Character 27 - Reading Quiz: 3-Sentence Quotation Discussing Characters
Literary Core Skill:
Relate the characters in various titles to their main themes.
Resources: Socratic List questions 3m – 3p; TC Syllabus section 4
Elements of Fiction:
Assignment Type:
Description:
In this worksheet, students illustrate character development in the daily reading assignment with a “3-sentence quotation” featuring an interpretive statement in the follow-up sentence and correct citation format. It is designed as an in-class, open-book exercise.
Each 3-sentence quotation includes:
1) A “setup sentence,” which describes the situation in which the quotation occurs and makes brief reference to the prompt or assignment,
2) A direct quotation from the story, enclosed in quotation marks and followed by a author/page-style citation at the end of the sentence but before final punctuation, and
3) A “follow-up” sentence, in which the student explains how the quotation answers the prompt or assignment.
The advantages of this formula are numerous: it requires close and thoughtful reading; it anticipates the proper procedure for handling textual evidence in essay writing; it produces relatively short assignments which nevertheless efficiently demonstrate the student’s mastery of the assignment; and it is extremely easy to grade.
Grading Rubric:
Equal parts credit for a) clean grammar, syntax, punctuation, and spelling; b) conformity to the “3-sentence quotation” formula; and c) plausibility of interpretation.
Completed Example Assignments:
