STANDARD 3: Language Arts Literacy

Standard 3.1 Reading

All students will understand and apply the knowledge of sounds, letters, and words in written English to become independent and fluent readers and will read a variety of materials and texts with fluency and comprehension.

Big Idea: The ability to read a variety of texts requires independence, comprehension, and fluency.
3.1.8 A. Concepts About Print
Essential Questions	Enduring Understandings
- How does understanding a text’s structure help me better understand its meaning?	- Understanding of a text’s features, structures, and characteristics facilitate the reader’s ability to make meaning of the text.
Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators	Comments and Examples
1. Identify and use organizational structures to comprehend information. (e.g., logical order, comparison/contrast, cause/effect, chronological, sequential, procedural text).
3.1.8 B. Phonological Awareness: No additional indicators at this grade level
3.1.8 C. Decoding and Word Recognition
Essential Questions	Enduring Understandings
- How do I figure out a word I do not know?	- Readers use language structure and context clues to identify the intended meaning of words and phrases as they are used in text.
Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators	Comments and Examples
1. Distinguish among the spellings of homophones to determine meaning (e.g. cite, site, sight).
2. Apply spelling and syllabication rules that aid in decoding and word recognition.
3. Continue to use structural analysis and context analysis to decode new words.	Instructional focus: • Root words • Prefixes and suffixes • Polysyllabic words ASSESS during teacher observation.
4. Apply knowledge of word structures and patterns to read with automaticity.
3.1.8 D. Fluency
Essential Questions	Enduring Understandings
- How does fluency affect comprehension?	- Fluent readers group words quickly to help them gain meaning from what they read
Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators	Comments and Examples
1. Read grade-level text orally with high accuracy and appropriate pacing, intonation, and expression.
2. Read increasingly difficult texts silently with comprehension and fluency.
3. Apply self-correcting strategies automatically to decode and gain meaning from print both orally and silently.
4. Adjust reading rate in response to the type of text and level of difficulty (e.g. recreational reading vs. informational reading).
3.1.8 E. Reading Strategies (before, during, and after reading)
Essential Questions	Enduring Understandings
-What do readers do when they do not understand everything in a text?	- Good readers employ strategies to help them understand text. Strategic readers can develop, select, and apply strategies to enhance their comprehension.
Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators	Comments and Examples
1. Monitor reading for understanding by automatically setting a purpose for reading, making and adjusting predictions, asking essential questions, and relating new learning to background experiences
2. Use increasingly complex text guides to understand different text structure and organizational patterns (e.g. chronological sequence or comparison and contrast).
3.1.8 F. Vocabulary and Concept Development
Essential Questions	Enduring Understandings
-What do readers do when they do not understand everything in a text?	- Words powerfully affect meaning
Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators	Comments and Examples
1. Develop and refine an extended vocabulary through listening and exposure to a variety of texts and independent reading.
2. Clarify word meanings through the use of a word’s definition, example, restatement, or contrast.
3. Clarify pronunciations, meanings, alternate word choice, parts of speech, and etymology of words using the dictionary, thesaurus, glossary, and technology resources.
4. Expand reading vocabulary by identifying and correctly using idioms and words with literal and figurative meanings in their speaking and writing experiences.
5. Explain relationships between and among words including connotation/denotation, antonyms/synonyms, and words with multiple meanings.	Instructional focus: • Vocabulary instruction ASSESS through class discussion.
3.1.8 G. Comprehension Skills and Response to Text
Essential Questions	Enduring Understandings
- How do readers construct meaning from text?	- Good readers compare, infer, synthesize, and make connections (text to text, text to world, text to self) to make text personally relevant and useful.
Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators	Comments and Examples
1. Differentiate between fact/opinion and bias and propaganda in newspapers, periodicals, and electronic texts.	Instructional focus: • Detailed studies of fact and opinion, bias and propaganda through research and popular media (includes editorials, ad campaigns, celebrity endorsements from popular culture) Examples: • Critique advertising programs, current and historical for use of propaganda techniques. • Examine websites for propaganda and bias.
2. Compare and analyze several authors’ perspectives of a character, personality, topic, setting, or event.
3. Analyze ideas and recurring themes found in texts, such as good versus evil, across traditional and contemporary works.	Instructional focus: • Higher order thinking/deductive reasoning (Ask: What character traits make the novel’s protagonist likeable/not likeable? If the character had not grown up during the time in which the novel was written/set, in what ways would he/she have been different?)
4. Locate and analyze the elements of setting, characterization, and plot to construct understanding of how characters influence the progression and resolution of the plot.	Instructional strategies: • Teacher read alouds • Literature circles • Partner reading and discussion ASSESS through class discussion. Example: Respond to literature by keeping a journal of a character’s development as a story progresses. Include references to events in the story that either influenced the character or which the character influenced.
5. Read critically by identifying, analyzing, and applying knowledge of the purpose, structure, and elements of nonfiction and providing support from the text as evidence of understanding.	Instructional strategies: • Independent reading • Partner reading and discussion • Small group guided reading at students’ instructional levels • Teacher read alouds that include thinking aloud and other uses of comprehension strategies that make the process of reading nonfiction text transparent for students ASSESS through Problem-Based Learning. Example: Students use expository text to research and report on a scientific discovery made in the last 50 years. Reports can be research papers or media presentations.
