Reading and Writng and 'Rithmatic

Oh Mel. You hit a nerve with your last post. I was the one GRADING those essays. In class, no matter how much we discussed "tighten", be specific, active voice, mature vocabulary, word and sentence order, transitions, supporting assertions..................I would find myself with 30 elementary level essays. Basic mistakes. Incorrect subject-verb agreement. No topic sentence. No introduction or conclusion. Simplistic sentences- subject, verb and direct object, over and over and over again. Spelling not corrected. And word choice. We finally had a funeral and buried nice, happy, good, pretty, cool, mean....you get the idea. Grammar? Many 18 year olds did not know basic rules and guidelines.

The ACT scores became a personal crusade. There were too many stunned faces when kids took the test the first time. I'll share a teaching tool that seemed to break down the English section of the ACT in an easy to understand way. Below are just some of the examples. This really helped my seniors see the specifics of the test and also the specifics of what they needed to be familiar with. Oh. And how much they didn't know.

(As an aside, the ninth grade is not to early to first take the ACT. Familiarity and confidence plus the additional practice are all beneficial. Way before senior year, get the ACT Prep Book. Take an ACT Prep class. Practice on- line. Study. A great tool is to order the scored test from ACT. It is only $15.00 and strengths and weaknesses can be identified early and addressed before the next test)

Below is a partial list of expected skills and the accompanying score range

A Score Range of 13-15
* recognize blatantly illogical conjunctive adverbs
* revise sentences to correct awkward or confusing arrangements of sentence elements
*revise ambiguous pronouns that create obvious sense problems (i.e. meaning or logic)
*solve basic usage problems as whether to use a comparative or superlative adjective and which word to use in such pairs such as passed or past.
*Use punctuation or conjunctions to join simple clauses.

A Score Range of 16-19
* Identify the basic purpose or role of a specified phrase or sentence
* Delete obviously irrelevant material from an essay
* Select the most obvious place to add a sentence in a paragraph
* Delete wordy material
* Correct glaringly inappropriate shifts in verb tense or voice
* Solve basic grammatical problems such as whether to use an adverb or adjective form, how to form comparative and superlative adjectives

A Score Range of 20-23
*Identify main theme of an essay
*Determine relevancy when presented with a variety of sentence-level details
*Decide the most logical place to add a sentence in an essay
*Delete redundant material (e.g. alarmingly startled)
*Add a sentence that introduces a simple paragraph
*Use the word or phrase most consistent with the style and tone of an essay
*Determine clearest and most logical conjunctions
*Recognize and correct marked disturbances of sentence flow (e.g. participle phrase fragments, missing relative pronouns, dangling or misplaced modifiers)


A Score Range of 24-27
* Identify the focus of a simple essay, applying that knowledge that sharpens that focus or to determine if an essay has met a specified goal
*Delete material because it disturbs the flow ad development of the paragraph
*Rearrange the sentences in a paragraph for the sake of logic
*Provide a transition between paragraphs when the essay is fairly straightforward
* Rearrange the sentences in a paragraph for the sake of logic.
*Identify and Correct vague pronoun references

A Score Range of 28 to a 32
* Identify both the focus and purpose of a fairly involved essay, applying that knowledge to determine the rhetorical effect of a new or existing sentence or the need to add supporting detail or delete plausible but irrelevant material
* Rearrange sentences to improve the logic and coherence of a complex paragraph
* Correct vague and wordy or clumsy and confusing writing containing sophisticated language * Use sentence combining techniques, effectively avoiding comma splices, run on sentences, and sentence fragments, especially in sentences containing compound subjects or verbs
* Add a sentence to accomplish a subtle purposes such as emphasis and to express meaning through connotation

A Score Range of 33-36 *%$#&*)+*&)#!!
* Determine whether a complex essay has accomplished a specific purpose
* Add a phrase or sentence to accomplish a complex purpose, expressed in terms of the main focus of the essay
* Consider the need for introductory sentences or transitions, basing decisions on a thorough understanding of both the logic and the rhetorical effect of the paragraph and essay
* Work comfortably with long sentences and complex clausal relationships within sentences, avoiding weak conjunctions between independent clauses and maintaining parallel structure between clauses

It is important to remember, the ACT test is an instrument that determines not only where an individual is academically in high school, but also how well an individual is prepared for the academic expectations of prospective colleges and universities. Schools require a certain ACT score for admission because the academic level of that particular school requires it. Dreams of a certain college in the future require hard work and commitment now.

I don't want to leave this discussion without a positive comment. In my classes we went back to basics. Simple exercises to illustrate what a dangling modifier was, subject/verb agreement, smooth transitions and paragraph construction. Guided discussions of theme and tone and voice. "Stevenson used this metaphor because he wanted to illustrate what about man's nature? How does this comparison show us the dark and light side of man? Everybody write down one assertion." Then, time was allowed for one on one essay rewrites and revisions. Those red marks meant nothing if a general knowledge of terms and mechanics was not in their repertoire. The writing lab at MHS made this easier. With guidance and practice, many of my students grew and matured as writers. Their Senior Anthology at the end of the year was a capstone of directed application and plain hard work.