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Ninth – Twelfth Benchmarks for Language Arts

1. Demonstrates competences in listening and speaking as tools for learning

· Uses criteria to evaluate own and others’ effectiveness in group discussions and formal presentations (e.g., accuracy, relevance, and organization of information; clarity of delivery; relationships among purpose, audience, and content; types of arguments used; effectiveness of own contributions)

· Asks questions as a way to broaden and enrich classroom discussions

· Uses a variety of strategies to enhance listening comprehension (e.g., focuses attention on message, monitors message for clarity and understanding, asks relevant questions, provides verbal and nonverbal feedback, notes cues such as change of pace or particular words that indicate a new point is about to be made; uses abbreviation system to record information quickly; selects and organizes essential information)

· Adjusts message wording and delivery to particular audiences and for particular purposes (e.g., to defend a position, to entertain, to inform, to persuade)

· Makes formal presentations to the class (e.g., includes definitions for clarity; supports main ideas using anecdotes, examples, statistics, analogies, and other evidence; uses visual aids or technology, such as transparencies, slides, electronic media; cites information sources)

· Makes multimedia presentations using text, images, and sound (e.g., selects the appropriate medium, such as television broadcast, videos, web pages, films, newspapers, magazines, CD ROMS, Internet, computer-media-generated images; edits and monitors for quality; organizes, writes, and designs media messages for specific purposes)

· Uses a variety of verbal and nonverbal techniques for presentations (e.g., modulation of voice, varied inflection; tempo; enunciation; physical gestures; rhetorical questions; word choice; including figurative language, standard English, informal usage, technical language) and demonstrates poise and self-control while presenting

· Responds to questions and feedback about own presentations (e.g. clarifies and defends ideas, expands on a topic, uses logical arguments, modifies organization, evaluates effectiveness, sets goals for future presentations)

· Understands influences on language use (e.g., political beliefs, positions of social power, culture)

· Understands how style and content of spoken language varies in different contexts (e.g., style of different radio news programs, everyday language compared to language in television soap operas, tones of news bulletins on “serious” and youth-oriented stations) and how this influences interpretation of these texts

· Understands reasons for own reactions to spoken texts (e.g., emotional appeals)

· Makes multimedia presentations using text, images, and sound (e.g., selects the appropriate medium, such as television broadcast, videos, web pages, films, newspapers, magazines, CD ROMS, Internet, computer-media generated images; edits and monitors for quality, organizes, writes, and designs media message for specific purposes)

2. Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the reading process

· Uses context to understand figurative, idiomatic, and technical meanings of terms

· Extends general and specialized reading vocabulary (e.g., interprets the meaning of codes, symbols, abbreviations, and acronyms; uses Latin, Greek, Anglo-Saxon roots and affixes to infer meaning; understands subject-area terminology; understands word relationships, such as analogies or synonyms and antonyms; uses cognates; understands allusions to mythology and other literature; understands connotative and denotative meanings)

· Uses a range of automatic monitoring and self-correction methods (e.g., rereading, slowing down, sub-vocalizing, consulting resources, questioning)

· Understands writing techniques used to influence the reader and accomplish an author’s purpose (e.g., organizational patterns, such as cause-and-effect or chronological order; imagery; personification, figures of speech, sounds in poetry; literary and technical language; formal and informal language; point of view; characterization; irony; narrator)

· Understands influences on a reader’s response to a text (e.g., personal experiences and values; perspective shaped by age, gender, class, or nationality)

· Understands the philosophical assumptions and basic beliefs underlying an author’s work (e.g., point of view, attitude, and values conveyed by specific language; clarity and consistency of political assumptions)

3. Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of literary texts

· Uses reading skills and strategies to understand a variety of literary texts (e.g., fiction, nonfiction, myths, poems, biographies, autobiographies, science fiction, supernatural tales, satires, parodies, plays, American literature, British literature, world and ancient literature)

· Knows the defining characteristics of a variety of literary forms and genres (e.g., fiction, nonfiction, myths, poems, biographies, autobiographies, science fiction, supernatural tales, satires, parodies, plays, drama, American literature, British literature, world and ancient literature, the Bible)

