Harwich Public Schools

English Language Arts Curriculum

(10 February 2005)

 

Grade:            Ten

 

GENERAL STANDARD 1: Discussion

Students will use agreed-upon rules for informal and formal discussions Min small and large groups.

Group discussion is effective when students listen actively, stay on topic, consider the ideas of others, avoid sarcasm and personal remarks, take turns, and gain the floor in appropriate ways. Following agreed-upon rules promotes self-discipline and reflects respect for others.

 

1.5 Identify and practice techniques such as setting time limits for speakers and deadlines for decision-making to improve productivity of group discussions.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Identify and practice techniques such as setting time limits for speakers and deadlines for decision-making to improve productivity of group discussions

For example, in preparation for a student council meeting, students plan an agenda for discussion, including how long they will allow each speaker to present a case or argument. They build into their agenda time for making

decisions and taking votes on key issues.

 

Rules for Socratic Seminar Rubric

Participation in Socratic Seminar

 

 

GENERAL STANDARD 2: Questioning, Listening, and Contributing

Students will 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. Group discussions may lead students to greater complexity of thought as they expand on the ideas of others, refine initial ideas, pose  hypotheses, and work toward solutions to intellectual problems. Group work helps students gain a deeper understanding of themselves as they reflect upon and express orally their own thinking in relation to that of others.

 

2.5 Summarize in a coherent and organized way information and ideas learned from a focused discussion.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Summarize in a coherent and organized way information and ideas learned from a focused discussion

For example, students discuss similarities and differences in the presentation of adolescent issues, coming of age, and prejudice in society by authors such as John Steinbeck and J.D. Salinger, and then summarize what they learned from the discussion, noting those similarities and differences

Literature Anthology

Of Mice and Men

Catcher In The Rye

Skits/Presentations

Discussion Rubric

Journals/Diaries

Compare/Contrast Essay

Written Quiz/Test

 

 

 

 

GENERAL STANDARD 3: Oral Presentation

Students will make oral presentations that demonstrate appropriate consideration of audience, purpose, and the information to be conveyed.

Planning an effective presentation requires students to make an appropriate match between their intended audience and the choice of presentation style, level of formality, and format. Frequent opportunities to plan presentations for various purposes and to speak before different groups help students learn how to gain and keep an audience’s attention, interest, and respect.

 

3.14 Give formal and informal talks to various audiences and for various purposes using appropriate level of formality and rhetorical devices.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Give formal and informal talks to various audiences and for various purposes using appropriate level of formality and rhetorical devices

For example, students give an informal talk for the purpose of sales or charitable donations.

Pigman

Audience response—peer reactions

Soliciting Donations Rubric

 

3.15 Analyze effective speeches made for a variety of purposes and prepare and deliver a speech containing some of these features.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Analyze effective speeches made for a variety of purposes and prepare and deliver a speech containing some of these features

For example, students study the rhetoric of formal speaking by reading

or listening to such memorable speeches as John F. Kennedy’s inaugural

address, one of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “fireside chats,” or Susan B.

Anthony’s “Petition to Congress for Women’s Suffrage.” After analyzing

several of these models, students write and deliver a short persuasive

speech on a current topic of interest.

Famous speeches

Identification and labeling of rhetorical devices

Delivery of persuasive speech

 

3.16 Create an appropriate scoring guide to prepare, improve, and assess presentations.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Create an appropriate scoring guide to prepare, improve, and assess presentations.

 

 

Students work in small groups to brainstorm and generate criteria for effective oral presentations

Scoring guide template

Sample scoring guides

Creation and explanation of rubric

 

 

 

GENERAL STANDARD 4: Vocabulary and Concept Development

Students will understand and acquire new vocabulary and use it correctly in reading and writing. Our ability to think clearly and communicate with precision depends on our individual store of words. A rich vocabulary enables students to understand what they read, and to speak and write with flexibility and control. As students employ a variety of strategies for acquiring new vocabulary, the delight in finding and using that perfect word can heighten interest in vocabulary itself.

