Strategies
If you have a multi select question and it tells you to select TWO, how many should you pick?
TWO!!!!!! Even if you are not sure of the second answer, pick TWO!!!!!!
What does fiction mean?
Fiction means that the story is fake. It is not real (though it may sound like it could be) and its purpose is to entertain
What does non-fiction mean?
It means that the story is real and has true information in it
Why do I want you to plug your ears and barely whisper to yourself while working on the revise and edit questions?
Your eyeballs will fix mistakes that it sees as the information goes to your brain, but your ears are more likely to catch the mistakes when they hear them.
What is our acronym to help with writing your short answer?
RACE
If you see ANY word you don't know, and you need to know the meaning for a question or answer choice, what should you do?
FIRST, look it up on the online dictionary on STAAR
THEN, if it is not there, raise your hand and look it up in the actual dictionary
How can you tell if a passage is fictional?
You may see dialogue, multiple characters, it may go into detail about the characters or setting, etc
How can you tell if a passage is non-fiction?
When does a word need to be capitalized?
1. When it is a start of a sentence
2. If it is a persons name or other proper noun (a specific person, place, or thing)
3. if it is a day, month, holiday (NOT seasons)
What are the 2 things you HAVE to include in your short answer?
1. Restate and answer the prompt
2. Text Evidence to support your answer
What should be the first thing that you do when you see a new passage?
Walk through the questions: highlight key words or phrases in the question, and highlight anything you need in the passage
What is figurative language and what is its main purpose?
It is language that means something beyond what it actually says. Its main purpose is to create a picture and make connections with the reader
What does author's purpose mean?
the purpose or reason the author wrote something
When an answer choice is asking you to change the tense of a verb, how can you check which verb tense it should be?
Look at the sentences around the sentence in question. If the verbs in those sentences are in a certain tense, then you want the sentence in question to be the same tense as those around it.
What is the difference between an argumentative essay and an information essay? AND How will you know which to write?
Argumentative essay means you are picking a side and explaining why you think that, while informational essays means you are giving information to your reader, which will be based on the passage.
You will know which to do because it will tell you when it says "write a well- organized _____ essay)
When you get to the paired passage, what do you do?
1. Walk through the questions for passage 1
2. Read passage 1
3. Answer the questions to passage 1
4. Walk through the questions for passage 2
5. Read passage 2
6. Answer the questions for passage 2
7. Answer the "both" questions
What are the 5 stages of plot, and what can you use plot to help you write?
Beginning, rising actions, climax, falling action, and resolution
It can help you write a summary
How can you determine the central idea of a passage?
What are supporting details?
The main idea is what the passage is mainly about. That means that each paragraph should be tied to the overall main idea in some way.
Supporting details are the sentences that include details to support the main idea of the passage or paragraph
When you have a sentence that needs revising, you should read the sentence _____ and _____ it to make sure it _____.
When you have a sentence that needs editing you should ________________.
1. Before and after; make sure the ideas flow/connect/ make sense.
2. plug in the answer choices to the sentence to see if that change should be made.
What is our acronym to help with brainstorming your essay? AND What does each letter stand for?
HI RACER; Hook, introduce the topic, restate the prompt, answer the prompt, cite evidence, explain how the evidence supports answer, restate the prompt and answer (in the conclusion)
When you read the essay prompt, what are the first TWO things you should do?
1. Raise your hand and ask me to read you the prompt.
2. Restate the question as an answer, so that you are sure to include it in your introduction, and so you know you are answering the question.
What is an inference and how can you support an inference?
An inference is a guess made by the reader based on the clues the author leaves. Text evidence is the ONLY way to support an inference, because the clues are in the text.
What are the 5 text structures and what is its purpose?
1. description- describe something
2. compare and contrast- point out similarities and differences
3. order and sequence (chronological)- puts events or information in order
4. problem and solution- mentions an issue and how to solve it
5. cause and effect- mentions an event and its outcome
If you see a comma, F.A.N.B.O.Y. (or other conjunction), or BOTH, what do you need to do?
check for if the sentence on the left AND right side of the comma/FANBOY are complete (which means they have a subject, the who, and a predicate, the what).
"Complete on the left, complete on the right, it takes 2 things in the middle to make it right. A comma and a FANBOY"
*Only one complete sentence= a comma OR a FANBOY, not both*
What are the 3 things you HAVE to include in your essay in order to score a 3 or higher (per grader)
1. Be at least 3 paragraphs (introduction, body, and conclusion)
2. Restate the prompt and answer it
3. provide text evidence that supports your answer