English I Writing EOC Retest Students: Sample Short Stories

To become better familiar with the practice and strategies of writing the 26-line story, I have begun writing 250(ish)-word stories, at least one per day. Each story is based on a prompt (not necessarily EOC-style, but they get the job done), and I do my best not to have a story in mind when I create the prompt. Occasionally, I comment on the writing process, as well.

If you'd like to see the stories, check out my other blog Wordstorm. If you'd like to write a story based on the prompt, print out a 26-line page, and have fun! If you'd like feedback, type the story into an email and send it to me.

Enjoy!

Sophomores, Freshmen: EOC Retest Info

If you need to retake an English EOC exam, please do.
Testing takes place on the following dates:

Monday, July 8: English I & III Writing
Tuesday, July 9: English I & III Reading
Wednesday, July 10: English II Writing
Thursday, July 11: English II Reading

If you need to retest for another subject, do that too.
Here's the info on that:

Monday, July 15: Physics and World History
Tuesday, July 16: Biology, Geometry, and US History
Wednesday, July 17: Algebra I and Chemistry
Thursday, July 18: Algebra II and World Geography

All tests will be administered at W.T. White High School.
Please contact the office for more information.
Address: 4505 Ridgeside Dr, Dallas
Phone: (972) 502-6200

Pre-AP English II: Reading Test Tips

If the Reading Test materials are completely separate from the Writing Test, I'll be able to update this until 6:30am on April 4th. Otherwise, like the Writing Test Tips post, I won't be able to provide additional tips beyond 6:30am on the 3rd.

[6:15pm] The following are some tips for the Open-Ended Question. Make sure you understand key terms in the question, particularly literary elements like "symbolize," "compare," "contrast," or "figuratively"

• symbolize: likely a material object is representing a larger thing, possibly even an idea or concept
• compare: what are similarities
• contrast: what are differences
• figuratively: something metaphorical (not necessarily a metaphor, but definitely not literally true)

Answer all parts of the question.

• If the question asks about something "before and after," or "at the beginning and the end" your answer must address both. "Throughout the course of the story" also means "beginning and end." Sneaky.

Higher level vocabulary can boost your score if you use it correctly.

Your text evidence must relate to and support your idea/answer. Be very careful. Act as if your reader hasn't read the story and cannot fill in any gaps of logic you may have skipped over.

[4:15pm] Here's a page with tips for embedding quotations.

[3:40pm] Grammar Girl has "quick and dirty" tips covering:

• Grammar (duh),
• Punctuation, and
• Word Choice

[3:20pm] The Oatmeal has several web-comic/poster guides to better spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Some include vocabulary of questionable appropriateness. Fair warning.

Pre-AP English II: Writing Test Tips

Due to test security issues, I will be unable to update this post after 6:30am on April 3rd. New tips will be loaded directly below this paragraph and will be preceded by the time I added the tip. Enjoy!

[3:40pm] Grammar Girl has "quick and dirty" tips covering:

• Grammar (duh),
• Punctuation, and
• Word Choice

[3:20pm] The Oatmeal has several web-comic/poster guides to better spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Some include vocabulary of questionable appropriateness. Fair warning.

[3:00pm] Write your essay on the proper page. Remember that the prompts and the answer documents are symbol-coded. If the prompt has triangles at the top, be sure to write your response in the 26-line box with triangles at the top. Likewise circles, squares, diamonds, horseshoes, rainbows, four-leaf clovers, etc.

[2:55pm] Graphic organizers are powerful tool. Use them!

• Expository Graphic Organizer
• Persuasive Graphic Organizer

[2:50pm] Make sure you write the correct essay based on the prompt. Remember:

• Position = Persuasive
• Explain = Expository

English Students: Graphic Organizers

If you need to practice with more copies of the graphic organizers we used in class (and you do), please download and print them:

• English I Literary Selection (short story)
  
  
• English I/II Expository Essay
  
  
• English II Persuasive Essay

Enjoy!

English I (Pre-AP): Two More "Flash" Fiction-Writing Resources

This page discusses writing stories 100 words or fewer. You should write more than that, but the page has a couple good tips, nonetheless.

Squidoo also has a flash fiction how-to page. Again, some of the material is for writing far less than you should on your End-of-Course exam, but some good observations and examples can be found, too.

English I (Pre-AP): Short short stories

Please check out this website of short-short stories. Each is 250 words or less (if you write an average of 10 words per line on your literary composition on Monday, you'll write 260 words).

I've scanned the stories and haven't come across anything classroom-inappropriate, but don't let that deter you from reading them. (Conversely, if you come across something offensive, please don't freak out.)

All English Students: Field Test on End-of-Course Exam

I just found out there WILL be field test questions on your EoC exams.

We'll talk more about what that means next week.

Pre-AP English II: Persuasive Essay / Thoughts vs. Actions

If you missed class today, you missed an opportunity to write an End of Course-style Persuasive Essay. In approximately 45 minutes (and 26 lines) please respond to the following prompt:

Write an essay stating your position on which is more important: what a person thinks or what a person does. Be sure to —

• state your position clearly
• use appropriate organization
• provide specific support for your argument
• choose your words carefully
• edit your writing for grammar, mechanics, and spelling

At the end of the essay please answer the following question: What are 2 clues in the prompt/"be sure to..." that inform you that you should write a persuasive, rather than an expository, essay? (Bullet points are fine.)

