Grade 10
IV. English Language Arts Sample Assessment Materials
February 1998
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Sample Assessment Materials
Language and Literature Component
Directions:
The following selection, a chapter from Follow Your Heart by
Susanna Tamaro, has been translated from its original Italian by John Cullen.
As you read the chapter, which is actually a letter, notice how the author
develops mood and characterization. When you are finished reading, answer
the questions that follow.
Reading Passage:
Follow Your Heart
S. Tamaro
Opicina
November 17, 1992
YOU'VE BEEN GONE for two months, and for two months I haven't heard anything
from you, except for the postcard you sent to let me know you were still
alive. This morning, in the garden, I stood in front of your rose for a
long time. Even though we're well into fall, it's still bright red, standing
out solitary and arrogant while the other plants are brown and dead. Do
you remember when we planted it? You were ten years old, and you had just
finished reading The Little Prince, a present from me for passing fifth
grade. You loved that story. Of all the characters, your favorites were
the rose and the fox; you didn't like the baobab tree, the snake, the aviator,
or any of the empty, conceited men sitting on their minuscule planets. So
one morning, while we were having breakfast, you said, "I want a rose."
When I objected that we already had lots of roses, you said, "I want
one that's all mine, I want to take care of it and make it grow tall."
Naturally, along with the rose, you also wanted a fox. With a child's cunning
you had put the simple request before the almost-impossible one. How could
I refuse you a fox when I had already agreed to a rose? We discussed this
point for a long time, and at last we compromised on a dog.
The night before we went to pick it up you didn't sleep a wink. Every
half hour you knocked on my door and said, "I can't sleep." By
seven the next morning, you'd already washed, dressed, and had breakfast,
and you were sitting in an armchair with your overcoat on, waiting for me.
At eight-thirty we were at the entrance to the kennels, which were still
closed. You kept peering through the bars and asking me, "How will
I know which one's mine?" There was so much anxiety in your voice.
I tried to reassure you. Don't worry, I said, remember how the Little Prince
tamed the fox.
We went back to the kennels three days in a row. There were more than
two hundred dogs in there, and you wanted to see them all. You stopped in
front of every cage and stood there without moving, looking distracted and
indifferent, while the dogs flung themselves against the wire mesh and barked
and jumped around and tried to tear the links apart with their paws. The
woman who ran the place was with us. She thought you were an ordinary little
girl, so she kept on trying to interest you in the best-looking dogs. "Look
at the cocker spaniel," she would say, or "How do you like that
collie?" The only reply you gave was a sort of grunt, and you continued
on without listening to her.
On the third day of this ordeal we came upon Buck. He was in the back,
in one of the pens where they kept the convalescing dogs. When we got there,
instead of running to greet us with all the others, he remained sitting
where he was, not even raising his head. "That one!" you cried,
pointing at him. "I want that dog." Do you remember the astonished
look on the woman's face? She just couldn't understand how you could want
to own that pitiful mongrel. Of course she couldn't. Buck looked as though
every canine race in the world had gone into the making of his little body,
with his wolf's head, his soft, drooping hunting dog's ears, his long dachshund's
paws, his fluffy Pomeranian's tail, his black-and-red Doberman's coat. When
we went into the office to sign the papers, the girl who worked there told
us his story. Someone had thrown him out of a moving car at the beginning
of the summer. He'd been so severely hurt that one of his hind legs hung
down useless.
Buck's right here by my side. Every now and then, while I write, he sighs
and touches my leg with the tip of his nose. His muzzle and ears have become
almost white, and for some time now he's had that film over his eyes that
all old dogs get. It touches me to look at him. It's as though a part of
you were here beside me, the part I love the most, the part that considered
two hundred dogs in that shelter so many years ago and then picked out the
saddest, ugliest one of all.
From Follow Your Heart by Susanna Tamaro, translated
by John Cullen. Translation copyright © 1995 by Doubleday, a division
of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Used by permission of Doubleday,
a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
Sample Assessment Materials
Multiple-choice Questions:
1. The first sentence of this chapter is, "You've been gone for
two months, and for two months I haven't heard anything from you, except
for the postcard you sent to let me know you were still alive." How
does this sentence introduce the theme of the letter?
*A. It reflects the letter writer's emotional viewpoint.
