Study Guide
Field 207: English
Sample Constructed-Response Assignment
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The following materials contain:
- Test directions for the constructed-response assignment
- A sample constructed-response assignment
- An example of a strong and weak response to the assignment, and a rationale for each
- The performance characteristics and scoring scale
Test Directions for the Constructed-Response Assignment
This section of the test consists of one constructed-response assignment. You are to prepare a written response of approximately 300 to 600 words on the assigned topic. You should use your time to plan, write, review, and edit your response to the assignment.
Read the assignment carefully before you begin to write. Think about how you will organize your response.
As a whole, your response must demonstrate an understanding of the knowledge and skills of the field. In your response to the assignment, you are expected to demonstrate the depth of your understanding of the content area through your ability to apply your knowledge and skills rather than merely to recite factual information.
Your response to the assignment will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria:
start bold PURPOSE: end bold the extent to which the response achieves the purpose of the assignment
start bold SUBJECT MATTER KNOWLEDGE: end bold accuracy and appropriateness in the application of subject matter knowledge
start bold SUPPORT: end bold quality and relevance of supporting details
start bold RATIONALE: end bold soundness of argument and degree of understanding of the subject matterThe constructed-response assignment is intended to assess subject matter knowledge and skills, not writing ability. However, your response must be communicated clearly enough to permit valid judgment of the scoring criteria. Your response should be written for an audience of educators in this field. The final version of your response should conform to the conventions of edited American English. Your written response must be your original work, written in your own words, and not copied or paraphrased from some other work.
Be sure to write about the assigned topic. You may not use any reference materials during the test. Remember to review what you have written and make any changes you think will improve your response.
Sample Constructed-Response Assignment
Competency 0012
Apply pedagogical content knowledge to plan developmentally appropriate instruction to help students achieve a specific, standards-aligned learning goal in English language arts that engages all learners.
start bold Use the information provided to complete the assignment that follows. end bold
Using your knowledge of content and sound pedagogical practices in English language arts and citing evidence from the exhibits provided, write a response of approximately 300 to 600 words in which you:
- identify this student's challenge in achieving the learning goal and completing the student assignment;
- explain how you would plan instruction to help this student and others overcome this challenge to achieve the learning goal;
- analyze the student writing sample and identify one significant strength the student demonstrates in the areas of critical reading and critical writing, citing specific evidence from the sample to support your assessment; and
- describe a learning activity or instructional strategy that would effectively address the student's identified challenge or build on the student's identified strength, and explain how it would effectively do so.
Be sure to utilize all of the exhibits in your response.
Exhibit 1: Lesson Plan
You are planning instruction for an eighth-grade English language arts class that aligns with the standards below from the Oklahoma Academic Standards for English Language Arts.
You have set the following learning goal:
Students will be able to analyze the effective use of irony in a passage.
You have developed the following student assignment:
Read the passage from O. Henry's short story "The Gift of the Magi" and write a brief essay about how the author develops irony to support a theme in the excerpt. Use evidence from the passage to support your analysis.
Standard 3: Critical Reading and Writing
8.3.R.4 Students will analyze literary devices to support interpretations of a text:
- figurative language (i.e., simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, imagery, symbolism, idiom)
- sound devices (i.e., onomatopoeia, alliteration)
- verbal and situational irony
8.3.W.2 Students will compose informative essays or reports that:
- objectively introduce and develop topics
- incorporate evidence (e.g., specific facts, details, charts and graphs, data)
- maintain an organized structure
- use sentence variety and word choice to create clarity
- establish and maintain a formal style
- emulate literary devices from mentor texts
Exhibit 2: Passage
Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.
Della wriggled off the table and went for him.
"Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow out again—you won't mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say 'Merry Christmas!' Jim, and let's be happy. You don't know what a nice—what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you."
"You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labor.
"Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me without my hair, ain't I?"
Jim looked about the room curiously.
"You say your hair is gone?" he said, with an air almost of idiocy.
"You needn't look for it," said Della. "It's sold, I tell you—sold and gone, too. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered," she went on with sudden serious sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?"
Out of his trance, Jim seemed quickly to wake. …
Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table.
"Don't make any mistake, Dell," he said, "about me. I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first."White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.
For there lay The Combs—the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped for long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jeweled rims—just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair.