· Analyzes the use of complex elements of plot in specific literary works (e.g., time frame, cause-and-effect relationships, conflicts, resolution)

· Analyzes the simple and complex actions (e.g., internal/external conflicts) between main and subordinate characters in literary works containing complex character structures

· Knows archetypes and symbols (e.g., supernatural helpers, banishment from an ideal world, the hero, beneficence of nature, dawn) present in a variety of literary texts (e.g., American literature, world literature, literature based on oral traditions, mythology, film, political speeches)

· Understands how themes are used across literary works and genres (e.g., universal themes in literature of different cultures, such as death and rebirth, initiation, love and duty; major themes in American literature; authors associated with major themes of specific eras)

· Understands the effects of author’s style and complex literary devices and techniques on the overall quality of a work (e.g., tone, irony; mood; figurative language; allusion; diction; dialogue; symbolism; point of view; voice; understatement and overstatement; time and sequence; narrator; poetic elements, such as sound, imagery, personification)

· Understands relationships between literature and its historical period, culture, and society (e.g., influence of historical context on form, style, and point of view, influence of literature on political events; social influences on author’s description of characters, plot, and setting; how writer’s represent and reveal their cultures and traditions)

· Makes connections between his or her own life and the characters, events, motives, and causes of conflict in texts

· Relates personal response or interpretation of the text with that seemingly intended by the author

· Uses language and perspectives of literary criticism to evaluate literary works (e.g., evaluates aesthetic qualities of style, such as diction, tone, theme, mood, identifies ambiguities, subtleties, and incongruities in the text; compares reviews of literature film, and performances with own response)

4. Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational text

· Uses reading skills and strategies to understand a variety of informational texts (e.g., textbooks, biographical sketches, letters, diaries, directions, procedures, magazines, essays, primary source historical documents, editorials, news stories, periodicals, catalogs, job-related materials, schedules, speeches, memoranda, public documents, maps).

· Knows the defining characteristics of a variety of informational texts (e.g., textbooks, biographical sketches, letters, diaries, directions, procedures, magazines, essays, primary source historical documents, editorials, news stories, periodicals, catalogs, job-related materials, schedules, speeches, memoranda, public documents, maps)

· Scans a passage to determine whether it contains relevant information

· Summarizes and paraphrases complex, implicit hierarchic structures in informational texts, including the relationships among the concepts and details in those structures

· Analyzes techniques (e.g., language, organization, tone, context) used to convey viewpoints or impressions (e.g., sarcasm, criticism, praise, affection)

· Uses discussions with peers as a way of understanding information

· Uses a variety of criteria to evaluate the clarity and accuracy of information (e.g., author’s bias, use of persuasive strategies, consistency, clarity of purpose, effectiveness of organizational pattern, logic of arguments, reasoning, expertise of author, propaganda techniques, authenticity, appeal to friendly or hostile audience, faulty modes of persuasion)

· Uses text features and elements to support inferences and generalizations about information (e.g., vocabulary, structure, evidence, expository structure, format, use of language, arguments used)

5. Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process

9^th Grade

· Key Writing Focus: Five paragraph essays-cause/effect and compare/contrast

· Writing exposure will include but is not limited to:

/ Descriptive

/ Narrative

10^th Grade

· Key Writing Focus: Five paragraphs essays-persuasive/argumentative, expository/process analysis, and critical analysis of literature

· Writing exposure will include but is not limited to:

/ Descriptive

/ Narrative

/ Compare/contrast

/ Cause/effect

11^th Grade

· Key Writing Focus: Five paragraph essays-criticle analysis of non fiction, persuasive/argumentative, definition, classification, and personal essay (college essay, process analysis)

· Writing exposure will include but is not limited to:

/ Descriptive

/ Narrative

/ Compare/contrast

12^th Grade

· Key Writing Focus: Five paragraph essays-persuasive/argumentative, process analysis, exposition, critical analysis, formal letter writing, and personal essays

12^th Grade AP

· Key Writing Focus: Five paragraph essays-critical analysis of poetry, fiction, and drama

· Writing exposure will include but is not limited to:

/ Persuasive/argumentative

/ Personal essays

· Prewriting: Uses a variety of prewriting strategies (e.g., develops a focus, plans a sequence of ideas, uses structured overviews, uses speed writing, creates diagrams)

· Drafting and Revising: Uses a variety of strategies to draft and revise written work (e.g., highlights individual voice; rethinks content, organization, and style; checks accuracy and depth of information; redrafts for readability and needs of readers; reviews writing to ensure the content and linguistic structures are consistent with purpose)

· Editing and Publishing: Uses a variety of strategies to edit and publish written work (e.g., uses a checklist to guide proofreading; edits for grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling at a developmentally appropriate level, refines selected pieces to publish for general and specific audiences; uses available technology, such as publishing software or graphics programs, to publish written work)

· Evaluates own and others’ writing (e.g., accumulates a body of written work to determine strengths and weaknesses as a writer, makes suggestions to improve writing, responds productively to reviews of own work)

· Uses strategies to address writing to different audiences (e.g., includes explanations and definitions according to the audience’s background, age, or knowledge of topic, adjusts formality of style, considers interests of potential readers)

· Uses strategies to adapt writing for different purposes (e.g., to explain, inform, analyze, entertain, reflect, persuade)

· Writes expository compositions (e.g., synthesizes and organizes information from first-and second-hand source, including books, magazines, computer data banks, and the community; uses a variety of techniques to develop the main idea [names, describes, or differentiates parts; compares or contrasts; examines the history of a subject; cites an anecdote to provide an example; illustrates through a scenario; provides interesting facts about the subject]; distinguishes relative importance of facts, data, and ideas; uses appropriate technical terms and notations)

· Writes fictional, biographical, autobiographical, and observational narrative compositions (e.g., narrates a sequence of events; evaluates the significance of the incident; provides a specific setting for scenes and incidents; provides supporting descriptive detail [specific names for people, objects, and places; visual details of scenes, objects, and places; descriptions of sounds, smells, specific actions, moments, and gestures; the interior monologue or feelings of the characters]; paces the actions to accommodate time or mood changes, creates a unifying theme or tone; uses literary devices to enhance style and tone)

· Writes persuasive compositions that address problem/solutions or causes/effects (e.g., articulates a position through theses statement; anticipates and addresses counter arguments; backs up assertions using specific rhetorical devices [appeals to logic, appeals to emotion, uses personal anecdotes]; develops arguments using a variety of methods such as example and details, commonly accepted beliefs, expert opinion, and cause- effect reasoning, comparison-contrast reasoning)

· Writes descriptive compositions (e.g., uses concrete details to provide a perspective on the subject being described; uses supporting detail [concrete images, shifting perspectives and vantage points, sensory detail, and factual descriptions of appearance])

· Writes reflective compositions (e.g., uses personal experience as a basis for reflection on some aspect of life, draws abstract comparisons between specific incidents and abstract concepts, maintains a balance between describing incidents and relating them to more general abstract ideas that illustrate personal beliefs, moves from specific examples to generalizations about life)

· Writes in response to literature (e.g., suggests an interpretation; recognizes possible ambiguities, nuances, and complexities in a text; interprets passages of a novel in terms of their significance to the novel as a whole; focuses on the theme of a literary work; explains concepts found in literary works; examines literature from several critical perspectives; understands author’s stylistic devices and effects created; analyzes use of imagery and language)

· Uses appropriate strategies (e.g. organizational pattern, format, language, tone) to write personal and business correspondence (e.g., informal letters, memos, job applications letters, resumes)

6. Demonstrates competence in the stylistic and rhetorical techniques in writing

· Uses precise and descriptive language that clarifies and enhances ideas and supports different purposes (e.g., to stimulate the imagination of the reader, to translate concepts into simpler or more easily understood terms, to achieve a specific tone, to explain concepts in literature

