Question 1: The narrator compares herself to a wounded zebra in a National Geographic special when telling of how she felt on her first day of high sc

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1 Let s grade the together Question 1: The prompt asks students to choose one example of imagery from the box and explain its significance. Don t DEFINE imagery. Students must show how the effective use of imagery extends the tone or theme of the passage. THIS IS AN IMAGERY QUESTION. Always discuss how the imagery connects or develops the passage s tone or theme. Question 2: the prompt asks for students to cite two (2) pieces of textual evidence; students must explain how, using context clues, how they understand the meaning of the word clan. THIS IS A DICTION QUESTION. Words have connotative meaning, in addition to the denotative meaning. There must be a discussion about the different meanings of the word CLAN and how these differing definitions lend meaning to the passage as a whole.

2 Question 1: The narrator compares herself to a wounded zebra in a National Geographic special when telling of how she felt on her first day of high school. This metaphor creates a detailed image in the reader s mind. The girl feels lonely, vulnerable, and scared in her new school. This is similar to the way a wounded animal would feel in the middle of the wilderness. Both would feel a sense of helplessness and fear. Danger could come at any moment. Score:

3 Question 1: Laurie Halse Anderson uses the phrase a wounded zebra in a National Geographic special in her book Speak to allow the reader to feel the protagonist s vulnerability and fear through imagery. The reader can [imagine] a wounded zebra and the easy meal it makes for a lion. It sets the mood as an eat or be eaten environment in the school. Score:

4 Question 1: The phrase the narrator uses to describe the auditorium scene depicts her as a wounded zebra in a National Geographic special. The word wounded can be meant as hurt or alone and when she furthers the statement by elaborating in a National Geographic special, it can be meant as a target. The narrator creates an imagery of her being alone and as a target to her surrounding peers. Score:

5 Question 2: The excerpt uses the words clan and the plain Janes to show that the narrator was once part of a united group of friends. However, the tone becomes more cynical as she refers to the splintered pieces of groups. The narrator realizes that while she is isolated and alone, the opposite of belonging to a clan, most of her former friends are now absorbed by rival factions. The use of effective diction allows the reader to examine how friendships can be insincere and unstable in these cliques, extending the theme that these groups seem to look for victims in the blood sport that is high school. Score:

6 Question 2: In the passage clan refers to a group of united, like-minded individuals. The passage states, We fall into clans: Jocks, countryclubbers, idiot savants, to show that all these groups consist of similar people. Also, the protagonist states, I am clanless. As the whole passage is about fitting in somewhere, it being clanless shows that the protagonist no longer is in a group of like-minded people. Score:

7 Question 2: By using context clues from the passage, it is easy to tell that the inferred meaning of clan is a group of united, like-minded individuals. Those in a clan have similar traits or interests, so they often are together as a group. The narrator [tells] the reader that her and her fellow classmates were herded into the auditorium, meaning that they entered the room all in one group. However, once they were inside, they *fell+ into clans, which means that they divided into smaller groups. I am clanless, proclaims the narrator. Throughout the passage, she writes about how she feels lonely, so this quote explains how she has no friends an no one to sit with due to her lack of clan or group to be a part of. Score:

8 Recurrent Problems Flowing textual evidence into the syntax of your writing Apostrophes Its vs. It s and Who s vs. Whose Homophones they re, there, their Capitalization / Underlining / Quotations / Commas Exclamation points have NO PLACE IN ACADEMIC WRITING!!!!!! Comma Splices (or fused sentences or run-ons) Sentence Fragments Vague words: A lot, things,

9 Sermonizing Recurrent Problems I am positive that by the end of the year, the protagonist will find her place and her clan Point of View shifts (NEVER address the reader You know... ) Ambiguous Pronoun Reference Pronoun-Antecedent Reference Problems Subject-Verb Agreement Lack of a strong thesis statement Fully answering the prompt Verb Tense (keep the literary present tense) Awkward sentence structures Paragraphing

10 When you make a claim... I can understand some of her bus dilemma, but others I think were just because of her nerves on the first day. You better be able to support it with textual evidence Where, in the text, can you find evidence to support the claim that the narrator s dilemmas were brought on merely because it was the first day of high school? Does it exist?

11 Avoid Clichés and Trite Language When you are in your freshman year, you have to learn it is very different than middle school, and your feelings may get hurt, however, you have to roll with the punches.

12 Ambiguous Pronoun References When the protagonist is in the auditorium alone, you can tell that its not how she wants it to be. RIP imprecise language: Another thing is she had people laughing and talking about her, and things like that didn t happen to me.