Wayward Bears - Short Response Samples
According to the article, why were bears appearing more frequently in residential areas? Explain your answer with details and information from the article.
To get a 2, a paper must include the following:
- some reasons bears were appearing more frequently
- sufficient details from the article to explain
Related information from the article:
Young bears are on their own for the first time. Mothers give their male offspring the boot once the youngsters are 2 years old.
With residential areas growing, the young bears keep finding smaller and smaller areas in which they can establish their own territory.
"They're trying to find a territory of their own, where they won't get beat up," said Lieutenant Rip Stalvey, a game commission spokesman.
Recent weeks of drought likely have reduced bears' food supply (tender parts of palmettos and Sabal palms, as well as acorns and berries).
Score of 2 - These responses show a complete understanding of the task. They are accurate and include sufficient support from the article.
Mothers send male bears out into the world when they are 2, and there's less land for them because of residential growth. Also there's less bear food like berries and acorns because of the drought.
Young bears are on their own for the first time and there's less land for them because of the growing population in Florida. This makes it harder for them to establish their own territory, so they show up where we don't expect them. They're also searching for food because the drought has make it scarce.
Score of 1 - These responses show a partial understanding of the task. They are essentially correct, but they are too limited. Both responses need more specific details from the article.
Mothers give male offspring the boot when they are 2 years old.
Bears are appearing more frequently in residential areas because they are searching for their own territory. There is not much land left for them.
Score of 0 - In both responses, the student failed to respond to the task. These responses need more information from the article to explain why bears are appearing in residential areas.
The reason bears were appearing more frequently is they couldn't stop the bears and in order to keep them from coming back they needed to put up fences.