WorkbookEdition 6 the election

Milkis explained that students from each class in the school’s highest grade were to vote for one of their classmates to serve on the student council.. had the support of most of the s

READ THEORY Passage

Name Date

• Reading Comprehension As es me t

Dire tio s: : Read the passage Then answer the questions below.

The Election

Last week, Mr Milkis came into our eighth-grade classroom

with an announcement He said that each of us was to participate in

a special event Each of us, for the first time in our lives, was to vote

in an election

Mr Milkis explained that students from each class in the

school’s highest grade were to vote for one of their classmates to

serve on the student council The student who wins the election

would then be entered into a selection process in which five (half of

the total number of winners) would ultimately be chosen to serve

These five people would advise the school staff on the students’

opinions They would also help make decisions for the benefits of

students

We were told that the election would be held on Friday Anyone in our class could run, and each student could vote The person who received the most votes would win That person would then serve on the student council once a week after school

Immediately, we were all excited Some of us were interested in serving But others of us were unable to run because we could not or would not stay after school I knew I did not want the job Two of

my friends, though, did And one other person in class also announced her candidacy I knew it would be hard to choose between my two friends

On Thursday, each of the three candidates made a speech before the class The first candidate

to speak was my friend, Franklin He said that he would represent us well and that he wanted to get better food in the cafeteria

Next to speak was my other friend, Isaiah He told us he too would represent us well Isaiah said that he wanted to try to get more time for recess

Finally, the other candidate spoke Amber’s speech was by far the best She said she would represent us to the best of her ability And she said it was too soon to pick an issue to run on Rather, she wanted to hear what we wanted after the election

Voting

I had expected to vote for either Franklin or Isaiah until I heard Amber’s speech She seemed to make the best case and suggested that she would actually represent us, not herself I was torn

I asked Mr Milkis who I should vote for He told me that a vote has to be confidential and

personal or it does not matter But, he added, that an election should never be a popularity contest Rather, we should privately pick the best candidate for the job

On Friday, I voted for Amber So did most of my classmates

READ THEORY Questions

1) How many eighth-grade classes are there in the narrator’s school?

A 3

B 5

C 10

D 12

2) As used in paragraph 9, the word confidential has the nearest opposite in

A public

B unpopular

C hidden

D uncertain

3) The narrator voted for Amber mostly because she

A argued that students should have longer recesses

B promised to listen to all the students in the class

C was not a friend of the narrator

D had the support of most of the students in the class

4) The passage suggests that a voter in an election should

A vote for the candidate he or she thinks will do the best job

B listen carefully to all the speeches that one candidate makes

C choose who to vote for before listening to what each candidate has to say

D never vote for his or her friends to represent him or her

5) Which of the following statements about the narrator is FALSE?

A He or she is excited about the election

B He or she voted for Amber

C He or she is in the school’s highest grade

D He or she is interested in serving on student council

6) If you were a student at the narrator’s school, who do you think you would have voted for and why?

Explain

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READ THEORY Questions

7) We learn at the end of the passage that voting for this election was private and secret Do you think

the narrator would have voted differently if his friends could have easily seen how he voted? How do you think an open, obvious voting system would have affected the narrator’s decision? Explain _ _

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8) Does your own school have a student council like the one in the passage? What kinds of things does

your student council do? Who is on your student council? If you do not have a student council, do you think you would want one? Why? Who do you think would be on your student council?

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READ THEORY Answers and Explanations

1) C

Question Type: Inference

In paragraphs 1 and 2, the narrator says, "Last week, Mr Milkis came into our eighth-grade classroom with an announcement He said that each of us was to participate in a special event Each of us, for the first time in our lives, was to vote in an election Mr Milkis explained that students from each class in the school’s highest grade were to vote for one of their classmates to serve on the student council The student who wins the election would then be entered into a selection process in which five (half of the total number of winners) would ultimately be chosen to serve " Here, we learn the following things:

1 The narrator is in eighth-grade

2 Eighth-grade is the highest grade in the narrator's school

3 Only students in the highest grade (the eighth-grade) can vote

We also learn that:

