SUCCESS ACADEMY
Language Arts/Reading
9th GRADE
Student Packet
TUTORING SESSION 4
Focus Lesson: Inferences and Essential
Message
Mini-Lesson passage: “Modern Egypt:
Its Land and Economy”
Instructional Passage: Exposure by
Hans Fantel
NAME: __________________________
Curriculum and Instruction
2010-2011
THE SCHOOL BOARD OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA
Perla Tabares Hantman, Chair
Dr. Lawrence S. Feldman, Vice Chair
Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall
Carlos L. Curbelo
Renier Diaz de la Portilla
Dr. Wilbert “Tee” Holloway
Dr. Martin Karp
Dr. Marta Pérez
Raquel A. Regalado
Alexandra Garfinkle
Student Advisor
Alberto M. Carvalho
Superintendent of Schools
Milagros R. Fornell
Associate Superintendent
Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Maria P. de Armas
Assistant Superintendent
Curriculum and Instruction, K-12 Core
Karen Spigler
Administrative Director
Division of Language Arts/Reading
Curriculum and Instruction
2010-2011
Session 4
Review the following definition and examples with your teacher
Define: inference – a logical guess based on information in a text and your own knowledge or common
sense; reading between the lines by supplying what the author may not have said; the process of arriving
at some conclusion
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Often the clues to the meaning of an unfamiliar word are not in the same sentence nor are
they as obvious as other context clues (such as signal words or prefix/suffix clues).
In such cases, you will need to look at the sentences that surround the word and infer, or
draw a conclusion about, the word’s meaning.
A single piece of information several sentences away from the unfamiliar word may
unlock the meaning.
Study the following examples:
The counselor’s efforts to calm the young boy exacerbated the boy’s anxiety. At first, he
had struggled bravely to resist his natural impulse to cry as the teacher gave him a
detention and told him to report to the office. Then the counselor said that the
punishment would not last long, and the boy let our anguished screams that could be
heard throughout the office. The counselor’s talking about the detention succeeded only
in intensifying it.
EXPLANATION:
The clues to the meaning of exacerbated is found at the end of the paragraph. The detail
talking about the detention succeeded only in intensifying it suggests that exacerbated
means to be “intensified, irritated, or made worse.”
Susan had the misfortune of working with a cantankerous employer. She wore a perpetual scowl
on her face, a sign of her impatient contempt for everyone around her. When Susan asked for
help, her boss could always be counted on to find fault with Susan’s performance. Whatever
Susan did, she would find something to criticize. Finally, Susan realized that her boss preferred
strife to harmony, and she did her best to get along.
EXPLANATION:
A series of descriptive details follow the unfamiliar word cantankerous. The details help
you draw a conclusion about what a cantankerous person is—“a bad-tempered,
quarrelsome person.”
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2010-2011
Student Practice:
Work in pairs to determine word meaning from the context clues.
1.
The famous athlete showed a surprising diffidence when interviewed. He
seemed shy and reserved, in sharp contrast to his dynamic performance on the
field. He downplayed his accomplishments and admitted that he often feared
failure, even though many regarded him as one of the finest athletes of his
generation. When asked direct questions, he often hesitated, as if reluctant to
assert his own opinion.
diffidence: _______________________________________________________
2.
The judge was skilled enough to cope with any exigency, including an attorney’s
sudden heart attack.
exigency: ________________________________________________________
3.
When Elizabeth heard the news of the crash, her face became a stolid mask
showing no expression and betraying no emotion.
stolid: ____________________________________________________________
4.
Numerous phone calls from angry parents forced the principal to accede to their
wishes and change her plans for cancelling the school dance.
accede: __________________________________________________________
5.
A morning of fishing coupled with the noon heart produced a lassitude in Marie,
making the hammock look more and more inviting.
lassitude: ________________________________________________________
6.
Unlike Barbara, who could never forgive an insult, Tuchman was a magnanimous
person.
magnanimous: ____________________________________________________
7.
The driver had the temerity to laugh in the police officer’s face; to punish the
young man for his insolence, the officer wrote a ticket.
temerity: ________________________________________________________
8.
