Albemarle County Public Schools
English Language Arts Curriculum Framework
2006
This curriculum represents the collective thinking of numerous individuals who have dedicated themselves
to research and conversation on and about English language arts over the past three academic years,
2003-2006.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Language Arts Vertical Team 2005-06
Debbie Baker ………………..….. Monticello High School
Janice Eiden ………………………. Baker-Butler Elementary School
Pete Fiddner …………………….… Brownsville Elementary School
Michelle Hall ……................. Woodbrook Elementary School
Dr. Sujatha Hampton ……….. Office of Instruction
Natasha Heny, NBCT ………… Albemarle High School
Michelle Hurst …………………… Walton Middle School
Lynda Monahan …………………. Jouett Middle School
Carrie Neeley …………………….. Office of Instruction
MegCarolyn Remesz ………… Burley Middle School
Debbie Shelor ……………………. Greer Elementary School
Courtney Stewart…………………Office of Instruction
Elizabeth Thompson …………. Henley Middle School
Emily VanNoy …………………….. Sutherland Middle School
Sandra Whitaker, NBCT ……. Office of Instruction
Heather Williams ……………… Western Albemarle High School
Over the last three years, some team members have rotated off the Language Arts Vertical Team to
pursue other opportunities. Their contributions, however, are still reflected in this curriculum.
2004-05 Team Members
Alison Dwier-Selden, Office of Instruction
Kathy Sublette, Western Albemarle High School
2003-04 Team Members
Emily Morrison, Western Albemarle High School
Patti Parmiter, Sutherland Middle School
Kathy Sublette, Western Albemarle High School
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Table of Contents
Executive Summary………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………i
Philosophy Statement……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….1
Framework for Quality Learning (FQL) Framing Statement……………………………………………………………………..….…4
Concepts and Enduring Understandings………………………………………………………………………………………..……………..…7
Habits of Mind ……….………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………..8
Concept Spiraling………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………9
Morphemic Structure…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10
Grammar………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..11
Genre………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………12
Cultural Context…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……..13
Etymology………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………14
Author’s Craft………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..15
Author’s Purpose……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………16
Research………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………….17
Literary Elements…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….18
Style……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……..19
Syntax…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….20
Theme…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….21
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About the Reading Maps…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……22
About the Writing Maps……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……23
Grade-level Articulation: Course description, reading map, writing map
Kindergarten………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………24
1st Grade……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….26
2nd Grade……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………28
3rd Grade…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………30
4th Grade………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..32
5th Grade……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….34
6th Grade – Communication in Language and Literature…………………………………………………………………….36
7th Grade – Change & Continuity in Language and Literature…………………………………………………………...43
8th Grade – Universality in Language and Literature…………………………………………………………………………..50
9th Grade – Comparative Study of World Literature I: Ancient and Classical Worlds…………………………57
10th Grade – Comparative Study of World Literature II: Medieval to Modern Times………………………..63
11th Grade – American Studies………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…69
12th Grade – History of the English Language through British & World Literature…………………………….73
Language! Program……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….79
Appendices
Lifelong Learner Standards……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..A
ASPIRE……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..B
Literacy Classroom “Look-fors”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…C
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Language! Program Correlations…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….D
Rubrics…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………..E
State Writing Rubrics
Albemarle County Reading Rubrics
Albemarle County Web Site Rubric
Genre Definitions………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…F
Technology Resources/Database Subscriptions…………………………………………………………………………………….G
Useful Web Sites……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..H
Students
Teachers
Mythology Spiral Example…………………………............................................................……………………..I
Albemarle County Public Schools Challenged Books & Guidelines for Use……………………………………………J
Annotated Bibliography………………………………………….………………………….………………………….……………………….K
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iii
Executive Summary
The study of language and literature is complex, requiring students to access multiple facets of language
simultaneously and to apply those facets to the experience at hand – be it reading, writing, listening, or
speaking. This document is intended to offer structure to that instruction.
This standards-based, concept-centered curriculum seeks to guarantee that all students, regardless of
proficiency, will be able to access the concepts that reside at the very core of English language arts (Goal
II: Eliminate the achievement gap). Those concepts, then, become the non-negotiables, and the related
texts and activities become the means by which students explore the concepts. As such, students at any
level should connect learning to each of the enduring understandings and concepts, and their depth of
understanding should increase throughout their lives.
Moreover, this curriculum spirals throughout a child’s school experience, thus acknowledging that in
language arts, much of the content must become automatic skill in order for the learner to access more
sophisticated content. It addresses the facets of language arts instruction – fluency, comprehension,
writing, and word study – that must come together for a child to truly access the richness of language.
The spiraling nature of the curriculum both embeds and extends the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL)
for English Language Arts. Teachers should access those standards and the Virginia SOL Curriculum
Framework for the discrete skills and essential knowledge required for each grade. However, the SOL are
minimum requirements for proficiency; this curriculum articulates requirements beyond that minimum for
lifelong learning (Goal II).
While this curriculum framework spirals concepts, it also takes into consideration the level of
sophistication with which learners engage with text and as writers. The notion of “complexity,” while
interpretative must also be clearly articulated. Therefore, the stages of reading and stages of writing
sections give teachers an indication of how students ought to perform. In 2006-07, the vertical team will
articulate specific benchmarks (Goal II) to ensure that performance standards are measured
systematically across schools. Additionally, the team has included one spiral, Appendix I, to demonstrate
how “level of sophistication” and “complexity” change throughout a child’s learning.
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In addition to directly responding to the Albemarle County School Board goal of eliminating the
achievement gap, this articulation also addresses Goal I: Prepare all students to succeed as members of a
global community and global economy, and Goal IV: Achieve recognition as a world-class educational
system. Teachers will notice that this articulation requires students to achieve beyond the Virginia
Standards of Learning. Most notably, all of the process of research requirements have been shifted to
middle school, thus allowing students to actively use their research skills within content area instruction in
high school. The ninth- and tenth-grade courses have been aligned to mirror students’ work in social
studies and to include more diverse perspectives and literature, including an emphasis on comparative
analysis of Western and Eastern literature. These changes, among others, move Albemarle County Public
Schools in front of the national trend in language arts instruction.
This curriculum framework is intended to be dynamic, allowing for change as new research becomes
available. Although complete in its articulation, this document will continue to evolve as work across the
division affects the language arts classroom. As such, the language arts vertical team anticipates adding
benchmarks, assessment information, exemplar lessons and units designed through the Framework for
Quality Learning, and instructional strategy resources in the 2006-07 school year. As teachers begin to
work with this curriculum framework, we also anticipate changes to the lists of notable works and authors.
This continued work will be completed in conjunction with and/or parallel to the work of other division
teams, thus acknowledging that no one group or document reflects every aspect of curriculum,
instruction, and assessment.
This work reflects three years of research and conversation among language arts vertical team members,
teachers throughout the division, professors at The University of Virginia, and other experts in the field.
Many professional organizations and resources contributed to the thinking behind the conversation,
including but not limited to National Council for Teachers of English, International Reading Association,
American Library Association, and The College Board. Textual resources are referenced in the annotated
bibliography included in the appendices.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
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English Language Arts
Curriculum Framework
Language is the essential condition of knowing,
the process by which experience becomes knowledge.
-Michael Halliday
Philosophy
Language gives people access to the richness of life. It is for this reason that authors write about the
world in which they live and those things about which they wonder. It is for this reason that literature
becomes timeless through universal themes that cross cultural boundaries.
Because language is fundamental for all other learning, educators in Albemarle County Public Schools
must provide children access to rigorous, high-quality curriculum. The English language arts curriculum
allows children to explore the many facets that construct the richness of language and the many genres
through which authors express ideas about the world. In doing so, children must grapple with the big
ideas contained in the structures of language and the complexities of text, through reading, writing, and
speaking. In doing this, children will explore what it means to think about language and literature and to
think through language and literature.
Systems of Language
The pervasive nature of language in life requires that children have access to those experiences that will
infuse language instruction throughout the curriculum. Furthermore, children must acquire precise
language to clearly communicate their ideas.
•
As language is a tool for learning in all curricular areas, it must be taught in conjunction with and
as appropriate to each discipline.
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•
We must recognize each child’s previous exposure to and understanding of language to enrich
lexical knowledge.
•
Children must play with words, including exploration of word formations, multiple meanings, and
etymology.
•
Children must apply patterns of language to convey and evaluate meaning.
Experience of Language
The complexities of text necessitate direct instruction in reading and writing, text structures, and the art
of interpretation. If children are to become lifelong readers, writers, and critical thinkers, they must also
read and write for enjoyment.
•
Choice is a powerful motivator.
•
Children must have opportunities for both subjective (recreational) and objective (academic) reading
with texts at their independent and instructional levels.
•
Children must understand various text structures and critically evaluate those structures as readers,
writers, and speakers.
•
Comparative studies of literature and universal themes afford all children access to high-level
discourse about the human experience.
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Appreciation for Language
Reading, writing, and speaking are largely subjective; therefore, children must appreciate the intricacies
of author’s craft and the figurative and literal ways in which ideas are expressed. Because this aesthetic
appreciation allows language and literature to endure the vagaries of culture and time, children must have
opportunities to develop their own voices and to appreciate the multiple perspectives of diverse cultures
and a global community.
•
Language and literature study must be relevant to students’ lives and afford students avenues to
stretch their understanding of the world.
•
Children must appreciate that the written word chronicles the human experience and endures over
time.
•
Every person has a voice worthy of expression.
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Framework for Quality Learning
Introduction
The study of English Language Arts should integrate opportunities for reading, writing, speaking, and
research through the study of language and world literature. Because students’ understanding of the
complexities of language deepens with cognitive development, the concepts in English Language Arts
should spiral incrementally throughout a child’s school experience. The English Language Arts curriculum
is standards-based and concept-centered; units and lessons are organized around important ideas and
conceptual themes, thereby enabling students to dig deeper into the dynamics of language and the
breadth of literature through increased sophistication and critical thought that reflects student
development. Students explore five interdisciplinary concepts (systems, change and continuity,
communication, aesthetics, and universality) and the correlating concepts for language arts. In this way,
students examine the structure of our morphophonemic language and literary genres as they relate to the
larger system of languages, and how our language and literature have evolved. As readers, writers, and
speakers, students learn the art of author’s craft and the multiple purposes and structures for
communicating thoughts about the world in which we live. The importance of communication and
universality are emphasized as students discover and hone their own voices and contribute their
perspectives on the human experience.
Content knowledge identified in the Virginia Standards of Learning provides the spiraling articulation to
explore key concepts, and instruction is inquiry-based with emphasis placed on students’ ability to raise
and answer important literacy questions. Students work toward county Lifelong-Learner Standards
(Appendix A) that prepare them to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. Connections to present-day
realities and an increasingly global society are consistently made as students apply their knowledge and
skills to authentic experiences.
Elementary school students participate in language arts instruction that is balanced and comprehensive,
containing a steady daily learning diet comprised of fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, writing, and
word study. In the primary grades, students focus on learning to read, write, and develop foundational
literacy skills, with emphasis on the system of language. Teachers also introduce important literary
concepts that allow students to become confident readers and writers with a variety of text structures. In
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the upper elementary grades, students transition from learning to read to reading to learn, with emphasis
on oral and written communication.
Middle school students explore the language arts through five interdisciplinary concepts and the
correlating language arts concepts, with emphasis on systems. A focus on systems reinforces students’
developmental processes in word study and fluency and their continued growth as readers and writers.
Each grade also uses a second concept as a focusing lens through which students gain deeper
understanding of elements of language and literature. Sixth-grade students experience English language
arts through exploration of communication and author’s craft. Seventh-grade curriculum across disciplines
provides many natural connections through the concept of change and continuity; therefore, seventhgrade language arts students investigate the concept of change and continuity in language and literature.
Eighth-grade students focus on universality and expressing their own voices as part of the human
experience.
High school students both manipulate language and evaluate language usage to deepen their
understanding of language arts concepts and their appreciation of the aesthetic aspects of the written
word. The ninth- and tenth-grade curricula are comparative studies of genres and world literature. Ninthgrade students focus on the literature of the ancient and classical worlds, and tenth-grade students study
literature from medieval to present times. Eleventh-grade students participate in an American Studies
curriculum that merges American history and American literature through the lens of the American
narrative. Seniors have many options with Advanced Placement and dual enrollment opportunities.
Seniors who study the Albemarle County curriculum explore the evolution of the English language through
British literature.
Rigor and Expectations
All students will learn at higher levels of achievement. To ensure success, students must be able to read
strategically, write analytically, and think critically and creatively. Reading, writing, and the development
of metacognitive and other higher-order thinking skills are emphasized in this curriculum and are
integrated into all units.
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Lifelong-Learner Standards
Lifelong-Learner Standards set expectations for how students learn, analyze information, and
communicate, and are designed to provide students with a foundation for lifelong inquiry and learning.
Lifelong-Learner Standards are tied to grade level assessments. A complete listing of the standards is
included in the Appendix.
Concept-Centered Instruction
Learning is organized around major, transferable concepts that allow students to deepen their
understanding of English Language Arts. Concepts provide both a lens for making sense of a wide body of
knowledge and a framework for organizing and prioritizing information. Disciplinary concepts organize
units of study within each course or across a subject area. Concept maps are included in this curriculum
framework to show how these concepts connect to each other, spiral throughout the vertical curriculum,
and incorporate the Virginia Standards of Learning for English Language Arts. Standards-based, conceptcentered instruction ensures that all students learn more than discrete facts; they engage in higher-order
thinking to examine systems of language, communication, and universal themes.
Assessment
Assessment is both formative and summative, allowing teachers and students to assess conceptual
understandings, content knowledge, and skills development. Formative assessments occur as part of each
unit of study and provide both teachers and students with information about student mastery of material
taught. Formative assessments give teachers information needed to adjust and monitor instruction and to
address individual and class weaknesses. Students are encouraged to take ownership of their own learning
and to monitor their own strengths and weaknesses from planning to learn to the evaluative stage.
Summative assessments are directly linked to demonstration of growth in the county Lifelong-Learner
Standards and the English Language Arts habits of mind. Both formative and summative assessments are
differentiated and vary in format with an emphasis on writing and evaluative skills.
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Language Arts Concepts and Enduring Understandings
Interdisciplinary
Concepts
Systems
Change &
Continuity
Language Arts Concepts
Morphemic Structure
Grammar
Genre
Cultural Context
Etymology
Enduring Understandings
•
•
•
•
•
Communication
Author’s Craft
Author’s Purpose
Research
•
•
•
Aesthetics
Literary Elements
Style
Syntax
•
•
•
•
Universality
Theme/
• Search for Identity
• Coming of Age
• Cooperation vs. Isolation
• Honoring the Historical Past
• Tolerance of the Atypical
• Search for Knowledge
• Epic Journey
• Battle Between Good & Evil
•
•
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
•
•
Language is a system of discrete patterns and symbols,
including words, letters, grammar, and syntax.
The purpose of a language, as a system, is to create
meaning.
Systems and structures define the various genres.
Language is dynamic – multiple factors affect the
evolution of language.
Change and continuity in language and literature
reflect individual and societal evolution.
Communication is making or conveying meaning.
Language is intentional – a tool for processing and
communicating one’s ideas about the world.
All reading, writing, and speaking centers around
audience and the desired effect on that audience.
Beauty is cultural and individual.
Words are powerful.
Ideas are communicated figuratively and complexly.
Tone, mood, and voice enhance the subjective
experience of language.
Certain themes pervade literature.
Individual, cultural, and societal connections enrich
literature.
Historical and cultural contexts enhance understanding.
Certain works transcend their historical and cultural
contexts.
7
Language Arts Habits of Mind
Habits of Mind are the metacognitive processes of scholars working in the discipline. A scholar in English
language arts:
•
Understands and appreciates how literature both reflects and contributes to culture.
•
Sees reading and writing as inextricably connected, reading print through the eyes of a writer and
writing with the eyes of a reader.
•
Searches for meaning in literature that can enrich and illuminate other texts, the reader’s own life,
and the world in which we live.
•
Reads to understand both the influences of other texts upon the text at hand and the author’s
perception of his/her world.
•
Seeks patterns or themes in written works.
•
Reads and writes with empathy, identifying alternate points of view even if s/he does not agree with
them.
•
Is metacognitive of his/her personal processes in reading and writing, thus able to monitor and
control his/her own reading and writing processes.
•
Is persistent with challenging texts and ideas, employing appropriate strategies to derive meaning.
•
Reads and writes to master the art of language usage and to demonstrate his/her personal
interpretations of text, theme, and human experience.
•
Uses specific tools to write more effectively.
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Concept Spiraling
Spiraling the language arts concepts provides readers a visual interpretation of how the concepts in
English language arts continue to grow throughout a child’s education and into higher education and/or
the workplace. Because of the nature of the components in English language arts – reading, writing,
viewing, and speaking – students must learn concepts and content and then transfer that learning into
automatic skills. By doing this, students are able to access the next layer of concepts and content, which
then become automatic skills, and so on. Thus, growth in English language arts relates largely to the level
of sophistication within each of the components. The following documents demonstrate how enduring
understandings, the big ideas that all children must master, are translated into instruction and learning at
various stages of a child’s development.
