Category: Instruction

A Robin Hobb Rereading Series: Entry 380: Blood of Dragons, Chapter 14

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Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series here.

A message from Erek to the head birdkeeper for the Traders noting evidence of perfidy precedes “Blood Price.” The chapter opens with Selden waking suddenly as Chalcedean soldiers barge into Chassim’s rooms. They are tasked with retrieving Selden for the Duke, and Selden accompanies them rather than allowing Chassim to fight and likely be injured. Once brought before the Duke, Selden is bled for the Duke’s sustenance, and he loses consciousness.

I wonder why this came to mind…
Image is of Orlok from the 1922 Nosferatu, pulled from Wikipedia here and reported as public domain.

Eilik looks on in disgust at the actions of the Duke and urges him to release his hold on Selden. The Duke relents and bids that Selden be tended in advance of another feeding. Eilik finds his situation altered and begins plotting to improve it.

Andronicus has himself taken to Chassim’s chambers. There, he confers with her openly about her attempts to take power, commending her attempts and offering to make her his heir outright in exchange for her continued compliance.

Later, Selden wakes as Chassim tends him. The two confer about their respective situations, Chassim urging him to endurance. And the two begin to plot together.

I think it might be of interest to conduct some kind of rhetorical analysis on the messages that appear at the beginnings of chapters; that preceding “Blood Price” seems particularly apt for such an exercise. Were I teaching the Elderlings novels again, I think it might be a useful exercise for students to untangle the ethos, logos, and pathos appeals in Erek’s message to Kerig, here; I can also think that it would be a good example to provide to students before having them select a message of their own to analyze similarly.

I find that I am once again taken by Chassim’s seeming acceptance of her abuse and constraints. The present chapter does make mention of her resistance, notably in the throwing of heavy objects (explicit) and in flight (implicit from the exhortation to lock her door again), and the fact that it is an ongoing thing is strangely hopeful. That it has to be an ongoing thing, that it is one that is reported to be long ongoing, is less so. But perhaps that is me once again reading affectively and reading an earlier text against present circumstances and social trends. I am not alone in looking at the world and seeing that it is going ways that may not be to its benefit, and I doubt I am alone in seeing those ways presaged in the fictions of (not too many) years past. I do not ascribe any particular set of political positions to an author based upon a work of fiction; yes, writers write what they know, but it is possible for people to know what they don’t believe and to write that. I am not aware of any overt statement from Hobb in that line (which does not mean there isn’t one, just that I don’t know about it). But that a given author may or may not believe in one way or another doesn’t mean that such belief doesn’t show up in the work, reflecting the “now” of composition or underlying cultural currents that still flow and bubble up.

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Help with NaNoWriMo

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The time of the year has come around again when many people focus their attentions on generating the text of a new novel. It’s a worthy endeavor, of course; writing is a good thing to do, novels are good things to write, and I and others benefit from them existing in the world. The challenge of composing nearly two thousand words daily is a hefty one, and not everybody who sets out to address it meets it. Even so, even making the attempt earnestly and sincerely is a good thing to do. You’re on the right track as soon as you take the first step onto it.

This is still the sign, and the image is still from the NaNoWriMo site, used for reference.

Even the best writers, though, benefit from having another set of eyes on their work. Ultimately, nobody writes all alone. I’ve done a lot of writing across many years and in many contexts, so I’ve got experience with this: you always miss something. Maybe it’s because you’re in a hurry, buoyed along by the joy of having done the writing. Maybe it’s because you’re distracted, living in the world with all of the demands it makes upon a person. Maybe it’s because you know how it’s supposed to go, how glorious it looks in your head, and you see that instead of what’s on the page. Maybe it’s just an issue of skillset; you’ve got great ideas and you’ve got them on paper, but the fine-tuning and polishing is just not your forte. Whatever the reason for it is, the truth is that you’re not going to catch everything that’s on the page, even though you put it there. You won’t necessarily see that you forgot to make the connection between those two characters clear, or you might miss the notion that this other characters’ background seems really interesting and readers will want to know more!

