ELA Curriculum Map Supplement

9-10.L.4

Grade: 9 / English Language Arts
1Highly-Leveraged Standards the most essential for students to learn because they have endurance (knowledge and skills are relevant throughout a student's lifetime); leverage (knowledge and skills are used across multiple content areas) and essentiality (knowledge and skills are necessary for success in future courses or grade levels).
9-10. L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grades 9–10 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
Specific Skills:
a.  Students will be able to use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence, paragraph, or text; a word’s position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
b.  Students will be able to identify and correctly use patterns of word changes that indicate different meanings or parts of speech (e.g., analyze, analysis, analytical; advocate, advocacy).
c.  Students will be able to consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning, its part of speech, or its etymology.
d.  Students will be able to verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by
checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary).
Performance Level Descriptors: http://www.azed.gov/assessment/files/2014/05/ela-pld-grades-9-10.pdf
Standard / For grade-appropriate, low-complexity texts, the Minimally Proficient student / For grade-appropriate, low- to moderate-complexity texts, the Partially Proficient student / For grade-appropriate, moderate- to high-complexity texts, the Proficient student / For grade-appropriate, high-complexity texts, the Highly Proficient student
Language
9-10.W.1 / determines the meaning of unknown or multiple-meaning grade-level words by using immediate context clues or attempting to use patterns of word changes / determines the meaning of unknown or multiple-meaning grade-level words by using context clues within the same sentence; identifies and attempts to use patterns of word changes that indicate different meanings; or consults general reference materials, both print and digital. / determines and clarifies the meaning of unknown or multiple-meaning grade level words by using context clues within the text; identifies and correctly uses patterns of word changes that indicate different meanings or parts of speech; consults general and specialized reference materials, both print and digital, to determine its part of speech or its etymology; and/or verifies the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase. / determines and clarifies the meanings of unknown and multiple-meaning words, including above-grade-level words, by using context clues within the text; identifies and correctly uses patterns of word changes that indicate different meanings or parts of speech; consults general and specialized reference materials, both print and digital, to determine its part of speech or its etymology; and/or verifies the meaning of a word or phrase.

This definition for highly-leveraged standards was adapted from the “power standard” definition on the website of Millis Public Schools, K-12, in Massachusetts, USA. http://www.millis.k12.ma.us/services/curriculum_assessment/brochures

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