The spiraling documents are not intended to replace the Virginia Standards of Learning or to be
interpreted as complete curriculum. Rather, they offer guidelines and sample essential understandings and
essential questions to guide instruction to readers.
The documents are organized by interdisciplinary concept and then language arts concept, allowing the
reader to make connections within English language arts and across disciplines. It is imperative to
recognize that none of the concepts is intended to be taught in isolation. The teaching of language and
literature is a complex endeavor, one that involves recognizing multiple aspects of one concept. For this
reason, teachers must be artful practitioners who weave the components of language arts together for
students to gain depth of understanding of the individual components and the discipline as a whole.
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Systems:
Morphemic Structure
Enduring Understandings
•
•
•
Language is a system of discrete patterns and symbols, including words,
letters, grammar, and syntax.
The purpose of a language, as a system, is to create meaning.
Systems and structures define the various genre.
Essential Understandings
•
•
•
•
Words are composed of meaningful parts.
English words are derived from and influenced by other languages.
Morphemes affect the spelling, patterns, usage, and pronunciation of
various words.
Words are related to other words.
Essential Questions:
•
•
•
•
•
How does morphemic
while reading?
Why does morphemic
How does morphemic
How does morphemic
How does morphemic
knowledge help readers decode unfamiliar words
knowledge
knowledge
knowledge
knowledge
aid in reading comprehension?
aid in listening comprehension?
inform spelling?
aid in reading and writing fluency?
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
9-12:
Apply knowledge of morphemes to
use Latin roots and Greek
combining forms to aid in
comprehension and to increase
reading and writing fluency. Use
prefixes and suffixes to help
determine word meaning. Evaluate
the influence of other languages on
the structure of English.
6-8:
Apply knowledge morphemes to use
Latin roots and Greek combining
forms to aid in comprehension and
spelling. Use prefixes and suffixes
to help determine word meaning.
Discriminate between multiple
meanings.
3-5:
Understand and apply the concept
of prefixes and suffixes for verb
tense, part of speech, and plurals.
Recognize apostrophes as
morphemes. Move through the
word study stages of letter-name,
within word, syllable juncture, and
derivational constancy.
K-2:
Understand that sounds combine to
make words and same sounds
(usually) have the same structure.
Identify and use word families to
aid in comprehension and spelling.
Move through the word study
stages of letter-name, within word,
10
syllable juncture, and derivational
constancy.
Systems: Grammar
Enduring Understandings
•
•
•
Language is a system of discrete patterns and symbols, including words,
letters, grammar, and syntax.
The purpose of a language, as a system, is to create meaning.
Systems and structures define the various genre.
Essential Understandings
•
•
•
The ultimate purpose of grammar is to convey meaning.
Grammatical conventions exist for effective communication.
Grammatically correct language contributes to the meaning of text.
Essential Questions:
•
•
•
•
•
Why must writers follow “rules” in their work?
How do grammatical conventions help make communication powerful
and meaningful?
How do readers and writers use their knowledge of grammar to facilitate
comprehension?
How does an author manipulate grammatical conventions to effect
meaning?
How does a reader use grammatical conventions to extract meaning
from a text?
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
9-12:
Apply appropriate use of semicolon and colon, and phrases and
clauses (appositive & adjective).
Write using and evaluate
effectiveness of various sentence
structures – simple, compound,
and complex. Evaluate roles of
parts of speech and describe
those acting in non-typical roles.
6-8:
Apply appropriate use of dialogue,
quotes, commas, and independent
and dependent clauses. Apply
knowledge of parts of speech to
vary sentence structure to include
simple and compound sentences.
Identify prepositions and use
prepositional phrases to expand
writing.
3-5:
Identify grammatical conventions
associated with dialogue and
quotations. Identify and correct
sentence fragments and run-ons.
Apply comma rules. Identify,
define, and understand the roles
of adjectives, adverbs,
interjections, and conjunctions.
K-2:
Understand and apply concepts of
word and sentence. Use
appropriate capitalization and end
punctuation. Identify, define, and
understand the role of nouns,
verbs, and pronouns.
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Systems: Genre
Enduring Understandings
•
•
•
Language is a system of discrete patterns and symbols, including words,
letters, grammar, and syntax.
The purpose of a language, as a system, is to create meaning.
Systems and structures define the various genre.
Essential Understandings
•
•
•
•
•
Genres serve specific purposes.
Texts can be classified by genre.
Authors use specific genre to convey meaning to the audience.
The structure of a genre sets the schema for understanding.
Identifying and understanding features of genre enhances
comprehension and appreciation of text structure.
Essential Questions:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
How are texts in a genre defined?
What elements determine a text’s genre?
What is the difference between fiction and nonfiction?
How does knowing the features of a genre prepare a reader for the text?
How does writing in a particular genre help an author convey a
message?
Why do authors choose to write in a specific genre?
How do authors determine which genre best fits their purpose?
How would genre impact multiple texts on the same topic?
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
9-12:
Evaluate an author’s use of
genre to convey meaning.
Compare and contrast literary
works within and across various
genre. Apply knowledge of
genre in writing for a variety of
purposes and audiences and
defend choice of genre selected.
6-8:
Apply knowledge of genre to aid
in comprehension and to
analyze author’s purpose.
Compare and contrast literary
works within and across various
genre. Plan writing for a specific
topic in two or more genre and
analyze the impact of each.
3-5:
Identify features of various
genre (menu, picture book,
short story, chapter book,
fiction, nonfiction, poetry,
drama) and use those features
to aid in comprehension.
Compare same-subject texts in
two genre. Write in multiple
genre.
K-2:
Identify the genre of a text to be
read. Make predictions about
text based on its features/genre.
Apply elements of various genre
to writing.
12
Change and Continuity:
Cultural Context
Enduring Understandings
•
•
Language is dynamic – multiple factors affect the evolution of language.
Change and continuity in language and literature reflect individual and
societal evolution.
Essential Understandings
•
•
•
•
An author’s cultural context affects his or her perspective and, thus, his or
her writing.
An author’s frame of reference influences his or her message.
A reader’s or listener’s experiences affect understanding and enjoyment.
Understanding historical and cultural context enhances and emphasizes
meaning.
9-12:
Engage in author studies to evaluate
the impact of cultural context on the
text at hand and across texts. Write
literary criticism. Evaluate form of
criticism.
6-8:
Write personal narratives and
narratives from multiple
perspectives/points of view. Analyze
author’s bias.
3-5:
Write personal narratives. Engage in
author studies to explore cultural
context and author bias. Analyze
multiple perspectives and author’s
purpose.
Essential Questions:
•
•
•
•
How
How
Why
How
is an author’s cultural context reflected in his/her writing?
does an author demonstrate bias?
is an author’s cultural context important?
does a reader’s experiences change the text at hand?
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
K-2:
Build background knowledge to bring
to text and make personal
connections with text. Demonstrate
empathy for characters. Write
personal narratives. Engage in author
studies.
13
Change and Continuity:
Etymology
Enduring Understandings
•
•
Language is dynamic – multiple factors affect the evolution of language.
Change and continuity in language and literature reflect individual and
societal evolution.
Essential Understandings
•
•
•
•
The study of word origins informs contemporary usage.
Words have connotative and denotative meanings.
Word meanings can change over time.
Words become obsolete or incorporated into language to accommodate
social and contemporary knowledge.
Essential Questions:
•
•
•
•
Why do words become obsolete?
Why are words added to a language?
How do the differences between a word’s connotative meaning and
denotative meanings affect its usage?
Why is language both fluid and dynamic?
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
9-12:
Apply knowledge of multiple meanings,
connotation, and denotation to reading,
listening, speaking, and writing. Trace
words back to their original language.
Evaluate the influence of other languages
on the structure and usage of English.
6-8:
Apply knowledge of multiple meanings in
reading and writing. Explore idioms for
meaning and origin. Evaluate language
usage for connotative and denotative
meanings. Study Latin roots and Greek
combining forms to aid in comprehension
and to parse language into meaningful
parts. Evaluate the influence of romance
languages on the structure of English.
Use dictionaries and thesauri to
investigate words and to select
appropriate synonyms.
3-5:
Apply knowledge of multiple meanings in
reading and writing. Compare and
contrast obsolete and contemporary
words, particularly related to reading.
Begin to study Latin roots and Greek
combining forms. Use a dictionary to
investigate words.
K-2:
Understand that words can have multiple
meanings. Compare and contrast
obsolete and contemporary words,
particularly related to reading.
14
Communication:
Author’s Craft
•
•
•
Enduring Understandings
Communication is making or conveying meaning.
Language is intentional – a tool for processing and communicating
one’s ideas about the world.
All reading and writing centers around audience and the desired
effect on that audience.
Essential Understandings
•
•
•
•
•
Authors choose precise language to convey meaning.
Authors write to a specific audience.
Authors craft their writing to create a specific meaning.
Authors use literary devices to create an overall tone and mood in
their writing.
Authors have individual voices.
Essential Questions:
•
•
•
•
•
How do authors select specific vocabulary to convey meaning?
How do pieces on the same topic vary in tone, mood, and voice?
Why do authors use different literary devices?
How does a reader’s own biases impact the author’s message?
How does an author purposefully shape and control language to
demonstrate awareness of the intended audience?
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
9-12:
Evaluate the author’s use of structure
and literary devices to meet his
specific purpose. Evaluate author’s
craft on its own merit, including word
choice and images presented in text.
Evaluate the overall effectiveness of
mood, tone, and voice. Retell stories
altering mood, tone, and voice.
Speak and write using a variety of
literary devices and precise language.
6-8:
Apply knowledge of tone, mood, and
voice to interpret selections and
whole texts. Analyze author’s craft in
relation to author’s purpose. Analyze
author’s craft for its own merit. Write
using a variety of literary devices.
Speak and write using precise
language.
3-5:
Identify features tone, mood, and
voice in a text. Relate author’s craft
to author’s purpose. Interpret
imagery and other precise language
presented in text. Speak and write
using precise language.
K-2:
Identify powerful words in a piece of
writing. Speak and write using
precise language.
15
Communication:
Author’s Purpose
•
•
•
Enduring Understandings
Communication is making or conveying meaning.
Language is intentional – a tool for processing and communicating
one’s ideas about the world.
All reading and writing centers around audience and the desired
effect on that audience.
Essential Understandings
•
•
•
•
Authors deliberately select a text structure that moves their
purpose forward and to convey meaning.
Authors write to a specific audience.
Authors craft their writing around a specific purpose.
Readers interpret an author’s purpose based on structure,
language, and other literary devices the author used.
Essential Questions:
•
•
•
•
•
How do authors use text structure to convey meaning?
How do pieces on the same topic vary in meaning because of the
structure used?
How does a reader determine the audience the author had in mind
while writing?
Why do authors use different literary devices?
How does a reader’s own biases impact the author’s message?
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
9-12:
Evaluate the author’s use of structure
and literary devices to meet his
specific purpose. Read across text
structures and evaluate effectiveness
of each for a variety of audiences and
purposes. Write for a variety of
audiences and purposes, including
narration, information, research,
persuasion, direction, and business.
6-8:
Apply knowledge of text structures to
evaluate the author’s purpose and use
of structure to meet that purpose.
Identify literary devices used to create
an argument. Compare and contrast
topics across a variety of structures to
determine effectiveness. Write for a
variety of audiences and purposes,
including narration, information,
research, and persuasion.
3-5:
Identify features of a text and apply it
to the author’s purpose. Use text
features to aid in comprehension.
Identify the audience for a text. Write
for a variety of audiences and
purposes, including narration,
information, and persuasion.
K-2:
Identify the differences in narrative
and nonfiction text structures. Ask why
the author wrote the book or story.
Write for narrative and informational
purposes.
16
Communication: Research
Enduring Understandings
•
•
•
Communication is making or conveying meaning.
Language is intentional – a tool for processing and communicating one’s
ideas about the world.
All reading and writing centers around audience and the desired effect on
that audience.
Essential Understandings
•
•
•
•
•
Research requires identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing information
to substantiate a thesis or hypothesis.
Conducting research is one way of learning about the world.
Multiple factors influence the credibility of a source.
Distinct formats for using and citing sources convey meaning to others in
the field of study.
Ethical guidelines protect both the original author and the researcher.
Essential Questions:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
How do researchers collect and effectively organize information?
How does an individual’s previous experiences influence understanding
of information?
How do researchers discover the central ideas in a source?
How do researchers extract the useful information from a source?
What role does technology play in research?
How and why do researchers determine the credibility of sources?
What method of citation best serves the audience and purposes of the
paper?
What is common knowledge?
How do copyright laws protect both the author and the researcher?
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
9-12:
Conduct ethical research to substantiate
a thesis and evaluate how new
information might affect the thesis.
Evaluate the credibility of sources and
use primary sources and educationaland research-oriented web sites. Select
and defend the best format for the
purpose of the paper. Explain the
consequences of plagiarism.
6-8:
Conduct ethical research to substantiate
a thesis or hypothesis. Organize and
synthesize information using note cards,
outlines, and graphic organizers.
Evaluate the credibility of sources.
Understand, define, and use appropriate
formats for writing research papers and
citing sources (works cited, bibliography,
outline). Define plagiarism. Exhibit legal
and ethical behaviors when using
information and technology.
3-5:
Select sources most appropriate to
answer the question at hand and identify
and locate specific information (skim and
scan) within those sources. Search by
title, subject, author, and key word.
Organize and synthesize relevant
information. Cite sources.
K-2:
Use various sources to answer questions.
Distinguish between relevant and
irrelevant information. Credit others for
their ideas/cite sources of information.
17
Aesthetics:
Literary Elements
Enduring Understandings
•
•
•
•
Beauty is cultural and individual.
Words are powerful.
Ideas are communicated figuratively and complexly.
Tone, mood, and voice enhance the subjective experience of language.
Essential Understandings
•
•
•
•
Authors use words deliberately.
Authors communicate ideas directly and figuratively.
Authors use literary elements to convey meaning and to move a piece
forward.
An individual’s own biases and preferences influence the text at hand.
Essential Questions:
•
•
•
How do words mean?
How do literary elements frame and affect a text?
How does an individual’s perspective influence the experience of language
and literature?
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
9-12:
Evaluate the author’s use of literary
elements. Evaluate how a text would
differ had the author used a different
structure, tone, setting, etc. Evaluate
the author’s use of words, images, and
symbols. Apply literary elements to
own writing, using specific language to
convey meaning and exploring sametopic pieces from multiple perspectives.
6-8:
Identify literary elements of style, tone,
mood, allegory, symbolism, parody,
foreshadowing, epilogues, prologue,
and irony. Evaluate an author’s use of
character, plot, setting, theme, and
point of view. Apply literary elements
to own writing. Select high-powered,
specific vocabulary to convey meaning.
Write both directly and figuratively,
including use of figurative language in
narrative and nonfiction forms.
3-5:
Apply knowledge of story structure to
understand more complex text. Identify
literary elements of character, plot,
setting, theme, point of view, and
style. Apply knowledge of literary
elements to own writing.
K-2:
Understand that stories have structure
that includes basic elements of
literature: character, plot, setting.
18
Aesthetics: Style
Enduring Understandings
•
•
•
•
Beauty is cultural and individual.
Words are powerful.
Ideas are communicated figuratively and complexly.
Tone, mood, and voice enhance the subjective experience of language.
Essential Understandings
•
•
•
•
•
•
An author creates an individual style to express his own voice.
Authors use words, sentence structures, figurative language, and
sentence arrangement deliberately.
Authors communicate ideas directly and figuratively.
Authors use literary elements to convey meaning and to move a piece
forward.
An individual’s own biases and preferences influence the text at hand.
The style of a piece of writing affects its overall mood.
Essential Questions:
•
•
•
•
•
How do words mean?
How do literary elements frame and affect a text?
How does an author “put on” a style when writing?
How does the style of a text affect its message?
How does an individual’s perspective influence the experience of language
and literature?
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
9-12:
Evaluate the author’s use of words and
sentences to create the style of a piece.
Read multiple texts by the same author to
evaluate the author’s style. Write
emulating various authors’ styles. Write
incorporating various styles. Hone one’s
own voice.
6-8:
Identify literary elements of style, tone,
mood, allegory, symbolism, parody,
foreshadowing, epilogues, prologue, and
irony. Evaluate an author’s use of words
and sentences, and how those choices
affect the text as a whole. Identify various
styles – formal, informal, journalistic,
archaic, and contemporary – and analyze
the affect the style has on the text at
hand. Explore various styles in writing to
better define one’s own voice as a writer.
3-5:
Identify various styles in writing – formal,
informal, journalistic – and describe the
affect the style has on the text at hand.
Analyze the meaning of words within a
text and consider other ways another
person might express the same idea.
Begin to develop one’s own voice in
writing.
K-2:
Understand that one story can be told
several ways, with emphasis placed on
different parts. Identify the overall mood
of a text.
19
Aesthetics: Syntax
Enduring Understandings
•
•
•
•
Beauty is cultural and individual.
Words are powerful.
Ideas are communicated figuratively and complexly.