English I (Pre-AP): Timed Writing / Forgiveness

If you missed class today, you missed an opportunity to participate in an End of Course-style timed writing. In approximately 45 minutes (and 26 lines) please respond to the following prompt:

Write a story about the power of forgiveness. Be sure that your story is focused and complete and that it has an interesting plot and engaging characters.

At the end of the story please answer the following question: Besides the word "story" in the prompt, what are 2 other clues that you should not respond with an expository essay? (Bullet points are fine.)

English Students: The Big Spring Break Packet

If/when you lose your Big Spring Break Packet, download and print out another.

Enjoy!

English Students: "Moving" Expository Essay Prompt

Read the information in the box below.

Why are you reading the information in this box? You are wasting time. Even if there were something relevant in this box, it would not help you write your essay successfully. It would only result in your essay sounding like everyone else’s essay, and that will hurt your score.

Did you read the information in the box above? Think carefully about your shame, and your shame for reading this paragraph, too.

Write an essay explaining the effect moving to a new place can have on a person’s life. Be sure to —

• clearly state your thesis
• organize and develop your ideas effectively
• choose your words carefully
• edit your writing for grammar, mechanics, and spelling

English Students: EOC Challenge

FOR THE RECORD: If 95% of my students pass their End-of-Course (EOC) exam, I will celebrate their achievement by dyeing my hair red AND shaving my sideburns into stars (starburns).

Pre-AP English II: EOC Reading Retest Tips

Remember: for the Short-Answer responses, your answer (idea) must be expressed differently than what text evidence you use to support it. If you repeat the information in the supporting text, you run the risk (likelihood) of scoring a zero (0) rather than a one or two (1 or 2).

Your text evidence needs to be embedded in your own words. At least start off with a citation from the text: As Clarence says in paragraph 14, "blah blah blah."

Better yet, follow up the quote with analysis that clarifies an explanation of your original answer: When the author says "yadda yadda yadda," it makes it clear that .... (Your clarification should be expressed in different words than your original answer and the supporting text.)

Crossover: For a graphic organizer to help you with the crossover (or "multiple selection" short-answer), click the graphic, above. Essentially, it's two single-selection responses with an "umbrella" response covering both.

Multiple Choice tips
On questions asking for definitions, make sure that the definition you pick fits the context of the sentence/paragraph where it is being used. It is likely that multiple answers will match definitions given in the dictionary.

On questions that ask "what word/phrase helps you understand the meaning of" a phrase in the text, what they're looking for is what word is a synonym for the word/phrase in question or which answer best matches the definition of the word/phrase in question. Again, it is likely that all the answers appear in the portion of the text being looke at.

English I (Pre-AP): Timed Expository Writing (Fear in Society)

Read the information in the box below.

In 1933, when taking office for the first time, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced in his inaugural address, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Sometimes fears become overblown, while other times they’re justified. Think carefully about this statement.

Write an essay explaining the role fear plays in society.

Be sure to —

• clearly state your thesis
• organize and develop your ideas effectively
• choose your words carefully
• edit your writing for grammar, mechanics, and spelling

Maximum length: 26 lines

All Pre-AP English Students: EOC-Style Expository Essay Prompt

If you weren't in class today, please write an expository essay responding to the following prompt:

Write an essay explaining the importance receiving a good education has in today's society.

Please number the lines on your paper 1-26. This is about the space you'll have available for your final draft on Friday. Feel free to go beyond the 26th line on your draft. You'll need to revise it anyway.

All Pre-AP English Students: EOC Essay Rubric

In class today we looked at the End-of-Course (EOC) rubric for the Expository Essay. Good times.

If you missed class or would like a complete rubric of your own, please download a copy.

We looked at the information for Score Point 3 and considered the "Big Ideas" of each bullet point as follows:

• You must write an expository essay!
• You must have a clear thesis statement that is focused on the topic of the prompt.
• Your essay must "flow."
• You support your thesis with "specific and appropriate" details.
• Your response is "original" rather than "what everyone else is going to write about."
• Your essay has a "sophisticated" tone and demonstrates an advanced vocabulary.
• You use a variety of sentence types appropriately.
• Spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and other mechanics/conventions are all employed properly.

If you want to see the examples of essays we looked at in class -- including the TECHNOLOGIE! essay -- and dig deeper into what make an essay "worth" a score point 3 or 4, please download this document.

Incoming Pre-AP English II Students: EASY EOC

Last spring's English I Writing EOC required you to write three compositions in four hours (along with three revising/editing sections).

Next month will be your first opportunity to re-take the test for a higher score. I found out yesterday that the re-test will only have two compositions and one section each of revising and editing. If you haven't found out your EOC score yet, please contact your English I teacher. If you have found out your score and it wasn't at Level II: Satisfactory, please reconsider a) enrolling in my EOC test prep class (starting next week), or at least b) retaking the test on July 9th.

The English I Reading EOC re-test will be offered July 10th. It will also be one-third shorter in content, but you'll still have the full four hours to complete the test. Please retake the test if necessary.

Last Year's Freshmen: EOC Writing

I'd like to get a handle on what worked for the essay and short story on the EOC -- and what, unfortunately in many cases, didn't. If you remember how you wrote your essay and story -- did you use the fake research company, did you use the characters we made in class, etc. -- or anything else about your strategies, please email me.

cmikesell-at-dallasisd-dot-org

Thanks, and have a great rest of your summer.