High School English Language Arts

Objectives/ Alabama State Standards

English Language Arts in the High School curriculum is a continuation of skills and knowledge gained in previous years. Key concepts are Critical Literacy, Digital Literacy, Language Literacy and Research Literacy. We currently use Houghton Mifflin’s Into Literature curriculum which uses diverse, culturally relevant texts that connect with students’ lives, Into Literature builds confidence, standards mastery, and college and career readiness for every learner in the classroom.

9th Grade English Language Arts

Course Description

Students in this course build on knowledge gained in previous years. Learning standards focus on Critical Literacy, Digital Literacy and Language Literacy. This course is aligned to the Common Core State Standards for 9th grade English Language Arts.

Critical Literacy

Read, analyze, and evaluate complex literary and informational texts written from various cultural perspectives, with an emphasis on works originating outside the United States and the British Isles through 1599.
Analyze information from graphic texts to draw conclusions, defend claims, and make decisions.
Analyze how an author’s cultural perspective influences style, language, and themes. 4. Analyze how authors use characterization, connotation, denotation, figurative language, literary elements, and point of view to create and convey meaning in a variety of texts.
Analyze the impact of context and organizational structures on theme, tone, and the meaning of the work as a whole.
Compare and/or contrast the perspectives in a variety of fiction, nonfiction, informational, digital, and multimodal texts produced from diverse historical, cultural, and global points of view, not limited to the grade-level literary focus.
Read, analyze, and evaluate texts from science, social studies, and other academic disciplines to determine how those disciplines treat domain-specific vocabulary and content organization.
Through active listening, evaluate tone, organization, content, and non-verbal cues to determine the purpose and credibility of a speaker.
Compose both short and extended narrative, informative/explanatory, and argumentative writings that are clear and coherent, use an appropriate command of language, and demonstrate development, organization, style, and tone that are relevant to task, purpose, and audience.
Present research findings to a peer audience, either formally or informally, conveying credible, accurate information from multiple sources, including diverse media.
Participate in collaborative discussions involving multiple perspectives, responding and contributing with relevant evidence and commentary.

Digital Literacy

Interpret digital texts to determine their subject, occasion, audience, purpose, tone, and credibility.
Interpret a digital audio source to determine its subject, occasion, audience, purpose, tone, and credibility.
Create and edit digital texts that are suitable in purpose and tone for their intended audience and occasion.
Create and deliver a collaborative presentation that is suitable in purpose and tone for its intended audience and occasion.

Language Literacy

Interpret how an author’s grammar and rhetorical style contribute to the meaning in both fiction, including poetry and prose, and nonfiction, including historical, business, informational, and workplace documents.
Classify formality of language in order to comprehend, interpret, and respond appropriately.
Analyze a speaker’s rhetorical, aesthetic, and organizational choices in order to determine point of view and purpose.
Apply conventions of language to communicate effectively with a target audience, including punctuation; capitalization; spelling; verb, pronoun, and modifier usage; and effective sentence structure.
Adapt speech to purpose and audience in a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English conventions as indicated or appropriate.
Locate and determine the usefulness of relevant and credible information to answer a question, solve a problem, or defend a position.
Use a variety of search tools and research strategies. Examples: library databases, search engines; keyword search, boolean search.
Use audio sources to obtain useful and credible information to answer a question, solve a problem, or defend a position.
Utilize responsible and ethical research practices to write clear, coherent products with a command of language suitable for a particular target audience and purpose.
Integrate information from at least two sources into writing by quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing and cite sources, following the rules of a particular style guide.
Compose clear, coherent writing that incorporates information from at least one scholarly source and demonstrates a clear position on a topic, answers a research question, or presents a solution to a problem.

10th Grade English Language Arts

Course Description

Students in this course build on knowledge gained in previous years. Learning standards focus on Critical Literacy, Digital Literacy, Research Literacy and Language Literacy. This course is aligned to the Common Core State Standards for 10th grade English Language Arts.

Critical Literacy

Read, analyze, and evaluate complex literary and informational texts written from various cultural perspectives, with an emphasis on works originating outside the United States and the British Isles from 1600 to the present.
Analyze and evaluate information from graphic texts to draw conclusions, defend claims, and make decisions.
Analyze how an author’s cultural perspective influences style, language, and themes.
Interpret an author’s use of characterization, connotation, denotation, figurative language, literary elements, and point of view to create and convey meaning in a variety of texts.
Analyze context and organizational structures to determine theme, tone, and the meaning of the work as a whole.
Compare and/or contrast the perspectives in a variety of fiction, nonfiction, informational, digital, and multimodal texts produced from diverse historical, cultural, and global viewpoints, not limited to the grade-level literary focus.
Read, analyze, and evaluate texts from science, social studies, and other academic disciplines to determine how those disciplines treat domain-specific vocabulary and content organization.
Through active listening, evaluate tone, organization, content, and non-verbal cues to determine the purpose and credibility of a speaker.
Compose both short and extended narrative, informative/explanatory, and argumentative writings that are clear and coherent, use an appropriate command of language, and demonstrate development, organization, style, and tone that are relevant to task, purpose, and audience.
Present research findings to peers, either formally or informally, integrating credible, accurate information from multiple sources, including diverse media.
Participate in collaborative discussions involving multiple perspectives, responding and contributing with relevant evidence and commentary.