Tone, mood, and voice enhance the subjective experience of language.
Essential Understandings
•
•
•
Syntactical rules must be mastered, but good writers manipulate syntax
(the rules) as they develop their craft.
Patterns in language help to convey meaning of language.
Manipulating language to convey specific meaning requires mastery of
language structures and elements of author’s craft.
9-12:
Evaluate the author’s use of syntax to
convey meaning. Demonstrate
mastery of various sentence
structures (simple, compound,
complex, and compound-complex)
and speak and write using a variety
of sentence structures. Evaluate how
and why authors “break the rules.”
6-8:
Create and analyze increasingly
complex sentences. Identify and
eliminate sentence fragments and
run-ons. Manipulate sentences
without losing meaning. Relate
syntax to author’s craft.
3-5:
Identify simple and compound
sentences. Manipulate sentences to
determine whether they hold the
same meaning. Write using complete
simple and compound sentences.
Essential Questions:
•
•
•
•
How
How
Why
Why
do authors manipulate sentences to convey different meanings?
is punctuation syntax?
do sentence structures matter?
do authors manipulate syntax?
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
K-2:
Identify patterns in language.
Distinguish between simple and more
complex sentences in text. Write in
complete sentences.
20
Universality: Theme
Enduring Understandings
•
•
•
•
Certain themes pervade literature.
Individual, cultural, and societal connections enrich literature.
Historical and cultural contexts enhance understanding.
Certain works transcend their historical and cultural contexts.
Essential Understandings
•
•
•
•
•
An author’s culture influences his/her writing; his/her writing reflects
culture.
A culture’s language is intimately connected to its historical development.
The historical and cultural past shapes nations and their people.
Authors write to covey their own interpretations of the human experience.
Tragic or dire circumstances act as catalysts in individual choices.
Essential Questions:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
How do authors craft text to convey their ideas about the human
experience?
In what ways do authors reveal themselves through the text they craft?
What is the relationship between conflict and theme?
How do characters’ conflicts with society manifest in narrative text?
How do different historical and cultural contexts affect the depiction of a
theme?
What determines whether a belief will be timeless or will fade after a
decade?
How does theme work with other elements of literature to create the total
effect of a literary work?
How do art and literature reflect and affect the human experience?
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
9-12:
Analyze how cultural contexts
affect an author’s depiction of
theme; evaluate the author’s
use of elements to craft
meaning and create effect;
discuss theme as timeless and
universal; relate similar themes
across multiple pieces of text.
6-8:
Explain how theme relates to
author’s craft; articulate
multiple themes from a piece of
literature; relate similar themes
across two pieces of literature;
analyze the relationship between
conflict and theme.
3-5:
Define theme; articulate
theme(s) from a piece of
literature; explain the
connection between conflict and
theme.
K-2:
Discuss conflict and relate to the
experiences of characters.
21
About the Reading Maps
Articulating reading requirements across grades involves considerable thought and discussion about
individual student reading levels, appropriateness of the literature to an age group, and appropriateness of
literature to the curricular goals. That said, teachers should keep in mind the following items as they
select literature for instructional purposes:
•
Vertical alignment and requirements at specific grades should be honored.
•
Titles/authors have been recommended at the lowest grade level to accommodate as many learners
as possible. Titles may be used for any grade at or above the recommendation level.
•
Suggested texts and authors should be used whenever possible. If a teacher would like approval for
a text not on the reading maps or text lists, s/he must go through the building-level approval
process with notification of the appropriate curriculum coordinator.
•
Within Professional Learning Communities, grade-level teams may design instruction around
common texts.
•
To meet the needs of all learners, schools may elect to use adapted texts for the recommended
titles as long as the title is the same.
•
At the elementary level, notable author lists are provided to maximize flexibility with reading
instruction. However, not all texts by any one author are appropriate for all students. Discretion and
awareness of students’ social development and community expectations should precede any text
selection.
•
While some overlap in notable authors and suggested texts may exist, teachers should avoid using
any book that is specifically listed on a reading map at a higher grade.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
22
About the Writing Maps
While the Virginia Standards of Learning delineate specific writing requirements for each grade, they don’t
articulate a vertical line that ensures all students write across the main forms (narrative, expository,
persuasive, reflective, analytical, and technical) multiple times throughout schooling. Therefore, the
writing maps included in this framework provide structure and ensure common writing experiences for all
children.
•
The writing maps are NOT intended to be all inclusive; rather they are minimal requirements for
each grade.
•
The writing requirements align to and reinforce the Standards of Learning in both reading and
writing, and in most cases speaking and research.
•
Regardless of the specific grade-level requirements, all students should write each day and for a
variety of audiences and purposes.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
23
Kindergarten
Early Emergent Stage of Reading:
Early emergent students are just beginning to become aware of the world of print. The focus of their
instruction in reading is to lead to their awareness of the functions and conventions of print and books. For
children whose literacy is beginning to emerge, “reading” refers to looking at books, listening to stories,
and retelling stories with heavy reliance on picture clues.
Books appropriate for students in this stage are short, contain memorable and repetitive language
patterns, utilize language similar to that of young children, and include clear illustrations that are direct
clues to the textual message.
Late Emergent Stage of Reading:
Late emergent readers understand the layout and parts of books and are able to tell the stories of familiar
books. They have begun to understand the concept of word and are beginning to recognize some words by
sight. “Reading” for students in the late emergent stage means retelling familiar stories in books with
heavy reliance on memory and picture clues.
Books appropriate for students in this stage may (or may not) have repetitive language patterns, include
both familiar and new expressions, utilize varied sentence structures, include pictures that embellish but
don’t tell the textual message, and wrap story events across multiple pages.
Stages of Writing:
Refer to ASPIRE (appendix B).
Genre – wordless picture books, pattern books, concept books, Mother Goose and nursery rhymes.
Suggested Authors:
Margot Apple
Jan Brett
Margaret Wise Brown
Eric Carle
Donald Crews
Lois Ehlert
Mem Fox
Don Freeman
Pat Hutchins
Ezra Jack Keats
Robert Lawson
Leo Lionni
Bill Martin
Laura Numeroff
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Peggy Pathman
H. A. Rey
Richard Scarry
Maurice Sendak
Dr. Seuss
Rosemary Wells
24
Writing Requirements – Kindergarten
Concept
Connection to Reading
Writing Requirement
Systems;
Communication
Communicating Ideas
Parts of a book
Frequent Journal writing
Write and publish a pattern or narrative story that
includes a front/back cover, title page,
illustrations, and an author page
Nonfiction writing: making lists, writing recipes,
recording predictions/observations
Distinguishing between
fiction/nonfiction text
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
25
1st Grade
Beginning Reader Stage of Reading:
Beginning readers have learned enough about the structure of books, stories, and the English language to
be able to pick up unfamiliar picture books and get meaning from them with significant guidance. They are
building their store of sight words and their knowledge of the relationships between letters and sounds,
and they are able to use their knowledge in reading easy books.
Books appropriate for students in this stage provide detail, include illustrations that embellish but do not
provide direct clues to the textual message, and utilize more complex and varied sentence patterns.
Stages of Writing:
Refer to ASPIRE (appendix B).
Genre – folk tales – cumulative tales and beast tales, concept books, poetry, fiction, nonfiction.
Suggested Authors:
Byrd Baylor
Ludwig Bemelmans
Stan Berenstain
Eve Bunting
P. D. Eastman
Sid Hoff
Arnold Lobel
Tomie de Paola
Beatrix Potter
David Shannon
Don and Audrey Wood
Jane Yolen
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
26
Writing Requirements – 1st Grade
Systems;
Communication
Communicating Ideas
Distinguishing between
fiction/nonfiction text
Comprehend fiction/nonfiction
Retell stories and events using
beginning, middle, end
Comprehension
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Frequent Journal writing
Nonfiction writing: making lists, writing recipes,
recording predictions/observations,
messages/notes
Write a response that shows comprehension of
text heard or read
Use prewriting strategies (simple graphic
organizers) to write, revise, and publish a story
with a beginning/middle/end
Use writing strategies before, during, and after
reading to enhance comprehension (questioning,
text to self/text/world connections, anticipation
guides)
27
2nd Grade
Advanced Beginning Stage of Reading:
Advanced beginning readers are becoming more adept with the use of a number of strategies in reading
unfamiliar material: phonics, visual cues, context clues, and sentence structure. Their store of sight words
numbers in the hundreds, and the books they are able to read independently or with guidance are
becoming more sophisticated.
Books appropriate for readers at this stage are longer and have more fully developed stories, contain
vocabulary in the speaking and listening range of upper primary and elementary children, may include full
pages without illustrations, and when illustrations are included, they embellish but do not provide textual
message cues.
Stages of Writing:
Refer to ASPIRE (appendix B).
Genre – tall tales, fantastic stories, folk tales – pour quoi stories, poetry, fiction, nonfiction.
Suggested Authors:
David A. Adler
Marc Brown
Joanna Cole
Bill Cosby
Debra Fraiser
Kevin Henkes
Megan McDonald
Mary Pope Osborne
Peggy Parish
Barbara Park
Jack Prelutsky
Cynthia Rylant
Jon Scieszka
Marjorie Sharmat
Judith Viorst
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
28
Writing Requirements – 2nd Grade
Systems;
Communication;
Aesthetics
Communicating Ideas
Comprehend fiction/nonfiction text
Identify main idea, characters, setting,
problem/solution in texts heard or
read
Read poems with fluency and
expression
Comprehension
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Frequent Journal writing
Write a response that shows comprehension of
text heard or read
Use prewriting strategies (graphic organizers) to
write, revise, and publish a story with a main
idea, characters, setting, problem/solution
Write a poem
Use writing strategies before, during, and after
reading to enhance comprehension (questioning,
text to self/text/world connections, anticipation
guides)
29
3rd Grade
Transitional Stage of Reading:
Transitional readers continue to build their expertise with the use of phonics, visual cues, context clues,
sentence structure, and text structure to read unfamiliar material. They are growing in their skills of
predicting, cross-checking, and monitoring their understanding of content.
Books appropriate for students in this stage are easy chapter books that require more than one sitting to
read. They utilize vocabulary of several hundred, primarily one- and two-syllable, words. These stories are
more complex and often require the reader to make inferences. They typically contain few, if any,
illustrations.
Stages of Writing:
Refer to ASPIRE (appendix B).
Genre – historical fiction, mystery, folk tales – pour quoi stories, poetry, nonfiction.
Suggested Authors:
Aesop
Christopher van Allsburg
Matt Christopher
Beverly Cleary
Andrew Clements
Debbie Dadey
Rahl Dahl
Douglas Florian
Patricia MacLachlan
Patricia Polacco
Faith Ringgold
Louis Sachar
Allen Say
Brian Selznick
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Shel Silverstein
William Steig
John Steptoe
E. B. White
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Jeanette Winter
30
Writing Requirements – 3rd Grade
Systems;
Communication;
Aesthetics
Make connections between previous
experiences and reading selections
Use graphic organizers to organize
and comprehend information.
Comprehend fiction (fairy tales,
myths, folktales, legends, and fables)
Comprehend nonfiction
Identify main idea and supporting
details
Comprehension
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Frequent journal writing; write a response that
compares/contrasts self with a character from a
text that is read; write a response that
compares/contrasts plots, settings, or characters
in books
Use prewriting strategies (graphic organizers) to
organize thoughts/ideas prior to writing
Write, revise, and publish a piece of fiction (fairy
tale, myth, folktale, legend or fable)
Write a nonfiction piece to explain using
paragraphs to group related ideas
Write a friendly letter with date, greeting, body,
and closing
Write an autobiography
Write an organized paragraph with topic
sentence, supporting details, and concluding
sentence
Use writing strategies before, during, and after
reading to enhance comprehension (questioning,
text to self/text world connections, anticipation
guides)
31
4th Grade
Intermediate Stage of Reading:
Intermediate readers are able to identify the print forms of almost every word that is in their speaking and
listening vocabulary. They have become fluent silent readers. Their individual interests are important
determiners of appropriate books. Some students prefer fiction while others prefer nonfiction. Most
students are willing to tackle books that challenge their reading abilities if the topic is one of great
interest. The focus of instruction for these children is expansion of vocabulary, or critical thinking skills,
and of strategies for getting meaning from complex text.
Appropriate books for students in this stage contain more difficult vocabulary and concepts, include
chapters that are often complete in themselves, and feature characters and situations of interest to upper
elementary students.
Stages of Writing:
Refer to ASPIRE (appendix B).
Genre – realistic fiction, autobiography, biography, informational materials, historical fiction, poetry.
Suggested Authors:
Judy Blume
Betsy Byars
Kate DiCamillo
Sid Fleishman
Russel Freedman
Patricia Reilly Giff
Marguerite Henry
E.L. Konigsburg
C. S. Lewis
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Ivy Ruckman
Pam Munoz Ryan
Mildred Taylor
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
32
Writing Requirements – 4th Grade
Systems;
Communication;
Aesthetics
Explain the author’s purpose
Poetry
Identify main idea and supporting
details
Historical Fiction
Text Organizers
Write a piece that informs
Write a piece that entertains
Write a piece that persuades
Write poems using sensory words - rhymed,
unrhymed, and patterned
Write an organized paragraph with topic
sentence, supporting details, and concluding
sentence
Write a piece of historical fiction (letter, journal
entry, newspaper article)
When writing non-fiction, use a variety of text
organizers (type, headings, graphics) to predict
and categorize information
Summary
Summarize text
Comprehension
Use writing strategies before, during, and after
reading to enhance comprehension (questioning,
text to self/text/world connections, anticipation
guides)
Construct questions, collect information from
various resources to write a research paper
Research
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
33
5th Grade
Intermediate Stage of Reading:
Intermediate readers are able to identify the print forms of almost every word that is in their speaking and
listening vocabulary. They have become fluent silent readers. Their individual interests are important
determiners of appropriate books. Some students prefer fiction while others prefer nonfiction. Most
students are willing to tackle books that challenge their reading abilities if the topic is one of great
interest. The focus of instruction for these children is expansion of vocabulary, or critical thinking skills,
and of strategies for getting meaning from complex text.
Appropriate books for students in this stage contain more difficult vocabulary and concepts, include
chapters that are often complete in themselves, and feature characters and situations of interest to upper
elementary students.
Stages of Writing:
Refer to ASPIRE (appendix B).
Genre – more sophisticated fantastic stories, fables, historical fiction, poetry, nonfiction.
Suggested Authors:
Avi
Natalie Babbitt
John Christopher
Eion Colfer
Sharon Creech
Christopher Paul Curtis
Paul Fleishman
Jack Gantos
Jean Craighead George
Virginia Hamilton
Brian Jaques
Julius Lester
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Scott O’Dell
Linda Sue Park
Gary Paulsen
Carolyn Reeder
Jerry Spinelli
34
Writing Requirements – 5th Grade
Systems;
Communication;
Aesthetics
Character development
Plot development and conflict
resolution
Poetry
Vocabulary and Style
Comprehend nonfiction
Structural patterns of nonfiction
Organize information
Summary
Comprehension
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
When writing fiction and poetry, incorporate
character development
Use a variety of planning strategies (free-writing,
mapping, listing, webbing) when writing plot and
conflict resolution in fiction
Write, revise, and publish a variety of poetry
including free-versed, rhymed and patterned
poetry
Choose vocabulary and style that supports the
writer’s purpose
When writing non-fiction, use a variety of text
organizers (type, headings, graphics) to predict
and categorize information
Use a variety of resources to write a biography
Choose structural patterns that enhance writer’s
purpose
(sequential, compare and contrast, cause and
effect)
Write, revise, and publish a persuasive paper
which includes information that supports opinions,
predictions, and conclusions
Summarize text
Use writing strategies before, during, and after
reading to enhance comprehension (questioning,
text to self/text/world connections, anticipation
guides)
35
6th Grade – Communications in Language and Literature
Course Description:
Middle school students explore the language arts through five interdisciplinary concepts (systems, change
and continuity, communication, aesthetics, and universality) and the correlating language arts concepts,
with emphasis on systems. A focus on systems reinforces students’ developmental processes in word
study and fluency and their continued growth as readers and writers. Each grade also uses a second
concept as a focusing lens through which students gain deeper understanding of elements of language and
literature. Additionally, courses are designed to incorporate a balanced literacy diet that includes the
components of fluency, word study, comprehension, and writing.
Sixth-grade students experience English language arts through exploration of communication and author’s
craft. This emphasis allows students to study those structures (systems) and styles (communication) that
authors use to communicate ideas about the world. As such, students read extensively from a variety of
genres, including fiction, narrative nonfiction, nonfiction, and poetry and transfer what they learn about
those genres to their own writing and speaking. Students write for a variety of audiences and purposes,
using narrative and expository forms. Additional emphasis is placed on continuing to build comprehension
strategies, understanding Latin roots for vocabulary development, and using correct punctuation and
grammar.
