Rationale PARCC Research Simulation Task Grade 8 Writing Lesson 1: Introduction to the Prose Constructed Response on the Research Simulation Task This lesson serves as an overview of the prose constructed response (PCR) of the Research Simulation Task (RST), which is the essay writing portion of the exam. The succeeding lessons in this series will delve into several aspects of the writing process and offer practice in the areas of thesis statements, outlining, paragraphing, and completing a PCR task. Goal To preview the PCR on the PARCC Research Simulation Task Task Foci Objectives Materials Procedures CCSS W.8.1: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. CCSS W.8.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content. CCSS W.8.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. CCSS RI.8.1: Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. CCSS RI.8.2: Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS RI.8.3: Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories). Students will understand the types of writing that they will be asked to produce on PARCC Research Simulation Task. Research Simulation Task Sample Texts (3) Research Simulation Task Sample Prompt Blank white paper Colored pencils Explain that today you are going to introduce the class to the writing portion of the PARCC Research Simulation Task. RST Writing Lesson 1: Introducing the PCR on the Research Simulation Task Page 1 2015 Standards Solution Holding, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
The great innovation of PARCC is that it creates a test-taking environment that simulates the circumstances in which real-world writing is conducted. Students have the texts they need right in front of them. Share this information with students. Let them know that this should put them more at ease with the tests. The only prior knowledge they need concerns knowing how to write a response to a prompt. The content of their responses will be drawn exclusively from the texts on the assessment. Explain to students that PARCC is a significantly different test than NJ ASK, but you as the teacher are going to guide them through the process of taking the test so that they are well prepared for test day. Differences from NJ ASK: o Test is administered on computers (schools may opt for paper tests). o The writing and reading portions are combined into one comprehensive assessment. All answers, selected or written, use the same set of texts as their source, so students interact with the texts over a sustained period of time. o Questions are all text-dependent. Students answer multiple-choice (EBSR & TECR) questions after reading the texts and before writing their essays o Emphasis on analytical essay. Distribute the sample texts and prompt. Ask students if they have any questions. Discuss main idea and explain to students that the main idea of their essay will be a statement that directly answers the prompt. Next, students will create a web to brainstorm main ideas and supporting evidence. Pass out paper and colored pencils. Ask students to write the words Main Idea in the center of their paper and leave space to write their main idea below the words. Direct students to come up with at least three supporting ideas. Have them find information in the texts that they can use to support their ideas. Have them write their findings in their own words on their web. Discuss students ideas and findings if there is time. Collect their work. Teacher Tips While students are creating their webs, circulate to help any students who may be struggling and to check that their main idea is workable and that they are finding relevant information in the texts to support their ideas. Assessment Evaluate students webs. It should be evident that the student understood the reading. Check that each student was able to come up with at least three supporting ideas for their main idea. Extension Activity In a following class period, as a formative assessment activity, have students answer the prompt with an essay. RST Writing Lesson 1: Introducing the PCR on the Research Simulation Task Page 2 2015 Standards Solution Holding, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
The Wright Brothers National Memorial from NPS.gov The Wright Brothers National Memorial commemorates the site of the first successful powered air flight and the many achievements of Wilbur and Orville Wright in the Kill Devil Hills area of North Carolina. The Wrights, who had been experimenting with glider designs, required a wide, open area with steady winds in order to conduct their research. The closest, most practical site to the brothers' Dayton, Ohio, home was Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In 1900 Wilbur and Orville Wright set up a tent camp at Kitty Hawk to test their first large glider, performing their first manned glides here. The following year, the Wrights returned to the area, building a more permanent camp including a combined workshop and storage building. The experimental flights of early August 1901 largely succeeded, resulting in glides of up to 389 feet; however, difficulties still existed and frustrated both brothers. Toward the end of August, the Wrights returned to Dayton for further work. In August 1902, the Wrights returned once again to Kitty Hawk to test improvements made on their glider where they gained increased acumen and logged a considerable number of hours of actual