Text-Based Writing Prompts:

Administration and Scoring Guidelines

Teacher Directions:

Students will read a stimulus about a single topic. A stimulus consists of several texts written on a single topic.

The stimulus may include informational or literary fiction or nonfiction texts and can cover a wide array of topics.

After reading the stimulus, the students will respond to a writing prompt in which they will provide information

on a topic, develop a narrative, or take a stance to support an opinion or argument. Students will be required to

synthesize information from the text sets and must cite specific evidence from the texts to support their ideas.

Students’ informative/explanatory responses should demonstrate a developed and supported controlling idea.

Students’ opinion/argumentative responses should support an opinion/argument using ideas presented in the

stimulus. Students will have 120 minutes to read the passages, and plan, write, revise and edit their essay.

Students should read the prompt first. They should be encouraged to highlight, underline, and take notes to

support the planning process.

Scoring:

The attached text-based rubric should be used to score student responses. While the total possible points on the

rubric is ten, it is recommended that three individual scores be given—one score for each of the three domains on

the rubric. This will allow the teacher to determine specific areas of need within individual student responses,

thus allowing for differentiation in the writing instruction that follows these formative writing tasks. The three

domains are: Purpose, Focus, Organization (PFO), Evidence and Elaboration (EE), and Conventions of Standard

English (CSE). Teachers should score holistically within each domain—PFO (4-points), EE (4-points), and CSE

(2-points).

Each level of scoring within a domain is based on the overarching statement for the score found in the rubric. For

example, on the grades 6-11 rubric for argumentation, the overarching statement for a score of 4 in the Purpose,

Focus, Organization domain is, “The response is fully sustained and consistently focused within the purpose,

audience, and task; and it has a clear and effective organizational structure creating coherence and completeness.”

The bulleted points that follow the statement must be considered as factors in the scoring, but should not be

utilized as a checklist. Most, but not all, of the bulleted points will be evident in the student writing for a score at

a specific level.

Teachers should keep in mind that a score of 3 on the rubric for a domain signals student proficiency in the

addressed writing standard with a score of 4 representing mastery. In the CSE domain, a score of two represents

student proficiency in the standard.

Tenth Grade Informative Prompt

Write an informative essay in which you explain the legacy of Coach John Wooden. Use the information from the

passages in your essay.

Manage your time carefully so that you can:

Read the passages

Plan your essay

Write your essay

Revise and edit your essay

Your written response should be in the form of a multi-paragraph essay. Remember to spend time reading, planning,

writing, revising, and editing.

John Wooden Biography from Biography.com

Coach, Basketball Player (1910–2010)

Early Life and College Career

Basketball coach John Robert Wooden was born on October 14, 1910, in Hall, Indiana. His upbringing on a farm with no electricity and little money instilled a strong work ethic, but Wooden also found time for fun by playing basketball in a barn with his three brothers.

Wooden moved with his family at age 14 to the nearby town of Martinsville, where he met the love of his life, Nell Riley. He also became a star basketball player at Martinsville High School, leading the team to the Indiana State championship in 1927.

Wooden earned three straight All-America selections as a guard at Purdue University and was named team captain as a junior. He graduated with honors and a degree in English after winning the College Basketball Player of the Year Award and Purdue was voted national champions in 1932.

Early Teaching and Coaching Career

Wooden was offered $5,000 to join a barnstorming tour with the New York Celtics after graduating, but instead married Riley and settled in as an English teacher and coach of multiple athletic teams at Dayton High School in Kentucky. In his first year, the basketball team went 6-11; it would be the only losing season of his coaching career.

In 1934, Wooden returned to Indiana to teach English and coach basketball, baseball and tennis at South Bend Central High School. During this time, he formulated the principles of his seminal "Pyramid of Success," teaching model, aiming to inspire his students and teams to derive the most from their potential.

After serving as a Navy lieutenant during World War II, Wooden became the athletic director, as well as the coach for the basketball and baseball teams at Indiana State Teachers College in 1946. His basketball teams won back-to-back Indiana Collegiate Conference titles and notched an impressive 44-15 record over two seasons.

NOTES

NOTES

UCLA Years

Wooden took over as basketball coach for the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1948, hardly a sought after position given that the team lacked a proper playing arena and facilities. But the former college champion instilled some much-needed discipline into his players, forbidding them from cursing and

criticizing each other, and UCLA won three Pacific Coast Conference titles in his first eight seasons.

Wooden was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1960, but his impact on the game was far from finished. He led UCLA to a perfect 30-0 record and the national championship in 1963-64—which earned him Coach of the Year honors—and then oversaw a second championship the following season.

