The Literacy Cookbook blog
PARCC Literary Analysis Writing Tasks, updated 12-4-16
Following are the directions from the practice tests and the released items for grades 3-11 (found on the PARCC Website at ):
GRADE 3:
|PRACTICE TEST: |
|Today, you will read two stories titled “Johnny Chuck Finds the Best Thing in the World” and “Me First.” As you read, think about |
|the actions of the characters and the events of the stories. Answer the questions to help you write an essay….THEN: Old Mother West|
|Wind and the Sandwitch both try to teach important lessons to characters in the stories. Write an essay that explains how Old |
|Mother West Wind’s and the Sandwitch’s words and actions are important to the plots of the stories. Use what you learned about the |
|characters to support your essay. |
|2015 RELEASED ITEM: |
|Today you will read and think about the folktales “Coyote and Fire” and “How Big Bear Stuck to the Sky.” As you read these texts, |
|you will gather information and answer questions about how the illustrations help you understand the folktales so you can write an |
|essay. |
|THEN: Look at the illustrations from the folktales. Write an essay describing how each illustration helps the reader understand |
|the characters’ actions in each folktale. Be sure to use evidence from EACH folktale to support your response. |
|2016 RELEASED ITEM: |
|N/A |
GRADE 4:
|PRACTICE TEST: |
|Today you will read a story about a girl whose family is from India and a poem that expresses how the speaker faces frightening |
|experiences. After you finish the task, you will write an essay about a theme in the story and the poem…. |
|THEN: Identify a theme in “Just Like Home” and a theme in “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me.” Write an essay that explains how the theme of|
|the story is shown through the characters and how the theme of the poem is shown through the speaker. Include specific details from|
|the story and the poem to support your essay. |
|2015 RELEASED ITEM: |
|Today you will read and think about the passages “The Rescue of the Tin Woodman” and “Arriving at Emerald City” from The Wonderful |
|Wizard of Oz. As you read these texts, you will gather information and answer questions about Dorothy and her actions so you can |
|write an essay. |
|THEN: In both “The Rescue of the Tin Woodman” and “Arriving at Emerald City,” Dorothy has interesting adventures that reveal her |
|character. Based on her words and actions in both passages, describe TWO of Dorothy’s qualities. Think about the person that |
|Dorothy is. How do those qualities affect her adventures? Support your response with details from BOTH passages. |
|2016 RELEASED ITEM: |
|Today you will read a passage from “Emergency on the Mountain” and the poem “Mountains.” As you read these texts, you will gather |
|information and answer questions so you can write a response. |
|THEN: Think about how the structural elements in “Emergency on the Mountain” differ from the structural elements in the poem |
|“Mountains.” Write an essay that explains the differences in the structural elements between the passage and the poem. Be sure to|
|include specific examples from both texts to support your response. |
GRADE 5:
|PRACTICE TEST: |
|Today you will analyze a passage from the novel Ida B and a passage from the novel Moon Over Manifest. As you read these texts, you|
|will gather information and answer questions about the influence of the narrator’s point of view so you can write an essay…. |
|THEN: The stories titled Ida B and Moon Over Manifest both include events that did not happen exactly how the narrators expected |
|them to happen. Write an essay describing how each narrator's point of view influenced how these events are described. Be sure to |
|use details from both stories. |
|2015 RELEASED ITEM: |
|Today you will analyze a passage from Where the Red Fern Grows and the poem “The Lighthouse Lamp.” As you read these texts, you |
|will gather information and answer questions about the narrator’s point of view so you can write an essay. |
|THEN: Where the Red Fern Grows and “The Lighthouse Lamp” are written from different points of view. Write an essay analyzing the |
|impact of point of view on events in the passage from Where the Red Fern Grows and the impact of point of view on events in the |
|poem, “The Lighthouse Lamp.” Use specific examples from BOTH texts to support your answer. |
|2016 RELEASED ITEM: |
|N/A |
GRADE 6:
|PRACTICE TEST: |
|Today, you will read and think about the passage from the novel titled Boy’s Life and the fable “Emancipation: A Life Fable.” As |
|you read these texts, you will gather information and answer questions about comparing themes and topics so you can write an |
|essay…. |
|THEN: You have read the passage from Boy’s Life and “Emancipation: A Life Fable.” Both texts develop the theme of freedom. Write an|
|essay that compares and contrasts the approaches each text uses to develop the theme of freedom. |
|2015 RELEASED ITEM: |
|Today you will analyze a passage from the book A Single Shard and the poem “Turn, Turn, My Wheel.” As you read these texts, you |
|will gather information and answer questions about their themes and topics so you can write an essay. |
|THEN: You have read TWO texts about people who make pottery. Think about how the narrator in the passage from A Single Shard and |
|the speaker in “Turn, Turn, My Wheel” respond to the potters in each text. Write an essay that compares and contrasts how the |
|narrator and the speaker view the potters in the passage and in the poem. Be sure to cite specific details and examples from BOTH |
|texts to support your essay. |
|2016 RELEASED ITEM: |
|N/A |
GRADE 7:
|PRACTICE TEST: |
|Today you will read a passage from The Count of Monte Cristo as well as a scene from the play Blessings. After you have read the |
|selections and answered some questions, you will write an essay analyzing the themes presented in the two texts…. |
|THEN: You have read a passage from The Count of Monte Cristo and a scene from Blessings. Think about the similarities and |
|differences in how the two authors develop the themes in each text. Write an essay in which you identify a theme from each text and|
|analyze how each theme is developed. Be sure to include specific details from both selections. |
|2015 RELEASED ITEM: |
|Today you will analyze a passage from The Georges and the Jewels and a passage from Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse. As|
|you read these passages, you will gather information and answer questions about how the authors develop each narrator’s point of |
