NT  Reading  Lesson  3:  Evidence   Page  1  ©  2015  Standards  Solution  Holding,  LLC.  All  Rights  Reserved.  

Rationale

The Part B question of an EBSR on the Narrative Task requires students to pick the best evidence to support their answer to Part A. Students should practice finding the best evidence and eliminating the other choices to prepare them for this new kind of test item.

Goal To provide students with practice identifying the best evidence and eliminating irrelevant

evidence Task Foci

CCSS RL.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS RL.9-10.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

CCSS RL.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

Objectives Students will practice selecting the best evidence to support their answers.

Materials

Narrative text (per student) EBSR questions (per student)

Procedure

Tell students that today they are going to work through a Narrative Task EBSR with emphasis on the Part B question. The Part B question requires the student to select the best evidence to support his or her answer to the Part A question.

Distribute the narrative text with the EBSR questions (attached). Ask students to read the text and questions silently. When finished, ask students for a general synopsis of the text. Check that students comprehend the explicit details of the story.

PARCC Narrative Task

Grade 10 Reading Lesson 3: Evaluating Evidence

NT  Reading  Lesson  3:  Evidence   Page  2  ©  2015  Standards  Solution  Holding,  LLC.  All  Rights  Reserved.  

Guide the students through a demonstration of the first question, explaining your rationale as you eliminate incorrect options (Refer to teacher’s guide.).

Give students enough time to answer the second EBSR on their own. Remind them that they can refer back to the text as often as necessary to help them answer the question.

When students finish, go over the question as a group. Ask students to share their rationales. Note: Students won’t necessarily arrive at the right answer the same way. Rationales can vary and are valid as long as they are logical.

Assessment

Refer to the answer key. Because EBSRs are multiple-choice questions, on the actual test, students will not need

to write out their explanations for why they chose the evidence they did. However, this practice will help students think about the answer options critically and also aid them when identifying their own evidence to use on the Prose Constructed Response.

NT  Reading  Lesson  3:  Evidence   Page  3  ©  2015  Standards  Solution  Holding,  LLC.  All  Rights  Reserved.  

An  Excerpt  From  “THE  KREUTZER  SONATA”  

By  Leo  Tolstoy  

1. Travellers left and entered our car at every stopping of the train. Three persons, however, remained, bound, like myself, for the farthest station: a lady neither young nor pretty, with a thin face, a cap on her head, and wearing a semi-masculine outer garment; then her companion, a very loquacious gentleman of about forty years, with baggage entirely new and arranged in an orderly manner; then a gentleman who held himself entirely aloof, short in stature, very nervous, of uncertain age, with bright eyes, not pronounced in color, but extremely attractive,—eyes that darted with rapidity from one object to another. 2. This gentleman, during almost all the journey thus far, had entered into conversation with no fellow-traveller, as if he carefully avoided all acquaintance. When spoken to, he answered curtly and decisively, and began to look out of the car window obstinately. 3. Yet it seemed to me that the solitude weighed upon him. He seemed to perceive that I understood this, and when our eyes met, as happened frequently, since we were sitting almost opposite each other, he turned away his head, and avoided conversation with me as much as with the others. At nightfall, during a stop at a large station, the gentleman with the fine baggage—a lawyer, as I have since learned—got out with his companion to drink some tea at the restaurant. During their absence several new travellers entered the car, among whom was a tall old man, shaven and wrinkled, evidently a merchant, wearing a large heavily-lined cloak and a big cap. This merchant sat down opposite the empty seats of the lawyer and his companion, and straightway entered into conversation with a young man who seemed like an employee in some commercial house, and who had likewise just boarded the train. At first the clerk had remarked that the seat opposite was occupied, and the old man had answered that he should get out at the first station. Thus their conversation started. 4. I was sitting not far from these two travellers, and, as the train was not in motion, I could catch bits of their conversation when others were not talking. 5. They talked first of the prices of goods and the condition of business; they referred to a person whom they both knew; then they plunged into the fair at Nijni Novgorod. The clerk boasted of knowing people who were leading a gay life there, but the old man did not allow him to continue, and, interrupting him, began to describe the festivities of the previous year at Kounavino, in which he had taken part. He was evidently proud of these recollections, and, probably thinking that this would detract nothing from the gravity which his face and manners expressed, he related with pride how, when drunk, he had fired, at Kounavino, such a broadside that he could describe it only in the other's ear. 6. The clerk began to laugh noisily. The old man laughed too, showing two long yellow teeth. Their conversation not interesting me, I left the car to stretch my legs. At the door I met the lawyer and his lady. 7. "You have no more time," the lawyer said to me. "The second bell is about to ring." 8. Indeed I had scarcely reached the rear of the train when the bell sounded. As I entered the car again, the lawyer was talking with his companion in an animated fashion. The merchant, sitting opposite them, was taciturn.    

