Maryland State Standards for Language Arts: Grade 9

MD.1. Reading, Reviewing and Responding to Texts: The student will demonstrate the ability to respond to a text by employing personal experiences and critical analysis.

1.1. The student will use effective strategies before, during, and after reading, viewing, and listening to self-selected and assigned materials.

1.1.1. The student will use pre-reading strategies appropriate to both the text and purpose for reading by surveying the text, accessing prior knowledge, formulating questions, setting purpose(s), and making predictions.

1.1.2. The student will use during-reading strategies appropriate to both the text and purpose for reading by visualizing, making connections, and using fix-up strategies such as re-reading, questioning, and summarizing.

1.1.3. The student will use after-reading strategies appropriate to both the text and purpose for reading by summarizing, comparing, contrasting, synthesizing, drawing conclusions, and validating the purpose for reading.

1.1.4. The student will apply reading strategies when comparing, making connections, and drawing conclusions about non-print text.

1.1.5. The student will identify specific structural elements of particular literary forms: poetry, short story, novel, drama, essay, biography, autobiography, journalistic writing, and film.

1.2. The student will construct, examine, and extend meaning of traditional and contemporary works recognized as having significant literary merit.

1.2.1. The student will consider the contributions of plot, character, setting, conflict, and point of view when constructing the meaning of a text.

1.2.2. The student will determine how the speaker, organization, sentence structure, word choice, tone, rhythm, and imagery reveal an author's purpose.

1.2.3. The student will explain the effectiveness of stylistic elements in a text that communicate an author's purpose.

1.2.4. The student will identify and/or explain connections between and among themes and/or styles of two or more texts.

1.2.5. The student will extend or further develop meaning by explaining the implications of the text for the reader or contemporary society.

1.2.6. The student will extend or further develop meaning by comparing texts presented in different media.

1.3. The student will explain and give evidence to support perceptions about print and non-print works.

1.3.1. The student will explain how language and textual devices create meaning.

1.3.2. The student will interpret a work by using a critical approach (e.g., reader response, historical, cultural, biographical, structural) that is supported with textual references.

1.3.3. The student will identify features of language that create tone and voice.

1.3.4. The student will explain how devices such as staging, lighting, blocking, special effects, graphics, language, and other techniques unique to a non-print medium are used to create meaning and evoke response.

1.3.5. The student will explain how common and universal experiences serve as the source of literary themes that cross time and cultures.

1.3.6. The student will assess the literary merit of a text.

MD.2. Composing in a Variety of Modes: The student will demonstrate the ability to compose in a variety of modes by developing content, employing specific forms, and selecting language appropriate for a particular audience and purpose.

2.1. The student will compose oral, written, and visual presentations that inform, persuade, and express personal ideas.

2.1.1. The student will compose to inform by using appropriate types of prose.

2.1.2. The student will compose to describe, using prose and/or poetic forms.

2.1.3. The student will compose to express personal ideas, using prose and/or poetic forms.

2.1.4. The student will compose persuasive texts that support, modify, or refute a position and include effective rhetorical strategies.

2.2. The student will compose texts using the prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing strategies of effective writers and speakers.

2.2.1. The student will use a variety of prewriting strategies to generate and develop ideas.

2.2.2. The student will select and organize ideas for specific audiences and purposes.

2.2.3. The student will revise and edit texts for clarity, completeness, and effectiveness.

2.2.4. The student will rehearse oral texts for effective application of diction, intonation, and rhetorical strategies, such as introductions, sequence, illustrations, and conclusions.

2.2.5. The student will use suitable traditional and electronic resources to refine presentations and edit texts for effective and appropriate use of language and conventions.

2.2.6. The student will prepare the final product for presentation to an audience.

2.3. The student will locate, retrieve, and use information from various sources to accomplish a purpose.

2.3.1. The student will identify sources of information on a self-selected and/or given topic and assess their appropriateness to accomplish a purpose.

2.3.2. The student will use various information retrieval sources (traditional and electronic) to obtain information on a self-selected and/or given topic. Electronic sources include automated catalogs, CD ROM products, and on-line services like Internet, World Wide Web, and others.

2.3.3. The student will use a systematic process for recording and documenting information.

2.3.4. The student will take a position and support it with documented information from an authoritative source.

2.3.5. The student will synthesize information from two or more sources to fulfill a self-selected or given purpose.

MD.3. Controlling Language: The student will demonstrate the ability to control language by applying the conventions of Standard English in writing and speaking.

3.1. The student will demonstrate understanding of the nature and structure of language, including grammar concepts and skills, to strengthen control of oral and written language.

3.1.1. The student will demonstrate the advantages and limitations of speech and writing when communicating in various situations for specific audiences and purposes.

3.1.2. The student will describe how intonation, pitch, volume, pause, and rate all influence meaning.

3.1.3. The student will determine grammatical classification of words by using meaning, position, form, and function.

3.1.4. The student will differentiate grammatically complete sentences from non-sentences.

3.1.5. The student will incorporate subjects, predicates, and modifiers when composing original sentences.

3.1.6. The student will compound various sentence elements-subjects, predicates, modifiers, phrases, and clauses-to link or contrast related ideas.

3.1.7. The student will vary sentence types - simple, compound, complex, and compound/complex - to sustain reader or listener interest.

3.1.8. The student will expand sentences by positioning phrases and clauses to accomplish a purpose.

3.1.9. The student will recognize, combine, and transform basic sentence patterns to vary sentence structure, to emphasize selected ideas, and to achieve syntactic maturity.

3.2. The student will identify how language choices in writing and speaking affect thoughts and feelings.

3.2.1. The student will choose a level of language, formal to informal, appropriate for a specific audience, situation, or purpose.

3.2.2. The student will differentiate connotative from denotative meanings of words.

3.2.3. The student will describe how readers or listeners might respond differently to the same words.

3.2.4. The student will describe regional and social language differences.

3.2.5. The student will describe the impact of regional and social variations of language on listener or reader response.

3.3. The student will use capitalization, punctuation, and correct spelling appropriately.

3.3.1. The student will edit texts for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.

3.3.2. The student will use available resources to correct or confirm revisions and/or editorial choices.

MD.4. Evaluating the Content, Organization, and Language Use of Texts: The student will demonstrate the ability to evaluate the content, organization, and language use of texts.

4.1. The student will describe the effect that a given text, heard or read, has on a listener or reader.

4.1.1. The student will state and explain a personal response to a given text.

4.2. The student will assess the effectiveness of choice of details, organizational pattern, word choice, syntax, use of figurative language, and rhetorical devices.

4.2.1. The student will assess the effectiveness of diction that reveals an author's purpose.

4.2.2. The student will explain how the specific language and expression used by the writer or speaker affects reader or listener response.

4.2.3. The student will evaluate the use of transitions and their effectiveness in a text.

4.2.4. The student will explain how repetitions of words, phrases, structural features, and ideas affect the meaning and/or tone of a text.

4.3. The student will evaluate textual changes in a work and explain how these changes alter tone, clarify meaning, address a particular audience, or fulfill a purpose.

4.3.1. The student will alter the tone of a text by revising its diction.

4.3.2. The student will justify revisions in syntax and diction from a previous draft of a text by explaining how the change affects meaning.

4.3.3. The student will alter a text to present the same content to a different audience via the same or different media.

4.3.4. The student will compare the differences in effect of two texts on a given subject.