English 5: Pre-Assessment
Name: _________________________________________
Date: ___________________ Period: ______
PART I: Read and annotate (mark-it up!) Janice Mirikitani‟s “Suicide Note,” then answer the following
questions. This is your time to show your best active reading strategies.
“Suicide Note” Janice Mirikitani
How may notes written…
ink smeared like birdprints in snow.
not good enough not pretty enough not smart
enough
dear mother and father
I apologize
for disappointing you.
I‟ve worked very hard,
not good enough
harder, perhaps to please you.
If only I were a son, shoulders broad
as the sunset threading through pine,
I would see the light in my mother‟s
eyes, or the golden pride reflected in my father‟s
dream
of my wide, male hands worthy of work
and comfort.
I would swagger through life
muscled and bold and assured,
drawing praises to me like currents in the bed of
wind, virile
with confidence
not good enough not strong enough not good
enough
I apologize.
Tasks do not come easily.
Each failure, a glacier.
Each disapproval, a bootprint.
Each disappointment,
ice above my river.
So I have worked hard.
not good enough.
Johnston//Wescott-Sherman English 5: Pre-Assessment 9/26/2011
My sacrifice I will drop
bone by bone, perched
on the ledge of my womanhood,
fragile as wings.
not strong enough
It is snowing steadily
surely not good weather
for flying – this sparrow
sillied and dizzied by the wind
on the edge.
not smart enough.
I make this ledge my altar
to offer penance.
This air will not hold me,
the snow burdens my crippled wings,
my tears drop like bitter cloth
softly into the gutter below.
not good enough not strong enough not smart
enough.
Choices thin as shaved
ice. Notes shredded
drift like snow
on my broken body,
covers me like whispers
of sorries.
Perhaps when they find me
they will bury
my bird bones beneath
a sturdy pine
and scatter my feathers like
unspoken song
over this white and cold and silent
breast of earth.
1. What is the overall theme of Mirikitani‟s text? Explain and provide specific evidence (quotes).
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
2. Who is the speaker in Mirikitani‟s poem? Support with evidence (quotes) from the text.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
3. What occasion prompted Mirikitan‟s poem? Support with evidence (quotes) from the text.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
4. Who is the audience for Mirikitan‟s poem? Support with evidence (quotes) from the text.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
5. What is the purpose of the poem? Support with evidence (quotes) from the text.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
PART II: Use the underlined sections of the quotes to identify the conventions (grammar and
punctuation) being used.
1. Abraham Lincoln said: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth … a new
nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
a. gerund
c. comma
b. ellipses
Johnston//Wescott-Sherman English 5: Pre-Assessment 9/26/2011
d. hyphen
2. In the popular song, “How Many Miles Must We March,” Ben Harper challenges his audience
with: “Exactly how much will have to burn / Before we will look to the past to learn / We walk
along this endless path / Which has led us in a circle / So here we are right back / We cant let
the future become our past / If we are to change the world” (1-7).
a. apostrophe
c. line break
b. coordinating conjunction
d. appositive
Part III: First, read and annotate the two texts. Then, use the Venn Diagram provided to compare and
contrast the ideas presented in Lee Greenwood‟s “God Bless the U.S.A.” and Tupac‟s “Panther
Power.” YOU MUST HAVE AT LEAST 4-6 IDEAS REPRESENTED IN EACH
AREA OF THE DIAGRAM, WITH SPECIFIC EVIDENCE/QUOTES TO
SUPPORT.
“God Bless the USA” Lee Greenwood
You've Got A Good Love Comin', 1984
“Panther Power”
If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I‟d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my children and my wife.
I‟d thank my lucky stars,
to be livin‟ here today.
Panther powr from the place that resides within
„Cause the flag still stands for freedom,
and they can‟t take that away.
And I‟m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I‟m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
„Cause there ain‟t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.
Johnston//Wescott-Sherman English 5: Pre-Assessment 9/26/2011
2Pac
Tupac: Resurrection, 2003
Go to for to with a panther and you just cant win
Self proclaimed best supress the rest
The rich get richer and the poor take less
The american dream was the american nightmare
You kept my people down and refused to fight
fair
The ku klux klan tried to keep us out
With signs that state no blacks allowed
With intimidation and segregation
Once would wait for our freedom
But now were impatient
Blacks they others they yell sell out
Freedom equality get out yell out
Dont eva be ashamed of what you are
Its your panther power that makes you a star
Panther power
Johnston//Wescott-Sherman English 5: Pre-Assessment 9/26/2011
Student Name:_____________________________________________
Question
Learning
Target/Standard
PART I
Annotations
PART I
1. What is the overall theme
of Mirikitani‟s text? Explain
and provide specific evidence
to support.
Does not meet
Period: ____________
Meets


No annotations.
Paper is blank.


Minimal annotations.
No reader dialogue.
Reading: Literary Text


Identify and/or
summarize sequence of
events, themes, and
supporting details of
literary texts.

Does not identify
a theme.
Identifies theme,
however not
relevant.
No explanation
provided.
Does not
reference text.
Identifies a relevant
theme.
Explains/justifies the
theme.
Makes adequate
references to the text.



PART I
2. Use the Literary/Rhetorical
Terms Bank to identify at
least 3 literary/rhetorical
devices Mirikitani uses in the
text. Include how the device is
used in the text.
PART II
1. Abraham Lincoln said:
“Four score and seven years
ago our fathers brought forth
… a new nation, conceived in
liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are
created equal.”
PART II
2. In the popular song, “How
Many Miles Must We March,”
Ben Harper challenges his
audience with: “Exactly how
much will have to burn /
Before we will look to the past
to learn / We walk along this
endless path / Which has led
us in a circle / So here we are
right back / We cant let the
future become our past / If we
are to change the world.”
PART III
Annotations
Language:

Know and apply gradeappropriate general
academic vocabulary
and domain-specific
words and phrases.
Language:
0 -1 literary/
rhetorical devices
identified and
supported.

Does not identify
proper
punctuation term.
PART III
Use the Venn Diagram
provided to compare and
contrast the ideas presented
in Lee Greenwood‟s “God
Bless the U.S.A.” and Tupac‟s
“Panther Power.”
Compare and evaluate
works that express a
common theme, and/or
share common literary
techniques, elements,
and forms with textual
evidence for support.
Know and apply the
conventions of
capitalization,
punctuation, and
spelling.
Language:

Know and apply the
conventions of
capitalization,
punctuation, and
spelling.


2 literary/rhetorical
devices identified and
supported.
Does not identify
proper
punctuation term.


Minimal annotations.
No reader dialogue.

Does not identify
similarities in the
texts.
Does not identify
differences in the
texts.
Does not identify
a minimum of 4
ideas in EACH

Identifies similarities
in the texts.
Identifies differences
in the texts.
Identifies at least 4
ideas in EACH area.
Johnston//Wescott-Sherman English 5: Pre-Assessment 9/26/2011





Evident of clear
dialogue between
reader and text.
Multiple annotations.
Demonstrates clear
understanding of a
central theme.
Provides explicit
explanation/justificati
on of the theme.
Uses several
references and direct
quotes to develop
response.
3 literary/rhetorical
devices identified.
and supported.

Identifies proper
punctuation term.

Identifies proper
punctuation term.

Evident of clear
dialogue between
reader and text.
Multiple annotations.
Clearly understands
the concept of
compare/contrast.
Identifies similarities
in the texts.
Identifies differences
in the texts.
Identifies 6 ideas in
EACH area.
x
No annotations.
Paper is blank.


x



Exceeds







area.
Johnston//Wescott-Sherman English 5: Pre-Assessment 9/26/2011