Stomp the Prompt
You're taking CMAS. You get to the essay prompt and you read the prompt. The first step in "stomping the prompt" is to...
Highlight key words in the prompt.
The five text structures are DESCRIPTION, SEQUENCE (or chronological), CAUSE & EFFECT, COMPARE & CONTRAST, and PROBLEM-SOLUTION.
Choose THREE of the text structures stated above and define them in your own words.
DESCRIPTION: a text that describes or explains a certain topic
SEQUENCE (or chronological): a text that shows an order of events
CAUSE & EFFECT: a text that explains a cause-effect relationship
COMPARE & CONTRAST: a text that compares/contrasts two or more things
PROBLEM-SOLUTION: a text that addresses a problem and proposes a solution
On the morning of test day, I should...
Eat a good breakfast!
If the team choosing this slide can correctly answer the following question in 30 seconds, they earn 100 bonus points. If they answer incorrectly, other teams will have 60 seconds to write an answer on their boards and earn 100 bonus points:
What does it mean to "stomp the prompt"? Be specific in each step.
Answers may vary: Stomping the prompt is when you unpack an essay prompt, identifying key words, writing the prompt into a simple question/task, and structure your essay.
What key word from the following prompt tells you your specific writing task? You must correctly identify the one key word that sums up your essay/writing task.
Today you read passages from Amazing Animals: Dolphins and The World’s Smartest Animals: Dolphins. Think about how some of the ideas in the passages are different.
Write an essay that contrasts the important details in the passages. Use specific details and examples from both passages to support your ideas.
contrasts
What is the text structure of the text below? (The five text structures are DESCRIPTION, SEQUENCE or chronological, CAUSE & EFFECT, COMPARE & CONTRAST, and PROBLEM-SOLUTION.)
By Monday night, the town of Chicago was burning. People described it as terrible, but amazing. The flames were brighter than anything people had ever seen. The harsh winds swept the fire across the city with terrible speed. For many who watched, it was a sight to remember for the rest of their lives.
DESCRIPTION
TRUE OR FALSE: A good strategy when beginning the test is to love over the whole test before answering any questions.
TRUE!
If the team choosing this card can name all five text structures in under 30 seconds, they can steal 100 points from another team of choice.
DESCRIPTION, SEQUENCE (chronological), CAUSE-EFFECT, COMPARE & CONTRAST, PROBLEM-SOLUTION
After identifying/highlighting the key words in the prompt, what is the next step in "stomping the prompt"?
Rewrite the prompt into a simple question or in simple terms.
What is the text structure of the text below? (The five text structures are DESCRIPTION, SEQUENCE (or chronological), CAUSE & EFFECT, COMPARE & CONTRAST, and PROBLEM-SOLUTION.)
Daniel Sullivan was the first to notice the flames coming from the O’Leary barn at around 8:30 pm on October 8. A problem with the alarm box made it impossible for the people in the area to call for the fire department. By 9:30 pm, the entire block was blazing. In another 3 hours, there were fires all over Chicago. The heavy wind coming from the lake only made the fire bigger. It would be another day before the fire would be completely out. By that time, 17,500 buildings had been burned.
SEQUENCE (chronological)
TWO PARTS:
1. True or false: My essay should consist mostly of evidence.
2. Generally, my essay should have an _____, _____, and ______. (Hint: what is the GENERAL structure of an essay?)
1. FALSE!
2. intro, body, conclusion
If the team choosing this card gets this answer correct, they earn 300 bonus points. If they cannot get the answer correct, all other teams will earn 300 bonus points:
What is the TEXT STRUCTURE of the following passage?
Students who are frequently absent often have lower average grades than those who have good attendance. When they are out of the classroom, students do not get to see a teacher’s lessons. Even if they attend extra help, it’s usually much shorter and less detailed than the actual lesson. In addition, frequently absent students often miss tests or other assignments and don’t always make up the work.
CAUSE-EFFECT
Based on the following prompt, how should this essay be structured? Create a bullet-pointed list stating GENERALLY what each paragraph should be/discuss.
Today you read passages from Amazing Animals: Dolphins and The World’s Smartest Animals: Dolphins. Think about how some of the ideas in the passages are different.
Write an essay that contrasts the important details in the passages. Use specific details and examples from both passages to support your ideas.
-INTRO (optional: hook, background, thesis)
-BODY 1: important details from passage 1/explain how it contrasts
-BODY 2: important details from passage 1/explain how it contrasts
-OPTIONAL BODY 3: paragraph contrasting both passages
-CONCLUSION
What is the text structure of the text below? (The five text structures are DESCRIPTION, SEQUENCE or chronological, CAUSE & EFFECT, COMPARE & CONTRAST, and PROBLEM-SOLUTION.)
After the fire, thousands of people were left homeless. Many escaped the fire with nothing except the clothes on their backs. Providing all of these people with food, clean water, and shelter was a huge task. Luckily, the city quickly formed a Relief and Aid Society. This group started giving out the food donations that were pouring in from other cities. The society built places for people to live, gathered the tools that people needed to rebuild their houses, and even vaccinated 64,000 people against smallpox.
PROBLEM-SOLUTION
If I'm stuck on a question, a good strategy is to...
answers may vary: bookmark the question to come back to, flag the question, make a note to return to the question, try to answer other questions that I feel more confident in, use the process of elimination
If the team choosing this card gets the following question correct in under 30 seconds, they will earn 400 bonus points. If they fail to get the correct answer, the other teams will have 30 seconds to write the correct answer on their boards to earn 400 bonus points.
What is the text structure of the following passage?
Every year, thousands of car accidents occur because of drivers distracted by their phones. Safe drive Corporation developed a product that will disable cell phones inside a car, and many people feel this product will help save lives.
PROBLEM-SOLUTION
Based on the following prompt, how would you rewrite the prompt into a simply essay question OR in simple terms?
You have read passages from William Shakespeare: Playwright & Poet, “The Screenwriter for Anonymous Defends His Controversial Movie,” and “Who Wrote Shakespeare’s Plays? Debate Goes On.”
Write an essay in which you evaluate how important the Shakespeare authorship issue is to the authors. Explain how the authors use evidence to support their claims about Shakespeare. Include details from all three passages to support your response.
SIMPLE ESSAY QUESTION: How important is the Shakespeare authorship issue to the authors of each text?
SIMPLE ESSAY TASK: Evaluate how important the authorship issue is to the authors of each text.
What is the text structure of the text below? (The five text structures are DESCRIPTION, SEQUENCE or chronological, CAUSE & EFFECT, COMPARE & CONTRAST, and PROBLEM-SOLUTION.)
Why was the Great Chicago Fire so disastrous? After all, Chicago had fire departments and fire alarms. One reason for the terrible fire is that the alarm malfunctioned. The local fire company noticed the fire by accident as it was returning from another fire. As another problem, a watchman who saw the flames directed other fire companies to a location that was nearly a mile away from the fire. Because of these two problems, a fire that could have been controlled rapidly spread across the city.
CAUSE-EFFECT
A. Read each question carefully. Take your time!
B. When you feel unsure, just choose C.
C. Look for key words in the question (like "not" or "except") to help you determine the correct answer.
D. Finding answer options that are SIMILAR can help you ELIMINATE them.
E. When I'm stuck on a question, I should sit there and ponder the question until the answer comes to me.
F. Speed read the questions and passages word for word.
G. Bookmark questions that you're unsure about to return to before submitting.
STUDENTS MUST HAVE ALL OF THE FOLLOWING CORRECT ANSWERS FOR POINTS: A, C, D, G
ALL TEAMS COMPETE FOR THIS CARD: The FASTEST team to correctly stomp the following prompt will earn 500 bonus points.
THE PROMPT: In the passage from The Road to You and the passage from Every Soul a Star characters are central to the theme that people find happiness in different ways. Write an essay in which you analyze how the authors use the characters to develop this theme throughout both passages. Use details from both passages to support your response.
1. Write the following prompt into a SIMPLE question or task. Be sure to capture the key parts of the prompt.
2. How should this essay be structured? (Write your answer with a bullet-pointed list with the general focus for each body paragraph.)
1. How do the authors use characters from both passages to develop the theme that people find happiness in different ways?
2. ESSAY STRUCTURE:
-Intro (optional: hook, background, thesis)
-Body 1: how the author of passage 1 uses characters to develop theme
-Body 2: how the author of passage 2 uses characters to develop theme
-Conclusion (optional: restate key ideas, leave reader with something to think about)