state of texas assessments of academic readiness (staar ® ) grade 7 scoring training victoria young...

State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®)

Grade 7 Scoring Training

Victoria YoungDirector of Reading, Writing, and Social Studies AssessmentsTexas Education Agency

Grade 7 ExpositoryScoring Training

Review the overall descriptors of the score points based on level of writing performance.

Review the characteristics of writing (specified in the rubric) on which the score is based.

Teach the exemplars (the anchors to the score points).

Have readers score the training set(s) independently and provide the group with “true” scores when everyone has finished.

Read each essay aloud and discuss with group, answering any questions individual readers have.

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The Rubric as Summed Scoreson the Scoring Continuum

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Very Limited

Basic

Satisfactory

Accomplished

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Important Characteristicsof the Writing Rubric

ResponsivenessFocusProgressionDevelopmentWord ChoiceSentencesConventions

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Definitions of the Rubric Characteristics

Rhetorical Characteristics of Writing

Responsiveness — the degree to which the essay is a direct explanation of the topic specified in the charge (the “Write about”)Focus — the degree to which the explanation is centered around an explicit, specific controlling idea that gives the reader a clear sense of the goal of the essayProgression — the degree to which sentences, paragraphs, and ideas are logically, smoothly, and clearly connected

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Rhetorical Characteristics of Writing

Development — the degree to which the addition of details and examples specifically “flesh out” each idea and help the reader clearly understand the explanation as a wholeWord Choice — the degree to which the writer uses clear, precise, and appropriate language to communicate particular meanings and establish an expository tone

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Mechanical Characteristics of Writing

Sentences — the degree to which the sentences are complete and free from awkward word patterns so that they have a natural flow and rhythm, making the ideas easy to follow and understand

Conventions — the degree to which the writer can apply the rules of written language (spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and usage) to make the writing fluent and effective

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2014 Grade 7 Expository Prompt

READ the following quotation.

True humor is fun—it does not put down, kid, or mock. It makes people feel wonderful, not separate, different, and cut off.

─Hugh Prather

THINK carefully about the following question.

Does humor make life better?

WRITE an essay explaining whether it is important to laugh.

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Grade 7 ExpositoryExemplar – Score Point 1

Some people Love to Laugh. Some people don’t Love to Laught. Every once in a while you need to Lalf or Else, people will think all different things. Laughing is one of the most important things to do of the day.

Laughing represent you are happy and Everthing in your life is good sometimes. all time you laufgh god knows you are and then he laufghs with you. Laufghing is one of the more important thing to do everday. Laughling I think is important in my life style. So laughing is really important in life.

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Laughing All the Way

Making someone laugh or smile, could make their day. Giving that certain look, so they can that frown into a smile. When someone is over there in the corner by themself, invite them over, give them a reason to smile.

Having a little humor is all kinds of great. You can either have a bad day, full of tears, or full of smiles. If you ever see someone by themself, or walking with their head down, walk over and tell them a joke. You can either make their day, or ruin it.

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If a student is sitting in class while the teacher is teaching, goofing off and making jokes, that’s not good. They are being very disruptive, by making people laugh. That’s never a good time to laugh.

The point is, it’s always good to laugh, but then again it’s not. It’s awesome to give a laugh, or two, but not at inappropite times.

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Laughing to me is like my air. I need it. I’m always laughing and thats what makes life more enjoyable.

Some people you hardly ever see laugh. I just wonder how they do that. Laughter is what makes my day good most of the time. I think laughter is definitely important. When you can’t laugh or have a good time, people might not want to be around you. Humor does make life better in many ways you might not even think about.

For instance at home if I’m in a bad mood I will sometimes look up funny quotes or sayings. They

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always make me laugh which brings a smile to my face. My best friend Megan can also always make me feel better by being funny. To me if your always laughing and having fun then your a happier person. Also when your laughing that can help put others in a good mood. That always makes me feel better knowing I helped make someone’s day.

All in all, laughter is the key to hapiness in life. Once you have that your set to take on whatever life may throw at you.

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If you have ever had a bad day, then you know that it is hardly tolerable. That’s why laughing is so important. When you laugh, you can turn your day around. You can also share your happiness with other people around you when you laugh.

Laughter really is the best medicine when it comes to having a terrible day. Laughing gives you a reason to smile. Laughing is one of the few things that can turn your day around because it allows you to experience happiness when you thought it was impossible. Laughing will show you that happiness does not only come when you want it to, but it will also come when you really need it.

