Overview

Lesson Procedure

55-65 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction15 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "The last slice of pizza is gone. Your little brother says he didn't eat it. Here are four clues: (1) he was home all afternoon; (2) he loves pizza; (3) there is tomato sauce on his sleeve; (4) the empty box is in his room. Rank the clues from strongest to weakest, and write one sentence explaining why your top clue is the strongest."

   Collect rankings and push for reasons. Clues 1 and 2 fit almost anyone in the house, so they prove little. Clue 3 is closer but could have another cause. Clue 4 points most directly at him and is hardest to explain another way. Tell the class that in grade 8 they do the same with a story: instead of listing every quotation that seems related, they choose the evidence that most strongly supports the point.

2. Direct Instruction15 minutes

   Review three terms and add two:

   • Textual evidence: exact words from the text that back up what you say about it. You cite it by copying the words in quotation marks and giving the paragraph number.
   • Explicit: stated directly in the words of the text.
   • Inference: a conclusion the text supports but does not state, reached by joining clues with what you know about people.
   • Strongest evidence (new): the quotation that supports a claim most directly and leaves the fewest other ways to read it. Use the four tests in Diagram 2: it speaks to the exact claim, it names a specific detail, it is hard to explain another way, and it comes from a speaker you can trust.
   • First-person narrator (new): a character who tells the story using "I." In Treasure Island the narrator, Jim Hawkins, tells the story years after it happened, so he sometimes knows more than he knew at the time.

   Introduce the text: Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (first published as a book in 1883) is set in the 1700s. Jim's parents run the Admiral Benbow, an inn on a quiet stretch of the English coast. In this passage a strange old seaman arrives to stay. Words to know: plodding (walking slowly and heavily), hand-barrow (a small cart pushed by hand), tarry (covered in tar, which sailors used on their hair), sabre (a curved sword), livid (pale and bluish), capstan bars (poles that sailors push while singing to wind up a ship's anchor), handspike (a wooden bar used as a lever on ships), connoisseur (an expert judge of fine food or drink), sittyated (situated, in the captain's accent), grog-shop (a cheap bar), berth (a place to stay), head (a headland, a cliff that sticks out into the sea), mought (might), threshold (doorstep), before the mast (as a common sailor), mate or skipper (officers who command a ship) and the mail (the mail coach, which also carried passengers). Read the passage aloud while students follow the numbered paragraphs.

   1I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the inn door, his sea-chest following behind him in a hand-barrow--a tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man, his tarry pigtail falling over the shoulder of his soiled blue coat, his hands ragged and scarred, with black, broken nails, and the sabre cut across one cheek, a dirty, livid white. I remember him looking round the cove and whistling to himself as he did so, and then breaking out in that old sea-song that he sang so often afterwards:

   2“Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest--
   Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!”

   3in the high, old tottering voice that seemed to have been tuned and broken at the capstan bars. Then he rapped on the door with a bit of stick like a handspike that he carried, and when my father appeared, called roughly for a glass of rum. This, when it was brought to him, he drank slowly, like a connoisseur, lingering on the taste and still looking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard.

   4“This is a handy cove,” says he at length; “and a pleasant sittyated grog-shop. Much company, mate?”

   5My father told him no, very little company, the more was the pity.

   6“Well, then,” said he, “this is the berth for me. Here you, matey,” he cried to the man who trundled the barrow; “bring up alongside and help up my chest. I’ll stay here a bit,” he continued. “I’m a plain man; rum and bacon and eggs is what I want, and that head up there for to watch ships off. What you mought call me? You mought call me captain. Oh, I see what you’re at--there”; and he threw down three or four gold pieces on the threshold. “You can tell me when I’ve worked through that,” says he, looking as fierce as a commander.

   7And indeed bad as his clothes were and coarsely as he spoke, he had none of the appearance of a man who sailed before the mast, but seemed like a mate or skipper accustomed to be obeyed or to strike. The man who came with the barrow told us the mail had set him down the morning before at the Royal George, that he had inquired what inns there were along the coast, and hearing ours well spoken of, I suppose, and described as lonely, had chosen it from the others for his place of residence. And that was all we could learn of our guest.

   • Explicit: choose the strongest of three

     Claim: the captain chose the Admiral Benbow because it was lonely. Which of three possible pieces supports this best?

