HSPA Language Arts Tutorial Cluster 1: Writing to Speculate

Cluster Practice for Educators

The "Writing to Speculate" portion of the HSPA Language Arts test uses pictures to prompt student writing.  For example, the following directions are presented beneath a picture that included on a previously-released "Writing to Speculate" HSPA item:

What strategies might you present to your students in order to help them become more comfortable and proficient at being able to write creatively as they speculate about the meaning of a particular picture?

For this assignment, you must complete two specific tasks related to preparing your students for the "Writing to Speculate" portion of the HSPA:

• Identify and summarize strategies for using images to prompt the creative writing process.
• Create a practice prompt to be used by your students to practice applying the strategies you identified.

The following checklist will be used to score this Cluster 1 assignment:

1. The image selected is open-ended, with many different interpretations possible.

2. The image source is clearly identified.

3. The subject image is inherently appealing to a wide range of high school students.

4. Practice prompt directions are clearly worded.

5. The directions include a scoring rubric based on the HSPA holistic scoring rubric.

6. The prompt includes references to guide and strategies to be used to facilitate and train the creative writing process.

7. A sample response is included that adheres to a "high" score of 5 or 6 on the holistic scoring rubric.