High School ELA SOL Standards

The student will develop effective oral communication and collaboration skills to build community of learners that process, understand, and interpret content together.

Communication, Listening, and Collaboration

Facilitate and contribute to a range of sustained collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade ten topics and texts. This includes:

Applying a variety of strategies to listen actively and speak purposefully and respectfully.

Setting guidelines for group presentations and discussions.

Incorporating all group members in the development of new understandings, making decisions, and solving problems.

Setting clear goals and deadlines and defining individual roles as needed.

Responding thoughtfully, respectfully, and tactfully with evidence to diverse perspectives.

Summarizing points of agreement and disagreement.

Assessing, evaluating critically, and using information accurately for a common purpose or goal.

Using reflection to evaluate one's own role in the process in pairs or small-group activities.

Speaking and Presentation of Ideas

Report orally on a topic or text or present an opinion. This includes:

Choosing vocabulary, language, and tone appropriate to the topic, audience, and purpose.

Using active listening and speaking strategies effectively with awareness of verbal and nonverbal cues (e.g., appropriate facial expressions and posture).

Evaluating the effectiveness of presentations, including the introduction, central ideas, organization, and conclusion.

Memorize and accurately recite a speech with intonation, meaningful expression, and emotion that conveys the intended mood (e.g., inspiration, motivation, conviction).

Integrating Multimodal Literacies

Make strategic use of multimodal tools, including using information from two or more interdependent modes of communication where both or multiple modes are essential to convey the intended message (e.g., graphics, moving images, music).

Monitor, analyze, and use multiple streams of simultaneous information.

Create media messages for diverse audiences and purposes.

Examining Media Messages

Analyze the viewpoint of print and digital publications (e.g., advertisements, editorials, blogs, and websites).

Analyze, compare, and contrast visual and verbal media messages for content (e.g., word choice and choice of information), intent (e.g., persuasive techniques, including but not limited to ad hominem, red herring, and strawman), impact (e.g., public opinion trends), and effectiveness (e.g., effect on the audience).

Examine and analyze how media messages are constructed based on varying opinions, values, and viewpoints.

Evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, and political) behind media messages used to determine author’s purpose, factual content, opinion, and/or possible bias.

Describe possible cause-and- effect relationships between mass media coverage and public opinion trends.

The student will build knowledge and comprehension skills from reading a range of challenging, content-rich texts. This includes fluently reading and gathering evidence from grade-level complex texts, reading widely on topics to gain purposeful knowledge and vocabulary, and using reading strategies when comprehension breaks down.

Read a variety of grade-level complex text with accuracy, automaticity, appropriate rate, and meaningful expression in successive readings to support comprehension. Monitor while reading to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, as necessary (Reading Fluency, K-12).

Proficiently read and comprehend a variety of literary and informational texts that exhibit complexity at the higher range of the grades 9-10 band (See the Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis charts for determining complexity in the Appendix.) (Text Complexity, 2-12).

When responding to text through discussions and/or writing, draw several pieces of evidence from grade-level complex texts to support claims, conclusions, and inferences, including quoting or paraphrasing from texts accurately and tracing where relevant evidence is located (Textual Evidence, K-12).

Regularly engage in reading a series of conceptually related texts organized around topics of study to build knowledge and vocabulary (These texts should be at a range of complexity levels so students can read the texts independently, with peers, or with modest support.). Use this background knowledge as context for new learning (Deep Reading on Topics to Build Knowledge and Vocabulary, K-12).

Use reading strategies as needed to aid and monitor comprehension when encountering challenging sections of text. These sense-making strategies attend to text structure, common organizational structures, summarizing, asking questions of the text, and others (Reading Strategies, 3-12).

The student will use the conventions of Standard English when speaking and writing, differentiating between contexts that call for formal English and situations where informal discourse is more appropriate.

Grammar

Use, edit, and revise parallel structure across complex sentences and paragraphs in writing.

Use complex sentence structure (made up of main and subordinate clauses and subordinating conjunctions) to infuse sentence variety in writing.

Recognize and use active and passive voice to convey a desired effect in speaking and writing.

Use subordination, coordination, apposition, and other devices to indicate the relationship between ideas clearly.

Maintain consistent verb tense when speaking and writing.

Mechanics

Know and apply the rules for the use of a colon (e.g., joining independent clauses, introducing a list, introducing a quotation) when writing.

Apply a style manual, such as that of the Modern Language Association (MLA) or the American Psychological Association (APA), to apply rules for punctuation and formatting of direct quotations in writing.

Spell correctly, consulting reference materials to check as needed.

The student will conduct research and read a series of conceptually related texts on selected topics to build knowledge on grade-ten content, texts, and areas prompted by student interest.

Evaluation and Synthesis of Information

Formulate and revise questions about a research topic, broadening or narrowing the inquiry as necessary.

Gather and organize information from various sources, including internet resources, electronic databases, and other technology.

Objectively evaluate primary and secondary sources for their credibility, reliability, accuracy, usefulness, and limitations, that includes identifying their main and supporting ideas, points of view, conflicting information, and any misconceptions or biases.

Synthesize multiple streams of information from a variety of sources to support claims and introduce counterclaims.

Create research products aligned with the demands of the reading and writing standards.

Cite primary and secondary sources for quoted and paraphrased ideas using a standard method of documentation, such as the Modern Language Association (MLA) or American Psychological Association (APA).

Define the meaning and legal consequences of plagiarism and follow ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information.

Demonstrate ethical and responsible use of all sources, including the Internet, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and new technologies, as they develop.

The student will use textual evidence to demonstrate comprehension and build knowledge from grade-level complex informational texts read.

Key Ideas and Confirming Details

Explain how authors organize an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn among them.

Compare characteristics of the information from informational, historical, scientific, and technical texts and interpret the use of data and information in maps, charts, graphs, timelines, tables, and diagrams.

Evaluate the argument and specific claims in texts, examining whether the reasoning is valid, the evidence is relevant, and whether there are any false or unsupported statements.

Craft and Style

Analyze how authors use structure to explain relationships among concepts in a text, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and sections of texts contribute to the whole.

Analyze key terms (e.g., words and phrases, technical terminology) and ideas of historical, scientific, and technical texts to clarify the relationships and understandings among key concepts.

Analyze the author’s purpose and impact of literary techniques such as hyperbole, analogy, and paradox as they appear in texts.

Integration of Concepts

Evaluate how different authors write about the same topic and shape their presentations or viewpoints of key information using facts, opinions, and reasoning.

Analyze multiple texts addressing the same topic to determine how authors reach similar or different conclusions.

The student will use textual evidence to demonstrate comprehension and build knowledge from a variety of grade-level complex literary texts read to include literary nonfiction (including world, British, and American literature), narratives, poetry, and drama, with an emphasis on world literature.

Key Ideas and Plot Details

Analyze the development of universal themes (e.g., survival of the fittest, coming of age, power of love) prevalent in world literature (e.g., short stories, poems, plays, novels, and literary nonfiction) of different cultures and eras.

Analyze how authors structure texts to advance the plot, explaining how each event gives rise to the next or foreshadows a future event.

Describe the different character roles in literary texts (e.g., foil, tragic, hero) and their impact on the theme.

Identify and explain how dramatic conventions (e.g., soliloquy, aside, narration, direct address to the audience) contribute to the theme and effect of plays from various cultures.

Craft and Style

Explain the overall structure of a poem, including how each successive part builds on earlier sections and how rhyme, rhythm, sound, and imagery convey a message and elicit a reader’s emotions.

Analyze how authors use literary devices and figurative language, including allusion, allegory, and paradox to impact the meaning of the text.

Analyze how authors use specific word choices, syntax, tone, and voice to convey the author’s intent and viewpoint.

Analyze point of view and distinguish between what is directly stated in a text from what is implied or intended because of the use of satire, irony, sarcasm, and understatement.

Integration of Concepts

Explain and analyze the influence of the historical and cultural context of a text on its form, style, characters, and point of view.

Compare and contrast character development, dramatic plot structure, and conventions in a play to character development, narrative structure, and conventions in other literary forms.

Analyze the similarities and differences represented in the literature of different cultures and eras.

The student will systematically build vocabulary and word knowledge based on grade ten content and text.

Vocabulary Development and Word Analysis

Develop and accurately use general academic and content-specific vocabulary through reading, discussing, and writing about grade-level texts and topics.

Use context and sentence structure to clarify the literal and figurative meanings of words and phrases.

Use structural analysis of roots, affixes, and etymology to clarify the meanings of unfamiliar and complex words.

Discriminate between the connotative and denotative meanings and interpret the connotation(s).

Identify and explain idiomatic language in context.

Explain the meaning of literary and classical allusions and figurative language in context and analyze their roles in texts.

Use newly learned words and phrases in multiple contexts, including in students’ discussions and speaking and writing activities.

The student will write in a variety of forms for diverse audiences and purposes linked to grade ten content and texts with an emphasis on argumentative writing.

Modes and Purposes for Writing

Write extended pieces that:

Introduce a topic clearly by providing context, presenting well-defined theses, and previewing what follows.

Adopt an organizational structure that clarifies relationships among ideas and concepts.

Develop the topic through sustained use of the most significant and relevant facts, concrete details, quotations, or other information from multiple authoritative sources appropriate to the audience’s knowledge.

Provide a concluding section that follows from the information or explanation presented.

Write arguments that:

Develop a thesis that demonstrates knowledgeable judgements.

Support well-defined points of view effectively with relevant evidence and clear reasoning in ways that logically advance the claim(s).

Address and refute counterclaims.

Provide conclusions that follow from and support the argument presented.

Write reflectively in response to readings in which students compare two or more texts with details, examples, and other textual evidence to support an idea or position.

Develop flexibility in writing by routinely producing shorter and longer pieces that adapt writing content, technique, and voice for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences, (e.g., summaries, reflections, descriptions, critiques, letters, poetry, narratives, etc.).

Organization and Composition

Plan and organize writing to address a specific audience and purpose using the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing). This includes:

Composing a thesis statement that clearly communicates the writer’s position or assertion.

Introducing and developing central idea(s), and organizing ideas in a logical sequence to exhibit unity.

Defending a position using sufficient reasons with evidence from credible sources as support.

Embedding narrative techniques (e.g., anecdotes, dialogue, and description) to develop and enhance writing.

Using transitions effectively to connect ideas within and across paragraphs.

Elaborating ideas clearly through intentional word choice and varied sentence structure.

Usage and Mechanics

Revise writing for clarity of content, accuracy, and adequate elaboration.

Use peer- and self-evaluation to edit writing for clarity and quality of information, addressing strengths and making suggestions regarding how writing might be improved.

Edit writing for appropriate conventions, style, and language (See Language Usage for grade level expectations).

Communication and Multimodal Literacies

Developing Skilled Readers and Building Reading Stamina

Language Usage

Research

Reading Informational Text

Reading Literary Text

Reading and Vocabulary

Writing

The student will develop effective oral communication and collaboration skills to build a community of learners that process, understand, and interpret content together.

Communication, Listening, and Collaboration

Facilitate and contribute to a range of sustained collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade eleven topics and texts. This includes:

Applying a variety of strategies to listen actively and speak purposefully and respectfully.

Demonstrating the ability to work effectively by coming to a consensus, exercising flexibility, making necessary compromises, and presenting alternate views.

Responding thoughtfully and tactfully with evidence to diverse perspectives.

Summarizing points of agreement and disagreement.

Assessing, evaluating critically, and using information accurately to fulfill a task.

Using reflection to evaluate one's own role in the group process in small-group activities.

Speaking and Presentation of Ideas

Report orally on a topic or text or present an opinion. This includes:

Selecting the modes and purposes for presentations and synthesizing multiple streams of information.

Choosing diction and tone appropriate to the topic, audience, and purpose.

Using a variety of active listening and speaking strategies, with awareness of intent and impact of verbal and nonverbal cues.

Utilizing rhetorical techniques (e.g., ethos, pathos, and logos), repetition, and figurative language to deliver a message.

Anticipating and addressing alternative or opposing perspectives and counterclaims using counter arguments and rebuttals, as appropriate.

Evaluating the content and effectiveness of presentations; that includes the introduction, organization, strengths/weaknesses in evidence and reasoning, and conclusion.

Integrating Multimodal Literacies

Create, publish, and deliver multimodal presentations and pieces aimed at a variety of audiences and with different purposes, incorporating spoken or written components.

Demonstrate understanding of multimodal literacy by identifying and evaluating elements such as authorship, format, audience, content, and purpose.

Monitor, organize, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information to create a summary or formulate a position.

Ethically, purposefully, and strategically incorporate multimodal tools including the Internet and varying technology.

Examining Media Messages

Analyze the sources and viewpoint(s) of publications including advertisements, editorials, blogs, and websites.

Analyze and critique how media reach the targeted audience for specific purposes

Analyze, compare, and contrast visual and verbal media messages for content (e.g., word choice and choice of information), intent (e.g., persuasive techniques), impact (e.g., public opinion trends), and effectiveness (e.g., effect on the audience).

The student will build knowledge and comprehension skills from reading a range of challenging, content-rich texts. This includes fluently reading and gathering evidence from grade-level complex texts, reading widely on topics to gain purposeful knowledge and vocabulary, and using reading strategies when comprehension breaks down.

Read a variety of grade-level complex texts with accuracy, automaticity, appropriate rate, and meaningful expression in successive readings to support comprehension. Monitor while reading to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, as necessary (Reading Fluency, K-12).

Proficiently read and comprehend a variety of literary and informational texts that exhibit complexity at the lower range of the grades 11-12 band to generate and respond logically to literal, inferential, evaluative, synthesizing, and critical thinking questions (See the Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis charts for determining complexity in the Appendix.) (Text Complexity, 2-12).

When responding to text through discussions and/or writing, draw several pieces of evidence from grade-level complex texts to support claims, conclusions, and inferences, including quoting or paraphrasing from texts accurately and tracing where relevant evidence is located (Textual Evidence, K-12).V

Regularly engage in reading a series of conceptually related texts organized around topics of study to build knowledge and vocabulary (These texts should be at a range of complexity levels so students can read the texts independently, with peers, or with modest support.). Use this background knowledge as context for new learning (Deep Reading on Topics to Build Knowledge and Vocabulary, K-12).

Use reading strategies as needed to aid and monitor comprehension when encountering challenging sections of text. These sense-making strategies attend to text structure, common organizational structures, summarizing, asking questions of the text, and others (Reading Strategies, 3-12).

The student will use the conventions of Standard English when speaking and writing, differentiating between contexts that call for formal English and situations where informal discourse is more appropriate.

Grammar

Use verbal phrases to achieve sentence conciseness and variety in speaking and writing.

Use complex sentence structure to infuse sentence variety in writing.

Differentiate and apply active and passive voice to convey a desired effect in speaking and writing.

Mechanics

Use commas, semi-colons, and colons correctly in complex sentences in writing.

Write and edit work so that it conforms to the guidelines in style manual, such as that of the Modern Language Association (MLA) or the American Psychological Association (APA).

Spell correctly, consulting reference materials to check as needed.

The student will conduct research and read a series of conceptually related texts on selected topics to build knowledge on grade-eleven content, texts, and areas prompted by student interest.

Evaluation and Synthesis of Information

Formulate and revise questions about a research topic broadening or narrowing the inquiry as necessary.

Gather and organize information from various sources.

Objectively evaluate primary and secondary sources for their credibility, reliability, accuracy, usefulness, and limitations. That includes identifying their main and supporting ideas, points of view, conflicting information, and any misconceptions or biases.

Synthesize multiple streams of evidence to support claims and acknowledge counterclaims.

Create research products aligned with the demands of the reading and writing standards.

Cite primary and secondary sources for quoted and paraphrased ideas using a standard method of documentation such as the Modern Language Association (MLA) or American Psychological Association (APA).

Define the meaning and consequences of plagiarism and follow ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information.