     Result: Weak: "This is a handy cove" (paragraph 4) is about the place, not about how lonely it is. Stronger: he asks "Much company, mate?" (paragraph 4), hears there is "very little company" (paragraph 5), and answers "this is the berth for me" (paragraph 6), but the reader has to connect the three. Strongest: the barrow man reports that, hearing the inn "described as lonely," the captain "had chosen it from the others" (paragraph 7). It names the reason directly. Jim adds "I suppose," so part of the sentence is his guess, but it is still the only piece that says loneliness decided the choice.

   • Explicit: evidence that answers the other side

     Claim: the captain does not look like an ordinary sailor. His "soiled blue coat" (paragraph 1) seems to say the opposite. What is the strongest evidence?

     Result: The narrator states it outright: "bad as his clothes were and coarsely as he spoke, he had none of the appearance of a man who sailed before the mast, but seemed like a mate or skipper accustomed to be obeyed or to strike" (paragraph 7). This piece is strongest because it speaks to the exact claim and already accounts for the shabby coat, the detail that pointed the other way.

   • Inference: one piece rules out other readings

     Claim: the captain means to keep watch for someone who might come by sea. Which piece supports this inference best?

     Result: "still looking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard" (paragraph 3) is on topic, but a new guest might look around out of plain curiosity. The strongest piece is his own list of wants: "rum and bacon and eggs is what I want, and that head up there for to watch ships off" (paragraph 6). Watching ships is one of only three things he asks for, which is hard to explain as idle interest.

   • Inference: a fact beats a mood

     Claim: the captain has lived a violent life. The song "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest" (paragraph 2) and "the sabre cut across one cheek" (paragraph 1) both seem to fit. Which is stronger?

     Result: The sabre cut is stronger. Anyone can sing a grim song, so the song sets a mood but proves little about the singer. A scar from a sword is a fact about his body that is hard to explain without a fight. "accustomed to be obeyed or to strike" (paragraph 7) makes a good second piece, because it shows he is used to hitting people.

   Claim, candidates, choose, explain. Model the moves with the first example (Diagram 1): write the claim; list two or three candidate quotations; choose the strongest with the four tests; and explain in one sentence why it beats the others. Give two sentence frames: "The strongest evidence that ___ is ___ (paragraph __), because it ___." and "Although ___ (paragraph __) also fits, it is weaker because ___."

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Read the next two paragraphs of chapter I aloud. Words to know: by custom (as a habit), parlour (the inn's sitting room), fog-horn (a loud horn that warns ships in fog), desirous (wanting), put up (stayed the night), a sharer in his alarms (someone who shared his fears), weather-eye open (keep a sharp lookout), fourpenny (a small silver coin worth four pennies), personage (person), diabolical (devilish) and abominable fancies (horrible imaginings).

   1He was a very silent man by custom. All day he hung round the cove or upon the cliffs with a brass telescope; all evening he sat in a corner of the parlour next the fire and drank rum and water very strong. Mostly he would not speak when spoken to, only look up sudden and fierce and blow through his nose like a fog-horn; and we and the people who came about our house soon learned to let him be. Every day when he came back from his stroll he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along the road. At first we thought it was the want of company of his own kind that made him ask this question, but at last we began to see he was desirous to avoid them. When a seaman did put up at the Admiral Benbow (as now and then some did, making by the coast road for Bristol) he would look in at him through the curtained door before he entered the parlour; and he was always sure to be as silent as a mouse when any such was present. For me, at least, there was no secret about the matter, for I was, in a way, a sharer in his alarms. He had taken me aside one day and promised me a silver fourpenny on the first of every month if I would only keep my “weather-eye open for a seafaring man with one leg” and let him know the moment he appeared. Often enough when the first of the month came round and I applied to him for my wage, he would only blow through his nose at me and stare me down, but before the week was out he was sure to think better of it, bring me my four-penny piece, and repeat his orders to look out for “the seafaring man with one leg.”

