Mother to Son

1
Mother to Son

• Communication Arts
• Sixth Grade

2
Teacher Page

• Content Communication Arts
• Grade Level Sixth
• Creator G.T. McDonald

3
Teacher Page Continued

• This presentation
• practices answering
• released items. It is a
• guide to teach students
• how to answer
• constructed response
• questions. Each student will
• need pencil and paper to
• complete this assignment.

• State Goals and
• Objectives
• Express written ideas using standard English
  usage and variety in word choice.
• Analyze and evaluate an authors or speakers
  purpose in writing.
• Recall, summarize, quote or paraphrase material
  read or discussed.
• Recognize viewpoints and biases in written pieces
  of work.
• Apply reading skills to aid comprehension.

4

• Read the poem Mother to Son
• written by Langston Hughes on the
• following slides.

5
Mother to Sonby Langston Hughes

• 1 Well , son, Ill tell you
• Life for me aint been no crystal stair.
• Its had tacks in it,
• And splinters,
• 5 And boards torn up,
• And places with no carpet on the floor--
• Bare.
• But all the time
• Ise been a-climbin on,
• 10 And reachin landins,

6

• And turnin corners,
• And sometimes goin in the dark
• Where there aint been no light.
• So boy, dont you turn back.
• 15 Dont you set down on the steps
• Cause you find its kinder hard.
• Dont you fall now---
• For Ise still goin, honey,
• Ise still climbin,
• 20 And life for me aint been no crystal stair.

7
Prompt 1

• Write your response to following question.
• The mother uses her own experience as a way to
  persuade her son not to give up. Is this an
  effective way to make her point? Use details
  and/or examples from the poem to support your
  answer.

8
Samples of Answers to Prompt 1

• The following slides contain responses to this
  prompt.
• Read these responses and discuss their
  strengths/weaknesses.

9
Examples of top-score-point responses

• Yes. It is a good way to persuade someone. When
  she says, life for me aint been no crystal
  stair,the son is more likely to listen to her
  than if she told him what to do. Shes saying
  that she has not given up, so neither should the
  son.

10
Examples of top-score-point responses

• No. Children sometimes dont think the
  experiences of parents can teach them anything.
  When she says, life for me aint been no crystal
  stair, the son might think shes somehow
  different and that her advice would not apply to
  him.

11
Scoring

• Scoring guides for prompt 1 follow.
• Read the scoring guides as a class.
• Discuss any questions on how to use these scoring
  guides.
• Students should then score their paper based on
  the scoring guide provided.
• Have them explain why they received the score
  written.

12
Scoring Guide

• Prompt 1
• 2 points-- The response includes a reasonable
  explanation of the efficacy of the mothers
  persuasive technique and uses details and/or
  examples from the poem as support.

13
Scoring Guide

• Prompt 1
• 1 point--The response a reasonable text-based
  explanation, but is overly general or simplistic.
• 0 points other
• Have students score work on their paper based on
• scoring guide.

14

• There is a second prompt that follows.
• Discuss what this prompt is directing the
  students to do.
• Students might want to revisit the poem after
  reading this prompt.

15
Prompt 2

• Answer the following question.
• Write a diary entry from the point of view of
• the mother which summarizes the advice she
• gives to her son in the poem.

16
Scoring

• Scoring guides for prompt 2 follow.
• Read the scoring guides as a class.
• Discuss any questions on how to use these scoring
  guides.
• Students should then score their paper based on
  the scoring guide provided.
• Have them explain why they received the score
  written.

17
Scoring Guide Prompt 2

• 2 points- The response includes a
• complete and accurate summary from the mothers
  point of view that emphasizes the mothers
  encouragement of her son to persevere despite
  hardships.

18
Scoring Guide Prompt 2

• Score your work based on the scoring guide.
• 1 point- The response includes an accurate
  summary which may or may not be written from the
  mothers point of view, but is overly general or
  simplistic OR The response includes a complete
  and accurate summary which is not written from
  the mothers point of view.