English Language Arts Standards

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.	Students will read and listen to oral, written and electronically produced texts and performances, relate texts and performances to their own lives, and develop an understanding of the diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions the texts and performances represent. As speakers and writers, students will use oral and written language for self-expression and artistic creation. Key Idea: Listening & Reading for literary response involves comprehending, interpreting, and critiquing imaginative texts in every medium, drawing on personal experiences and knowledge to understand the text, and recognizing the social, historical and cultural features of the text. Performance Indicators--Students:

ELEMENTARY		INTERMEDIATE	COMMENCEMENT
• read a variety of literature of different genres: picture books; poems; articles and stories from children’s magazines; fables, myths and legends; songs, plays and media productions; and works of fiction and nonfiction intended for young readers		• read and view texts and performances from a wide range of authors, subjects, and genres	• read and view independently and fluently across many genres of literature from many cultures and historical periods
• recognize some features that distinguish the genres and use those features to aid comprehension		• understand and identify the distinguishing features of the major genres and use them to aid their interpretation and discussion of literature	• identify the distinguishing features of different literary genres, periods, and traditions and use those features to interpret the work
• understand the literary elements of setting, character, plot, theme, and point of view and compare those features to other works and to their own lives		• identify significant literary elements (including metaphor, symbolism, foreshadowing, dialect, rhyme, meter, irony, climax) and use those elements to interpret the work	• recognize and understand the significance of a wide range of literary elements and techniques, (including figurative language, imagery, allegory, irony, blank verse, symbolism, stream-of-consciousness) and use those elements to interpret the work
• use inference and deduction to understand the text		• recognize different levels of meaning	• understand how multiple levels of meaning are conveyed in a text
• read aloud accurately and fluently, using phonics and context cues to determine pronunciation and meaning		• read aloud with expression, conveying the meaning and mood of a work	• read aloud expressively to convey a clear interpretation of the work
• evaluate literary merit		• evaluate literary merit based on an understanding of the genre and the literary elements	• evaluate literary merit based on an understanding of the genre, the literary elements, and the literary period and tradition