NT  Reading  Lesson  3:  Evidence   Page  4  ©  2015  Standards  Solution  Holding,  LLC.  All  Rights  Reserved.  

1. Part A: After carefully reading paragraph 2, we can interpret the meaning of obstinately to be:

A. Nervously B. Inquisitively C. Stubbornly D. Cheerfully

Part B: What phrase from the excerpt best helps clarify the meaning of obstinately? A. “short in stature” (Paragraph 1) B. “carefully avoided all acquaintance” (Paragraph 2) C. “very loquacious ” (Paragraph 1) D. “arranged in an orderly manner” (Paragraph 1)

2. Part A: Which statement best reflects a theme developed in paragraph 3?

A. Sometimes a conversation takes place even though no words are exchanged. B. It’s difficult to avoid judging a book by its cover. C. Sharing a cup of tea with a stranger is comparable to conversing with a friend. D. Intimate chatter flows more freely at nightfall.

Part B: Choose the evidence that best supports your answer to Part A: A. “During their absence several new travellers entered the car, among whom was a tall old

man, shaven and wrinkled, evidently a merchant, wearing a large heavily-lined cloak and a big cap.” (Paragraph 3)

B. “This merchant sat down opposite the empty seats of the lawyer and his companion, and straightway entered into conversation with a young man who seemed like an employee in some commercial house, and who had likewise just boarded the train.” (Paragraph 3)

C. “At nightfall, during a stop at a large station, the gentleman with the fine baggage—a lawyer, as I have since learned—got out with his companion to drink some tea at the restaurant.” (Paragraph 3)

D. “He seemed to perceive that I understood this, and when our eyes met, as happened frequently, since we were sitting almost opposite each other, he turned away his head, and avoided conversation with me as much as with the others.” (Paragraph 3)  

   

   

NT  Reading  Lesson  3:  Evidence   Page  5  ©  2015  Standards  Solution  Holding,  LLC.  All  Rights  Reserved.  

Teacher’s Version  1. Part A: After carefully reading paragraph 2, we can interpret the meaning of obstinately to be:

A. Nervously B. Inquisitively C. Stubbornly D. Cheerfully

Part B: What phrase from the excerpt best helps clarify the meaning of obstinately? A. “short in stature” (Paragraph 1) B. “carefully avoided all acquaintance” (Paragraph 2) C. “very loquacious ” (Paragraph 1) D. “arranged in an orderly manner” (Paragraph 1)

RATIONALE: The young man is stubbornly avoiding conversation by staring out the window. Option A is a physical description of the young man, not a description of behavior. Options C and D describe the older man in paragraph 1, so they do not help clarify the meaning of the young man behaving obstinately. STANDARD(S): CCSS.RL.10.4 2. Part A: Which statement best reflects a theme developed in paragraph 3?

A. Sometimes a conversation takes place even though no words are exchanged. B. It’s difficult to avoid judging a book by its cover. C. Sharing a cup of tea with a stranger is comparable to conversing with a friend. D. Intimate chatter flows more freely at nightfall.

Part B: Choose the evidence that best supports your answer to Part A:

A. “During their absence several new travellers entered the car, among whom was a tall old man, shaven and wrinkled, evidently a merchant, wearing a large heavily-lined cloak and a big cap.” (Paragraph 3)

B. “This merchant sat down opposite the empty seats of the lawyer and his companion, and straightway entered into conversation with a young man who seemed like an employee in some commercial house, and who had likewise just boarded the train.” (Paragraph 3)

C. “At nightfall, during a stop at a large station, the gentleman with the fine baggage—a lawyer, as I have since learned—got out with his companion to drink some tea at the restaurant.” (Paragraph 3)

D. “He seemed to perceive that I understood this, and when our eyes met, as happened frequently, since we were sitting almost opposite each other, he turned away his head, and avoided conversation with me as much as with the others.” (Paragraph 3)

 RATIONALE: In paragraph 3, the narrator and the quiet young man communicate without speaking. The narrator knows that the young man does not wish to speak, and the young man knows that the narrator understands this. Option D expresses this wordless conversation. Option B serves as a counterpoint to support the theme, but D is the best support because it conveys theme. Options A and C don’t mention anyone communicating, and so are irrelevant to the answer to Part A. STANDARD(S): CCSS.RL.10.1 & 2.