B. It describes the setting of the story.
C. It identifies the characters and their relationship.
D. It provides foreshadowing of events in the story.
2. The most likely relationship between the narrator and the intended
recipient of this letter is
A. husband-wife.
B. teacher-student.
*C. parent-child.
D. brother-sister.
3. What point is made by the statement, "She thought you were an
ordinary little girl"?
A. The little girl looked much like other little girls.
B. The kennel owner did not pay much attention to the little girl.
*C. The narrator feels the person she is writing to is special.
D. The adult would decide which dog to take home.
4. In the fourth paragraph the word convalescing means
A. difficult.
B. undesirable.
*C. recovering.
D. rejected.
5. For most of this chapter, the letter writer is
*A. reminiscing about a past episode.
B. remembering a recent event.
C. anticipating the other person's return.
D. recalling a painful time of life.
6. Most of this chapter is told in which person?
*A. first
B. second
C. third
D. fourth
7. Which detail helps to establish the passage of time since the events
described in the body of the letter?
A. the contrast between the rose and the other plants
*B. the description of Buck's present appearance
C. the date at the beginning of the passage
D. the account of the repeated visits to the kennels
8. What is the tone of this chapter?
A. angry
B. ironic
*C. reflective
D. humorous
Open-response Questions:
9. Although the intended recipient of this letter is never directly described,
there are many clues about her and her personality. Describe the person
for whom this letter is intended. Use specific examples from the selection
to support your ideas.
10. Robert Frost once said that writing is a "momentary stay against
confusion." Do you think this quote applies to this chapter? Support
your answer.
Sample Assessment Materials
Composition Component -- Short Session
Directions:
Read the letter below from Follow Your Heart. As you read the
letter, think about writing a letter to someone you would like to meet.
When you have finished reading the letter, read the writing prompt that
follows the letter.
Reading Passage:
Follow Your Heart
S. Tamaro
Opicina
November 17, 1992
YOU'VE BEEN GONE for two months, and for two months I haven't heard anything
from you, except for the postcard you sent to let me know you were still
alive. This morning, in the garden, I stood in front of your rose for a
long time. Even though we're well into fall, it's still bright red, standing
out solitary and arrogant while the other plants are brown and dead. Do
you remember when we planted it? You were ten years old, and you had just
finished reading The Little Prince, a present from me for passing fifth
grade. You loved that story. Of all the characters, your favorites were
the rose and the fox; you didn't like the baobab tree, the snake, the aviator,
or any of the empty, conceited men sitting on their minuscule planets. So
one morning, while we were having breakfast, you said, "I want a rose."
When I objected that we already had lots of roses, you said, "I want
one that's all mine, I want to take care of it and make it grow tall."
Naturally, along with the rose, you also wanted a fox. With a child's cunning
you had put the simple request before the almost-impossible one. How could
I refuse you a fox when I had already agreed to a rose? We discussed this
point for a long time, and at last we compromised on a dog.
The night before we went to pick it up you didn't sleep a wink. Every
half hour you knocked on my door and said, "I can't sleep." By
seven the next morning, you'd already washed, dressed, and had breakfast,
and you were sitting in an armchair with your overcoat on, waiting for me.
At eight-thirty we were at the entrance to the kennels, which were still
closed. You kept peering through the bars and asking me, "How will
I know which one's mine?" There was so much anxiety in your voice.
I tried to reassure you. Don't worry, I said, remember how the Little Prince
tamed the fox.
We went back to the kennels three days in a row. There were more than
two hundred dogs in there, and you wanted to see them all. You stopped in
front of every cage and stood there without moving, looking distracted and
indifferent, while the dogs flung themselves against the wire mesh and barked
and jumped around and tried to tear the links apart with their paws. The
woman who ran the place was with us. She thought you were an ordinary little
girl, so she kept on trying to interest you in the best-looking dogs. "Look
at the cocker spaniel," she would say, or "How do you like that
collie?" The only reply you gave was a sort of grunt, and you continued
on without listening to her.
