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7th Grade Unit 4 Test Reflections

Last updated almost 5 years ago
24 questions

Read the following passage and answer the questions below. Use your resources. The goal is to help you strategically think in the best way to answer the questions below and apply what we have learned this unit.

A Family Win

1 Some of you might look at me standing here today and think it was an individual effort for me to win today. Snow boarding is an individual sport, after all, and I’m the one with the trophy in my hand. You might think that I worked hard, I studied hard, I learned the skills necessary to add to my natural talents and I got myself to this position on my own. But I’m here to say that isn’t how it works.

2 Just like those of you standing there with microphones in your hands, I didn’t spring from the ground fully formed. I came from a family. In my case, a family of modest means that never planned for a little girl who would ask for a snowboard when she was three years old.

3 Also like so many of you, my parents would have been perfectly happy to live a quiet life, away from cameras and tournaments and plane travel and all of the expenses associated with competing on the national level. My parents would have been perfectly happy to go to work every morning, come home every evening to cook dinner and put their feet up. They would have loved to go to my sister’s softball games each weekend and to attend each and every one of my brother’s theatrical productions. But they didn’t get to do that for one very simple reason: they believed in my dream. And they sacrificed a great deal to help me achieve that dream.

4 You see, my parents are not snow boarders—they don’t even ski! More than that, my parents are not even athletes. They didn’t grow up in a world where one makes sacrifices for sports. I believe that when my parents had us kids, they assumed each of us would have interests as far reaching as the edges of this country—and they were right. But I don’t think they ever imaged that they would have to choose one dream over another. The only reason I am standing in front of you today, with this trophy in my hand, is because my parents and my siblings believed in my dream.

5 My family sacrificed so much so that I could take those extra lessons after school, so that I could go away to camps each summer to train, so that I could choose which equipment and what gear would make me the fastest and the sharpest boarder out there. If I could split this trophy into quarters, I would give each of them their fair share—I don’t even deserve a quarter of this beautiful thing. It would represent so much less than what they sacrificed for me over these last 15 years.

6 So, no, it was not individual effort that brought me to stand before you today. You’d be a fool to think it ever is. No athlete makes it anywhere without standing on the shoulders of their family. This athlete standing in front of you now couldn’t be more grateful to mine.
1

Who is the intended audience for this speech?

1

Explain, in complete sentences, why you think your answer choice is correct.

Sentence Stem: I chose answer __________ Because ___________.

1

Which sentence from paragraphs 2–3 best states the speaker’s claim?

1

Explain, in complete sentences, why you think your answer choice is correct.

Sentence Stem: I chose answer __________ Because ___________.

1

Which detail from the speech explains why the listener should accept the speaker’s claim?

1

Explain, in complete sentences, why you think your answer choice is correct.

Sentence Stem: I chose answer __________ Because ___________.

1

Which sentence from the speech acknowledges an opposing opinion mentioned in the speech?

1

Explain, in complete sentences, why you think your answer choice is correct.

Sentence Stem: I chose answer __________ Because ___________.

1

What is the controlling idea of this speech?

1

Explain, in complete sentences, why you think your answer choice is correct.

Sentence Stem: I chose answer __________ Because ___________.

1

Which sentence from the speech is an example of a sweeping generalization?

1

Explain, in complete sentences, why you think your answer choice is correct.

Sentence Stem: I chose answer __________ Because ___________.

Leading Together

1 Dear editor, I am writing to ask a simple question.

2 Can we really have gotten to a place where families are expected to sacrifice everything for the benefit of one member? Can we fairly expect the other people in that family—each with his or her own dreams—to give up what they want so that one person can pursue their individual dream? And what does it mean when you reading this letter already know the topic I’m discussing, before I even name it?

3 I am discussing youth athletics.

4 This matter has gotten out of control. Not only have we created a world in which families are expected to drive hundreds of miles a season to get their children to various sporting events, but we now have an entire generation of children who believe this is their birthright. Do our children thank us when we arrive, road weary, at this week’s tournament or championship or 5th grade Sunday afternoon game?

5 We have created a culture of family sacrifice all in the name of the supposed “greater good.” Youth athletics provides our children with skills in teamwork, and isn’t that a skill they will all need if they are expected to lead this country into the future?

6 I am not so troubled that only a tiny percentage of them will go on to professional sporting careers. I am not so troubled that our cars emit carbon as they ferry children on long drives. I am not so troubled that other family members suffer from a lack of attention. I should be! Each is a tragedy.

7 What troubles me the most is that if this is what’s required to get kids to play youth sports, then which kids get to play?

8 Let me be crystal clear: the only people on these fields are the people with the means to get there. Parents that have to work multiple jobs to pay rent cannot take weekends off to drive to tournaments. Parents who are caring for their own elderly parents cannot leave town overnight to sleep in hotels away from those they’re responsible for. Parents who cannot afford a car, who live paycheck to paycheck, are not the parents with children on those fields.

9 This, my friends, is the real tragedy of our new sporting culture. Our children may be learning about teamwork, but the teams on which they play are entirely homogenous groups. And what does that teach the next generation about the world they will be asked to lead? How does that prepare our children to take this country into the future?

10 I ask you to consider not just the ways families sacrifice for one member, I ask you not just to consider the other consequences of all of this travel. I ask you to consider what we are teaching our children about who matters.

11 I believe every single person in this country matters. I believe we need to raise a generation of people who can lead us all, together.
1

Why does the author use rhetorical questions throughout this letter?

1

Explain, in complete sentences, why you think your answer choice is correct.

Sentence Stem: I chose answer __________ Because ___________.

1

What is the author’s main problem with the culture surrounding youth sports?

1

Explain, in complete sentences, why you think your answer choice is correct.

Sentence Stem: I chose answer __________ Because ___________.

1

Which paragraph best demonstrates the use of loaded language?

1

Explain, in complete sentences, why you think your answer choice is correct.

Sentence Stem: I chose answer __________ Because ___________.

1

Read the information about the origin of the word homogeneous.
from Greek homo, meaning “same,” and genos, meaning “kind”
This information helps the reader understand that homogeneous, as used in paragraph 9 means —

1

Explain, in complete sentences, why you think your answer choice is correct.

Sentence Stem: I chose answer __________ Because ___________.

1

What is the best summary of the editorial?

1

Explain, in complete sentences, why you think your answer choice is correct.

Sentence Stem: I chose answer __________ Because ___________.

1

Read this sentence from “A Family Win.”
My family sacrificed so much so that I could take those extra lessons after school, so that I could go away to camps each summer to train, so that I could choose which equipment and what gear would make me the fastest and the sharpest boarder out there.
Which sentence from “Leading Together” directly challenges that idea?

1

Explain, in complete sentences, why you think your answer choice is correct.

Sentence Stem: I chose answer __________ Because ___________.