Exhibit 3: Student Writing Sample
Irony makes a reader think that a story will have one ending, but then it has a different ending. We learned that O. Henry's stories usually have a twist at the end. You think that one thing is going to happen, and then something else happens instead. These twists are very clever. This story is about a husband and wife named Jim and Della. They want to buy each other nice presents for Christmas. Della sells her hair so she can buy a gift for Jim. He buys her combs to wear in her hair. When he comes home, he can't believe his eyes! She has cut off her hair. That's why he has "an air almost of idiocy." He isn't really an idiot. He's just shocked. Then comes the twist. Jim gives Della her present. When she opens it, she screams with joy. Then she cries because he bought her combs to wear in her hair.
The moral of the story is: it's the thought that counts. Della sacrificed her hair to buy Jim a gift because she loves him and wants to make him happy. But she is also selfish. She should hug Jim and thank him for buying her the gift. Then she should laugh. It's not a tragedy. Her hair will grow back. Instead she feels sorry for herself.
The irony in the story is that Della loves Jim and makes a sacrifice so she can surprise him with a nice present, but the present is useless. They should realize that it's not presents that count, it's their love. If they only give each other love, that is enough.
Sample Strong Response to the Constructed-Response Assignment
start bold Please note: The sample response provided below is for review purposes only and should not be used in a response on an operational exam. Use of the exact words and phrases presented in this sample response will result in a score of "U" (Unscorable) due to lack of original work. end bold
The sample essay written by the student in the "Student Writing Sample" shows both strengths and challenges related to the learning goal. The "Lesson Plan" exhibit states the learning goal is: "Students will be able to analyze the effective use of irony in a passage." One challenge shown in the student writing sample is that while they seem to have some understanding of the basic idea of irony presented in the excerpt, they do not seem to fully grasp the motives shown by the main characters. The emotional complexity displayed in O. Henry's characters' actions is an integral part of understanding the use of situational irony in the story. The sacrifice made by each character is more the focus than the "it's the thought that counts" moral of the story mentioned by the student. Certainly, more support and development would also contribute to the success of this student assignment.
To help students more thoroughly understand this excerpt ("Passage" exhibit) in a manner that is sufficient for meeting the standards presented in the lesson plan, further instruction in recognizing irony may be beneficial. To overcome challenges, peer discussion and graphic organizers might both be of assistance. Students will create and use a graphic organizer to remind themselves of the purposes and uses of literary devices learned so far. As they add to this organizer, they will build upon prior knowledge. They can then use this organizer when asked to write independently.
The student begins their essay by describing the irony as the opposite of what the reader expects to happen, and notes that O. Henry stories often have "twists" that are "clever." The student then explains the "twist" in the passage. The student's first paragraph is satisfactory. However, they have not fully analyzed the passage. The student begins to tell us that the character of the wife is "selfish." This is certainly an odd assertion, and the student fails to fully explain this declaration. The student seems to feel that the character is at fault here for something in the situation, but this idea mentioned in their second paragraph is never fully explained by our writer.
The student would benefit from additional direct instruction regarding situational irony and its use in storytelling. They might also need to work on using evidence from texts to support their ideas, as there is little textual evidence in the student work sample. Direct instruction and mentor texts can be used to model integrating and providing commentary on direct quotations to help the student improve their essay.
Situational irony is something that we can further examine easily if we look to comedy for assistance. Often, when we are experiencing something that makes us chuckle, there is a hint of irony in the situation. Students can brainstorm times when they have laughed at something recently. As a small group or class, we might analyze this situation to see if irony is indeed at play. Additionally, if students are struggling to come up with appropriate examples of irony, clips from video, audio, or text could be shared to show more examples. Students can then discuss with their peers how examples demonstrate irony. With these additional scaffolds in place, students should understand the purpose of using irony in the excerpt from O. Henry because they should now see how it helps to create both the intrigue and interest we have in the story. Without irony, the story is just two people buying gifts. The story would lack its overall conflict without irony.
Rationale for the Sample Strong Response
Please note that the response is evaluated based upon the four performance characteristics of Purpose, Subject Matter Knowledge, Support, and Rationale. Please also note how the score point descriptions are based upon how the examinee attends to the performance characteristics. You should be very familiar with the CEOE performance characteristics and score scale and refer to them when reviewing this rationale.
This response fully achieves the purpose of the assignment by responding to each bullet point of the prompt. The writer identifies the student challenge, instructional plan, student strength, and learning activity and discusses each using supporting evidence and relevant examples. The discussion for each area of the assignment is clear and appropriate.
