Students will:
1. Use agreed-upon rules for informal and formal
discussions in small and large groups.
2. Pose questions, listen to the ideas of
others, and contribute their own information or ideas in group discussions
or interviews in order
to acquire new knowledge.
3. Make oral presentations that demonstrate
appropriate consideration of audience, purpose, and the information
to be conveyed.
4. Understand and acquire new vocabulary,
and use it correctly in reading and writing,
5. Analyze standard English grammar and usage,
and recognize how its vocabulary has developed and been
influenced by other languages.
6. Describe, analyze, and use appropriately
formal and informal English.
Students will:
7. Understand the nature of written English,
and the relationship of letters and spelling patterns to the sounds of
speech.
8. Identify the basic facts and main
ideas in a text and use them as the basis for interpretation.
9. Deepen their understanding of a literary
or non-literary work by relating it to its contemporary context or
historical background.
10. Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge
of the characteristics of different genres.
11. Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge
of theme in literature and provide evidence from the text to support
their understanding.
12. Identify, analyze and apply knowledge
of the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from the
text to support
their understanding.
13. Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge
of the purpose, structure, and elements of nonfiction or informational
materials and
provide evidence form the text to support their understanding.
14. Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge
of the themes, structure, and elements of poetry and provide evidence
from me text
to support their understanding.
15. Identify and analyze how an author's words
appeal to the senses, create imagery, suggest mood, and set tone
and provide
evidence from the text to support their understanding.
16. Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge
of the themes, structure, and elements of myths, traditional narratives,
and classical
literature and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
17. Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge
of the themes, structure, and elements of drama and provide evidence
from the text
to support their understanding.
18. Plan and present dramatic readings, recitations,
and performances that demonstrate appropriate
consideration
of audience and purpose.
Students will:
19. Write with a clear focus, coherent organization,
and sufficient detail.
20. Write for different audiences and purposes.
21. Demonstrate improvement in organization,
content, paragraph development, level of detail, style, tone, and
word choice
(diction) in their compositions after revising them.
22. Use knowledge of standard English conventions
in their writing, revising, and editing.
23. Organize ideas in writing in a way that
makes sense for their purpose.
24. Gather information from a variety of sources,
analyze and evaluate the quality of the information they obtain,
and use it
to answer their own questions.
25. Develop and use appropriate rhetorical,
logical, and stylistic criteria for assessing final versions of their
compositions
or research projects before presenting them to varied audiences.
Students will:
26. Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge
of the conventions, elements, and techniques of film, radio, video,
television,
multimedia productions, the Internet, and emerging technologies, and provide
evidence from the
works to support
their understanding.
27. Design and create coherent media productions
(audio, video, television, multimedia, Internet, and emerging
technologies)
with a clear controlling idea, adequate detail, and appropriate consideration
of audience,
purpose and
medium.
Style is a writer's individual way of writing.
Just as each of us has a particular, unique way of presenting ourselves,
writers have unique ways of presenting themselves. Our personalities shine
through the way we talk, the words we choose, the gestures we use, the
clothes we wear, etc. A writer has only language to express his/her personality.
The qualities below are the basic elements of a writer's style. Study them
carefully when you read a text, and you will gain a deeper understanding
of the author's purpose.
Diction
What kinds of words, phrases, and clauses
does the author use? Compare his/her word choice to what another person
might use. Figure out the rationale for the word choices and what effect
these choices have on the work as a whole.
ex. Author 1: Bill was unintelligent.
ex. Author 2: Bill, who couldn't add two and
two, was a neanderthal zipperhead with a pea-sized brain.
Images
What images does the author use? What does
he/she focus on in a sensory way? The kinds of images the author puts in
or leaves out reflect his/her style? Are they vibrant? Prominent? Plain?
Figure out what effect is created by the imagery or lack of it.
"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie."- Tenneva Jordan
"The best medicine in the world is a mother's kiss."- Anonymous
"My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it."- Mark Twain
"My mother is a fish." - William Faulkner
Details
What details does the author include and exclude
in the story? The kinds of details the author puts in or leaves out reflect
his/her style? Sometimes piling on details creates and effect. Sometimes
not mentioning things that you would expect to be mentioned forces a shift
in focus.
ex. An author describing a battlefield might
include paragraph after paragraph of details about the stench of rotting
bodies, but he might just say that soldiers died, or he might not even
mention death. Each method creates a specific effect. Look closely at what's
there and what's not there. Figure out why.
Language
What is the overall impression of the language
the author uses? Does it reflect knowledge? A particular profession? Intelligence?
Is it plain? Ornate? Simple? Clear? Figurative? Poetic? There is a big
difference between the flavor of the language in Huckleberry Finn
and the language in The Sound and the Fury. Figure out what the
effect of the language is on the meaning of the work.
Sentence
Structure
What are the sentences like? Are they simple
with one or two clauses? Do they have multiple phrases? Are they choppy?
Flowing? Sinuous like a snake? Are they loose, periodic, inverted? What
emotional impression do they leave? The huge sentences and paragraphs in
Crime
and Punishment reflect the guilt of Raskolnikov. The short simple sentences
in The Sun Also Rises reflect the lifestyle of the characters. Figure
out why the stucture is as it is. If it shifts, note that and figure out
why.
Before you can write an essay, you need to
have an idea as to what you will write. The problem is that sometimes you
do know what you want to write about, but you do not know how to begin
or how to go about it. This is the point where FREDCCDD can come in handy
because it gives you directions. It works by taking advantage of the fact
that there are only eight ways in which humans can explain anything. What
you do is brainstorm how you might write about a topic from each of the
eight ways listed below. When you finish with your list, pick the best
avenues of expression and begin freewriting about them. You'll probably
have more than you need so pick the most interesting points and begin writing.
Later, you can revise and edit.
Facts: Think of all that
you know about your topic. Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? List the key
points.
Reasons: Explain why
you think your topic is significant and valuable.
Examples: Come up with
as many examples (short and long) as you can that illustrate your topic.
Definitions: Define any
aspects of your topic that may be unfamiliar to your audience.
Comparisons/Contrasts:
Make connections between your topic and things that the reader may know
well.
Causes/Effects: Explain
what the effects of dealing with your topic are .
Descriptions: Give sensory
details about your topic or aspects of your topic - smell, touch, taste,
hearing, sight.
Details of Incidents:
People love stories. Think of any stories that you know that are associated
with your topic.
Poems can be very difficult to interpret because a lot of what they have to say is not written but is implied. A major problem that students have with interpreting poetry is that they read the poem once, assign it a personal meaning and try to get their meaning to match the information in the poem. Instead of jumping to conclusions, it is important for students to gather significant data about the poem before committing to an interpretation. This is the only way to get at the poet's meaning. Students need to look for clues, piece them together, and then interpret. The acronym below will help with this process.
Title: Ponder the title before reading the poem.
Paraphrase: Translate the poem into your own words.
Connotation: Contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal.
Attitude: Observe both the speaker’s and the poet’s attitude.
Shifts: Note shifts in the speaker’s and the poet’s attitude.
Title: Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive level.
Theme: Determine what the poet is saying.
Grammar Focus Areas
Key: I=introduce, R=reviewGRADE 9: Basics of Grammar Grade 10: Mechanics I I I I I R I R I R I R I R I R I R I Grade 11: The Sentence Grade 12: Style & Usage I I I I I R I R I R I R I R R R R R R R R R R R R R
Writing Focus Areas
9th
10th
11th
12th
Essay
Development
Paragraph Structure:
- Topic sentence
- Unity
- Concluding sentence
Essay Structure:
- Introduction
- Body
- Conclusion
- Supporting details
Essay Refinement:
· Coherence
· Order
· Topic development
Employing Writing Types:
- Exemplification
- Definition
- Classification
- Compare/Contrast
- Cause/Effect
- Process
Writing Process Focus
Pre-writing:
·Clustering
·Brainstorming
·Outlining
· 8 Specifics
Drafting:
· Unity
· Order
· Development
· Coherence
Revision:
· Vocabulary
· Voice
· Clarity
· Supporting details
Proofreading:
- Grammar
- Usage
- Wordiness
- Capitalization
- Punctuation
Editing Focus
Dependent and independent clauses
Punctuation and capitalization
Pronoun, verb and antecedent agreement/ misplaced and dangling modifiers
Matching type to practice
Writing Types
Descriptive, Expository, Compare/Contrast, Autobiography
- Exposition
- Cause & Effect
- Argumentation
- Writing prompts - MCAS
- Research techniques
- Exposition
- Writing from prompts
- Research techniques
- Writing prompts - SAT
- Personal narrative
- College essay
- Argumentation
- Position Paper
- Research Report
- Writing on Literature
Writing on
Genres
Writing on fiction
Writing on drama
Writing on poetry
Writing on literature (compare/contrast)
LITERARY TERMS MASTER LIST
Definitions Available On English Department Web SiteGRADE 9 GRADE 10 characterization alliteration climax assonance conflict colloquialism couplet/heroic couplet exposition imagery flashback irony/situational-dramatic-verbal hyperbole metaphor/simile imagery motif irony/situational-dramatic-verbal narration point of view personification mood plot onomatopoeia satire rhyme scheme setting stanza soliloquy thesis symbolism tone theme GRADE 11 GRADE 12 accent/beat/foot analogy allusion anecdote antagonist/protagonist anti hero aphorism archetype apostrophe caricature consonance catharsis blank verse chorus canto fate caricature hubris conceit in medias res connotation/denotation paradox foil rhetorical question iambic pentameter stereotype internal suspension of disbelief monologue kenning rhyme scheme tragic flaw tragic irony Copyright © 2002