4 One winner is selected per class

5 Five is half of the total number of election winners

This lets us know that there must have been 10 original winners (since five is half the total number of election winners) Since there

is one winner per eighth-grade class, then there must be 10 eighth-grade classes in the narrator's school Choice (C) is correct

2) A

Question Type: Vocabulary

confidential (adjective): intended to be kept secret

In paragraph 9, Mr Milkis states that “a vote has to be confidential and personal.” He later adds that “we should privately pick the best candidate.” This suggests that confidential, personal, and private all have similar meanings A word that would be the opposite

of those words would be public, then Because of this, choice (A) is correct Though the passage does state that an election “should

never be a popularity contest,” it does not imply that confidential means popular In fact, the author says Mr Milkis believes an election should be confidential and should not be a popularity contest This suggests that confidential and popular are not close in

meaning at all That means choice (B) is not correct The ninth paragraph does suggest that confidential might mean hidden, but this question asks for the word that is OPPOSITE in meaning to confidential Because of this, choice (C) is not correct The passage

suggests that the narrator was uncertain about how to vote when he or she asked Mr Milkis for advice But Mr Milkis’s advice that

“a vote has to be confidential” does not have anything to do with the narrator’s uncertainty or his or her eventual certainty Rather,

Mr Milkis’s speech only helps the narrator to become certain Because of this, choice (D) is not correct

3) B

Question Type: Global

At the end of the passage, it is implied that Amber won the election It is also stated that the narrator voted for her This comes after the narrator asks for Mr Milkis’s advice, and he tells the narrator to “pick the best candidate for the job.” The narrator only starts to think that Amber is the best candidate because her “she wanted to hear what [the students] wanted after the election” and because she “would actually represent” the classroom and “not herself.” This suggests that the narrator liked that Amber had promised to

listen to all the students in the class and voted for her because of that Because of this, choice (B) is correct In paragraph 6, the narrator states that Isaiah asked for longer recesses, so choice (A) is not correct Though Amber was not a friend of the narrator, he

or she did not vote for Amber because of that fact Rather, it is implied that he or she almost did not vote for Amber because she

was not friends with him or her This means choice (C) is not correct The passage suggests that Amber won the election and

therefore did have the support of most of the students in the class But this is not why the narrator votes for her Rather, it is suggested that the narrator only learned of the other students’ support for Amber AFTER he or she had already voted for her

Because of this, choice (D) is not correct

4) A

Question Type: Inference

The whole passage describes what happens in an election The last few paragraphs discuss how and why the narrator chooses to vote for Amber He or she takes the advice of Mr Milkis that “we should privately pick the best candidate for the job.” As this is what the narrator does, and as the narrator never gives another view on how voters should vote, it follows that the passage suggests a

voter should vote for the candidate that he or she believes will do the best job This means choice (A) is correct The narrator in the

passage does listen to the speeches that the candidates make This suggests that a voter in an election should likewise listen to speeches, but the passage does not suggest he or she should listen only to the speeches made by one candidate Because of this,

choice (B) is not correct The passage never suggests that one should choose which candidate to vote for before hearing the

candidates’ speeches Rather, the passage implies the opposite The narrator does not make his or her decision until after he or she

has heard all three speeches Because of this, choice (C) is not correct Though the narrator does not vote for his or her friends in

the passage, the passage does not suggest that one should NEVER vote for one’s friends One should vote for the best candidate for the job, according to the passage, but that person might also be someone’s friend For example, someone in the class was

probably friends with Amber and probably voted for her Choice (D) is not correct, then, because it is too extreme

5) D

Question Type: Global

To answer this question, it helps to use the process of elimination In paragraph 4, the narrator says that after learning of the

election, "we were all excited." This eliminates choice (A), because it is true In the final paragraph, the narrator says, "I voted for Amber." This eliminates choice (B), because it is true In paragraph 2, the narrator says, "Mr Milkis explained that students from

each class in the school’s highest grade were to vote for one of their classmates to serve on the student council." Since the narrator

votes, we can understand that he or she must be in the school's highest grade This eliminates choice (C), because it is true Using

READ THEORY Answers and Explanations

the process of elimination, we can see that (D) is correct In paragraph 4, the narrator says, "I knew I did not want the job."

Therefore, it must be false that he or she is interested in serving on student council