Beginning in the 1966-67 season, the Bruins embarked on the most dominant run in college basketball history. They won seven straight championships with Lew Alcindor—later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar—and then Bill Walton anchoring the center position, gaining three undefeated seasons along the way. Wooden was inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame again in 1973 for his remarkable coaching accomplishments, making him the first person to be honored as a player and coach.

UCLA's record 88-game winning streak and string of championships ended in 1974, but the team rebounded the following year to give Wooden one more title before his retirement. "The Wizard of Westwood" ended his 29-year college head coaching career with a 664-162 record and an amazing .804 winning percentage, as well a record 10 national championships.

Post Coaching Career

Wooden remained an influential figure on the sidelines of the game even after losing Riley to cancer in 1985. He received the Reagan Distinguished American Award in 1995 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003, and co-wrote multiple books with Steve Jamison after turning 90.

Wooden was admitted to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on May 26, 2010, and died of natural causes on June 4, four months shy of his 100th birthday. He was survived by his two children, seven grandchildren, and thousands of former players, coaches and friends who took the great teacher's life lessons to heart.

NOTES

Leadership Lessons from Coach John Wooden

From Business to Community

Sports can teach some of life’s greatest lessons. Lessons like how to be a

good teammate, how to respond in the face of adversity, and how to prepare

for success over a long season. Arguably one of the greatest teachers of

these life lessons was Coach John Wooden.

During Coach Wooden’s tenure as the head coach of the UCLA men’s basketball team, the team won 10 NCAA national championships, an unprecedented feat. In his book, Wooden, John shares life lessons from observations on and off the court.

The wisdom in Wooden’s words is not limited to the basketball court; they can be applied to all areas of life – especially business. Although modes of communication change, the simple truths of success remain intact.

Wooden Quote: “Apply yourself everyday to just becoming a little

bit better.”

Marcus Sheridan, author of The Sales Lion blog and Inbound and Content Marketing Made Easy, exemplifies this principle. Marcus’ journey to becoming a marketing author and speaker is unique.

He started out selling pools, but everything changed for Marcus and River Pools when he started to apply the inbound marketing methodology. The hard work that Marcus invested into the River Pools online marketing tactics transformed their business into one of the largest pool companies of its kind in the world.

Today, Marcus is a successful speaker, consultant, Hubspot partner, and soon-to-be author because of his relentless commitment to improvement over time. Marcus’ personality and passion really come through on his podcasts, which are usually recorded in his basement late at night!

Wooden Quote: “You can make mistakes, but you’re not a failure

until you start blaming others for those mistakes.”

Darren Rowse, founder of ProBlogger, had a problem. They had accidently emailed over 1 million people with an email that was only meant for a few thousand. People started unsubscribing from their lists and sending complaint emails accusing them of email spamming.

Thinking quickly, they drafted an email of explanation and apology to their users. This quick and honest response probably did more in the end to improve their relationship with the readers who decided to stick around.

Wooden Quote: “While you can’t control what happens to you, you

can control how you react.”

Gary Vaynerchuck, author of Crush It! and The Thank You Economy, is a passionate guy. One thing that makes him stand out from the rest is his desire to get to know real people. When

NOTES

someone leaves a negative review on Amazon, he responds by asking the reviewer to talk more about their experience. This is a great example for all of us.

Wooden Quote: “When you improve a little each day, eventually

big things occur.”

Brian Moran was working a 9-5 job and trying to build an online baseball training business on the side. After months of trial and error with blogging, SEO, and Google AdWords, Brian finally found something that worked for his business: a Facebook fan page. Soon, Brian had built up a following of over 10,000 Facebook fans.

Next, he decided to start Get 10,000 Fans, a business dedicated to sharing his proven formula for converting Facebook fans to paying customers. Today, Get 10,000 Fans is one of the largest Facebook marketing brands on the Internet.

Committed to always improving, Brian and his team are building on their past success with a new project called 5 Minute Marketing. Just think what would have happened if Brian got discouraged and quit during those lonely nights building his baseball business.

Wooden Quote: “We must be challenged to improve, and adversity

is the challenger.”

Pat Flynn is a guy that is hard not to like. His transparent and honest approach to teaching passive income techniques is the cornerstone of his personality and his brand. One of the essential elements in his “be everywhere” strategy is the Smart Passive Income podcast.

In his recent book, Let Go, Pat shares his journey after being laid off from a job he loved. His journey is marked by adversity, but his passion for personal improvement and business growth is unmistakable. Pat’s story is an incredible example and encouragement to anyone who has a desire to rise above their current circumstances and put in the necessary work for success.

