My Dad, the Soccer Star
This task can be completed with pen and paper or online (without auto-marking).
Equipment:
My Dad, the Soccer Star - written by Leonie Thorpe, illustrated by Dylan Horrocks, School Journal Part 3, Number 2, Learning Media Limited, 2010.
- Give each student a copy of the text. Read the text to them, with them, or ask them to read it independently.
- The students may do the task independently or in groups.
- The purpose of questions a) and b) is to act as a scaffold. Here students gather evidence from the text that will help them respond to the evaluating question, question c).
- The purpose of question c) is to provide evidence of student ability to use evidence from the text, as well as their background knowledge, to make an overall evaluation of the author's construction of Dad.
- For question c), tell the students that to explain their responses of Yes/ No/ Yes and No, they must support their thinking by using evidence from the text and from their prior knowledge, i.e., things that have happened to them, things they have seen, heard, or read about.
Literacy Learning Progressions (Reading)
Because this assessment task was trialled with year 5 students in the second half of the year, the most relevant progression is:
By the End of Year 6
When students at this level read, respond to, and think critically about texts they:
- understand how they select from and use their repertoire of comprehension strategies, which include evaluating and integrating ideas and information across a small range of texts. [Note that in this case, students evaluate and integrate ideas within one text.]
Details that show us about the narrator
The following details from the text will help you analyse student responses to questions a), b), and c). Students will draw on these details as they answer those questions. The details are not identified as relating to particular questions because many relate to more than one. We have listed details that show us about the narrator. The evidence we have listed relates to what she looks like (appearance - Footnote 1), what she says (dialogue), what she does (action), and what she thinks (thought).
Appearance (what the narrator looks like)Note that in My Dad, the Soccer Star, evidence comes from the visual, not written, text.
Pages 18-19: The way the narrator is drawn: She is in a higher position than Dad in two illustrations, suggesting she has a dominant role.The way the narrator is drawn: In her thought bubble we see her plan Dad's future. She appears to have great ambitions for him.
Page 19: Like a parent, she chooses something for Dad that she values (it is so precious, it shines) but that he doesn't want - a soccer ball.`
Pages 20-21: The way the narrator is drawn: She takes Dad's performance on the pitch so seriously that she appears loud and intense.
Dialogue (what the narrator says)
Page 18: She tells Dad that she signed him up to play soccer (like a parent, having made a unilateral decision), and tries to boost his interest by telling him it's the world's most popular game and that Grandad was a good player. She says, "Maybe you'll be a natural, too."
Page 19: She suggests to Dad he could be the next Beckham or Ronaldo, and says, "You'll never know unless you try." When encouragement fails she tells him off for being idle and bosses him: "Well you can't just sit around all day playing computer games and watching TV. Anyway, it's too late. I've signed you up, and your first practice is Tuesday night."
Page 20: When Dad voices doubt about buying gear, she tells him not to be half-hearted. She says, "When you want to be the best, you have to start out with the very best equipment."'"Sharpen up, Dad," I shouted from the sideline. "Untangle those feet! Focus on the ball! "''I told the coach to keep an eye on Dad because he had hidden talent.' (Like a loving parent, she overestimates Dad's skills and ability). She thinks he should be in the forwards where he can score brilliant goals, but the coach makes a more realistic assessment of Dad's ability and puts him in the backs.
Page 21: She doesn't want to discourage Dad, but - like some parents might - she points out all the mistakes he made, as he drives them home from the game, in an attempt to educate him.She tells him off: '"Take that look off your face," I said one day.' She pulls parental-like emotional blackmail: "Can't you see I'm doing this for your own good? Don't you want to make me proud?" She follows this up with a classic parent's phrase: "You'll thank me one day."
Action (what the narrator does)
Page 18: She signs Dad up to play socce
This resource was trialled in August 2010, by 23 Year 6 students from 1 decile 10 school. The story was read to the students.
Question a) In what ways does the narrator act like a parent?Question b) In what ways does Dad act like a child?
Note that responses to questions a) and b) do not require students to evaluate - their purpose is to act as a scaffold so the students are better able to evaluate in question c). Responses should include a variety of details listed under the "Marking Student Responses" tab. These details have the headings Details that show us about the narrator and Details that show us about Dad.
Question c) Has the author been successful in making Dad someone you want to read about?
About half the trial students thought Dad was a character they wanted to read about. A very small group thought he was not, and a small group thought he was and he wasn't.
Identifying details about Dad's character
Making general statement about Dad's character 2
Following are examples of responses that reflected an understanding of how to make general statements about Dad's character and/or how to refer to events in the text. But none reflect an understanding that, for this particular question, both types of response need to be used together so they complement one another. For example, I think the dad is quite a funny guy [general statement about his character] because of how he reacted when he found out the daughter signed him up for soccer [reference to events in the text].
