The year I was born: An autobiographical research project

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 1.01: Narrate personal experiences that offer an audience:
    • scenes and incidents located effectively in time and place.
    • vivid impressions of being in a setting and a sense of engagement in the events occurring.
    • appreciation for the significance of the account.
    • a sense of the narrator's personal voice.
• 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.
  • Objective 3.03: Support that informed opinion by:
    • providing relevant and convincing reasons.
    • using various types of evidence, such as experience or facts.
    • using appropriate and effective language, reasons, and organizational structure for the audience and purpose.
    • demonstrating awareness of the possible questions, concerns, or counterarguments of the audience.
• 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.
  • Objective 6.02: Discern and correct errors in spoken and written English by:
    • avoiding fragments, run-ons, and comma splices.
    • selecting correct subject-verb agreement, consistent verb tense, and appropriate verbs.
    • using and placing modifiers correctly.
    • editing for spelling and mechanics (punctuation and capitalization).