Digital Literacy

Interpret digital texts to determine subject, occasion, audience, purpose, tone, and credibility.
Interpret a digital audio source to determine subject, occasion, audience, purpose, tone, and credibility.
Create and edit collaborative digital texts that are suitable in purpose and tone for their intended audience and occasion.
Create and deliver an individual or collaborative presentation that is suitable in purpose and tone for its intended audience and occasion.

Language Literacy

Interpret how an author’s grammar and rhetorical style contribute to the meaning in both fiction, including poetry and prose, and nonfiction, including historical, business, informational, and workplace documents.
Classify formality of language in order to comprehend, interpret, and respond appropriately.
Analyze a speaker’s rhetorical, aesthetic, and organizational choices in order to determine point of view and purpose.
Apply conventions of language to communicate effectively with a target audience, including punctuation; capitalization; spelling; verb, pronoun, and modifier usage; and effective sentence structure.

Research Literacy

Locate and determine the usefulness of relevant and credible information to answer a question, solve a problem, or defend a position.
Use a variety of search tools and research strategies to locate credible sources.
Use audio sources to obtain useful and credible information to answer a question, solve a problem, or defend a position.
Utilize responsible and ethical research practices to write clear, coherent products with a command of language suitable for a particular target audience and purpose.
Integrate information from at least two kinds of sources into writing, using quotations, paraphrases, and summaries that consistently follow a particular style guide.
Compose clear, coherent writing that incorporates information from at least one scholarly and at least one non-scholarly source and demonstrates a clear position on a topic, answers a research question, or presents a solution to a problem.
Utilize responsible and ethical research practices to present clear, coherent products with a command of language suitable for a target audience and purpose.

11th Grade English Language Arts

Course Description

Critical Literacy

Evaluate complex literary and informational texts written from various points of view and cultural perspectives, with an emphasis on works of American literature.
Synthesize information from two or more graphic texts to draw conclusions, defend claims, and make decisions. Examples: tables, graphs, charts, digital dashboards, flow charts, timelines, forms, maps, blueprints
Analyze how an author explicitly exhibits his/her cultural perspective in developing style and meaning.
Analyze how an author uses characterization, figurative language, literary elements, and point of view to create and convey meaning.
Evaluate structural and organizational details in literary, nonfiction/informational, digital, and multimodal texts to determine how genre supports the author’s purpose.
Analyze a text’s explicit and implicit meanings to make inferences about its theme and determine the author’s purpose.
Compare and/or contrast the perspectives in a variety of fiction, nonfiction, informational, digital, and multimodal texts produced from diverse historical, cultural, and global viewpoints, not limited to the grade level literary focus.
Read, analyze, and evaluate texts from science, social studies, and other academic disciplines and explain how those disciplines treat domain-specific vocabulary and content and organize information.
Follow instructions in technical materials to complete a specific task. Example: Read and follow instructions for formatting a document.
Through active listening, evaluate tone, organization, content, and non-verbal cues to determine the purpose and credibility of a speaker.
Compose and edit both short and extended products in which the development and organization are relevant and suitable to task, purpose, and audience, using an appropriate command of language.
Collaborate on writing tasks in diverse groups, making necessary compromises to accomplish a goal, sharing responsibility for collaborative work, and showing respect for the individual contributions of each group member.
Synthesize multiple sources of information (including diverse media), evaluate the credibility and accuracy of each source, and share information orally.
Participate in collaborative discussions involving multiple cultural and literary perspectives, responding to, contributing to, building upon, and questioning the ideas of others with relevant, appropriate evidence and commentary.

Digital Literacy

Analyze digital texts and evaluate their effectiveness in terms of subject, occasion, audience, purpose, tone, and credibility .
Analyze elements of audible communications and evaluate their effectiveness in terms of subject, occasion, audience, purpose, tone, and credibility of digital sources.
Use images, sound, animation, and other modes of expression to create or enhance individual or collaborative digital and multimodal texts that are suitable in purpose and tone for their intended audience and occasion.
Create and deliver an oral presentation, created collaboratively from individual contributions, that is suitable in purpose and tone for its intended audience and occasion.