That’s where I come in.

With nearly twenty years of experience reviewing others’ writing, ranging from middle schoolers to established scholars and in fields ranging from aerospace engineering to business, cybersecurity to education, fiction to literary analysis, poetry to psychology, I have the skills and expertise to help you hone your craft and be the best writer you can be. If you want to know if your story makes sense, if your characters are believable, if your quips are clever, or even only if you got your commas in the right places, I am here to help you. Whether you’d like chapter-by-chapter guidance and feedback or a whole-work review of what works well and what needs some support, I can offer in-depth, detailed reading and response so that you can put out the best possible product.

You’re already doing great just by taking on a project like this. Make the most of it; get set up for your consultation today! Fill out the contact form below to get started!

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Following up on “Something from Tutoring”

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A while back, I worked with a tutoring client to draft a response to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130, “My mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun,” and I wrote a post about how I went about helping the client that provided my own example of that kind of work. (Find it here.) In that post, I note similarities between the client’s assignment and the often-taught Marlowe-Raleigh-Donne sequence (“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” and “The Bait”), and in recent days, I had occasion to revisit my post on the Shakespearean subject. I was reminded of the events then discussed, and it occurred to me that it might be a useful exercise to put myself in the position of Donne to the already-existing Raleigh, the rebuttal to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116.

Sorry, Billy.
Again, the Chandos Portrait at the National Portrait Gallery, used under a Creative Commons license for commentary

As a reminder, Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 reads

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov’d,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.

My rebuttal thereto reads

You never writ, nor no man ever loved,
If love is never love that, finding change,
Stays as it is when it first ever moved
Or strives not living patterns to arrange
In hopes of bringing its love to the mark
That looks on tempests and is not shaken.
No, use will change the shape of every bark
That plies the waves, whatever standard’s taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, oh no, but is its flow’r
And fruit that ripens not all in one go,
But in its season and appointed hour
If tended well, made better, and let grow.
No thing that is made better stays the same,
And stasis gives the lie to goodness’s claim.

Following the pattern, to make this work, I’ll need to continue to use the Shakespearean sonnet structure of fourteen lines of iambic pentameter rhyming in three quatrains and a couplet, with a (somewhat shaded) turn into the couplet. Too, to stand in place of Donne in response to Raleigh, I will need to put myself in position to flirt with the narrator of the rebuttal–something, to follow the Shakespearean example, like making a pass at Beatrice after she has rebuffed Benedick. Further, the dominant metaphor will need to shift fairly substantially; Marlowe and Raleigh work in the pastoral, while Donne pivots to angling, so I would need to move from the nautical and agrarian to something else, entirely.

Farming and boating are both active, engaged ways to make a living. A deviation from that would be something like my once-intended line of work: professing the humanities. Fortunately, I know enough about doing that (or convinced at least a few people that I did) that I can discuss it convincingly. Too, the narrator being addressed has to be considered; what does such a narrator de/value? The rebuttal is a rebuke of hubris, the conceit on Shakespeare’s part that he is able to universalize in such a way as he purports to do; so much must be avoided in the new poem (to the extent possible, knowing as I do that there is arrogance in any act of writing, something of the “I have important things to say and you need to read them“). I fancy, as well, that the rebutting narrator values growth and change, which does raise the possibility of leaving things behind (which Shakespeare’s narrator really cannot consider with love as a set constant).

With such in mind, I come up with the following:

In no minds’ marriage would I interfere,
Nor yet presume to speak of such with you,
Who, though in but a moment, has made clear
What thoughts are held on how to carry through
A life of love. Instead, I turn a page
I’ve read before and read again the words
I have long known, and in my later age
I hear in them what I’d not in youth heard.
So may love be, itself a constant thing
That is itself and e’er itself remains,
While those who fall to Time’s long sickle’s swing
Will alter in what they will from it gain.
The book is open; read whoever will,
And in the reading by love be well filled.