Demonstrate ethical and responsible use of all sources, including the Internet, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and new technologies, as they develop.

The student will use textual evidence to demonstrate comprehension and build knowledge from grade-level complex informational texts read.

Key Ideas and Confirming Details

Interpret and complete an application for employment or college admission, and summarize the intent, main ideas, and purpose of the workplace or technical documents.

Analyze the hypotheses, data, analysis, and/or conclusions in informational, historical, scientific, or technical texts, verifying the data when possible and corroborating or challenging conclusions with other sources of information.

Evaluate the relevance and quality of an author’s premises, claims, counterclaims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.

Craft and Style

Examine how textual elements and organizational patterns contribute to meaning and the author’s purpose.

Analyze and interpret the key terms (e.g., content-specific words and phrases, technical terminology) and ideas of historical, scientific, technical, and employment texts to clarify concepts.

Recognize and analyze the author’s purpose and impact of ambiguity, contradiction, paradox, oxymoron, irony, sarcasm, overstatement, and understatement in informational texts.

Integration of Concepts

Analyze information within and between paired passages for similar and conflicting ideas and how authors reach similar or different conclusions.

Compare and contrast informational and technical texts for intent, content, and clarity.

The student will use textual evidence to demonstrate comprehension and build knowledge from a variety of grade-level complex literary texts read to include literary nonfiction (including world, British, and American literature), narratives, poetry, and drama, with an emphasis on American literature.

Key Ideas and Plot Details

Analyze the development of universal themes (e.g., loss of innocence, coming of age, relationship with nature) prevalent in American literature (e.g., short stories, poems, plays, novels, essays, and literary nonfiction) of different eras.

Describe how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the setting and plot.

Analyze how characters are revealed through particular lines of dialogue or events.

Analyze and evaluate how dramatic conventions (e.g., soliloquy, aside, narration, direct address to the audience) contribute to the theme and effect of plays from various cultures.

Craft and Style

Interpret and analyze how the sound and imagery of poetry support the subject, mood, form, and theme and appeal to the reader’s senses.

Evaluate how authors use specific word choices, syntax, tone, and voice to convey the author’s intent and viewpoint.

Critique how authors use key literary devices (e.g., imagery, personification, symbolism) to contribute to the meaning of a text, including its character development, theme, conflict, and archetypes.

Analyze the use of satire, sarcasm, irony, and understatement to differentiate between what is directly stated and what is implied.

Integration of Concepts

Explain the influence of the historical and cultural context on form, style, and point of view of texts that represent diverse voices and perspectives.

Relate themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works to contemporary stories, poems, or drama.

Analyze how authors’ attitudes, viewpoints, and beliefs reflect larger historical, social, or cultural contexts.

The student will systematically build vocabulary and word knowledge based on grade eleven content and texts.

Vocabulary Development and Word Analysis

Develop and accurately use general academic and content-specific vocabulary through reading, discussing, and writing about grade-level texts and topics.

Use context and sentence structure to clarify the meanings of words and phrases.

Use structural analysis of roots, affixes, and etymology to understand the meanings of unfamiliar and complex words.

Analyze the nuances in the meaning of words with similar denotations (e.g., clever, cunning, brainy).

Explain and analyze idiomatic language in context.

Explain the meaning of figurative language and literary and classical allusions and analyze their role in texts.

Use newly learned words and phrases in multiple contexts, including in students’ discussions and speaking and writing activities.

The student will write in a variety of forms for diverse audiences and purposes linked to grade eleven content and text with an emphasis on argumentative and analytical writing.

Modes and Purposes for Writing

Write extended pieces that:

Introduce a topic clearly by providing context, presenting well-defined theses, and previewing what follows.

Adopt an organizational structure that clarifies relationships among ideas and concepts.

Develop the topic through sustained use of the most significant and relevant facts, concrete details, quotations, or other information from multiple authoritative sources appropriate to the audience’s knowledge.

Provide a concluding section that follows from the information or explanation presented.

Write analyses that:

Develop a thesis that demonstrates knowledgeable judgments.

Interpret and investigate evidence from various sources and texts to draw reasonable conclusions that support the writer’s position or assertion.

Examine and evaluate processes and/or problems to propose solutions.

Organize claims, counterclaims, and evidence in a sustained and logical sequence that explains how the credible evidence supports well-defined points of view.

Write to describe personal qualifications for potential occupational or educational opportunities, producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style match the intended audience and purpose of the workplace and/or post-secondary education and language in informal and formal contexts.

Choose appropriate modes and blend multiple forms of writing by routinely engaging in the production of shorter and longer pieces that adapt writing content, technique, and voice for a range of audiences, purposes, and tasks (e.g. summaries, reflections, descriptions, critiques, letters, poetry, narratives, etc.).

Organization and Composition

Plan and organize writing to address a specific audience and purpose using the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing). This includes:

Composing a thesis statement that clearly communicates the writer’s position or assertion.

Organizing claims, counterclaims, and evidence in a sustained and logical sequence to exhibit unity.

Effectively contextualizing evidence from sources with proper introduction and thorough explanation.

Applying varied transitions and sentence structures to connect ideas within and across paragraphs.

Elaborating ideas clearly through purposeful and precise word choice.

Usage and Mechanics

Revise writing for clarity of content, accuracy, and depth of information.

Use peer- and self-evaluation to edit writing for clarity and quality of information, addressing strengths and making suggestions regarding how writing might be improved.