Early Proficient State of Reading:
The reading skill of early proficient readers allows them to tackle more demanding texts. Silent reading is
fluent when the vocabulary and concept load are within the student’s range. Early proficient readers are
expanding their vocabulary knowledge and their ability to use strategies to make meaning from text. They
also continue to develop fluency, chunking phrases and reading with expression. As they develop higher
level cognitive abilities, they gain in ability to understand more complex reading materials. It is vocabulary
and concept development, rather than the ability to decode words, that determines a student’s
advancement to the early proficient reading stage.
Books appropriate for students in this stage contain more difficult vocabulary and concepts, include
chapters that are complete in themselves, and feature more complex characters and situations of interest
to pre-adolescents and adolescents.
Stages of Writing:
Refer to ASPIRE (appendix B).
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
36
Textbook:
Holt, Rinehart & Winston. (2007). Elements of Literature: Introductory Course. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart
& Winston.
Additional Resources:
Adams, G. and Brown, S. (2004). The Six-Minute Solution: A Reading Fluency Program. Longmont, CO:
Sopris West.
Great Source. (2002). Reader’s Handbook: A Student Guide for Reading and Learning. Wilmington, MA:
Great Source.
Language Works. (2004). Word Build. Keswick, VA: Language Works.
McDougal Littell. (2001). Language Network. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell.
Genre – emphasis on realistic fiction and science fiction – also study biography, essay, memoir, poetry.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
37
6th-grade Concept Requirements & Suggested Text
Concepts & Reading Requirements
•
Teachers should select texts appropriate for their students.
As a bridge between elementary and middle school, a main priority in reading at this level is to focus
on genre distinctions as they relate to author’s purpose and author’s craft.
•
Teachers should integrate multiple concepts, themes, and genres. Suggested texts may be used to
access multiple themes and genres.
Universality: Search for Identity
Drama
Systems: Genre: Drama
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare)
Systems: Genre: Poetry
• Cheaper by the Dozen (Gilbreth)
• Ten Little Indians (Alexie)
Requirement: All students will read a
Poetry
variety of genres centering around the
• Haiku
search for identity.
• Ballad
• Limerick
• Free verse
• Love that Dog (Creech)
Additional Texts
• The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm (Farmer)
• Esperanza Rising (Ryan)
• Fever, 1793 (Anderson)
• Freak the Mighty (Philbrick)
• The Golden Compass (Pullman)
• Hatchet (Paulsen)
• Maniac Magee (Spinelli)
• The Moon and I (Byars)
• My Life in Dog Years (Paulsen)
• Pictures of Hollis Woods (Giff)
• Pirates (Rees)
• Shoeshine Girl (Bulla)
• A Taste of Blackberries (Smith)
• A Wrinkle in Time (l’Engle)
• Where the Red Fern Grows (Rawls)
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
38
Concepts & Reading Requirements
Teachers should select texts appropriate for their students.
Universality: Battle between Good and
Evil
Systems: Genre: Science Fiction
Science Fiction
• The Ear, the Eye and the Arm (Farmer)
• The White Mountains (Christopher)
• A Wrinkle in Time (L’Engle)
• Invitation to the Game (Hughtes)
• Short story selections from the textbook
Fantasy
• Abarat (Barker)
• The Dark is Rising (Cooper)
• Eragon (Paolini)
• Zink (Bennett)
• The Golden Compass (Pullman)
• Across Five Aprils (Hunt)
• Lincoln: A Photobiography (Freedman)
• A Separate Battle: Women and the Civil War (Chang)
• Primary source documents
Requirement: All students will read a
work of fantasy or science fiction that
includes the theme of battle between
good and evil.
Communication: Author’s Purpose
Requirement: All students will read a
piece of Civil War fiction or nonfiction to
determine author’s purpose and author’s
bias.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
39
Grade
Title
Author
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
Abarat
Abracadabra Kid
Across Five Aprils
After Last Dog Died
American Revolutionaries, The
Boy
Boys’ War, The
Captain’s Dog, The
Case of the Baker Street Irregulars
Chasing Vermeer
Cheaper by the Dozen
D is for Dahl
Dark is Rising, The
Double Dutch
Downsiders
Ear, the Eye and the Arm, The
Eldest
Eragon
Esperanza Rising
Fever 1793
Freak the Mighty
Golden Compass, The
Grain of Wheat
Harris and Me
Hatchet
Hey World, Here I Am
Introduction to Literature
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
Invitation to the Game
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Johnny Tremain
Knots in My YoYo String
Lincoln: A Photobiography
Long Way from Chicago, A
Lost Garden, The
Love That Dog
Maniac Magee
Midsummer Night’s Dream, A
Barker
Fleischman, Sid
Hunt
Bredeson
Meltzer
Dahl
Murphy
Smith
Newman
Balliet
Gilbreth
Cooling
Cooper
Draper
Shusterman
Farmer
Paolini
Paolini
Ryan
Anderson
Philbrick
Pullman
Bulla
Paulsen
Paulsen
Little
Holt, Rinehart, &
Winston
Hughes
O’Dell
Forbes
Spinelli
Freedman
Peck
Yep
Creech
Spinelli
Shakespeare
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Genre
Fantasy
Nonfiction/Autobiography
Historical Fiction
Nonfiction/Biography
Nonfiction
Nonfiction
Nonfiction
Historical Fiction
Mystery
Mystery
Drama
Nonfiction
Fantasy
Fiction
Fiction
Science Fiction
Fantasy
Fantasy
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fantasy
Memoir
Memoir
Fiction
Fiction
Anthology
Reading
Level
7.7
5.8
6.4
7.2
7.9
6.4
6.7
5.0
5.0
5.4
6.0
6.5
7.0
5.3
6.4
4.7
7.0
5.6
6.2
5.4
6.3
6.7
3.3
5.2
6.3
5.1
various
Reading
List
9
Science Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction/Autobiography
Nonfiction/Biography
Historical Fiction
Memoir
Fiction
Fiction
Drama
6.4
5.5
5.3
5.4
7.4
4.2
6.1
4.1
5.4
8.9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
40
Grade
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
Title
Author
Moon and I, The
My Life in Dog Years
Pictures of Hollis Woods
Pirates
Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest
Romiette and Julio
Sahara Special
Search for Shadowman
Separate Battle: Women and the Civil
War, A
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World
Shoeshine Girl
Star Fisher, The
Study in Scarlet, A
Surprising Myself
Tarantula in My Purse, The
Taste of Blackberries, A
Ten Little Indians
Time Machine, The
True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Wanderer, The
We Beat the Street
Westing Game, The
Where the Lilies Bloom
Where the Red Fern Grows
White Mountains, The
Who Was that Masked Man, Anyway?
Wrinkle in Time, A
Zink
Byars
Paulsen
Giff
Rees
McGovern
Draper
Codell
Nixon
Chang
Memoir
Nonfiction/Autobiography
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction
Armstrong
Bulla
Yep
Doyle
Fritz, Jean
George, Jean C
Smith
Alexie
Wells
Avi
Creech
Draper
Raskin
Cleaver
Rawls
Christopher, John
Avi
L’Engle
Bennett
Nonfiction/Biography
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction
Memoir
Fiction
Drama
Science Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction
Mystery
Fiction
Fiction
Science Fiction
Fiction
Science Fiction
Fantasy
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Genre
Reading
Level
6.3
5.2
6.4
5.4
6.1
4.7
4.6
6.5
6.9
6.5
2.2
TBD
7.3
4.4
5.9
4.6
5.7
8.0
7.0
5.7
6.8
7.0
5.5
6.4
6.0
6.3
5.8
TBD
Reading
List
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
41
Writing Requirements – 6th Grade
Connected Concepts
Communication: Author’s Craft
Communication: Author’s Purpose
Aesthetics: Style
Systems: Genre
Requirement:
1.
All students will write for a variety of audiences and purposes using the writing process.
2.
All students will use metacognition to reflect on their writing.
3.
One piece of writing for each genre will be accomplished by all students:
•
Narrative - personal
•
descriptive
•
explanatory
•
research – introductory skills
•
poetry
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
42
7th Grade – Change and Continuity in Language and Literature
Course Description:
Middle school students explore the language arts through five interdisciplinary concepts (systems, change
and continuity, communication, aesthetics, and universality) and the correlating language arts concepts,
with emphasis on systems. A focus on systems reinforces students’ developmental processes in word
study and fluency and their continued growth as readers and writers. Each grade also uses a second
concept as a focusing lens through which students gain deeper understanding of elements of language and
literature. Additionally, courses are designed to incorporate a balanced literacy diet that includes the
components of fluency, word study, comprehension, and writing.
Seventh-grade students investigate the concept of change and continuity in language and literature. This
focus requires students to explore the etymology of language through continued study of Latin roots and
Greek combining forms. This focus also provides a lens through which students read, write, and speak,
deepening their understanding of various genre structures and author’s craft while beginning exploration
of universality (the human experience). In essence, students seek to answer critical questions: Why does
language change? Why do certain themes pervade literature? How does literature reflect individual and
cultural beliefs? Students read extensively from a variety of genres, including fiction, narrative nonfiction,
nonfiction, poetry, with an emphasis on historical fiction. Seventh-grade students write for a variety of
audiences and purposes, using narrative, expository, persuasive, and reflective forms.
Early Proficient State of Reading
The reading skill of early proficient readers allows them to tackle more demanding texts. Silent reading is
fluent when the vocabulary and concept load are within the student’s range. Early proficient readers are
expanding their vocabulary knowledge and their ability to use strategies to make meaning from text. They
also continue to develop fluency, chunking phrases and reading with expression. As they develop higher
level cognitive abilities, they gain in ability to understand more complex reading materials. It is vocabulary
and concept development, rather than the ability to decode words, that determines a student’s
advancement to the early proficient reading stage.
Books appropriate for students in this stage contain more difficult vocabulary and concepts, include
chapters that are complete in themselves, and feature more complex characters and situations of interest
to pre-adolescents and adolescents.
Stages of Writing:
Refer to ASPIRE (appendix B).
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
43
Textbook:
Holt, Rinehart & Winston. (2007). Elements of Literature: First Course. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart &
Winston.
Additional Resources:
Adams, G. and Brown, S. (2004). The Six-Minute Solution: A Reading Fluency Program. Longmont, CO:
Sopris West.
Great Source. (2002). Reader’s Handbook: A Student Guide for Reading and Learning. Wilmington, MA:
Great Source.
Language Works. (2004). Word Build. Keswick, VA: Language Works.
McDougal Littell. (2001). Language Network. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell.
Genre – emphasis on nonfiction and historical fiction – also read realistic fiction, myths, poetry.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
44
7th-Grade Concept Requirements & Suggested Texts
Concepts & Reading Requirements
Universality: Coming of Age
Requirement: All students will analyze a
novel focusing on a coming of age theme.
Universality: Honoring the Historical &
Cultural Past
Universality: Cooperation vs. Isolation
Universality: Tolerance of the Atypical
Requirement: All students will read a novel
and a piece of nonfiction that addresses the
theme of honoring the historical past in
relation to human rights/civil rights.
Teachers should select texts appropriate for their students.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Education of Little Tree* (Carter)
Crash (Spinelli)
The Watsons Go to Birmingham (Curtis)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain)
Wish You Well (Baldacci)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Taylor)
The Cay (Taylor)
The Giver (Lowery)
Star Girl (Spinelli)
Historical Fiction
• Devil’s Arithmetic (Yolen)
• Number the Stars (Lowry)
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Taylor)
• Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (Gaines)
• Nothing to Fear (Koller)
• Out of the Dust (Hesse)
• The Watsons go to Birmingham (Curtis)
• Summer of My German Soldier (Greene)
Nonfiction
• Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary (Myers)
• Rosa Parks: My Story (Haskins)
• Children of the Dust Bowl (Stanley)
• Hiroshima (Hershey)
• Immigrant Kids (Friedman)
• Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery (Freedman)
Systems: Genre: Myth
Requirement: All students will compare and
contrast myths from various cultures, with
an emphasis on the ancient Greek myths.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
•
•
•
•
•
Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths (Evslin)
Greek Gods (Evslin)
Troy (Geras)
The Trojan War (Evslin)
The Lightning Thief (Riordan)
45
Concepts & Reading Requirements
Systems: Genre
Communication: Author’s Craft
Requirement: All students will read
Shakespearean sonnets or a Shakespearean
comedy.
Teachers should select texts appropriate for their students.
•
•
•
•
•
Twelfth Night, Or What You Will
Much Ado About Nothing
The Tempest
Taming of the Shrew
Sonnets
* See appendix J for parameters for use.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
46
Grade
Title
Author
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
Acorn People
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The
Al Capone Does my Shirts
Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
Call of the Wild
Call Me Ruth
Cay, The
Children of the Dust Bowl
Crash
Christmas Carol, A
Devil’s Arithmetic
Education of Little Tree*
Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery
Elements of Literature, 7
Jones
Twain
Choldenko
Gaines
London
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
Flipped
Friedrich
Giver, The
Going for the Record
Goody Hall
Greek Gods
Heartbeat
Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the
Greek Myths
Hiroshima
Holes
Hoot
Immigrant Kids
Let the Circle Be Unbroken
Letters from Rifka
Lightning Thief, The
Lily’s Crossing
Locomotion
Magician’s Nephew, The
Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary
Missing May
Mortal Engines
Much Ado About Nothing
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Taylor
Stanley
Spinelli
Dickens
Yolen
Carter
Freedman
Holt, Rinehart, &
Winston
Van Draanen
Richter
Lowery
Swenson
Babbitt
Evslin
Creech
Evslin
Hershey
Sacher
Hiaasen
Friedman
Taylor
Hesse
Riordan
Giff
Woodson
Lewis
Myers, Walter Dean
Rylant
Reeve
Shakespeare
Genre
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction
Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction
Nonfiction/Biography
Anthology
Reading
Level
6.8
6.6
6.5
8.0
4.0
5.5
7.2
6.5
4.8
8.6
6.7
6.5
8.5
various
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Science Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Mythology
Poetry
Mythology
5.9
6.6
6.8
3.9
6.7
6.0
5.4
6.1
Memoir
Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Mythology
Fiction
Poetry
Fantasy
Nonfiction
Fiction
Science Fiction
Drama
8.4
6.5
5.8
7.5
7.3
5.1
TBD
5.2
6.8
5.6
8.0
6.7
6.6
9.0
Reading
List
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
47
Grade
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
Title
Author
Genre
Notes from a Liar and her Dog
Nothing to Fear
Number the Stars
Old Yeller
Olive’s Ocean
On My Honor
Out of the Dust
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Rosa Parks, My Story
Sing Down the Moon
Skeeter
Sounder
Spoon River Anthology
Star Girl
Summer of My German Soldier
Taming of the Shrew
Tangerine
Tempest, The
Timothy of the Cay
To Be A Slave
Transall Saga, The
Trojan War, The
Troy
Twelfth Night, Or What You Will
Twenty and Ten
Warriors Don’t Cry
Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963,
The
Wish You Well
Wolf Rider: A Tale of Terror
Words by Heart
Choldenko
Koller
Lowery
Gipson
Henkes
Bauer
Hesse
Taylor
Haskins
O’Dell
Smith
Armstrong
Masters
Spinelli
Greene
Shakespeare
Bloor
Shakespeare
Taylor
Lester
Paulsen
Evslin
Geras
Shakespeare
Bishop
Beals
Curtis
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Poetry
Historical Fiction
Nonfiction/Biography
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Drama
Fiction
Drama
Fiction
Memoir
Science Fiction
Mythology
Mythology
Drama
Fiction
Memoir
Historical Fiction
Baldacci
Avi
Sebestyen
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Reading
Level
4.0
6.3
4.9
5.4
6.6
5.6
4.5
6.9
6.5
5.3
7.3
6.5
7.5
6.1
7.4
8.8
5.4
TBD
6.1
8.6
5.6
TBD
7.1
TBD
5.1
6.5
5.0
Reading
List
7.1
4.3
5.3
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
* See appendix J for parameters for use.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
48
Writing Requirements – 7th Grade
Connected Concepts
Change & Continuity: Cultural Context
Aesthetics: Style
Systems: Genre
Requirement:
4.
All students will write for a variety of audiences and purposes using the writing process.
5.
All students will use metacognition to reflect on their writing.
6.
One piece of writing for each genre will be accomplished by all students:
•
narrative – from multiple perspectives
•
expository
•
persuasive – propaganda
•
research
•
reflective
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
49
8th Grade – Universality in Language and Literature
Course Description:
Middle school students explore the language arts through five interdisciplinary concepts (systems, change
and continuity, communication, aesthetics, and universality) and the correlating language arts concepts,
with emphasis on systems. A focus on systems reinforces students’ developmental processes in word
study and fluency and their continued growth as readers and writers. Each grade also uses a second
concept as a focusing lens through which students gain deeper understanding of elements of language and
literature. Additionally, courses are designed to incorporate a balanced literacy diet that includes the
components of fluency, word study, comprehension, and writing.
Eighth-grade students focus on universality and expressing their own voices as part of the human
experience. Reading extensively from fiction, narrative nonfiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry, students
explore such themes as the search for identity, coming of age, cooperation vs. isolation, and tolerance of
the atypical. Through speaking and writing, students contribute their own voices and experiences to this
timeless, universal conversation about what it means to be human. Eighth-grade students also write for a
variety of audiences and purposes, using narrative, expository, persuasive, and analytical forms.
