1. Introduction to Short Answer Response for ELA STAAR
Finding a way to place “out of the box” insights appropriately into a prescribed box…

2. Short Answer Response (SAR)
Short Answer Responses are an opportunity for you, the student, to strut your intellectual stuff through the selection of prime text evidence and weaving that textual support with your own commentary.
A - Answer the question in your own words simply and directly.
C – Cite evidence from the selection that support your answer. In the single SAR one or two quotes are needed. In the paired SAR at least one quote is needed from each selection. Remember to embed them in your own commentary.
E—Explain how the textual evidence support your answer. Remember, for the paired SAR you must have a common focus/answer/connection.

3. Short Answer Questions (SAR)
Single SAR
After reading the excerpt from The Shipping News, do you Quoyle considers himself hopeless? Explain your answer and support it with evidence from the selection.
Paired SAR
What is one similarity between the protagonist in Proulx’s The Shipping News and Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees? Explain your answer and support it with evidence from both selections.

4. Short Answer Questions (SAR)
After brainstorming your answer, cited text, and explanation, you will then engage in prewriting:
A) – Answer
C) – Cite and Embed Textual Evidence
(1 needed for Single & 2 needed for paired)
E) – Explain connection of your quote(s) to your answer (So What?)

5. Short Answer Responses (SAR)
You will need to complete both the brainstorming and the prewriting process before you place your final, polished answer in the ELA STAAR box (10 lines).

6. Short Answer Responses (SAR)
Important Considerations:
Make sure that all of your words fit on the lines inside the provided final answer box (no doubling lines or writing vertically or horizontally along the border of the answer box).
Both text selections and student commentary need to reflect insightfulness. Do not just provide a literal, superficial response. Do not merely echo or paraphrase text evidence in your connecting and concluding commentary.
When crafting your commentary, do not go beyond the concepts contained in the text evidence. If you provide new information, you must have textual support to defend it.
Your scores on the SARs on the STAAR exam for English will factor 33% of your overall EOC score.

7. SAR Practice - Question
Good practice:
Question: In “The Most Dangerous Game,” what is one significant internal change that Rainsford experiences due to his stay on Ship Trap Island?
Textual Evidence
(From the beginning of the story)
“ ‘Don’t talk rot, Whitney,’ said Rainsford. ‘You’re a big game hunter, not a
philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar feels?’
‘Perhaps the jaguar does,’ observed Whitney.
‘Bah! They’ve no understanding…This hot weather is making you soft, Whitney.
Be a realist. The world is made up of two classes – the hunters and huntees.
Luckily, you and I are hunters.’”
(During the hunt with Zaroff…)
“Then he ran for his life. The hounds raised their voices as they hit the fresh
scent. Rainsford knew now how an animal at bay feels.”

8. SAR Practice – Prewriting
A) – In Richard Connell’s short story “The Most Dangerous Game,” Rainsford experiences a significant internal transformation when he learns to empathize with the fear of hunted animals.
C) – Before arriving at Ship Trap Island, Rainsford does not believe hunted animals have any awareness, “Bah! They’ve no understanding.” But after being hunted by Zaroff his perspective shifts, “Rainsford knew now how an animal at bay feels.”
E) – After his stay on this eerie island, Rainsford directly realizes that the hunted do indeed experience a keen and comprehending terror.

9. SAR Practice – Example Answer
In Richard Connell’s short story “The Most Dangerous Game”, Rainsford experiences a significant internal transformation when he learns to empathize with the fear of hunted animals. Before arriving at Ship Trap Island, Rainsford does not believe hunted animals have any awareness, “Bah! They’ve no understanding.” But after being hunted by Zaroff his perspective shifts, “Rainsford knew now how an animal at bay feels.” After his stay on this eerie island, Rainsford realizes that terror is indeed an emotion experienced by every living thing, every hunted thing.