Edit writing for appropriate conventions, style, and language (See Language Usage for grade level expectations).

Write and revise to a standard acceptable both in the workplace and in post-secondary education.

Communication and Multimodal Literacies

Developing Skilled Readers and Building Reading Stamina

Language Usage

Research

Reading Informational Text

Reading Literary Text

Reading and Vocabulary

Writing

The student will develop effective oral communication and collaboration skills to build a community of learners that process, understand, and interpret content together.

Communication, Listening, and Collaboration

Facilitate and contribute to a range of sustained collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade twelve topics and texts. This includes:

Applying a variety of strategies to listen actively and speak purposefully and respectfully.

Responding thoughtfully and tactfully with evidence to diverse perspectives.

Summarizing points of agreement and disagreement.

Selecting and applying multimodal tools to design and develop presentation content appropriate for topic and purpose.

Evaluating the content of presentations, including introduction, organization, strengths/weaknesses and evidence and reasoning, and conclusion.

Using reflection to evaluate one's own role in the group process in small group activities.

Speaking and Presentation of Ideas

Report orally on a topic or text or present an opinion. This includes:

Selecting the modes and purposes for presentations and synthesizing multiple streams of information.

Choosing appropriate vocabulary, language, and tone for a selected topic, purpose, context, and audience when speaking and presenting.

Incorporating various rhetorical devices to enhance purpose and strengthening clarity of ideas.

Anticipating and addressing alternative or opposing perspectives and counterclaims and rebuttals, as appropriate.

Monitoring audience engagement effectively and adjusting delivery accordingly during presentations.

Evaluating the content and effectiveness of one's presentations, including the introduction, organization, strengths/weaknesses and evidence and reasoning, and conclusion.

Memorize and recite an excerpt or monologue from a dramatic work portraying the emotions and motivations of the character through voice and body language that conveys the intended tone and mood of the selection.

Integrating Multimodal Literacies

Create and deliver planned, multimodal, interactive presentations collaboratively and individually for a variety of purposes and audiences.

Examine multimodal sources’ claims, arguments, ideas, and any point of personal bias by evaluating them for reliability and relevance to serve as credible supporting evidence.

Synthesize multiple streams of information on the same or similar topic to create a summary or formulate a position.

Organize information to create media messages with visual, audio, and graphic components to convey meaning.

Provide appropriate citation of all content from external sources.

Examining Media Messages

Defend hypotheses about an author’s underlying values, viewpoints, and purposes and reflect on how they shape the content.

Analyze and critique the effectiveness of media messages by evaluating the purpose, evidence, and clarity for specific purposes with targeted audiences.

Analyze and evaluate how the media's use of symbolism, imagery, metaphor, and bias impacts the message.

Explain and analyze how values and viewpoints are included or excluded and how media influences beliefs, interpretations, and behaviors.

Analyze media to determine the cause-and-effect relationship(s) between media coverage and public opinion trends.

The student will build knowledge and comprehension skills from reading a range of challenging, content-rich texts. This includes fluently reading and gathering evidence from grade-level complex texts, reading widely on topics to gain purposeful knowledge and vocabulary, and using reading strategies when comprehension breaks down.

Read a variety of grade-level complex text with accuracy, automaticity, appropriate rate, and meaningful expression in successive readings to support comprehension. Monitor while reading to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, as necessary (Reading Fluency, K-12).

Proficiently read and comprehend a variety of literary and informational texts that exhibit complexity at the higher range of the grades 11-12 band to generate and respond logically to literal, inferential, evaluative, synthesizing, and critical thinking questions (See the Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis charts for determining complexity in the Appendix.). (Text Complexity, 2-12).

When responding to text through discussions and/or writing, draw several pieces of evidence from grade-level complex texts to support claims, conclusions, and inferences, including quoting or paraphrasing from texts accurately and tracing where relevant evidence is located (Textual Evidence, K-12).

Regularly engage in reading a series of conceptually related texts organized around topics of study to build knowledge and vocabulary (These texts should be at a range of complexity levels so students can read the texts independently, with peers, or with modest support.). Use this background knowledge as context for new learning. (Deep Reading on Topics to Build Knowledge and Vocabulary, K-12).

Use reading strategies as needed to aid and monitor comprehension when encountering challenging sections of text. These sense-making strategies attend to text structure, common organizational structures, summarizing, asking questions of the text, and others (Reading Strategies, 3-12).

The student will use the conventions of Standard English when speaking and writing, differentiating between contexts that call for formal English and situations where informal discourse is more appropriate.

Grammar

Use various clauses (independent, dependent, noun, relative, adverbial) to infuse sentence variety, add interest, and enhance meaning and purpose.

Mechanics

Apply a style manual, such as that of the Modern Language Association (MLA) or the American Psychological Association (APA), to apply rules for punctuation and formatting of direct quotations in writing.

Spell correctly, consulting reference materials to check as needed.

The student will conduct research and read a series of conceptually related texts on selected topics to build knowledge on grade-twelve content, texts, and areas prompted by student interest.

Evaluation and Synthesis of Information

Formulate and revise questions about a research topic broadening or narrowing the inquiry as necessary.

Gather and organize information from various sources.

Objectively evaluate primary and secondary sources for their credibility, reliability, accuracy, usefulness, and limitations; that includes identifying the main and supporting ideas, points of view, conflicting information, and any misconceptions or biases.

Synthesize multiple streams of evidence to support claims and acknowledge counterclaims.