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Not only will laughing turn your day around, it will also bring happiness to those in need around you. A good laugh could really change their day for the better. Sometimes the best way to make someone feel better is found within everyone. Laughing will change some people from depressed to gitty in just a couple of minutes.

Remember, you are not the only person in the world that feels bad. There are many people in the world that could use a good laugh. Sadness and depression is a worldwide epidemic. That means that it is extremely important that you don’t keep this cure locked inside of you. With this cure you

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could make anyone feel better and you can free them from the grasps of despair.

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Grade 7 ExpositoryTraining Set

The training set contains 10 essays representing all four score points. Score each essay independently and record your scores on the answer key.

Consider the rhetorical and mechanical characteristics of each essay as you are reading it, but remember that you are scoring holistically, not analytically. That means making an judgment about the overall quality of the essay based on its strengths and weaknesses.

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Grade 7 ExpositoryTraining Set Answer Key

Training Set – 1 ____1___










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Grade 7 ExpositoryTraining Set – 1 (a)

Laugh

I feel a laugh is important because you could make someone’s day by just makeing them laugh.

For example if someone is feeling sad you can make up a joke. Also you could even make their day. You shouldn’t make them feel different treat other people like you want to be treated.

A laugh is very important because without our laugh we’ll probobly be anything. Without our laugh the world would be doleful without color. Without a laugh we wouldn’t know happyness.

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Grade 7 ExpositoryTraining Set – 1 (b)

I think humor is extremly important because we need to show what we are feeling. We need to show our happyness.

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I belive laughter is a stupendous and important key factor in life. When you are upset, laughing can help brighten your mood. Like the saying goes, laughter is the best medicine!

Without laughter in your life it would become dull and boring. Many people that do laugh have family and friends to help them feel better when they are feeling pretty down. Those who don’t, often go through depression because they have no support in their lives. Making someone laugh is a complex task, yet everyone still has the capability of doing it.

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Laughter is also a characteristic. Not everyone of us has the exact same laugh, they are all unique! Some people have laughs that are humerous and some have a laugh that are cute. When some one laughs it is like a domino effect, one by one people join in, making any situation better.

Even if you don’t enjoy the way you laugh share it with the world, who knows maybe someone else likes your laugh. Laughing can brighten any room. Laughing is a needed factor of life. It is passed on to generation after generation.

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Laughter some people like to laugh others don’t. Weather it’s a small laugh or a big laugh. Its always better to laugh It’s a great way to cheer up when some one is down and its free to do.

Cheering up is very important but you need laughter. Like when someone gets mad you need to make them laugh. That why when cheering up laughter is the best choice.

Laughter is free to do. Theres no need to buy something to cheer them up. When you can just find a joke to make then laugh. There are many ways to cheer someone up but laughter is the

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best medican.

Some people may think laughter is not good for you but I think it’s the best way to cheer someoneup. So when ever some one needs cheering up think about laughter and how it can help you.

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One of my best friends is Kyle. He is one of the funniest people I know. The main reason he is my best friend, is because he makes me laugh. laughing is the best thing in the world.

The days I don’t laugh are glume, and sad. So on days like those I invite my friend Kyle over, so I can get a good laugh in. Have you noticed the people who don’t laugh, and have fun arn’t happy. If you don’t show emotion and get a good laugh out. Youwill become a lonely, and sad person. Laughing can be a reason a relationship even exist. Even makeing people laugh is fun. If this world did

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not have laughter, I don’t think I would want to live in it at all. Laughing brings the world joy.

Laughing is the joy to my life, and to many others. If you cant show emotion and just laugh, why even live. Life is about having fun and laughing. So sometimes you just got to let it out and laugh!

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Laughter is the best medicine. It can cure anyone, even if that cure only lasts a couple of seconds. I know that it makes a difference is someone’s day or life. A simple thing like smiling to a homeless person doesn’t only make them feel better, it also makes you feel warmer and nice inside. Whenever I see people laughing and having an awesome day, I feel like faith in humanity is restored. What’s the point of living if you have nothing to laugh or smile about? Life indeed would be boring and dull if everyone was just serious. Not laughing is like not breathing, in order to live, you need humour once in a while. You could be in a

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great mind state of deppression, but if someone just comes to swoop by and deliver you a smile, you’ll feel like if everything will be alright and no matter how complicated life gets, a smile or laughter will somehow “revive” you. Like in every life, embrassment comes and goes, sort of like Karma. But instead of worrying so much, just laugh! What’s done is done, you can’t change that. If someone laughs at you, laugh along with them and prove to your enemy that your laughing too and that you don’t care. So in my opinion, yes, laughter is very important in life.

