Reasons
True or False?
Your reasons include direct quotes from the story.
FALSE
What’s missing from the evidence below?
There are papers taped to the door when I get home from school. I pull them off and hand them to Mama when I go inside… She looks at the papers and doesn’t say anything, just sets them aside.
It is missing quotation marks, AND it does not have a lead-in!
What is 1 of the success criteria for writing an analysis? (in other words, what is 1 thing you should always include in your analysis?)
Possible answers:
explain your thinking, explain how your evidence proves your reason to be true, include an inference (something that hasn’t been said in the text), DO NOT restate or summarize what the evidence says
“Character Traits” are words that describe a character’s personality, or qualities that make them who they are.
TRUE
or
FALSE?
True!
Only one of the sentences below is an example of a reason, which of the following is it?
Statement 1: Mama is irresponsible because she doesn’t take care of her kids.
Statement 2: Mama is irresponsible.
Statement 1 is a reason!
(Statement 2 is a claim!)
When choosing the best pieces of evidence to include in your essay, what do you want to consider?
Answers vary, but could be:
- Evidence that relates to your claim
- Evidence that supports your reason
- Evidence that comes straight from the text
Where in your essay should the analysis be?
Possible answers: after the evidence, after each piece of evidence, in your body paragraphs, etc.
Read the passage below. Then, determine which character trait best describes Isabel.
Isabel focused her gaze on the cafeteria’s corner table: Mark was eating lunch alone… again. She sighed. She and Mark had never really been good friends, but she didn’t like to see anyone sitting by themselves every day. She made her way toward the corner table, and Mark looked up in surprise.
“Hi…?” Mark stammered.
“Hey,” Isabel said, sitting down. “Mind if I sit here?”
Mark revealed the slightest hint of a smile. “Sure.”
“Don’t you have anything to eat?” Isabel asked.
Mark shrugged, embarrassed. “I guess Mom forgot to go shopping,” he replied.
Isabel slid her tray toward Mark. “Here, have some of mine,” she said. “I have way too much anyway.”
A) Forgiving
B) Rude
C) Generous
D) Brave
C) Generous
What’s wrong with the reason below?
For starters, one reason why Mama is irresponsible is because she said, “Go get your sister and tell Miz Rita I say thanks.”
It skips the reason altogether. This goes straight from the claim ("Mama is irresponsible") to the evidence (the words in quotation marks.).
Which evidence best supports the reason, “Isaiah is responsible because he takes care of Charlie?”... and why?
A) “Go get your sister, and tell Miz Rita I said thanks” (p. 90).
B) “I help Charlie take a bath and tuck her into bed” (p. 94).
B.
A is something that Mama tells Isaiah to do, but it doesn't really show Isaiah doing a caretaking task. In B, we see Isaiah taking specific actions to take care of Charlie.
The analysis below needs to be improved because it does not meet all of our success criteria. Why does the analysis not meet our criteria?
To begin, Mama is irresponsible because she makes other people take care of her children. For example, she expects other people to feed Charlie. In the text, it says, “‘Saiah, Mama said for you to fix me breakfast” (p. 90). This shows that Mama is irresponsible because she expects other people to take care of her children.
Possible answers: No inference; repeats reason.
Read the passage below. Then, complete this sentence:
The word that best describes Jayden is ________.
Jayden furrowed his brow and squinted to see the finish line. He took a deep breath and stretched his legs. “I don’t know, Coach,” he said. “I’ve only done the 100-meter dash; I’m not sure I can do the 800.”
Coach clapped Jayden on the back. “You got this, Jay, come on.”
Jayden’s legs started to shake. He felt sweat coating his palms. “But Coach --” he pleaded.
“Jayden, come on,” Coach said, sounding exasperated. “You gotta have a little confidence.”
Insecure (or other similar word)
A student is writing an essay with the claim "The word that best describes Isaiah is responsible." Her reasons are:
1. Isaiah is responsible because he takes care of Charlie.
2. Isaiah is responsible because he takes care of his family.
These reasons need some work. What advice would you give this student to improve her reasons?
The reasons are too similar; it will be hard to find evidence that only supports one reason or the other. The reasons are saying almost the same thing, because Charlie is part of Isaiah's family.
What’s wrong with the evidence below?
Mama had bottles all over the place that she ripped the labels off so that Isaiah and Charlie didn’t know what they were.
The evidence isn’t a direct quote, it’s paraphrased.
Write an analysis for this reason and evidence.
To begin, Isaiah is responsible because he takes care of Mama. For example, he tries to make sure she eats, just as a parent would for a child. He even makes her the same food he makes Charlie: the text states, “Mama, you hungry? Cuz I made waffles” (p. 90). [Insert analysis here.]