Create research products aligned with the demands of the reading and writing standards.

Cite sources for quoted and paraphrased ideas using a standard method of documentation, such as the Modern Language Association (MLA) or the American Psychological Association (APA).

Define the meaning and consequences of plagiarism and follow ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information.

Demonstrate ethical and responsible use of all sources, including the Internet, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and new technologies, as they develop.

The student will use textual evidence to demonstrate comprehension and build knowledge from grade-level complex informational texts read.

Key Ideas and Confirming Details

Interpret and complete an application for employment or college admission, and summarize the intent, main ideas, and purpose of the workplace or technical documents.

Evaluate the effectiveness of the structure(s) and rhetorical devices authors use in their exposition or argument, including how the structure advances their point of view.

Analyze the argument and specific claims in texts, examining whether the reasoning is valid, the evidence is relevant, and whether there are any false premises or unsupported claims.

Craft and Style

Analyze text structures to discern how they affect the meaning and message of informational and technical writing and how their text structures differ from those in narrative texts.

Analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning, author’s attitude toward the subject, and mood.

Integration of Concepts

Evaluate texts with differing points of view on the same or similar events or issues by assessing claims, reasoning, evidence, and connections to other works or historical events.

Analyze how the author organizes an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.

The student will use textual evidence to demonstrate comprehension and build knowledge from a variety of grade-level complex literary texts read to include literary nonfiction (including world, British and American literature), narratives, poetry, and drama, with an emphasis on British literature.

Key Ideas and Plot Details

Analyze the development of universal themes (e.g., loss of innocence, coming of age, relationship with nature) prevalent in British literature (e.g., short stories, poems, plays, novels, essays, and literary nonfiction) of different eras.

Examine how authors structure a text and order events within it through parallel episodes, subplots, and conflicts, and explain how they create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

Analyze how complex characters-those with multiple or conflicting motivations-develop over the course of texts, interact with other characters, and advance the plot.

Analyze and evaluate how dramatic conventions (e.g., soliloquy, aside, narration, direct address to the audience) contribute to the theme and effect of plays from various cultures.

Craft and Style

Evaluate how the use of figurative language in poetry and prose contributes to the reader’s understanding of the subject, form, mood, and theme.

Interpret and analyze how authors create intended effects using diction and impact the tone and mood of the story, play, or poem.

Evaluate the use of satire, sarcasm, irony, and understatement to differentiate between what is directly stated and what is implied.

Integration of Concepts

Compare and contrast traditional and contemporary texts that draw on similar themes, patterns of events, or character types with an emphasis on poetry, from various cultures.

Compare and contrast the development of a universal theme over the course of two or more literary works including how each theme emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details.

Analyze how authors’ attitudes, viewpoints, and beliefs reflect larger historical, social, or cultural contexts.

The student will systematically build vocabulary and word knowledge based on grade twelve content and texts.

Vocabulary Development and Word Analysis

Develop and accurately use general academic and content-specific vocabulary through reading, discussing, and writing about grade-level texts and topics.

Use context and sentence structure to clarify the meanings of words and phrases.

Use structural analysis of roots, affixes, and etymology to understand the meanings of unfamiliar and complex words.

Analyze the nuances in the meaning of words with similar denotations (e.g., assertive, aggressive, domineering).

Explain and analyze idiomatic language in context.

Interpret the meaning of figurative language and literary and classical allusions and analyze their role in texts.

Use newly learned words and phrases in multiple contexts, including in students’ discussions and speaking and writing activities.

The student will write in a variety of forms for diverse audiences and purposes linked to grade twelve content and text, with an emphasis on technical writing.

Modes and Purposes for Writing

Write extended pieces that:

Introduce a topic clearly by providing context, presenting well-defined theses, and previewing what follows.

Adopt an organizational structure that clarifies relationships among ideas and concepts.

Develop the topic through sustained use of the most significant and relevant facts, concrete details, quotations, or other information from multiple authoritative sources appropriate to the audience’s knowledge.

Provide a concluding section that follows from the information or explanation presented.

Write technical pieces that:

Describe personal qualifications for potential occupational or educational opportunities.

Create clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style matches the intended audience and purpose of the workplace and/or post-secondary education and language in informal and formal contexts.

Generate technical writing (e.g., job description, questionnaire, job application, or business communication) that clearly address specific audiences with identified purposes.

Blend multiple modes of writing, by routinely engaging in the production of shorter and longer pieces that adapt vocabulary, voice, and tone for a range of audiences, purposes, and tasks (e.g., summaries, reflections, descriptions, critiques, letters, poetry, narratives, etc.).

Organization and Composition

Plan and organize writing to address a specific audience and purpose using the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing). This includes:

Composing a thesis statement that clearly communicates the writer’s position or assertion.

Organizing claims, counterclaims, and evidence in a sustained and logical sequence to exhibit unity.

Selecting appropriate evidence from multiple texts to clarify ideas, illustrate a counterargument, and/or strengthen a thesis in writing.

Contextualizing evidence from sources effectively with proper introduction and thorough explanation and appropriate citation.

Embedding narrative techniques and organizing information logically and effectively to guide the audience from one idea to another with transitional words and phrases.

Elaborating ideas clearly and effectively through syntactic structure, subordination of ideas, sensory/ concrete details, diction, and purposeful word choice.

Usage and Mechanics

Revise writing for clarity of content, accuracy, and depth of information.

Use peer- and self-evaluation to edit writing for clarity and quality of information, addressing strengths and making suggestions regarding how writing might be improved.

Edit writing for appropriate conventions, style, and language in informal and formal contexts. (See Language Usage for grade level expectations)

Write and revise to a standard acceptable both in the workplace and in postsecondary education.

Communication and Multimodal Literacies

Developing Skilled and Building Reading Stamina

Language Usage

Research

Reading Informational Text

Reading Literary Text

Reading and Vocabulary

Writing

The student will develop effective oral communication and collaboration skills to build a community of learners that process, understand, and interpret content together.

Communication, Listening, and Collaboration

Facilitate and contribute to a range of sustained collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade nine topics and texts. This includes:

Applying a variety of strategies to listen actively and speak purposefully and respectfully.

Setting guidelines for group presentations and discussions.

Incorporating all group members in the development of new understandings, making decisions, and solving problems.

Setting clear goals and deadlines and defining individual roles as needed.

Responding thoughtfully and tactfully with evidence to diverse perspectives, including challenging, clarifying, or verifying ideas and conclusions.

Summarizing points of agreement and disagreement.

Using reflection to evaluate one’s own role and the process in paired or small-group activities.

Speaking and Presentation of Ideas

Report orally on a topic or text or present an opinion. This includes:

Choosing vocabulary, language and tone appropriate to the topic, audience, and purpose.

Using listening and speaking strategies effectively with awareness of verbal and nonverbal cues (e.g., using body language to indicate attentiveness, and giving appropriate feedback).

Analyzing the effectiveness of one’s presentation, including introduction, central idea, organization, and conclusion.

Memorize and accurately recite a short selection from a longer text demonstrating inflection and meaningful expression that is appropriate to the tone and voice of the selection.

Integrating Multimodal Literacies

Make strategic use of multimodal tools.

Monitor, analyze, and use multiple streams of simultaneous information.

Create media messages for diverse audiences and purposes.

Examining Media Messages

Determine the purpose of the media message and its effect on the audience.

Analyze the persuasive techniques used in diverse media formats (e.g., name calling, innuendo, glittering generalities, card stacking, bandwagon, testimonials, appeal to prestige, snobbery or plain folks, appeal to emotion).

Evaluate the credibility, word choice, viewpoints, and bias in media presentations.

Examine how values and viewpoints are included or excluded and how the media can influence beliefs, behaviors, and interpretations.

Evaluate sources including advertisements, editorials, political cartoons, and feature stories for relationships between intent and factual content.

Identify the possible cause and effect relationships between mass media coverage and public opinion trends in media messages.

The student will build knowledge and comprehension skills from reading a range of challenging, content-rich texts. This includes fluently reading and gathering evidence from grade-level complex texts, reading widely on topics to gain purposeful knowledge and vocabulary, and using reading strategies when comprehension breaks down.

Read a variety of grade-level complex text with accuracy, automaticity, appropriate rate, and meaningful expression in successive readings to support comprehension. Monitor while reading to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, as necessary (Reading Fluency, K-12).

Proficiently read and comprehend a variety of literary and informational texts that exhibit complexity at the lower range of the grades 9-10 band. (See the Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis charts for determining complexity in the Appendix.) (Text Complexity, 2-12).

When responding to text through discussions and/or writing, draw several pieces of evidence from grade-level complex texts to support claims, conclusions, and inferences, including quoting or paraphrasing from texts accurately and tracing where relevant evidence is located (Textual Evidence, K-12).

Regularly engage in reading a series of conceptually related texts organized around topics of study to build knowledge and vocabulary (These texts should be at a range of complexity levels so students can read the texts independently, with peers, or with modest support.). Use this background knowledge as context for new learning (Deep Reading on Topics to Build Knowledge and Vocabulary, K-12).

Use reading strategies as needed to aid and monitor comprehension when encountering challenging sections of text. These sense-making strategies attend to text structure, common organizational structures, summarizing, asking questions of the text, and others (Reading Strategies, 3-12).

The student will use the conventions of Standard English when speaking and writing, differentiating between contexts that call for formal English and situations where informal discourse is more appropriate.

Grammar

Use parallel structure across sentences and paragraphs to link and compare/contrast ideas in writing and speaking.

Craft and apply a variety of sentence structures to infuse sentence variety in writing.

Use and apply the active and passive voice as appropriate when speaking and writing.

Use appositives and main and subordinate clauses to convey and clarify a message when speaking and writing.

Maintain consistent verb tense when speaking and writing.

Mechanics

Use commas and semicolons to distinguish and divide main and subordinate clauses to link two or more closely related independent clauses when writing.

Apply a style manual, such as that of the Modern Language Association (MLA) or the American Psychological Association (APA) to apply rules for citing sources.

Spell correctly, consulting reference materials to check as needed.

The student will conduct research and read a series of conceptually related texts on selected topics to build knowledge on grade-nine content, texts and areas prompted by student interest.

Evaluation and Synthesis of Information

Formulate and revise questions about a research topic, broadening or narrowing the inquiry as necessary.

Gather and organize information from various sources, including internet resources, electronic databases, and other technology.

Analyze and evaluate the primary and secondary sources gathered for their credibility, reliability, accuracy, and usefulness that includes identifying their main and supporting ideas, points of view, conflicting information, and any misconceptions or biases.

Synthesize multiple streams of information to support claims and introduce counterclaims.

