Oklahoma State Standards for Language Arts: Grade 9

OK.R/L. Reading/Literature: The student will apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, appreciate, and respond to a variety of texts. Apply knowledge of word origins (words from other languages, history, or literature) to determine the meaning of new words encountered in reading and use of those words accurately.

R/L.1. Vocabulary - The student will expand vocabulary through word study, literature, and class discussion.

1.1. Apply a knowledge of Greek (e.g., tele/phone, micro/phone), Latin (e.g., flex/ible), and Anglo-Saxon (e.g., un/friend/ly) roots, prefixes, and suffixes to determine word meanings.

1.2. Use word meanings within the appropriate context and verify those meanings by definition, restatement, example, and analogy.

1.3. Expand vocabulary through wide reading, listening, and discussing.

1.4. Use reference material such as glossary, dictionary, thesaurus, and available technology to determine precise meaning and usage.

1.5. Identify the relation of word meanings in analogies, homonyms, synonyms/antonyms, and connotations and denotations.

R/L.2. Comprehension: The student will interact with the words to construct an appropriate meaning. Read and understand grade-level-appropriate material. Analyze the organizational patterns and evaluate author's argument and positions. At Grade 9, in addition to regular classroom reading, read a wide variety of classic and contemporary literature, poetry, magazines, newspapers, reference materials, and online information as well as expository (informational and technical) texts.

2.1. Literal Understanding

2.1.a. Examine the structures and format of functional workplace documents, including graphics and headers, and explain how authors use the features to achieve their purpose.

2.1.b. Draw upon own background to provide connections to text.

2.1.c. Monitor reading strategies and modify them when understanding breaks down such as rereading, using resources, and questioning.

2.1.d. Recognize text structures such as compare and contrast, cause and effect, and chronological ordering.

2.1.e. Use study strategies such as skimming and scanning, note taking, outlining, and using study-guide questions to better understand texts.

2.2. Inferences and Interpretation

2.2.a. Analyze characteristics of text, including its structure, word choice, and intended audience.

2.2.b. Draw inferences such as conclusions, generalizations, and predictions, and support them with text evidence and personal experience.

2.2.c. Recognize influences on a reader's response to a text (e.g., personal experience and values; perspective shaped by age, gender, class, or nationality).

2.3. Summary and Generalization

2.3.a. Identify the main idea and supporting details by producing summaries of text.

2.3.b. Use text features and elements to support inferences and generalizations about information.

2.3.c. Summarize and paraphrase complex, implicit hierarchic structures in informational texts, including relationships among concepts and details in those structures.

2.4. Analysis and Evaluation

2.4.a. Discriminate between fact and opinion and fiction and nonfiction.

2.4.b. Recognize deceptive and/or faulty arguments in persuasive texts.

2.4.c. Analyze the structure and format of informational and literary documents and explain how authors use the features to achieve their purposes.

2.4.d. Identify techniques (e.g., language, organization, tone, context) used to convey point of view or impressions.

R/L.3. Literature - The student will read, construct meaning, and respond to a wide variety of literary forms. Read and respond to grade-level-appropriate historically or culturally significant works of British, American, and world literature. Conduct in-depth analysis of themes, styles, and trends of these works across historical periods. Participate productively in self-directed work teams to create observable products.

3.1. Literary Genres - Demonstrate a knowledge of and an appreciation for various forms of literature.

3.1.a. Analyze the characteristics of genres including short story, novel, drama, poetry, and essay.

3.1.b. Analyze the characteristics of subgenres including tragedy, sonnet, epic, lyric, and narrative poetry.

3.2. Literary Elements - Demonstrate knowledge of literary elements and techniques and show how they affect the development of a literary work.

3.2.a. Recognize the theme (general observation about life or human nature) within a text.

3.2.b. Explain how author's voice and/or choice of a narrator affect the characterization and the point of view, tone, plot, mood and credibility of a text.

3.2.c. Recognize and understand the significance of various literary devices, including figurative language, imagery, allegory (the use of fictional figures and actions to express truths about human experiences), and symbolism (the use of a symbol to represent an idea or theme), and explain their appeal.

3.2.d. Analyze interactions between characters in a literary text and explain the way those interactions affect the plot in narrative text.

3.2.e. Analyze characters and identify author's point of view.

3.2.f. Identify literary forms and terms such as author, drama, biography, autobiography, myth, tall tale, dialogue, tragedy and comedy, structure in poetry, epic, ballad, protagonist, antagonist, paradox, analogy, dialect, and comic relief as appropriate to the selections being read.

3.3. Figurative Language and Sound Devices - Identify figurative language and sound devices and analyze how they affect the development of a literary work.

3.3.a. Identify and explain figurative language including metaphor, personification, and simile.

3.3.b. Identify and explain sound devices including alliteration, onomatopoeia, and rhyme.

3.3.c. Identify the melodies of literary language, including its use of evocative words, rhythms and rhymes.

3.3.d. Recognize and interpret poetic elements such as metaphor, simile, personification, and the effect of sound on meaning.

3.4. Literary Works - The student will read and respond to historically and culturally significant works of literature.

3.4.a. Analyze and evaluate works of literature and the historical context in which they were written.

3.4.b. Analyze and evaluate literature from various cultures to broaden cultural awareness.

3.4.c. Compare works that express the recurrence of archetypal (universal modes or patterns) characters, settings, and themes in literature and provide evidence to support the ideas expressed in each work.

R/L.4. Research and Information: The student will conduct research and organize information.

