Grade 8

Narrative

Writing Extended Response

Compose Full Texts

Geocaching

Conventions

Development/Elaboration

Organization/Purpose

There are run-on sentences (“It wasn&#8217;t just any Pokemon card either, it was the first card ever made in the factory” and “Thomas didn&#8217;t care, he was done”). There are also some grammatically incomplete sentences, but most of these fragments seem purposeful, crafted to emphasize details and/or quicken the narrative pace (“Looked like it was real gold”; “Opened it up and found the sacred logbook. Put my name as #1…” ; “The limited edition EX level Pikachu”).

There are numerous examples of misplaced punctuation following dialogue (e.g., “’Don’t give up’, I said”). This is just one type of comma error, although other comma and punctuation conventions are controlled. Note that correct hyphen usage is not a grade-8 skill.

The abbreviation “gps” should be capitalized.

There are errors with the frequently confused words &#8220;to&#8221; and &#8220;too.&#8221; There are several errors with verb tense inconsistencies (e.g., “Our backs and face were sweating so much that we thought it was raining. We haven&#8217;t got this much exercise…” and “there was a clearing in the sky, allowing us to get more clues on where this cache is”), and an error with an incorrect article (“a interesting”).

Details such as “Our backs and face were sweating so much that we thought it was raining” show effective development of the ten-mile hike. However, there are also details that are minimally developed. For example, the inference that “the gps became useless” when the narrator located the cache (presumably the tracker stopped moving) is a bit confusing. Likewise, information about the search at the bottom of the mountain could use more details beyond “I dug and dug and dug,” as that seems like a large area to be searching.

The response integrates a full range of information from the sources (e.g., geocaching Internet sites, GPS coordinates, trinkets and treasures for prizes, and clues that present puzzles to be solved).

Inner dialogue (e.g., &#8220;&#8216;Weak, Weak, Weak'&#8221;, I mumbled. &#8220;&#8216;What does that mean?&#8217;”) shows the narrator’s thoughts as well as their perseverance (e.g., “&#8217;I started this and I&#8217;m going to finish it'&#8221;). Detailed descriptions further illustrate the experience (e.g., “Our backs and face were sweating so much that we thought it was raining”). The short sentences and fragments add excitement by quickening the pace of the narrative and showing the narrator’s growing excitement.

Overall, the language is adequate. There is some general wording (“&#8217;Bottom of the mountain&#8217;” and &#8220;stuff”) but also some word choices that are vivid and precise (“on the fritz”) and sensory details and figurative language that are effective (“Just when almost all hope was drained, every bone in our body about to break, there was a clearing in the sky”).

There are clear attempts to create a lively narrative style, including quick-paced fragments and short sentences that highlight moments (“Thomas didn&#8217;t care, he was done. He left. I was all alone”). The single-sentence paragraph also emphasizes a detail (&#8220;But that wasn&#8217;t the only prize”).

The tightly woven plot adds interest, with twists and complications (the never-before-found geocache and Google Earth on the fritz) to the quest.

Effective dialogue, sustained first-person point of view, and effective details describing the situation and setting all contribute to an overall engaging if concise story.

Connections between events are subtly and effectively shown (“On my way home,” “Since,” “Just when,” “My first sign,” and “This just shows”).

The sequence of events is chronological and straightforward, with some generally effective references to prior events (e.g., “haven&#8217;t got this much exercise since elementary school”; “shiniest gold box that I’ve ever seen”; and “&#8230;like all other geocaches”). The narrative moves quickly through the experience but never loses momentum.

The beginning engages the reader, and the ending reflects on the experience and provides a theme.

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An annotation is the educator’s explanation of how a portion of the student’s response relates to the rubric and contributes to that trait’s score. For example, the educator might explain how the response meets the expectations of a specific score point. An annotation can also describe aspects of a student response that relate to multiple score points on the rubric to demonstrate nuance when determining a score.

Annotation

One of three traits scored for the ELA performance task full write, this trait measures a student’s ability to demonstrate command of grade-level conventions of standard English: grammar usage (including sentence formation), capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

This trait measures students’ ability to select and integrate details that support, explain, illustrate, or develop ideas. Students should elaborate these details—that is, explain and connect them, guided by the writing purpose and audience needs.
For informative/explanatory and opinion/argumentative writing purposes, these details come from source materials.
For narrative writing, this trait is called Development/Elaboration, and students are expected to integrate and develop grade-appropriate story elements such as descriptive details and dialogue. For these tasks, events and experiences are inspired by source materials.

Evidence/Elaboration

This trait measures students’ ability to establish and sustain a focus for the writing. This focus should be consistent with the task’s designated purpose and the intended audience. Strong introductions and conclusions (or, for narrative writing, beginnings and endings) and transitions help to create coherence.

Performance tasks measure a student’s ability to demonstrate critical-thinking and problem-solving skills by challenging students to apply their knowledge and skills to complex, real-world problems. In the performance task, students are presented with a collection of questions and activities connected to a single theme or scenario. These activities ask students to demonstrate capacities such as depth of understanding, writing and research skills, and complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with traditional assessment questions. Performance tasks are taken on a computer (but are not computer adaptive) and take students one to two class periods to complete.

Performance Task

The prompt is the text provided to the student that requests their response. It includes some contextual information, but also includes a specific task that students complete in their writing response.

Prompt

For a deeper dive into the content behind this student response, navigate to the Sample Items Website to access the writing prompt or visit the Content Explorer to learn more about this content area.

Prompt & Target

“Purpose” is the context for a piece of writing, or what the writer intends to accomplish. Students write texts with the following purposes:
<ul>
<li>Narrative (grades 3–8): tell a story</li>
<li>Informational (grades 3–5): present facts or data using source material</li>
<li>Explanatory (grades 6–11): explain a topic or concept by analyzing source materials</li>
<li>Opinion (grades 3–5): present and defend a position</li>
<li>Argumentative (grades 6–11): present an argument using research to form and support claims</li>
</ul>
Purposes have subtle differences depending on grade, and each writing purpose has its own scoring rubric.

Purpose

This text was written by a student in response to a Performance Task writing prompt.

Response

A rubric is a set framework for scorers to reference when determining the quality of student writing. Each trait has its own rubric, and every point value is defined in detail with examples of what to expect from student writing at each level.

Rubric

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Sample Term One

Sample Term Two

Traits are different dimensions of a student response that educators evaluate when scoring. For example, an educator will assess grammar and spelling as part of the Conventions trait (maximum of two score points) but not take grammar or spelling into account when assessing the other traits. This approach ensures that scorers evaluate student writing from multiple angles.

Example for Grade 8: Narrative – Geocaching - ID: 5277

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