On the third day of this ordeal we came upon Buck. He was in the back,
in one of the pens where they kept the convalescing dogs. When we got there,
instead of running to greet us with all the others, he remained sitting
where he was, not even raising his head. "That one!" you cried,
pointing at him. "I want that dog." Do you remember the astonished
look on the woman's face? She just couldn't understand how you could want
to own that pitiful mongrel. Of course she couldn't. Buck looked as though
every canine race in the world had gone into the making of his little body,
with his wolf's head, his soft, drooping hunting dog's ears, his long dachshund's
paws, his fluffy Pomeranian's tail, his black-and-red Doberman's coat. When
we went into the office to sign the papers, the girl who worked there told
us his story. Someone had thrown him out of a moving car at the beginning
of the summer. He'd been so severely hurt that one of his hind legs hung
down useless.
Buck's right here by my side. Every now and then, while I write, he sighs
and touches my leg with the tip of his nose. His muzzle and ears have become
almost white, and for some time now he's had that film over his eyes that
all old dogs get. It touches me to look at him. It's as though a part of
you were here beside me, the part I love the most, the part that considered
two hundred dogs in that shelter so many years ago and then picked out the
saddest, ugliest one of all.
From Follow Your Heart by Susanna Tamaro, translated
by John Cullen. Translation copyright © 1995 by Doubleday, a division
of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Used by permission of Doubleday,
a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
Writing Prompt:
| Write a letter to someone you would like to meet. This person may be a real
person or someone you have read or heard about. Include convincing and persuasive
reasons for a meeting. |
- Read the text in the box above.
- Jot down any notes or ideas that would help you write your response.
Use the area below labeled "Notes."
- Write your response in the space provided. You may wish to refer to
the directions
provided before the Reading Passage as you write.
You will not have time to revise your writing. Your response should be
a few paragraphs long. When you are finished, you may check your work and
make corrections.
Notes:
Sample Assessment Materials
Composition Component -- Long Session
Student Directions:
You may use a dictionary during Sessions 1 and 2.
Session 1: This session will be approximately 45 minutes long.
During this session, you should
- plan what you are going to write (take notes or make an outline if
you like), and
- write a first draft on the paper provided by your teacher.
If you have not finished your rough draft by the end of Session 1, you
should be close to finishing. Most of your time during Session 2 should
be spent revising your draft and producing your final composition.
Session 2: You will have another 45 minutes for this session.
During this time, make revisions that improve your composition, and write
your final composition on the pages that follow in this test booklet. When
you revise your draft, keep in mind the things the scorer will be looking
for in your composition (see below).
Scoring Guidelines
Your composition will be given two scores.
The first score will be for your ideas and how well you develop them.
This first score will be based on the following criteria:
- clarity of focus,
- organization,
- use of logically-related ideas to develop the topic,
- use of supporting detail, and
- effectiveness of language (for example, tone and word choice).
The second score will be based on your correct use of standard English
writing conventions, including:
- grammar and usage, and
- capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
After you have written your first draft, these are things you should
check, and improve if necessary, as you write your final composition.
Reading Passage:
Read the following opening paragraphs from a short story by James
Joyce entitled "Araby." When you have finished reading, respond
to the writing prompt that follows.
North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the
hour when the Christian Brothers' School set the boys free. An uninhabited
house of two storeys stood at the blind end, detached from its neighbours
in a square ground. The other houses of the street, conscious of decent
lives within them, gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces.
The former tenant of our house, a priest, had died in the back drawing-room.
Air, musty from having been long enclosed, hung in all the rooms, and the
waste room behind the kitchen was littered with old useless papers. Among
these I found a few paper-covered books, the pages of which were curled
and damp: The Abbot, by Walter Scott, The Devout Communicant
and
The Memoirs of Vidocq. I liked the last best because its leaves were
yellow. The wild garden behind the house contained a central apple-tree
and a few straggling bushes under one of which I found the late tenant's
rusty bicycle-pump. He had been a very charitable priest; in his will he
had left all his money to institutions and the furniture of his house to
his sister. |
From "Araby" from Dubliners by James Joyce.
Copyright 1916 by B.W. Heubsch. Definitive text copyright © 1967 by
the Estate of James Joyce. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division
of Penguin Books, Inc.
