Teacher Guide for FAST-R Passage: A Walk to the Jetty
FAST-R: Formative Assessments of StudentThinking in Reading
At a Glance
Approximate
Grade Range:
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Genre: Fiction (autobiographical narrative)
Topic: AnnieJohnexperiencesmixedfeelingsassheprepares
to leave home for the first time.
Author: Jamaica Kincaid
Source: Annie John (1985)
Special Note: used on G7 MCAS 2005
A teenage girl from the island of Antigua is being sent to live with
relatives in England where she will attend nursing school. As she
walks with her parents along the jetty where a boat awaits her, she
remembers the walks to the jetty she used to take with her father in
years past. This young girl has mixed feelings about leaving. Read this
excerpt from the novel Annie John to see what happens. Answer the
questions that follow.
A Walk to the Jetty
Autobiographical fiction
Difficulty Index: Considerate . . . . . . . . . . . . Challenging
Structure:
Purpose:
Richness:
Relationships:
Vocabulary:
Style:
Lexile Measure: 1270L
Relationships: The passage explores three main
relationships:
• between the speaker and her homeland
See especially: Questions 5, 7
• between childhood and adulthood
See especially: Questions 2, 8, 9
• between the present and the future
See especially: Questions 2, 4, 7, 10
by Jamaica Kincaid
1 My heart now beat fast, and no matter how hard I tried,
I couldn’t keep my mouth from falling open and my nostrils
from spreading to the ends of my face. My old fear of slipping
between the boards of the jetty and falling into the dark-green
water where the dark-green eels lived came over me. When my
father’s stomach started to go bad, the doctor had recommended
a walk every evening right after he ate his dinner. Sometimes
he would take me with him. When he took me with him, we
usually went to the jetty, and there he would sit and talk to the
night watchman about cricket1 or some other thing that didn’t
interest me, because it was not personal; they didn’t talk about
their wives, or their children, or their parents, or about any
of their likes and dislikes. They talked about things in such a
strange way, and I didn’t see what they found funny, but sometimes they made each other laugh so much that their guffaws2
would bound out to sea and send back an echo. I was always
sorry when we got to the jetty and saw that the night watchman
on duty was the one he enjoyed speaking to; it was like being
locked up in a book filled with numbers and diagrams and whatifs. For the thing about not being able to understand and enjoy
what they were saying was I had nothing to take my mind off
my fear of slipping in between the boards of the jetty.
2 Now, too, I had nothing to take my mind off what was happening to me. My mother and my father—I was leaving them
forever. My home on an island—I was leaving it forever. What
to make of everything? I felt a familiar hollow space inside. I felt
Structure: The passage begins with a flashback to the
narrator’schildhoodassociationwiththejetty.Theword
“now”signals the transition back to the present tense at
the start of ¶2.
See especially: Questions 1, 2
Richness: Kincaid’s descriptions of the speaker’s
emotional states are vivid (especially in ¶2), helping
readers to identify with her emotional journey as her
physical journey is about to begin.
See especially: Questions 3, 4, 7
1 cricket — an outdoor game played with bats, a ball, and wickets by two teams of eleven each
2 guffaw — a hearty burst of laughter
Continuedonnextpage
FAST-R:FormativeAssessmentsinStudentThinkinginReading.ThepassagetextbyJamaicaKincaidisfromAnnieJohn(1985).Copyright©1985byJamaicaKincaid.Somequestionswere
drawn or adapted from the G7 MCAS Spring 2005 test. All other materials are Copyright 2007 by the Boston Plan for Excellence.
I was being held down against my will. I felt I was burning up
from head to toe. I felt that someone was tearing me up into
little pieces and soon I would be able to see all the little pieces as
they floated out into nothing in the deep blue sea. I didn’t know
whether to laugh or cry. I could see that it would be better not
to think too clearly about any one thing. The launch was being
made ready to take me, along with some other passengers, out to
the ship that was anchored in the sea. My father paid our fares,
and we joined a line of people waiting to board. My mother
checked my bag to make sure that I had my passport, the money
she had given me, and a sheet of paper placed between some
pages in my Bible on which were written the names of the relatives—people I had not known existed— with whom I would
live in England. Across from the jetty was a wharf, and some
stevedores3 were loading and unloading barges. I don’t know
why seeing that struck me so, but suddenly a wave of strong
feeling came over me, and my heart swelled with a great gladness
as the words “I shall never see this again” spilled out inside me.
