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?Name: __________________________________________________________________________ Date: ___________________________Grade 8 Reading Comprehension Practice Set 4Use this table to score questions 1-3 after you have completed the reading comprehension practice exercise. Question NumberCodeStandardStudent Mastery√= Answered correctlyX= Answered incorrectly1RI.8.5.Analyze in detail the structure of a specific paragraph in a text, including the role of particular sentences in developing and refining a key concept.2RI.8.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text.3RI.8.8.Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced.4RI.8.1.W.8.2. Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.Total points on question 4:_________/ 4 pointsThe Creative PathUsed with permission by Read the passage. Then answer questions 1-3 in the space provided.For many careers, the path to success is straightforward. Go to good schools, get degrees, work hard, and everything else will take care of itself. There’s an almost alphabetical nature to the process due to the demand of most professions’ skills. Do A, then B; then C, the end. Doctors, engineers, teachers, business people and scientists are always needed, and therefore always valued because there are endless amounts of sick people who need treatment, information or construction that needs building, products that need to be sold, children who need to learn, and problems that need to be understood. Simply put, our society depends on these and other professionals to perform their duties, or it will stop working.Enter the artist. A person who crafts expressions that inspire others. While most people can name plenty of their favorite artists, ask someone what makes an artist great, and you’ll likely get a different answer from each person you ask. Try to compare the greatness of different artists and you might start an argument. Measuring the impact of an artist’s work is much more difficult than looking at a doctor’s ability to cure her patients’ illnesses, or measuring the success rate of a teacher’s students through the tests they take. Feeling connected to a work of art is an incredibly personal experience. The same piece of work may affect two people in very different ways, ranging from delight to indifference to disgust. Some works of art end up in the trash, some incite riots, and some are put on the cover of magazines. Still, the art that ends up in the trash could be discovered years later, while the art on the magazine cover can end up forgotten. No matter what happens to the art, as long as it exists, it always has the potential to inspire others. Some artists are also “forgotten” about for hundreds of years, until their work is “rediscovered” by someone who brings new understanding to why their work should be considered important. It’s all very complicated, and nobody seems to have anything more concrete to say than the tired idiom, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”So if you’re an artist, or want to be an artist, how do you know if you’re successful? How do you even know if you’re an artist? To get an insider’s perspective, I posed these questions and more to two very different New York City artists. Choreographer/Dancer, Hadar Ahuvia:What makes someone an artist? The decision to be an artist. I believe everyone is inherently creative. Some of us have a knack for one thing or another, but one can be artful through almost any media or activity. You decide to be part of an artistic community. How did you know you were an artist?I sometimes still wonder if I’m an artist, and have to refer to what I wrote above. But I’ve felt several times in my life that I made a decision. When I was sixteen I said to myself, okay, if after this summer I don’t like dancing, I’ll quit. I had a great summer dancing, and I’m still dancing, so I decided to keep going. Then I made a bunch of other decisions about how I wanted to dance. Soon I was arranging my life around it. It was becoming a larger piece of my identity; still it’s only one of many. What was the first project that made you feel proud of your work? I used to draw in high school. I drew a picture of my sleeping adopted sister. It was realistic, but because the blanket covered half of her face, it was a bit mysterious. It was the best realistic drawing I had ever done. I wasn’t sure how it happened. Until then I had mostly drawn hands, but this drawing seemed to tell a story in a way the hands did not. What makes something a work of art?A work of art or a work of Art? A good work of art or a work of art? When I am feeling doubtful, I would say privilege, capital, education or framing. When I’m feeling inspired, I would say the specificity of an endeavor that yields a universality. Why is making art important?“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with others expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.”What does it mean to you to be a successful artist today?It means I decided today to express myself to the world, and that maybe I’ll choose to do the same tomorrow. Painter, Paul McLean: What makes someone an artist?I don’t believe it’s possible to “make” an artist, although I do believe any healthy society will encourage its people to try art. To be an artist involves a diverse set of capabilities and drives. The most important drive is an unbreakable resolve to make art. A definition of art is helpful to answer the questions of what an artist is and does, what she or he makes. I would assert that becoming an artist is a multi-faceted and ongoing process. Internal and external factors come into play. An artist does not conform to any patterning or template, in a one-size-fits-all or machine sort of construct. In actuality, perhaps more the opposite is true. I would suggest that artist development is something that has commonalities with how Dungeons & Dragons characters can be designed and then evolve, in terms of identity, role-playing, abilities, and so forth. In the end, in a largely flawed and irrational system such as the one that governs or manages contemporary art at the macro level, artists become replaceable, which causes much confusion, and generates terrible waste and failed aspiration. For some reason, this question causes me to reflect on Bob Ross and a hundred other weird, inspiring and abominable examples of people navigating through the topology in search of success as an artist. How did you know you were an artist? The first moment came when I etched a Cyclops into the wet ink on a silkscreen. It happened very fast. I’d never seen anything quite like it. The Cyclops returned my stare. No one was around. I was in the basement of the Notre Dame University [a university in the United States] art building. I immediately realized this was it. With several important exceptions, every other aspiration I’d entertained in short order shifted into a lesser position with respect to art. I was hooked. I called it “getting bitten.” What was the first project that made you feel proud of your work? My guerrilla senior show at Notre Dame University in the art building’s Isis gallery. What makes something a work of art? Until fairly recently, the discussion of defined art was simple: painting and sculpture. Mostly, the qualities desirable in art were at stake. A conceptual flip-flop of these dynamics has occurred over the past two centuries. Now, art is a term applied to anything and everything. All one has to do