Introduction to Short Answer Response for ELA STAAR

Finding a way to place “out of the box” insights appropriately into a prescribed box…

Short Answer Response (SAR)• Short Answer Responses are an opportunity for you, the

student, to strut your intellectual stuff through the selection of prime text evidence and weaving that textual support with your own commentary.

A - Answer the question in your own words simply and directly. Provide TAG (Title, Author and Genre).

C – Cite evidence from the selection that support your answer. In the single SAR two quotes are needed. In

the paired SAR at least one quote is needed from each selection. Remember to embed them into your own commentary.

E—Explain how the quotes support your answer. Remember, for the paired SAR you must have a common focus/connection linking the two selections.

Short Answer Questions (SAR)Single SARAfter reading the excerpt from The Shipping News, do you think Quoyle considers himself hopeless? Explain your answer and support it with evidence from the selection.

Paired SARWhat is one similarity between the protagonists in Proulx’s The Shipping News and Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees? Explain your answer, and support it with evidence from both selections.

Short Answer Questions (SAR)• After brainstorming your answer, cited text, and explanation,

you will then engage in prewriting:

A) – AnswerC) – Cite and Embed Textual

Evidence (Provide 2 quotes from each type of SAR.)

E) – Explain connection of your quote(s) to your answer (So What?)

Short Answer Responses (SAR)• You will need to complete both the brainstorming and

the prewriting process before you place your final, polished answer in the ELA STAAR box (10 lines).

Short Answer Responses (SAR)• Important Considerations:

– Make sure that all of your words fit on the lines inside the provided final answer box.

– Both text selections and student commentary need to reflect insightfulness. Do not just provide a literal, superficial response.

– When crafting your commentary, do not go beyond the concepts contained in the text evidence. If you provide new information, you must have textual support to defend it.

– Your scores on the SARs on the STAAR exam for English will factor 33%33% of your overall EOC score.

SAR Practice - Single Good practice:

Question: After reading the excerpt from The Shipping News, do you think Quoyle considers himself hopeless? Explain your answer and support it with evidence from the selection?

Textual Evidence(From the beginning of the selection.)“…he survived childhood…camouflaged torment with smiles and silence…

brimming with grief and thwarted love…Quoyle steered away to Newfoundland, the rock that had generated his ancestors..” (2-3).

(Near the end of the selection)“Nothing was clear to lonesome Quoyle. His thoughts churned…” (10).

SAR Practice – PrewritingA) – In Proulx’s “The Shipping News,” Quoyle

experiences a significant transformative moment when he moves beyond his hopelessness into a self designed, hopeful future.

C) – Quoyle “survived childhood…camouflaged torment with smiles and silence…[while] brimming

with grief and thwarted love.” After these great losses, Quoyle looks to “[steer] away to Newfoundland”

E) – He demonstrates a strength to move beyond his painful past into an unknown, but new place.

REVIEW!1. What is a passing SAR score?2. Which 3 elements must you have in your SAR in order to pass?3. What is TAG?4. When there are two reading passages, what MUST you have in your

SAR in order to pass?5. What should you do before answering any reading passage?6. If one of your passages is a poem, after reading it one time all the way

through, what should you do next?7. What should you do if you come across a word in the passage/question

that is unfamiliar to you?

*USE YOUR ANNOTATING SKILLS!*TAKE YOUR TIME!

*REMEMBER TO MAKE CONNECTIONS!