Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Dave and Lynsey are both described as talkative.

• Despite their initial gender bias, how does Dave and Lynsey’s relationship change from the start of the story to the end? (topic sentence)
• What events and discoveries contribute most directly to Dave and Lynsey’s changed feelings for one another? Support your argument with evidence from the novel.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, briefly explain the way in which Dave and Lynsey’s changed relationship connects to one of the story’s themes.

2. The contest has many unexpected benefits for the staff and students.

• How does the contest benefit the school, generally speaking? (topic sentence)
• Which benefit that students derived from the contest will be most helpful to the school community as a whole? Which benefit that teachers derived will be most helpful to the school community? Analyze the ways in which these two benefits compare.