But then, just as quickly, my heart shriveled up and the words
“I shall never see this again” stabbed at me. I don’t know what
stopped me from falling in a heap at my parents’ feet.
3 When we were all on board, the launch headed out to sea.
Away from the jetty, the water became the customary blue, and
the launch left a wide path in it that looked like a road. I passed
by sounds and smells that were so familiar that I had long ago
stopped paying any attention to them. But now here they were,
and the ever-present “I shall never see this again” bobbed up
and down inside me. There was the sound of the seagull diving
down into the water and coming up with something silverish in
its mouth. There was the smell of the sea and the sight of small
pieces of rubbish floating around in it. There were boats filled
with fishermen coming in early. There was the sound of their
voices as they shouted greetings to each other. There was the hot
sun, there was the blue sea, there was the blue sky. Not very far
away, there was the white sand of the shore, with the run-down
houses all crowded in next to each other, for in some places only
poor people lived near the shore. I was seated in the launch between my parents, and when I realized that I was gripping their
hands tightly I glanced quickly to see if they were looking at
me with scorn, for I felt sure that they must have known of my
never-see-this-again feelings. But instead my father kissed me
on the forehead and my mother kissed me on the mouth, and
they both gave over their hands to me, so that I could grip them
as much as I wanted. I was on the verge of feeling that it had all
been a mistake, but I remembered that I wasn’t a child anymore,
and that now when I made up my mind about something I had
to see it through. At that moment, we came to the ship, and that
was that.
3stevedore— one who loads or unloads ships or barges
Spotlight On: Jamaica Kincaid
Jamaica Kincaid, whose original name is Elaine
Potter Richardson, was born on the island of
Antigua in 1949. She was educated in British
schoolsbecauseAntiguawasanEnglishcolonythat
was not given its independence until 1981.
In 1965, she was sent to New York to work as a
nanny and eventually left the position to pursue a
college education. She changed her name in 1973
because her family disapproved of her writing.
She continues to be an advocate for education and
fortheschool-agedchildrengrowingupinAntigua.
“IwasalwaysbeingtoldIshouldbesomething,and
thenmywholeupbringingwassomethingIwasnot:
it was English” (Cudjoe 219).
Vocabulary: Aside from the three footnoted words and
a few nautical terms (jetty, wharf, launch), most of the
vocabulary is fairly accessible.
See especially: Question 6
Style: The repetition of “there was” emphasizes how
these familiar sights were made fresh for the narrator by
her knowledge that she would never see them again.
See especially: Questions 5, 7
Relationships: The narrator’s sense of being tugged
betweenchildhoodandadulthoodcomethroughinthe
interactionwithherparentsandwithherownresolution
that as a young adult she must stand by her decisions.
See especially: Questions 8, 9, 10
Ideas for Connected Writing Activities:
•Identifyandexplainthemixedfeelingsthespeakerhas
about leaving her home.
• Write about a place that has special meaning for you.
• Describe any moment of strong emotion using vivid
language to help readers identify with your feelings.
FAST-R:FormativeAssessmentsinStudentThinkinginReading.ThepassagetextbyJamaicaKincaidisfromAnnieJohn(1985).Copyright©1985byJamaicaKincaid.Somequestionswere
drawn or adapted from the G7 MCAS Spring 2005 test. All other materials are Copyright 2007 by the Boston Plan for Excellence.
Teacher Guide for FAST-R Passage: A Walk to the Jetty
FAST-R: Formative Assessments of StudentThinking in Reading
Autobiographical fiction
The annotated answer key below highlights common reasons students might choose each answer, and the sidebar gives more
insightintothequestiontypes,tohelpyouunderstandpatternsofstudentresponses.Alwaysmaketimetofollowupwithstudents
in conferences or small groups to probe their thinking, teach in response to patterns, and help them apply effective reading and
thinking strategies to their everyday reading.