is Google “the art of” to get a picture of this phenomenon.The question is what does civilization lose, when art ceases to be specific? As long as producing art is seen as irrational and exclusive, programs like the BRAVO reality show competition “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist” will be a kind of answer we are force-fed. It’s helpful, speaking for myself, to return to the cave paintings at Chauvet and Lascaux in France, to be reminded that art is central to the human experience. Why is making art important? It is one of the best means for humans to engage with time, for memorializing the estimable, for celebrating the beautiful and the experience of living in the world. It also embodies a form of service that is worthy of one’s time. What does it mean to you to be a successful artist today? Everything. To be Nobody. One-hundred things. _________1. How does the last sentence of paragraph 2 help develop the idea that it is difficult to measure an artist’s work? It explains that it is easy to measure whether or not a doctor can cure his/her patients.It gives an example of how it is difficult to measure an artist’s work. It compares measuring an artist’s work to measuring the work of others in more traditional professions.It explains that teachers are measured by the success of their students. _________2. What does the word “vitality” mean as it is used in the following sentence from the interview with Hadar Ahuvia?“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique.” perspectivelivelinesspeacefulnessspeed_________3. Which of the following lines from the text best supports Hadar Ahuvia’s claim that the decision to be an artist makes someone an artist? “I immediately realized this was it.” “…one can be artful through almost any media or activity.”The first moment came when I etched a Cyclops into the wet ink on a silkscreen.” “It was becoming a larger piece of my identity.” Answer question 4 in the space provided below. 4. How does the author’s interviews with the two artists support the idea that being an artist is an ongoing process? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.In your response, be sure to:Explain how Hadar Ahuvia’s interview supports the idea that becoming an artist is an ongoing process. Explain how Paul McLean’s interview supports the idea that becoming an artist is an ongoing process. Use details from both interviews to support your response ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ANSWER KEY_________1. How does the last sentence of paragraph 2 help develop the idea that it is difficult to measure an artist’s work? It explains that it is easy to measure whether or not a doctor can cure his/her patients.It gives an example of how it is difficult to measure an artist’s work. It compares measuring an artist’s work to measuring the work of others in more traditional professions.It explains that teachers are measured by the success of their students. EXPLANATION: This question requires students to analyze the role of the last sentence of paragraph 2 in developing the idea that it is difficult to measure an artist’s work. Students might struggle to answer this question if they do not infer the author’s purpose in comparing artists to doctors and teachers. While both choices A and D offer accurate descriptions of what the last sentence does, answer C offers the most comprehensive answer. Further, answer C is the only choice that is clearly linked to the concept of how difficult it is to measure an artist’s work. _________2. What does the word “vitality” mean as it is used in the following sentence from the interview with Hadar Ahuvia?“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique.” perspectivelivelinesspeacefulnessspeedEXPLANATION: This question requires students to infer the meaning of the word “vitality” using context clues. Students might struggle to answer this question if they did not recognize that two synonyms for “vitality” immediately follow the word—“life force” and “energy.” Take the opportunity to review appositives with students and point out that definitions to unknown words are often present right after the subject in an appositive form. _________3. Which of the following lines from the text best supports Hadar Ahuvia’s claim that the decision to be an artist makes someone an artist? “I immediately realized this was it.” “…one can be artful through almost any media or activity.”“The first moment came when I etched a Cyclops into the wet ink on a silkscreen.” “It was becoming a larger piece of my identity.” EXPLANATION: This question requires students to determine which line from the text best supports the claim that the decision to be an artist makes someone an artist. While Hadar Ahuvia makes the claim, the best line to support this claim is actually choice A, which Paul McLean says in his interview. Students might struggle with this question if they failed to recognize this. Choice B and D offer no direct evidence of Hadar’s claim. Choices A and C are both related to Hadar’s claim. However, choice A is a better choice because it is directly related to the concept of decision-making, while choice C is not. 4. How does the author’s interviews with the two artists support the idea that being an artist is an ongoing process? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.In your response, be sure to:Explain how Hadar Ahuvia’s interview supports the idea that becoming an artist is an ongoing process. Explain how Paul McLean’s interview supports the idea that becoming an artist is an ongoing process. Use details from both interviews to support your response Answers will vary. Use the enclosed rubric as a guideline for scoring. Example of a 4-level answer:Both Hadar Ahuvia and Paul McLean support the idea that becoming an artist is an ongoing process. In her interview, Hadar explains that once she decided to be a dancer, she continued to make decisions to be a dancer and began to arrange her life around being a dancer. She explains, “I decided today to express myself to the world, and . . . I’ll choose to do the same tomorrow.” By explaining that being an artist is a decision, Hadar shows that it is something ongoing. She will never stop being a dancer and an artist and will always continue to develop.McLean also shows the ongoing nature of art in his interview. He claims, “artist development is something that has commonalities with how Dungeons & Dragons characters can be designed and then evolve, in terms of identity, role-playing, abilities, and so forth.” By comparing artist development to Dungeons & Dragons characters, McLean shows that an artist will never stay the same. Artists are constantly changing as a result of different factors. Though Hadar and Paul are quite different as artists, they both show the ongoing nature of becoming an artist through the comments they make in their interviews. Suggestions for class review: This question requires students to go back to the passage and identify evidence in both interviews that supports the idea that becoming an artist is an ongoing process. Students might struggle with this question if they do not fully comprehend the claim itself. Make sure that students understand what it means to be “ongoing.” Have students annotate the text for details that support this claim. Brainstorm in a T-chart, showing evidence from both interviews. Ask students to read their answers aloud and provide feedback. ................
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