Praxis 2505- Part 5: Writing

1. Which of the following is most important for students to consider when they are writing?

• The ability to adapt communication in relation to audience, task, purpose, and discipline.

• The ability to use transition words to give writing variance and flow.

• The ability to use proper grammar and punctuation.

• The ability to organize paragraphs so the writing has continuity.

2. Use this writing sample: 1) The American alligator is a reptile. 2) The American alligator is an apex predator. 3) An apex predator is a predator at the top of the food chain. 4) Other apex predators are lions and tigers. 5) The American alligator lays eggs in sticks, leaves, and mud. *Which of the following would strengthen the paragraph in terms of complex sentences.

• Change sentences 1 and 2 by combining them with punctuation.

• Delete Sentence 4.

• Use varied vocabulary for the term predator.

• Add a comma after leaves in sentence 5.

3. Use this writing sample: 1) The American alligator is a reptile. 2) The American alligator is an apex predator. 3) An apex predator is a predator at the top of the food chain. 4) Other apex predators are lions and tigers. 5) The American alligator lays eggs in sticks, leaves, and mud. *What would be appropriate feedback to share with the student who wrote the paragraph?

• "You use the term "alligator" a lot. Try combining sentences to give the paragraph varied language."

• "Your writing does a great job describing your knowledge about the American alligator. Consider deleting sentence 4 so it doesn't take away from your overall theme."

• "Good job! Keep up the great work."

• "Consider using a closing statement at the end."

4. Use this writing sample: 1) The American alligator is a reptile. 2) The American alligator is an apex predator. 3) An apex predator is a predator at the top of the food chain. 4) Other apex predators are lions and tigers. 5) The American alligator lays eggs in sticks, leaves, and mud. *Which of the following activities would benefit the student who wrote the essay?

• Showing a video tutorial on how to format a research paper.

• Allowing the student to use spell check.

• Using small group instruction on combining sentences with different punctuation.

• Facilitating a whole-group presentation on vocabulary.

5. Read the following paragraph and determine the text structure: A powerful tornado appeared out of nowhere. It was a tri-state tornado with high winds going about 200 mph. The poeple in the town were terrified because they've never seen a tornado of that size. Over 200 homes were destroyed that day.

• problem and solution

• chronological and sequence

• descriptive

• cause and effect

6. Use the student sample to answer the following question: Julie and Mary go tot he same school. Julie likes math. Mary likes reading class. Julie and Mary have been friends for a long time. *Which of the following activities can the teacher use to help this student with writing?

• Use a linking word activity to help the student achieve sentence variety in his writing.

• Work on a punctuation worksheet to improve the student's use of periods.

• Diagram sentences to help the student understand prepositional phrases.

• Work on modes of writing so the student can improve persuasive writing.

7. A teacher is helping students use graphic organizers, brainstorming, revision, and editing in their writing. After they read their first drafts, the teacher encourages them to go back to their graphic organizers and add important elements to the writing. The teacher also has students reread their writing and revise when they feel the writing is confusing or lacking detail. What is the teacher's focus in doing all of this?

• The writing process is finite, and mistakes should be made int he beginning to avoid errors later.

• The writing process is flexible and recursive, and the focus should be on revision.

• Once students can see their mistakes in writing, they can fix them for better understanding.

• Once students read their work, they will be able to focus on the final draft.

8. A teacher is reading the following student work: I like school. I like music class. Lunch is my favorite part of the day. *Which of the following feedback would be best to help this student?

• "You use complete sentences in your writing. Good job and keep up the good work."

• "Your sentences are boring and robotic . You will want to fix that before you turn in the final draft."

• "You use complete sentences in your writing. Good job. Consider using conjunctions and punctuation to achieve sentence variety."

• "Check your writing against the rubric. Did you following the instructions about complex sentences?"

9. Which of the following assessment tools is the most effective for writing because it clearly conveys expectations and help students check their work against predetermined criteria?

• writing workshop

• writing worksheets

• grammar and spelling tests

• writing rubric

10. Identify the mistake the student made: They was going to the story with friends.

• pronoun/ antecedent agreement

• subject/verb agreement

• run-on

• fragment