Note: You may find it helpful to refer to the “Types and Levels of Questions on FAST-R” sheet from your teacher resource
folder as you examine your students’responses. The icon in the right-hand column, below, corresponds to that sheet’s more
detailed explanations of the kinds of thinking each type of question asks of readers.
1. In ¶1, what had originally brought the speaker, Annie, to the jetty?
A. She was a young girl who liked cricket. (OOP2, ¶1)
B. Her family was going on a voyage. (OOP2, ¶3)
 C. She went walking with her ill father. (¶1)
D. She was a fisherman’s daughter. (OOB)
FE2: Recognize the explicit
meaning from varied
wording in the text
2. Why does Annie’s childhood fear of slipping in between the boards of the jetty
resurface as she is about to leave home?
A. She is so glad to be leaving the jetty and everything else about Antigua.
(OOP2, ¶2)
 B. She now fears her uncertain future.
C. Seeing the night watchman on the jetty reminds her. (OOB)
D. She had seen the eels tear someone up into little pieces that floated out to
sea. (OOP2, ¶1-2)
MI1: Determine implicit
meaning from words in
context
3. Which of the following details helps create a tone of anticipation in the passage?
 A. Annie’s heart is beating fast. (¶1)
B. Annie remembers a childhood fear. (OOP2, ¶1)
C. Annie’s mother checks her bag to make sure she has her passport and money.
(OOP2, ¶2)
D. Annie notices that the weather is sunny and warm. (OOP2, ¶3)
MI5: Determine meaning
by using an understanding of
literary concepts
4. Re-read the sentence from paragraph 2:
MI2: Determine a single
meaning from the total of a
particular paragraph
I felt a familiar hollow space inside.
Which word best describes the speaker’s emotion?
A. joy (OOB)
B. guilt (OOB)
C. appreciation (OOB)
 D. fear
FAST-R:FormativeAssessmentsinStudentThinkinginReading.ThepassagetextbyJamaicaKincaidisfromAnnieJohn(1985).Copyright©1985byJamaicaKincaid.Somequestionswere
drawn or adapted from the G7 MCAS Spring 2005 test. All other materials are Copyright 2007 by the Boston Plan for Excellence.
Grade 7-9 • Autobiographical fiction • “ A Walk to the Jetty”
5. Re-read the sentence from paragraph 3:
There was the hot sun, there was the blue sea, there was the blue sky.
MI5: Determine meaning by
using an understanding of
literary concepts
What is the effect of the repetition of the phrase “There was”?
A. It conveys Annie’s eagerness to go to England. (OOP2, ¶2)
B. It captures how boring Annie’s life has become. (OOP2, ¶3)
 C. It shows that these daily sights suddenly seemed special to Annie as she
left them.
D. It emphasizes the ways Annie was trying to ignore her parents. (OOP2, ¶3)
6. Re-read the phrase from the beginning of paragraph 3 in the box below.
Away from the jetty, the water became the customary blue . . .
What does the word “customary” tell the reader about the water?
A. The water looks as it does before a storm. (OOB)
 B. The water looks as it usually does away from the shoreline.
C. The water looks as it does near the customs house. (OOB)
D. The water looks as it does during sunset. (OOB)
FE2: Recognize the explicit
meaning from varied
wording in the text
7. Which of the following best explains why the words “I shall never see this
again” cause Annie’s heart to swell up with gladness and then shrivel up?