   2How that personage haunted my dreams, I need scarcely tell you. On stormy nights, when the wind shook the four corners of the house and the surf roared along the cove and up the cliffs, I would see him in a thousand forms, and with a thousand diabolical expressions. Now the leg would be cut off at the knee, now at the hip; now he was a monstrous kind of a creature who had never had but the one leg, and that in the middle of his body. To see him leap and run and pursue me over hedge and ditch was the worst of nightmares. And altogether I paid pretty dear for my monthly fourpenny piece, in the shape of these abominable fancies.

   Write this claim on the board: The captain is hiding from one particular man. Pairs look at three candidates from paragraph 1 and test each one:

   1. "Every day when he came back from his stroll he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along the road." (paragraph 1). Teacher note: on topic and specific, but it can be read two ways. The text itself says the family first thought "it was the want of company of his own kind" that made him ask. Alone, it is weak.
   2. "at last we began to see he was desirous to avoid them" (paragraph 1). Teacher note: stronger. It rules out the wish for company. But it is a general conclusion about seamen as a group, not about one man.
   3. "keep my 'weather-eye open for a seafaring man with one leg' and let him know the moment he appeared" (paragraph 1). Teacher note: strongest. It names one man, and the captain pays Jim every month to warn him. It passes all four tests in Diagram 2.

   Show Diagram 2 and fill it in together. Point out that the weakest piece was not wrong: it becomes useful once the stronger piece explains it. Each pair writes a three-sentence answer: the claim, the strongest piece with its paragraph number, and one sentence on why it beats the first candidate.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read a scene from chapter VIII on their own, in two parts. What has happened since chapter I: the captain died, and in his sea-chest Jim found a map of an island where the pirate Captain Flint buried his treasure. Squire Trelawney (a wealthy country gentleman) has bought a ship in the port of Bristol and hired a one-legged tavern keeper, Long John Silver, as the ship's cook. Before the captain died, two of his old shipmates came to the inn looking for him: Black Dog, and a blind man named Pew. Jim now carries a note from the squire to Silver's tavern, the Spy-glass. In the lines left out of the second part, Morgan says that he and Black Dog were talking of keel-hauling (a cruel old punishment in which a sailor was dragged under a ship). Paragraph numbers restart in each part.

   Words to know: dexterity (skill), buccaneer (pirate), landlord (the owner of a tavern), start (a sudden jump of surprise), cabin-boy (a boy who works as a servant on a ship), tallow-faced (pale, like candle wax), wanting (missing), score (a bill for drinks), two coppers (two pennies, almost nothing), Admiral Hawke (a famous British admiral), relinquishing (letting go of), swabs (a sailors' insult: worthless fellows), mahogany-faced (with dark, weathered skin), sheepishly (with embarrassment), quid (a lump of chewing tobacco), clapped your eyes on (seen), confidential (private, secret), shark (here, a greedy, dangerous man), Old Bailey judge (a judge in London's main criminal court), Bow Street runner (an early London police officer), narrowly (closely) and gone bail for (put up money to promise that someone is innocent).

   1The customers were mostly seafaring men, and they talked so loudly that I hung at the door, almost afraid to enter.

   2As I was waiting, a man came out of a side room, and at a glance I was sure he must be Long John. His left leg was cut off close by the hip, and under the left shoulder he carried a crutch, which he managed with wonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it like a bird. He was very tall and strong, with a face as big as a ham--plain and pale, but intelligent and smiling. Indeed, he seemed in the most cheerful spirits, whistling as he moved about among the tables, with a merry word or a slap on the shoulder for the more favoured of his guests.

   3Now, to tell you the truth, from the very first mention of Long John in Squire Trelawney’s letter I had taken a fear in my mind that he might prove to be the very one-legged sailor whom I had watched for so long at the old Benbow. But one look at the man before me was enough. I had seen the captain, and Black Dog, and the blind man, Pew, and I thought I knew what a buccaneer was like--a very different creature, according to me, from this clean and pleasant-tempered landlord.

   4I plucked up courage at once, crossed the threshold, and walked right up to the man where he stood, propped on his crutch, talking to a customer.

   5“Mr. Silver, sir?” I asked, holding out the note.

   6“Yes, my lad,” said he; “such is my name, to be sure. And who may you be?” And then as he saw the squire’s letter, he seemed to me to give something almost like a start.

   7“Oh!” said he, quite loud, and offering his hand. “I see. You are our new cabin-boy; pleased I am to see you.”