flight time, contributing to their later success as pilots. By the end of the 1902 season, the Wrights had made great progress on the way to successful flight. These accomplishments did not go unnoticed. The scientific community began to hear of the Wright brothers' work and the military of several countries took an interest in the gliders. Wilbur and Orville, understanding the significance of their discoveries, applied for a patent in 1903. At the same time, the brothers began developing an engine for their flying machine in order to attain their goal of powered flight. On Monday, December 14, 1903, the brothers decided to test their machine-powered aircraft called the Flyer. The brothers tossed a coin to decide who would take the first turn. Wilbur, winner of the coin toss, experienced difficulties and stayed in the air for three and a half seconds. Although considered an unsuccessful attempt, the Wrights were optimistic about the Flyer's ability. At 10:00 am on December 17, despite high winds, the brothers set out to test the aircraft again. Orville flew approximately 100 feet in 12 seconds and at noon Wilbur made the fourth and longest flight of the day, covering 852 feet. In 1932 a 60-foot granite monument perched atop 90-foot tall Kill Devil Hill was dedicated to commemorating the achievement of these two visionaries. One of the most significant changes to the site came in 1960 when the park added a new Visitor Center, one of several Mission 66 projects sponsored by the National Park Service to upgrade park buildings in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the Service. Designed by the Philadelphia firm of Mitchell/Giurgola, later designers of the Liberty Bell Pavilion near Independence Hall, the new concrete visitor center suggested the form of an airport terminal and conveyed a sense of transportation, forming a connection between the achievements of the Wright brothers and the world of modern aviation.
Glenn Curtiss House from NPS.gov The Glenn Curtiss House was constructed in 1925. Glenn Hammond Curtiss, born in 1878 in Hammondsport, New York, was a rival of the Wright Brothers. Like the Wright Brothers, Curtiss was interested in bicycles as a young man, opening a bicycle repair shop in 1900 after his marriage to Lena Pearl Neff. Interested in speed, he soon turned to motorcycles and designed a machine with a lightweight, high-power engine. He created the G.H. Curtiss Manufacturing Company in New York in 1902, and began producing the Hercules motorcycle. Although setting records for motorcycle racing, his company also drew the attention of aeronautical experimenters. In July 1904 Thomas Scott Baldwin used a Curtiss two-cylinder engine to power the first successful dirigible to fly in the United States, the California Arrow. Alexander Graham Bell, the famed inventor, was also impressed by the Curtiss engines. He invited Curtiss to join the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA). Curtiss turned to airplanes after Bell's man-carrying motorized kite was deemed a failure. The AEA designed and built several airplanes, including the Red Wing, which first flew on March 12, 1908. This was followed two months later by the White Wing, which employed Bellcontrived ailerons for lateral control, a system that was superior to the wing warping used by the Wright Brothers. Curtiss became an fervent flyer, and after the AEA disbanded in 1909, established his own airplane company in Hammondsport, New York. The second airplane company that Curtiss established, the Curtiss Aeroplane Company, became the world's largest aircraft manufacturer during the war. He developed an airplane that could land on water for the Navy. He soon found himself in a legal battle with the Wright Brothers, who held a patent on their wing-warping system. While the Wrights won in court, Curtiss paid no penalty, and a Wall Street syndicate formed the Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Company, with Curtiss as president. The most widely produced model during World War I was Curtiss's JN-4 "Jenny." When the company underwent major financial reorganization in 1920, Curtiss moved to southern Florida, where he became interested in real estate and became a developer during the 1920s. As William M. Leary wrote in American National Biography, "Curtiss stands in the forefront of American aeronautical pioneers, second only to the Wright brothers in historical significance." The Glenn Curtiss House is one of the largest and most architecturally distinguished of the Pueblo Revival residences associated with Curtiss's Miami Springs development. Its architect, Martin Luther Hampton, was one of Miami's most prominent architects during the 1920s--his designs include the former Miami Beach City Hall and the Congress Building in downtown Miami. The house is roughly V-shaped in plan and constructed of hollow clay tile with a rough textured stucco exterior. The roof is flat with very irregular parapet walls embellished by projecting waterspouts and irregular shaped openings. After Glenn Curtiss's death in the early 1930s, Lena Curtiss married an old friend and business associate of her husband, H. Sayre Wheeler. Wheeler served as mayor of Miami Springs from 1942 to 1944 and was also part owner of the Michaels and Wheeler Insurance Company. The couple lived in the house until the late 1940s. It was subsequently converted into the Miami Springs Villas House in 1953.
Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site from NPS.gov The Tuskegee Institute was the center for African American aviation during World War II and home to the Tuskegee Airmen. The few African Americans who learned to fly in the early 1900s were self-taught or trained oversees. In 1939, the U.S government passed the Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) Act. It authorized selected schools, including the Tuskegee Institute, to provide basic training for black pilots in case of a national emergency. The following year, Tuskegee was authorized to teach advanced CPT courses. With the outbreak of World War II the U.S. military chose the Tuskegee Institute to train pilots for the war effort. Tuskegee had the facilities, engineering instructors and a climate well suited for year round flying. Moton Field at the Tuskegee Institute was built between 1940 and 1942. The facility included two aircraft hangars, a control tower, locker building, clubhouse, wooden offices and storage buildings, brick storage buildings, and a vehicle maintenance area. The Army Air Corps assigned officers to oversee the training at Tuskegee's Moton Field. They furnished cadets with textbooks, flying clothes, parachutes and mechanic suits. Tuskegee Institute was one of the very few American institutions to own, develop, and control facilities for military flight instruction. On July 19, 1941, the first class, which included Capt. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. began rigorous training in subjects such as meteorology, navigation and instruments. Successful cadets then transferred to the segregated Tuskegee Army Air Field, built five miles away by the Army Air Corps, to complete their pilot training. More than 1,000 pilots were trained at the two fields to form one of the most highly respected U.S. fighter groups of World War II. Under the command of Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. the 332nd fighter group flew successful missions over Sicily, the Mediterranean and North Africa. The fight group was known to bomber crews as the "Red-Tail Angels" after the markings on their aircraft. The Tuskegee Airmen completed 15,000 sorties in approximately 1,500 missions. They destroyed more than 260 enemy aircraft, sank one enemy destroyer and demolished numerous enemy installations. The Tuskegee Airmen were awarded many high honors, including Distinguished Flying Crosses, Legions of Merit, Silver Stars, Purple Hearts, the Croix de Guerre and the Red Star of Yugoslavia. In 1945, the 332nd Fighter Group was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for "outstanding performance and extraordinary heroism." Having fought America's enemies abroad, the indefatigable Tuskegee Airmen returned home to tirelessly join the struggle for equality. The 477th Bombardment Group staged a peaceful protest for equal rights at Freeman Field, Indiana, in April 1945. The Tuskegee Airmen and the 10,000 African Americans that served as flight instructors, officers, bombardiers, navigators, radio technicians, mechanics, air traffic controllers, parachute riggers, electrical and communications specialists, laboratory assistants and cooks paved the way for full racial integration of the United States military. A portion of Moton Field was deeded to the city of Tuskegee for use as a municipal airport. It is still in use today, while the remaining portions of the field and many of the associated buildings are currently being restored by the National Park Service. Nearby Tuskegee Army Air Field was closed after the war and is now used by a private hunting club.
Research Simulation Task Prose Constructed Response All three of the texts you ve read give information about places commemorating the history of aviation in the United States. You read about the accomplishments of the Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Tuskegee Airmen. Write an essay about what personal traits these pioneers shared to be successful. In what ways were these pioneers similar? Use details from the texts you ve read here to complete your essay.