I hope the reading pleases.

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A Rumination on a School Year Beginning

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A while back, I opined on my daughter wrapping up her first grade year, voicing some concerns that I had at the time. In the years since, we’ve moved cities and therefore schools for my daughter, and she’s done well for herself in her new setting. Indeed, my daughter started fourth grade today, pleasing me no small amount; I’m glad to have helped her to get this far, and to have helped her get where she is in fairly good shape and with availed-upon access to a number of enrichment activities (theatre programs, day-camps, sleep-away camp, and a couple of weekend excursions) that I hope will stand her in good stead as she moves forward, not only into the new school year just begun, but in her life beyond and outside school.

Truer than may be good.
Photo by Arthur Krijgsman on Pexels.com

That I am looking outside the schoolhouse walls might come as a bit of a surprise coming from me, given my own long formal studies and the time I spent at the front of several classrooms. Clearly, I am invested in formal education, and clearly, I believe in its essential value, irrespective of concerns of marketability and future earnings. (Clearly.) And, indeed, my higher education led me to my wife and, in time, to my beloved daughter; the best parts of my life, I owe to having studied where and when and what I studied. I cannot in good conscience deny that there is value in taking the time to learn and think and study and become that I had.

But I also acknowledge that my own path to arrive where I am has not been ideal; I am and remain tens of thousands of dollars in debt because of the choices I have made, and while I accept the justice of the price I pay for having what I have, I chafe no small amount at seeing others have more for paying less (the more so because so many who have benefited from luck fail to acknowledge that they have, in fact, been lucky; no amount of work will allow forward motion where there is no gap in the wall through which to squeeze). And there are other prices I pay to be the person I am than monetary, upon which I will not elaborate here but which I am sure the more astute among my readers–yes, I am referring to you, and you know it–can intuit. There are other paths than that I took, and I think they are likely to be better for more people than not.

I think as much is true for my daughter.

Admittedly, she is only going into fourth grade today. There’s time, I hope, for her to figure things out, and if it is the case that she proceeds as she has been, I’m reasonably certain I’m doing at least decently to help her along that path, making sure the pack she carries is full of good and useful things, even as I know it’s probably heavier than she ought to have to carry. If it isn’t, I can hope she knows 1) that I love her, and 2) that I’m ready to help her along, however I can.

What else is there, really?

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A Reflection on #Kzoo2023 from an #AcademicExpatriate

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At the end of the week just past, I had the opportunity once again to take part in the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. As was the case last year, but not in the years about which I have written in this webspace (2018, 2019, and 2020), my participation was virtual; as was not the case last year, but was in previous years, the Congress did have on-site meetings, meaning this year’s exercise was a hybrid event. I continued my work with the Tales after Tolkien Society, about which here, and I do still have a few things to do for it in the coming few days, an attenuation of an academic career attempted in earnest but which was never truly begun.

Yep, this one again.
Image is still mine.

Perhaps it is maudlin; perhaps it is elegaic. I would like to flatter myself that it is the latter.

In any event, it was good to have the reconnection with old friends and to hear new ideas. It was good to have a few of those new ideas, as well, and to push them out into the world, even if only in a small way. (The text of the paper I gave will go online soon; there’re a few things I need to adjust, infelicities noted in passing during the presentation.) It was good to be able to look ahead to some kind of a scholarly future, despite my utter lack of institutional affiliation and the correctness of my decision to get out of the profession of teaching. And, given some of the other context and contacts, there is some hope that others will take up where I have been obliged to leave off, save for the occasional bit of puttering that remains entertained by those scholars I am privileged to know, who yet persist and find reward in the work to which I had hoped to devote myself.

I am not apostate from that priesthood, but I had to leave the ivory tower, never advancing much beyond its basement, if at all.

