How readers USE plot to comprehend

This question asks students to understand how the setting and the characters influence the plot, specifically the problem. If a reader misses the point here, they will misunderstand the story.

Notice that kids in the state chose the answer about how the monkey’s liked fruit. If kids are only looking at one portion of the descriptions, particularly paragraphs 2 and 3, one of the main ideas from those paragraphs is that the monkeys are enjoying the fruit. But that is NOT what the question is asking. The question basically asks how the description of the monkeys  is USED in the plot. How does the description of the monkeys(the characters) help the reader understand the PROBLEM of another one of the characters (the mother). This description also clarifies the problem:  that usually, the monkeys are dangerous. This will be an important plot point later in the resolution of the story.  

Again, kids are missing these questions because our instruction is mismatched. We are not teaching the elements of plot and stopping there. Nor is it enough to annotate for plot. Our real work comes in teaching kids how to USE the plot elements to understand what they read.