Practice 4 - Instruction:

Tips:

• Read the prompt you will be answering, so that there is a place in your brain to file away ideas as you read!
• If you didn't skim the article or take notes for Practice 3, here's another chance!
• Practice skimming the article for major ideas.
• Before you read the article sentence by sentence in order,
  • first read the title,
  • then read the first sentence of each paragraph to get an idea of the major ideas and what the article is about.
• As you read, use one of these strategies to help organize the information into important ideas, and supporting details.
• Print the article and use a highlighter for important ideas, another color for supporting details
• On notebook paper, draw a web with main or important ideas in a circle, supporting details attached with a line to the circle
• On notebook paper, outline the information in the article. Use the main or important ideas as headings, the supporting details as subheadings under each main idea.

Short Answer Prompt: There are three parts to this question. List two important ideas in the article. Write a question about ONE of the important ideas you listed. Then write an accurate answer for your question. Remember to refer to the article to support your answer. Note: What key elements will be needed for a full two point answer? Choose ONE of the following three options for writing your response. 1. If Microsoft Word is available on your computer, this document allows you to type your answer, use spell check, save, copy/paste text, and/or print the page to turn in. << Click here to open a word form for your response.   2. This file can be printed, and allows you to use your best penmanship (yes, real writing instead of typing), and turn it in to your teacher. << Click here to open a .pdf file for your response.   3. If you are a student taking this class through IA, you will need to use this document for your response. Follow directions on your checklist to copy/paste into an e-mail. << Click here for the text.

You are the an expert at scoring short answer responses now. Go ahead and score your own writing using this criteria:

Points	Rubric
2	shows complete and thorough comprehension of main idea and supporting details uses lots of relevant information from the text to support response
1	shows partial comprehension of main idea and supporting details tries to use information from the text to support response, but it might be limited or not make sense
0	little or no understanding of main ideas or supporting details may answer, "I don't know." no use of text to support answers

This may help identify the key elements in your writing.

Yes	No	Criteria
		I listed two main ideas from the article.
		I wrote a question about one of the ideas.
		I wrote an accurate answer to the question and used information from the text in my answer.

If you check all three yes buttons, chances are you earned 2 points! Way to go.

If you didn't check all three yes buttons, take a look at what was missing, and go back and revise your answer until you can check all three yes buttons!

When you are totally satisfied with your answer, print the Word document with your answer and score for your teacher.

You've worked hard! Hopefully you had some fun too, thinking about other situations.

Self-Check >>