Unpacking
The
MME/ACT Writing
Shiawassee Regional Education Service District
MME/ACT Writing –Format of the Test
Unpacking the MME/ACT Writing: Making the Directions Work for You
Focus Question:
Unpacking the MME/ACT Writing
How is the MME/ACT Writing similar to what I have done before?
Connection: In the past you have taken the MEAP ELA writing where you were given a
prompt and asked to write about it. Some of the things you wrote about may have been
like a time you helped someone, or learned a lesson or faced a challenge. With the
MME/ACT Writing, you will also be given a prompt but there will be some new things
about it that may be unfamiliar to you.
Instruction: One of the first things to do when you are faced with the MME/ACT
Writing is to use the Directions to help you plan your writing. Directions can be very
helpful to us when we take the MME/ACT Writing. First we need to find out exactly
what they want us to do. Then they give us key information about how we are supposed
to do the task-things like how long the paper is supposed to be , what topic it is supposed
to be about, whether we can use pencil or pen or lined or unlined paper.
Instruction: It is always helpful to generate a list of questions we have about the
MME/ACT Writing before we begin reading and using the Directions. It is important to
have this list of questions before we begin reading so we know what we are looking for
as we read. Let me show you want I mean. One of the things I always want to know is
who is my audience. Let’s talk about some of the questions we might want answers for
as we read the Directions for the MME/ACT Writing before we begin writing ourselves.
Active Engagement: Turn and Talk to your partner about what questions you have
about the MME/ACT Format.
Share: Using a T-chart, and after students have brainstormed in teams, generate a class
list of questions they have about Format. (Some of the questions may be about audience,
requirements, support, time, scoring)
Questions I have……
Information from the Directions……
Instruction: Let’s look at the Directions and let me show you some strategies I use to
make sense of the Directions and let them work for me. This is how I underline,
highlight or number key information in the Directions that can be helpful. Show students
how you underline, highlight and number key information in the Directions.
Active Engagement: With your partner, read the Directions together and underline,
highlight, number or circle key information.
Share: As a group, have students complete the right side of the T-chart with the answers
they found in the Directions. Include in the chart, those answers they may not have had
questions for, as well as those questions that remain unanswered. Include in the chart
those answers that were provided for which no questions were generated.
MME/ACT Writing Rubric and Expectations
Connection: Think about a time in your classroom for a moment and write about a time
in the next two weeks when you are going to ask your students to express their point of
view in writing about a topic and to support that point of view with evidence, data or
examples from what they have learned in your class. What question do you plan to ask
and what evidence, data or details will you expect to see in their writing?
Return to what you wrote earlier in this session and using it as well as your text,
classroom materials, plan book, and lesson plans for the next 2 weeks use it during this
session.
Instruction: You are going to identify the expectations the MME Writing will have for
your students. With a partner, underline and highlight key ideas from:
6 point rubric
2 social studies rubrics-What is the difference in expectations from the 9th grade
to the 11th grade rubric?
ACT Directions
Let me demonstrate for you what I mean. Provide an example by going over the
expectations for a score of 6 on the writing. Underline and highlight key words and
phrases.
Identify and list exactly what students will be expected to do.
What vocabulary will they need for the ACT Writing
MME Writing
Expectations/Vocabulary
Expectations of the
6 Point ELA
Rubric
Expectations of
the 5 Point
Social Studies
Expectations
of the 4
Point Social
Studies
Active Engagement: With a partner list those expectations and identify the vocabulary
you think students will have difficulty with.
Share: Have all the partners share and as a group, complete the chart together.
Instruction: In order for students to be successful on the MME Writing, they need to
have lots of practice. One way to do that is to have them write often and in as many
classes as possible. If they are expected to support a point of view in your class, they will
be better prepared when they have to perform in the real test situation when they take the
MME. Here is an example from 3 content area classes where students were asked to
answer a question by supporting their point of view
on an issue.
Subject
Biology
Social
Studies
Math
Topic
Reproduction
and Meiosis
Issue
Federal
Funding of
Stem Cell
Research
US Constitution
Restrictions
Individual Rights on Web
Sites
Graphs/Functions Home
Values
Question
See sample
Position 1
Position 2
See sample
See sample
This is what students were reading on each of those topics and issues. Provide samples of
what students are reading on these topics.
Active Engagement: With a partner who does not teach your subject, identify two
positions on one of the subjects listed above. Use the prompt to help you complete the
chart.
Share: Have partners share and complete the chart together as a group.
Connection: Going back to the writing you did earlier, and using the materials you
brought with you, you are going to put together a plan for having students write about
what they have learned in your classroom, stating their position and supporting it with
evidence or data from what they have learned in your classroom.
Instruction: Thinking of what you are planning to teach in the next two weeks, identify
the subject, topic, issue, prompt, and two positions for the writing you will ask your
students to do.
Active Engagement: With a partner decide what subject, topic, issue, prompt and
position you will use in the lesson.
Share: Have partners share what writing will be taking place in the school in the next
two weeks. Add to the group chart with the additions from the partners.
Venn Diagram for Comparing Rubrics
5 Point Studies
Studies
MME/ ACT
6 Point ELA
Shiawassee Regional Education Service District
MME/ACT Writing-Content of the Test
Identifying an Issue and Taking
a Position-Unpacking the Prompt
Connection: Previously we learned that sometimes Directions answer all or most of our
questions and sometimes they don’t. They may give us information that we had not even asked.
