1. Constructing Text Based Responses
A.C.E.
Constructing Text Based Responses

2. Purpose
To learn a method or formula for writing well constructed responses that incorporate text evidence for support.

3. What does it stand for?
Answer the question Cite text evidence Extend your answer to explain how the text supports it.

4. Notes
Answer the question being asked. Reread and restate the question, using your answer to write your topic sentence.

5. Notes
Cite evidence from the text. Use examples and evidence from the text to support your answer.
(author’s last name p#). Ex: (Smith 74).
*This needs to be done for direct quotes AND paraphrasing*

6. Let’s Practice! Cite this passage propery: Author: John Green
Passage: My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.
Page: 152
“My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations” (Green 152). ” (Green 152).

7. Notes
Extend your answer. Explain your answer using your prior knowledge and examples from your personal experience.
***Support and Elaboration Strategies***

8. Let’s Practice with “Ransom of Red Chief”
Prompt/Question:
How does O. Henry incorporate verbal irony in “The Ransom of Red Chief”? Cite and provide an example for support.

9. Model Response
Answer
O. Henry provides an example of verbal irony in the “Ransom of Red Chief” when Sam, one of his captors, visits the town of Summit to determine if Red Chief’s kidnapping has been discovered.

10. Model Response
Cite
When Sam discovers that there is no activity brewing in town, he states “perhaps it has not yet been discovered that the wolves have borne away the tender lambkin from the fold” (Henry 74).

11. Explain Model Response
This statement is an example of verbal irony because Sam referred to Red Chief as a tender lambkin, which is the opposite of how he sees the boy. Because of Red Chief’s obnoxious behavior while in captivity, the reader knows that his statement is a form of sarcasm.

12. Putting it all together…
O. Henry provides an example of verbal irony in the “Ransom of Red Chief” when Sam, one of his captors, visits the town of Summit to determine if Red Chief’s kidnapping has been discovered. When Sam discovers that there is no activity brewing in town, he states “perhaps it has not yet been discovered that the wolves have borne away the tender lambkin from the fold” (Henry 74). This statement is an example of verbal irony because Sam referred to Red Chief as a tender lambkin, which is the opposite of how he sees the boy. Because of Red Chief’s obnoxious behavior while in captivity, the reader knows that his statement is a form of sarcasm.

13. Your turn! Prompt/Question
What kind of a boy is Red Chief? Cite a passage from the story that supports your answer.
*Use the ACE model*