8th Grade Language Arts – Mr. Porter’s Class
2004 Mid Term Exam Syllabus
Writing Exam Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Part 1 -- Persuasive Essay. You will be given a topic and expected to write a 5 paragraph essay explaining your opinion on the topic, the reasons for your opinion, and the action that you want the reader to take.
Part 2 – Picture Prompt. You will be given a picture and expected to write a two-page story with a beginning, middle and end, along with vivid details and dialogue (people speaking in quotation marks).
Part 3 – Revise/Edit/Re-write. You will be given a text with many errors in it. You will be expected to re-write it, correcting the grammar, spelling and punctuation. You will also need to re-organize the text because there will be sentences out of order. You will also need to add new sentences to the text to make it 5 good paragraphs.
Reading Exam Tuesday, January 20
Part 1 – Narrative Text. You will read a short story, then answer 10 multiple choice questions and one open-ended question about the story. Your answer to the open-ended question must: be written in complete sentences; be long; answer all parts of the question; use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation; and contain support or information from the text.
Part 2 – Informational Text. You will read an encyclopedia article, then answer 10 multiple choice questions and one open-ended question.
Part 3 – Persuasive Text. You will be given a topic and two short articles expressing opposite opinions on the topic. For example, last year’s topic was, “Should students be allowed to bring cell phones to school?” You will then answer 10 multiple choice questions on the two opinion essays and write one open-ended question (usually, where you are asked which side of the debate you support.)
Part 4 – Everyday Text. Last year, the everyday text was a section from a First Aid Handbook explaining what to do if someone gets a cut, scrape or nosebleed. The year before that the everyday text was the Help Wanted section of a newspaper. You will then answer 10 multiple choice questions and one open-ended question about the text.