Language Literacy

Interpret how an author’s grammar and rhetorical style contribute to the meaning in both fiction, including poetry and prose, and nonfiction, including historical, business, informational, and workplace documents.
Analyze the formality of language in a variety of audible sources in order to comprehend, interpret, and respond appropriately.
Analyze a speaker’s rhetorical, aesthetic, and organizational choices in order to determine point of view, purpose, and effectiveness.
Apply conventions of standard English grammar, mechanics, and usage, including appropriate formality of language, to communicate effectively with a target audience.
Deliver a speech suitable for an authentic audience for a specific purpose, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

Research Literacy

Evaluate the credibility of sources in terms of authority, relevance, accuracy, and purpose.
Use a variety of search tools and research strategies to locate credible sources.
Locate and acquire audible information to answer a question, solve a problem, or defend a position, utilizing active listening to assess its usefulness, relevance, and credibility.
Synthesize research results, using responsible, ethical practices to gather information, and write clear, coherent products demonstrating command of language that is suitable for the target audience and purpose.
Integrate ethically-acquired information from at least three sources of varying types, including at least one visual or statistical source, into a research product, using proper quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, and citation practices that consistently follow rules of a particular style guide.
Compose clear, coherent writing that incorporates information from a variety of scholarly and non-scholarly sources and demonstrates a clear position on a topic, answers a research question, or presents a solution to a problem.
Synthesize research using responsible and ethical practices to create and orally present clear, coherent products demonstrating command of language that is suitable for the target audience and purpose.

12th Grade English Language Arts

Course Description

Critical Literacy

Read, analyze, and evaluate complex literary and historical texts written from particular points of view or cultural experiences, with an emphasis on works of literature from the British Isles.
Synthesize information from two or more graphic texts to draw conclusions, defend claims, and make decisions.
Evaluate how an author explicitly exhibits his/her cultural perspective in developing style and meaning.
Evaluate an author’s use of characterization, figurative language, literary elements, and point of view to create and convey meaning.
Evaluate structural and organizational details in texts to determine the author’s purpose, including cases in which the meaning is ironic or satirical.
Analyze a text’s explicit and implicit meanings to make inferences about its theme and determine the author’s purpose.
Compare and/or contrast the perspectives in a variety of fiction, nonfiction, informational, digital, and multimodal texts produced from diverse historical, cultural, and global viewpoints, not limited to the grade level literary focus.
Read, analyze, and evaluate texts from science, social studies, and other academic disciplines and explain how those disciplines treat domain-specific vocabulary and content and organize information.
Follow instructions in technical materials to complete a specific task. Example: Read and follow instructions for formatting a document.
Determine through active listening the purpose, credibility, and effectiveness of a speaker or multiple sources of information by evaluating tone, organization, content, and verbal and non-verbal cues and identifying any fallacious reasoning or distorted evidence.
Compose, edit, and revise both short and extended products in which the development, organization, and style are relevant and suitable to task, purpose, and audience, using an appropriate command of language. a. Incorporate narrative techniques into other modes of writing as appropriate.
Within diverse and collaborative writing groups, effectively and respectfully demonstrate a willingness to make necessary compromises to accomplish a goal, share responsibility for collaborative work, and consider contributions made by each group member.
Evaluate the credibility and accuracy of sources from diverse media and/or formats and then use multiple suitable sources of information to develop an idea or further a position.
Actively engage in collaborative discussions about topics and texts, expressing their own ideas by respectfully contributing to, building upon, and questioning the ideas of others in pairs, diverse groups, and whole class settings.

Digital Literacy

Analyze digital texts and evaluate their effectiveness in terms of subject, occasion, audience, purpose, tone, and credibility.
Analyze elements of audible communications and evaluate their effectiveness in terms of subject, occasion, audience, purpose, tone, and credibility of digital sources.
Use images, sound, animation, and other modes of expression to create or enhance individual or collaborative digital and multimodal texts that are suitable in purpose and tone for their intended audience and occasion.
Create and deliver an oral presentation, created collaboratively from individual contributions, that is suitable in purpose and tone for its intended audience and occasion.

Language Literacy

Interpret how an author’s grammar and rhetorical style contribute to the meaning in both fiction, including poetry and prose, and nonfiction, including historical, business, informational, and workplace documents .
Evaluate the formality of language in a variety of audible sources to comprehend, interpret, and respond appropriately.
Analyze a speaker’s rhetorical, aesthetic, and organizational choices in order to determine point of view, purpose, and effectiveness.
Apply conventions of standard English grammar, mechanics, and usage, including appropriate formality of language, to communicate effectively with a target audience. a. Exhibit stylistic complexity, sophistication, and consistency in writing.
Deliver a speech suitable for a professional audience of college and/or workforce stakeholders for a specific purpose, demonstrating command of formal English.

Research Literacy

Evaluate the credibility of sources in terms of authority, relevance, accuracy, and purpose. a. Assess the usefulness of written information to answer a research question, solve a problem, or take a position.
Use a variety of search tools and research strategies to locate and acquire credible, relevant, and useful information.
Locate and acquire audible information to answer a question, solve a problem, or defend a position, utilizing active listening to assess its usefulness, relevance, and credibility.
Synthesize research results, using responsible, ethical practices to gather information, and write clear, coherent products demonstrating command of language that is suitable for the target audience and purpose.
Integrate ethically-acquired information from at least three sources of varying types, including at least one visual or statistical source, into a research product, using proper quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, and citation practices that consistently follow rules of a particular style guide.
Compose clear, coherent writing that incorporates information from a variety of scholarly and non-scholarly sources and demonstrates a clear position on a topic, answers a research question, or presents a solution to a problem.
Synthesize research using responsible and ethical practices to create and orally present clear, coherent products demonstrating command of language that is suitable for the target audience and purpose.