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A friend who can make you laugh is a friend worth having. Laughter is an amazing thing. Once you start to laugh everything seems funnier, everything is closer to making you laugh. It makes you feel good, and the people in your life play a important role in your overall happiness. Almost everyone loves to laugh, and many of the things that people love to do besides laughing aren’t good for you at all, just name any junk food. Laughing can relax you, relieve stress, and just make you feel good. It’s important to have friends that make you laugh. Not everyone finds the same thing funny, some people like puns, others just find them annoying,

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but everyone laughs. People suffering from depression don’t laugh as much, or at all. Not laughing can effect your happiness too. Sometimes, when I’m feeling tired and under the weather, and someone tells a good joke, I feel more awake and energetic. There is no greater pick me up than laughter. A lot of things make us laugh, comics, cartoons, comedy shows, jokes, etc. Once, I looked at the murky gray sky and started to laugh, because for some reason I had just thought that it looked like it had contemplated it’s own exsistence and come up with nothing, which was ridiculous to me, but hey, I was in a pretty good mood after that.

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Grade 7 ExpositoryTraining Set – 6 (c)

Laughter is vital to mental health, so whatever makes you laugh, your friends, your cat, the sunday funnies, whatever it is, it’s good to have around. After all, laughter is the best medicine.

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Grade 7 ExpositoryTraining Set – 7

I think it’s very important to laugh. Well because why would’nt you laugh because it helps people for example, say your sick and if someone or something made you laugh you’d feel a little bit better and some people that are under depression when they laugh they just a little better or even if your not sick or sad laughing makes you seem like a better person not a boring, no sense of humor person. Be fun full of positive energy and have a good sense of humor. True humor is fun – it does not put down, kid, or mock. It makes people feel wonderful, not separate, different, and cut off.

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Is laughing really important to us? To many people laughing is just a mood. Laughing is what makes people feel happy. People that usually never laughs has a boring life. It also makes you feel better. If you are really sick and you feel really depressed people can make you laugh and you would feel much better. Laughing is something mostly everyone in the whole world has. Having a boring life with no one by your side means happines and no laughter. Humor does make life better makes you feel that your not alone. Like as Hugh Pranther said true humor is fun – it does not

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put down, kid or mock. It makes people feel wonderful, not seprate and cut off. Some people even say that laughter brings families closer. Laughter is important it creats happiness and love.

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A laugh or two every once in a while is like a glass of water after running a mile; it’s refreshing.

When you are feeling down or alone, do you ever just feel like sitting down and watching your favorite comedy show? Have you ever tried to cheer up your friends or a loved one by cracking a joke? Humor is society’s strange little trick to earn an audience, connect with them, or just to help them loosten up after a hard day. For example, are you one of those people who gets bored after a long while of being contained in a classroom/ boardroom and end up doing something crazy, like

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drawing a goofy picture and showing it to your friends while the teacher is speaking to the class? That is your inner comedian trying to brighten up people’s day, especially after seeing the bored looks on their faces, which turned into smiles.

This is the type of good humor that harmlessly catches everyone’s attention even without hurting a soul. No matter how mature or immature it gets, humans, in a way, seem to need humor to get on with life, because comedy shows that there is always a bright side to things. It’s okay to laugh because the truth is, everyone does. It turns out

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that having a great sense of humor can come in handy – just don’t go too far with it.

So the next time you feel low in life, grab a newspaper, read the funnies, and laugh a little.

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We all need laughter. Going a day without laughing is like going a day without smiling, which doesn’t appear to be very pleasing. Laughing and humor is the heart of the people, without it the world would be a much duller, lifeless place. Laughter has a bigger effect on everyone than some might think.

If more people learned to laugh things off, many issues could be solved quicker and with more peace. Laughter could carry the solution to several conflicts all people have. Laughing might just cure depression, anxiety, and many other mental disorders, because laughing isn’t only fun, it’s

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healthy. Humor and laughter aren’t just for adults around the world, but children as well. Children laugh almost more than anyone, this is why they’re usually the happiest people around. Watching or doing something humorous is the cause of laughter, laughter is the source of joy. This source of joy fuels television shows, families, and anything that has to do with the sense of glee. The importance to laugh is unexplainable, every single person needs laughter and humor in his or her life to be successful in finding happiness.

The world needs more laughter. The more humor and laughter it has the better place it’ll be.

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Laughing is one of the most important things in this world, everyone could be a little more cheerful if they all laughed a little more. After all they do say laughter is the best medicine.

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CONTACT INFORMATION

Victoria YoungDirector of Reading, Writing, and Social

Studies AssessmentsTexas Education Agency

[email protected]

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