Students will highlight and select portions of text to support an analysis. This skill can be transferred to the AIR test when students must select portions of text to support an analysis.

Activity 1

• Printed copies (1 per student) of a grade level appropriate text of your choosing.

• Clear plastic sleeves

• Light colored dry erase markers

Activity 2

• Digital copy of a grade level appropriate text with one copy for each student and one copy for projection.

• A digital highlighter add on for your browser, such as the free extension Super Simple Highlighter for Chrome

• Or, you can use digital resources you may already have access to, such as a digital copy of your textbook and a built in highlighter.

***Suggested resource: Edulastic is a digital assessment tool which has a sentence response question type. This allows teachers to make text selection questions. Visit www.edulastic.com to create a free account.

Activity 1

• Provide students with a copy of a short text of your choosing, a plastic sleeve, and a light colored dry erase marker. Have students place the paper copy of the text into the protective plastic sleeve so they can highlight on the plastic, which can be cleaned when finished.

• Remind students that text based analysis must be able to be supported by the text.

• On a separate sheet of paper, digitally projected, or orally, ask students a variety of questions related to the text.

• This will work best if you focus on another specific standard, such as identifying a theme in literature (RL.6.2) or analyzing how an idea is introduced in informational text (RI.6.3).

• Ask students to highlight small portions of text that clearly and strongly support their answers.

• Remind students to only highlight what is needed to support their answer. This could be a phrase, a sentence, or even a paragraph.

• As students progress, ask students to highlight a piece of text and then write a short answer response in which they analyze an idea that is supported by their chosen text. For added practice, ask students to quote the text as evidence in their response.

Activity 2

• Repeat a similar style activity with a digital text, increasing the reading level of the text as appropriate.

• This will allow students to practice digitally highlighting evidence to support their answers.

• Remind students to focus on small pieces of text that strongly support their analysis.

Practice Activity

• Allow students to work in small groups or in pairs.

• Provide students with a text that has been partially highlighted to support one or more ideas. Or, instruct students to make highlights as directed. This can be done on paper or digitally.

• Ask students to describe an idea that could be supported by the text.

• Allow students to make additional highlights to further support the idea.

***Citing textual evidence is a skill needed in all genres. Select a variety of texts for further practice. Remember to allow students to practice citing evidence as they master other standards.***

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.1
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.1
Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.1
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Actively Learn has a variety of free texts and a built in highlighting tool.

Visit at www.activelylearn.com

Edulastic is an assessment builder with similar question styles to state tests, including a sentence response question style, which allows students to select the best piece of text to support an analysis.

Visit at www.edulastic.com