Short Answer Response “SAR” A How-To Guide

today’s goal: Introduce what a short answer response is understand how to craft a well-written response

What is an SAR? S.A.R. An S.A.R. An SAR is a response to a question about a text in paragraph form. Contains analysis and TEXT EVIDENCE directly answers a question, provides text evidence to prove the point, and includes connecting commentary that explains how the text evidence supports the assertion.

How do I answer an SAR? E- EXPLAIN Go APE on your S.A.R! A- ANSWER P- Proof E- EXPLAIN

A- ANSWER ANSWER THE QUESTION! Start your answer by rephrasing part of the question and inserting your main point. PROMPT: Analyze what Howard’s thoughts throughout the passage reveal about his personality. Use information from the passage to support your analysis.

P- Proof SENTENCE STARTERS: Proof from the text! You need to prove what you’re saying is correct. You do this by showing a direct quote from the text of what you read. Use as many quotes as you see fit to prove your point. SENTENCE STARTERS: The author wrote… On page # it said… In the text, it said… This picture showed that …. Evidence from the text to support this idea is…

E- Explain Explain your ideas and connect your answer to your text evidence. DO NOT include personal anecdotes! Anecdotes: personal stories

SCORING Guide (0-3 Points) 3: -Provides a clear, complete, and accurate answer. – Provides limited relevant and specific information from passage. 2:-provides a partial answer to task.-provides limited information from the passage and may have innacuracies. 1:- provides minimal answer to the task; provides little or no info from the passage and include inaccuracies OR relates minimally to prompt 0:-The response is totally incorrect, irrelevant, or contains insufficient information to demonstrate comprehension.

For each SAR, you will have a box like the one above that allows you 10 lines for your answer. Please note that the 10th line is the dark bottom edge of the box, and you cannot write below this point. Also, you may not “double line” in order to squeeze more writing in the box.

Example Prompt: In this excerpt of The Old Man and the Sea, how does personification help to explain Santiago’s relationship to the sea? Support your answer with evidence from the selection. Example Response: He always thought of the sea as la mar which is what people call her. “He always thought of the sea as la mar which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her.” This is trying to explain how other people see her. Score Point 0: Insufficient The student repeats verbatim the text.

Example Prompt: In this excerpt of The Old Man and the Sea, how does personification help to explain Santiago’s relationship to the sea? Support your answer with evidence from the selection. Example Response: Santiago calls the sea “la mar” which means love because he see’s the sea as a woman. He always refers to her as “feminine” and of something that withheld “great favors.” So thinking of the sea as a woman is personification. Score Point 1: Partially Sufficient The idea is reasonable, but only a general text reference is used to support the idea.

Example Prompt: In this excerpt of The Old Man and the Sea, how does personification help to explain Santiago’s relationship to the sea? Support your answer with evidence from the selection. Example Response: Personification explains the relationship between the old man and the sea because he thought of the sea as a real woman and doing things a real woman would do. The old man thought of the sea “as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favors.” Thinking of it as a person makes him seem closer to the sea. Score Point 2: Sufficient The idea is reasonable and goes beyond literal (“makes him seem closer”). The evidence is relevant.

Example Prompt: In this excerpt of The Old Man and the Sea, how does personification help to explain Santiago’s relationship to the sea? Support your answer with evidence from the selection. Example Response: Hemingway uses personification to explain that Santiago thinks “of the sea as la mar which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her.” He is referring to the sea as a woman and he takes her side by not blaming her for the “wild or wicked things.” So he is defending the sea as if she had life, just like a man would do for a woman. Score Point 3: Exemplary The idea (“he is defending the sea as if she had life”) is perceptive and reflects awareness of the complexities of the text. The evidence (a combination of paraphrase and direct quote) is specific and well chosen.

How does the paragraph develop Beauty’s character? Support your Let’s try it! Read the passage on the following slide. Then respond to the prompt below. How does the paragraph develop Beauty’s character? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

Excerpt from “Beauty and the Beast” At first nobody would hear of it. Beauty’s father and brothers, who loved her dearly, declared nothing should make them let her go. But Beauty was firm. As the time drew near for her to go to the Beast, she divided her little possessions between her sisters and said goodbye to everyone she loved. When the fatal day came, she encouraged and cheered her father as they mounted together the horse which had brought him back. It seemed to fly rather than gallop, but so smoothly that Beauty was not frightened. Indeed, she would have enjoyed it if she had not feared what might happen at the end of it. Her father still tried to persuade her to go back home, but in vain.

Again, the question/prompt is… How does the paragraph develop Beauty’s character? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

Pre-Writing When pre-writing select 2-3 quotes in the passage that you think help develop your answer. In this case, Beauty’s character. Excerpt from “Beauty and the Beast” At first nobody would hear of it. Beauty’s father and brothers, who loved her dearly, declared nothing should make them let her go. But Beauty was firm. As the time drew near for her to go to the Beast, she divided her little possessions between her sisters and said goodbye to everyone she loved. When the fatal day came, she encouraged and cheered her father as they mounted together the horse which had brought him back. It seemed to fly rather than gallop, but so smoothly that Beauty was not frightened. Indeed, she would have enjoyed it if she had not feared what might happen at the end of it. Her father still tried to persuade her to go back home, but in vain.

Did you highlight any of these? Excerpt from “Beauty and the Beast” At first nobody would hear of it. Beauty’s father and brothers, who loved her dearly, declared nothing should make them let her go. But Beauty was firm. As the time drew near for her to go to the Beast, she divided her little possessions between her sisters and said goodbye to everyone she loved. When the fatal day came, she encouraged and cheered her father as they mounted together the horse which had brought him back. It seemed to fly rather than gallop, but so smoothly that Beauty was not frightened. Indeed, she would have enjoyed it if she had not feared what might happen at the end of it. Her father still tried to persuade her to go back home, but in vain.

Connecting Commentary Write your thoughts next to each quote. What do they show about Beauty’

Notice how the comments in white explain how the quote characterizes Beauty. “As the time drew near for her to go to the Beast, she divided her little possessions between her sisters and said goodbye to everyone she loved” - Shows that Beauty is not selfish. She wants to share her things with her sisters. “It seemed to fly rather than gallop, but so smoothly that Beauty was not frightened” – Though she is going to visit a monster, Beauty does not let herself become afraid. She is brave. “Her father still tried to persuade her to go back, but in vain” – There is no use in persuading Beauty to stay behind; she is determined to help her family by going to the Beast.

Now let’s put it all together. Once you have this pre-writing completed, you simply need to put your thoughts and quotes into complete sentences that make sense. Look at my model SAR, notice how I embed my quotations within my own sentences.

When its all said and done, it looks something like this: How does the paragraph develop Beauty’s character? Support your answer with evidence from the text. The passage develops Beauty’s character by allowing her bravery to stand out in times of desperation. Beauty’s bravery is displayed when the author says, “It seemed to fly rather than gallop, but so smoothly that Beauty was not frightened.” By having to go and live with a monster, Beauty had to overcome some of her fears and find strength to be brave. Although she feared what was to come, Beauty showed herself to be a loving, giving, and brave woman who is willing to sacrifice for her family. A P E