Subject matter knowledge is shown throughout this response in multiple ways in order to meet the areas assessed by the prompt. The prompt requires candidates to accurately read the literary passage for content and understanding of its integral elements, analyze and evaluate a student work sample, plan instruction for struggling learners, and use current appropriate pedagogical practices to instruct students. In this response, the writer uses scaffolding, small-group instruction, and varied instructional techniques to meet student needs and learning goals. As such, the response provides a generally accurate and appropriate application of subject matter knowledge.
Throughout the response, references to specific language of the prompt and details of student activities are used to support claims and ideas. This support is incorporated throughout the response to demonstrate the accuracy of claims made in analysis. Planned instruction is detailed and can be clearly understood from the descriptions given. A summary of the student's weaknesses and strengths is accompanied by direct references to the student work sample. The response shows attention to detail and appropriate expected outcomes for students. Overall, the response provides adequate supporting evidence that generally supports the discussion with relevant examples given. A stronger response would include even more high-quality, relevant examples throughout the response.
Rationale is displayed throughout this response with clear reasoning presented for the choices made. When a learning strategy such as graphic organizers is recommended, there are accompanying reasons for its use. Specific, detailed explanations are given for why certain activities or strategies might be effective. A general understanding of the topic is demonstrated with general rationales and some connections between concepts. Overall, the response reflects a general understanding of the topic.
Sample Weak Response to the Constructed-Response Assignment
The learning goal in this lesson is that students will recognize irony. The passage they will read for this activity is from "The Gift on the Magi" and shows situational irony to the readers. The goal is for students to understand the use of irony in the story and its purpose for being used. There are other standards listed in the lesson plan that pertain to writing informative essays and analyzing literary devices. We will focus on the literary devices because that is what irony is. Other than that, the student did complete their assignment in an efficient way.
The student struggles to show enough examples from the passage in their essay. They write a few things that they do not show any evidence for and that can easily be fixed by teaching them how to incorporate quotations. I will use lots of visuals and explain thoroughly for students who did not understand before. I will also model how to add in examples and quotations to the work that they already have written. We do also want to reinforce adding support in our writing to the student. The students will need to know differences between direct quotations and paraphrasing. We can practice that with other writing tasks as well after this since we always need to do those things in our informative writing.
The student does see irony in the passage, and they tell us about that part as well. That is a strength they show among the response ideas. They tell us that "irony makes a reader think that a story will have one ending, but then it has a different ending." This is true and is a very good observation. Even with this, though, they need some more support. The student should add more descriptions of irony to explain it more clearly for the reader. They are missing opportunities for quotations and support here as well.
I will have the student work on adding quotations and support to this essay and practice adding them to other writings as well. This can be done in small groups or independently, but some students might prefer one way over the other. The student understands the irony but needs to support their claims, and so this will help them with learning that more.
Rationale for the Sample Weak Response
Please note that the response is evaluated based upon the four performance characteristics of Purpose, Subject Matter Knowledge, Support, and Rationale. Please also note how the score point descriptions are based upon how the examinee attends to the performance characteristics. You should be very familiar with the CEOE performance characteristics and score scale and refer to them when reviewing this rationale.
The purpose of the assignment is partially achieved. The writer appears to respond to each bullet point of the assignment but does not elaborate on many parts. Additionally, the response is sometimes unorganized and jumps from one idea to the next. While focusing on adding quotes and evidence is not the worst possible solution for this student, it does not address the bigger concerns we have in meeting the learning goals.
The writer chooses to discuss the student's ability to cite evidence from the text as one of their biggest challenges displayed in the sample. This includes some observations about the student that are indeed correct but are not part of the main learning goal. Hence, while this is not wholly inaccurate, it may be inappropriate for this lesson and this student. Subject matter knowledge shown here is insufficient. They appear to lack the knowledge of the necessary pedagogical practices needed to reach this student and their goals.
Some observations made by this writer are well supported while others are not. This imbalance in support makes for less than adequate evidence of some claims made in the response. Relevant and strong supporting evidence from the exhibits is needed to improve this response.
This response is poorly reasoned overall. The writer rarely shows a thorough understanding of the topic, providing only vague examples and weak arguments throughout the response. Additionally, it is limited in its effectiveness in addressing all parts of the prompt. Overall, this response reflects a poorly reasoned, limited understanding of the topic.
Performance Characteristics
The following characteristics guide the scoring of responses to the constructed-response assignment.
Scoring Scale
Scores will be assigned to each response to the constructed-response assignment according to the following scoring scale.