EC-6 (391): English Language Arts and Reading (Communication) (Writing)
Which of the following is NOT a best practice for writing instruction?
Allow students to choose their mode of writing.
A teacher has just assigned an expository writing prompt where students can discuss a favorite pastime or hobby. Which of the following is the next appropriate step for students to take in the writing process?
Brainstorm favorite pastimes and hobbies and choose one for a topic.
Mr. Slater has assigned his class a research project on South America. Each student will research a specific region or people of South America, write a paper, and then present their findings to the class. Mr. Slater wants the parents to be aware of the project and the assessment criteria for the project. Which of the following would be the best strategy to ensure parents are aware of the assessment criteria for the project?
Create a detailed checklist of assessment criteria for each phase of the project and share it with parents.
Which of the following would NOT be appropriate instructions in an editing activity for a third-grade class?
Designate that a writing template should be used.
Henrique, a low-intermediate level ELL student from Mexico, is having trouble with his writing skills. His parents have an advanced level of English and want to help him, but they aren't sure what to do. Which of the following should his teacher recommend? Select all answers that apply.
Encourage Henrique to tell them simple stories as they write them down. Encourage Henrique to keep a journal and write about topics of his choice. Spend time each evening reading together with Henrique.
An English teacher has her ELL students write a persuasive paper on a school policy they feel should be changed. The students choose to offer more juice options in the school vending machine. In writing the essay, which of the following strategies would be the most effective for supporting their argument?
Explain how other schools have implemented similar changes and highlight the positive effects in those specific campuses.
A fifth-grade classroom is reading a primary source document related to their current history unit. The teacher is reading the document along with the students, pausing occasionally to ask relevant comprehension questions. The class was provided with a graphic organizer to complete while reading to help with understanding the main ideas. The teacher is modeling metacognitive strategies and working with students to annotate the text while they read. What else could the teacher have done to ensure her student's are able to successfully read and comprehend the document?
Frontload the lesson by introducing and defining tier 3 or time-period specific vocabulary.
Which of the following technology tools would best facilitate a collaborative writing experience?
Google Docs
Mrs. Pfeiffer is looking for a way to get her fifth-grade student's writing visible to the community. Which option would be the best way to give students an authentic writing experience and benefit the community?
Have students create informational nature signs for the local city and county parks.
After meeting with students individually, a fifth-grade teacher wants to find a way to make her students more accountable for their writing growth. What strategy could the teacher employ to help all students with this goal?
Have students track their progress on specific grammar or writing skills using a line graph or other chart.
A third-grade class has completed rough drafts of original fairy tales. Which of the following activities would best support the students' revision process?
Identify at least two places in the story that would benefit from additional details, elaboration, and/or sensory language.
A fourth-grade teacher wants to improve the students' ability to revise, edit, and publish their written work. Which of the following activities would best address this in preparation for future writing modes?
Instruct and allow practice in word-processing technology using a track-changes feature.
A teacher is giving a lesson on editing and revising writing using a teacher-generated annotation system. Which of the following technology tools would best facilitate this lesson?
Interactive Whiteboards
A teacher assigns a writing project in which students focus on their own unique characteristics. She encourages her students to focus on something that makes them different or that might be seen as a negative thing by peers and describe the positive aspects of it. What is the greatest benefit of this project?
It allows students to practice their writing skills while focused on a personal issue.
Mrs. Sanchez, an English teacher, has her students write a few sentences outlining the purpose of each writing assignment and how they will try to achieve their writing goals. Which of the following is the greatest benefit of this practice?
It allows students to think about and develop a framework to guide their writing.
Mrs. Ling, a sixth-grade English teacher, is introducing an instructional assignment to promote her students' writing skills. Before she provides the writing assignment, she asks each student to think of a person they view as a role model and then list five characteristics they like about their role model. Once each student has completed the activity, she instructs her students to construct a three-paragraph essay about what makes a good role model. Which of the following is the most beneficial reason for the teacher to ask each student to list five characteristics of their role model?
It allows the teacher to identify a foundation to help the students begin their writing activity.
In what ways can parents help solidify to their young child the importance of writing? Select all answers that apply.
Point out to their child different forms of writing while out of the house. Read and write in front of their child. Ask their child to write for them or read to them.
Which of the following best describes the primary role of mentor texts in writing instruction?
Provide a clear example of a genre that students can use to guide stylistic and/or structural choices.
Which of the following are appropriate ways for a teacher to help students develop literacy? Select all answers that apply.
