1. STAAR English II EOC

2. Reading different types of text on the EOC
When you are reading informational text, if there are charts, pictures, graphs, those are extremely important or they wouldn’t be included in the test. Look at them carefully because you will be asked questions.
If you are reading poetry, remember that poems have deep meanings. They often have figurative language. What is the speaker trying to say? What is the theme? What is the tone? What do the metaphors and similes mean? Why does the speaker use alliteration? Why does the poet use short choppy sounding words in one place, and longer drawn out words in another?

3. PERSUASIVE ESSAY – 26 LINES – Scoring
Scored on a 0-4 scale. Two people rate your paper. The score is added together and multiplied by 2 (used to be x3). For example: Rater 1 – student’s paper score 3 3+2=5 x 2 = 10 Rater 2 – student’s paper score 2 You got 10/16 points WORK HARDER!!!!! YOU WANT TO GET 3’S AND 4’S ON YOUR PAPER X 2 = 12 / X 2 = 14/ X 2 = 16/16 POINTS!

4. PERSUASIVE ESSAY 26 lines – How to?
First, circle the writing prompt Writing about the wrong thing will drop your score.
Next, look at the other information to guide your thinking, but do not use it verbatim in your writing. Be original.
Third, PLAN - make a t-chart or plan your paper. What are the reasons you feel the way you do? What are your strong points for the argument? What can you use to support and defend your position?
Write a strong position statement. Remember, take the prompt and turn it into a position statement by adding “so,” or “because,” or making sure there is a reason in your statement. If you just ECHO the prompt, you will be given a on your paper and this could cause you to fail the test.
Plan your counterargument – what is the most logical objection someone will have to your argument? Blow it apart with your strong reasoning!
Conclude your paper – try to say something different like “Finally,” or “When all is said and done,” “All in all,” “In the end,” etc.
WRITE YOUR FIRST DRAFT
CHECK YOUR WORDS CAREFULLY TO MAKE SURE YOU SPELLED CORRECTLY, DID NOT MAKE WORDS PLURAL WITH ‘S, ELIMINATE CONTRACTIONS OR MAKE SURE THEY ARE PUNCTUATED CORRECTLY, GET RID OF YOUR DEAD WORDS (no wanna, gonna, hafta, shoulda, woulda, etc.).
PROOFREAD, REVISE AND EDIT, THEN WRITE YOUR FINAL DRAFT!

5. PERSUASIVE ESSAY – Things to remember
You are trying to make a strong argument to convince the reader to believe you. Appeal to your readers’: emotions/fears strong sense of right/wrong desire to seem intelligent need to protect their family desire to follow traditions desire to protect animals, environment pride in country

6. Persuasive Essay (continued)
EVIDENCE and SUPPORT
Statistics, expert opinions, research findings, anecdotal evidence (personal experiences)
Diction
Use strong specific words that reflect the tone (attitude) that you take. Use inclusive words like “we” “us” “our” “people” instead of saying I/you.
Rhetorical questions
They are meant to encourage the reader to believe you and be persuaded by your argument. Example: “Would you want your child growing up in a society where violence lurked behind every corner?”

7. Example of a persuasive essay – read this!
Write an essay stating your opinion on whether students should be allowed to eat during class.
Hook/Lead/Introduction: How can a student possibly learn their best when they are hungry?
Position statement – Students should be allowed to eat during class because it helps them focus academically.
Reason – Students have an extremely difficult time concentrating on work when they are hungry. Allowing them to eat during class both satisfies that gnawing hunger, and it refuels their brain energy needed to be successful.
Counterargument – Some might argue that students eating during class is disruptive to learning, but it is far more disruptive to be hungry and unable to focus or to be sluggish from lack of nourishment. Teachers could easily set guidelines to avoid disrupting academics.
Conclusion - After all is said and done, eating in class for students is beneficial. If academic success is what teachers desire most for their classes, it makes perfect sense that we should allow students to do something so simple that can positively impact learning.

8. HOW DO I BOOST MY ESSAY SCORE?
Write a strong position statement
Create a strong argument that supports your position statement
Use strong diction
Vary your sentence structure. It will raise your score. For example:
He enjoyed running marathons although he struggled to breathe.
Although he struggled to breathe, he enjoyed running marathons.
Use transition words
Plan and proofread – it will make a big difference.
If you write huge, write smaller. If you write tiny, write larger. WRITE NEATLY AND MAKE YOUR PAPER LOOK ORGANIZED. It will help a lot.
Put “voice” in your paper, but remember…you are the expert and you are trying to persuade the reader (in this case, the person scoring your essay).