I was reminded of it this weekend. I do not know if it was not a good thing.

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A Robin Hobb Rereading Series: Entry 343: Dragon Haven, Chapter 11

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Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series here.

Following yet more of the exchange among bird-keepers in Bingtown and Trehaug, “Revelations” begins with Alise waking Leftrin from their sleep together after their assignation. They confer about their dreams briefly before dressing and parting, and Alise considers her situation and the experience. For his part, Leftrin questions his ship, but the Tarman gives no answer.

Can’t you just hear Peer Gynt?
Photo by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi on Pexels.com

Downriver, Carson leads Sedric and Relpda back to the Tarman and the other dragons and keepers. Sedric chafes slightly at the situation but has no choice but to accepts it, and he reconsiders his long entanglement with Hest. Thinking about who may have supplanted him in Hest’s affections, Sedric finds himself pleased at how matters are changing.

Thymara stalks out to look for food for the group, unexpectedly accompanied by Tats. As they proceed, they discuss the possibility of return to Trehaug and the need to prove themselves. Thymara relates her experience growing up working alongside her father and the insufficiency of that in the eyes of her people. Relative risks of childbearing are also noted, and Thymara finds herself wearied by the recollection of Greft’s insistence that she pick a mate. Tats finds himself challenged on that very point, and Thymara denies both Tats and his challenger, injuring herself as she falls and flees.

Carson, Sedric, and Relpda return to the others. Alise, happy to see her friend return, is reminded by Sedric’s arrival of her responsibilities and entanglements in Bingtown, and she longs for his safe departure.

There is interesting commentary about what it takes to prove one’s self, something with which adolescents and young adults are (justly?) concerned. Given how often fantasy literature is assigned to younger readerships–even now, even in this time and after decades of serious academic treatment of the genre–this is perhaps understandable. Given Hobb’s insistence upon verisimilitude in the non-fantastical elements of her work, it is also understandable; I am not so far removed from my youth that I have forgotten the craving to prove myself, not seldom by mastering some obscure set of trivia, however useless it has been for me to do so. It might also be noted as an ongoing theme in Hobb’s Elderlings works. After all, Fitz spends a fair bit of time trying to find and assert his identity, and he wrestles with Hap’s doing the same; Althea, Brashen, and Wintrow also struggle to define who they are and oblige others to recognize the same, as do Malta and Reyn. Nor is as much restricted to Hobb; not for nothing is the Bildungsroman a commonplace.

Still, the specific questions raised about how to prove one’s self are of interest, the kind of thing I would be apt to point out to students if I had any:

  • Is breaking a rule a means of proving one’s worth? Is it so even if the rule is in place for good reason? What does it prove about a person to break a rule that protects others?
  • What does it mean to be a woman or a man? Why does it mean that, in the context of the novel and / or of the reader?
  • To whom is it needful to prove one’s self? Why?

I used to nurture, and I have not at this point forgotten, the idea of teaching a course on Hobb’s work. I have taught Assassin’s Apprentice, long ago, now, and it went over well. I am not as good a classroom instructor now as then, obviously, but I have gotten better at structuring lessons and developing assignments…I wonder if it might yet work.

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It’s Another from the Archives: Assessment Practice

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I‘ve noted before, here and elsewhere, having a lot of examples of assessment practice drafted to help a student who grew up outside testing culture begin to acclimate to it. I’ve got others, including the one below. With testing season looming, I know people are looking for ways to help their students succeed, and I’m happy to note that I can help with just that kind of thing…and here’s an example!

Don’t be that way…

The passage in the example below comes out to 114 words at a ninth-grade reading level, for reference. It is adapted for the medium. And, yes, the series of same answers are purposeful, something of a corrective against trying to game testing.

Read the following passage and use the information in it to identify the most accurate answer to each of the questions below.

