Teachers appreciate responses that are detailed and elaborate. These kind of responses reveal a strong comprehension and connection with the text, and they demonstrate support that is vivid. Consider this study guide question from Maupassant's "The Necklace" and several possible responses that show varying degrees of elaboration and connection with the text. Here is the text from the story:
She left about four o'clock in the morning. Since midnight her husband had been dozing in a deserted little room, in company with three other men whose wives were having a good time. He threw over her shoulders the garments he had brought for them to go home in, modest everyday clothes, whose poverty clashed with the beauty of the ball-dress. She was conscious of this and was anxious to hurry away, so that she should not be noticed by the other women putting on their costly furs.
Loisel restrained her. "Wait a little. You'll catch cold in the open. I'm going to fetch a cab."
But she did not listen to him and rapidly descended the staircase. When they were out in the street they could not find a cab; they began to look for one, shouting at the drivers whom they saw passing in the distance.
The question: Why does Matilde want to depart from the ball in a hurry?
• Matilde has to buy a new necklace for her friend. <- This is inaccurate. 0 points.
• Because she remembers she is poor. <- This is not specific, and it's a sentence fragment. 1 point.
• Matilde doesn't have the rich furs like the other women. <- This shows the situation fairly well. 2 points.
• She wants to depart quickly because the ordinary garment her husband threw on her weren't as rich as the others. <- This shows the situation fully. 3 points.
• When Matilde's modest garment "clashed with the beauty of the ball dress," she felt anxious to leave the women putting on their fancy furs. <- This shows the situation fully and includes a direct quotation embedded or tucked in the response. 4 points.
You score it:
A. Because she has no nice clothes.
B. The clothes she was wearing for leaving weren't fancy, and she didn't want to be seen.
C. Matilde flees the women in their "costly furs" because the "modest everyday clothes" that her husband puts on her show that she's not wealthy as her dress suggests.
D. When her husband put a modest garment on her, she didn't want to her poverty shown to the rich women in their furs.
E. She was embarrassed that her husband was dozing in the other room.
Which is inaccurate? Give this a 0.
Which is the least specific? Which is not a full sentence? Give this 1 point.
Which shows the situation fairly well but doesn't have helpful details? Give this 2 points.
Which shows the situation or context most fully? Give this 3 points.
Which shows the situation or context most fully and provides an embedded quotation? Give this 4 points.
Please keep this scale and these kind of responses in mind as you respond to questions on study guides. -- Mr. Chamberlain, Clarke Middle School