Additionally, students use knowledge of Latin roots and Greek combining forms to discuss the etymology
of language and to use language effectively as speakers and writers.
Advanced Proficient Stage of Reading
Advanced proficient readers differ from early proficient readers in the complexity of the topics with deal
with, their vocabulary and concept knowledge, and the sophistication of the cognitive abilities they bring
to interface with text.
Books appropriate for readers in this stage are complex, containing more difficult vocabulary and
concepts. They feature multiple themes and dynamic characters and situations. Topics are of interest to
young adults and adults.
Stages of Writing:
Refer to ASPIRE (appendix B).
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
50
Textbook:
Holt, Rinehart & Winston. (2007). Elements of Literature: Second Course. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart &
Winston.
Additional Resources:
Adams, G. and Brown, S. (2004). The Six-Minute Solution: A Reading Fluency Program. Longmont, CO:
Sopris West.
Great Source. (2002). Reader’s Handbook: A Student Guide for Reading and Learning. Wilmington, MA:
Great Source.
Language Works. (2004). Word Build. Keswick, VA: Language Works.
McDougal Littell. (2001). Language Network. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell.
Genre – emphasis on novels and drama – also study myth and legend, essay, nonfiction, poetry.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
51
8th-Grade Concept Requirements & Suggested Texts
Concepts & Reading Requirements
Universality: Cooperation vs. Isolation
Requirement: All students will analyze a
novel that addresses the theme of
cooperation vs. isolation.
Universality: Honoring the Historical and
Cultural Past
Universality: Coming of Age
Systems: Genre: Drama
Requirement: All students will analyze a
drama that addresses the themes of honoring
the historical and cultural past and coming of
age.
Universality: Search for Identity
Universality: Epic Journey (Journey of Life)
Requirement: All students will read a novel
that addresses the themes of search for
identity and epic journey.
Universality: Tolerance of the Atypical
Requirement: All students will read a text
centered around tolerance of the atypical.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Teachers should select texts appropriate for their students.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury)
Woodsong (Paulsen)
Behind the Blue and Gray: The Soldier’s Life in Civil War (Ray)
Soldier X (Wulffson)
The Outsiders (Hinton)
Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway)
The Pearl (Steinbeck)
•
•
The Diary of Anne Frank (Frank)
The Miracle Worker (Gibson)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Road to Memphis (Taylor)
Soldier X (Wulffson)
Eagle Song (Bruchac)
Homeless Bird (Whelan)
Monster (Myers)
The Pearl (Steinbeck)
Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway)
Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Define Normal (Peters)
Izzy, Willy-Nilly (Voight)
Flowers for Algernon (Keyes)
Park’s Quest (Paterson)
Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American
Why We Can’t Wait (King)
Eagle Song (Bruchac)
52
Concepts & Reading Requirements
Change & Continuity: Cultural Context
Requirement: All students will read a variety
of forms relating to cultural identity.
Teachers should select texts appropriate for their students.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Why We Can’t Wait (King)
Immigrant Voices: Twenty-four Voices on Becoming an American
(Hunter)
Out of War: True Stories from the Front Lines of the Children’s
Movement for Peace in Columbia
Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese
Daughter (Yen Mah)
Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions (Musgrove)
Poetry
Essays
Short stories
Speeches
53
Grade
Title
Author
Musgrove
Draper
Ray
Nonfiction
Fiction
Nonfiction
Grimes
Yen Mah
Fiction
Memoir
5.1
6.8
9
8
8
8
8
8
Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions
Battle of Jericho, The
Behind the Blue and Gray: The
Soldier’s Life in Civil War
Bronx Masquerade
Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of
an Unwanted Daughter
Code Talker
Copper Sun
Dandelion Wine
Define Normal
Diary of Anne Frank
Bruchac
Draper
Bradbury
Peters
Frank
5.7
TBD
6.2
5.3
7.3
9
9
8
8
8
Dicey’s Song
Eagle Song
Elements of Literature, 8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
City of Ember, The
Farenehit 451
Farewell to Manzanar
Flowers for Algernon
Greatest Story Ever Told, The
Having Our Say
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The
Homecoming
Homeless Bird
Homesick: My Own Story
Hound of the Baskervilles
House of the Scorpion, The
House on Mango Street
Immigrant Voices: Twenty-four
Voices on Becoming an American
Izzy, Willy-Nilly
Journey Home (with Connected
Readings)
Learning Tree, The
Mary, Bloody Mary
Miracle Worker, The
Voight
Bruchac
Holt, Rinehart, &
Winston
DuPrau
Bradbury
Houston
Keyes, D.
Oursler
Delany
Adams
Voight
Whelan
Fritz
Doyle
Farner
Cisneros
Hunter
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Science Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction/Autobiography &
Drama
Fiction
Fiction
Anthology
Fiction
Science Fiction
Memoir
Fiction
Nonfiction
Memoir
Science Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Mystery
Science Fiction
Memoir
Memoir
Voight
Uchida
Fiction
Fiction
6.0
6.1
Parks
Meyer
Gibson
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Drama
8.1
6.5
7.1
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Genre
Reading
Level
TBD
4.7
6.5
5.2
4.8
various
5.8
10.0
7.8
5.9
6.3
8.3
6.3
4.1
5.5
7.5
6.3
5.6
TBD
Reading
List
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
54
Grade
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
Title
Author
Monster
My Antonia
My Brilliant Career
Old Man & the Sea
Out of War: True Stories from the
Front Lines of the Children’s
Movement for Peace in Columbia
Outsiders, The
Park’s Quest
Pearl, The
People of the Sparks, The
Pigman, The
Red Scarf Girl
Road to Memphis
Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind
Shade’s Children
Slam!
Soldier’s Heart, A
Soldier X
Speak
The Road from Home
Tiger in the Well
Upon the Head of a Goat
Wave, The
Why We Can’t Wait
Woodsong
Year Down Yonder
Year of Impossible Goodbyes, The
Myers, Walter Dean
Cather
Franklin
Hemingway
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Nonfiction/Biography
Fiction
Memoir
Hinton
Paterson
Steinbeck
Du Prau
Zindel
Jiang
Taylor
Staples
Nix
Myers, Walter Dean
Paulsen
Wulffson
Anderson
Kherdian
Pullman
Siegal
Strasser
King
Paulsen
Peck
Choi
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Science Fiction
Fiction
Memoir
Fiction
Fiction
Science Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction/Biography
Mystery
Nonfiction/Biography
Fiction
Nonfiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Genre
Reading
Level
7.1
7.1
Reading
List
9
8.1
TBD
9
9
5.1
6.6
6.5
5.5
5.9
6.6
6.9
7.6
6.9
5.8
5.9
6.7
7.1
7.5
8.9
5.6
5.7
10.4
7.2
5.2
6.3
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
55
Writing Requirements – 8th Grade
Connected Concepts
Universality: Theme
Aesthetics: Style
Systems: Genre
Requirement:
7.
All students will write for a variety of audiences and purposes using the writing process.
8.
All students will use metacognition to reflect on their writing.
9.
One piece of writing for each genre will be accomplished by all students:
•
narrative
•
expository – relating similar themes across pieces of literature
•
persuasive
•
informational
•
analytical
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
56
9th Grade – Comparative Study of World Literature: Ancient and Classical Worlds
Course Description:
English 9 is a comparative study of genres and world literature in the ancient and classical worlds.
Through five interdisciplinary concepts (systems, change and continuity, communication, aesthetics, and
universality) and the correlating language arts concepts, students explore Eastern and Western literature
and seek to answer critical questions about language arts: Why do literary eras matter? How do cultural
changes affect style of literature and art? What determines whether a belief (system) will be timeless or
trendy? Ninth-grade students read extensively in a variety of genres and practice comparative analysis
skills. Continued emphasis is placed on the components of writing, such as organizational structures and
written expression.
Purpose:
The purpose of the ninth-grade curriculum is to provide students with a foundation in world literature. By
studying ancient and classical literature from a world perspective, students compare universal themes
across cultural boundaries. Such study also prepares students to analyze literary allusions, themes, and
cultural context throughout their study of language and literature.
Advanced Proficient Stage of Reading:
Advanced proficient readers differ from early proficient readers in the complexity of the topics with deal
with, their vocabulary and concept knowledge, and the sophistication of the cognitive abilities they bring
to interface with text.
Books appropriate for readers in this stage are complex, containing more difficult vocabulary and
concepts. They feature multiple themes and dynamic characters and situations. Topics are of interest to
young adults and adults.
Stages of Writing:
Refer to ASPIRE (appendix B).
Text:
Prentice Hall. (2007). Prentice Hall Literature: World Literature. Penguin Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson
Education, Inc.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
57
9th-Grade Concept Requirements & Suggested Texts
Concepts & Reading Requirements
Universality: Epic Journey
Requirement: All students will read excerpts
from at least one Eastern and one Western
epic.
This requirement may be met in collaboration
between language arts and social studies as
agreed upon at the building level.
Systems: Genre: Origins of Drama
Requirement: All students will read an
Ancient Greek tragedy or an ancient Eastern
drama.
Universality: Search for Knowledge
Requirement: All students will read a variety
of Eastern and Western creation stories.
This requirement may be met in collaboration
between language arts and social studies as
agreed upon at the building level.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Teachers should select texts appropriate for their students.
The following texts are currently under consideration by
grade-level teachers across the division.
Western
• Gilgamesh (in world lit text)
• The Iliad (in world lit text)
• The Aeneid (in world lit text)
• The Odyssey (in Elements book)
Eastern
• The Mahabharata (in world lit text)
• The Ramayana (in world lit text)
• Sundiata (in world lit text)
• Bhagavad-Vita (in world lit text)
Western
• Oedipus Rex/Oedipus the King (in world lit text)
• Antigone (in Elements text)
• Medea (Euripides)
• The Theban Plays (Sophocles)
Eastern
• Love Suicides at Sonesaki (Chikamatsu)
• Four Major Plays of Chikamatsu (Keene)
• Selections from The Noh Theatre of Japan (Pound)
Note: This text contains 15 selections.
Western
• “The Creation and the Fall” (in world lit text)
• “The Story of the Flood” (in world lit text)
• The Bible as/in Literature (Ackerman, J. et al)
Eastern
• Excerpts from the Tao te Ching (in world lit text)
• Zen Parables (in world lit text)
• Excerpts from Rig Veda (in world lit text)
58
9th-Grade Concept Requirements & Suggested Texts (continued)
Concepts & Reading Requirements
Universality: Search for Identity
Requirement: All students will read a novel to
connect search for identity and the epic
journey.
Universality: Historical and cultural
contexts enhance understanding.
Requirements: All students will read a
Shakespearean tragedy set in Ancient or
Medieval times.
Systems: Genre: poetry
Requirement: All students will read a variety
of ancient poetic forms.
Teachers should select texts appropriate for their students.
The following texts are currently under consideration by
grade-level teachers across the division.
Western
• Great Expectations (Dickens)
• Seedfolks* (Fleischman)
• Ender’s Game (Card)
• When the Legends Die (Borland)
Eastern
• Short stories and excerpts from the World Literature text
Western
• Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare)
• Julius Caesar (Shakespeare)
Western:
• Hymns
• Psalms
• Latin & Greek poetry
Eastern
• Tanka
• Selections from The Rubaiyat
• Selections from The Qur’an
* See appendix J for parameters for use.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
59
Grade
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
Title
Author
Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights,
The
Adventures of Ulysses
Aeneid, The
Antigone
Bible As/In Literature, The
Steinbeck
Fiction
Evslin
Virgil
Sophocles
Ackerman, James
et.al.
Peck
Zindel
Fiction
Mythology
Drama
Nonfiction
Historical Fiction
Drama
5.5
TBD
Holt
Card
Various translations?
Levitan
Hardy
Keene
Dickens
Tolkien
Homer
Bronte
Shakespeare
LeGuin
McGill
Chikamatsu
Euripides
Freedman
Hamilton
Pound
Homer
Sophocles
White
McCaughrean
Tolan
Du Maurier
Shakespeare
Fleischman
Various translations
White
Anthology
Science Fiction
Mythology
Fiction
Fiction
Drama
Fiction
Fantasy
Mythology
Historical Fiction
Drama
Science Fiction
Fiction
Drama
Drama
Fiction
Mythology
Drama
Mythology
Drama
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Drama
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
various
9.0
TBD
6.6
9.7
TBD
9.2
7.5
9.0
8.0
10.8
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
5.3
TBD
various
10.3
TBD
8.6
6.8
6.7
7.2
9.0
5.0
6.3
8.0
Day No Pigs Would Die, A
Effect of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon
Marigolds
Elements of Literature
Ender’s Game
Epic of Gilgamesh
Escape from Egypt
Far from the Madding Crowd
Four Major Plays of Chickamatsu
Great Expectations
Hobbit, The
Iliad, The
Jane Eyre
Julius Caesar
Lathe of Heaven
Little Buddha, The
Love Suicides at Sonesaki
Medea
Mrs. Mike
Mythology
Noh Theatre of Japan, The
Odyssey, The
Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King)
Once and Future King, The
One Thousand and One Arabian Nights
Plague Year
Rebecca
Romeo and Juliet
Seedfolks*
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sword and the Stone, The
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Genre
Reading
Level
7.6
Reading
List
At 10
7.4
TBD
10.0
Various
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
At 10
9
9
At 10
At 10
60
Grade
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
Title
Author
Tale of Two Cities, A
Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu
Tex
Theban Plays, The
Thousand and One Nights, The
Tiger for Malgudi, A
When the Legends Die
Year without Michael
Dickens
Various translations
Hinton
Sophocles
Mahdi
Narayan
Borland
Pfeffer
Genre
Historical Fiction
Nonfiction
Fiction
Drama
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Reading
Level
9.0
TBD
6.0
various
10.6
TBD
5.1
7.6
Reading
List
At 10
9
9
9
9
9
* See appendix J for parameters for use.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
61
Writing Requirements – 9th Grade
Connected Concepts:
Systems: Genre
Aesthetics: Style
Requirement:
Each student will write at least one piece in each of the following forms:
• Narrative
• Expository
• Persuasive
• Reflective
• Analytical
• Technical
Embedded in that requirement, each student will write a narrative piece addressing the Epic
journey/search for identity.
* Any writing that includes a research aspect should also include appropriate citations and formatting.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
62
10th Grade – Comparative Study of World Literature: Medieval to Modern Times
Course Description:
English 10 is a comparative study of genres and world literature from Medieval to modern times. Through
five interdisciplinary concepts (systems, change and continuity, communication, aesthetics, and
universality) and the correlating language arts concepts, students explore Eastern and Western literature
and seek to answer critical questions about language arts: Why do literary eras matter? How do cultural
changes affect style of literature and art? What determines whether a belief (system) will be timeless or
trendy? As such, tenth-grade students read extensively in a variety of genres and practice comparative
analysis skills. Students write and speak for a variety of audiences and purposes, applying and refining
written and oral communication using a range of literary and persuasive techniques.
Purpose:
The purpose of the tenth-grade curriculum is to provide students opportunities to deepen their
understanding of world literature. Students analyze literary allusion, themes, and cultural context through
the lenses of change and continuity and universality. The evaluate author’s craft and author’s purpose in
an effort to refine their own skills.
Advanced Proficient Stage of Reading
Advanced proficient readers differ from early proficient readers in the complexity of the topics with deal
with, their vocabulary and concept knowledge, and the sophistication of the cognitive abilities they bring
to interface with text.
Books appropriate for readers in this stage are complex, containing more difficult vocabulary and
concepts. They feature multiple themes and dynamic characters and situations. Topics are of interest to
young adults and adults.
Stages of Writing:
Refer to ASPIRE (appendix B).
Text:
Prentice Hall. (2007). Prentice Hall Literature: World Literature. Penguin Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson
Education, Inc.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
63
10th-Grade Concept Requirements & Suggested Texts
NOTE: Across the requirements, teachers must ensure that students read a variety of Eastern and
Western literature.
Concepts & Reading Requirements
Universality: Honoring the Historical Past
Change & Continuity: Cultural Context
Requirement: All students will read an Eastern
or a Western selection.
Universality: Tolerance of the Atypical
Requirement: All students will read a novel.
Change & Continuity: Cultural Context
Universality: Cooperation vs. Isolation
Requirement: All students will read a text
related to cultural revolutions.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Teachers should select texts appropriate for their students.
The following texts are currently under consideration by
grade-level teachers across the division.
Western
• A Small Place (Kincaid)
• Night (Wiesel)
• A Passage to India (Forster)
Eastern
• The Good Earth (Buck)
• Siddhartha (Hesse)
• The Chosen (Potok)
Western
• To Kill A Mockingbird (Lee)
• Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck)
• Silas Marner (Eliot)
• In the Time of the Butterflies (Alvarez)
Eastern
• Nectar in a Sieve (Markandaya)
• A Single Shard (Park)
Western
• Things Fall Apart (Achebe)
• Eva Luna (Allende)
• The Metamorphosis (in world lit book)
• A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
• Les Miserables (Hugo)
• All Quiet on the Western Front (Remarque)
Eastern
• So Far from the Bamboo Grove (Watkins)
• China’s Son: Growing Up in the Cultural Revolution (Chen)
• Beasts of No Nation (Iweala)
64
10th-Grade Concept Requirements & Suggested Texts (continued)
Concepts & Reading Requirements
Universality: Search for Knowledge
Requirement: All students will read a variety of
legends, myths, and essays.
Systems: Genre: Shakespearean drama
Requirement: All students will read a
Shakespearean drama, with preference given
to one of the history plays.
Systems: Genre: poetry
Requirement: All students will read a variety
of poetic forms.
Communication: Author’s Purpose
Requirement: All students will read a piece of
social criticism.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Teachers should select texts appropriate for their students. The
following texts are currently under consideration by grade-level
teachers across the division.
Western
• The Sword and the Stone (White)
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (in Elements book)
• The Once and Future King (White)
• The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (Steinbeck)
• essays by Galileo Galilei (in world lit text)
Eastern
• Excerpts from The Thousand and One Nights (in world lit text)
• One Thousand and One Arabian Nights (McCaughrean)
• Excerpts from the Panchatantra (in world lit book)
• A Tiger for Malgudi (Narayan)
Western
• Henry IV, part I
• Richard II
• The Merry Wives of Windsor
• Othello
Western
• Sonnet
• Lyric
• Free Verse
Eastern
• Haiku
• The Book of Songs (in world lit book)
Western:
• Anthem (Rand)
• A Doll’s House (in world lit book)
• Dr. Faustus (in world lit book)
• The Stranger (Camus)
• Tartuffe (Moliere)
• Animal Farm (Orwell)
Eastern
• Treason by the Book (Spence)
• China’s Son: Growing up in the Cultural Revolution (Chen)
65
Grade
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Title
Author
All Quiet on the Western Front
Animal Farm
Anthem
As I Lay Dying
Beasts of No Nation
Black Ice
Bless the Beasts and the Children
China’s Son: Growing up in the Cultural
Revolution
Chosen, The
Contender, The
Cry the Beloved Country
Daisy Miller
Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth
Dispossessed, The
Doll’s House, A
Dr. Faustus
Elements of Literature
Ethan Frome
Eva Luna
First Love
Frankenstein
Go Down Moses
Good Earth, The
Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The
Henry IV, part I
House of the Seven Gables
In the Time of the Butterflies
Intruder in the Dust
Le Morte D’Arthur
Left Hand of Darkness, The
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Maltese Falcon, The
Meet Maya Angelou
Merchant of Venice, The
Merry Wives of Windsor, The
Metamorphosis, The
Remarque
Orwell
Rand
Faulkner
Iweala
Carey
Swarthout
Chen
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction
Potok
Lipsyte
Paton
James
Hesse
LeGuin
Ibsen
Marlowe
Holt
Wharton
Allende
Turgenev
Shelley
Faulkner
Buck
McCullers
Shakespeare
Hawthorne
Alvarez
Faulkner
Malory
LeGuin
Hugo
Martel
Hammett
Spain
Shakespeare
Shakespeare
Kafka
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Nonfiction
Science Fiction
Drama
Drama
Anthology
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Drama
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Science Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction/Biography
Drama
Drama
Fiction
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Genre
Reading
Level
9.0
9.0
7.9
8.5
TBD
6.0
6.7
6.1
Reading
List
9
9
9
8.1
7.1
6.2
8.6
TBD
7.1
5.9
TBD
various
9.0
8.8
TBD
6.0
TBD
8.2
8.1
TBD
11.0
7.1
7.8
TBD
8.5
9.8
7.2
6.0
4.2
9.0
7.3
11.0
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
66
Grade
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Title
Author
Nectar in a Sieve
Night
Of Mice and Men
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Othello
Passage to India, A
Reivers, The
Richard II
Road to Coorain, The
Sense and Sensibility
Separate Peace, A
Siddhartha
Silas Marner
Single Shard, A
Small Place, A
So Far from the Bamboo Grove
Stranger, The
Tartuffe
Things Fall Apart
To Kill A Mockingbird
Treason by the Book
Weight of All Things, The
Where the Heart Is
White Fang
Yellow Raft in Blue Water
Markandaya
Wiesel
Steinbeck
Solzhenitsyn
Shakespeare
Forster
Faulkner
Shakespeare
Conway
Austin
Knowles
Hesse
Eliot
Park
Kincaid
Watkins
Camus
Moliere
Achebe
Lee
Spence
Benitez
Letts
London
Dorris
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Genre
Memoir
Nonfiction
Fiction
Fiction
Drama
Historical Fiction
Memoir
Drama
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Memoir
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Drama
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Reading
Level
6.2
TBD
8.1
9.0
11.0
8.2
8.1
9.0
TBD
10.0
8.9
8.9
9.7
6.7
TBD
6.0
8.9
TBD
6.2
8.1
TBD
TBD
6.8
6.7
8.1
Reading
List
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
67
Writing Requirements – 10th Grade
Connected Concepts:
Systems: Genre
Communication: Author’s Purpose
Aesthetics: Style
Requirement:
Each student will write at least one piece in each of the following forms:
• Narrative
• Expository
• Persuasive
• Reflective
• Analytical
• Technical
Embedded in that requirement, each student will write a piece of social criticism.
* Any writing that includes a research aspect should also include appropriate citations and formatting.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
68
11th Grade – American Studies
Course Description:
American Studies is an integrated course designed to help students develop a comprehensive view of
American literature, history, and culture. In gathering together the many threads of American culture,
students leave this course with a better understanding of who they are and what it means to be an
American. Through a variety of learning experiences, students discover relevant connections among
movements in American art, literature, music, economics, and politics. This course integrates standards
from English 11 and Virginia and United States History, thus preparing students for End-of-Course tests in
each subject. Students may take these courses at different levels.
Advanced Placement Option:
American Studies is an integrated course designed to help students develop a comprehensive view of
American literature, history, and culture. This course is highly rigorous and prepares students to take AP
exams. Students concentrate on reading and analyzing historical material, weighing historical evidence
and interpretation, reading and analyzing works of literature, and synthesizing and evaluating information
in analytical writing. Students in this course are encouraged to take the associated AP exams.
Advanced Proficient Stage of Reading
Advanced proficient readers differ from early proficient readers in the complexity of the topics with deal
with, their vocabulary and concept knowledge, and the sophistication of the cognitive abilities they bring
to interface with text.
Books appropriate for readers in this stage are complex, containing more difficult vocabulary and
concepts. They feature multiple themes and dynamic characters and situations. Topics are of interest to
young adults and adults.
Stages of Writing:
Refer to ASPIRE (appendix B).
NOTE: Because American Studies is an interdisciplinary course (English language arts and social studies),
a separate curriculum writing team has been formed to articulate curriculum for this course. The same
curriculum will be put in place in this English Language Arts articulation and in the Social Studies
articulation.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
69
Text:
Prentice Hall. (2007). Prentice Hall Literature: American Literature. Penguin Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson
Education, Inc.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
70
Grade
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
Title
Author
Genre
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The
All the King’s Men
Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the
Conscience of a Nation
Autobiography of Malcolm X
Awakening, The
Bean Trees, The
Billy Budd and Other Stories
Black Boy
Black Like Me
Bluest Eye, The
Catcher in the Rye
Cold Mountain
Color of Water, The
Color Purple, The
Crucible, The
Death of a Salesman
Elements of Literature
Ellen Foster
Fast Food Nation
Freakanomics
Fried Green Tomatoes
Glass Menagerie, The
Grapes of Wrath, The
Great Gatsby, The
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Invisible Man
Joy Luck Club, The
Lesson Before Dying, A
Little Foxes
Long Day’s Journey into Night
Lovely Bones, The
McTeague
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Natural, The
Nickel and Dimed
Norton Anthology of Poetry
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Twain
Warren
Kozol
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction
Haley
Chopin
Kingsolver
Melville
Wright
Griffin
Morrison
Salinger
Frazier
McBride
Walker
Miller
Miller
Holt
Gibbons
Schlosser
Levitt
Flagg
Williams
Steinbeck
Fitzgerald
Angelou
Ellison
Tan
Gaines
Hellman
O’Neill
Sebold
Norris
Douglass
Nonfiction/Biography
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction/Autobiography
Nonfiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Memoir
Fiction
Drama
Drama
Anthology
Fiction
Nonfiction
Nonfiction
Fiction
Drama
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Drama
Drama
Fiction
Nonfiction/Autobiography
8.1
7.9
6.5
TBD
8.5
9.0
7.1
8.1
9.0
11.0
7.2
9.0
8.5
various
8.1
10.4
TBD
7.5
9.0
7.8
8.1
6.7
7.5
8.4
7.5
TBD
8.2
7.1
7.8
9.1
Ehrenreich
Ferguson
Kesey
Nonfiction
Poetry
Fiction
10.0
various
9.0
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Reading
Level
6.8
9.0
TBD
Reading
List
71
Grade
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
11
Title
Author
Ox Bow Incident, The
Raisin in the Sun, A
Scarlet Letter, The
Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Slaughterhouse Five
Streetcar Named Desire, A
Sun Also Rises, The
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Travels with Charley
Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The
Turn of the Screw, The
Winesburg, Ohio
Clark
Hansberry
Hawthorne
Thurber
Vonnegut
Willilams
Hemingway
Hurston
Steinbeck
Traven
James
Anderson
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Genre
Historical
Drama
Historical
Fiction
Historical
Drama
Historical
Historical
Memoir
Historical
Fiction
Historical
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Reading
Level
7.1
6.8
11.7
TBD
8.5
9.0
8.3
7.9
7.0
TBD
10.0
8.3
Reading
List
72
12th Grade – History of the English Language through British & World Literature
Course Description:
English 12 is a study of the evolution of the English language through British and world literature.
Students continue to hone their analytical skills and seek to answer critical questions about language and
literature: What factors affect the evolution of language? What allows a piece of literature to endure the
vagaries of culture and time? What does it mean to think through language and literature? Students
demonstrate understanding of language and literature through polished compositions, literary analysis,
and speaking. Additional emphasis is placed on the development of a personal, sophisticated style of
communication that reflects creative, critical thinking.
Advanced Placement Option:
Advanced Placement English is for twelfth-grade students who want an intensive, college-level English
course that prepares them to take one or both of the AP English Exams. The course is conducted much
like a college seminar and therefore requires high-quality work in and out of class. Students are asked to
read works of literature analytically and critically; they respond with increasing sensitivity and
discrimination to language. Essays focus on literary analysis but students also have some opportunity to
practice creative writing. Students are encouraged to take the AP exam.
Teachers should refer to the College Board web site for curricular requirements and testing information.
PVCC/Dual Enrollment Option:
Dual Enrollment is for twelfth-grade students who want a college-level course experience with more
emphasis on writing. These courses allow students to earn both high school and college credits
simultaneously. The PVCC texts have an expectation of elements presented in the Albemarle County
Language Arts Curriculum Framework for 12th grade.
Teachers should refer to the PVCC web site for course syllabi and curricular requirements.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
73
Advanced Proficient Stage of Reading
Advanced proficient readers differ from early proficient readers in the complexity of the topics with deal
with, their vocabulary and concept knowledge, and the sophistication of the cognitive abilities they bring
to interface with text.
Books appropriate for readers in this stage are complex, containing more difficult vocabulary and
concepts. They feature multiple themes and dynamic characters and situations. Topics are of interest to
young adults and adults.
Stages of Writing:
Refer to ASPIRE (appendix B).
Text:
Prentice Hall. (2007). Prentice Hall Literature: British Literature. Penguin Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson
Education, Inc.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
74
12th-grade Concept Requirements & Suggested Texts
Concepts & Reading Requirements
Systems: Genre: Tragedy
Communication: Author’s Craft
Aesthetics: Literary Elements
Change & Continuity: Cultural Context
Requirement: All students will analyze the evolution
of the tragic hero to the anti-hero.
Change & Continuity: Cultural Context
Requirement: All students will analyze the influence
of the epic through time to the roots of Imperialism.
Change & Continuity: Cultural Context
Aesthetics: Syntax
Requirement: All students will read a piece of satire
in relation to the evolution of language.
Aesthetics: Style, Syntax
Communication: Author’s Craft, Author’s
Purpose
Requirement: All students will evaluate author’s
craft and purpose in a literary work.
Universality: Theme
Change & Continuity: Cultural Context
Communication: Author’s Craft
Requirement: All students will explore the literary
movements of modernism and existentialism.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Teachers should select texts appropriate for their students. The
following texts are currently under consideration by grade-level
teachers across the division.
• Macbeth (Shakespeare)
• King Lear (Shakespeare)
• Hamlet (Shakespeare)
• Mayor of Casterbridge (Hardy)
• Grendel (Gardner)
• Master Harold and the Boys (Fugard)
• Things Fall Apart (Achebe)
• Beowulf
• Grendel (Gardner)
• Lord of the Flies (Golding)
• Heart of Darkness (Conrad)
• Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)
• A Modest Proposal, Gulliver’s Travels (Swift)
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll)
• The Importance of Being Ernest (Wilde)
• The Princess Bride (Goldman)
• Dr. Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary & Essays
•
•
•
•
•
•
Grendel (Gardner)
Princess Bride (Goldman)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
(Haddon)
Heart of Darkness (Conrad)
Poetry
18th Century Essays (Johnson, Addison, et al)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky)
Brave New World (Huxley)
Mrs. Dalloway (Woolf)
Alias Grace (Atwood)
Catch-22 (Heller)
Heart of Darkness (Conrad)
Waiting for Godot (Beckett)
75
Grade
Title
Author
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
1984
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The
Alias Grace
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Beloved
Beowulf
Braided Lives
Science Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Mythology
Nonfiction
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
Brave New World, A
Bread Givers
Canterbury Tales, The
Catch-22
Child’s Christmas in Wales, A
Crime and Punishment
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time,
The
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary and Essays
Dubliners
Elements of Literature
French Lieutenant’s Woman
Grendel
Greywolf Annual Five Multicultural Literacy,
The
Gulliver’s Travels
Hamlet
Heart of Darkness & The Secret Sharer
Importance of Being Earnest, The
Joys of Motherhood
King Lear
Kon Tiki
Little Prince, The
Lord of the Flies
Lord Jim
Lost Horizon
Macbeth
Man for All Seasons, A
Orwell
Doyle
Atwood
Carroll
Morrison
Various translations
Minnesota
Humanities
Commission
Huxley
Tesierska
Chaucer
Heller
Thomas
Dostoyevsky
Haddon
Stevenson
Johnson
Joyce
Holt
Fowles
Gardner
Simonson, Walker
Science Fiction
Nonfiction
Fiction
Anthology
Fiction
Fiction
Nonfiction
Swift
Shakespeare
Conrad
Wilde
Emecheta
Shakespeare
Heyerdahl
Saint-Exupery
Golding
Conrad
Hilton
Shakespeare
Bolt
Fiction
Drama
Fiction
Drama
Historical Fiction
Drama
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Drama
Drama
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Genre
Science Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Poetry
Fiction
Fiction
Reading
Level
8.2
8.1
TBD
7.4
8.1
10.0
TBD
Reading
List
9.0
TBD
8.1
7.1
6.3
11.0
6.3
9
9.5
TBD
8.2
various
TBD
TBD
TBD
8.8
10.0
9.0
TBD
TBD
10.0
9.0
6.3
8.1
9.1
9.5
10.9
4.6
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
76
Grade
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
Title
Author
Man of La Mancha
Mayor of Casterbridge
Miser, The
Modest Proposal, A
Mrs. Dalloway
Mysterious Island
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, A
Power and the Glory, The
Pride and Prejudice
Princess Bride
Sound and the Fury
Sons and Lovers
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Time Machine, The
Waiting for Godot
Wuthering Heights
Zorba the Greek
Darion
Hardy
Moliere
Swift
Woolf
Verne
Marquez
Joyce
Greene
Austin
Goldman
Faulkner
Lawrence
Hardy
Wells
Beckett
Bronte
Kazantzakis
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
Genre
Fiction
Fiction
Drama
Fiction
Fiction
Science Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction
Fantasy
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Science Fiction
Drama
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Reading
Level
TBD
9.5
TBD
TBD
7.2
10.8
8.7
9.0
8.4
12.0
7.9
10.0
10.0
7.4
9.0
11.3
TBD
Reading
List
9
9
9
9
9
77
Writing Requirements – 12th Grade
Connected Concepts:
Systems: Genre
Communication: Author’s Purpose
Aesthetics: Style
Requirement:
Each student will write at least one piece in each of the following forms:
• Narrative
• Expository
• Persuasive
• Reflective
• Analytical
• Technical
Embedded in that requirement, each student will write
• an analytical response to literature and
• a piece with real-world application.
* Any writing that includes a research aspect should also include appropriate citations and formatting.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
78
Language! Program
Course Description:
Language! Is a highly-structured, research-based intervention that offers an accelerated, sequential
approach to literacy while addressing the components of a balanced literacy diet. This course offers
students who have experienced difficulty with reading skills an opportunity to break apart structures of
language to gain deep understanding of how words, sentences, and paragraphs work and how authors use
structures to create meaning. Students read and write extensively in nonfiction forms; other genre are
experienced through read-alouds, literature circles, and independent reading. Based on extensive preassessments, students are placed in mixed-grade ability groups to accelerate mastery of specific skills.