   8And he took my hand in his large firm grasp.

   9Just then one of the customers at the far side rose suddenly and made for the door. It was close by him, and he was out in the street in a moment. But his hurry had attracted my notice, and I recognized him at glance. It was the tallow-faced man, wanting two fingers, who had come first to the Admiral Benbow.

   10“Oh,” I cried, “stop him! It’s Black Dog!”

   11“I don’t care two coppers who he is,” cried Silver. “But he hasn’t paid his score. Harry, run and catch him.”

   12One of the others who was nearest the door leaped up and started in pursuit.

   1“If he were Admiral Hawke he shall pay his score,” cried Silver; and then, relinquishing my hand, “Who did you say he was?” he asked. “Black what?”

   2“Dog, sir,” said I. “Has Mr. Trelawney not told you of the buccaneers? He was one of them.”

   3“So?” cried Silver. “In my house! Ben, run and help Harry. One of those swabs, was he? Was that you drinking with him, Morgan? Step up here.”

   4The man whom he called Morgan--an old, grey-haired, mahogany-faced sailor--came forward pretty sheepishly, rolling his quid.

   5“Now, Morgan,” said Long John very sternly, “you never clapped your eyes on that Black--Black Dog before, did you, now?”

   6“Not I, sir,” said Morgan with a salute.

   7“You didn’t know his name, did you?”

   8“No, sir.”

   [...]

   9And then, as Morgan rolled back to his seat, Silver added to me in a confidential whisper that was very flattering, as I thought, “He’s quite an honest man, Tom Morgan, on’y stupid. And now,” he ran on again, aloud, “let’s see--Black Dog? No, I don’t know the name, not I. Yet I kind of think I’ve--yes, I’ve seen the swab. He used to come here with a blind beggar, he used.”

   10“That he did, you may be sure,” said I. “I knew that blind man too. His name was Pew.”

   11“It was!” cried Silver, now quite excited. “Pew! That were his name for certain. Ah, he looked a shark, he did! If we run down this Black Dog, now, there’ll be news for Cap’n Trelawney! Ben’s a good runner; few seamen run better than Ben. He should run him down, hand over hand, by the powers! He talked o’ keel-hauling, did he? I’LL keel-haul him!”

   12All the time he was jerking out these phrases he was stumping up and down the tavern on his crutch, slapping tables with his hand, and giving such a show of excitement as would have convinced an Old Bailey judge or a Bow Street runner. My suspicions had been thoroughly reawakened on finding Black Dog at the Spy-glass, and I watched the cook narrowly. But he was too deep, and too ready, and too clever for me, and by the time the two men had come back out of breath and confessed that they had lost the track in a crowd, and been scolded like thieves, I would have gone bail for the innocence of Long John Silver.

   On the handout, students (1) write one explicit claim about each part and the single quotation that supports it best; (2) write one inference about Silver, list three candidate quotations from either part, rank them, and explain in two sentences why the top one is strongest; (3) write one inference about Jim and name one piece of evidence that seems to fit but is weaker, with the reason. The quiz uses both parts of the scene and the first chapter I passage.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) In one sentence, explain the difference between evidence that is related to a claim and evidence that most strongly supports it. (2) Write one claim about Silver from the Spy-glass scene and the single strongest quotation for it, with part and paragraph number.

   Teacher note on language: Stevenson wrote in 1883 about sailors of the 1700s. Characters drink rum, trade insults such as "swabs," and talk of hanging, keel-hauling and killing; in chapter XI Jim says he would have "killed him through the barrel." Present these as part of a pirate adventure set long ago. The spellings that show accents, such as "sittyated," "mought," "on'y" and "'Tain't," are Stevenson's and are kept exactly. The second chapter VIII passage and the chapter XI passage are shortened for length; each cut is marked [...] and described in the source note under the passage.

   For homework: students read a passage from chapter XI, printed below. The ship, the Hispaniola, is now at sea on its way to the island, with Silver as cook. One evening Jim climbs into the apple barrel on deck to get an apple and, hidden inside, hears Silver talking to a young sailor. In chapter VIII, in a speech not printed on this page, Silver had told Jim that he was "as smart as paint." Words to know: 'Tain't (it isn't), you may lay to it (you can bet on it), smart as paint (very clever), abominable (hateful), rogue (a dishonest man), swinging (being hanged), fighting-cocks (roosters raised for fighting, fed well), farthings (coins worth a quarter of a penny), a good fling (a wild time), by reason of suspicion (so as not to be suspected), set up gentleman (live as a rich man), figurehead (a carved figure on the front of a ship; here, a fine example), hands (sailors) and corruption (turning an honest person dishonest).

   1“Well, it ain’t much use, after all,” said the young seaman.

   2“’Tain’t much use for fools, you may lay to it--that, nor nothing,” cried Silver. “But now, you look here: you’re young, you are, but you’re as smart as paint. I see that when I set my eyes on you, and I’ll talk to you like a man.”

   3You may imagine how I felt when I heard this abominable old rogue addressing another in the very same words of flattery as he had used to myself. I think, if I had been able, that I would have killed him through the barrel. Meantime, he ran on, little supposing he was overheard.

   4“Here it is about gentlemen of fortune. They lives rough, and they risk swinging, but they eat and drink like fighting-cocks, and when a cruise is done, why, it’s hundreds of pounds instead of hundreds of farthings in their pockets. Now, the most goes for rum and a good fling, and to sea again in their shirts. But that’s not the course I lay. I puts it all away, some here, some there, and none too much anywheres, by reason of suspicion. I’m fifty, mark you; once back from this cruise, I set up gentleman in earnest. Time enough too, says you. Ah, but I’ve lived easy in the meantime, never denied myself o’ nothing heart desires, and slep’ soft and ate dainty all my days but when at sea. And how did I begin? Before the mast, like you!”

   [...]

   5“Well, I tell you now,” replied the lad, “I didn’t half a quarter like the job till I had this talk with you, John; but there’s my hand on it now.”

   6“And a brave lad you were, and smart too,” answered Silver, shaking hands so heartily that all the barrel shook, “and a finer figurehead for a gentleman of fortune I never clapped my eyes on.”

   7By this time I had begun to understand the meaning of their terms. By a “gentleman of fortune” they plainly meant neither more nor less than a common pirate, and the little scene that I had overheard was the last act in the corruption of one of the honest hands--perhaps of the last one left aboard. But on this point I was soon to be relieved, for Silver giving a little whistle, a third man strolled up and sat down by the party.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   RL.8.1 asks for the evidence that most strongly supports an analysis. What makes one quotation stronger than another?

   AIt is the longest quotation you can find on the same topic BIt speaks to the exact claim and is hard to explain another way CIt comes from the first paragraph, where the story sets things up DIt uses the most vivid words, even if it is about another point

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In the first part of the Spy-glass scene, how does Jim recognize the customer who hurries out of the tavern?

   AThe man is wearing the captain's soiled blue coat BThe man has a crutch and a wooden leg like Silver CThe man is pale and is missing two fingers DThe man is singing the song about the dead man's chest

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Claim: Silver is friendly with his customers. Which quotation from the first part supports this claim most strongly?

   A"a merry word or a slap on the shoulder for the more favoured of his guests" (paragraph 2) B"which he managed with wonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it like a bird" (paragraph 2) C"with a face as big as a ham--plain and pale, but intelligent and smiling" (paragraph 2) D"The customers were mostly seafaring men" (paragraph 1)

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What reason does Silver give for sending Harry after the man who ran out?

   AThe man is a buccaneer who once came to the Admiral Benbow BJim has asked him to stop the man and bring him back CThe man has stolen money from the tavern's counter DThe man has left without paying for what he drank

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   When Silver sees the squire's letter, Jim says "he seemed to me to give something almost like a start" (first part, paragraph 6). What does this detail most likely suggest?

   ASilver cannot read and is embarrassed to be handed a letter BSeeing the squire's letter surprises Silver, though he hides it quickly CSilver is angry that the squire has sent a boy instead of a man DSilver has hurt his leg on the crutch and flinches in pain

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Silver's first words after Jim cries "It's Black Dog!" are "I don't care two coppers who he is" (first part, paragraph 11). Why might a careful reader find this suspicious?