|view so you can write an essay. |
|THEN: You have read passages from the novels The Georges and the Jewels and Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse. Both were |
|written in the first person point of view. Write an essay in which you compare the way the authors use first person point of view |
|to develop the characters. Be sure to cite specific from BOTH passages. |
|2016 RELEASED ITEM: |
|N/A |
GRADE 8:
|PRACTICE TEST: |
|Today you will analyze passages from two novels. As you read these texts, you will gather information and answer questions about |
|the characters and points of view so you can write an analytical essay…. |
|THEN: In Confetti Girl and Tortilla Sun, the narrators have points of view different from those of their parents. Write an essay |
|analyzing how these differences in points of view create tension in both stories. Remember to use details from both texts to |
|support your ideas. |
|2015 RELEASED ITEM: |
|Today you will analyze a passage from Oliver Twist and a passage from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. As you read these |
|texts, you will gather information and answer questions about the effect of dialogue or events so you can write an essay. |
|THEN: Both Charles Dickens and James Joyce incorporate dialogue into their passages. Use evidence you have gathered from BOTH |
|passages to write an essay analyzing how the dialogue in EACH passage functions to reveal aspects of the characters. You should |
|discuss MORE THAN ONE character from EACH passage. |
|2016 RELEASED ITEM: |
|N/A |
GRADE 9:
|PRACTICE TEST: |
|N/A (pending permission) |
|2015 RELEASED ITEM: |
|Today you will analyze a passage from the poem The Odyssey and a passage from Odysseus. As you read these texts, you will gather |
|information and answer questions about how each author transforms the material so you can write an essay. |
|THEN: Write an essay that analyzes how McCaughrean draws on and transforms a particular passage from Pope’s translation of The |
|Odyssey in her narrative retelling titled Odysseus. Include how the two selections are alike and different. Be sure to provide |
|details from the selections to support your ideas and claims. |
|2016 RELEASED ITEM: |
|N/A |
GRADE 10:
|PRACTICE TEST: |
|Today you will read and analyze passages from two short stories. As you read these texts, you will gather information and answer |
|questions about each text individually and about the relationship between the texts so you can write an analytical essay…. |
|THEN: You have read two passages, one from Jacey Choy’s “Red Cranes” and one from Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s “The Firefly Hunt.” Though |
|Mie and Sachiko, the main characters in the passages, have certain similarities, the authors develop their characters in very |
|different ways.
Write an essay in which you analyze the different approaches the authors take to develop these characters. In your |
|essay, be sure to discuss how each author makes use of such elements as:
|
|the main characters’ interactions with other characters,
|
|the presentation of the main characters’ thoughts, and
|
|the strong feelings each character experiences at the end of each passage. |
|Use specific evidence from both passages to support your analysis. |
|2015 RELEASED ITEM: |
|Today you will analyze a passage from Frankenstein and a passage from The Tempest. As you read these texts, you gather information|
|and answer questions about the characters so you can write an essay. |
|THEN: Use what you have learned from Frankenstein and The Tempest to write an analysis that compares and contrasts the relationship|
|between Dr. Frankenstein and his creature and the relationship between Prospero and Caliban. You may want to include in your |
|analysis how Dr. Frankenstein is similar to Prospero, as well as how the creature is similar to Caliban. To get started, you might|
|want to consider these questions: |
|How is Dr. Frankenstein similar to Prospero? |
|How is the man created by Dr. Frankenstein similar to Caliban? |
|Support your essay with specific evidence from both passages. |
|2016 RELEASED ITEM: |
|N/A |
GRADE 11:
|PRACTICE TEST: |
|Today you will read and analyze passages from two novels. As you read these texts, you will gather information and answer questions|
|about each text individually and about the relationship between the texts, so you can write an analytical essay…. |
|THEN: Now that you have read and answered questions about the passages from Quicksand and The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, |
|write an essay in which you identify and explain a theme that is similar in both passages. In your essay, discuss how each author |
|uses the characters, events, and settings in the passages to develop the theme. |
|2015 RELEASED ITEM: |
|Today you will read and analyze a passage from the novel Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser and a passage from the story “The |
|Grasshopper” by Anton Chekhov. As you read, you will gather information and answer questions about story elements and structure so|
|you can write an analytical essay. |
|THEN: Use what you have learned from reading the passages from Sister Carrie and “The Grasshopper” to write an essay analyzing how|
|the author in each passage uses small events in a day to develop the main character. Develop your essay by providing textual |
|evidence from the passages. |
|2016 RELEASED ITEM: |
|Today you will read a passage from Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby the Scrivener: a Story of Wall-Street” and watch |
|Bartleby, a video adaptation of the story. As you read the text and watch the video, you will gather information and answer |
|questions that analyze the importance of setting in the story and the video adaptation so that you can write an analytical essay. |
|THEN: You have read a passage from Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby the Scrivener: a Story of Wall-Street” and watched |
|Bartleby, a video adaptation of the story. In both the story and the video, the settings play an important role in the development|
|of the central themes. Write an essay in which you examine the significance of the setting in both the story and the video. How |
|is the office in which Bartleby works depicted in each piece? What do these depictions suggest about the nature of the world in |
|which the characters live and work? Remember to use relevant and sufficient evidence from both sources, citing specific evidence |
|to support your argument. |
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