1One area in which modern Arthuriana deviates from the traditional is in conflating the important swords of the text. 2That is, modern Arthuriana moves away from its sources in that it merge swords together in the narrative. 3The most prominent example is Excalibur. 4Modern tellings of the Arthurian legend equate it with the Sword in the Stone, the sword that Arthur draws out to confirm his kingship. 5In Malory, however, the Sword in the Stone is placed by Merlin as part of his plot to see Arthur enthroned. 6Excalibur, by contrast, is given Arthur by the Lady of the Lake. 7It is accompanied by a scabbard of greater value—but that is another story.

1.
In sentence 1, “deviates” is what part of speech?
A. Adjective.
B. Adverb.
C. Noun.
D. Verb.

2.
In sentence 1, “deviates” carries what meaning?
A. Moves against.
B. Moves away from.
C. Moves toward.
D. None of the above.

3.
Sentence 2 provides what kind of context clue about the meaning of “deviates?”
A. Antonym.
B. Example.
C. Synonym.
D. None of the above.

4.
In sentence 1, “conflating” is what part of speech?
A. Adjective.
B. Adverb.
C. Noun.
D. Verb.

5.
In sentence 1, “conflating” carries what meaning?
A. Eating.
B. Gathering.
C. Mixing.
D. None of the above.

6.
Sentence 2 provides what kind of context clue about the meaning of “conflating?”
A. Antonym.
B. Example.
C. Synonym.
D. None of the above.

7.
In sentence 5, “enthroned” is what part of speech?
A. Adjective.
B. Adverb.
C. Noun.
D. Verb.

8.
In sentence 5, “enthroned” carries what meaning?
A. Put into a box.
B. Put into clothing.
C. Put into power.
D. None of the above.

9.
Sentence 4 provides what kind of context clue about the meaning of “enthroned?”
A. Antonym.
B. Example.
C. Synonym.
D. None of the above.

10.
How does sentence 2 relate to sentence 1?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / Contrast.
C. Illustration / Exemplification.
D. None of the above.

11.
How does sentence 3 relate to sentence 2?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / Contrast.
C. Illustration / Exemplification.
D. None of the above.

12.
How does sentence 4 relate to sentence 3?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / Contrast.
C. Illustration / Exemplification.
D. None of the above.

13.
How does sentence 5 relate to sentence 4?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / Contrast.
C. Illustration / Exemplification.
D. None of the above.

14.
How does sentence 6 relate to sentence 5?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / Contrast.
C. Illustration / Exemplification.
D. None of the above.

15.
How does sentence 7 relate to sentence 6?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / Contrast.
C. Illustration / Exemplification.
D. None of the above.

16.
The main idea of the paragraph is in which sentence?
A. 2.
B. 4.
C. 6.
D. None of the above.

17.
There is an error in sentence 2. At which word does it appear?
A. Merge.
B. Narrative.
C. Sources.
D. Swords.

Answers: 1, D; 2, B; 3, C; 4, C; 5, C; 6, C; 7, A; 8, C; 9, C; 10, C; 11, C; 12, D; 13, B; 14, B; 15, A; 16, A; 17, A

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Testing Time Is Coming; I Can Help You Get Ready!

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The new year signals in many places the approach of standardized exams. Whether required by individual states or demanded by colleges for admission, such tests as the GRE, SAT, ACT, and STAAR, despite being decried by educators at great length and across many years, do much to determine the academic fates of students at many, if not most, levels of instruction. Consequently, doing well on such tests is a matter of some importance for students, parents, and schools. And I can help prepare students to do well on them.

Ah, the classics…

I’ve worked to write tests not only for my own students, but as a contractor generating content for standardized exams and as a private tutor helping students get ready for their own exam experiences. I’ve talked about it before (here, here, here, and here), and it remains true: whether you’re an educator needing new content, a parent concerned for their child’s performance, or a student looking to get some additional practice in, I have materials for you.

