2013 STAAR Practice

8.2 Reading/Vocabulary Development. Students understand new vocabulary and use it when reading and writing. Students are expected to:

8.2 (A) determine the meaning of grade-leYel academic English words derived from Latin, Greek, or other linguistic roots and affixes; (STAAR Readiness:RC 1-Across Genres)

• In paragraph _of this story, what does the word _mean?

• What is the root word for the word in paragraph _that means _?

8.2 (B) use context (within a sentence and in larger sections of text) to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or ambiguous words or words with novelmeanings; (STAAR Readiness: RC 1- Across Genres)

• In paragraph _, what does the word_ mean?

• What (or which) words in paragraph_ help the reader understand what _means?

8.2 (C) complete analogies that describe a fw1ction or its description (e.g., pen:paper as chalk: _or soft:kitten as hard:_);

• In this story, the word _is in paragraph _;this word is to_ as_ is to_.

• is to as is to

8.2 (D) identify conunon words or word parts from othet·languages that are used in written English (e.g., phenomenon, charisma, chorus, passe, flora, fam1a);

• What does the expression_ as used in paragraph_ mean?

• The phrase _used in paragraph _means -

8.2 (E) use a dictionary, a glossary, or a thesaurus (printed or electronic) to determine the meanings, syllabication, pronunciations, alternate word choices, and parts ofspeech of words. (STAAR Readiness: RC 1-Across Genres)

8.3 Reading/Comprehension of Literary Textffheme and Genre. Students analyze, make inferences and draw

conclusions about theme and genre in different cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Students areexpected to:

8.3 (A) analyze literary works that share similar themes across cultures; (STAAR Supporting: RC 1-Across Genres)

• The reader can tell that these two stories about different cultures share the theme of_.

• These two literary texts, while about different cultures, share the theme of _.

• While the cultures are different in these two stories, the conunon theme is _.

8.3 (B) compare and contrast the similarities and differences in mythologies from various cultures (e.g., ideas of afterlife, roles and characteristics of deities, purposes of myths); (STAAR Supporting: RC 1-Across Genres)

• What is a major idea found in both myths?

• In comparing_ and _,what was the difference in the moral lessons in the two selections?

• How is the role of_ in the myth _similar to the role of _in the myth _ ?

8.3 (C) explain how the values and beliefs of particular characters are affected by the historical and cultural setting of the literary work. (STAAR Supporting: RC 2-Literary Text)

• How does the historical setting of this story help the reader to understand _'s (a specific character) strong beliefs?

• According to the descriptions of the time in which the story took place, the readef'Can better understand why_

feels the way he/she does because -

• When _made the decision to _,it was because of-

8.4 Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Poetry.Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of poetry and provideevidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to:

8.4 (A) compare and contrast the relationship between the pw·pose and characteristics of different poetic forms (e.g., epic poetry, lyric poetry). (STAAR Supporting: RC2-Litera ry Text)

• How are the characteristics of the poem_ di fferent from the poem _?

• TI1e poets of the two poems_ and _used different specific poetic forms because-

• What is a common purpose in the poems _and _?

• Which of these poems is considered epic poetr y a nd wh y?

• What characteristics do these t wo poems have in common?

• How are the two poems different/alike?

8.5 Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Drama. Students understand, make in ferences and draw conclusions a bout the structure and elements of drama and provideevidence from text to su ppor t their understanding. Students are expected to:

8.5 (A) analyze how different playwrights characterize their protagonists and antagonists through the dialogue a nd staging of their plays. (STAAR Supporting: RC2-Literary Text)

• How did the playwright of this play use dialogue to clearly show _'s(a speci fic character) position on_?

• How did the playwright of _stage this play to demonstrate the position of _?

• In wh at way did the playwrights of these two plays use dialogue differently with the role of the antagon ist?

8.6 Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw concl usions about the structure and elements of fiction and provideevidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to:

8.6 (A) analyze linear plot developments (e.g., conflict, rising action, falling action, resolution, subplots) to determine whethet·and how conflicts are resolved; (STAARReadiness: RC 2-Literary Text)

• Paragraph _is importa nt beca use it helps the reader understand -(how the conflict was resolved)

• TI1rough followin g the devel opment of the plot, the reader can understand-

• How does the author provide the reader with a better understanding of the conflict?

• Wh y is paragraph _im portant?

8.6 (B) analyze how the central characters' qualities influence the theme of a fictional work and resolution of the central conflict; (STAAR Readiness: RC 2-LiteraryText)

• How is the theme of this story influenced by the actions of _?

• How does _'s determi nation cause the conflict to change?

• 1l1e intervention of_ causes the conflict to be resol ved beca use-

• What quality does _have that influenced the theme of this story?

8.6 (C) analyze different forms of point of view, including limited versus omniscient, subjective versus objective. (STAAR Supporting: RC 2-Literary Text)

omniscient: having total knowledge; knowing everything; one having total knowledge

• How are the points of view of_ and _different?