Provide flexible classroom seating to facilitate an easy transition between independent work and the opportunity to discuss their reading and writing with peers. Expect students to provide text evidence for their answers.
A teacher is planning instruction on the five stages of the writing process. Which of the following instructional strategies would be most appropriate to facilitate progress through all stages of the process?
Provide students with a checklist that includes each stage in the writing process and steps to take during each stage. Stop after each stage to discuss the next stage and prompt students to take steps to engage in the next stage of writing.
After reviewing student engagement and comprehension during the first semester, a reading teacher is looking for new ways to encourage students to create meaningful connections with the texts they read. Which activity should the teacher choose to incorporate into next semester's plans?
Reader Response Journals
In Mrs. Deaver's fifth-grade classroom, many students seem to enjoy using a word-processing program for writing. However, there are only four computers in the room. How could the teacher best make use of the limited classroom computer access?
Reserve computers for revisions; facilitate student rotations with a computer station to provide time for all students.
Which of the following would be the most effective way to teach young children about task, purpose, and intended audience?
Share and model writing samples that demonstrate appropriate style.
A third-grade teacher plans a lesson that consists of the following activities: Students will feel a sample of polar bear fur, ice, and down feathers. After reading the book Animals in the Tundra, the students will be asked to create an outline for an essay about polar bears or snow buntings. The students will exchange papers and read for any extraneous information followed by the writer making appropriate changes. The teacher will then take a daily grade for the rough draft with the corrections of any grammatical errors. How is this unit an example of individualized writing instruction?
Students are allowed to choose an animal to write about.
How does speaking vocabulary differ from reading vocabulary?
Students are exposed to more varied and higher-level vocabulary while reading.
Which of the following is untrue in regards to students' willingness to participate in class and engage in reading or writing?
Students are motivated to participate when they feel as though the skills they are learning are irrelevant to their future career paths.
What is one benefit of using a word processing program to draft and edit writing?
Students can easily manipulate sentences to improve organization and clarity, so there's no need to rewrite a whole paragraph on paper to fix one simple issue.
How does motivation influence the language arts learning environment?
Students who are motivated, intrinsically or extrinsically, will participate productively in the classroom and are excited to learn.
Ms. Ader wants her students to develop an understanding of how to write for different audiences. Which of the following writing activities will best address this goal?
Students write to a friend about their school experiences so far. Students then rewrite the letter for their teacher.
A fifth-grade class is working through a cross-curricular unit. The students have read primary source historical accounts and informational articles about events and new scientific inventions from the time period. The class conducted a small science experiment and wrote a report about their findings. The teacher notices that her students have begun to seem disinterested in the unit, and students who were previously engaged in the material are not motivated to participate or complete the work. What could the teacher consider that might help engage her class to complete the unit of study?
The teacher should diversify the readings by adding some fiction or creative pieces to the unit.
Which question must be an area of focus when students are engaged in the prewriting stage of writing?
Who is the intended audience?
In order to practice the drafting stage of the writing process, a teacher might ask her students to do which of the following activities?
Write for five minutes about a teacher-designated topic without worrying about structure or grammar.
Which two of the following types of writing would best be categorized as narrative writing? Select all answers that apply.
a memoir a personal journal
Which of the following is the best example of expository writing?
a research report
Which of the following are best described as persuasive writing? Select all answers that apply.
a speech an editorial
Following students' reading of a news article, the teacher has requested that they reread the text, this time annotating as they read. Which of the following would be included in this task?
all of the above
Which of the following will best support early elementary students in the prewriting stage of the writing process?
allowing students to use verbal communication to plan their writing by talking through their ideas
Which of the following would be a reasonable way a student writing a persuasive essay could benefit from peer discussion during prewriting?
by identifying counter-arguments
Which of the following steps in the writing process for a research paper should occur after the student has researched their topic?
create an outline
Mrs. Tockert assigns a four-paragraph essay asking the students to write about a favorite memory associated with a favorite season. The rubric requests that at least 5 sensory details be included in each paragraph. Which type of writing will the students be doing?
descriptive
Which of the following types of writing would be most appropriate when writing a letter of correspondence to a family member about a recent vacation?
descriptive
Which writing type includes specific imagery and sensory details?
descriptive
A third-grade class is beginning the writing process for a persuasive unit. Which of the following lesson topics would be most applicable for the prewriting stage of the writing process?
