Directions Read the poem “Fifteen” by William Stafford Write your own analytical paragraph by imitating a short analytical paragraph model.

Model paragraph Question: How would you describe the boy in the poem “Fifteen”? The boy is described as being adventurous. One can see this in lines 11-12, where he is fantasizing about taking the bike out for a spin, saying “We could find the end of a road, meet / the sky on out Seventeenth.” This shows he’s adventurous because there’s no such thing as meeting “the end” of “the sky.” This means he wants to keep going and explore everything. Thus, we can conclude the boy is curious and has a strong wanderlust. Notice anything about this paragraph?

The boy is described as being adventurous The boy is described as being adventurous. One can see this in lines 11-12, where he is fantasizing about taking the bike out for a spin, saying “We could find the end of a road, meet / the sky on out Seventeenth.” It shows he’s adventurous because there’s no such thing as meeting “the end” of “the sky.” This means he wants to keep going and explore everything. Thus, we can conclude the boy is curious and has a strong wanderlust. This is a dialectical journal entry put into proper paragraph form! (1st sentence=inference, 2nd= context/textual reference, 3rd/4th =Commentary, 4th=repetition of inference.) You can copy the words that aren’t underlined, but everything else has to be your own. Don’t use the same quote as mine, please. What other words can you choose to describe the boy?

Paragraph terminology Dialectical Journal Terms Short Answer/Paragraph Terms Inference Context/Textual reference Commentary Repeat inference Topic Sentence (TS) Concrete Detail (CD) Commentary (CM) Concluding Sentence (CS)

STAAR Short answer info Score Point 0: Doesn’t answer question/off topic (TS) Score Point 1: Good answer (TS), but evidence is flawed (CD) No evidence (CD) Evidence doesn’t clearly support answer (CD); needs more explanation (CM) Evidence isn’t specific (No quote!) (CD) Evidence misuses info from passage (CD) Score Point 2: Good answer, evidence, commentary (TS, CD, CM) Evidence is clear, specific (quote), and supports TS (CD) Explanation (CM) is clear; connects CD to TS Score Point 3: Insightful, deep answer, evidence and explanation (TS, CD, CM) Evidence is very specific (CD) The whole passage is taken into consideration (multiple CDs) Explanation (CM) is thorough and shows deep understanding of the text

Pick one character from “HB”; How would you describe them? Template Example (Different Story) Name of character from Name of Story is quality/trait/adjective: USE A VOCAB WORD. For example, in paragraph/page # , (introduce quote with context) “bring in a quote (or even a piece of a quote) that best supports your answer.” This shows repeat quality or a synonym word because comment on how your quote shows that quality (explain/break down the quote). The hare (rabbit) from the story “The Tortoise and the Hare” is myopic. For example, in paragraph 3, the hare stops running because he has a head start, thinking “ ‘There’s time to relax.’” This is myopic behavior because he couldn’t see the big picture; he thought he could “relax” but didn’t realize the tortoise had a plan to beat him.