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Find out what happens when a young boy meets an unusual creature deep in the bayou! Does Skeeter find a fiend or a friend? After reading the passage, let's go over the scoring of a short answer response to analyze the setting of this story. Read "Weep No More, My Lady," by James Street. Click on the book icon on the right. Keep the passage open as we work through this example.

Weep No More, my Lady

Question Prompt:

Describe the setting of the story, including time and place. How does the setting add to the plot of the story?

Remember to:

Read the question before reading the passage.
Identify the key elements needed in a complete short answer response.

Think:

Remember from the rubrics section we learned to figure out what key elements needed to be answered in a complete response. For this short answer, and for a complete 2 point score, what two elements need to be included in an answer?

Description of the setting, including time and place.

Thinking and explaining how the setting is important to the plot.

Let's see how Student 1 answers this prompt. We will use this chart to figure out this student's score:

Score	Criteria
2 points	analyzes appropriate information and makes thoughtful connections between parts of text develops thoughtful interpretations of text uses sufficient, relevant evidence from text to support claims
1 point	analyzes limited information and makes superficial (light or surface) connections between parts of text develops average or simple interpretations of text attempts to use evidence from text to support claims; support may be limited or irrelevant (not make sense).
0 points	little or no understanding of the passage and does not make connections between parts of the text may answer "I don't know." no evidence from text

Student 1 Answer:

Skeeter and Uncle Jesse are in a dismal bog at night. The first sentence says it is "moonlight." It sounds like a wet wilderness with animals like swamp creatures and frogs, and cypress trees. It must be Mississippi because that is where My Lady escaped. At first you can't tell if it was a long time ago, an "unborn time", or just yesterday. Then I figured out it is around present time because they talk about shooting, and also a station wagon. They only had station wagons in modern times.

The setting adds a sort of scary thing to the plot. It's dark, with swamp frogs, and a "haunting" laugh. It makes me sort of shiver to imagine what kind of animal lives there and goes "gro - o - o." I think the setting makes it scary, not like a supermall, or a zoo.

Think about what score Student 1 earned for this response. Why?

Does the student describe the setting?
Yes, Student 1 includes characters (Skeeter and Uncle Jesse), place (dismal bog, wet wilderness, Mississippi) and time (modern time).

Is the interpretation thoughtful?
Yes, this student pulled information from the beginning, middle and end of the story to figure out setting and used strong thinking to determine the state and the time of the story.

Does this student use relevant information from the text to support their ideas about the setting?
Yes, this student explains why he/she thinks it is night time (moonlight), how he/she knows it is Mississippi, and also talked about the station wagon as a clue to the time of the story. Notice the effective use of quotation marks to use details from the story to guide the explanation. It tells your reader you know what you are talking about when you can use quotes from the story as part of your writing.

Does the student tell if the setting is important to the plot and explain why they think so?
Yes, Student 1 explains how the setting is important to the plot. It creates a scary atmosphere. Making the connection of the setting atmosphere to the word "haunting" shows a thoughtful understanding.

Student 1 writes a remarkable answer to this question about setting. Would you agree on a score of 2? YES, YES, YES and YES!! This answer gives you a strong example of a complete and thoughtful short answer. What are the highlights again?

Answers the question completely.

Description of setting: characters, time, place.

Use of specific parts of the text to explain the setting

Quotes of words or phrases in the text to support ideas

Thoughtful ideas of how the setting makes the story stronger, again using quotes.

All information in the answer makes sense and relates to the question. The student does not go off in a direction that doesn't make sense.

Now that we know what a strong answer looks like, let's review another response to the same prompt.

Question Prompt:

Describe the setting of the story, including time and place. How does the setting of this story add to the plot?

Student 2 Answer:

At first Uncle Jesse and Skeeter are in a swampy bog, during the night, and later they head back to their cabin on the bank of the bayou with My Lady.

Now ask the same questions to evaluate Student 2's response.

Does the student describe the setting?
Yes, Student 1 includes characters (Skeeter and Uncle Jesse, My Lady), place (swampy bog,) and time (night time) and also tells how the setting changes at the end to the bank of the bayou.

Is the interpretation thoughtful?
To answer this question, look at the criteria for a score of 2, and a score of 1. Is the answer "thoughtful" or "average"?

2 points

develops thoughtful interpretations of text

includes characters, time, place, and also the change in setting from beginning to end.

1 point

develops average or simple interpretations of text

Does this student use relevant information from the text to support his/her ideas about the setting?
Some: Student 2 uses the terms of the swampy bog in describing setting, but does not tell why he/she knows it is night. It is clear the writer has figured out the setting, but more details from the text could have been included. You can see the difference between the answers from Student 1 and Student 2.

Does the student explain how the setting is important to the plot?
No, this part of the question is not included in the answer.

The answer is not complete because it did not address the second part of the prompt: How does the setting of this story add to the plot? How do you score a response when part of the prompt is not answered? We know the student cannot earn a 2 point score because the answer is not complete. Is there enough evidence for this student to earn a 1 point score? Let's look at where this response falls using the criteria chart. Yellow highlights indicate description of Student 2's answer.

Score	Criteria
2 points	analyzes appropriate information and makes thoughtful connections between parts of text develops thoughtful interpretations of text uses sufficient, relevant evidence from text to support claims
1 point	analyzes limited information and makes superficial (light or surface) connections between parts of text develops average or simple interpretations of text attempts to use evidence from text to support claims; support may be limited or irrelevant (not make sense).
0 points	little or no understanding of the passage main ideas and details

The description for 0 points does not fit Student 2's answer at all because it includes a thoughtful interpretation of the text to describe setting.

The description for a 2 point score does not fit Student 2's answer because the response is not complete.

Student 2 earns a score of 1. Because the first part of the answer was strong, you might think Student 2 just didn't go back and make sure they answered the entire prompt.

Remember: It's so important to keep in mind the key elements needed in an answer, and then after you are finished writing, to go back and read the prompt again. Identify where in your response you address each part of the prompt.

This means you're ready to try some reading passages, and some questions on your own! Let's go!

Practice 1 >>