Standards

Enduring Understandings - important ideas that students should carry with them years beyond the instruction received this year.

• Effective readers analyze text to make predictions and draw conclusions; infer purpose of text.

• Effective readers apply different strategies and skills to understand a variety of texts.

• Effective readers can locate meanings, pronunciations, spellings, and derivations of unfamiliar words, and can use and apply new words in other contexts to improve vocabulary.

• Effective readers identify and incorporate relevant, personal knowledge in order to connect with the text.

Essential Questions - most important “big picture” questions students should be able to answer after completing learning activities.

• What is text?  How do we apply different strategies and skills to understand a variety of texts?

• How do we communicate?  What is effective communication?  Why does effective communication require a process?

• What is standard English?  Why do we need to know and use standard English rules?

• How do we apply stylistic elements and appropriate formats?

• What is critical thinking?  How do we think critically in our lives?

• What is literature?  How can we make personal connections through literature?

• What makes us human?

Standards
  Highest Frequency Standards High Frequency Standards Other Standards & E-skills

Reading

1c/4e.  Analyze main idea and supporting details in a variety of text and genre/Analyze a text's main idea and use relevant details to support the analysis.

1d.  Infer by making connections within and among texts.

4a.  Identify an author's purpose and the text's historical/cultural context from information presented in the text.

4d.  Analyze a variety of text in order to make predictions and draw conclusions.

4b.  Use reading and writing skills to solve problems, list possible solutions, and provide support for the solutions.

6a.  Read and respond to a variety of literature (for example:  novels, poetry, short stories, nonfiction and plays) that represents perspectives from places, people, and events that are familiar and unfamiliar.

1g.  Determine meanings of words, including those with multiple meanings, by using context clues (for example:  synonyms, comparisons) and structural clues (for example:  roots, suffixes, prefixes).

5f.  Locate meanings, pronunciations, and derivations of unfamiliar words using dictionaries, glossaries, and other sources.

6c.  Read a given text, identify the theme, and provide support from the text.

6b.  Apply literary terminology and knowledge of literary techniques (including, but not limited to, rising action, style, mood, setting, protagonist, antagonist, point of view, foreshadowing, personification, or flashback) to understand the text.

Writing

2a.  Write in a variety of genres.

2b.1  Organize writing using a variety of text structures (for example:  compare/contrast or problem/solution).
2b.2  Organize writing so that it has an engaging introduction, development of ideas, and a purposeful conclusion.
2c.  Use vivid and precise language and imagery as appropriate to audience and purpose.
2f.  Vary sentence structure and length to enhance meaning, clarity, and fluency.
2g.  Develop main ideas and content with relevant support and explanation in response to a prompt.

3a.  Edit for conventional grammar.
3b.  Use standard English usage in writing, including pronoun/antecedent agreement, subject/verb agreement, regular/irregular verbs, and correct modifiers.
3c.  Write in complete sentences.
3d.  Use conventions correctly.

3e.  Use conventional spelling.

3f.  Use paragraphing correctly so that each paragraph is differentiated by indenting or blocking and includes one major, focused idea.
2d.  Plan, draft, revise, and edit for a legible final copy.

2e.  Write in format (for example:  letters, lab reports, business communications, summaries, and essays) and voice appropriate to purpose and audience.  

District 11 Diamond Units/Lessons Overview - includes information about the purpose, goals and structure of these sample instructional units.

• Quarter 1
  August - September Unit: Fiction and Theme
  September Unit: Literary Elements
  October Unit: Comparing and Contrasting Literature

• Quarter 2
  October November Unit:
  December Unit:

• Quarter 3
  January Unit:
  February Unit:
  March Unit:

• Quarter 4
  April - May Unit: