PARCC Literary Analysis Task Grade 6 Writing Lesson 3: Understanding the PCR Prompt and Writing a Thesis Statement

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1 Rationale Goals Task Foci Objectives Materials Procedures PARCC s prose constructed response (PCR) prompt represents a significant change from the essay prompts on previous standardized tests. On the Literary Analysis Task, these prompts require students to read closely and draw evidence exclusively from the texts to write their responses. For students to write proficient responses, they need to start with a strong grasp of the prompt s requirements and must be able to develop a strong thesis statement that fully addresses the prompt. To familiarize and help students understand a PCR prompt To have students write a strong thesis statement that directly addresses all aspects of the PCR prompt CCSS W.6.1: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. CCSS RL.6.1: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. CCSS RL.6.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. CCSS RL.6.3: Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution. Students will examine and understand the Literary Analysis Task PCR prompt Students will write a thesis statement that specifically addresses all aspects of the PCR prompt Literary Analysis Task texts (2) Literary Analysis Task prompt Thesis worksheet Part 1 PARCC Literary Analysis Task Grade 6 Writing Lesson 3: Understanding the PCR Prompt and Writing a Thesis Statement Explain that today you will work as a class to understand the prompt for the prose constructed response of the PARCC Literary Analysis Task. LAT Writing Lesson 3: Understanding the PCR Prompt and Writing a Thesis Statement Page Standards Solution Holding, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

2 Distribute the sample texts to students and have them read it independently. For this first read, they can take notes if they d like to, but let them know that they will have the opportunity to take notes during a second reading. Next, present the PCR prompt to the class and distribute the PCR prompt/thesis Statement worksheet. Work through the prompt as a class, asking questions such as: What specific aspects of the text is the prompt drawing your attention to? Is it asking you to compare and contrast how two stories depict a given theme? Is it asking you to compare and contrast two characters? Address any questions the students might have. Tell your students that with this prompt in mind to re-read the texts and look for details they think would help them answer the prompt. Allow time for them to read carefully and make annotations. o Note: Lesson 4 covers text support and evidence in depth. Students will return to their notes from this lesson. In closing, have students share what they noted. To prepare them to write thesis statements, discuss how they could use their notes to develop an answer to the prompt. Part 2 In this part of the lesson, students will use the texts and their notes from Part 1 to construct a thesis statement to answer the prompt. Explain that a thesis statement is a concise, one or two sentence claim about a given topic, in this case the topic elicited from the PCR prompt. Model a thesis statement. Ask students: What makes a good thesis statement? Give students the opportunity to share what they may already know about what makes a good thesis statement. Inform students that a good thesis statement: o answers the prompt completely o clearly states your position o is debatable (someone could argue the opposite) o is one or two sentences o can be supported by evidence from the text After this discussion, tell students that now they will use the texts and their notes to write their own thesis statements. Have students return to the Thesis Worksheet and their annotated texts and complete the assignment. In closing, ask students to share their thesis statements, working through any problems or challenges they encountered while writing them. Teacher Tips For Part I: Circulate around the room while students are doing their second reading and taking notes. Pay attention to what passages students are underlining and if their notes are accurately capturing the information in the text. For Part II: Check for evidence that students are using textual support to develop their thesis statements. Extension Activity Students can evaluate each other s theses for effectiveness. This can be done anonymously. Evaluating the effectiveness of others theses will help students understand the strengths and weaknesses of their own. LAT Writing Lesson 3: Understanding the PCR Prompt and Writing a Thesis Statement Page Standards Solution Holding, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

3 from The Velveteen Rabbit Margery Williams Weeks passed, and the little Rabbit grew very old and shabby, but the Boy loved him just as much. He loved him so hard that he loved all his whiskers off, and the pink lining to his ears turned grey, and his brown spots faded. He even began to lose his shape, and he scarcely looked like a rabbit any more, except to the Boy. To him he was always beautiful, and that was all that the little Rabbit cared about. He didn't mind how he looked to other people, because the nursery magic had made him Real, and when you are Real shabbiness doesn't matter. And then, one day, the Boy was ill. His face grew very flushed, and he talked in his sleep, and his little body was so hot that it burned the Rabbit when he held him close. Strange people came and went in the nursery, and a light burned all night and through it all the little Velveteen Rabbit lay there, hidden from sight under the bedclothes, and he never stirred, for he was afraid that if they found him someone might take him away, and he knew that the Boy needed him. It was a long weary time, for the Boy was too ill to play, and the little Rabbit found it rather dull with nothing to do all day long. But he snuggled down patiently, and looked forward to the time when the Boy should be well again, and they would go out in the garden amongst the flowers and the butterflies and play splendid games in the raspberry thicket like they used to. All sorts of delightful things he planned, and while the Boy lay half asleep he crept up close to the pillow and whispered them in his ear. And presently the fever turned, and the Boy got better. He was able to sit up in bed and look at picture-books, while the little Rabbit cuddled close at his side. And one day, they let him get up and dress. It was a bright, sunny morning, and the windows stood wide open. They had carried the Boy out on to the balcony, wrapped in a shawl, and the little Rabbit lay tangled up among the bedclothes, thinking. The Boy was going to the seaside to-morrow. Everything was arranged, and now it only remained to carry out the doctor's orders. They talked about it all, while the little Rabbit lay under the bedclothes, with just his head peeping out, and listened. The room was to be disinfected, and all the books and toys that the Boy had played with in bed must be burnt. "Hurrah!" thought the little Rabbit. "To-morrow we shall go to the seaside!" For the boy had often talked of the seaside, and he wanted very much to see the big waves coming in, and the tiny crabs, and the sand castles. Just then Nana caught sight of him. "How about his old Bunny?" she asked.

