Personal Response to Quotation: Sample Questions

Note to Teachers: Below is the new personal response question. The question will remain the same on all exams, but the pair of quotations will change. Students will always have a chance to pick one from two.

Demonstrate your critical thinking and effective writing skills in reflecting upon and responding to ONE of the following quotations.

Make connections between the quotation and your personal knowledge, experience, observations, other texts, and/or the world around you. Answer in thoughtful, well-developed paragraph form (approximately 300-400 words) with effective sentence structure, transitions, and vocabulary.

Item One

A. You living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the ways your mind looks at what happens. -Kahil Gibran (1883-1931)

B. The world is dangerous to live in, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and let them do so. -Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Item Two

A. Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually. Peace, for example, starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. -The Dalai Lama (1935-)

B. The greatest way to live with honour in this world is to be what we pretend to be. -Socrates (469-399 BC) Item Three

A. Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity. -Kahil Gibran (1883-1931)

B. Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character. -Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995) Item Four A. An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. -Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

B. Life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forward. -Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

Item Five

A. Full human development may, in the end, depend only on two things: first, that we always remember ourselves at our worst and, that we never forget ourselves at our best. -Joan Chittister (1936-)

B. The greatest way to live with honour in this world is to be what we pretend to be. -Socrates (469-399 BC) Personal Response Rubric: t y n r e o s g b e t A a

EXPECTATION C R Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

Reading and Literature Studies:

Reading for Meaning: K Demonstrates Demonstrates Demonstrates Demonstrates Demonstrates an insufficient limited knowledge adequate considerable insightful knowledge of the of the quotation knowledge of the understanding of the understanding of the 1.3 Demonstrates knowledge of quotation quotation quotation quotation the text

Makes limited Makes insufficient connections Makes some Makes considerable Makes highly connections between the connections connections effective and between the quotation and between the between the insightful 1.5 Extends understanding of the T quotation and personal quotation and quotation and connections between text by making rich and A personal knowledge, personal personal the quotation and insightful connections between knowledge, experience insights, knowledge, knowledge, personal knowledge, the ideas in it and personal experience insights, other texts, and/or experience experience, insights, experience insights, knowledge, experience, other texts, and/or the world insights, other other texts, and/ or other texts, and/ or insights, other texts, or the the world texts, and/or the the world the world world world

Overall Reading Level for Part C: