English Language Arts

Ninth Grade Language Arts, Competency Goal 1: The learner will express reflections and reactions to print and non-print text and personal experiences.

1.02 Students will respond reflectively (individually and in groups) to a variety of expressive texts (e.g., memoirs, vignettes, narratives, diaries, monologues, personal responses) in a way that offers an audience:

• an understanding of the student's personal reaction to the text.
• a sense of how the reaction results from a careful consideration of the text.
• an awareness of how personal and cultural influences affect the response.

1.03 Students will demonstrate the ability to read, listen to, and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print expressive texts appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by:  

• selecting, monitoring, and modifying as necessary reading strategies appropriate to readers' purpose.
• identifying and analyzing text components (such as organizational structures, story elements, organizational features) and evaluating their impact on the text.
• providing textual evidence to support understanding of and reader's response to text and demonstrating comprehension of main idea and supporting details.
• summarizing key events and/or points from text.
• making inferences, predicting, and drawing conclusions based on text.
• identifying and analyzing personal, social, historical or cultural influences, contexts, or biases.
• making connections between works, self, and related topics.
• analyzing and evaluating the effects of author's craft and style.
• analyzing and evaluating the connections or relationships between and among ideas, concepts, characters, and/or experiences.
• identifying and analyzing elements of expressive environment found in text in light of purpose, audience, and context.

Ninth Grade Language Arts, Competency Goal 2: The learner will explain meaning, describe processes, and answer research questions to inform an audience.

2.04 Students will form and refine a question for investigation, using a topic of personal choice, and answer that question by:

• deciding upon and using appropriate methods such as interviews with experts, observations, finding print and non-print sources, and using interactive technology or media.
• prioritizing and organizing the information.
• incorporating effective media and technology to inform or explain.
• reporting (in written and/or presentational form) the research in an appropriate form for a specified audience.

Ninth Grade Language Arts, Competency Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of various literary genres, concepts, elements, and terms.

5.01 Students will read and analyze various literary works by:

• using effective reading strategies for preparation, engagement, reflection.
• recognizing and analyzing the characteristics of literary genres, including fiction (e.g., myths, legends, short stories, novels), nonfiction (e.g., essays, biographies, autobiographies, historical documents), poetry (e.g., epics, sonnets, lyric poetry, ballads) and drama (e.g., tragedy, comedy).
• interpreting literary devices such as allusion, symbolism, figurative language, flashback, dramatic irony, dialogue, diction, and imagery.
• understanding the importance of tone, mood, diction, and style.
• explaining and interpreting archetypal characters, themes, settings.
• explaining how point of view is developed and its effect on literary texts.
• determining a character's traits from his/her actions, speech, appearance, or what others say about him or her.
• explaining how the writer creates character, setting, motif, theme, and other elements; making thematic connections among literary texts and media and contemporary issues; and understanding the importance of cultural and historical impact on literary texts.
• producing creative responses that follow the conventions of a specific genre and using appropriate literary devices for that genre.

5.02 Students will demonstrate increasing comprehension and ability to respond personally to texts by selecting and exploring a wide range of genres.

 

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