• How does the author's point of view in this story support the author's purpose?

• _is portrayed i n this story as omniscient through a poi nt of view that is _.

• Why is _ 's point of view in this story not based on realit y?

• How does _'s point of view affect his conclusions about _?

• Who has the objective point of view in this story?

• Who is being subjective in their point of view in this story?

• How can the reader tell that the point of view of_ is not based on realit y?

8.7 Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Literary Nonfiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the varied structural patterns andfeatures of literary nonfiction and provide evidence from text to su pport their understanding. Students are ex pected to:

8.7 (A) analyze passages in well-known speeches for the author's use of literary devices and word and phrase choice

(e.g., aphorisms, epigraphs) to appeal to the audience.(STAAR Supporting: RC 2-Literary Text)

• In President Lincoln 's famous Gettysburg Address, what did Lincoln mean by the line," "?

• When _said "_" in his/her famous speech, how was he/she trying to appeal to the audjence?

• A quote from a famous speech by_ in this passage means -

8.8 Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Sensory Language. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about how an author's sensor y languagecreates imagery in literary text and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Studen ts are expected to:

8.8 (A) explain the effect of similes and extended metaphors in literary text. (STAAR Supporting: RC 2-Literary Text)

• When the author used the words "_," what was the intended impact on the reader?

• How did the a uthor's descriptions of the settin g enhance the reader's understanding of the story?

• Which literary device used by the author helps the reader to understand the main character a t a deeper level?

• When the auth or used the phrase,"_" in th is story, what did he/she mean?

8.9 Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Culture and History. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about the a uthor's purpose i n cultural,historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Students are expected to:

8.9 (A) analyze works written on the same topic and compare how the authors achieved simila r or different purposes. (STAAR Supporting: RC 1-Across Genres)

• How did the authors of these two selections achieve different purposes?

• How did the authors of these two selections achieve the same purpose?

• What do the au thors' purposes i n these two selections have in common ?

• How are the authors' purposes i n these t wo selections alike/different?

8.10 Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Expository Text. Students a nalyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about expository text and provideevidence from text to support their understanding. St udents are expected to:

8.10 (A) summarize the main ideas, supporting details, and relationships among ideas in text succinctly in ways that maintain meaning and logical order; (STAARReadiness: RC 3-Informational Text)

• What is this article mostly about?

• What is the main idea of paragraphs _to_?

• What did _do? (suppor ting detail)

• What are the four most important facts in this information ? (summary)

• Which of the following is the best sununary of this article?

• A summary of this information i s _.

8.10 (B) distinguish factual claims from commonplace assertions and opinions and evaluate inferences from their logic in text; (STAAR Supporting: RC 3-Informational Text)

• Which of the following lines from the article is an opinion?

• Which of the following lines from the article is a fact?

• An opinion expressed in this information is _.

• An assertion not based on facts in this information is

• Does the conclusion made by the author seem logical based on the facts presented in this ar ticle?

8.10 (C) make subtle inferences and draw complex conclusions about the ideas in text and their organizational patterns; (STAAR Readiness: RC 3--Informational Text)

• What is a conclusion that the reader can make based on the information in this article?

• The reader can conclude that -

• This article infers that -

• A subtle inference made in this information based on how the ideas are presented is-

• What conclusion can the reader make based on how the a uthor organized the ideas?

8.10 (D) synthesize and make logical connections between ideas within a text and across two or three texts representing similar or different genres andsupport those findings with textual evidence.

(STAAR Readiness: RC 3-Informational Text)

• What is an idea found in both selections?

• Wh at is an idea found in these two different newspaper articles and a story on this topic?

• How are the ideas in these two selections alike/different?

• Which sentence in _suppor ts the idea that _?

8.11 Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Persuasive Text. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about persuasive text and provideevidence from text to support their analysis. Students are expected to:

8.11 (A) compare and contrast per·suasive texts that reached different conclusions about the same issue and explain how the authors reached their conclusionsthrough analyzing the evidence each presents;

(STAAR Supporting: RC !-Across Genres)

• In comparing two articles on this topic, what evidence presented by the two authors resulted in two different conclusions?

• How did the two authors reach different conclusions on this issue?

• How did the authors use evidence to reach different conclusions?

8.11 (B) analyze the use of such rhetorical and logical fallacies as loaded terms, caricatures, leading questions, false assumptions, and incorrect premises inpersuasive texts. (STAAR Supporting: RC 3-Informational Text)

rhetorical: language that is elaborate, pretentious, insincere, or intellectually vacuous

(STAAR Supporting: RC 3-Informational Text)

Question stems for Reporting Category 2 for Literary Text:

• How did the talk show host's interview of the author of a new fiction book influence the audience to purchase the book?

• Was the news reporter's strategy for using a story line from a famous novel successful in positively influencing the audience?

Question stems for Reporting Category 3 for Informational Text:

• What technique did the television announcer use to impact the audience with his/her point of view?