 

4.23 Identify and use correctly idioms, cognates, words with literal and figurative meanings, and patterns of word changes that indicate different meanings or functions.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Identify and use correctly

      idioms

 

     cognates

 

      words with literal and  

      figurative meanings

 

     patterns of word changes that     

     indicate different meanings or    

     functions.

 

For example, students read A Yellow Raft In Blue Water and identify examples of idioms, cognates, and words with literal and figurative meanings in the text. Students then use the examples in a literary essay that focuses on patterns of word changes and how they indicate different meanings or functions in the writing.

 

Also, students read and do exercises from chapter 13 of the Elements of Writing, Third Course text that help them to understand the multiple layers and meanings of words and then write and advertisement applying what they learned.

A Yellow Raft In Blue Water

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 13 of the Elements of Writing, Third Course, pages 455-460.

Expository writing

Writing Rubric

 

 

 

 

 

 

Student-produced advertisement

Ad Rubric

 

4.24 Use knowledge of Greek, Latin, and Norse mythology, the Bible, and other works often alluded to in British and American literature to understand the meanings of new words.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Use knowledge of

     Greek

     Latin

     Norse mythology

     the Bible

     and other works often alluded  

     to in British and American 

     literature to understand the meanings of new words

For example, students come across the word narcissistic in a literary work

and reread the myth of Narcissus and Echo to understand the meaning of narcissistic. After they encounter the words genetic or mercury in their readings for science, they read a portion of Genesis to understand genetic,

or the myth about the god Mercury to understand the meaning of mercury or mercurial.

 

Greek Mythology

The Bible

Test/Quiz

Whole-class Discussion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.25 Use general dictionaries, specialized dictionaries, thesauruses, or related references as needed to increase learning.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Use

     general dictionaries

     specialized dictionaries

     thesauruses

   related references

 

as needed to increase learning.

 

For example, students are given a list of vocabulary words from a text such as Catcher In The Rye.  They must look up the definition, word origin, and at least one synonym for each word using a standard dictionary, etymological dictionary, and/or thesaurus. Students must then use each word correctly in a piece of writing. 

Collegiate Dictionary

Thesaurus

Oxford English Dictionary

Etymological Dictionary

Dictionary.com

Test/Quiz

Creative/Expository writing

Short response writing

 

 

 

GENERAL STANDARD 5: Structure and Origins of Modern English

Students will analyze standard English grammar and usage and recognize how its vocabulary has developed and been influenced by other languages.

The English language has changed through time and through contact with other languages. An understanding of its history helps students appreciate the extraordinary richness of its vocabulary, which continues to grow. The study of its grammar and usage gives students more control over the meaning they intend in their writing and speaking.

 

5.23 Identify simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Identify simple

     compound

     complex

     compound-complex sentences

For example, students write an imaginative or expository piece and use peer editing to identify compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences, or lack of sentence variety in the writing.

Student-generated imaginative or expository writing

 

Peer editing form/checklist

Peer editing feedback form

 

5.24 Identify nominalized, adjectival, and adverbial clauses.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Identify

     nominalized clauses

     adjectival clauses

     adverbial clauses

For example, students read and do exercises from chapter 17 of the Elements of Writing, Third Course text that help them to identify the three types of clauses.

Chapter 17 of the Elements of Writing, Third Course

Test/Quiz

Exercises from textbook

 

 

 

 

 

5.25 Recognize the functions of verbals: participles, gerunds, and infinitives.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Recognize the functions of verbals:

     participles

     gerunds

     infinitives

For example, students read and do exercises from chapter 16 of the Elements of Writing, Third Course text that help them to identify the three types of verbals.

Chapter 16 of the Elements of Writing, Third Course

Test/Quiz

Exercises from textbook

 

5.26 Analyze the structure of a sentence (traditional diagram, transformational model).

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Analyze the structure of a sentence

     traditional diagram 

     transformational model

For example, students read and do exercises from chapter 16 of the Elements of Writing, Third Course text that help them to analyze the structure of a sentence

Chapter 16 of the Elements of Writing, Third Course

Test/Quiz

Exercises from textbook

 

5.27 Identify rhetorically functional sentence structure (parallelism, properly placed modifiers).

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Identify rhetorically functional sentence structure

     parallelism

 

    properly placed modifiers

For example, students write an imaginative or expository piece and use peer editing to identify parallelism in the writing.

 

For example, students read and do exercises from chapter 21 of the Elements of Writing, Third Course text that helps them to identify properly placed modifiers.

Student-generated imaginative or expository writing

Peer editing form/checklist

 

Chapter 16 of the Elements of Writing, Third Course

Peer editing feedback form

 

 

 

Test/Quiz

Exercises from textbook

 

5.28 Identify correct mechanics (semicolons, colons, hyphens), correct usage (tense consistency), and correct sentence structure (parallel structure).

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Identify correct mechanics

     semicolons

     colons

     hyphens

correct usage

     tense consistency

correct sentence structure

    parallel structure

For example, students read and do exercises from chapters 22-28  of the Elements of Writing, Third Course text that help them to identify correct mechanics, punctuation, usage and sentence structure.

    Also, students write an imaginative or expository piece and use peer editing to identify parallelism in the writing.

 

Chapters 22-28 of the Elements of Writing, Third Course

 

 

 

Student-generated imaginative or expository writing

Peer editing form/checklist

 

Test/Quiz

Exercises from textbook

 

 

 

Peer editing feedback form

 

 

5.29 Describe the origins and meanings of common words and foreign words or phrases used frequently in written English, and show their relationship to historical events or developments (glasnost, coup d’état).

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Describe the origins and meanings of common words and foreign words or phrases used frequently in written English

 

Show their relationship to historical events or developments (glasnost, coup d’état).

For example, students read and do exercises from chapter 13 of the Elements of Writing, Third Course text that help them to describe the origins and uses of the English language.

Chapter 13 of the Elements of Writing, Third Course

Test/Quiz

Exercises from textbook

 

 

GENERAL STANDARD 6: Formal and Informal English

Students will describe, analyze, and use appropriately formal and informal English.

Study of different forms of the English language helps students to understand that people use different levels of formality in their writing and speaking as well as a variety of regional and social dialects in their conversational language.

 

6.8 Identify content-specific vocabulary, terminology, or jargon unique to particular social or professional groups.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Identify content-specific vocabulary, terminology, or jargon unique to particular social or professional groups

For example, students read Catcher In The Rye and identify passages in text that reveal the dialect and jargon of southern culture and craft an essay discussing the importance of the language to understanding the major themes of the text.

Catcher In The Rye

Expository writing

Writing Rubric

 

6.9 Identify differences between the voice, tone, diction, and syntax used in media presentations (documentary films, news broadcasts, taped interviews) and these elements in informal speech.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Identify differences between the  

     voice

     tone

     diction

     syntax

used in media presentations (documentary films, news broadcasts, taped interviews) and these elements in informal speech

For example, students watch and analyze a news broadcast to compare the voice, tone, diction and syntax of the newscaster and the people interviewed for the story.

Compare/Contrast T-chart

T-chart

Whole-class discussion

 

GENERAL STANDARD 8: Understanding a Text

Students will identify the basic facts and main ideas in a text and use them as the basis for interpretation. (For vocabulary and concept development see General Standard 4.) When we read a text closely, we work carefully to discern the author’s main ideas and the particular facts and details that support them. Good readers read thoughtfully and purposefully, constantly checking their understanding of the author’s intent and meaning so that their interpretations will be sound.

 

For imaginative/literary texts:

8.29 Identify and analyze patterns of imagery and symbolism.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Identify and analyze patterns of imagery and symbolism

Students will read texts, such as, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, or selected poems and identify passages using imagery and symbolism to convey a message, emotion, or theme. Students then craft a piece of writing that mimics or emulates the writing style and uses imagery or symbolism.

Lord of the Flies

Animal Farm

Writing simulation/emulation of authors style and language use.

Written Test or Quiz

 

8.30 Identify and interpret themes and give supporting evidence from a text.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Identify and interpret themes and give supporting evidence from a text

Students will read texts, such as, Catcher In The Rye, or, Of Mice and Men, and identify passages from the text that convey the major themes of the work.

Catcher In The Rye

Of Mice and Men

Expository writing

Writing Rubrics

 

For informational/expository texts:

8.31 Analyze the logic and use of evidence in an author’s argument.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Analyze the logic and use of evidence in an author’s argument

For example, students read and analyze a persuasive essay such as Calling Arthur Murray, paying particular attention to the logic and use of evidence in the author’s argument.

The Elements of Writing; pages 305-306

Persuasive essay

Writing Rubric

 

 

GENERAL STANDARD 9: Making Connections

Students will deepen their understanding of a literary or non-literary work by relating it to its contemporary context or historical background.

By including supplementary reading selections that provide relevant historical and artistic background, teachers deepen students’ understanding of individual literary works and broaden their capacity to connect literature to other manifestations of the creative impulse.

 

 

9.6 Relate a literary work to primary source documents of its literary period or historical setting.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Relate a literary work to primary source documents of its literary period or historical setting.

 

For example, students read Of Mice and Men and then research newspaper articles related to the Great Depression to deepen their understanding of the historical context in which the book was written.

 

Of Mice and Men

 

Expository Essay

Research Paper Rubric

 

 

GENERAL STANDARD 10: Genre

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the characteristics of different genres. We become better readers by understanding both the structure and the conventions of different genres. A student who knows the formal qualities of a genre is able to anticipate how the text will evolve, appreciate the nuances that make a given text unique, and rely on this knowledge to make a deeper and subtler interpretation of the meaning of the text.

 

10.5 Compare and contrast the presentation of a theme or topic across genres to explain how the selection of genre shapes the message.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Compare and contrast the presentation of a theme or topic across genres to explain how the selection of genre shapes the message

For example, students compare and contrast the themes of love and alienation in selected poems and contemporary music lyrics.

 

Poems from the text

Popular music choices selected by the students

Lyrics from internet sources

Oral Presentation

Outlining and identification of similarities through use of essays and checklists

 

 

GENERAL STANDARD 11: Theme (Continued)

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of theme in a literary work and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

 

11.5 Apply knowledge of the concept that the theme or meaning of a selection represents a view or comment on life, and provide support from the text for the identified themes.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Apply knowledge of the concept that the theme or meaning of a selection represents a view or comment on life

 

 provide support from the text for the identified themes

For example, students analyze and compare selections such as Catcher In The Rye and A Yellow Raft In Blue Water to identify the theme of coming of age. Students then compose a comparison/contrast essay on the theme using specific examples from the texts to support their ideas.

 

Catcher In The Rye

Yellow Raft in Blue Water

Unit essays comparing two or more novels that share the same theme through use of evidence (quotes) from the text.

 

 

GENERAL STANDARD 12: Fiction

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. We learn from stories. They are vehicles for a student’s development of empathy, of moral sensibility, and of understanding. The identification and analysis of elements of fiction—plot, conflict, setting, character development, and foreshadowing—make it possible for students to think more critically about stories, to respond to them in more complex ways, to reflect on their meanings, and to compare them to each other.

 

12.5 Locate and analyze such elements in fiction as point of view, foreshadowing, and irony.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Locate and analyze such elements in fiction as

     point of view

     foreshadowing

     irony.