Yesterday, we had some questions that were still not answered by the Directions. Today, we are
going to look at the prompt itself to see if it gives us some of the information we need. We will
need to find out what we are expected to write about.
Instruction: In the past when we wrote for the ELA MEAP, we wrote to a prompt that asked us
to write about things like when we solved a problem, faced a challenge or learned a lesson. Now
that we have looked at the MME/ACT Writing Directions, to answer some of our questions about
Format, now we need to look at the prompt to see what Content we are expected to write about.
As we read the prompt, one thing that stands out is that every ACT prompt presents an issue and
gives two different positions on the issue. We are expected to take a position and provide support
on one of the positions. Let me show you what I mean. Let me read the prompt and circle,
underline and highlight key information. I will also highlight and label the issue. Now let me
show you what two different positions on that issue look like.
Issue: Extend high school to five years
Position One: Students need more time
To achieve all that is expected of them
Position Two: Students will lose interest in
school
Attendance will drop in the fifth year
Issue:
Position One:
Position Two:
Active Engagement: With your partner and a different prompt, identify the issue and the two
positions.
Share: Have students share issues and positions from their prompt.
Taking a Position on an Issue and Supporting
it with Data
Connection: Previously, we looked at MME/ACT prompts and discovered how to locate
issues and positions in prompts. Today, we are going to look at how to take a position on
an issue and to support it. Taking a position is also called making a Claim and
supporting it is called using Data for support. Think of it in terms of the What and the
Why. This is what I believe and this is why I believe this way. Here is an example: I
love the color blue because it is the color of the sky and the ocean and it makes me feel
calm and peaceful.
Active Engagement: With your partner and your prompt from yesterday, think of what
you believe about the issue (Claim)and why you would want to make that claim or take
that position. What Data will you use to support your claim? As I said earlier here is the
example of a claim I am making on the issue of a favorite color. Notice that from my
position, blue is my favorite color and the Data below my position shows my reasons for
blue being my favorite color. However, from someone else’s position, this might not be
the case. While blue might be my favorite color, it might be someone else’s least favorite
color.
Issue: Favorite Color
Position One: Blue is my favorite color
It is the color of the ocean
It is the color of the sky
It makes me feel calm
It makes me feel peaceful
Position Two:
Issue:
Position One:
Position Two:
Share: Have students share the issues for which they made claims, what positions they
took and what data they used for support. Let them know they can use any of the ACT
prompts provided.
Developing a Rebuttal
Connection: Previously we began looking at the MME/ ACT Prompt and taking a
position/making a claim on an issue and providing data to support that position. Today,
we are going to look at that same issue from a different position. By acknowledging
counter arguments or positions that differ from our own, we make our own arguments
stronger.
Instruction: On the MME/ACT Writing you will be expected to see an issue not only
from your own position but also from the opposing position. This is called Rebuttal.
When we use rebuttal in our writing to recognize the position of the issue of someone
else, we make our own arguments stronger. Before you begin including a Rebuttal in
your writing, you will want to think of the other position or claim and the reasons for that
position (data) Let me show you how someone else thinking about the color blue might
have an entirely opposite position and the reasons they would think that way.
Issue: Favorite Color
Position One: Blue is my favorite color
It is the color of the ocean
It is the color of the sky
It makes me feel calm
It makes me feel peaceful
Position Two: Blue is my least favorite
color
It is the color of night
It is the color of sorrow
It makes me feel depressed
It makes me feel sad and blue
Active Engagement: Using the Issue and position chart used before , have partners
complete the Rebuttal for the prompt each selected. Have them Turn and Talk about the
issues and positions they selected.
Issue:
Position One:
Position Two:
Share: Complete a class issues and positions chart together
Using a Graphic
Organizer to Plan MME/ACT Writing
Connection: Previously, we looked at an issue from a different position Today, you are
going to create a graphic organizer for developing an MME/ACT persuasive essay.
Instruction: On the MME/ACT Writing test you will be expected to answer a question
by supporting your position on an issue. You will also be expected to provide one reason
that acknowledges an argument from the opposing position and refutes that argument.
Using the information below, let me show you how to use a graphic organizer for
developing an ACT persuasive essay.
Active Engagement: Using the information on a different issue, with a partner
complete a graphic organizer to help you plan your essay on this issue.
Subject: Algebra
Issue: Data Representation
Position 1:
Position 2:
My position:
In my opinion
My reasons:
1.
2.
3.
My rebuttal:
I can also see why others would think
because
ACT
Content Area
Prompts
Shiawassee Regional Education Service District
Social Studies Prompt
ACT Assessment Writing Test Prompt
Federal and state agencies are working together to prohibit young people from putting up
too much information about themselves on internet web sites such as Myspace.com.
Some people believe this is an infringement of individual rights as guaranteed by the US
Constitution while others believe this is necessary to protect children who use the
Internet. In your opinion should the federal government place restrictions on web sites
such as Myspace.com?
In your essay, take a position on this question. You may write about either one of the two
points of view given, or you may present a different point of view on this question. Use
specific reasons and examples to support your position.
Biology Prompt
ACT Assessment Writing Test Prompt
A debate has been developing in the United States over the issue of federal funding of
stem cell research. While some believe government funding of stem cell research is
beneficial for the treatment of disease, others oppose the use of federal funds to finance
stem cell research for moral and ethical reasons. In your opinion, should federal funds be
used to support stem cell research?
In your essay, take a position on this question. You may write about either one of the two
points of view given, or you may present a different point of view on this question. Use
specific reasons and examples to support your position.