Name______Date______Period______
CAHSEE Homework Organizer #4 of 4
Writing Strategies Differentiation
Due: Monday, 12 March 2012
All homework must be completed in its entirety. Incomplete or incorrect homework will not receive any points! Random homework checks will be completed at the teacher’s discretion and students will be expected to have all assigned work complete and ready to be stamped at any time.
Special CAHSEE Reminder: To avoid a homework card and a zero, you must provide evidence that you have used the Six-Step Start-Up (underlining, highlighting, stars, notes in margins, etc.) and POE (wrong answers crossed out).
AssignmentNumber / Assignment Description / Due Date / Assignment Value / Points Earned
1 / “Narrative Writing Strategies” Practice Test Questions
· All questions answered according to the directions. / Thursday, 3/1 / 25
2 / Narrative Elements
· All questions answered according to the directions. / Monday, 3/5 / 25
3 / “Better, Not Worse” Practice Test Questions
· All questions answered according to the directions. / Tuesday, 3/6 / 25
4 / “Walt Whitman: America’s Poet” Practice Test Questions
· All questions answered according to the directions. / Wednesday, 3/7 / 25
5 / Setting and Theme
· All questions answered according to the directions. / Thursday, 3/8 / 25
6 / “Radio: Shaping American Culture” Practice Test Questions
· All questions answered according to the directions. / Friday, 3/9 / 25
7 / Vocabulary in Context
· All questions answered according to the directions. / Monday, 3/12 / 25
8 / Answer Key and Self-Reflection
· All questions answered according to the directions.
· Attach to the end of this packet. / Monday, 3/12 / 10
9 / Grammar Packet
· All blanks filled in, even for days you were absent.
· Attach to the end of this packet. / Monday, 3/12 / 30
Total Points Earned
(of 215)
Assignment #1: Due Thursday, 1 March 2012
Narrative Writing Strategies
Standard: WS 1.4 – Develop the main ideas within the body of the composition through supporting evidence.
ESLR: Resourceful Learner – Take responsibility for learning
Rationale: On the CAHSEE you will be asked to identify main ideas and details in passages. To answer these questions, you should be familiar with narrative passages that have lengthy descriptions.
Directions: Read the passage and then answer the questions that follow.
Away from the City
John Muir, 1867
(1) I was very thirsty after walking so long in the muggy heat, a distance of three or four miles from the city, to get to this graveyard. A dull, sluggish, coffee-colored stream flows under the road just outside the graveyard garden park, from which I managed to get a drink after breaking away down to the water through a dense fringe of bushes, scaring the snakes and alligators in the dark. Thus refreshed I entered the weird and beautiful abode of the dead.
(2) All the avenue where I walked was in shadow, but an exposed tombstone frequently shone out in startling whiteness on either hand, and thickets of sparkleberry bushes gleamed like heaps of crystals. But a breath of air moved the gray moss, and the great black arms of the trees met overhead and covered the avenue. But the canopy was fissured by many netted seams and leafy-edged openings, through which the moonlight sifted in auroral rays, embroidering the blackness in silvery light. Though tired, I sauntered a while enchanted, then lay down under one of the great oaks. I found a little mound that served for a pillow, placed my plant press and bag beside me and rested fairly well, though somewhat disturbed by large prickly-footed beetles creeping across my hands and face, and by a lot of hungry stinging mosquitoes.
(3) When I awoke, the sun was up and all Nature was rejoicing. Some birds had discovered me as an intruder, and were making a great ado in interesting language and gestures. I heard the screaming of bald eagles, and of some strange waders in the rushes. On rising I found that my head had been resting on a grave, and though my sleep had not been quite so sound as that of the person below, I arose refreshed, and looking about me, the morning sunbeams pouring through the oaks and gardens dripping dew, the beauty displayed was so glorious and exhilarating that hunger and care seemed only a dream.
Directions: Like Reading Comprehension and Literary Response and Analysis passages, it helps to identify the parts of a well-written passage. Before you answer the multiple-choice questions, analyze this passage by:
ü Summarizing the experience in a complete sentence:
______
______
______
______
ü Underlining three important events in John Muir’s experience (underline in the passage).
ü Listing important images in the passage:
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Directions: After using POE to eliminate the wrong answers, circle the letter of the correct answer and respond to any additional questions, following the directions provided.
1. What is the best summary of John Muir’s experience in this passage?
A He becomes exhausted and lost in his journey away from the city.
B He is confused and overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of the graveyard.
C He is refreshed and exhilarated by his experience in the graveyard.
D The snakes and alligators he encounters momentarily frighten him.
Is Muir’s experience positive or negative? ______
Using your summary from the left side of this page and your decision about whether Muir’s experience is positive or negative, use POE to eliminate incorrect answers and explain your choices below.
_____ is an incorrect answer because ______
______
_____ is an incorrect answer because ______
______
_____ is an incorrect answer because ______
______
So, _____ is the correct answer because ______
______
2. Why are the first and last sentences effective in expressing the meaning that this experience had for the author?
A They both emphasize what a miserable experience he had.
B The sentences highlight the contrast between how the experience began and how it ended.
C The change in tone from the first to the last sentence emphasizes his confusion and exhaustion.
D The last sentence completes the metaphor begun in the first sentence.
Define contrast.
______
Define tone.
______
Define metaphor.
______
In your own words, explain why you chose your answer.
______
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3. Which of these sensory images contributes to the positive feelings Muir expresses?