The assessment example below comes out to 114 words at a ninth-grade reading level. As with the earlier examples noted above, formatting is adapted to suit the medium.

Read the following passage and use the information in it to identify the most accurate answer to each of the questions below.

1One area in which modern Arthuriana deviates from the traditional is in conflating the important swords of the text. 2That is, modern Arthuriana moves away from its sources in that it merge swords together in the narrative. 3The most prominent example is Excalibur. 4Modern tellings of the Arthurian legend equate it with the Sword in the Stone, the sword that Arthur draws out to confirm his kingship. 5In Malory, however, the Sword in the Stone is placed by Merlin as part of his plot to see Arthur enthroned. 6Excalibur, by contrast, is given Arthur by the Lady of the Lake. 7It is accompanied by a scabbard of greater value—but that is another story.

1.
In sentence 1, “deviates” is what part of speech?
A. Adjective.
B. Adverb.
C. Noun.
D. Verb.

2.
In sentence 1, “deviates” carries what meaning?
A. Moves against.
B. Moves away from.
C. Moves toward.
D. None of the above.

3.
Sentence 2 provides what kind of context clue about the meaning of “deviates?”
A. Antonym.
B. Example.
C. Synonym.
D. None of the above.

4.
In sentence 1, “conflating” is what part of speech?
A. Adjective.
B. Adverb.
C. Noun.
D. Verb.

5.
In sentence 1, “conflating” carries what meaning?
A. Eating.
B. Gathering.
C. Mixing.
D. None of the above.

6.
Sentence 2 provides what kind of context clue about the meaning of “conflating?”
A. Antonym.
B. Example.
C. Synonym.
D. None of the above.

7.
In sentence 5, “enthroned” is what part of speech?
A. Adjective.
B. Adverb.
C. Noun.
D. Verb.

8.
In sentence 5, “enthroned” carries what meaning?
A. Put into a box.
B. Put into clothing.
C. Put into power.
D. None of the above.

9.
Sentence 4 provides what kind of context clue about the meaning of “enthroned?”
A. Antonym.
B. Example.
C. Synonym.
D. None of the above.

10.
How does sentence 2 relate to sentence 1?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / Contrast.
C. Illustration / Exemplification.
D. None of the above.

11.
How does sentence 3 relate to sentence 2?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / Contrast.
C. Illustration / Exemplification.
D. None of the above.

12.
How does sentence 4 relate to sentence 3?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / Contrast.
C. Illustration / Exemplification.
D. None of the above.

13.
How does sentence 5 relate to sentence 4?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / Contrast.
C. Illustration / Exemplification.
D. None of the above.

14.
How does sentence 6 relate to sentence 5?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / Contrast.
C. Illustration / Exemplification.
D. None of the above.

15.
How does sentence 7 relate to sentence 6?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / Contrast.
C. Illustration / Exemplification.
D. None of the above.

16.
The main idea of the paragraph is in which sentence?
A. 2.
B. 4.
C. 6.
D. None of the above.

17.
There is an error in sentence 2. At which word does it appear?
A. Merge.
B. Narrative.
C. Sources.
D. Swords.

Answers: 1, D; 2, B; 3, C; 4, D; 5, C; 6, C; 7, D; 8, C; 9, C; 10, C; 11, C; 12, A; 13, B; 14, B; 15, A; 16, A; 17, A

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From the Archives Again: Another Assessment Practice

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I still have samples of assessment work I developed for a tutorial client entering public schooling from private some years back, following those I noted here, here, and here. Even though many students are on their winter break and thoughts of school may be far from their minds, such concerns still loom. After all, the spring is when the major standardized tests are administered in my part of the world, and there are college entrance exams at intervals throughout the year.

Oh, it is not so nice as this…

The example below comes out to 85 words at a ninth-grade reading level. The usual adaptations to suit the medium apply.

Read the following passage and use the information in it to identify the most accurate answer to each of the questions below.

