Grade 7 Language Arts - Exam Review
Question: In a well constructed response (TDSC) and using specific references from the
story “Higher Animals” by Jay Henderson show how the character Skye has the
character trait of self-control.
SAMPLE CHARACTER TDSC
In the short story “Higher Animals” by Jay Henderson one of Skye’s
most important character traits is that she is self-controlled. A character trait
is a personality quality. Firstly, Skye is self-controlled when one of the twins
is standing next to Skye’s head and she does not move. This shows selfcontrol because you would expect Skye – the prey – to move and try to get
away from the hunter, however instead she remains frozen. Secondly, Skye
is self-controlled when the mouse runs up her pant leg. “She wanted to
scream – jump up – shake her leg – tear off her baggy jeans – whatever it
might take to get the stupid thing out of there.” Instead of doing this Skye
kept control of herself and remained perfectly still, she knew that if she
moved she would be caught and getting caught was worse then letting the
mouse run up her leg. Finally, Skye was self-controlled in the way she
breathed. Skye breathed so slowly, letting the air out of her lungs a little at a
time that she almost fainted. This shows that Skye is willing to control every
aspect of her being in order to win the game. In conclusion, Skye is a very
self controlled character.
SAMPLE CONNECTIONS TDSC
In the short story “Higher Animals” by Jay Henderson I made a textto-text connection with the ”Hunger Games”. Text-to-text connection is
when something you are reading reminds you of something you read before.
The first example is at the start of the story when Skye was running away
from something chasing her. This reminded me of when Katniss in the
Hunger Games first ran away from the people hunting her. The second
connection was when Skye and Kevin hid together in the leaves. This
reminded me of when Katniss and Peeta first met in the Hunger Games and
when they also hid together. The last example is when Skye and Kevin
hugged which showed a romantic connection. That reminded me of when
Katniss and Peeta became “Star-crossed lovers”. In conclusion, when I read
the short story ”Higher Animals” I made a text-to text connection.