We found useful examples from students who thought Dad was a character they wanted to read about.Yes, because at his game his legs were a bit tangled when the opposition was going to attack. He kept dribbling the ball out of bounds, he gave away penalties and he got a yellow card. And at the prize-giving he got a certificate for the tidiest uniform; Because he is funny, lazy, scared of balls, always watching TV, acts like a kid, doesn't know how to play, and always gets the ball out of bounds; Yes, he is a funny character and always lets his daughter boss him around.
We found useful examples from students who thought Dad wasn't a character they wanted to read about.No, the only part I found good was when he gave away two penalties and got a yellow card.
Making general statement about Dad's character with complementary refrences in the text
Following are examples that reflect an understanding that, for this particular question, both general statements about Dad's character and references to events in the text need to be used together so they complement one another. For example, I think the dad is quite a funny guy [general statement about his character] because of how he reacted when he found out the daughter signed him up for soccer [reference to events in the text]. Some responses (for example, Because he was made like a child so it was funny ... moaning about everything ... letting the daughter boss him around) would have been strengthened by the use of specific details (see 'Next steps' below).
We found useful examples from students who thought Dad was a character they wanted to read about.I think the dad is quite a funny guy because of how he reacted when he found out the daughter signed him up for soccer [and when] he was a bit scared of the ball coming towards him; Because he was made like a child so it was funny ... moaning about everything ... letting the daughter boss him around.
We found useful examples from students who thought Dad wasn't a character they wanted to read about.No because he is lazy, he just sits around the house watching TV; He hasn't got talent for anything I know about and he's really, really lazy. He is stupid to let his daughter be in control of him. I would have liked him if he was interested, not lazy, and [if he did] not let his daughter take him over.
We found a useful example from a student who thought Dad was and wasn't a character they wantedto read about.
There are some times when he was kinda funny like the times when he let his daughter take control of him but he had some boring times like the soccer games - except when he got yellow carded.
2 Our trial data has enabled us to begin to describe performance at this year level and the student responses give us exemplars of students learning. The New Zealand Curriculum (2007) and The Literacy Learning Progressions (2010) were closely consulted throughout consideration of learning ideas from the curriculum.
The following section: Students who need to focus on using text details, is presented as an example of how you might foreground the Key Competencies within reading. In particular, it exemplifies how you might foreground "Using language, symbols, and texts" and, to a lesser extent, "Thinking" within reading through a focus on the way authors construct characters with carefully chosen details. This approach requires students to not just understand the text but to understand how the text is constructed and why it is constructed that way. This idea is expanded below. In the table below, Using language, symbols, and texts has the largest bolded font because it is the most important to this particular example.
Students who need to focus on using text details
Writers build characters with details. Good writers are meticulous in their choice of details, including only those that add value and meaning to the description of a character. It is these details, as well as background knowledge, that a reader uses in order to respond to questions such as "In what ways does the narrator act like a parent?", "In what ways does Dad act like a child?", and "Has the author been successful in making Dad someone you want to read about?"
Details: telling and showing
Writers may choose to use details that tell readers about characters if they want to convey information quickly. For example:
'I felt really proud of him when his name was read out in the club prize-giving.' (p.21)
However by telling the reader that she (the narrator) felt proud, the writer has not given the reader the opportunity to come to their own conclusion about how she might be feeling; and, increasingly, modern readers expect to have that opportunity. More commonly, writers of fiction will choose to use details that show characters to readers. For example:
'"Are you sure I need all this stuff?" Dad asked, looking at the price tags.' (p.20)
Here the reader must infer why Dad asked if he needed all the stuff: perhaps he thinks it's more than a beginner will need? Perhaps he thinks it is too expensive? Ask your students to compare how they respond to having the opportunity to come to their own conclusion, about why Dad asked if he needed all the stuff, with how they would respond if the author had simply told them "Dad asked if he needed all the stuff because he thought it was too expensive."
Details: general and specific
When writers tell readers about characters they use details that are general or broad. For example, the narrator says:
'I felt really proud of him when his name was read out in the club prize-giving.' (p.21)
The word "proud" is general (or abstract); it has a broad rather than specific meaning because it can be generally applied to all sorts of situations. You might like to ask your students to tell you about the situations "proud" can be applied to in an attempt to show them that it is not specific to any particular situation. (Note that at this point your students will probably be unclear about why "proud" is general; in fact they may even argue that it has a specific meaning. It will probably not be until the end of the following exercise that they have a clearer understanding.). However, when writers show characters to readers they use specific (or concrete) details. For example:
'Dad sighed and handed over his credit card.' (p.20)
Here readers create an image that is specific. They create a vivid picture in their heads; they can "see" this image. Most importantly, it is vivid pictures like this one that have impact upon readers. Finally, ask your students to attempt to create a picture in their heads of someone who is "proud" (you may need to explain at some point that it is much easier when they imagine a specific situation).
For more information on the terms "abstract" and "concrete": http://www.nzcermarking.org.nz/help/AbstractInformation.html
Burroway, J. and Stuckey-French, E. (2007). Writing Fiction: A guide to narrative craft. Seventh Edition. New York, NY: Longman.