determining audience
A third-grade teacher plans a lesson that consists of the following activities: Students will feel a sample of polar bear fur, ice, and down feathers. After reading the book Animals in the Tundra, the students will be asked to create an outline for an essay about polar bears or snow buntings. The students will exchange papers and read for any extraneous information followed by the writer making appropriate changes. The teacher will then take a daily grade for the revised essay with the corrections of any grammatical errors. The unit omits which one important step in the writing process?
drafting
During the writing process, fifth-grade students need to be able to organize information and build on ideas by choosing an appropriate organizational strategy which might include sequence of events, cause and effect, or compare and contrast. Which of the following best describes this practice?
drafting
A teacher is planning a lesson about capitalizing sentences and using end punctuation marks. This lesson would be most relevant to include during which stage of the writing process?
editing
The waves lapped lazily against the shore, sending ripples of soft bubbles across her toes. Erin exhaled slowly, taking in the sound of the waves and the feel of the breeze as it danced across her skin. Seagulls cawed in the distance, but seeing as she'd brought no food with her, they left her alone and searched far and wide for fish or food to scavenge. "The beach was surprisingly empty for such a perfect day," she thought, and Erin took the opportunity to remove her shoes, spread out her blanket, and relax with her eyes closed and her face turned pleasantly toward the sun. Waves continued to caress the shore, the seagulls called to one another, and Erin felt her eyelids grow heavy. The seagulls gave a sharp cry. A horse whinnied. Erin sat upright. She wasn't alone any longer. The primary purpose of this passage is to:
entertain
A student is responding to an email from their grandmother. She is buying a new tv and is overwhelmed by the options. She asked them to tell her the difference between a smart tv and a regular tv. The student should reply to this email with which type of writing?
expository
After the flowering time come the vivid green crowns of leaves that at least please the eye. Lizards make their home beneath them, and many a yellowthroat, taking advantage of the plant's foul odor, gladly puts up with it herself and builds her nest in the hollow of the cabbage as a protection for her eggs and young from four-footed enemies. Cattle let the plant alone because of the stinging acrid juices secreted by it, although such tender, fresh, bright foliage must be especially tempting, like the hellebores, after a dry winter diet. Sometimes tiny insects are found drowned in the wells of rain water that accumulate at the base of the grooved leafstalks. Which of the following best describes the excerpt?
expository
Cross stitch is a category of needleworking and has been practiced for hundreds of years. Cross stitch and embroidery both use a thread and needle to create intricate designs on fabric, but cross stitch differs in that the threads are crossed over each other to form little Xs. By combining various shades of thread, sometimes called floss, needleworkers can create intricately shaded and detailed patterns. Cross stitch as a hobby is enjoyed by people of all walks of life, and was one of the forms of entertainment employed by Mary Queen of Scots while imprisoned by Elizabeth I.
expository
Read the following excerpt from The Story of Young Abraham Lincoln, by Wayne Whipple. Thomas Lincoln had become restless again. Fourteen years was a long time for him to live in one place. Abe was seven years old when they came over from Kentucky, and he was now nearly twenty-one. During that time Thomas had lost his wife, Nancy, and his only daughter, who bore her mother's name. While the land he had chosen was fertile enough, the want of water had always been a sad drawback. The desire to try his fortunes in a newer country had taken possession of him. The excerpt is an example of which type of writing?
expository
A teacher is preparing their students for a state assessment in writing and gives their students a prompt to write about an invention. What kind of writing is this?
expository writing
The stages of the writing process should be:
fluid, allowing students to move back and forth between the stages.
During the revising stage of the writing process, which of the following would be most beneficial for students?
holding peer conferences
A third-grade teacher plans a lesson that consists of the following activities: Students will feel a sample of polar bear fur, ice, and down feathers. After reading the book Animals in the Tundra, the students will be asked to create an outline for an essay about polar bears or snow buntings. The students will exchange papers and read for any extraneous information followed by the writer making appropriate changes. The teacher will then take a daily grade for the rough draft with the corrections of any grammatical errors. Which type of writing is being introduced in this lesson?
informational
A fifth-grade teacher is preparing for a round of book groups in her class. Students get to choose their own texts from a preselected list. She is writing a paragraph for each book, providing an overview about what to expect with each option. Which mode of writing will most likely describe these paragraphs?
informative
A teacher hopes to help her students explore more of their city. She has asked students to write a short essay identifying their favorite place in town and describing its characteristics. The best writing type for this essay would be:
informative
As a rule, the larger and coarser ferns grow in moist, shady situations, as swamps, ravines, and damp woods; while the smaller ones are more apt to be found along mountain ranges in some dry and even exposed locality. A tiny crevice in some high cliff is not infrequently chosen by these fascinating little plants, which protect themselves from drought by assuming a mantle of light wool, or of hair and chaff, with, perhaps, a covering of white powder as in some cloak ferns--thus keeping a layer of moist air next to the surface of the leaf, and checking transpiration. Which of the following best describes this type of writing?