The Pyramid of Success by John Wooden

From CoachJohnWooden.com

John Wooden is renowned for his great basketball skills and his record

breaking college coaching career, but his wisdom and leadership reached

far off the court. The Pyramid of Success, which he created in 1932 and

added and changed through the years, was a tool that he used to help

develop his athlete’s bodies, minds, and souls. Today, leaders in every

field from business, education, and medicine use his Pyramid of Success

to improve themselves and develop their teams.

he

NOTES

UPDATED OCTOBER 2014

FINAL

English Language Arts

Text-based Writing Rubrics

Grades 6–11: Informative/Explanatory

FINAL ELA Text-based Writing Rubrics, Grades 6–11: Informative/Explanatory Florida Standards Assessments

1 UPDATED OCTOBER 2014

Grades 6-11

Informative/Explanatory Text-based Writing Rubric (Score points within each domain include most of the characteristics below.)

Score Purpose, Focus, and Organization (4-point Rubric)

Evidence and Elaboration (4-point Rubric)

Conventions of Standard English (2-point Rubric begins at score point 2)

4 The response is fully sustained and consistently focused within the purpose, audience, and task; and it has a clear controlling idea and effective organizational structure creating coherence and completeness. The response includes most of the following:

Strongly maintained controlling idea with little or no loosely related material

Skillful use of a variety of transitional strategies to clarify the relationships between and among ideas

Logical progression of ideas from beginning to end with a satisfying introduction and conclusion

Appropriate style and objective tone established and maintained

The response provides thorough and convincing support, citing evidence for the controlling idea or main idea that includes the effective use of sources, facts, and details. The response includes most of the following:

Smoothly integrated, thorough, and relevant evidence, including precise references to sources

Effective use of a variety of elaborative techniques (including but not limited to definitions, quotations, and examples), demonstrating an understanding of the topic and text

Clear and effective expression of ideas, using precise language

Academic and domain-specific vocabulary clearly appropriate for the audience and purpose

Varied sentence structure, demonstrating language facility

3 The response is adequately sustained and generally focused within the purpose, audience, and task; and it has a clear controlling idea and evident organizational structure with a sense of completeness. The response includes most of the following:

Maintained controlling idea, though some loosely related material may be present

Adequate use of a variety of transitional strategies to clarify the relationships between and among ideas

Adequate progression of ideas from beginning to end with a sufficient introduction and conclusion

Appropriate style and objective tone established

The response provides adequate support, citing evidence for the controlling idea or main idea that includes the use of sources, facts, and details. The response includes most of the following:

Generally integrated and relevant evidence from sources, though references may be general or imprecise

Adequate use of some elaborative techniques

Adequate expression of ideas, employing a mix of precise and general language

Domain-specific vocabulary generally appropriate for the audience and purpose

Some variation in sentence structure

Continued on the following page

FINAL ELA Text-based Writing Rubrics, Grades 6–11: Informative/Explanatory Florida Standards Assessments

2 UPDATED OCTOBER 2014

Score Purpose, Focus, and Organization

(4-point Rubric) Evidence and Elaboration

(4-point Rubric) Conventions of Standard English

(2-point Rubric)

2 The response is somewhat sustained within the purpose, audience, and task but may include loosely related or extraneous material; and it may have a controlling idea with an inconsistent organizational structure. The response may include the following:

Focused controlling idea but insufficiently sustained or unclear

Inconsistent use of transitional strategies with little variety

Uneven progression of ideas from beginning to end with an inadequate introduction or conclusion

The response provides uneven, cursory support/evidence for the controlling idea or main idea that includes partial use of sources, facts, and details. The response may include the following:

Weakly integrated evidence from sources; erratic or irrelevant references or citations

Repetitive or ineffective use of elaborative techniques

Imprecise or simplistic expression of ideas

Some use of inappropriate domain-specific vocabulary

Most sentences limited to simple constructions

The response demonstrates an adequate command of basic conventions. The response may include the following:

Some minor errors in usage but no patterns of errors

Adequate use of punctuation, capitalization, sentence formation, and spelling

1 The response is related to the topic but may demonstrate little or no awareness of the purpose, audience, and task; and it may have little or no controlling idea or discernible organizational structure. The response may include the following:

Confusing or ambiguous ideas

Few or no transitional strategies

Frequent extraneous ideas that impede understanding

Too brief to demonstrate knowledge of focus or organization

The response provides minimal support/evidence for the controlling idea or main idea, including little if any use of sources, facts, and details. The response may include the following:

Minimal, absent, erroneous, or irrelevant evidence or citations from the source material

Expression of ideas that is vague, unclear, or confusing

Limited and often inappropriate language or domain- specific vocabulary

Sentences limited to simple constructions

The response demonstrates a partial command of basic conventions. The response may include the following:

Various errors in usage

Inconsistent use of correct punctuation, capitalization, sentence formation, and spelling

0 The response demonstrates a lack of command of conventions, with frequent and severe errors often obscuring meaning.