Transcript Focus Calendar: Weeks 1-4

Focus Calendar:
Weeks 12-14 & 34-36
Author’s Purpose
FCAT Testing Cluster 2
Strand A
LA.A.2.2.2
The student identifies the author’s purpose in simple text.
“They may forget what
you said but they will
never forget how you
made them feel.”
-- Anonymous
Persuade
Inform
Entertain
Describe
The Pied Piper
Clarifying the
FCAT Benchmarks
• Grade 3, 4, and 5
• Benchmark- LA.A.2.2.2
• The student identifies the
author’s purpose in simple text.
The Social or Communicative
Intent of a Piece of Writing
(to describe, to explain, to give instruction, to tell
a story, to persuade, or to recount an event).
• Students recognize there is a purpose for reading
• Students read the text with a different level of
intensity depending on the purpose in mind.
• Students need to recognize purpose, know why
the author wrote the story, and to read for
meaning.
• Without knowing the purpose the selection, they
themselves will have no purpose for reading.
Strategies and Tips for
Author’s Purpose #1
Look for negative or positive
words that indicate how the
author regards the topic under
discussion.
Strategies and Tips for
Author’s Purpose #2
When you have no word clues, read the passage carefully
and decide on your overall impression. Ask yourself if you
feel impressed, or surprised, or shocked. This may help
you understand the author’s viewpoint.
Strategies and Tips for
Author’s Purpose #3
The main reason authors write nonfiction passages is to
inform. They may also hope to instruct, persuade, or
entertain their readers.
Strategies and Tips for
Author’s Purpose #4
Where you read a selection can provide an important clue as
to an author’s purpose. Newspaper editorials are usually
intended to persuade. School texts are intended to
instruct.
Strategies and Tips for
Author’s Purpose #5
It may help if you know who the author is. Humorous
writers, for example, probably want
to amuse and
entertain you.
Graphic Organizer: T-Chart
Genre
Author’s Purpose
What Does It Look Like on FCAT?
3rd Grade
Item Type – Multiple Choice
Response Attributes
Distractors may include, but are not
limited to, the following:
• facts or details from the passage that
do not represent the author’s purpose,
• incorrect interpretations of the author’s
purpose.
What Does It Look Like on FCAT?
4th
Grade
Item Type – Multiple Choice
Response Attributes
Distractors may include, but are not limited to,
the following:
• *facts or details from the passage that do not
represent the author’s purpose,
• *incorrect interpretations of the author’s purpose.
• Distractors should NOT be a list of general categories
(e.g., to inform, to persuade).
What Does It Look Like on FCAT?
4th
Grade
Item Type – Short Response
Response Attributes
• *SR items will be scored with a holistic rubric
that defines the performance criteria for each
score point.
• *An example of a top-score response for each
SR item will be included.
4th Grade
Short Response Rubric (SR)
2 Points
The response indicates that the student has a complete understanding of the
reading concept embodied in the task. The student has provided a response
that is accurate and complete and fulfills all the requirements of the task.
Necessary support and/or examples are included, and the information given is
clearly text based.
1 Point
The response indicates that the student has a partial understanding of the
reading concept embodied in the task. The student is provided a response that
includes information that is essentially correct and text-based, but the
information is too general or too simplistic. Some of the support and/or
examples may be incomplete or omitted.
0 Points
The response is inaccurate, confused, and/or irrelevant, or the student has
failed to respond to the task.
What Does It Look Like on FCAT?
5th
Grade
Item Type – Multiple Choice
Response Attributes
Distractors may include, but are not limited
to , the following:
• *facts or details from the passage that do
not represent the author’s purpose,
• *incorrect interpretations of the author’s
purpose.
Other Resources/
Support:
The social or communicative intent
of a peace of writing (to describe, to
explain, to give instruction, to tell a
story, to persuade, or to recount an
event).
Author’s Purpose
Focus Skill
Definition: the social or communicative intent of a piece of writing (to describe, to
explain, to give instruction, to tell a story, to persuade, or to recount an event).
Students who recognize there is a purpose for reading a selection will read the text
with a different level of intensity depending on the purpose in mind. They either read
the text more carefully or just for entertainment purposes. A student needs to
recognize purpose, know why the author wrote the story, and to read for meaning.
Without knowing the purpose the selection, they themselves will have no purpose for
reading.
Strategies and Tips:
1. Look for negative or positive words that indicate how the author regards the
topic under discussion.
2. When you have no word clues, read the passage carefully and decide on your
overall impression. Ask yourself if you feel impressed, or surprised, or
shocked. This may help you understand the author’s viewpoint.
3. The main reason authors write nonfictional passages is to inform. They may
also hope to instruct, persuade, or entertain their readers.
4. Where you read a selection can provide an important clue as to an author’s
purpose. Newspaper editorials are usually intended to persuade. School texts
are intended to instruct.
5. It may help if you know who the author is. Humorous writers, for example,
probably want to amuse and entertain you.
Graphic Organizer:
Genre
Author’s purpose
FCAT
LA.2.2.2
Response Attributes
3rd
Distractors may include, but are not limited to, the following:
*facts or details from the passage that do not represent the author’s purpose,
*incorrect interpretations of the author’s purpose.
4th
Multiple Choice:
Distractors may include, but are not limited to, the following:
*facts or details from the passage that do not represent the author’s purpose,
*incorrect interpretations of the author’s purpose.
Distractors should NOT be a list of general categories (e.g., to inform, to persuade).
Short Response:
*SR items will be scored with a holistic rubric that defines the performance criteria for each score point.
*An example of a top-score response for each SR item will be included.
5th
Distractors may include, but are not limited to , the following:
*facts or details from the passage that do not represent the author’s purpose,
*incorrect interpretations of the author’s purpose.
Key question phrases:

Why did the author write ____?

What was the author’s purpose for writing this ___?

With which statement would the author of ____ MOST likely agree?

The author would probably agree that ____?

Why did the author include this paragraph?
Item Type:
3rd and 5th: Multiple Choice
4th: Multiple Choice and Short Response
Sample:
What is the best thing to do if you smell smoke?
First of all, don’t panic. Feel your door to see if it is warm. If so, call 911 and tell them there is a fire
and you are trapped in your apartment. If the door is not warm to the touch, open it carefully and walk
into the corridor. Do not take the elevator. Use the stairs to reach the ground floor.
The author wrote this to
A. explain what to do if there is a fire
B. instruct people on the dangers of fire
C. list the different kinds of fires
D. describe how fires get started
Author’s Purpose Websites
Author’s Purpose Game:
http://www.oswego.org/ocsdweb/match/term/matchgeneric2.asp?filename=kderitteauth
Author’s Purpose Test:
http://www.poquoson.org/pes/VASOLs/view.html
Author’s Purpose Practice:
http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/palmasola/rcap1.htm
Author’s Purpose Post Test:
http://unx1.shsu.edu/%7Etxcae/Powerpoints/prepostest/authorpovpostest.html