Preparing for the English Language Arts State Test Writing Tasks: Prompt Prep and Analysis

Lots of teachers spend time on multiple-choice questions in preparation for the big state standardized tests. While this is valid, we have to be sure to spend equal amount of time on the writing tasks. I know it varies throughout America and well, the world, but in NJ, we take what's called the NJSLA, formerly know as PARCC. It stems from the Pearson Access Next website and, from what I can gather, the following states also use similar tests: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Typically, the way our assessment is set up is as follows:

• Narrative Task: This will require the students to read a short story and then write a narrative response. Usually, it is a continuation story of the story they read. Sometimes, it's a point-of-view story, in which they have to write the same story in the POV of another character.

• Research Simulation Task: Students will read two articles about a real subject, usually science or history focused, and a video as well. They then will have to write an essay comparing the sources based on a specific skill.

• Literary Analysis Task: They must read two literary passages, a short story, a poem, an excerpt, and compare and contrast the two reading materials. They usually have to focus on a literary skill such as theme, character, etc.

So, ALL of these are HEAVILY focused on reading comprehension as well as writing skill. Truly, this is why I spend so much time on reading during the school year, because it is crucial for their success on the writing portions of the test.

Preparing for the writing tasks

I have a ton of things in my TpT store and my blog that can get you started.

• This is the basic essay format I use for the RST and LAT: Basic essay format...

• This helps with creating topic sentences for essays: Topic sentence centers.

• Focuses on the RST specifically: RST

• Focuses on the LAT: LAT

• Focuses on the Narrative Tasks: Narratives

• More essays information: Sample essays, etc.

Narrative Tasks

The first thing you'll want your students to be aware of are the different types of prompts. Here are a few examples.

Narrative Task Continuation

I like to start with the continuation story.

I give them a bunch of student samples to analyze to determine what they did well or not so well. It's a good start to see what others have done.

From there, we read actual short stories that are on the NJSLA sample website, and often do the multiple-choice as well. The most important part is having them HIGHLIGHT lines in the ORIGINAL story that would be helpful in a sequel of the story. We spend a good amount of time doing that before planning a potential continuation.

From there, I have the students plan "what-if's". These are possible scenarios of what could happen next; and what could LOGICALLY happen next. Once they decide on a major plot, they have to plan an entire NEW story using story structure. My students are all very familiar with the structure already because we use this throughout the year.

Point-of-View Narrative Task

Truthfully, it's been awhile since I've seen this type of writing task, but it could happen! I think it's more likely on 7th or 8th grade. In this scenario, students have to rewrite the story from the point-of-view of another character. This is actually quite challenging to do!

Similar to the continuation, I have them look at student samples. After that analysis, they read a story, and again focus on highlighting. This time, they must highlight where the other character is featured. This is important because they will want to know this for their version.

Then, they plan. This is very different. I like to teach them to think of what could happen BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER the main events. So, the before, they make up. The during, they will include what the character felt and thought during the main events, and the after they make up what could potentially happen after all the main events.

Sometimes, this is all I have them do and if time allows, I have them actually write the story.

Essays: Research Simulation and Literary Analysis Tasks

These are set up the exact same way. Pretty much all the prompts are similar in that they want students to compare and contrast the sources and how they focus on a specific literary element or idea.

I use the basic essay format from the beginning of the school year and any time I do an essay with them.

For test prep, I give them two super short passages from Common Lit. They read those and focus on making topic sentences. THIS is how they prepare for the essay. They need to be aware that each source is a paragraph and that there is a comparative paragraph as well.

Then for time, I usually just have them work on one body paragraph to be sure they know/remember the set up.

I have them do this for a literary analysis task and a research simulation task.

Bottom Line

This is all I do to prepare for the state test, for the most part. If you read my other blog post, it goes into more detail about other things I've done, but honestly, once I work on these slides with them, they've already been pretty exposed to this type of writing.

Truthfully, if you're incorporating this type of work throughout the year, it won't be a struggle to review.

You can get all of these slides plus 3 teacher samples here:

Here's everything you'll need to prep for the state test as found on my blog:

• CONCISE TEXT DETAIL: Citing Concise Textual Evidence: Avoiding "Quote Plopping"

• TEXT EVIDENCE: Finding and Using Text Evidence: Writing about Reading (No Fancy Acronyms Needed)

• TEST PREP: Standardized Test Prep in Reading and Writing Workshop

• BASIC ESSAY FORMAT: Essays in 6th Grade: A Basic Format that Elevates the Standard 5-Paragraph Structure

• NARRATIVE WRITING: Narrative Writing in Response to Reading: Ditching the Personal Narrative

• LITERARY ANALYSIS: Literary Essay Writing: Comparing Stories with Author's Craft Focus (Test Prep)

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