A. She both enjoys and fears sailing. (OOP2, ¶2)
B. She loves but also resents her parents. (OOP2, ¶3)
 C. She feels both excited and fearful about leaving home.
D. She can’t wait to leave Antigua but feels guilty about leaving her parents.
(OOP2, ¶2)
MI2: Determine a single
meaning from the total text
8. How do Annie’s parents surprise her on the launch?
 A. She expects them to scorn her weakness, but instead they offer her support.
B. She expects them to comfort her, but instead they scorn her. (OOP2, ¶3)
C. She expects them to give in and let her stay, but instead they make her go.
(OOB)
D. She expects them to send her off penniless, but instead they give her some
money. (OOP1, ¶2)
FE2: Recognize the explicit
meaning from varied
wording in the text
FAST-R:FormativeAssessmentsinStudentThinkinginReading.ThepassagetextbyJamaicaKincaidisfromAnnieJohn(1985).Copyright©1985byJamaicaKincaid.Somequestionswere
drawn or adapted from the G7 MCAS Spring 2005 test. All other materials are Copyright 2007 by the Boston Plan for Excellence.
Grade 7-9 • Autobiographical fiction • “ A Walk to the Jetty”
9. Why does Annie finally decide that leaving Antigua to live in England is not a
mistake?
A. She dislikes living near the jetty and the overcrowded housing. (OOP2, ¶3)
 B. She feels she has to grow up and must stick to her decisions. (¶3, next to
last line)
C. She dislikes the smell of the sea and the sight of floating rubbish. (OOP2,
¶3)
D. She is angry with her parents for making her leave home. (OOP2, ¶3)
FE2: Recognize the explicit
meaning from varied
wording in the text
10. Which sentence best expresses the main idea of this excerpt?
A. Long journeys require advanced planning. (OOB)
B. Success is the result of hard work. (OOB)
 C. Growing up involves overcoming one’s fears.
D. One person’s loss is another’s gain. (OOB)
MI2: Determine a single
meaning from the total text
FAST-R:FormativeAssessmentsinStudentThinkinginReading.ThepassagetextbyJamaicaKincaidisfromAnnieJohn(1985).Copyright©1985byJamaicaKincaid.Somequestionswere
drawn or adapted from the G7 MCAS Spring 2005 test. All other materials are Copyright 2007 by the Boston Plan for Excellence.
FAST-R
+
Formative Assessments of Student Thinking in Reading
Name
“A Walk to the Jetty” • Fiction
Date
Teacher/Class
A teenage girl from the island of Antigua is being sent to live with relatives in England where she will
attend nursing school. As she walks with her parents along the jetty where a boat awaits her, she remembers the walks to the jetty she used to take with her father in years past. This young girl has mixed
feelings about leaving. Read this excerpt from the novel Annie John to see what happens. Answer the
questions that follow.
A Walk to the Jetty
by Jamaica Kincaid
1 My heart now beat fast, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t keep my
mouth from falling open and my nostrils from spreading to the ends of my face. My
old fear of slipping between the boards of the jetty and falling into the dark-green
water where the dark-green eels lived came over me. When my father’s stomach
started to go bad, the doctor had recommended a
walk every evening right after he ate his dinner.
Spotlight On: Jamaica Kincaid
Sometimes he would take me with him. When he
Jamaica Kincaid, whose original
took me with him, we usually went to the jetty, and
name is Elaine Potter Richardson,
there he would sit and talk to the night watchman
was born on the island of Antigua in
about cricket1 or some other thing that didn’t inter1949. She was educated in British
est me, because it was not personal; they didn’t talk
schools because Antigua was an
English colony that was not given its
about their wives, or their children, or their parents,
independence until 1981. or about any of their likes and dislikes. They talked
In 1965, she was sent to New York
about things in such a strange way, and I didn’t see
to work as a nanny and eventually
what they found funny, but sometimes they made
left the position to pursue a
each other laugh so much that their guffaws2 would
college education. She changed her
bound out to sea and send back an echo. I was
name in 1973 because her family
always sorry when we got to the jetty and saw that
disapproved of her writing.
the night watchman on duty was the one he enjoyed
She continues to be an advocate for
speaking to; it was like being locked up in a book
education and for the school-aged
filled with numbers and diagrams and what-ifs. For
children growing up in Antigua.
“I was always being told I should
the thing about not being able to understand and
be something, and then my whole
enjoy what they were saying was I had nothing to
upbringing was something I was not:
take my mind off my fear of slipping in between the it was English” (Cudjoe 219).
boards of the jetty.