9. EXTRA INFORMATION TO REVIEW
Why do authors use figurative language?
To create imagery to help the reader picture things in the story
To stir the reader’s imagination
To emphasize something
To highlight something
To make the reading entertaining
To help create a specific mood
To help create a specific theme
If you have a question that asks about figurative language, first, go back to the sentence or paragraph, identify the type of figurative language, read it over and over, try to determine why the author uses it – what is he/she trying to do? They put it in there for a reason.

10. REVIEW INFORMATION - FICTION
Characters:
Protagonist – central character in a work of fiction. They can also be a dynamic, round character (go through changes and have many qualities)
Antagonist –(remember anti- means against) – character who opposes the protagonist – it can also be a force. In TKAM, racism could be considered an antagonist of Tom Robinson.
FOIL – a foil character is usually a character paired with another for a purpose. For example, Bob Ewell is a foil of Atticus Finch because Bob is so disgusting, he reflects (like foil) how respectful Atticus is. Bob is also a FOIL of Tom Robinson. Even though they are both poor, Tom Robinson is a good man, while Bob is immoral. In The Most Dangerous Game, Ivan is a FOIL of Zaroff. While they are both Cossacks, Ivan is called a savage (he is very uncivilized), while Zaroff IS very savage (but very cultured and proper acting).
FLAT/Static characters – not very interesting, not many traits, do not change. A stereotyped character is always the same.
Archetypes – character types that appear over and over, for example: damsel in distress, the rebellious princess, the wicked witch, the hero, the villain, etc.

11. Fiction Point of view – perspective – narration
1st person – narrator is in the story; uses “I,” “Me,” “Mine” You get to hear the thoughts of the narrator and see everything through their eyes.
2nd person – you, your – Not usually used in fiction
3rd person – Someone telling the story; an outside looking at the action;
Omniscient – the reader knows thoughts of all the characters
Limited – the reader knows the thoughts of one character
Unreliable narrator – their credibility is damaged or it is obvious the narrator can’t be reliable in their information to the reader. For example, they talk about how terrible another character is while they themselves are cheating/stealing. That means you can’t trust their opinion.
Types of figurative language – metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole, understatement, onomatopoeia, idioms, clichés
Literary terms/devices – irony, flashback, foreshadowing, theme, allusion

12. Poetry information
Speaker – the voice you hear – kind of like a narrator in fiction
Stanza – the “paragraphs” in a poem – they are not numbered in a poem. The numbers you see are line numbers.
Tone – the attitude of the speaker
Mood – the emotional quality of the poem - it’s created by diction (word choice) and tone
Sound devices – alliteration, repetition, rhyme, onomatopoeia
Poets use these devices to make the poem “come alive” when you’re reading it, to emphasize, to highlight, to make it sound a certain way if the poem is read aloud
When you read a poem, you must remember to “dig beneath the surface.”
Types of figurative language – metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole, understatement, onomatopoeia, idioms, clichés, symbolism
Literary terms/devices – irony, flashback, foreshadowing, theme, allusion

13. Drama (plays)
Stage directions – that writing in the play that is not meant to be read aloud when you are a character reading a part. For example:
Romeo: Juliet, do you play games with me?
**He looks at her with a puzzled expression and takes her hands.
Juliet: Romeo, I do not know how to play games. I am not old enough to have learned such deceptive tricks.
**The stage directions tells Romeo to look at Juliet, how to look at her, and to take her hands. Stage directions are important because they give the readers information about the play, about the setting, the characters, the mood of the play, etc.
ALWAYS READ THE STAGE DIRECTIONS IN A DRAMA SELECTION ON THE STAAR EOC.

14. Drama
Irony – just like in good fiction, irony is present. In drama, sometimes it is a little different.
Verbal irony – what an actor says that is kind of like sarcasm.
Situational irony – an unexpected twist
Dramatic irony – when the audience (reader) knows something that is going to happen or that is happening that the actor does not. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo does not know that Juliet isn’t dead – she’s just in a sleep-state that looks like she’s dead. The audience knows this.

15. Revising and Editing
Remember, a clause has a subject (a do-er) and a verb (something being done). If they are complete, we call them SENTENCES (or independent clauses); if they are incomplete, we call them dependent or subordinate clauses, phrases, or fragments. Remember, a phrase lacks a subject/verb combination. ***Introductory clauses or phrases in a sentence have a comma after them: After dinner, we went to the movies. (phrase – notice there is no subject/verb) After we hate dinner, we went to the movies. (dependent clause at beginning with subject/verb).

16. Compound vs. complex sentences
These are important for two reasons:
1) you need to know how to identify them in order to pick out correct answers in revising and editing. If the question has 4 sentences for answer choices, and you don’t know if they’re punctuated correctly, you may miss it.
2) when you write the persuasive essay, one of the criteria for a “3” and “4” score papers is “varied sentence structure.” So that means you write with some simple, some compound, and some complex sentences. Change it up!
COMPOUND SENTENCES – at least 2 complete sentences joined by a COMMA PLUS FANBOYS.
EXAMPLE: The children laughed, AND they hunted Easter eggs.
If you put your FINGER OVER THE FANBOYS and if what is on either side of your finger is a complete sentence, then you know it’s compound. If the comma is missing, it is incorrectly punctuated and would not be an answer choice.