1Illegitimate origin factors heavily into Arthurian legend. 2There are a lot of characters whose parents are not married when they are conceived. 3Arthur himself is of illegitimate origin; his parents, Uther and Igrayne, marry after Igrayne’s first husband is killed in war against Uther. 4Arthur begets two illegitimate children, Mordred and Borre. 5The latter is of little consequence, but the former ends up overthrowing Camelot. 6And the knight who does best of all, Galahad, is the bastard son produced when Elaine drugs and violates Lancelot.

1.
In sentence 1, the word “illegitimate” is what part of speech?
A. Adjective.
B. Adverb.
C. Noun.
D. Pronoun.

2.
In sentence 1, the word “illegitimate” means which of the following?
A. Understudied.
B. Uninspired.
C. Unsuccessful.
D. None of the above.

3.
Sentence 2 provides what kind of context clue for the meaning of “illegitimate?”
A. Antonym.
B. Example.
C. Synonym.
D. None of the above.

4.
The relationship of sentence 2 to sentence 1 is one of which of the following?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / contrast.
C. Illustration / exemplification.
D. None of the above.

5.
The relationship of sentence 3 to sentence 2 is one of which of the following?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / contrast.
C. Illustration / exemplification.
D. None of the above.

6.
The relationship of sentence 4 to sentence 3 is one of which of the following?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / contrast.
C. Illustration / exemplification.
D. None of the above.

7.
The relationship of sentence 5 to sentence 4 is one of which of the following?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / contrast.
C. Illustration / exemplification.
D. None of the above.

8.
The relationship of sentence 6 to sentence 5 is one of which of the following?
A. Addition.
B. Comparison / contrast.
C. Illustration / exemplification.
D. None of the above.

9.
The main idea of the passage appears in which sentence?
A. 2.
B. 4.
C. 6.
D. None of these.

Answers: 1, A; 2, D; 3, A; 4, A; 5, C; 6, A; 7, C; 8, A; 9, D

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Not from the Archives: An Assessment Sample

geoffreybelliottLeave a comment

I have remarked once or twice on having drafted assessment practices for a younger tutee who needed to get acclimated to testing culture. I may have remarked, as well, that a fair bit of the freelance work I’ve done has taken the form of writing assessment materials. In one instance, I was hired by a college to help write an end-of-course exam that every student would be expected to take. In several others, I drafted rafts of 180 or more multiple-choice questions, as well as 60 or more short-answer and 20 or more essay questions, focused on recalling and interpreting novels and other longer works. It’s not hard work, though it takes some doing.

Cringe though it might be…

That work is proprietary, though, and the passages that underlie the earlier assessment examples were drafted with assessment practice in mind. It occurs to me that an example taken “from the wild” might be in order–and, since I do occasionally write some things that I do not initially intend to put to that purpose (for whatever value my intent might have), using one as such an example suggests itself. Thus, the following.

Read “Hymn against the Stupid God 192.” Use that text to answer the following questions, selecting the best or most accurate response from among those provided.

1.
Which of the following forms does “Hymn against the Stupid God 192” take?
A. Clerihew.
B. Roundel.
C. Sonnet.
D. Villanelle.

2.
Which of the following occurs most frequently in “Hymn against the Stupid God 192?”
A. Couplet.
B. Triplet.
C. Quatrain.
D. Quintain.

3.
Line 4 of “Hymn against the Stupid God 192” offers an example of which of the following?
A. Ekphrasis.
B. End-stop.
C. Enjambment.
D. Euphemism.

4.
Which of the following does the narrator of “Hymn against the Stupid God 192” seek to resist?
A. Business.
B. Empathy.
C. Industry.
D. Laziness.

5.
With which of the following does “Hymn against the Stupid God 192” conclude?
A. Couplet.
B. Triplet.
C. Quatrain.
D. Quintain.

Answers: 1, C; 2, B; 3, C; 4, D; 5, A

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