6. Read critically by identifying, analyzing, and applying knowledge of the theme, structure, style, and literary elements of fiction and providing support from the text as evidence of understanding.	Instructional focus: • Theme and its relevance to the text • Structure and how it clarifies the reader’s understanding • Style and how the author chose to tell the story or relate the information (Ask: Is the style informal? Formal? Does the author connect with you? Why? Why not? On what level? What would you have done differently if you were to write a similar piece?) • Literary elements (Ask: Is this setting relevant or could this story take place anywhere and at any time? How does the story evolve? Are you sure about what will happen next? Were you surprised? In what ways does the author use dialogue to make you a part of the story? Does the dialogue distract from the story? Is dialect or slang an enhancement or a distraction? Does its use make you connect to the story/characters?) ASSESS through class discussion.
7. Respond critically to text ideas and the author’s craft by using textual evidence to support interpretations.	Instructional focus: • Reflective reading (Ask: How do you interpret this passage/story? How does it differ from others’ interpretation? What makes that interpretation so different or so much the same?) ASSESS through class discussion. Example: Discuss your interpretation of a poem or a narrative with a partner. Create a presentation that demonstrates what led each of you to interpret the text in the way that you did, and present to the class.
8. Identify and analyze literary techniques and elements, such as figurative language, meter, rhetorical, and stylistic features of text.	Instructional strategy Ask: • What particular features of the text make it easy or difficult to read? Explain. ASSESS through journal writing.
9. Identify and analyze recurring themes across literary works.
10. Read critically and analyze poetic forms (e.g., ballad, sonnet, couplet).
11. Identify and understand the author’s use of idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes in prose and poetry.	Instructional focus: • Figurative language ASSESS through writing assignments (responding to and creating prose and poetry).
12. Understand perspectives of authors in a variety of interdisciplinary works.
13. Interpret text ideas through journal writing, discussion, and enactment.
14. Demonstrate the use of everyday texts (e.g., train schedules, directions, brochures) and make judgments about the importance of such documents.
15. Compare and analyze the various works of writers through an author’s study.
3.1.8 H. Inquiry and Research
Essential Questions	Enduring Understandings
- Why conduct research?	- Researchers gather and critique information from different sources for specific purposes.
Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators	Comments and Examples
1. Produce written and oral work that demonstrates comprehension of informational materials.
2. Analyze a work of literature, showing how it reflects the heritage, traditions, attitudes, and beliefs of its authors.	Instructional strategies: • Teacher read alouds with attention to author’s intent, views, culture and beliefs • Guided reading, with teacher as facilitator, to improve comprehension at student’s instructional level • Independent reading by students and subsequent demonstration of each student’s understanding of author’s point of view, historical references and cultural biases • Demonstration of understanding of an author’s point of view through multimedia projects and activities and other project-based learning • Integration of the study of an author’s point of view with a focus on the historical perspective during the time in which the piece was written ASSESS through student writing assignments. Example: Write an essay that explains how a tradition found in a literary passage reflects the attitudes or beliefs of its author
3. Collect materials for a portfolio that reflect personal career choices.
4. Self-select materials appropriately related to a research project.
5. Read and compare at least two works, including books, related to the same genre, topic, or subject and produce evidence of reading (e.g., compare central ideas, characters, themes, plots, settings).

Standard 3.2 Writing All students will write in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and form for different audiences and purposes.
Big Idea: Writing is the process of communicating in print for a variety of audiences and purposes.
3.2.8 A. Writing as a Process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, postwriting)
Essential Questions	Enduring Understandings
- How do good writers express themselves? How does process shape the writer’s product?	- Good writers develop and refine their ideas for thinking, learning, communicating, and aesthetic expression.
Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators	Comments and Examples
1. Write stories or scripts with well-developed characters, setting, dialogue, clear conflict and resolution, and sufficient descriptive detail.	Instructional focus: • Writing Process Example: Students write a play that examines a community issue, e.g., preservation of historic landmarks or parks.
2. Write multi-paragraph compositions that have clear topic development, logical organization, effective use of detail, and variety in sentence structure.	Instructional focus: • Writing Process Example: Students write multi-paragraph compositions about graduation requirements for their district and their goals for meeting them.
3. Generate and narrow topics by considering purpose, audience, and form with a variety of strategies (e.g., graphic organizers, brainstorming, technology-assisted processes).
4. Revise and edit drafts by rereading for content and organization, usage, sentence construction, mechanics, and word choice.
5. Utilize the New Jersey Registered Holistic scoring rubric to improve and evaluate their writing and the writing of peers.
6. Compose, revise, edit, and publish writing using appropriate word processing software.
7. Reflect on own writing, noting strengths and setting goals for improvement.
3.2.8 B. Writing as a Product (resulting in a formal product or publication)
Essential Questions	Enduring Understandings
- How do writers develop a well written product?	- Good writers use a repertoire of strategies that enables them to vary form and style, in order to write for different purposes, audiences, and contexts.
Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators	Comments and Examples
1. Extend knowledge of specific characteristics, structures, and appropriate voice and tone of selected genres and use this knowledge in creating written work, considering the purpose, audience, and context of the writing.
2. Write various types of prose, such as short stories, biographies, autobiographies, or memoirs that contain narrative elements.	Instructional focus: • Genre studies ASSESS through Problem-Based Learning. Examples: • Students write a sequel to a short story, using the same characters. • Students write an “academic biography” (chronicle their academic life).
3. Write reports and subject-appropriate nonfiction pieces across the curriculum based on research and including citations, quotations, and a works cited page.
4. Write a range of essays, including persuasive, speculative (picture prompt), descriptive, personal, or issue-based.	Instructional focus: • Essay writing Example Writing Prompts: • You no longer have access to technology in your everyday life. Describe how your life changes. • The driving age is raised to 19. Write to persuade local officials to keep or change the age restriction. • Describe your personal hope for the future.
3.2.8 C. Mechanics, Spelling, and Handwriting
Essential Questions	Enduring Understandings
- How do rules of language affect communication?	- Rules, conventions of language, help readers understand what is being communicated.
Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators	Comments and Examples
1. Use Standard English conventions in all writing, such as sentence structure, grammar and usage, punctuation, capitalization, spelling.	Instructional strategies: • Students review exemplar essays. • Students edit sample essays. Example: Use peer editing for student-generated work.
2. Use a variety of sentence types correctly, including combinations of independent and dependent clauses, prepositional and adverbial phrases, and varied sentence openings to develop a lively and effective personal style.
3. Understand and use parallelism, including similar grammatical forms, to present items in a series or to organize ideas for emphasis.
4. Refine the use of subordination, coordination, apposition, and other devices to indicate relationships between ideas.
5. Use transition words to reinforce a logical progression of ideas	Instructional focus: • Segues • Transition words ASSESS through writing assignments using a rubric.
6. Edit writing for correct grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
7. Use a variety of reference materials, such as a dictionary, thesaurus, grammar reference, and/or internet/software resources to edit written work.
8. Write legibly in manuscript or cursive to meet district standards.
3.2.8 D. Writing Forms, Audiences, and Purposes (exploring a variety of forms)
Essential Questions	Enduring Understandings
- Why does a writer choose a particular form of writing?	- A writer selects a form based on audience and purpose.
Areas of Focus/Cumulative Progress Indicators	Comments and Examples
1. Gather, select, and organize the most effective information appropriate to a topic, task, and audience.
2. Apply knowledge and strategies for composing pieces in a variety of genres (e.g., narrative, expository, persuasive, poetic, and everyday/ workplace or technical writing).
3. Write responses to literature and develop insights into interpretations by connecting to personal experiences and referring to textual information.	Instructional focus: • Writing for a purpose Example: Students keep a journal or notebook where responses to literature become daily entries and where connections are made to the students’ personal experiences.
4. Write personal narratives, short stories, memoirs, poetry, and persuasive and expository text that relate clear, coherent events, or situations through the use of specific details.	Instructional focus: • Writing for a purpose—to provide detail Example: • Students examine expository pieces, e.g., after listening to a political speech, students will list words and phrases intended to incite, cause listeners to react or that are exaggerated. Then students write a speech or persuasive piece using this language of persuasion.
5. Use narrative and descriptive writing techniques that show compositional risks (e.g., dialogue, literary devices sensory words and phrases, background information, thoughts and feelings of characters, comparison and contrast of characters.)	Instructional focus: • Narrative and descriptive writing techniques Examples: • Using graphic organizers, students compare and contrast characters from novels and explain in narrative how the • Students write sequels to stories, using the same characters, including dialogue between two characters.
6. Use a variety of primary and secondary sources to understand the value of each when writing a research report.
7. Write reports based on research and include citations, quotations, and works cited page
8. Explore the central idea or theme of an informational reading and support analysis with details from the article and personal experiences.	Instructional focus: • Central idea or theme of an informational reading ASSESS through writing assignments. Example: Students write about a recent medical breakthrough/research and its relationship to the lives of teens.
9. Demonstrate writing clarity and supportive evidence when answering open-ended and essay questions across the curriculum.
10. State a position clearly and convincingly in a persuasive essay by stating the issue, giving facts, examples, and details to support the position, and citing sources when appropriate.	Instructional focus: • Persuasive writing Example: Students write an essay to persuade government officials to continue/change provisional drivers’ license requirements
11. Present evidence when writing persuasive essays, examples, and justification to support arguments.	Example: Students write an essay citing evidence with examples justifying arguments about teen driving records and Motor Vehicle commission requirements.
12. Choose an appropriate organizing strategy such as cause/effect, pro and con, parody, to effectively present a topic, point of view, or argument.	Instructional focus: • Organization of writing Example: Students choose an appropriate organizing strategy to use when presenting their arguments for or against a change in provisional drivers’ licenses.
13. Use of a personal style and voice effectively to support the purpose and engage the audience of a piece of writing.