Writing Prompt:
In many literary works, the opening paragraphs provide clues for what
is yet to come. Based on your analysis of these two opening paragraphs,
predict how the story might develop. Write a carefully reasoned essay that
includes at least four of the following elements of fiction:
- meaning of the first sentence
- imagery (clear, vivid description that appeals to our sense of sight,
smell, touch, sound, or taste)
- word choice (vocabulary and word combinations that further the effect
of the writing)
- point of view (angle from which a writer tells a story--first person,
second person, third person, etc.)
- tone (writer's attitude toward the subject matter)
- mood (creation of atmosphere in descriptive writing)
- setting (time, place, environment, background, or surroundings established
by an author)
- characterization (creation of people involved in the action)
Write the first draft of your composition on the paper provided by your
teacher. You have the remainder of Session 1 to complete your draft. You
may wish to refer to the Student Directions and Scoring Guidelines as you
write.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Appendix A
February 1998
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Acknowledgments
English Language Arts Assessment Development
Committee Members 1997-Present
Bill Amorosi
Belmonte Middle School, Saugus Public Schools
Sorel Berman
Brookline High School, Brookline Public Schools
Ann Connolly-Tolkoff
City on a Hill Charter School
Anne Graham
Galvin Middle School, Wakefield Public Schools
Yvonne Gunzburger
Hemenway Elementary, Wakefield Public Schools
Susan Horn
Adams Memorial Middle School, Adams Public Schools
William Irvin
Pittsfield Public Schools
Shirley Kountze
Brooks/Hobbs Magnet School, Medford Public Schools
James McDermott
South High Community School, Worcester Public Schools
Laurie Palmer
Memorial School, Natick Public Schools
Lorraine Plasse
Springfield Public Schools
William Rice
Harvard University
David Roach
Millbury Public Schools
Anne Steele
Shrewsbury Public Schools
Sandra Stotsky
Boston University/Harvard University
George Viglirolo
City on a Hill Charter School
Robert Zeeb
Newton Public Schools
Committee Members 1996-1997
Bill Amorosi
Belmonte Middle School, Saugus Public Schools
Barbara Brown
Boston University
Pamela Cornell Buchek
Huckleberry Hill School, Lynnfield Public Schools
Mary Colombo
Lancaster Middle School, Lancaster Public Schools
Anne Graham
Walton Elementary, Wakefield Public Schools
Yvonne Gunzburger
Hemenway Elementary, Framingham Public Schools
Susan Harris-Sharples
Wheelock College
Susan Horn
Adams Memorial Middle School., Adams Public Schools
William Irvin
Pittsfield Public Schools
Cheryl Bromley Jones
Plymouth North High School, Plymouth Public Schools
Joan McCormack
Bristol-Plymouth High School, Taunton Public Schools
James McDermott
South High Community School, Worcester Public Schools
David Moriarty
Medford Public Schools
Jane Nagle
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Lorraine Plasse
Springfield Public Schools
Mary Ellen Toscano
Parkview School, North Easton Public Schools
Peter Trenouth
Silver Lake Regional High School, Kingston Public Schools
Linda Ventura
West Junior High School, Brockton Public Schools
Staff
Petey Ambrose
Advanced Systems in Measurement and Evaluation, Inc.
Rick Atkins
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Ginny Desmarais
Advanced Systems in Measurement and Evaluation, Inc.
Carrie Fagan
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Nicholas Fischer
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Stuart Kahl
Advanced Systems in Measurement and Evaluation, Inc.
Jan Katien
Advanced Systems in Measurement and Evaluation, Inc.
Nancy Kavanaugh
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Susan Modeski
Advanced Systems in Measurement and Evaluation, Inc.
Barbara Natale
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Jeffrey Nellhaus
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Claudia Peters
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Sharman Price
Advanced Systems in Measurement and Evaluation, Inc.
Cathy Schirmer
Advanced Systems in Measurement and Evaluation, Inc.
Ann Sheehan
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Duane Small
Advanced Systems in Measurement and Evaluation, Inc.
Brenda Thomas
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Katherine Viator
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Lisa Westover
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Susan Wheltle
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Mark Wiley
Advanced Systems in Measurement and Evaluation, Inc.
Teresa Zuckerman
John R. Briggs Elementary School, Ashburnham Public Schools (formerly with
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education)
Copyeditor: Gayla Morgan, ESNE, Inc. * Graphic Design and Production:
LMY Studio, Inc.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
|
