English Core Learning Goals |
Goal 1
Reading, Reviewing, and Responding to Texts:
The student will demonstrate the ability to respond to a text by employing personal experiences and critical analysis.
Goal 2
Composing in a Variety of Modes:
The student will demonstrate the ability to compose in a variety of modes by developing content, employing specific forms, and selecting language appropriate for a particular audience and purpose.
Goal 3
Controlling Language:
The student will demonstrate the ability to control language by applying the conventions of standard English in writing and speaking.
Goal 4
Evaluating the Content, Organization, and Language Use of Texts:
The student will demonstrate the ability to evaluate the content, organization, and language use of texts.
1. Expectation: The student will use effective strategies before, during, and after reading, viewing, and listening to self-selected and assigned materials. a. Indicators:
The student will:
use pre-reading strategies appropriate to both the text and purpose for reading by surveying the text, accessing prior knowledge, formulating questions, setting purpose(s), and making predictions.
use during-reading strategies appropriate to both the text and purpose for reading by visualizing, making connections, and using fix-up strategies such as rereading, questioning, and summarizing.
use after-reading strategies appropriate to both the text and purpose for reading by summarizing, comparing, contrasting, synthesizing, drawing conclusions, and validating the purpose for reading.
apply before-, during-, and after-reading strategies when responding to non-print text, e.g., film, speakers, theatre, performance, audio texts, and interactive media.
identify specific structural elements of particular literary forms: poetry, short story, novel, drama, essay, biography, autobiography, journalistic writing, and film.
2. Expectation: The student will construct, examine, and extend meaning of traditional and contemporary works recognized as having significant literary merit.
a. Indicators:
The student will:
consider the contributions of plot, character, setting, conflict, and point of view when constructing the meaning of a text.
examine meaning by determining how the speaker, organization, sentence structure, word choice, tone, rhythm, and imagery reveal an author's purpose.
explain the effectiveness of stylistic elements such as syntax, rhetorical devices, and choice of details which communicate an author's purpose.
explain connections between and among themes and styles of two or more texts.
extend or further develop meaning by explaining the implications of the text for the reader or contemporary society.
extend or further develop meaning by comparing texts presented in difference media.
3. Expectation: The student will explain and give evidence to support perceptions about print and non-print works.
a. Indicators:
The student will:
explain how language and textual devices create meaning.
interpret a work by using a critical approach (e.g., reader response, historical, cultural, biographical, structural) that is supported with textual references.
identify features of language that create voice and tone.
explain how devices such as staging, lighting, blocking, special effects, graphics, language, and other techniques unique to a non-print medium are used to create meaning and evoke response.
explain how common and universal experiences serve as the source of literary themes which cross time and cultures.
will assess the literary merit of a text.
1. Expectation: The student will compose oral, written, and visual presentations which inform, persuade, and express personal ideas. a. Indicators:
The student will compose:
to inform by using appropriate types of prose (e.g., to explain a process, to discuss cause and effect).
to describe, using prose and/or poetic forms.
to express personal ideas, using prose and/or poetic forms.
persuasive texts that support, modify, or refute a position and include effective rhetorical strategies.
2. Expectation: The student will compose texts using the pre-writing, drafting, and revision strategies of effective writers and speakers.
a. Indicators:
The student will:
use a variety of prewriting strategies to generate and develop ideas.
select and organize ideas for specific audiences and purposes.
revise texts for clarity, completeness, and effectiveness.
rehearse oral texts for effective application of diction, intonation, and rhetorical strategies, such as introductions, sequence, illustrations, and conclusions.
use suitable traditional and electronic resources to refine presentations and edit texts for effective and appropriate use of language and conventions, such as capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and pronunciation.
prepare the final product for presentation to an audience.
3. Expectation: The student will locate, retrieve, and use information from various sources to accomplish a purpose.
a. Indicators:
The student will:
identify sources of information on a self-selected and/or given topic.
use various information retrieval sources (traditional and electronic) to obtain information on a self-selected and/or given topic. Electronic sources include automated catalogs, CD ROM products, and on-line services like Internet, World-Wide Web, and others.
use a systematic process for recording, documenting, and organizing information.
take a position and support it with documented information from an authoritative source.
synthesize information from two or more sources to fulfill a self-selected or given purpose.
1. Expectation: The student will demonstrate understanding of the nature and structure of language, including grammar concepts and skills, to strengthen control of oral and written language. a. Indicators:
The student will:
determine the advantages and limitations of speech and writing when communicating in various situations for specific audiences and purposes.
describe how intonation, pitch, volume, pause, and rate all influence meaning.
explain how words are classified grammatically by meaning, position, form, and function.
differentiate grammatically complete sentences from non-sentences.
incorporate subjects, predicates, and modifiers when composing original sentences.
compound various sentence elementssubjects, predicates, modifiers, phrases, and clausesto link or contrast related ideas.
vary sentence types simple, complex, compound, and compound/complexto sustain reader or listener interest.
expand sentences by positioning clauses and phrases to function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.
recognize, combine, and transform basic sentence patterns to vary sentence structure, to emphasize selected ideas, and to achieve syntactic maturity.
2. Expectation: The student will identify how language choices in writing and speaking affect thoughts and feelings.
a. Indicators:
The student will:
choose a level of language, formal to informal, appropriate for a specific audience, situation, or purpose.
differentiate connotative from denotative meanings of words.
describe how readers or listeners might respond differently to the same words.
describe regional and social language differences.
describe the impact of regional and social variations of language on listener or reader response.
3. Expectation: The student will use capitalization, punctuation, and correct spelling appropriately.
a. Indicators:
The student will:
edit texts for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation using available resources.
use available resources to correct or confirm editorial choices.
1. Expectation: The student will describe the effect that a given text, heard or read, has on a listener or reader. a. Indicators:
The student will:
state and explain a personal response to a given text.
identify specific words, phrases, scenes, images, and symbols that support a personal response to a given text.
2. Expectation: The student will assess the effectiveness of choice of details, organizational pattern, word choice, syntax, use of figurative language, and rhetorical devices in the student's own composing.
a. Indicators:
The student will:
assess the effectiveness of diction that reveals his or her purpose.
explain how the specific language and expression used by the writer or speaker affects reader or listener response.
evaluate the use of transitions and their effectiveness in a text.
explain how repetitions of words, phrases, structural features, and ideas affect the meaning and/or tone of a text.
3. Expectation: The student will evaluate textual changes in a work and explain how these changes alter tone, clarify meaning, address a particular audience, or fulfill a purpose.
a. Indicators:
The student will:
alter the tone of his or her text by revising its diction.
justify revisions in syntax and diction from a previous draft of his or her same text by explaining how the change affects meaning.
alter his or her text to present the same content to a different audience via the same or different media.
compare the difference in effect of two text on a given subject.
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