   AHe waves away the man's name, the thing that alarms Jim, and talks only of the bill BHe admits that he and Black Dog are old shipmates who sailed together CHe refuses to send anyone after the man, so Black Dog gets away DHe is rude to Jim in front of the customers, which shows he dislikes him

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does Silver call Jim once he has seen the squire's letter?

   AThe squire's young nephew BA smart young seaman COur new cabin-boy DThe boy from the Admiral Benbow

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In the second part, Silver asks Morgan, "You didn't know his name, did you?" (paragraph 7). What is Morgan's answer?

   AHe says he knew the name once but has forgotten it BHe says Black Dog is a friend from his old ship CHe says they were only talking of keel-hauling DHe answers simply, "No, sir."

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which quotation from the second part most strongly supports the inference that Silver knows more about Black Dog than he admits?

   A"Yet I kind of think I've--yes, I've seen the swab. He used to come here with a blind beggar" (paragraph 9) B"So?" cried Silver. "In my house! Ben, run and help Harry. One of those swabs, was he?" (paragraph 3) C"If we run down this Black Dog, now, there'll be news for Cap'n Trelawney!" (paragraph 11) D"Dog, sir," said I. "Has Mr. Trelawney not told you of the buccaneers? He was one of them." (paragraph 2)

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Silver asks Morgan, "you never clapped your eyes on that Black--Black Dog before, did you, now?" (paragraph 5) and "You didn't know his name, did you?" (paragraph 7). What does the way these questions are worded suggest?

    ASilver is confused and cannot remember what Jim told him BSilver truly wants Morgan to tell everything he knows CSilver is telling Morgan what answer to give in front of Jim DMorgan is Silver's boss, so Silver has to speak politely

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Jim says Silver gave "such a show of excitement as would have convinced an Old Bailey judge or a Bow Street runner" (second part, paragraph 12). What does the word "show" suggest?

    ASilver is putting on a play to entertain his paying customers BSilver's excitement may be an act put on to look innocent CSilver is showing Jim the way back to the squire's inn DSilver is too excited to think clearly about Black Dog

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    By the end of the second part, what does young Jim believe about Silver?

    ASilver is the one-legged sailor the captain feared BSilver let Black Dog escape from the tavern on purpose CSilver is lying to protect his friend Tom Morgan DSilver is innocent, and Jim would stand up for him

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    The older Jim is telling this story years later. Which quotation most strongly suggests that he now knows Silver fooled him?

    A"My suspicions had been thoroughly reawakened on finding Black Dog at the Spy-glass" (paragraph 12) B"I watched the cook narrowly" (paragraph 12) C"But he was too deep, and too ready, and too clever for me" (paragraph 12) D"the two men had come back out of breath and confessed that they had lost the track in a crowd" (paragraph 12)

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    What happens when the two men who chased Black Dog come back to the Spy-glass?

    AThey say they lost the man in a crowd, and Silver scolds them BThey bring Black Dog back, and he pays what he owes CThey report that Black Dog ran toward the Admiral Benbow DThey tell Silver that the man's real name is Pew

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Jim says Silver spoke to him "in a confidential whisper that was very flattering, as I thought" (second part, paragraph 9). What do the words "as I thought" suggest? Explain why this small phrase is strong evidence.

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16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Silver whispers that Morgan is "quite an honest man, Tom Morgan, on'y stupid" (second part, paragraph 9). Is Silver's statement good evidence that Morgan is honest? Explain, and cite one other piece of evidence from the passage.

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17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Why does Jim wait at the door before he goes into the Spy-glass? Quote the strongest evidence, then quote the sentence that shows when he finally goes in.

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18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    In chapter I, the captain drank his rum "slowly, like a connoisseur, lingering on the taste" (first chapter I passage, paragraph 3). A connoisseur is an expert judge of fine food or drink. What might a reader infer from this, and what is the strongest other piece of evidence in that passage for the same inference?

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    By the end of chapter VIII, young Jim is sure Silver is innocent. Choose the two things Silver says or does that you think did the most to convince him, quote them, and explain why each one worked.

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    How good a judge of people is young Jim in the Spy-glass scene? Write 4-6 sentences with a claim, the two strongest pieces of evidence from different paragraphs or parts, and one piece you considered but rejected, with the reason.

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These standards connect to RL.8.1: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.