17. Complex sentences Complex sentences are different from compound.
They are made up of at least 1 DEPENDENT CLAUSE (not phrase), and 1 INDEPENDENT CLAUSE (also known as a complete sentence).
The dependent clause begins with a subordinating conjunction (AAAWWWWUUBBIS). If the Subordinating conjunction starts the sentence, you put a comma after the dependent clause.
Example: While I was sleeping, my cat tore up the toilet paper.
While I was sleeping is the dependent (subordinate) clause. My cat tore up the toilet paper is the INDEPENDENT CLAUSE (complete sentence).
If the dependent clause ends a sentence, you do not punctuate before it. My cat tore up the toilet paper while I was sleeping.

18. Revising and editing – Possessives
Words with ‘s. - if a word has an ‘s, it either has to be a contraction or a possessive word. YOU DO NOT MAKE WORDS PLURAL with ‘s.
Making words possessive:
Cat – 1 cat.
Cat’s toy – the toy belonging to 1 cat
Cats – more than 1 cat
Cats’ toys – the toys belonging to more than 1 cat. The apostrophe goes after the S. If it goes before, it’s singular possessive.
Child – 1 child
Child’s backpack – the backpack belonging to 1 child.
Children – more than 1 child
Children’s backpacks – the backpacks belong to more than 1 child.
PLEASE NOTE: YOU DO NOT PUT ‘S ON WORDS THAT ARE IN PLURAL FORM SUCH AS CHILDREN, MEN, TEETH, MICE, ETC. THE SO GOES AFTER THE APOSTROPHE BECAUSE THERE ARE NO SUCH WORDS AS CHILDRENS, MENS, MICES, TEETHS, ETC. THE CORRECT WORDS ARE children’s, men’s, teeth’s, mice’s.

19. Contractions
These are two words joined together by removing one or more letters and adding an apostrophe to indicate where the letters are missing. Remember that the apostrophe is like a scar to show where the letter were “cut out.”
A contraction is not a possessive word.
It’s = it is
Isn’t = is not
Wouldn’t = would not
Try to avoid writing with contractions in your persuasive essay. You are trying to sound strong; IS NOT SOUNDS STRONGER THAN ISN’T.

20. Commonly confused words – there are many; here are a few
Except vs. accept – except means “every one but” – accept means “to receive” “to come to terms with”
There, they’re, their
There – over there
They’re – they are
Their – belongs to them
You’re vs. your
You’re is you are
Your – belongs to you
Then vs. than – then – first this, then that; Than is used for comparison – more than you, smarter than him
Affect vs. effect – affect is to influence; effect is a result
It’s vs. its – it’s is it is; its is belonging to it
Through, threw – go through trouble; threw the ball
Lead vs. led – lead is a type of metal; led is past tense of lead
Lose vs. loose – lose is a verb that means to misplace something; loose is an adjective telling you the opposite of tight
Breathe vs. breath – breathe is a verb; breath is what you take in when you breathe
Cite vs. sight vs. site – cite means to quote or document your sources; sight is what you see with; site is a place.
Conscious vs. conscience – conscious means you are awake and alert; conscience is your little voice – sense of right and wrong
Lie vs. lay – a person or animal lies down; to lay means you place or put something down.
Passed vs. past – past tense of pass. Past is belonging to a former time in history
Who vs. whom – who used as a subject or do-er of action. Whom used as an object or receiver of action. The way I always remembered this is to substitute HE for Who and Him for Whom.
Desert vs. dessert – Desert is a hot sandy dry place or to leave/abandon someone; dessert is what you eat
Imply vs. infer – to imply means to indirectly state something; infer means to draw a conclusion. You imply something to someone; they infer the meaning from it.
Medal vs. metal – medal is something you win; metal is a hard substance things are made of.

21. Last minute tips: Use a dictionary – it’s foolish NOT to use one.
Read everything over and over again if you do not understand. I have to.
Plan your writing carefully, write a rough draft, and proofread your final draft. Capitalize first letter of each sentence and punctuate at the end.
Write a STRONG POSITION statement and support it throughout the essay.
Develop a strong ARGUMENT that supports your POSITION STATEMENT.
Read questions carefully. Do not choose poorly punctuated sentences as your answer choices.
On questions about transitions, make sure you read several sentences before and after the spot where the transition needs to go so you know the right one.
Do your very best on this. You have the brain and skills necessary to pass!