Ace That Test! Reading Comprehension & Responding to Text Dependent Questions

End one sentence responses for good! This comprehensive RACES Strategy Constructed Response Paragraph Writing class is here to give your learner the skills to write thoughtful, complete paragraphs—necessary for success on state tests and beyond!

➜ The truth is, most students have never mastered the skill of writing two or more complete sentences about a single topic. They need explicit guidance to become confident writers. They won’t move beyond one-line responses without this targeted instruction.


In this class, learners will read an article and will create a written response to a text dependent question. Learners will master using the RACE strategy to respond to text dependent question...questions that require learners to use details from the text in their written response. 

R: Re-state the question

A: Answer all parts of the question

C: Cite the text to provide evidence

E: Explain your citation


This strategy teaches students to do what good writers do naturally—restating the question in a complete sentence, answering all parts of the question, citing text evidence and fully explaining.

This class is taught by a certified, experienced Language Arts teacher. 


Class Structure:

The teacher will screen share an article. Learners will take turns reading portions of the article aloud. The teacher will be supporting reading fluency and comprehension at this time. The class will discuss the article, identify the main idea and details, take note of the text structure and non-fiction text features. 

Then a text dependent question similar to those on classroom and standardized tests is presented. The teacher will instruct the learners on using the RACE strategy to respond to that question. The class will craft a response together using the RACE strategy, while the teacher models how to construct and organize the written response. 

Then, another question is presented to the class and they will use the RACE strategy to practice crafting their own response. Learners can type their response in the chat directly to the teacher, type their response on a Google Doc sent to them by the teacher, or write their response on paper.

Learners will then be given the opportunity to share their written response to receive personalized feedback from the teacher. 

Week of January 5: Boxing Away Predators
Week of January 12: Justice for the Javan Rhino
Week of January 19: Our Largest Organ
Week of January 26: Amazing Eyes
Week of February 2: The World's Rarest Cat
Week of February 9: The Right Thing To Do
Week of February 16: The New Student
Week of February 23: Susie's Dilemma
Week of March 2: The Book Fair
Week of March 9: The Beach Vacation
Week of March 16: The Immortal Jellyfish
Week of March 23: Threats to the Bornean Orangutan
Week of March 30: Not Your Typical Dog
Week of April 6: Inventors of Flight
Week of April 13: Too Much Screen Time
Week of April 20: Bella's Flight of Courage
Week of April 27: A Story of Love, Hot Cocoa, and Chess
Week of May 4: An Artist's Motivation
Week of May 11: A Helping Hand
Week of May 18: Turning Pages Together

...and more!


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*Leaves of Learning Academy is an organization on Outschool with about 18 teachers. Occasionally, the teacher for this class may not be able to teach and a substitute teacher from the organization will take her place. Only teachers trained to teach this class will serve as a possible substitute for the class. A message will be posted in the Outschool classroom before the class takes place in the event a substitute will be teaching. I am happy to offer a refund to any learner who prefers not to attend the class with a substitute. Please send a message through Outschool in that event and I will issue a refund. Thank you!