4 "That?" said the doctor. "Why, it's a mass of scarlet fever germs! Burn it at once. What? Nonsense! Get him a new one. He mustn't have that anymore!" And so the little Rabbit was put into a sack with the old picture-books and a lot of rubbish, and carried out to the end of the garden behind the fowl-house. That was a fine place to make a bonfire, only the gardener was too busy just then to attend to it. He had the potatoes to dig and the green peas to gather, but next morning he promised to come quite early and burn the whole lot. That night the Boy slept in a different bedroom, and he had a new bunny to sleep with him. It was a splendid bunny, all white plush with real glass eyes, but the Boy was too excited to care very much about it. For to-morrow he was going to the seaside, and that in itself was such a wonderful thing that he could think of nothing else. And while the Boy was asleep, dreaming of the seaside, the little Rabbit lay among the old picture-books in the corner behind the fowl-house, and he felt very lonely. The sack had been left untied, and so by wriggling a bit he was able to get his head through the opening and look out. He was shivering a little, for he had always been used to sleeping in a proper bed, and by this time his coat had worn so thin and threadbare from hugging that it was no longer any protection to him. Near by he could see the thicket of raspberry canes, growing tall and close like a tropical jungle, in whose shadow he had played with the Boy on bygone mornings. He thought of those long sunlit hours in the garden how happy they were and a great sadness came over him. He seemed to see them all pass before him, each more beautiful than the other, the fairy huts in the flower-bed, the quiet evenings in the wood when he lay in the bracken and the little ants ran over his paws; the wonderful day when he first knew that he was Real. He thought of the Skin Horse, so wise and gentle, and all that he had told him. Of what use was it to be loved and lose one's beauty and become Real if it all ended like this? And a tear, a real tear, trickled down his little shabby velvet nose and fell to the ground. And then a strange thing happened. For where the tear had fallen a flower grew out of the ground, a mysterious flower, not at all like any that grew in the garden. It had slender green leaves the color of emeralds, and in the center of the leaves a blossom like a golden cup. It was so beautiful that the little Rabbit forgot to cry, and just lay there watching it. And presently the blossom opened, and out of it there stepped a fairy.

5 The Busy Blue Jay: True Bird Stories from My Notebooks Chapter 1 Olive Thorne Miller One of the most interesting birds who ever lived in my Bird Room was a blue jay named Jakie. He was full of business from morning till night, scarcely ever a moment still. Poor little fellow! He had been stolen from the nest before he could fly, and reared in a house, long before he was given to me. Of course he could not be set free, for he did not know how to take care of himself. Jays are very active birds, and being shut up in a room, my blue jay had to find things to do, to keep himself busy. If he had been allowed to grow up out of doors, he would have found plenty to do, planting acorns and nuts, nesting, and bringing up families. Sometimes the things he did in the house were what we call mischief because they annoy us, such as hammering the woodwork to pieces, tearing bits out of the leaves of books, working holes in chair seats, or pounding a cardboard box to pieces. But how is a poor little bird to know what is mischief? Many things which Jakie did were very funny. For instance, he made it his business to clear up the room. When he had more food than he could eat at the moment, he did not leave it around, but put it away carefully not in the garbage pail for that was not in the room, but in some safe nook where it did not offend the eye. Sometimes it was behind the tray in his cage, or among the books on the shelf. The places he liked best were about me in the fold of a ruffle or the loop of a bow on my dress, and sometimes in the side of my slipper. The very choicest place of all was in my loosely bound hair. That of course I could not allow, and I had to keep a very close watch of him for fear I might have a bit of bread or meat thrust among my locks. In his clearing up he always went carefully over the floor, picking up pins or any little thing he could find, and I often dropped burnt matches, buttons, and other small things to give him something to do. These he would pick up and put nicely away. Pins, Jakie took lengthwise in his beak, and at first I thought he had swallowed them, till I saw him hunt up a proper place to hide them. The place he chose was between the leaves of a book. He would push a pin far in out of sight, and then go after another. A match he always tried to put in a crack, under the baseboard, between the breadths of matting, or under my rockers. He first placed it, and then tried to hammer it out of sight. He could seldom get it in far enough to suit him, and this worried him. Then he would take it out and try another place. Once the blue jay found a good match, of the parlor match variety. He put it between the breadths of matting, and then began to pound on it as usual. Pretty soon he hit the unburnt end and it went off with a loud crack, as parlor matches do. Poor Jakie jumped two feet into the air, nearly frightened out of his wits; and I was frightened, too, for I feared he might set the house on fire.

6 Prose Constructed Response Prompt In our first story we meet a very inquisitive and busy blue jay named Jakie. In the second passage, the author develops the character of the Velveteen Rabbit. In what ways are these two animal characters alike, and how are they different? Compare and contrast them using examples from the passages to support your statements.

7 Identify what the PCR requires Writing a Thesis Statement Read the Prose Constructed Response and identify what the prompt is asking you to do. In the box below, write a sentence that describes what the prompt is asking you to write about. Give it a try, write a thesis statement Now that you know what the prompt is asking you to do, rewrite the prompt as a thesis statement. My thesis statement: Checklist answers the prompt completely clearly states my position is debatable (someone could argue the opposite) is one or two sentences can be supported by evidence in the text