informative
Read the following excerpt from The Forest: The White Pine in Europe by H. Mayr. The White Pine has proved so valuable as a forest tree that it has partly overcome the challenges which every foreign tree has to fight against. The tree is perfectly hardy and is not injured by long and severe freezing in winter, nor by untimely frosts in spring or autumn, which sometimes do great harm to native trees in Europe. On account of the softness of the leaves and the bark, it is much damaged by the nibbling of deer, but it heals quickly and throws up a new leader. Which of the following best describes this type of text?
informative
According to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, which of these word sets would be appropriate for a fifth-grade spelling list?
inspect, inspection, select, selection, music, musician
A student wrote the following essay draft in class. The day started innocently enough with a simple breakfast and time with my sister. I went to soccer practice early in the morning as usual, and my coach had us running drills all over the field. I was more tired than usual from staying up late doing math homework. I could blame my teammate or my clumsiness, but my fall was hard and dramatic. As I laid there with my broken foot, I knew my season was over. Which of the following modes of writing is represented by this excerpt?
narrative
The walls appeared to shrink and contract, tightening ever more, squeezing the life from his body. "I have to get outside," thought Noah. "If I stay in here one more minute, I'm going to burst!" Noah ran to the door, wrenching the handle back so hard the door slammed into the wall, leaving a tiny dent in the drywall where the lock hit. As Noah's foot began to cross the threshold, it froze in mid-air. "I can't go outside...what if I see her?" The excerpt above best demonstrates which type of writing?
narrative
In the publishing step of the writing process, it is important that students' writing is:
neatly written or printed from a word processor and that it is clearly understood.
A third-grade class is in the revising stage of the writing process. The teacher projects the following question: Have I used transition words throughout my paragraph? Underline the transition words used and add as necessary. This question helps students revise for which component of writing?
organization
A fifth-grade teacher has collected three different news articles about a recent space shuttle launch, each at a different reading level in order to support differentiation. Which of the following writing activities would NOT be suited to support student comprehension of this kind of text?
paraphrasing randomly assigned paragraphs from the article
Read the following sentence and identify the type of phase underlined. The mountains covered in snow were a far more impressive view than what they were used to.
participle phrase
I hate eating breakfast and would rather just wait until snack time or lunch, but my mom disagrees. My mom says it is important to eat breakfast every day even if you don't feel very hungry when you wake up. I don't know if that is true, but if I have to eat breakfast, instant oatmeal is the best breakfast option there is. You might think regular oatmeal is better than instant oatmeal, but you are probably not thinking about all the benefits that come in those little brown packets. First of all, it is so fast. Instant oatmeal is way faster than regular oatmeal. It also tastes better. My mom says that is because of all the extra sugar. My mom talks a lot about sugar all the time. Apparently, everything has too much sugar, but I don't care because it is delicious. Which of the following best describes this student's purpose for writing?
persuade
A student is writing a letter to his school principal about why each grade should have at least one field trip per year. Which of the following types of writing would be best suited to this goal?
persuasive
Which type of essay is intended to convince the reader of a particular position or point of view?
persuasive
Which list below includes the steps in the writing process, in the correct order?
planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing
A teacher has provided her class with a descriptive writing assignment. The students have chosen a topic and are now filling out a sensory-focused graphic organizer in which they list descriptions that align with each of the five senses. What step in the writing process are the students most likely to be in?
prewriting
A teacher has the students do the following: Determine a writing audience. Identify a purpose. Provide a list of writing topics. Based on the list of activities, which stage of writing are the students most likely working on?
prewriting
Mrs. Loucks is planning a unit on argumentative writing. In which order should she present the information to students to ensure they are the most successful while composing their assignments?
read example papers, teach thesis statements, discuss finding and citing sources, review outlining, review the writing process, write rough drafts, publish final drafts.
