Assessments for Horses CCR Question # 2: How does
the author say it?
Directions: Write a craft analysis for the following passage. You may use the Mining Chart for
Informational Writing.
Simon, Seymour. Horses. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. Used by permission of
HarperCollins.
Horses move in four natural ways, called gaits or paces. They walk, trot, canter, and
gallop. The walk is the slowest gait and the gallop is the fastest.
When a horse walks, each hoof leaves the ground at a different time. It moves one hind
leg first, and then the front leg on the same side; then the other hind leg and the other
front leg. When a horse walks, its body swings gently with each stride.
When a horse trots, its legs move in pairs, left front leg with right hind leg, and right front
leg with left hind leg. When a horse canters, the hind legs and one front leg move
together, and then the hind legs and the other foreleg move together.
The gallop is like a much faster walk, where each hoof hits the ground one after another.
When a horse gallops, all four of its hooves may be flying off the ground at the same
time.
Horses are usually described by their coat colors and by the white markings on their
faces, bodies, legs, and hooves.
Brown horses range in color from dark brown bays and chestnuts to golden browns, such
as palominos, and lighter browns such as roans and duns.
Partly colored horses are called pintos or paints. Colorless, pure-white horses—albinos—
are rare. Most horses that look white are actually gray.
Skewbalds have brown-and-white patches. Piebalds have black and white patches.
Spotteds have dark spots on a white coat or white spots on a dark coat.
Mining Informational Text for Author’s Craft: “How does the author say it?”
TEXT STRUCTURE
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Genre
On-line article
Essay
Article (Internet,
magazine)
Newspaper
(News, Feature,
Editorial/Op Ed)
Scholarly
Articles(Science
)
Pamphlet
Journal/Diary/L
etter
Memoir/Autobi
ography/
Biography
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Organization
Thesis with
proof
Comparison/Con
trast
Cause/Effect
Description/enu
meration
Chronological
Point of View
 Date of
publication
 Source(s)
 Expert/nov
ice
 True/misle
ading
 Reliable
Narrator
 Un-reliable
Narrator
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Tone/Mood
Persuasive
Argumentative
Propagandistic
Matter-of-fact/
straightforward
Humorous
Disdainful
Informal/conver
sational
Formal/academi
c
Scholarly
Pessimistic/Opti
mistic
Biased
Text Features
 Title
(Question/sta
tement)
 TOC/index
 Illustrations/p
ictures
 Heads/subhea
ds
 Margin notes
 Font size
 Color
 White space
 Boldface
 Italics
 Parenthesis
 Forward,
Dedication
 Footnotes
 Charts
 Illustrations
 Diagrams
 Appendix
AUTHOR’S CRAFT
Imagery/Figures of Speech
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Simile
Metaphor (extended)
Personification
Alliteration
Onomatopoeia
Allusion
Satire/Parody
Exaggeration/Hyperbole
Irony/Sarcasm
Repetition/Omission
Symbolism
Over-/Understatement
Language: precise, scholarly, scientific, literary,
Oxymoron
Writing Techniques
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Catch lead (question)
Show-not-tell
Use of statistics
Professional/scientific vocabulary/domainspecific/nomenclature (i.e. Latin and Greek)
also foreign words
Technical vocabulary
Quoting experts, citing books, articles,
journals
Precise/detailed examples in proof
Examples chosen for audience appeal/interest
Explanation, description, definition, step-bystep how-to
Varying sentence length
Word Choice
Punctuation for effect (ellipses, parenthesis,
exclamation points, boldface, italics)
Rubric: Craft
Correlated with the Common Core Reading Anchor Standards K-12
CC Anchor
3 Complete
2 Partial
1 Minimal
3. Analyze how and
why individuals, events,
and ideas develop and
interact over the
course of a text.
Reading Anchor 3
Response expertly analyzes
in detail where, when, why,
and how events, ideas, and
characters develop and
interact. (Literature)
Reading Anchor 4
Response expertly:
 interprets words and
phrases as they are used
in a text (technical,
connotative, and
figurative) and
 explains clearly how
specific word choices
shape meaning or tone.
(Craft)
Reading Anchor 3
Response analyzes in some
detail where, when, why, and
how events, ideas, and
characters develop and
interact. (Literature)
Reading Anchor 4
Response:
 interprets some words
and phrases as they are
used in a text (technical,
connotative, and
figurative) and
 partially explains how
specific word choices
shape meaning or tone.
(Craft)
Reading Anchor 3
Response analyzes with little
detail where, when, why,
and how events, ideas, and
characters develop and
interact. (Literature)
Reading Anchor 4
Response:
 interprets few words
and phrases (technical,
connotative, and
figurative) and
 explains unclearly or
incompletely how
specific word choices
shape meaning or tone.
(Craft)
5. Analyze the structure
of texts, including how
specific sentences,
paragraphs, and larger
portions of the text
(e.g., a section,
chapter, scene, or
stanza) relate to each
other and the whole.
6. Assess how point of
view or purpose shapes
the content and style of
a text.
Reading Anchor 5
Response expertly: analyzes
the structure/organization of
text (how specific sentences,
paragraphs, etc. relate to
each other and the whole.)
(Structure)
Reading Anchor 5
Response includes some
analysis of the structure/
organization of the text.
(Structure)
Reading Anchor 5
Response includes little
analysis of the structure of
the text. (Structure)
Reading Anchor 6
Response expertly assesses
how point of view or
purpose shapes the content
and style of a text.
Reading Anchor 6
Response does some
assessment of how point of
view or purpose shapes the
content and style of a text.
Reading Anchor 6
Response does little
assessment of how point of
view or purpose shapes the
content and style of a text.
5. Demonstrate
understanding of word
relationships and
nuances in word
meanings.
Language Anchor 5
Response demonstrates a
clear understanding of word
relationships and nuances in
word meanings.
Language Anchor 5
Response demonstrates a
mainly clear understanding of
word relationships and
nuances in word meanings.
Language Anchor 5
Response demonstrates
little understanding of word
relationships and nuances in
word meanings.
4. Interpret words and
phrases as they are
used in a text, including
determining technical,
connotative, and
figurative meanings,
and analyze how
specific word choices
shape meaning or tone.
Craft Analysis: How does the author say it? This informational science article is organized
by contrast. The tone is straightforward and the information is presented almost in list format.
Score
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__/3
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__/3
Total
__/15
The author is identified revealing that he is a well-respected writer of high-quality informational
books for children. The title identifies the topic. The author gives definitions in context and
specific descriptions of the horses’ gaits or paces. The author also includes domain-specific
vocabulary such as gait (walk, trot, canter, gallop), and names given to horses such as
palominos, skewbald, piebald, and spotted. (Words in boldface refer to author’s craft, structure,
and perspective.)