1 cricket — an outdoor game played with bats, a ball, and wickets by two teams of eleven players each
2 guffaw — a hearty burst of laughter
FAST-R: Formative Assessments in Student Thinking in Reading. The passage text by Jamaica Kincaid is from Annie John (1985). Copyright © 1985 by Jamaica Kincaid. Some questions were
drawn or adapted from the G7 MCAS Spring 2005 test. All other materials are Copyright 2007 by the Boston Plan for Excellence.
2 Now, too, I had nothing to take my mind off what was happening to me. My
mother and my father—I was leaving them forever. My home on an island—I was
leaving it forever. What to make of everything? I felt a familiar hollow space inside. I
felt I was being held down against my will. I felt I was burning up from head to toe. I
felt that someone was tearing me up into little pieces and soon I would be able to see
all the little pieces as they floated out into nothing in the deep blue sea. I didn’t know
whether to laugh or cry. I could see that it would be better not to think too clearly
about any one thing. The launch was being made ready to take me, along with some
other passengers, out to the ship that was anchored in the sea. My father paid our fares,
and we joined a line of people waiting to board. My mother checked my bag to make
sure that I had my passport, the money she had given me, and a sheet of paper placed
between some pages in my Bible on which were written the names of the relatives—
people I had not known existed—with whom I would live in England. Across from the
jetty was a wharf, and some stevedores3 were loading and unloading barges. I don’t
know why seeing that struck me so, but suddenly a wave of strong feeling came over
me, and my heart swelled with a great gladness as the words “I shall never see this
again” spilled out inside me. But then, just as quickly, my heart shriveled up and the
words “I shall never see this again” stabbed at me. I don’t know what stopped me from
falling in a heap at my parents’ feet.
3 When we were all on board, the launch headed out to sea. Away from the jetty,
the water became the customary blue, and the launch left a wide path in it that looked
like a road. I passed by sounds and smells that were so familiar that I had long ago
stopped paying any attention to them. But now here they were, and the ever-present
“I shall never see this again” bobbed up and down inside me. There was the sound of
the seagull diving down into the water and coming up with something silverish in its
mouth. There was the smell of the sea and the sight of small pieces of rubbish floating around in it. There were boats filled with fishermen coming in early. There was the
sound of their voices as they shouted greetings to each other. There was the hot sun,
there was the blue sea, there was the blue sky. Not very far away, there was the white
sand of the shore, with the run-down houses all crowded in next to each other, for
in some places only poor people lived near the shore. I was seated in the launch between my parents, and when I realized that I was gripping their hands tightly I glanced
quickly to see if they were looking at me with scorn, for I felt sure that they must have
known of my never-see-this-again feelings. But instead my father kissed me on the
forehead and my mother kissed me on the mouth, and they both gave over their hands
to me, so that I could grip them as much as I wanted. I was on the verge of feeling that
it had all been a mistake, but I remembered that I wasn’t a child anymore, and that now
when I made up my mind about something I had to see it through. At that moment, we
came to the ship, and that was that.
3 stevedore— one who loads or unloads ships or barges
FAST-R: Formative Assessments in Student Thinking in Reading. The passage text by Jamaica Kincaid is from Annie John (1985). Copyright © 1985 by Jamaica Kincaid. Some questions were
drawn or adapted from the G7 MCAS Spring 2005 test. All other materials are Copyright 2007 by the Boston Plan for Excellence.
FAST-R
+
Formative Assessments of Student Thinking in Reading
Name
“A Walk to the Jetty” • Fiction
Date
Teacher/Class
Directions: Answer the following questions by filling in the circle for the best choice on your answer sheet.
1. In paragraph 1, what had originally brought the speaker, Annie, to the jetty?
A. She was a young girl who liked cricket.
B. Her family was going on a voyage.
C. She went walking with her ill father.
D. She was a fisherman’s daughter.
2. Why does Annie’s childhood fear of slipping in between the boards of the jetty resurface as she
is about to leave home?
