First things first….. RESTATE THE QUESTION (In other words, turn the question into a sentence!)

Then….. ANSWER the question!!!! If you don’t answer the question asked, you won’t get credit!!

Next, very important… CITE evidence from the text – give specific examples or quote word for word (Don’t forget to use quotations marks for those direct quotes!) Your quote MUST fit your answer!!

EXPLAIN your answer – show how your text evidence proves/connects your answer choice!

R - Restate A – Answer C – Cite E – Explain RACE!

How would you describe Paul in the excerpt from The Custom of the Country? Support your answer with evidence from the selection. “…and in the bedroom, on the brown wall, hung a single picture—the portrait of a boy in grey velvet—that interested Paul most of all. The boy’s hand rested on the head of a big dog, and he looked infinitely noble and charming, and yet (in spite of the dog) so sad and lonely that he too might have come home that very day to a strange house in which none of his old things could be found.” (P5)

ACE Paul from “The Custom of the Country” seemed very lonely and melancholic. He feels like the boy in the painting, “so sad and lonely that he too might have come home that very day to a strange house in which none of his old things could be found.”?????

ACE Paul can be described as an observing person. That is because whenever he sees something like a picture or just a scene in general, he would look at it closely and figure something out of it that can relate to him. “so sad and lonely that he too might have come home that very day to a strange house in which none of his old things could be found.” Paul related the picture to his own life here. By that you can tell Paul is very observing person

 Your answer must be synthesized from BOTH selections—not just one selection!  Text evidence must come from BOTH selections and must match the answer!  For both selections, the combination of the answer and the text evidence demonstrates a deep understanding of the text (Explain).

 What message do you think the speaker in “Sunday Morning Early” and the narrator of “I Wish I Was a Poet” are trying to convey? Explain your answer and support it with evidence from both selections.  In the following selection, notice how the student answered the question in the first sentence, supported the answer with text evidence from BOTH selections, and explained the answer as he/she added in the text evidence and then, also, at the end of the answer.

The speakers of both excerpts are trying to convey that many things, love especially, are best said by not being said. Sometimes the emotion can be expressed better by showing someone, not telling them. As the father loves his daughter very much and cherishes her company, he wants her to know how much she means to him, that “through her, I live a life that was closed to me before.” He needs to let her know, but with “something stronger and truer than a lame I love you.” At the end of the passage, he realizes that it’s best “learning to leave well enough alone,” and that by touching his daughter’s hand, she understood his love for her. This is the same as how the older couple “seemed like they didn’t notice a thing” going on around them because they were so focused on each other. “He was lookin’ at her like every woman on earth dreams of bein’ looked at, and her eyes were doin’ the same thing back at him.” Without saying it, the connection between the two expressed their love by actions, not words.

Restate the question Answer the question Cite text evidence Explain your answer