A teacher wants to encourage her students to write longer essays about one topic. Which of the following strategies would best meet this goal?
read mentor texts and write essays in their style
At which point in the writing process would a student's writing most benefit from peer input?
revision
Students in a 5th-grade class have been working on writing biographies about important people from history. Today's writer's workshop activity required them to reread their writing and identify ideas that need elaboration or clarification. They have also been asked to consider the organization of their essay to ensure that information is presented in a logical order. Which stage of the writing process are these students working in?
revision
A teacher displays the following paragraphs for her class, and they discuss the differences between the two paragraphs. Next, she displays a set of sentence frames that contain a variety of coordinating and subordinating conjunctions. She asks her students to look back in their writer's notebooks to identify examples of each sentence type. Which of the following best describes the writing skill the teacher is supporting with this lesson?
sentence variety
Fourth-grade students have just completed a reading unit focusing on thematic elements and morals. Which of the following types of writing should the students undertake to best demonstrate their understanding of theme and morals?
short story
A teacher creates a writing assignment where students write a review of a business or restaurant they recently visited. In this review, students are to describe a situation in which something negative happened. They can choose whether or not the business handled the situation well or not, including that component in the review. According to the TEKS, this writing assignment would be most appropriate for which grade level?
sixth grade
Which of the following best describes the elements students must have a clear understanding of before beginning a writing assignment?
task, purpose, and intended audience
Students need to understand and be able to use the key elements of persuasive essays. Which one of the following elements is not typically in a persuasive essay?
the development of characters
What is meant by purpose with regards to writing instruction?
the intention for writing
Which of the following is best promoted by allowing students to write to each other or family members during class time?
the understanding that there are real-world purposes for writing
When helping students improve their essay writing skills, corrective feedback should be given:
throughout the writing process.
Once a week, a teacher presents students with two or three options of nonfiction texts, usually informational texts covering topics she thinks the students would enjoy. She asks the students to independently choose one of the texts to read silently. After the silent reading time ends, the class briefly shares what they found interesting about the articles. The most likely goal of this activity is:
to build her student's background knowledge and increase their vocabulary.
Below is a sample of a student written narrative. Last week my dad was out of town and my mom dragged me all over the place to run errands instead of letting me stay home alone. She should let me stay home alone because I am smart and responsible. I know how to call 911 if there is an emergency. I even knew how to make my own eggs if I get hungry and I won't get hungry because she isn't even gone that long and I can wait a really long time to eat if I need to. She could even just leave snacks for me like granola bars or chips. It is not like she buys me food when I go with her anyway. I would lock all the doors and be safe and follow all the normal rules. The student writing sample be fits the characteristics of which writing purpose?
to persuade
Why is it important for students to incorporate text evidence into their writing responses?
to support their conclusions
While reading a piece of fiction writing, a teacher asks her class to select a short passage and rewrite the story from a different character's point of view. What is the most likely goal of this writing activity?
to understand how perspective and point of view impact a text
Which of the following activities would be most appropriate for a student in the publishing stage of the writing process?
typing an essay using a word processing program
Which activity would be appropriate during the prewriting stage of writing?
use of a graphic organizer to brainstorm ideas
When a student is revising their essay, which of the following elements of writing should the student evaluate when determining whether they have appropriately considered their audience?
word choice and tone
Which type of technology would be most beneficial to use while students practice drafting a new piece of writing?
word-processing programs
Why is incorporating multiple types, genres, lengths, and styles of writing into the classroom important for student writing success? Select all answers that apply.
writing with different styles, genres, and types allows students to practice writing skills in authentic and meaningful ways, to show students that school is not the only place where writing occurs
A fifth-grade teacher has made some changes in how she will organize her class's personal narrative writing unit this year. In the past, she has provided each student with a checklist to track their progress through the writing process. This year she has displayed the different stages of the writing process on the board and given each student a magnet with their name on it. Each day, during the writer's workshop, the students place their magnet in the section that represents their current stage in the writing process. During one writing mini-lesson, the teacher places her own magnet in the "drafting" section and models using her pre-writing graphic organizer to guide her writing during the drafting step. She writes a few sentences related to the ideas on her planning document before stopping to say, "You know what! I just thought of another memory that relates to this topic!" She then goes to the board, moves her name magnet from "drafting" back to "prewriting" and models adding the new idea into her graphic organizer, describing her thought process about how this new idea will fit in with the other ideas included in her pre-writing work. Which of the following is the teacher emphasizing by both the mini-lesson and the change in how the students track their progress in the writing process?
The writing process is not linear, and should be recursive.
During independent reading, a teacher requires students to complete a reader response journal. What is a benefit of using reader response journals?
They provide a space for students to interact with the text in unique and personal ways.
Mr. Harris wants to create a writing assignment that allows students to write with an authentic and meaningful purpose. Which one of the following assignments would best accomplish Mr. Harris' goal?
Use Word to type a letter to an elected official about a student-chosen need in the community. Print and send the letters.