One theory about the disappearance of the pirate ships in the Caribbean
suggests that the ships may have encountered maelstroms, large dangerous
whirlpools.
maelstroms: __________________________________________________
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Read the following examples with your teacher. Ask yourself many questions
such as, “How does my prior knowledge help me to understand the text?” and
“What does the author want me to learn from this article?” Discuss the inference.
TONE: The tone of a passage is its feeling or mood. A creepy, scary tone will lead you
towards certain inferences. A happy, romantic tone will lead you to different inferences.
Sentence: The wind howled and a cloud darkened the moon as the clock struck midnight.
Inference: __________________________________
Can you think of a sentence that would lead to the opposite inference?
POINT OF VIEW: The point of view is the “eye” through which you are seeing the story or
the “voice” that is telling the story.
Sentence: Curious Charlie was back in class, with his usual never-ending questions.
Inference: __________________________________
Can you think of a sentence that would lead to the opposite inference?
WHAT IS NOT SAID: You can infer things based on what a character wants to say but
doesn’t say.
Sentence: Raul said, “I really like you.” Natalia pursed her lips, gave a half smile, and
remained silent.
Inference: __________________________________
Write a sentence that would lead to the opposite inference.
WHAT IS NOT DONE: You can also infer a thing based on what a character wants to do but
doesn’t do.
Sentence: Jose was so insulted by Miguel’s nasty comments. As he shook with anger, he
tightened his right hand into a fist and quickly rushed from the party.
Inference: __________________________________
Can you think of a sentence that would lead to the opposite inference?
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2010-2011
Student Practice
Read the following passage, “Modern Egypt: Its Land and Economy”, with your teacher.
After reading, reread and use the graphic to take notes on the relevant details and the
inferred meaning.
Text Information
What is happening in the text?
What events have occurred?
Inferencing
What does the author want me to
learn from this?
What does the author believe
about the topic?
Do I share the author’s beliefs? Is the
author making an impact on me?
Source: Exploring Nonfiction-Social Studies- Secondary. (2003). Teacher Created materials & TIME Learning
Ventures.
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2010-2011
HIGH SCHOOL QUESTION TASK CARDS - Design questions that require students to identify plot
development and conflict/resolution in a passage. Support answers with details and information
from the text.
HIGH SCHOOL QUESTION TASK CARDS
Design questions that require students to identify/understand plot development, point of view,
setting, conflict/resolution, and tone in a passage. Support answers with details and information
from the text.
CHARACTER & PLOT DEVELOPMENT/
POINT OF VIEW/ SETTING/
CONFLICT RESOLUTION/ TONE
(LA.910.2.1.5, LA.910.2.1.7)
• What is the main conflict in the essay?
• When is the central conflict between ____ and _____ introduced in the story/poem?
• How does _____'s character change from the beginning to the end of _________?
• What words/phrases create the tone of _____?
• How does the setting add to the feeling that ______?
• What word best describes the character?
• Which pair of words best describes _______?
• What is ______’s opinion of__________?
• How do ______’s comments contribute to the development of the story/article?
• Read this quotation from the passage.
“________________________________”
Which literary device does the author use in this quotation?
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2010-2011
Exposure
by
Hans Fantel
High in the Alps, just south of Salzburg, Austria, a bold experiment in ecology
is taking shape: Austria’s Hohe Tauern National Park. Unlike national parks in the
United States, Hohe Tauern is not conceived merely as a nature preserve, education
center, and tourist destination. Rather, it fosters the traditional human settlements
and folkways of the region along with the land.
“Sure, we want to preserve nature,” says Alfred Winter, the guiding spirit behind
the project. “But this place has been settled for a thousand years. So we also have to
preserve the people.”
A tall, rugged man in his middle 40s, wearing a loden cape and a hat trimmed
with the whiskers of a mountain goat, Winter fits into the landscape- his surname
included. He sweeps his arm over a vista of snowy peaks, deep-green spruce forests
and little towns nestled in the steep valleys. “We have to keep the villages in balance
with the natural environment,” he explains. “The towns are part of the landscape, and
so is their way of life. We forget that the words ‘economy’ and ‘ecology’ have the same
Greek root, meaning ‘home’. There should be no conflict between them.”