Note:
This program is a curriculum separate from but infused with the regular curriculum. The program is
offered in grades 6-12 as an intervention. The correlation between the Language! program and the
Standards of Learning for English Language Arts is included in the appendices.
Students in this program receive all of the components of a balanced literacy diet. Additionally, they
spend 20-25 minutes per day in connected text.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, May 2006
79
Albemarle County Lifelong-Learner Standards
From the Framework for Quality Learning
1.
Plan and conduct research
2.
Gather, organize, and analyze data; evaluate processes and products; and draw conclusions.
3.
Think analytically, critically, and creatively to pursue new ideas, acquire new knowledge, and
make decisions.
4.
Understand and apply principles of logic and reasoning; develop, evaluate, and defend
arguments.
5.
Seek, recognize and understand systems, patterns, themes, and interactions.
6.
Apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve new and increasingly complex
problems.
7.
Acquire and use precise language to clearly communicate ideas, knowledge, and processes.
8.
Explore and express ideas and opinions using multiple media, the arts, and technology.
9.
Demonstrate ethical behavior and respect for diversity through daily actions and decision making.
10.
Participate fully in civic life, and act on democratic ideals within the context of community and
global interdependence.
11.
Understand and follow a physically active lifestyle that promotes good health and wellness.
12.
Apply habits of mind and metacognitive strategies to plan, monitor, and evaluate one’s own
work.
© Albemarle County Public Schools
Appendix A
1
lbemarle
chools
roviding
nstruction for
eading
xcellence
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
Appendix B
1
Albemarle County Language Arts Program
Purpose
The purpose of the ASPIRE document is to assist teachers and administrators in understanding
curriculum, assessment, instruction as it relates to delivering the language arts curriculum. This document
is in no way intended to replace the language arts curriculum. The language arts curriculum lists the very
specific skills and processes students are to learn at particular grade levels. Delivery of this curriculum in
its entirety is crucial not only to student success in subsequent grade levels but also to potential success
on the Virginia English Standards of Learning tests. ASPIRE should be viewed as a framework that helps
describe the crucial categories of language arts instruction identified by the Virginia State Department of
Education and the Federal No Child Left Behind Act. An explanation of the categories followed by potential
activities is intended to assist teachers in instructional knowledge and decision-making.
Philosophy
Albemarle County identifies its language arts program as balanced and comprehensive, containing a
steady daily learning “diet” for students. Component categories of this diet are fluency,
comprehension/vocabulary, writing and word study. Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS) does
not align itself in camps of whole language or skills-driven instruction. Instead, it commits itself to the
philosophy of combining explicit instruction with authentic and purposeful learning experiences, employing
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
Appendix B
2
an ambitious curriculum that challenges each student. Frequent opportunities to read and write reinforce
the strong link between skill and strategy learning.
Grouping
In order to achieve this goal, students participate in small group instruction, whole group
instruction, and independent reading and writing activities. The purpose of small group learning is to
provide teacher support for the reading of slightly challenging texts that stretch student knowledge and
build strategy and skill repertoire. This is known as books at the instructional level of the student.
Further, having students write about books they are reading in literacy groups incorporates writing.
Whether students are filling in the blanks to create a pattern book or comparing and contrasting
characters, it is important that students make the connection between reading and writing through written
responses to books being read.
The purpose of independent reading is to provide students reading time with easy-to-read and
personally interesting books, providing rehearsal of reading skills and assimilation. It is an expectation
in Albemarle County that all classrooms K-5 and 6-12 reading classes will honor this balance of
using instructional and independent level material.
Effective reading classrooms emphasize flexible small group work in order to provide immediate
feedback to students, and stress coaching students in the skills being taught as opposed to telling answers
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
Appendix B
3
first. Coaching, with opportunities for higher-level questions for all students, always follows explicit
instruction.
Assessment
Both informal and formal assessment takes place in the classroom. Formative assessments are
to be used to monitor and adjust instruction based on student knowledge. Formative assessments provide
diagnostic information that help teachers know what to teach and are considered a mandatory part of the
language arts program. Summative assessments are meant to provide evidence of cumulative student
achievement and generally take place at the end of units or the end of the year.
Teachers are expected to have documentation of instructional reading levels, word study stages,
and writing development for all students through the use of QRIs, running records, DSAs, writing samples,
and student work. These assessments informs instruction, provide guidelines for appropriate small group
placement for students, and alert a teacher to those students who are in need of additional support in
order to meet the grade level benchmarks. This body of assessments should not be given all at once.
Rather, choosing the correct assessment and administering it is a purposeful process. The teacher
administers the assessment that provides the information needed about a particular student at a given
time.
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
Appendix B
4
In reporting student achievement levels to parents or division, teachers are expected to make
professional judgments about student levels using multiple measures – a body of evidence formed by
these assessments. A one time assessment should not be considered sufficient evidence of student
achievement.
Lesson Plans
A balanced and comprehensive literacy program provides students with daily practice in fluency,
comprehension, writing, and word study at each grade level. Teachers should design appropriate
instruction in each of these areas. Language arts instruction is considered to be of primary importance for
developing proficient readers and should take place daily.
Intervention
The Albemarle County school system is committed to teaching all students to read and write well. It
recognizes that some students may require additional time and alternative strategies in order to achieve
this goal. Classroom teachers will teach children at their instructional levels and assess both formally and
informally in order to closely follow the progress of students. The position of the school division is that
intervention for reading problems is best when it happens early for children. Kindergarten and first grade
teachers are critical to this commitment. They must be keenly aware of the instructional level of each
child, as well as the benchmarks for the end of the grade. Those students who are in danger of not
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
Appendix B
5
meeting end-of-year benchmarks should be identified and provided additional instruction above that which
the student receives in the regular classroom. Effective intervention is characterized as additional
instruction, which is fast-paced. It is not a slow down curriculum for the student. Furthermore, it
provides support with immediate corrective feedback for the student. Because of these traits, one-on-one
and small group settings for intervention are stressed.
Although research indicates that early intervention is most successful for students, all classroom
teachers K-5 and 6-12 reading are responsible for knowing the instructional levels for all students and for
seeking additional support for those students who are not achieving as anticipated. In the early childhood
grades, one-on-one tutorials are to be available for students. In the upper grades, small groups should
serve as a model for designing intervention. In middle and high school, Language! And CRISS may be
used in addition to the literacy diet.
Language Arts Instructional Program Expectations
•
Learning to read and reading to learn is the highest priority.
•
Reading instruction is to be delivered daily for at least 90 minutes.
•
Instruction is to be differentiated so that all children are working at their instructional level.
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
Appendix B
6
•
Direct instruction in skills, teacher coaching in how to use those skills in appropriate materials, and
independent practice in using those skills must occur for all students.
•
Reading instruction will be a mixture of opportunities to read both in small group with a common
book and independently with a student-selected book.
•
Lesson plans for language arts must reflect instructional activities in fluency,
comprehension/vocabulary development, writing, and word study. As grade level teams,
intervention committees, principals and teachers, etc. come together to discuss instruction and
student progress, evidence of instruction in these areas in lesson plans is expected.
•
Teachers will be familiar with the benchmarks. They will be able to identify students who are at risk
of not meeting the benchmarks and will seek instructional support for those students.
•
Teachers will use ongoing assessments (formative assessment) documenting student instructional
levels in order to ensure students are in the appropriate literacy group.
•
Multiple assessments will form a body of evidence concerning student achievement level.
Instructional and placement decisions will not be made based on a single assessment.
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
Appendix B
7
Language Arts Instructional Program Components
Fluency
Fluency, the ability to read with accuracy, automaticity, and expression, is an important component
of becoming a successful reader. Fluency is characterized by appropriate rate, expression, and
smoothness. One who is reading with ease in not struggling to decode words and thus has more time to
focus on reading comprehension. Consequently, instruction in helping children to decode words and
independent practice in reading is critical. To become skilled readers, students must develop a large
repertoire of words that can be read automatically.
In order to build fluency, students need the opportunity to read large quantities of materials.
Practice in reading develops more skilled reading. It also contributes significantly to increased vocabulary
development.
Fluency: Possible Learning Activities
K-5
•
Re-reading and finger pointing
•
Sentence strips to cut up and reassemble
•
High frequency word games
•
Choral and echo reading
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
Appendix B
8
•
Readers’ Theatre- Students dramatize a short story, poem, or song. After reading the original text,
students create a script. They decide how to portray the characters, rehearse the script, and then
perform for the class.
•
Taped reading
•
Timed Repeated Reading- Students select a 100-word passage of text and read for both reasonable
speed and accuracy. Students repeat this process in an attempt to increase number of words per
minute read and decrease number of errors made. Attempts are charted to measure growth.
•
Paired Reading- Students read back and forth in pairs.
•
Expert Reading- Students select a given page of text that they rehearse for fluency and accuracy in
oral reading.
•
Poetry
•
Sustained Silent Reading- Students read independent level text for a sustained period of time.
Follow up activities include reader response logs, book talks, and recording text read in a reading
log.
•
Radio Reading- Students rehearse reading a passage with expression, fluency, attention to
punctuation, etc. for oral reading. Similar to Radio Theatre, the task is to bring the story to life for
people who do not have access to the book. Recording this on tape recorder is effective.
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
Appendix B
9
•
Teacher instruction in syllabication in order to decode unfamiliar words encountered in text.
•
Teacher instruction in identifying known “chunks” of a word in order to read unfamiliar words
encountered in text.
6 -12
•
Sustained Silent Reading- Students read independent level text for a sustained period of time.
Follow up activities include reader response logs, book talks, and recording text read in a reading
log.
•
Radio Reading- Students rehearse reading a passage with expression, fluency, attention to
punctuation, etc. for oral reading. Similar to Radio Theatre, the task is to bring the story to life for
people who do not have access to the book. Recording this on tape recorder is effective.
•
Expert Reading- Students select a given page of text that they rehearse for fluency and accuracy in
oral reading.
•
Paired Reading- Students read back and forth in pairs.
•
Timed Repeated Reading- Students select a 100-word passage of text and read for both reasonable
speed and accuracy. Students repeat this process in an attempt to increase number of words per
minute read and decrease number of errors made. Attempts are charted to measure growth
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
Appendix B
10
•
Readers’ Theatre- Students dramatize a short story, poem, or song. After reading the original text,
students create a script. They decide how to portray the characters, rehearse the script, and then
perform for the class.
•
Reading independent level text.
Comprehension
Reading is a combination of decoding and comprehending what is being read. Although it seems
quite natural that when one is reading, one is also processing all that is being read, this is not always the
case. Reading involves reader interaction before engaging in the text, during the reading of the text, and
after the reading of the text. Teachers should provide direct instruction in strategies for preparing to read
text, for engaging in meaning making while reading, and for assimilating understanding after reading the
text. Students need modeling of various strategies, guided practice in using those strategies, and multiple
opportunities for independent practice of those strategies. Ultimately, the successful reader must be able
to integrate multiple strategies at the same time when reading.
Since reading comprehension involves concept and vocabulary development, command of the
linguistic structure of text, and reflective control of what has been read, teachers are responsible for
aggressively teaching vocabulary, as well as the elements of literature.
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
Appendix B
11
Comprehension instruction begins in Kindergarten with Direct Listening – Thinking Activities (DLTA).
Here, the teacher guides children through prediction, confirmation, and modification of predictions and
through rich discussion of stories read aloud. Beginning this process in Kindergarten is vital to
demonstrating to children how skilled readers focus and gain meaning from text.
Comprehension is a social experience for readers. Meaning occurs through making connections with
personal experiences and engaging in conversations with other readers about common reading.
Consequently, readers must have experiences in school such as guided reading or literature circles where
a common book has been read and meaningfully discussed.
Reading Comprehension Framework: Before, During, and After
Before reading activities are designed to activate prior knowledge, to prepare students to read.
Through these activities students become more adept at linking their prior experiences with new material.
In addition, students set a purpose for reading and make predictions about content.
During reading activities are designed to keep students actively engaged in the meaning making
process. This involves teaching students to monitor their comprehension and to adjust their reading
strategies as needed.
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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12
After reading activities are designed to assist students with processing information. Students
make connections among texts and consolidate information, thus incorporating the new information into
their schema.
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Possible Learning Activities
Before Reading
During Reading
After Reading
Anticipated guide
Brainstorm (e.g., list, web)
KWL
Free write
Role play
Questioning
Preview text
Draw
Video
Vocabulary development
Research on internet
Questioning
Complete advance organizer
Note making (e.g., key ides, questions)
Verify predictions
Monitor comprehension strategies
Think aloud
Generate hypotheses
Retelling
Summarizing
Discussion
Read related text
Create quiz
Debate
Role play
Writing (e.g., rewrite ending, write a letter)
Teach peers
Create a graphic organizer
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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Comprehension: Possible Learning Activities
K-5
•
Directed Listening-Thinking Activity (DLTA) – Students listen to a story read aloud by the teacher
who stops strategically throughout the story to ask students to make and justify predictions about
what will happen next in the story. Throughout this process, students are encouraged to confirm or
modify their predictions based on new information provided in the text.
•
Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA) – Students read a story and stop at places designated by
the teacher to reflect on what has happened, predict and justify predictions of what might happen
next. This can be done as a small group, guided reading group or individually in a reading response
log.
•
Reader Response Logs – Journals where students reflect on text being read.
•
Graphic Organizers – Diagrams that allow students to visually organize the information gained from
reading the text. An example is a Venn Diagram used to show the similarities and differences
between two stories.
•
Guided Reading Groups – Reading group conducted by a teacher where the students, as a group,
predict, read, and discuss. The difference between a guided reading group and a more traditional
reading group lies in the format used for reading texts. In a guided reading group, students read
either silently or in a whisper voice as opposed to round robin which is used in more traditional
reading groups. The benefit of the guided reading format is that each child reads ALL of the text
rather than selected pages.
•
Instruction in Literary Elements – Direct instruction in identifying the characteristics of various
literary genres. Student knowledge in this area greatly enhances comprehension skills.
•
Book Talks – Students read a book and orally present the book to the class, promoting the plot of
the book without giving away the exciting moments. The purpose is to require the reader to reflect
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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on the plot of the book and summarize it to an audience while encouraging other students to read
the book.
•
Literature Circle/Book Clubs – Students come together in small groups to discuss a book they have
read. The goal is for the teacher to model and teach children how to lead their own discussion about
a book.
•
Retelling/Paraphrasing – Students articulate in their own words what they have read.
•
Summarizing – Students tell the important parts of the story.
•
Visualizing – Teachers guide students in creating pictures in their minds of what has been read.
•
Think-Alouds – The teacher reads aloud to the students and articulates what s/he is thinking about
the reading. This strategy is highly metacognitive and demonstrates to students how good readers
have conversations with themselves about the reading as it progresses, checking for understanding
and making connections. Coaching to help children use the skill independently should follow teacher
demonstrations. (Please see description in 6-12 section for further explanation)
6-12
•
Anticipation Guides – An anticipation guide activates students’ prior knowledge and sets a purpose
for reading. The teacher creates a list of statements related to key concepts in a text. The student
decides if s/he agrees or disagrees with the statement. A discussion of students’ responses
proceeds. Students read the text keeping in mind their opinions and the class discussion. After
reading, the students return to the anticipation guide and discuss the statements in light of the
reading.
•
Think-Alouds – The teacher models her thought process as she reads. Modeling might include
predictions, confusing points, strategies for clarification, and/or images that come in mind.
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Following the modeling, students are given the opportunity to practice thinking aloud with a partner.
Alternatively, students might use a think aloud checklist and practice independently.
•
Graphic Organizers
•
Story Grammar (Story frame) - Students become more aware of a story structure through the use
of grammar. This graphic organizer identifies such story characteristics as setting, plot, and theme.
Story Map – Teachers list major events in a story; students create questions based on the map.
Venn Diagram
Inquiry Charts (I-chart) – This matrix promotes critical thinking skills as students search multiple
sources to answer questions. Across the top of the matrix, list 3-4 key questions that relate to
concepts from a given unit of study. Along the left side of the matrix, a cell is identified for “What
We Know”. Below this cell, list 3 sources (i.e., textbooks, trade books, video, lecture). The last cell
along the left-hand side of the matrix is for “Summary”. Students begin filling in “What We Know”.
Then they search the multiple sources to answer the key questions, writing answers in the
corresponding box. After completing the research, students fill in the “Summary” boxes,
synthesizing the information from the multiple sources.
Concept map
KWL Plus – This graphic organizer identifies the following information about a given topic: “What I
Know”, “What I Want to Know”, “What I Learned” and “What I Still Want to Know/Where I Can Find
More Information”.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Questioning Techniques
o Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest) – Teachers and students take turns asking and answering
questions based on single sentences of text. The teacher models higher levels of questioning.
Continue through a passage sentence by sentence, taking turns asking and answering the questions.
