.

31. Writing Prompts

32. Informative/Explanatory
Item and Scoring Sampler Page 107
Topic is introduced, developed, and concluded with awareness of task, purpose and audience
Organizational strategies and structures that develop the topic
Content that demonstrates clear understanding of purpose
Elaboration that includes information and support by choosing facts, examples and concrete details.
Transitions between and among ideas
Formal style with control of language, vocabulary, style and sentence structure and variety
Conventions appropriate to level
Think about a law that is important. It could be a national law, a state law, or a law in your city or town. Consider why it is mportant and how it affects people’s live.
Informative/Explanatory
Write an essay for your teacher that describes an important law and exp0lains why it is important. Be sure to use details and examples why it is important. Be sure to use details and examples to support your ideas.

33. Item and Scoring Sampler Page 93
Clear Claim with credible and substantiated argument (you need a counter-argument at this level)
Organizational strategies and structures to support claim
Content that demonstrates clear understanding of purpose
Elaboration that includes a clear position, supported by evidence.
Transitions between and among ideas
Formal style with control of language, vocabulary, style and sentence structure and variety
Conventions appropriate to level
Your school is considering a change in the way class presidents are chosen. Some students want to create a small committee which, in turn, would choose the class president. On the other hand, there are those students who want all students in the class to be able to vote for their choice of class president. Think about which method of choosing the class president you believe is the ost effective.
Argumentative
Write an argumentative essay for your teacher sytating your claim about whether a small committee of students or all the students in the class should be allowed to choose the class president. Be sure to use reasons and evidence to develop your argument.argument.

34. Item and Scoring Sampler Page 119
Establishes context and point of view that orients reader and introduces narrator and/or characters
Story pattern that sequences events
Elaboration that supports the purpose
Transitional words and phrases
Control of literary devices, sensory language, sentence structure
Conventions appropriate to level
Imagine that someone became a positive role model for others. Think about what this person might have done to become a positive role model. Consider other people who might have been involved.
Narrative
Write a story for your teacher that tells how someone became a positive role model for others. Consider story elements (for example, character, setting, and plot) as you evelop yur narrative.