As commissioner of special culture projects for the state of Salzburg, Winter has
managed to turn such linguistic sentiment into living reality. His plan– called “Tauriska,”
after the region’s ancient Celtic name- is, in effect, a cultural movement that envisions
an inhabited nature preserve with a self-sustaining economy that poses no threat to the
environment. His project began just in time to save 10 mountain villages, with a
combined population of 35,000, within the borders of the national park. Since then, the
park’s boundaries have extended to include at least three more villages, and the
number keeps growing.
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Winter doesn’t claim credit for the idea behind Tauriska. The basic notion of
reviving small-scale regional economies for ecological reasons comes from the late
Leopold Kohr, a Salzburg native who taught for many years at Rutgers University in
New Jersey. His thesis was that many social and environmental problems are problems
of scale and can be solved by a return to smaller, self-contained settings for human
activity.
Before the Tauriska plan took effect years ago, these ancient hamlets- many
dating back more than 500 years- had declined and looked as if they might become
ghost towns. The younger people drifted away, looking for factory jobs in the cities,
where they hoped to find the kind of life they had seen on television. Mountain farms
were abandoned, local trades neglected.
But now the Tauriska plan- bolstered politically and financially by Franz
Schausberger, governor of Salzburg- has reversed this trend. Of course, it helped that
the young people who had left soon discovered that life in the factories at Innsbruck
or Graz wasn’t as glamorous as in the television sitcoms. The backwoods suddenly
seemed very attractive to these disillusioned and homesick mountain folk and, thanks
to the Tauriska project, now offered new opportunities to make a living.
Within the borders of the park, Tauriska is reviving traditional crafts, such as
cabinetry, embroidery, handpainted peasant furniture, handcrafted ironwork, and tooled
leather and lace. One town, Hollersbach, in the Pinzgau Valley has started growing
medicinal herbs on a grand scale. From the commanding church steeple you can look
over a broad valley of fragrant and colorful herb fields, and everywhere you go, you sniff
the heady aroma.
The Salzburg provincial government helps create a market for all this homegrown merchandise by arranging distribution to department stores in the larger citiesan effort aided by widespread disenchantment with mass-produced goods and the
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trendy demand on the part of affluent urbanites for traditional handmade products.
The homemade good are also sold locally to tourist at the Heimatwerk shopscooperative outlets for these small family enterprises. One of the best-known of these
shops occupies an ancient barn in Neukirchen, a village not far from Hollersbach, and
there is a Heimatwerk even in the bishop’s palace at Salzburg, right under the old off2
key carillon that delighted Mozart when he was a boy.
One striking feature of the landscape in the national park is the vast pale-green
meadows (called Almen) that flank the mountains from just above the tree line to the
edge of the glaciers and snowfields. That’s where the farmers graze their cattle from
spring until fall, and the valleys echo with the clanging of cowbells.
Four years ago, when “mad cow disease” struck herds in England, demand
suddenly rose for grass-fed Alpine beef and veal. The picturesque mountain farms,
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formerly on the verge of collapse, prospered. What’s more, the meat is now favored
among fancy restaurants throughout Europe.
Under the Tauriska plan’s direction, the new influx of money is used to restore
many of the old farm buildings and barns- always in the traditional style of
th
the region. Today, the villages look as spruce as they might have in the 16
century. “It all builds local pride,” says Winter. “And that’s an absolute requirement
if a town is to live.”
Not everyone, though, applauded when Tauriska was first implemented. Oddly
enough, the chief opponents of the Tauriska plan were its beneficiaries. “At first, the
farmers were all against it,” Winter recalls. “They didn’t want any constraints on the
use of their property. Now they realize that land values have risen under the new park
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plan. And no land has ever been expropriated to create the park. All we need from
the locals is acceptance of the idea and observance of the rules.” After a thoughtful
moment, he adds ruefully, “That’s a tough notion to get across to independent
mountain folk.”
Today, the main problem of the Hohe Tauern National Park, as in other protected
regions, is crowd control. Naturally, the idea is to attract tourists, but not in the
proverbial droves. Nobody wants these valleys turned into parking lots, or people
bumping each other on the hiking trails. And nobody wants big hotels competing with
the numerous country inns.
“We want to limit access,” says Winter. “There has to be a quiet feeling in the
towns and a sense of solitude up in the mountains.”
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urbanite: someone who lives in a city carillon: a set of tuned bells,
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usually played from a keyboard expropriated: taken away from the
owner
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DIRECTIONS: Read the passage “Exposure” and then answer questions 1-10.
1.
Which sentence best supports the idea that villages in the national park benefited
from the Tariska plan?
A.
B.
C.
D.
2.
The Tauriska plan went into effect about seven years ago.
The Tauriska plan taught the villagers to appreciate nature.
The land value in the villages rose under the Tauriska Plan.
The idea behind Tauriska came from a professor at Rutgers University.
What is the author’s attitude toward the Tauriska plan?
F. He supports the project with enthusiasm.
G. He believes that the project has many flaws.
H. He reports on the project without endorsing it.
J. He is concerned that the project may not survive.
3.
What does this sentence from the article mean?
Naturally, the idea is to attract tourists, but not in the proverbial droves.
A. Tourists should visit only specified areas.
B. Tourists should visit in limited numbers.
C. Tourists should come only during certain seasons.
D. Tourists should leave their automobiles outside of the park.
4.
Which sentence best describes the main idea of the article?
F. Hohe Tauern National Park is the site of several old villages that were in
decline until recently.
G. Hohe Tauern National Park is the home of a striking landscape of mountains
and vast meadows.
H. Hohe Tauern National Park is supported financially by the local government in
Salzburg, Austria.
J. Hobe Tauern National Park is an unusual place that preserves both natural
and human environments.
5.
Why were the Heimatwerk shops established?
A. to encourage trade among the villages
B. to sell traditional, handmade product
C. to provide a place for community meeting.
D. to teach visitors about the history of the park.
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6.
Which factor has contributed most to the success of the Tauriska plan?
F. the support provided by the tourist industry
G. the support provided by the local government
H. the decline of factories in nearby communities
J. the desire to preserve the natural environment
7. Which phrase best describes Alfred Winter?
A. practical about an economic plan
B. homesick for a traditional lifestyle
C. dedicated to an ecological concept
D. disappointed by life in the factories
8. Why had many villages almost become ghost towns?
F. Tourists had lost interest in traditional crafts.
G. Young people were leaving to work in the cities.
H. The building and farms were too old to preserve.
J. The forests and hills were being ruined by tourists.
9. What evidence in the passage suggests that Alfred Winter is an expert on the
“Tauriska” project? Use details and information from the passage to support your
answer.
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10.
Explain how the Hohe Tauern National Park was different after the Tauriska plan
was implemented. Use details and information from the passage to support your
answer.
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ANTI-DISCRIMINATION POLICY
Federal and State Laws
The School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida adheres to a policy of
nondiscrimination in employment and educational programs/activities and strives
affirmatively to provide equal opportunity for all as required by law:
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - prohibits discrimination on the basis of race,
color, religion, or national origin.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended - prohibits discrimination in
employment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, or national origin.
Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 - prohibits discrimination on the basis
of gender.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), as amended - prohibits
discrimination on the basis of age with respect to individuals who are at least 40.
The Equal Pay Act of 1963, as amended - prohibits gender discrimination in payment of
wages to women and men performing substantially equal work in the same
establishment.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 - prohibits discrimination against the
disabled.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) - prohibits discrimination against
individuals with disabilities in employment, public service, public accommodations and
telecommunications.
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) - requires covered employers to
provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to “eligible” employees for certain
family and medical reasons.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 - prohibits discrimination in employment on
the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.
Florida Educational Equity Act (FEEA) - prohibits discrimination on the basis of race,
gender, national origin, marital status, or handicap against a student or employee.
Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 - secures for all individuals within the state freedom
from discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap,
or marital status.
Veterans are provided re-employment rights in accordance with P.L. 93-508 (Federal
Law) and Section295.07 (Florida Statutes), which stipulates categorical preferences for
employment.
Revised 9/2008
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