Create research products aligned with the demands of the reading and writing standards.

Cite sources for quoted and paraphrased ideas using a standard method of documentation, such as the Modern Language Association (MLA) or the American Psychological Association (APA).

Define plagiarism's meaning and legal consequences and follow ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information.

Demonstrate ethical and responsible use of all sources, including the Internet, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and new technologies, as they develop.

The student will use textual evidence to demonstrate comprehension and build knowledge from grade-level complex informational texts read.

Key Ideas and Confirming Details

Analyze the development of main ideas over the course of texts, including how they emerge, are shaped, and are refined by specific details to help reveal the author’s intended purpose for writing.

Explain the purpose and interpret the use of data and information in maps, charts, graphs, timelines, tables, and diagrams in informational, historical, scientific, or technical texts.

Distinguish among, facts, reasoned judgments, and/or speculation in texts to determine where a position/argument is to be confirmed, disproved, or modified.

Craft and Style

Compare characteristics of expository, technical, and persuasive texts, including their differences in purpose, format, and text structure.

Analyze an author’s word choice and use of rhetorical devices to persuade or convince an audience.

Analyze how authors use rhetorical devices to create ethos, logos, and pathos and impact the reader.

Integration of Concepts

Compare the perspectives and viewpoints of two or more authors regarding their treatment of the same or similar topics, including the details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts as well as the impact of each author’s qualifications.

Evaluate the clarity and accuracy of information found in informational texts, corroborating or challenging conclusions with other sources of information.

The student will use textual evidence to demonstrate comprehension and build knowledge from a variety of grade-level complex literary texts read to include narratives, literary nonfiction, poetry, and drama.

Key Ideas and Plot Details

Explain stated or implied themes, analyzing their development over the course of texts, and the relationship of characters, setting, and plot to those themes.

Examine and analyze the characteristics that distinguish literary forms (e.g., fiction, nonfiction, poetry, prose, novel, drama, essay, speech) and analyze how the differing structure of each literary form contributes to its meaning and style.

Differentiate between character types in literary texts (e.g., dynamic/round character, static/flat character, and stereotype) and their impact on the theme.

Identify and describe how dramatic conventions (e.g., soliloquy, aside, narration, direct address to the audience) contribute to the theme and effect of plays from various cultures.

Craft and Style

Analyze the use of rhyme, rhythm, sound, imagery, and other literary devices in poetry to convey a message and elicit a reader’s emotions.

Explain how an author’s specific word choices, syntax, tone, and voice shape the meaning of the text.

Explain the point of view and distinguish between what is implied or intended because of the use of hyperbole, irony, sarcasm, and understatement.

Integration of Concepts

Describe how the historical or social function of a text depends on its context (e.g., cultural, situational, historical, geographical).

Explain the relationships between and among particular literary elements of a story or play, including how the setting shapes the plot and characters.

The student will systematically build vocabulary and word knowledge based on grade nine content and texts.

Vocabulary Development and Word Analysis

Develop and accurately use general academic and content-specific vocabulary through reading, discussing, and writing about grade-level texts and topics.

Use context and sentence structure to clarify the literal and figurative meanings of words and phrases.

Use structural analysis of roots, affixes, and etymology to explain the meanings of unfamiliar and complex words.

Discriminate between the connotative and denotative meanings and interpret the connotation(s).

Identify and explain idiomatic language in context.

Explain the meaning of literary and classical allusions and figurative language in context and analyze their roles in texts.

Use newly learned words and phrases in multiple contexts, including students’ discussions and speaking and writing activities.

The student will write in various forms for diverse audiences and purposes linked to grade nine content and texts with an emphasis on expository and persuasive writing.

Modes and Purposes for Writing

Write extended pieces that:

Introduce a topic clearly by providing context, presenting well-defined theses, and previewing what follows.

Adopt an organizational structure that clarifies relationships among ideas and concepts.

Develop the topic through sustained use of the most significant and relevant facts, concrete details, quotations, or other information from multiple authoritative sources appropriate to the audience's knowledge.

Provide a concluding section that follows from the information or explanation presented.

Write reflectively in response to readings in which students compare two or more texts with details, examples, and other textual evidence to support an idea or position.

Develop flexibility in writing by routinely producing shorter and longer pieces for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences (e.g., summaries, reflections, descriptions, critiques, letters, poetry, narratives, etc.).

Organization and Composition

Plan and organize writing to address a specific audience and purpose using the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing). This includes:

Composing a thesis statement that clearly communicates the writer’s position or assertion.

Establishing, supporting, and maintaining a central idea with evidence throughout a piece of writing, organizing ideas in a logical sequence to exhibit unity.

Using transitions, precise vocabulary, and sentence variety to create a cohesive structure that shows the relationship between arguments, evidence, and ideas.

Using background knowledge to expand ideas and add depth, utilizing reference materials when necessary.

Identifying and addressing counterarguments and providing a rebuttal where appropriate.

Usage and Mechanics

Revise writing for clarity of content, accuracy, and adequate elaboration.

Use peer- and self-evaluation to edit writing for clarity and quality of information, addressing strengths and making suggestions regarding how writing might be improved.

Edit writing for appropriate conventions, style, and language (See Language Usage for grade level expectations).

Communication and Multimodal Literacies

Developing Skilled Readers and Building Reading Stamina

Language Usage

Research

Reading Informational Text

Reading Literary Text

Reading and Vocabulary

Writing