9th Grade English Language Arts

Students will actively listen using agreed-upon discussion rules with control of verbal and nonverbal cues.

Students will actively listen in order to analyze and evaluate speakers’ verbal and nonverbal messages by asking questions to clarify purpose and perspective.

Students will work effectively and respectfully in diverse groups by showing willingness to make necessary compromises to accomplish a goal, sharing responsibility for collaborative work, and recognizing individual contributions.

Students will follow agreed-upon rules as they engage in collaborative discussions about what they are reading and writing, expressing their own ideas clearly, building on the ideas of others, and respectfully disagreeing when necessary in pairs, diverse groups, and whole-class settings.

Students will conduct formal and informal presentations in a variety of contexts supporting their message with evidence and using verbal and nonverbal cues.

Students will summarize the main ideas and paraphrase significant parts of increasingly complex texts.

Students will identify characteristics of genres and analyze how they enhance comprehension of fiction, poetry, drama, and nonfiction.

Students will routinely and recursively prewrite (e.g., develop and organize ideas).

Students will routinely and recursively develop drafts, applying organizational structure(s) (e.g., description, compare/contrast, sequential, problem/solution, cause/effect, etc.).

Students will routinely and recursively revise drafts for organization, transitions, sentence variety, and consistent tone and point of view in order to improve coherence and meaning.

Students will routinely and recursively use resources to edit for grammar, usage, mechanics, and format in order to finalize drafts for publication.

Students will routinely and recursively publish final drafts for an authentic audience (e.g., publishing digitally, community and professional audiences, newspapers and magazines, entering contests).

Students will analyze the extent to which historical, cultural, and/or global perspectives affect authors’ stylistic choices in grade-level literary and informational texts.

Students will evaluate authors’ perspectives and explain how those perspectives contribute to the meanings of texts.

Students will evaluate how literary elements impact theme, mood, and/or tone, using textual evidence: setting, plot structure (e.g., foreshadowing, flashback, in media res), conflict (i.e., internal, external), characters (e.g., protagonist, antagonist), characterization (i.e., direct, indirect), point of view (e.g., narrator reliability), archetypes.

Students will evaluate how literary devices impact theme, mood, and/or tone, using textual evidence: figurative language (i.e., simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, imagery, symbolism), sound devices (i.e., onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance), irony (i.e., verbal, situational, dramatic).

Students will evaluate how informational text structures support the author’s purpose: compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution, description, sequential.

Students will analyze how informational text structures support the author’s purpose.

Students will analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics, using textual evidence to support their claims and inferences.

Students will compose narratives reflecting real or imagined experiences that: include engaging plots involving well-developed, complex characters resolving conflicts; establish narrator(s) that enhance(s) the narrative; are intentionally sequenced in a way to achieve a specific effect (e.g., create suspense, establish mood, reflect theme); provide clear descriptions, using precise language, sensory details, and dialogue; include varied syntax to enhance readability; emulate literary elements and/or literary devices from mentor texts.

Students will compose informative essays, reports, or technical writing that: objectively introduce and develop topics; include a defensible thesis; incorporate evidence (e.g., specific facts, details, charts and graphs, data); maintain an organized structure; use sentence variety and word choice to create clarity and concision; establish and maintain a formal style; emulate literary devices from mentor texts.

Students will compose argumentative essays, reviews, or op-eds that: introduce precise, informed claims; include a defensible thesis; acknowledge counterclaims or alternate perspectives; organize claims, counterclaims, and evidence in a logical sequence; provide the most relevant evidence to develop balanced arguments, using credible sources; use sentence variety and word choice to create clarity and concision; use style and tone that suits the audience and purpose.

Students will blend narrative, informative, and argumentative writing to suit their audience and purpose.

Students will analyze the relationships among synonyms, antonyms, and analogies.

Students will use context clues, connotation, and denotation to determine or clarify the meaning of words or distinguish among multiple-meaning words.

Students will use word parts (e.g., affixes, Anglo-Saxon, Greek, and Latin roots, stems) to define and determine the meaning of increasingly complex words.

Students will use resources (e.g., dictionary, glossary, thesaurus, etc.) to determine or clarify the meanings, syllabication, pronunciation, synonyms, parts of speech, and etymology of words or phrases.

Students will use precise, grade-level vocabulary in writing to clearly communicate complex ideas.

Students will select language to create a specific effect in writing according to purpose and audience.

Students will recognize and examine the effect of parallel structure and active and passive voice to convey specific meanings.

Students will recognize noun, verb, adjectival, and adverbial phrases and explain their effect in particular sentences.

Students will use or revise for active/passive voice and parallel structure in words and phrases for effect.

Students will add clarity, variety, and/or style to their writing and presentations with parts of speech and various types of phrases and clauses.

Students will recognize and correct misplaced and dangling modifiers.

Students will write using correct capitalization mechanics.

Students will write using correct end mark mechanics.

Students will write using correct apostrophe mechanics.

Students will use commas to set off simple parenthetical elements.

Students will use a colon to reveal information (e.g., The prince searched the castle high and low for his most prized possession: his guitar.).

Students will use an ellipsis to indicate omission from quoted material and brackets to indicate an addition or clarification to quoted material.

Students will write using correct italics mechanics.

Students will write using correct semicolon mechanics.

Students will find and comprehend information about a topic, using their own viable research questions.

Students will synthesize relevant information from a variety of primary and secondary sources, following ethical and legal citation guidelines.

Students will evaluate the relevance, reliability, and validity of the information gathered.

Students will formulate and refine a viable research question.

Students will develop a clear, concise, defensible thesis statement.

Students will integrate quotes, paraphrases, and summaries from research, following a consistent citation style (e.g., MLA, APA) to avoid plagiarism.

Students will present research in longer formats (e.g., sustained research projects, process essays) and shorter, informal formats (e.g., single-day research projects, informal discussion) to a variety of audiences.

Students will analyze and evaluate the techniques used in a variety of multimodal content and how they contribute to meaning.

Students will create engaging multimodal content that intentionally addresses an audience and accomplishes a purpose.

Students will select texts for specific purposes and read independently for extended periods of time.

Students will write independently using print, cursive, and/or typing for various lengths of time, intentionally selecting and combining modes and genres to suit their audiences and purposes.