1.  observe, listen critically to and respond to written and oral communication in a variety of genres and media

   2. listen to take notes, formulate questions and make inferences and judgments

  3.  deliver narrative, expository or persuasive presentations that incorporate the same elements found in that mode or genre of writing

  4.  acquire increased vocabulary through listening and demonstrate that vocabulary through speaking

  5.  recognize speaker's purpose and identify verbal and nonverbal components of communication

  6.  analyze four basic types of persuasive speeches (i.e., propositions of fact, value, problem or policy)

  7.  analyze historically significant speeches to find rhetorical devices and features that make them memorable

  8.  read with rhythm, flow and meter that sounds like everyday speech

9.    take notes from lectures, reading, viewing and interviewing

 10.   present information through reports, demonstrations and multimedia projects

  B - Reading/Literature (Comprehension, Strategies and Genre)

1. read for a variety of purposes in all content areas; expect reading to make sense, to answer questions or to stimulate ideas

  2.  evaluate quality of reading material and its content based on author's purpose, meaning and structure

 3.   evaluate writing relative to student's own purposes for reading

  4.  relate a literary work to non-literary and/or other texts from its literary period and historical setting

  5.  relate a literary work to non-literary and/or other texts from its literary period and historical setting

 6.   read to identify characteristics of various genres including drama, novels, short stories, poetry, nonfiction, technical writing, satire and parody

 7.   analyze plot and theme across genres

  8.  analyze characterization (dynamic and static) in prose and plays through all characters (thoughts, words and actions) and the narrator's description

   9. identify and analyze imagery and sensory language

  10.  identify and analyze hyperbole, irony, foreshadowing and personification

 11.   identify aside, assonance, connotation, image, monologue, paradox, pun, satire and soliloquy

  12.  identify, analyze and apply knowledge of theme in literary works

  C - Reading (Vocabulary)

   1. expand vocabulary in all content areas through reading, etymology and the use of dictionaries and other references

  2.  identify synonyms, antonyms and multiple meanings for given words

    3.construct and solve word analogies based on connotation and denotation

  4.  use idioms, cognates, words with literal and figurative meanings and patterns of word changes that indicate different meanings or functions

   5. use context clues to identify unknown words while reading

  6.  use Greek and Latin prefixes, suffixes and roots to identify meaning and structure of words

   7. use dictionary, glossary, thesaurus, electronic and other references to identify word meanings   

  D - Reading Across the Curriculum

   1. identify messages and themes from books in all subject areas and relate from one subject area to those in another area

    2.evaluate the effectiveness of texts in every subject area

   3. use strategies for finding content and contextual meaning for unfamiliar words or concepts

   4. recognize the features of content area texts   

  E - Writing (Strategies)

    prewrite, draft, revise and edit writing to improve fluency, content, organization and style (writing process)

    produce writing (including multi-paragraph, expository and technical with the focus on persuasive) that establishes an organizational structure appropriate to purpose, audience, content and type of composition

    use writing handbooks, grammar check and references to edit usage and mechanics

    establish a clear, coherent thesis or controlling idea with examples, illustrations, facts and details

    use logical and effective transitions between ideas and paragraphs

    maintain unity and coherence

    write to develop answers to research questions

    incorporate reference quotations and citations into written text while maintaining the flow of ideas through the use of synthesizing information and summarizing to avoid plagiarism

    incorporate reference quotations and citations into written text while maintaining the flow of ideas through the use of synthesizing information and summarizing to avoid plagiarism

    compose letters to editors which include clearly-defined position and supporting evidence

    establish voice through tone, word choice, rhetorical devices and literary devices

    use technology and research to support writing    

  F - Writing (Grammar, Usage and Mechanics)

   1. identify coordinating, correlative and subordinating conjunctions

   2. distinguish among simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences

  3.  distinguish between active and passive voice  

    use passive and active verbs to match purposes

    use phrases, clauses, appositives and parenthetical expressions

    identify and use independent and dependent (subordinate) clauses

    use standard conventions of American English

    use present perfect, past perfect and future perfect verb tenses to match intended meaning

    maintain consistent number, gender, point of view and verb tense

    use apostrophes to form plurals of letters, numbers and signs; in place of omitted numbers or letters; and in plural and shared possessives

    use quotation marks to set off references to words

    use dictionaries, glossaries, texts, spell check, grammar check and human resources to identify standard spellings

  G - Accessing Information/Reference Skills

    use research venues to gather information: books, periodicals, dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, atlases, almanacs, CD ROM, databases and Internet