Sample Assessment 2004
When you return to school in the fall, your summer reading will be assessed. By the second week of school, your teacher will ask you to bring your summer reading text(s) to class and ask you to respond to prompts, such as the examples you see below. While these prompts will vary from class to class, in all cases you will be having an engaging conversation with a text. Note, this is an “open-book” assessment; you will need your book with you in order to write your responses.
Here is a typical example of the assessment that will be administered to you:
Please respond to items 1 through 4. For each, you should first copy the passage you have selected from your book (or a shortened version of it), then write at least one full paragraph (minimum 100 words) of analysis in response to each of the prompts. You must choose four different passages; you may not use the same passage twice. Your completed assessment, therefore, will contain at least 400 words of analysis (your original writing). In your responses, be sure to cite evidence from the passages you are analyzing.
Your paper should contain a proper heading. Be sure to indicate the title and author of the book you read.
1) A Meaningful Passage
Select a passage from your book that you consider significant to the meaning of the novel and discuss the reasons it is meaningful.
2) A Turning Point
Select a passage from your book that you consider a turning point and discuss the reasons it represents a significant shift, change or twist.
3) The Ending
Choose a passage toward the end of the novel (or select the last paragraph) and discuss the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of your book’s ending.
4) Literary Elements
Select a passage from your book that contains at least one literary element (for example: theme, characterization, structure, point of view, etc.) or technique (for example: symbolism, irony, figurative language, etc.) and discuss how the literary element or technique contributes to the meaning of the passage or the book.