|
A series of Essential Questions governs the Language Arts Curriculum K-12. These questions are listed below along with the high school benchmark which measures each questions and a summary of behaviors (rubric) which reflect a student’s having reached the goal.
Essential Question #1: What is critical thinking and why is it important in the Language Arts?
Benchmark #1: Students effectively process and respond to written, visual, and/or auditory text.
Advanced: Students demonstrate a complete understanding of the text. This is evidenced by a rich interpretation and the ability to reflect, reshape, and deepen initial understanding. Students demonstrate perceptive association between the text and self, other texts, and outside experiences, and demonstrate perceptive judgments about the literary quality of the text.
Goal: Students demonstrate a developed understanding of the text. This is evidenced by an adequate interpretation and the ability to reflect, reshape, and deepen initial understanding. Students demonstrate a defined association between the text and self, other texts, and outside experiences, and demonstrate thoughtful judgments about the literary quality of the text.
Proficient: Students demonstrate a general understanding of the text. This is evidenced by sufficient interpretation and some ability to reflect, reshape, and deepen initial understanding. Students demonstrate some association between the text and self, other texts, and outside experiences, and demonstrate literal judgments about the literary quality of the text.
Basic: Students demonstrate a basic understanding of the text. This is evidenced by a limited interpretation and some ability to reflect, reshape, and deepen initial understanding. Students demonstrate few associations between the text and self, other texts, and outside experiences, and demonstrate general judgments about the literary quality of the text.
Below Basic: Students demonstrate little or no understanding of the text. This is evidenced by a lack of ability to reflect, reshape, and deepen initial understanding. Students demonstrate no attempt to make associations between the text and self, other texts, and outside experiences, and demonstrate no ability to make judgments about the literary quality of the text.
Essential Question #2: How do readers recognize and writers use elements of good literature?
Benchmark #2: Students effectively recognize, interpret and evaluate the various elements of good literature in text.
Advanced: Student responses demonstrate a superior understanding of the elements of literature and include an insightful interpretation supported by textual examples. Student responses thoughtfully revise initial understanding and moves beyond the text itself. Additionally, responses skillfully balance specific and general detail by comparing instances from the text with a variety of literary, personal, world and oral examples. Student responses critically evaluate the text by judging its merits and illustrating with specific and appropriate examples.
Goal: Student responses demonstrate a developed understanding of the elements of literature and include sufficient interpretation supported by textual examples. Student responses revise initial understanding and moves beyond the text itself. Additionally, the response adequately balances specific and general detail by comparing instances from the text with a variety of literary, personal, world and oral examples. Student responses evaluate the text by judging its merits and illustrating with specific and appropriate examples.
Proficient: Student responses demonstrate a general understanding of the elements of literature and include some interpretation supported by textual examples. Student responses revise initial understanding and moves somewhat beyond the text itself. Additionally, the response balances specific and general detail by comparing instances from the text with a limited use of literary, personal, world and oral examples. Student responses evaluate the text by judging its merits and illustrating with specific and sufficient examples.
Basic: Student responses demonstrate a limited understanding of the elements of literature with little interpretation supported by textual examples. Student responses marginally revise initial understanding and may not move beyond the text itself. Additionally, the response inconsistently balances specific and general detail by comparing instances from the text with a limited use of literary, personal, world and oral examples. Student responses evaluate the text by judging its merits and displaying some use of examples.
Below Basic: Student responses demonstrate little or no understanding of the elements of literature with an unsupported interpretation. Student responses do not revise initial understanding and do not move beyond the text itself. Additionally, the response does not compare instances from the text with literary, personal, world and oral examples. Student responses neither evaluate the text nor judge its merits.
Essential Question #3: How do I interact with language and communicate my ideas effectively?
Benchmark #3: Students write with clarity in descriptive, narrative, expository or persuasive modes.
Advanced: Student work demonstrates superior ability to write fluently and with clarity. The piece reflects keen awareness of audience, thoughtful selection of supporting detail, and a focused thesis. Additionally, student work is strong, effectively developed organization is evident, and there is a skilled negotiation of varied compositional format.
Goal: Student work demonstrates a clear and generally fluent expression. The piece reflects an awareness of audience, sufficient supporting detail, and an adequately developed thesis. Additionally, the organizational structure is defined with few digressions and there is some variety in the use of compositional formats.
Proficient: Student work demonstrates an acceptable position with reasonable awareness of audience, general use of supporting detail, and an underdeveloped thesis. Additionally, there are limited difficulties in controlling digressions and maintaining fluency, and there is a lack of variety in the use of compositional formats.
Basic: Student work demonstrates some evidence of a position with potential awareness of audience. The piece reflects general supporting details and lacks specific support while the thesis appears undeveloped and literal. Additionally, organization reveals difficulties in controlling digressions and may include illogical or inaccurate material, and there is use of a single compositional format.
Below Basic: Student work demonstrates little or no evidence of a position or awareness of audience. The piece reflects a lack of supporting details and no thesis can be identified. Additionally, there is a lack of organization and compositional format.
Essential Question #4: How can the Language Arts lead to meaning, pleasure, and personal experience?
Benchmark #4: Students will recognize and appreciate that literature can shape human thought.
Advanced: Student discussion and written response demonstrates a superior understanding of the themes that express human ideas, as well as an insightful interpretation of the work’s shaping those ideas.
Goal: Student discussion and written response demonstrates a sufficient understanding of the themes that express human ideas, as well as a somewhat developed interpretation of the work’s contribution to the shaping of those ideas.
Proficient: Student discussion and written response demonstrates a general understanding of the themes central to human ideas, as well as a simple interpretation of the work’s contribution to those ideas.
Basic: Student discussion and written response demonstrates a marginal understanding of the themes that express human ideas, as well as a limited interpretation of the work’s contribution to those ideas.
Below Basic: Student discussion and written response demonstrates little to no understanding of the themes that express human ideas and no interpretation of the work’s contribution to those ideas.
Essential Question #5: How does an examination of other cultures and human experience give us an appreciation of ourselves and others?
Benchmark #5: Students will recognize that writers and readers are influenced by social, cultural, and historic contexts.
Advanced: Student responses identify and analyze themes central to diverse human experience. Students provide superior interpretation examining how elements of bias influence the text. Additionally, students are able to specifically analyze, evaluate, and support the basic beliefs, perspectives and assumptions that underscore an author’s work.
Goal: Student responses identify and adequately analyze themes central to diverse human experience. Students develop an interpretation examining how elements of bias influence the text. Additionally, students are able to sufficiently analyze, evaluate, and support the basic beliefs, perspectives and assumptions that underscore an author’s work.
Proficient: Student responses generally identify and provide some analysis of themes central to diverse human experience. Students develop a simple interpretation examining how elements of bias influence the text. Additionally, students are able to give limited analysis, evaluation, and support of the basic beliefs, perspectives and assumptions that underscore an author’s work.
Basic: Student responses generally identify but provide little analysis of themes central to diverse human experience. Students provide little interpretation and examination of how elements of bias influence the text. Additionally, students are unable to give more than literal analysis, evaluation, and support of the basic beliefs, perspectives and assumptions that underscore an author’s work.
Below Basic: Student responses contain little or no analysis of themes central to diverse human experience. Students are unable to provide an interpretation and examination of how elements of bias influence the text. Additionally, students are unable to analyze, evaluate, and support the basic beliefs, perspectives and assumptions that underscore an author’s work.
|