• How did the author of the newspaper advertisement use media techniques to influence the reader's point of view?

• Which of the following would be a more formal way of presenting this information?

• Why are text messages considered informal communication?

• Was the information in this television advertisement presented at the correct level of formality and tone? Why or

Why not?

Figure 19- Reading/Comprehension Skills.Students use a flexible range of metacognitive reading skills in both assigned and independent reading to understand anauthor's message. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater depth in increasingly more complex texts as they become self-directed, critical readers.The student is expected to:

8.Fig 19 (A) establish purposes for reading selected texts based upon own or others' desired outcome to enhance comprehension;

• What is the purpose for reading this selection?

• Was your purpose for reading this article accomplished in the actual reading of the article?

8.Fig 19 (B) ask literal, interpretive, evaluative, and wtiversal questions of text;

S.Fig 19 (C) reflect on understanding to monitor comprehension (e.g., swnmarizing and synthesizing; making textual, personal, and world connections; creating sensory images);

• What information did I not understand in this infom1ati ve article?

• Am I adding information to increase my understanding and therefore not reading text dependently?

• What part of this story should I reread to gain a deeper understanding?

• What images are created in my mind when I read paragraph _?

• Am I reading creativel y by adding information to the text based on my prior knowledge and experiences?

• Am I reading text dependently and interpreting the text with only the information provided?

S.Fig 19 (D) make complex infer·ences about text and use textual e'idence to support w1derstanding; (STAAR Readiness: Fiction; Supporting: LiteraryNonfiction, Poetry, Drama; RC 2-Literary Text) (STAAR Readiness: Expository; Supporting:Persuasive; RC 3-Informational Text)

Reporting Category 2 Question Stems for Literary Text:

• The reader ca n telJ from the story that -(Fiction)

• Which sentence in the story telJs you that -(Fiction)

• From this article about _ (a specific character) t he reader can telJ that -(Literary Nonfiction)

• Which sentence in this short biography supports the conclusion that _was a shy person? (Literary Nonfi ction)

• What can you conclude about _ ? (Fiction and Literary Nonfiction)

• One conclusion that can be made about_ is -(Fiction a nd Literary Nonfiction)

• Which line in this poem told the reader that _ was afraid? (Poetr y)

• The reader can tell from Act 1 of this play that-(Drama)

• What did (character) mean when he/she said, " "?(Drama)

• Which sentence in this story tells you that_ (inference)? (Fiction)

• An impmtant inference that the reader can make about _is- (Fiction and Literary Nonfiction)

• What text evidence clearly proves that _was planning to _? (Fiction and Literary Nonfiction)

Reporting Category 3 Question Stems for Informational Text:

• The reader can tell from this article that -

• What inference can be made from this information?

• Which sentence in this infor mation tells the reader that the discovery is ?

• How ca n the reader tell that scientists do not agree on the findings of this investigation?

• Which informa tion in this article telJs the reader that _should receive credit for the discovery?

• Which sentence informs the reader that this information has been written about before?

• How ca n the reader tell tha t tllis discovery is new?

• What is a conclusion the reader can draw about ?

• Which sentence in this informative article (textual evidence) provides the proof for the inference _?

S.Fig 19 (E) sununarize, paraphrase, and synthesize texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order·within a tex1and across texts.

(STAAR Readiness: Fiction; Supporting: Literary Nonfiction, Poetry, Drama; RC 2-Literary Text) (STAAR Readiness: Expository; Supporting:Persuasive;RC 3-lnformational Text)

Reporting Category 2 Question Stems for Literary Text:

• Summarize the four most important events in this short biography of __. (Summary-Literary Nonfiction)

• Which of the following is the best sununary of this stor y? (Summary-Fiction)

• What happened after did in this poem? (Logical order-Poetry)

• What happened when -(Logical order-Fiction)

• What happened before __ became a __? (Logical order- Literary Nonfiction)

• Which of the following summ aries is an accurate paraphrase of the story? (Summary- Paraphrase)

• Does the following summar y of this story maintain logical order? (Logical order)

• Which of the following is the best summary of this information ?

• What happened when discovered ?

• What is the most important fact in the sub-topic ?

• What happened that caused to begin an investigation?

• What is this article mostly about?

• What are the four most important facts in this information? (surrunary)

• Which of the following is the best summary of this article?

• A surrunary of this information is -

8.Fig 19 (F) make inter-textual links among and across texts, including other media (e.g., film, play), and provide textual evidence.

(STAAR Readiness: RC 1-Across Genres)

• What is a theme found in both selections?

• What is a theme found in the film and the play?

• How are the themes in the film and the play alike/different?

• What is a theme found in both selections?

• How are the themes in these two selections alike/different?

• How are the authors' purposes similar in these two selections?

• What do the implied purposes of the authors of these two selections have in conunon?

• How are the authors' purposes alike/different in these two selections?