4.1. Accessing Information - Select the best source for a given purpose.

4.1.a. Access information from a variety of primary and secondary sources.

4.1.b. Skim text for an overall impression and scan text for particular information.

4.1.c. Use organizational strategies as an aid to comprehend increasingly difficult content material (e.g., compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution, sequential order).

4.2. Interpreting Information - The student will analyze and evaluate information from a variety of sources.

4.2.a. Summarize, paraphrase, and/or quote relevant information.

4.2.b. Determine the author's viewpoint to evaluate source credibility and reliability.

4.2.c. Organize and convert information into different forms such as charts, graphs and drawings to create multiple formats to interpret information for multiple audiences and purposes, and cite sources completely.

4.2.d. Identify complexities and inconsistencies in the information and the different perspectives found in each medium, including almanacs, microfiche news sources, in-depth field studies, speeches, journals, technical documents, or Internet sources.

4.2.e. Draw conclusions from information gathered.

OK.W/G/UM. Writing/Grammar/Usage and Mechanics: The student will express ideas effectively in written modes for a variety of purposes and audiences. Discuss ideas for writing with other writers. Write coherent and focused essays that show a well-defined point of view and tightly reasoned argument. Use the stages of the writing process. Work independently and in self-directed work teams to edit and revise.

W/G/UM.1. Writing Process - The student will use the writing process to write coherently.

1.1.a. use prewriting strategies to generate ideas such as brainstorming, using graphic organizers, keeping notes and logs.

1.1.b. develop multiple drafts both alone and collaboratively to categorize ideas, organizing them into paragraphs and blending paragraphs into larger text.

1.1.c. organize and reorganize drafts and refine style to suit occasion, audience and purpose.

1.1.d. proofread writing for appropriateness of organization, content and style.

1.1.e. edit for specific purposes to ensure standard usage, varied sentence structure, appropriate word choice, mechanics and spelling.

1.1.f. refine selected pieces frequently to publish for general and specific audiences.

1.6. Evaluate own writing and others' writing (e.g., determine the best features of a piece of writing, determine how own writing achieves its purpose, ask for feedback, respond to classmates' writing).

W/G/UM.2. Modes and Forms of Writing - The student will write for a variety of purposes and audiences using narrative, descriptive, expository, persuasive, and reflective modes. At Grade 9, combine the rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, reflection, and description to produce text of at least 500 to 750 words. Begin writing documents related to career development. Demonstrate a command of Standard English and the research, organization, and drafting strategies outlined in the writing process. Writing demonstrates an awareness of the audience (intended reader) and purpose for writing.

2.2.d. include a variety of reference sources, including word, pictorial, audio, and Internet sources, to locate information in support of topic.

2.2.e. include visual aids by using technology to organize and record information on charts, data tables, maps, and graphs.

2.2.f. identify and address reader's potential misunderstanding, biases, and expectations.

2.2.g. use technical terms and notations accurately.

2.3.d. address reader's concerns, counterclaims, biases, and expectations.

2.5. Write reflective papers that may address one of the following purposes:

2.5.a. express the individual's insight into conditions or situations.

2.5.b. compare a scene from a work of fiction with a lesson learned from experience.

2.5.c. complete a self-evaluation on a class performance.

2.6. Use appropriate essay test-taking and timed-writing strategies that:

2.6.a. address and analyze the question (prompt).

2.6.b. use organizational methods required by the prompt.

2.7. Write responses to literature that:

2.7.a. demonstrate a comprehensive grasp of the significant ideas of literary works.

2.7.b. support important ideas and viewpoints through accurate and detailed reference to the text or to other works.

2.7.c. demonstrate awareness of author's style and an appreciation of the effects created.

2.7.d. identify and assess the impact of ambiguities, nuances, and complexities within the text.

2.8. Write for different purposes and to a specific audience or person, adjusting tone and style as necessary to make writing interesting.

2.9. Write friendly letters and business letters, and continue to produce other writing forms introduced in earlier grades.

2.10. Write documented papers incorporating the techniques of Modern Language Association (MLA) or similar parenthetical styles.

W/G/UM.3. Grammar/Usage and Mechanics - The student will demonstrate appropriate practices in writing by applying grammatical knowledge to the revising and editing stages of writing. Participate independently and in groups to create oral presentations.

3.1.c. Use correct subject-verb agreement.

3.1.d. Distinguish active and passive voice.

3.1.e. Use correct pronoun/antecedent agreement and clear pronoun reference.

3.1.f. Use correct forms of comparative and superlative adjectives.

OK.OL/LS. Oral Language/Listening and Speaking - The student will demonstrate thinking skills in listening and speaking. Formulate thoughtful judgment about oral communication. Deliver focused and coherent presentations that convey clear and distinct perspectives and solid reasoning. Deliver polished formal and extemporaneous presentations that combine the traditional speech strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description. Use gestures, tone, and vocabulary appropriate to the audience and purpose. Use the same Standard English conventions for oral speech that are used in writing.

OL/LS.1. Listening - The student will listen for information and for pleasure.

OL/LS.2. Speaking - The student will express ideas and opinions in group or individual situations.

OK.VL. Visual Literacy: The student will interpret, evaluate, and compose visual messages.

VL.1. Interpret Meaning - The student will interpret and evaluate the various ways visual image-makers including graphic artists, illustrators, and news photographers represent meaning.

VL.2. Evaluate Media - The student will evaluate visual and electronic media, such as film, as compared with print messages.

VL.3. Compose Visual Messages - The student will create a visual message that effectively communicates an idea.