· Uses paragraph form in writing (e.g., arranges paragraphs into a logical progression, uses clincher or closing sentences)

· Uses a variety of sentence structures and lengths (e.g., complex sentences; parallel or repetitive sentence structure)

· Uses a variety of transitional devices (e.g., phrases, sentences, paragraphs)

· Uses a variety of techniques to provide supporting detail (e.g. analogies; anecdotes; restatements; paraphrases; examples; comparisons; visual aids, such as tables, graphs, and pictures)

· Organizes ideas to achieve cohesion in writing

· Uses a variety of techniques to convey a personal style and voice (e.g., stream of consciousness, multiple viewpoints)

7. Uses grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions

· Uses complex and compound-complex sentences in written compositions

· Uses pronouns in written compositions (e.g., reflective, indefinite, interrogative, compound personal)

· Uses nouns in written compositions (e.g., collective nouns, compound nouns, noun clauses, noun phrases)

· Uses verbs in written compositions (e.g., present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect verb tenses; progressive verb forms, compound verbs)

· Uses adjectives in written compositions (e.g., adjective clauses, adjective phrases; relocates adjectives following nouns they modify)

· Uses adverbs in written compositions (e.g., adverb clauses, adverb phrases)

· Uses conjunctions in written compositions (e.g., correlative and subordinating conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs)

· Uses conventions of spelling in written compositions (e.g., spells high frequency, commonly misspelled words from appropriate grade-level list; uses a dictionary and other resources to spell words)

· Uses conventions of capitalization in written compositions (e.g., within divided quotations; for historical periods and events, geological eras, religious terms, scientific terms)

· Uses conventions of punctuation in written compositions (e.g., uses commas with nonrestrictive clauses and contrasting expressions, uses quotation marks with ending punctuation, uses colons before extended quotations, uses hyphens for compound adjectives, uses semicolons between independent clauses, uses dashes to break continuity of thought)

· Uses commonly confused terms in written compositions (e.g., affect and effect)

· Uses standard format in written compositions (e.g., includes footnotes, uses italics [for works of art, for foreign words and phrases], uses bold or underlined headings)

8. Gathers and uses information for research purposes

· Uses appropriate research methodology (e.g., formulates questions and refines topics, develops a plan for research; organizes what is known about a topic; uses appropriate research methods, such as questionnaires, experiments, field studies; collects information to narrow and develop a topic and support a thesis)

· Uses a variety of print and electronic sources to gather information for research topics (e.g., news sources such as magazines, radio, television, newspapers; government publications; microfiche; telephone information services; databases; field studies; speeches; technical documents; periodicals; Internet)

· Uses a variety of primary sources to gather information for research topics

· Uses a variety of criteria to evaluate the validity and reliability of primary and secondary source information (e.g., the motives, credibility, and perspectives of the author; date of publication; use of logic, propaganda, bias, and language; comprehensiveness of evidence)

· Synthesizes information from multiple research studies to draw conclusions that go beyond those found in any of the individual studies

· Uses systematic strategies (e.g., anecdotal scripting, annotated bibliographies, graphics, conceptual maps, learning logs, notes, outlines) to organize and record information

· Writes research papers (e.g., includes a thesis statement; synthesizes information into a logical sequence; paraphrases ideas and connects them to other sources and related topics; identifies complexities and discrepancies in information; addresses different perspectives; organizes and converts information into different forms such as charts graphs, and drawings; integrates quotations and citations into flow of paper; adapts researched material for presentation to different audiences and for different purposes)

/ 9^th grade open topic mini paper (500 words)

/ 10^th grade open topic mini paper (1000 words)

/ 11^th grade research paper about author, movement or genre (2000 words)

· Use standard format and methodology for documenting reference sources (e.g., credits quotes and paraphrased ideas; understands the meaning and consequences of plagiarism; distinguishes own ideas from others; uses a style sheet method for citing sources, such as the Modern Language Association, American Psychological Association, or Chicago Manual of Style; includes a bibliography of reference material)