De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Gwendolyn Brooks, Poet [Pdf]

"Gwendolyn Brooks, Poet" is a one page, biographical passage about Gwendolyn Brooks, an African-American poet from Chicago. It is followed by an open-ended question which requires students to provide evidence from the story; it includes writing a reflective paper about the most important points about Gwendolyn Brooks' life using textual information to support ideas. This passage aligns with Common Core Anchor Reading Standards 1 and 2 requiring close reading, textual evidence, main idea, and summarizing.