Answers will vary.
Correct answers will contain an inference that connects Isaiah making waffles to the reason "takes care of Mama."
At 8:18 a.m., Calven jolted awake. “Oh no!” he cried. “I’m late!” He threw on some clothes, ran the whole way to school, and arrived during 2nd period. Later that day, Calven spotted his crush in the hallway, and before he knew it, the tardy bell had rung and he was late to 7th period. After school, Calven’s locker exploded into the hallway, a mess of papers, garbage, and hoodies spilling out onto the floor. By the time he cleaned up the mess and sprinted to the exit, his bus was pulling away. He’d missed it… again.
This passage contains an again and again. What is the again and again, AND what character trait can we infer about Calven based on the again & again?
The A&A is Calven being late.
Calven is irresponsible, disorganized, not punctual/prompt, etc.
Read the short story “The Lion and the Mouse,” then answer the questions that follow.
A Lion lay asleep in the forest, his great head resting on his paws. A timid little Mouse came upon him unexpectedly, and while panicking to get away, ran across the Lion's nose. Awoken from his nap, the Lion laid his huge paw on the tiny creature to kill her.
"Spare me!" begged the poor Mouse. "Please let me go and some day I will surely repay you."
The Lion was much amused to think that a Mouse could ever help him. But he was feeling generous that day and finally let the Mouse go.
Some days later, while stalking his prey in the forest, the Lion was caught in the toils of a hunter's net. Unable to free himself, he filled the forest with his angry roaring. The Mouse knew the voice and quickly found the Lion struggling in the net. Running to one of the great ropes that bound him, she gnawed it until it parted, and soon the Lion was free.
"You laughed when I said I would repay you," said the Mouse. "Now you see that even a Mouse can help a Lion."
First, write a claim to answer the question, what word best describes the Mouse?
Second, write a REASON that answers WHY your claim is true.
Answers may vary. Possibilities include...
1. The word that best describes the Mouse is considerate/kind/understanding/selfless
2. The Mouse is [character trait] because…(answers vary, but should clearly answer the question WHY)
Read the short story “The Lion and the Mouse,” then answer the questions that follow.
A Lion lay asleep in the forest, his great head resting on his paws. A timid little Mouse came upon him unexpectedly, and while panicking to get away, ran across the Lion's nose. Awoken from his nap, the Lion laid his huge paw on the tiny creature to kill her.
"Spare me!" begged the poor Mouse. "Please let me go and some day I will surely repay you."
The Lion was much amused to think that a Mouse could ever help him. But he was feeling generous that day and finally let the Mouse go.
Some days later, while stalking his prey in the forest, the Lion was caught in the toils of a hunter's net. Unable to free himself, he filled the forest with his angry roaring. The Mouse knew the voice and quickly found the Lion struggling in the net. Running to one of the great ropes that bound him, she gnawed it until it parted, and soon the Lion was free.
"You laughed when I said I would repay you," said the Mouse. "Now you see that even a Mouse can help a Lion."
What evidence from the story above best describes the claim/reason, the word that best describes the Lion is foolish?
Answers may vary.
Sample answers:
“The Lion was much amused to think that a Mouse could ever help him.” "
“...the Lion was caught in thr toils of a hunter’s net. Unable to free himself…"
Read the short story “The Farmer and the Mule,” then answer the questions that follow.
Once there was a farmer who owned an old mule. One day the mule fell into the farmer's well. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving.
Instead, he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.
Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back he could shake it off and step up. This he did, scoop after scoop landing on his body. He said to himself, "Shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up!"
No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought and just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up.
It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped up and stepped over the wall of that well.
Read the following student’s claim and body paragraph for the purpose question, what word best describes the mule? THEN, identify the student’s mistake in their analysis.
Claim: The word that best describes the mule is determined.
Body Paragraph: The mule is determined because he didn’t let the farmer or his nieghbors bury him. This can be seen in the text when it said, “....shake it off and step up! No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed the old mule fought…” This evidence demonstrates that the farmer was being cruel to the mule, and he wanted to bury the mule faster with the help of his neighbors.
Answers vary, but could be:
- Analysis does not stay on topic with the reason - Analysis doesn’t explain the evidence
- Analysis supports a different claim/reason about the Farmer (not the mule)
*Technically this analysis does make an inference, but it’s still off topic*
In “The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn,” we made the inference that Mama is irresponsible. One way we knew she was irresponsible is that Mama often stays in bed all day instead of taking care of her children. What signpost is this an example of, and how do you know?
Contrast & Contradiction; usually, a parent would get up to take care of their children. (Or something similar!)