Discovering a passion for poetry with Langston Hughes

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 9

• Goal 1: The learner will express reflections and reactions to print and non-print text and personal experiences.
  • Objective 1.02: Respond reflectively (individually and in groups) to a variety of expressive texts (e.g., memoirs, vignettes, narratives, diaries, monologues, personal responses) in a way that offers an audience:
    • an understanding of the student's personal reaction to the text.
    • a sense of how the reaction results from a careful consideration of the text.
    • an awareness of how personal and cultural influences affect the response.
• Goal 2: The learner will explain meaning, describe processes, and answer research questions to inform an audience.
  • Objective 2.01: Demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print informational texts appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by:
    • selecting, monitoring, and modifying as necessary reading strategies appropriate to readers' purpose.
    • identifying and analyzing text components (such as organizational structures, story elements, organizational features) and evaluating their impact on the text.
    • providing textual evidence to support understanding of and reader's response to text.
    • demonstrating comprehension of main idea and supporting details.
    • summarizing key events and/or points from text.
    • making inferences, predicting, and drawing conclusions based on text.
    • identifying and analyzing personal, social, historical or cultural influences, contexts, or biases.
    • making connections between works, self and related topics.
    • analyzing and evaluating the effects of author's craft and style.
    • analyzing and evaluating the connections or relationships between and among ideas, concepts, characters and/or experiences.
    • identifying and analyzing elements of informational environment found in text in light of purpose, audience, and context.
  • Objective 2.04: Form and refine a question for investigation, using a topic of personal choice, and answer that question by:
    • deciding upon and using appropriate methods such as interviews with experts, observations, finding print and non-print sources, and using interactive technology or media.
    • prioritizing and organizing the information.
    • incorporating effective media and technology to inform or explain.
    • report (in written and/or presentational form) the research in an appropriate form for a specified audience.
• Goal 3: The learner will examine argumentation and develop informed opinions.
  • Objective 3.02: Express an informed opinion that:
    • states clearly a personal view.
    • is logical and coherent.
    • engages the reader's interest or curiosity.
• Goal 4: The learner will create and use standards to critique communication.
  • Objective 4.02: Read and critique various genres by:
    • using preparation, engagement, and reflection strategies appropriate for the text.
    • identifying and using standards to evaluate aspects of the work or the work as a whole.
    • judging the impact of different stylistic and literary devices on the work.
• Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of various literary genres, concepts, elements, and terms.
  • Objective 5.01: Read and analyze various literary works by:
    • using effective reading strategies for preparation, engagement, reflection.
    • recognizing and analyzing the characteristics of literary genres, including fiction (e.g., myths, legends, short stories, novels), non-fiction (e.g., essays, biographies, autobiographies, historical documents), poetry (e.g., epics, sonnets, lyric poetry, ballads) and drama (e.g., tragedy, comedy).
    • interpreting literary devices such as allusion, symbolism, figurative language, flashback, dramatic irony, dialogue, diction, and imagery.
    • understanding the importance of tone, mood, diction, and style.
    • explaining and interpreting archetypal characters, themes, settings.
    • explaining how point of view is developed and its effect on literary texts.
    • determining a character's traits from his/her actions, speech, appearance, or what others say about him or her.
    • explaining how the writer creates character, setting, motif, theme, and other elements.
    • making thematic connections among literary texts and media and contemporary issues.
    • understanding the importance of cultural and historical impact on literary texts.
    • producing creative responses that follow the conventions of a specific genre and using appropriate literary devices for that genre.
• Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of grammar and language usage.
  • Objective 6.01: Demonstrate an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression that:
    • uses varying sentence types (e.g., simple, compound, complex, compound-complex) purposefully, correctly, and for specific effect.
    • selects verb tense to show an appropriate sense of time.
    • applies parts of speech to clarify and edit language.
    • addresses clarity and style through such strategies as parallelism; appropriate coordination and subordination; variety and details; appropriate and exact words; and conciseness.
    • analyzes the place and role of dialects and standard/nonstandard English.
    • uses vocabulary strategies such as roots and affixes, word maps, and context clues to discern the meanings of words.

Social Studies (2003)

Grade 9

• Goal 6: Patterns of Social Order - The learner will investigate social and economic organization in various societies throughout time in order to understand the shifts in power and status that have occurred.
  • Objective 6.01: Compare the conditions, racial composition, and status of social classes, castes, and slaves in world societies and analyze changes in those elements.
  • Objective 6.02: Analyze causes and results of ideas regarding superiority and inferiority in society and how those ideas have changed over time.