A. She is so glad to be leaving the jetty and everything else about Antigua.
B. She now fears her uncertain future.
C. Seeing the night watchman on the jetty reminds her.
D. She had seen the eels tear someone up into little pieces that floated out to sea.
3. Which of the following details helps create a tone of anticipation in the passage?
A. Annie’s heart is beating fast.
B. Annie remembers a childhood fear.
C. Annie’s mother checks her bag to make sure she had her passport and money.
D. Annie notices that the weather is sunny and warm.
4. Re-read the sentence from paragraph 2: I felt a familiar hollow space inside.
Which word best describes the speaker’s emotion?
A. joy
B. guilt
C. appreciation
D. fear
5. Re-read the sentence from paragraph 3:
There was the hot sun, there was the blue sea, there was the blue sky.
What is the effect of the repetition of the phrase “There was”?
A. It conveys Annie’s eagerness to go to England.
B. It captures how boring Annie’s life has become.
C. It shows that these daily sights suddenly seemed special to Annie as she left them.
D. It emphasizes the ways Annie was trying to ignore her parents.
FAST-R: Formative Assessments in Student Thinking in Reading. The passage text by Jamaica Kincaid is from Annie John (1985). Copyright © 1985 by Jamaica Kincaid. Some questions were
drawn or adapted from the G7 MCAS Spring 2005 test. All other materials are Copyright 2007 by the Boston Plan for Excellence.
Name
School
Date
Teacher/Class
6. Re-read the phrase from the beginning of paragraph 3 in the box below.
Away from the jetty, the water became the customary blue . . .
What does the word “customary” tell the reader about the water?
A. The water looks as it does before a storm.
B. The water looks as it usually does away from the shoreline.
C. The water looks as it does near the customs house.
D. The water looks as it does during sunset.
7. Which of the following best explains why the words “I shall never see this again” cause Annie’s
heart to swell up with gladness and then shrivel up?
A. She both enjoys and fears sailing.
B. She loves but also resents her parents.
C. She feels both excited and fearful about leaving home.
D. She can’t wait to leave Antigua but feels guilty about leaving her parents.
8. How do Annie’s parents surprise her on the launch?
A. She expects them to scorn her weakness, but instead they offer her support.
B. She expects them to comfort her, but instead they scorn her.
C. She expects them to give in and let her stay, but instead they make her go.
D. She expects them to send her off penniless, but instead they give her some money.
9. Why does Annie finally decide that leaving Antigua to live in England is not a mistake?
A. She dislikes living near the jetty and the overcrowded housing.
B. She feels she has to grow up and must stick to her decisions.
C. She dislikes the smell of the sea and the sight of floating rubbish.
D. She is angry with her parents for making her leave home.
10. Which sentence best expresses the main idea of this excerpt?
A. Long journeys require advanced planning.
B. Success is the result of hard work.
C. Growing up involves overcoming one’s fears.
D. One person’s loss is another’s gain.
Open Response Prompt: Identify and explain the mixed feelings the speaker has about leaving her
home. Use relevant and specific information from the excerpt to support your answer.
FAST-R: Formative Assessments in Student Thinking in Reading. The passage text by Jamaica Kincaid is from Annie John (1985). Copyright © 1985 by Jamaica Kincaid. Some questions were
drawn or adapted from the G7 MCAS Spring 2005 test. All other materials are Copyright 2007 by the Boston Plan for Excellence.
Teachers: Please duplicate and use this answer sheet only for students for whom you did not receive a pre-printed answer sheet!
FAST-R Answer Sheet
Name
School Date
Grade
Class
Teacher Name
Passage Title
Completely fill the circle
for the correct answer.
1.
A
B
C
D
2.
A
B
C
D
3.
A
B
C
D
4.
A
B
C
D
5.
A
B
C
D
6. A
B
C
D
7.
A
B
C
D
8.
A
B
C
D
9.
A
B
C
D
10.
A
B
C
D
Write your answer to the open response prompt in the lined space below.
if your teacher directs you to do so.
OFFICE USE ONLY
RESEARCH:
Y
N
OPEN RESPONSE: 1 2 3
4