A “. . . daring the snakes and alligators in the dark.”
B “. . . large prickly-footed beetles creeping across my hands.”
C “Not a breath of air moved . . . ”
D “. . . the morning sunbeams pouring through the oaks . . .”
Think about whether each of these images makes you feel something positive or negative. Use that thought to help you narrow down your choices to the correct answer.
_____ is an incorrect answer because ______
______
_____ is an incorrect answer because ______
______
_____ is an incorrect answer because ______
______
So, _____ is the correct answer because ______
______
Assignment #2: Due Monday, 5 March 2012
Narrative Elements
Standard: LRA3.6 – Analyze and trace an author’s development of time and sequence.
ESLR: Resourceful Learner – Take responsibility for learning
Rationale: On the CAHSEE, you will be asked to analyze narrative elements. You may be familiar with narrative elements such as conflict, plot, and sequence. In a story, the conflict refers to the reason the action in the story takes place. It is the struggle between opposing forces in a narrative. Plot, meanwhile, refers to the series of events that the action of the narrative is centered on, or, more simply, what happens in a story. The sequence refers to the order of events in a story.
Directions: Helena is reading book reviews published in the local newspaper. The following three reviews grabbed her interest in particular. Read the reviews and decide whether they mainly describe the conflict, plot, or sequence of the book.
Review: The Archer’s Journey
Although this is a fascinating book, it can be difficult to follow at times. When we first meet the Archer family, the two children are in school—Ava is six, and Simon is ten. In the following chapter, however, Ava is three and Simon is seven. In the third chapter both Ava and Simon are adults with their own children. When presenting the events, the narrator jumps from one decade to another—and then back again. Readers will have to be alert to stay on top of all the shifts in time. This is particularly true in the last paragraph of the book, in which Ava goes from toddler to great-grandmother in a single sentence!
1. Does this review focus primarily on the conflict, plot, or sequence of the book?
______
Review: Different Strokes
Trouble brews the moment Max and Mihir are introduced. Max listens to jazz, reads only mystery novels, and loves to swim in the lake. Mihir prefers hip-hop, sports magazines, and a tough game of basketball. The two guys could not be more different, and when their teacher asks them to plan the school’s homecoming dance together, things get out of control. How does Mihir react when Max proposes that kids waltz to music by Strauss? And how does Max respond when Mihir suggests kids shoot hoops in the middle of the dance? To find out the answers, you’ll have to read the book.
2. Does this review focus primarily on the conflict, plot, or sequence of the book?
______
Review: Isabel’s Trip to the Farm
The moment Isabel arrives on her grandparents’ farm, the story shoots off like a rocket. Isabel, who has never been out of the city, is suddenly milking cows, tossing table scraps to pigs, and caring for a sick hog. She develops an unexpected bond with a barn owl and, with its help, slowly gets the hang of things. There is never a dull moment as Isabel stops a stampede of horses, discovers a diamond ring in the pig slop, and wins a blue ribbon for her rhubarb pie at the county fair. The story is enriched by a cast of remarkable supporting characters, including a crafty field mouse, a ballerina whose car breaks down near the farm, and a local store owner with evil plans for Isabel’s grandparents. You won’t want to miss any of Isabel’s outings.
3. Does this review focus primarily on the conflict, plot, or sequence of the book?
______
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.
Butterfly’s Story
My name is Butterfly White. Have you ever heard of me? I’ve already done a commercial for Dandy Donuts, which aired during a rerun of The Fuddles. I was the woman in green sitting at the table eating a cruller. I was only on television for a split second, but if you watch it on a VCR and hit the pause button at just the right moment, you can very clearly make out my left arm.
I want to tell you about the time I auditioned for a movie. You may ask, “Why, Butterfly, did you audition for a movie?” That’s a good question, because everyone knows my lifelong dream is to have my own television sitcom targeted at fourteen- to eighteen-year-olds. At the time I figured a movie role would be a good stepping stone to achieving that dream. Now I know what a mistake I made.
From the moment I stepped inside the director’s office, things weren’t right. I politely told the receptionist that I, Butterfly, had arrived. He said something along the lines of “Yeah, whatever, the director’s in there,” and pointed his pen toward an open door.
I walked through that door, and the director looked up from his desk. “Thanks for coming in, Bertha.”
We shook hands, and I explained that although Bertha was my given name, my fans knew me only as Butterfly. (When I sign autographs, I always write Butterfly in loopy cursive and draw a tiny monarch butterfly under the y.) I instructed him to call me Butterfly.
“Yeah, okay. I’m Mike.” He snapped his gum. “What have you done?”
I told him about my commercial for Dandy Donuts. I left out the fact that it aired during a rerun of The Fuddles. (I dislike being boastful.)
He stared at me blankly and then furrowed his brow. “Any movie work?”
I explained that this was the first movie I had ever considered and that my lifelong dream was to have my own television sitcom targeted at fourteen- to eighteen-year-olds. I told him this was merely a stepping-stone to achieving that dream.
“Huh?” he said. His face retained that odd, blank expression.
I started to repeat everything I had just said when he abruptly broke in. “We’re looking for a girl with short red hair.”
“I don’t have short red hair.”
“I see that.”
“I have long black hair.”
“Again, I see that.”
I told him that I was averse to cutting my long black hair and that I would need my long black hair for the character I expected to portray in my television sitcom targeted at fourteen- to eighteen-year-olds. I reminded him that his movie was merely a stepping-stone to achieving that dream.