 

For example, after reading a short story, students work in small groups to analyze the story for point of view, foreshadowing and irony. The groups then present evidence supporting their ideas to the class

Anthology of Short Stories

Small group discussion rubric

Tests and Quizzes

Rewrite lines from story so they are from a different point of view

Essay

 

GENERAL STANDARD 13: Nonfiction

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the purpose, structure, and elements of nonfiction or informational materials and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Most students regularly read newspapers, magazines, journals, or textbooks. The identification and understanding of common expository organizational structures help students to read challenging nonfiction material. Knowledge of the textual and graphic features of nonfiction extends a student’s control in reading and writing informational texts.

 

13.24 Analyze the logic and use of evidence in an author’s argument

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Analyze the logic and use of evidence in an author’s argument

 

 

Students will read Kennedy’s Inaugural address and assess the effectiveness of his argument.

Various autobiographies from text, speeches and current newspapers and journals.

Class discussion

Persuasive essays

Tests/quizzes

 

13.25 Analyze and explain the structure and elements of nonfiction works.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Analyze and explain the structure and elements of nonfiction works.

 

For example, students analyze the structure and elements of Nicholas Gage’s Eleni, Helen Keller’s Story of My Life, Mary McCarthy’s Memories of a Catholic Girlhood, or Andrew X. Pham’s Catfish and Mandala and compose their own autobiographies or biographies.

 

Catfish and Mandala

Eleni

Story of My Life

Memories of a Catholic Girlhood

Biography

Autobiography

Biography Rubric

Autobiography Rubric

 

 

 

GENERAL STANDARD 14: Poetry

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the theme, structure, and elements of poetry and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. (See also Standard 15.) From poetry we learn the language of heart and soul, with particular attention paid to rhythm and sound, compression and precision, the power of images, and the appropriate use of figures of speech. And yet it is also the genre that is most playful in its attention to language, where rhyme, pun, and hidden meanings are constant surprises. The identification and analysis of the elements generally associated with poetry— metaphor, simile, personification, and alliteration—have an enormous impact on student reading and writing not only in poetry, but in other genres as well.

 

14.5 Identify, respond to, and analyze the effects of sound, form, figurative language, graphics, and dramatic structure of poems:

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Identify, respond to, and analyze the effects of sound, form, figurative language, graphics, and dramatic structure of poems:

• sound (alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhyme scheme, consonance, assonance)

• form (ballad, sonnet, heroic couplets)

• figurative language (personification, metaphor, simile, hyperbole,

symbolism)

• dramatic structure

For example, students respond to, analyze, and compare a variety of poems that exemplify the range of the poet’s dramatic power—such as Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess, ”Elizabeth Bishop’s “Fish,” Robert Frost’s

“Out, out . . .” (along with Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act V), Amy Lowell’s

“Patterns,” and Edwin Markham’s “Man with the Hoe.”

 

Anthology of Poetry

Test/quizzes

Essay

Rubrics for original work incorporating similar literary techniques

 

 

GENERAL STANDARD 15: Style and Language

Students will 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. (See also Standard 14.) Above all, authors are wordsmiths, plying their craft at the level of word and sentence—adding, subtracting, and substituting, changing word order, even using punctuation to shift the rhythm and flow of language. Much of a student’s delight in reading can come from identifying and analyzing how an author shapes a text.

 

15.7 Evaluate how an author’s choice of words advances the theme or purpose of a work.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment

Evaluate how an author’s choice of words advances the theme or purpose of a work

For example, while viewing a historical documentary, students analyze how the scripted voice-over narration complements the spoken excerpts from period diaries, letters, and newspaper reports.

 

Shakespeare In The Classroom video

Quiz/Test

 

 

15.8 Identify and describe the importance of sentence variety in the overall effectiveness of an imaginary/literary or informational/expository work.

 

Student Learning Outcomes  

Instructional Strategies

Texts/ Materials

Assessment