Questions that occur later in the paragraph should reflect cumulative information from prior
sentences.
o Question-Answer Relationship – Students learn to identify 4 types of question-answer relationships:
1. Right there (The answer is in one sentence of the story.); 2. Think and Search (The answer is in
the story, but the reader must search different sentences.); 3. Author and You (The answer is not
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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in the story. The reader puts together what s/he knows and what the author says.); 4. On My Own
(The answer is not in the story. The reader uses his/her own experiences to answer the questions.)
o Questioning the Author – While reading, the students create queries about the author’s ideas and
techniques for presenting material. Sample queries might be: What is the author trying to say?
How might the author state this idea differently? Why does the author tell us this now? Class
discussion focuses on the queries generated by the students.
o Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA) – Students read a story and stop at places designated by
the teacher to reflect on what has happened, predict and justify predictions of what might happen
next. This can be done as a small group, guided reading group, or individually in a reading response
log.
o Reciprocal Teaching – While reading a passage, the teacher models 4 comprehension strategies:
questioning, summarizing, clarifying, and predicting. The students eventually take on the role of
teacher, generating questions, summarizing information, clarifying confusing text/vocabulary, and
predicting what will happen later in the text. The classroom offers feedback during this guided
practice.
•
Discussion
o Think, Pair, Share – Students write down their thoughts in response to a reading or to a
question. Then, they share their response with a partner. Afterwards, partners share their
responses and discuss with the whole class.
o Sticky Notes – As they read, students use post-it notes to identify key idea, passages,
vocabulary, or questions in text. After reading, these sticky notes may be shared during class
discussions.
o Authentic Questions – Teachers model that good readers ask questions as they read.
Students identify questions that they have when reading a given story/text. After reading,
students share their authentic questions, generating class discussion.
•
SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review)
•
Summarizing
•
Two-Column Note taking
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o Cornell notes – On the right side of the journal entry, students identify and record key ideas
from the text, perhaps using modified outline. On the left-hand side of the journal entry,
students create corresponding questions or labels for the information.
o Opinion-Proof Notes – On the left-hand side of the paper, students identify their opinions. On
the right-hand side of the paper, students list corresponding proof from the text that supports
their opinion.
o Problem-Solution Notes – On the left-hand side of the paper, students identify problems. On
the right-hand side of the paper, students list corresponding solutions.
•
Power Notes or Outlining – Power notes are a simplistic version of outlining. Main ideas are Power
1’s; supporting details are Power 2’s. A detail of a Power 2 would be a Power 3, etc.
•
Dialogue Journal – Students write observations or reflections based on literature. The journal is
exchanged with a peer, who responds to the journal entry.
Writing
Writing is intimately linked with reading. It is virtually impossible to teach one without the other.
Writing instruction emphasizes both the creative nature of expression and the conventions of various
types of writing. This demands instruction in those features that determine quality composing, written
expression, sentence formation, grammar, and usage and mechanics.
The writing process entails students engaging in developing a piece by prewriting, drafting, revising,
editing, and producing a final copy. Typically, direct skills are taught throughout mini-lessons and
classroom discussions, as well as through the study of published authors’ works. In addition, teachers
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use a variety of models such as shared writing, interactive writing, and guided writing or writer’s
workshop.
Shared writing - Teacher and student work together to compose messages and stories; teacher acts
as a scribe.
Interactive writing – Teacher and students work together to compose messages and stories that are
written using a “shared” pen (teacher does some of the writing; students do some of the writing).
Guided writing or Writer’s workshop – Students engage in composing a variety of texts with the
teacher guiding them through the writing process, providing instruction through mini-lessons and
conferences.
Writing is a developmental continuum for students and student chosen topics are a vital part of
learning to write. Nevertheless, teachers must also provide some assigned topics that help children to
develop skills in particular writing genres.
It is expected that teachers will teach grammar within the context of writing instruction. It is also
expected that teachers will seize opportunities in writing to further vocabulary development. Activities
such as a “power word wall” where children produce lists of strong verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and in
general, more vivid words, promote this development.
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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Although handwriting is not defined as part of the writing process, teachers are expected to be
teaching children proper letter formation and setting the expectation of legibility in all of the work that
is produced.
Writing: Possible Learning Activities
K-5
•
Power Word Charts – Charts that are developed by teachers and students are hung around the
classroom to provide vivid vocabulary to use in writing. The goal is to extinguish the use of overused or weak words (particularly weak verbs). Examples might include a list of words to
substitute for “ like” or “said”.
•
Journal Writing (free writing as well as content area) – Students write either on topics of their
choice or topics assigned by the teacher. Teacher feedback lends to the quality of the writing in
these journals.
•
Letter writing
•
List making
•
Summaries of stories read
•
Report writing
•
Linking writing to reading through story extension, response journal, etc.
•
Narratives
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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•
Create pattern books modeled after stories read – Students read books with distinct patterns and
then create their own book based upon that pattern. The goal is to quickly empower early
writers via an established format.
•
Mini-lessons on composition, written expression, sentence formation, mechanics, conventions –
Brief lessons of about 10 minutes in length provided by the teacher to demonstrate correct use of
a specific writing convention or skill. It is a good idea to post in the classroom mini-lessons
presented or to have children record the mini-lesson in a writer’s handbook so that students can
refer back to the lessons when writing.
•
Peer Editing and Revising – Students work in pairs or small groups to revise and edit pieces. The
goal is for students to reflect together about the writing process and to acquaint students with
the notion that writers write for an audience who must understand the piece. Looking at the
writing of another also provides students with valuable practice in the format of the SOL writing
multiple-choice test.
•
Note making
•
RAFT papers – Teachers structure writing assignments using RAFT, by identifying the Role of the
writer; the Audience; the Format of the writing assignment; and the Topic + strong verb (i.e.,
describe; request; explain).
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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6-12
•
Cornell note making – On the right-hand side of the journal entry, students identify and record key
ideas from the text, perhaps using a modified outline. On the left-hand side of the journal entry,
students create corresponding questions or labels for the information.
•
Journal
o Dialectical or double entry journal – On the right-hand side of the journal entry, students
identify and record key ideas or passages that stood out for them from the text. On the lefthand side of the journal entry, students create corresponding questions or make connections
to experience in their life.
o Dialogue journal – Students write observations or reflections based on literature. The journal
is exchanged with a peer, who responds to the journal entry.
o Reader Response – Students reflect on a piece of literature through a written response.
o Learning log – Students write responses to a teacher’s question. In the log, the students
might explain what they are learning, new insights, observations, or how they might use the
information in the future.
•
Genre Writing
•
Summarizing
o One-sentence summary – Read a selection aloud. List five key words from the selection.
Combine these words to create a one-sentence summary.
•
Lab Reports
•
Research paper
•
I-Search Paper – In this alternative to the research paper, students investigate a topic, and then
describe the process they used during their search.
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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•
RAFT papers – Teachers structure writing assignments using RAFT, by identifying the Role of the
writer; the Audience; the Format of the writing assignment; and the Topic + strong verb (i.e.,
describe; request; explain).
•
School Paper (i.e., 5-paragraph essay)
•
Framed Paragraph – The teacher creates a framed paragraph by providing the topic and concluding
sentence with transitions between sentences. Students complete the framed paragraph by
providing details.
Word Study
Although most closely associated with spelling, Word Study is defined as the study of phonemic
awareness, letter recognition, phonics, spelling, and vocabulary development. While it is based
on the developmental spelling level of the student, it is still a method of instruction where the explicit
teaching of spelling features of words at the student’s instructional level takes place. It is impossible to
overemphasize the connection between spelling development and reading development. Word Study in
the classroom joins the reading instruction to give children tools for decoding words and provides a
growing vocabulary of words that children are expected to spell correctly in written work. Teachers hold
students accountable for correctly using features that have been taught. Effective and explicit instruction
in orthography (spelling) contributes significantly to student reading and writing fluency.
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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Word Study in the classroom relies on comparing and contrasting lists of words provided by the
teacher, which exemplify features the child is “using but confusing”. For example, the student might be
attempting to use short vowels in words but using the incorrect vowel. The teacher must provide word
sorts which help the student differentiate between the short vowels so that the student will learn the
difference between the vowel sounds and use them correctly in spelling.
Word Study is discussed in five stages. The earliest stage is the Preliterate stage (emergent) where
heavy emphasis is placed on phonemic awareness, letter recognition and sounds in the initial position.
The second stage, Letter Name (Letter Name-Alphabetic), is where children learn short vowel word
families, short vowels in the medial position, and blends and digraphs. In the third stage, Within Word
Pattern, students learn the numerous patterns that dictate long vowel words in our language. The fourth
stage, Syllable Juncture (Syllable and Affixes), is where students study the rules that dictate the spellings
of words where two-syllables come together. Understanding of the previous stages is crucial at this point.
The final stage, Derivational Constancy (Derivational Relations), continues through adulthood. It
addresses the spelling of the countless words in our language that are related by meaning and thus share
similarities in spelling despite difference in sound and pronunciation.
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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Word Study: Possible Learning Activities
K-5
•
Oral language games and activities (phonemic awareness)
•
Alphabet recognition games
•
Matching/concentration games to practice skills
•
Picture Sorting – Sorting pictures by similar beginning, middle, and ending sounds. The benefit of
using pictures is that students are focused on sounds only, without the ability to rely on a letter or
word family. Consequently, pictures are beneficial even when studying long vowels. Their use
should not be limited to consonants, blends, and short vowels.
•
Listening games
•
Syllable segmentation activities – Oral activities that help students segment words into syllables.
This skill is beneficial for the decoding process.
•
Phoneme Segmentation Activities – Oral activities that help students break words apart into their
constituent sounds. This process is important for decoding and is assisted through providing
students opportunities to write using invented spelling.
•
Making and Breaking Word Activities – Students break apart words into constituent sounds and
blend them back together. Both processes are vital to reading and writing.
•
Word Banks – Students collect word cards of those words that are automatic (sight) words for them.
Collecting words can cease after the child has amassed 150 – 200 words.
•
Rhyming activities
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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•
Word sorts focusing on a specific feature being studied
•
Dictated Sentences – The teacher dictates a sentence to students that contain words from Word
Study and/or high frequency words. Children are held accountable for spelling correctly all words
and word features they have studied. They are allowed to use invented spelling for any word
feature that has not been studied. This activity is necessary for helping children transfer Word
Study knowledge to everyday writing.
•
Word sorts focusing on a specific feature being studied
•
Practice all features studied for automaticity
•
List-Group-Labels – Students generate as many words as possible related to a topic. Then they
group related words from the brainstormed list. Finally, students label each group of related words.
•
Semantic Web – A vocabulary word is placed in the middle of the web. Spokes connect major ideas
or categories associated with the vocabulary word. Supporting details branch out from each
category.
•
Word Histories – Create enthusiasm for words by sharing the history of words with students.
Discuss categories such as eponyms (words derived from person or places) or acronyms (words
formed by the first letter or groups of letters that form a phrase).
6-12
•
Word
o
o
o
Study Activities
Word hunts
Sorts (speed, writing, word)
Vocabulary notebooks
•
Semantic Web – A vocabulary word is placed in the middle of the web. Spokes connect major ideas
or categories associated with the vocabulary word. Supporting details branch out from each
category
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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27
•
Semantic Feature Analysis – Create a matrix of vocabulary words around a concept or theme.
Words to be studied are written down the left-hand side of the matrix. Features of the words are
written across the top of the matrix. Students mark each cell with a (+) to indicate that the word is
definitely related to a feature or a (-) if the word is not related to a feature.
•
Concept of Definition Map – Create a map with the key concept in the center circle. Spokes connect
to ideas along the top of the page that identify the category (What is it?); spokes connect to ideas
along the side of the page that identify properties (What it is like?); spokes connect to the bottom of
the page to identify illustrations (What are some examples?).
•
Capsule Vocabulary – The teacher identifies a group of related words from a chapter or topic. As a
class, the words are discussed. In small groups, students practice using the words in their speaking
vocabulary. Finally, students use the new words in writing, by creating paragraphs or stories around
the words.
•
Word Histories – Create enthusiasm for words by sharing the history of words with students.
Discuss categories such as eponyms (words derived from person or places) or acronyms (words
formed by the first letter or groups of letters that form a phrase).
•
Sentence and Word Expansion – The teacher identifies a simple sentence from the text or from a
student paper. Students work to replace words in the simple sentence with more interesting or
descriptive words. Using ideas brainstormed by the class or ideas of their own, students rewrite the
sentence to make it more interesting.
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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Emergent Reader Plan
Fluency (40%)
Goals:
• Reads familiar books at lateemergent stage (RR 3-4)
• Rigby Assessment 3-4
• Concept of word.
Comprehension (20%)
Goals:
• Retells stories using beginning,
middle, and end.
Writing (20%)
Goals:
• Proper letter formation;
communicates ideas through writing
• Writes about experiences, stories,
people, objects, or events using
phonetically spelled words.
Word Study (20%)
Goals:
• Matches letters to their
corresponding sounds.
• Identifies syllables and phonemes in
words.
Possible Activities;
• Repeated reading of appropriate text, pointing to words while
reading
- Early –mid-Emergent RR levels 1-2
- Late-Emergent RR levels 3-4
• Rereading and finger pointing of dictation, rhymes, songs, jingles
• Sentence strips to cut up and reassemble
• High frequency word games
Possible Activities:
• Listening to stories (Directed Listening-Thinking Activity)
• Retelling drama/flannel board
• Story illustrations to include beginning, middle, and end of stories.
• Concept sorts
• Think Alouds
Possible Activities;
• Drawing and labeling
• Journal writing
• Tactile/kinesthetic letters, clay, sand, shaving cream
• Create pattern books modeled after stories that were read
• Handwriting
Possible Activities:
• Oral language activities (phonemic awareness)
• Matching, alphabet, and concentration games
• Picture sorts by common initial and ending sounds and by rhyming
families
• Segmenting syllable
• Listening games
• Phoneme segmentation
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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29
Beginning Reader Plan
Fluency (40%)
Goals:
• Reads at late-Beginner stage (RR 1318).
• Rigby Assessment 16
• QRI Level 1
Comprehension (20%)
Goals:
• Makes and confirms predictions.
• Asks and answers questions about what
is read.
• Can accurately sequence stories
• Retell a story using basic story structure
Writing (20%)
Goals:
• Writes 3 or more complete sentences
with descriptive words on one topic.
Word Study (20%)
Goal:
• Late-Letter Name (Letter NameAlphabetic) speller. Consistent control of
short vowel sounds
• Build vocabulary
Possible Activities:
• Repeated reading of appropriate text
- Early-Beginner RR Levels 5-8
Mid-Beginner RR levels 912
- Late-Beginner RR 13-18
• Choral and echo reading
• Reader’s theatre
• Taped reading
• Timed repeated reading
• High Frequency word games
Possible Activities:
• Directed Reading-Thinking Activity and Directed ListeningThinking Activity
• Retelling
• Illustrate and write about beginning, middle, and end of
stories
• Story mapping
• Dramatization
• Think Alouds
Possible Activities:
• Journal, note, or letter writing
• List making
• Dictated sentences
• Mini-lessons on mechanics and writing conventions
Possible Activities:
• Word bank of sight words
• Picture sorts by beginning sounds, word families, short
vowels, blends and consonant digraphs
• Rhyming
• Phoneme segmentation
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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Advanced Beginner Reader Plan
Fluency (20%)
Goals:
• Read at late-Advanced Beginner
stage
• Rigby Assessment 21-22
• QRI Level 2
Comprehension (40%)
Goals:
• Reads silently with comprehension
• Can accurately identify main idea
• Justify answers by locating
information in a story
• Determine cause and effect in a
story
Writing (20%)
Goals:
• Writes simple stories and reports
with a beginning, middle, and end
Word Study (20%)
Goals:
• Within Word Pattern speller.
Consistent control of simple long
vowel patterns; developing control
of r- controlled vowel patterns
• Builds vocabulary
Possible Activities:
• Timed repeated readings
• Paired readings
• Readers’ Theatre
• Expert reading
• Poetry
Possible Activities:
• Directed Reading-Thinking Activity
• Graphic organizers (KWL; Venn Diagram to compare/contrast
characters or plot)
• Literature response journals
• Radio reading
• Think Alouds
Possible Activities:
• Summaries
• Journal writing
• Letter writing
• Report writing
• Link writing to reading (e.g., extend; describe characters,
setting)
Possible Activities:
• Sorting by long and short vowel patterns
• Examine r-controlled vowels and complex consonant blends
• List-group-label
• Semantic web
• Concept sorts
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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Transitional Reader Plan
Fluency (20%)
Goals:
• Reads silently and aloud with
appropriate accuracy, automaticity,
and expressions at late-Transitional
stage. Maintains reading
comprehension.
• Rigby Assessment 23-25
• QRI Level 3
Comprehension (40%)
Goals:
• Reads silently and aloud with
comprehension.
• Can relate ideas in text to other
texts and experiences
• Identify distinguishing characteristics
of fiction and nonfiction
Writing (20%)
Goals:
• Writes stories, letters, simple
explanations and short reports
across all content areas.
Word Study (20%)
Goals:
• Late-Within Word Pattern speller.
Consistent control long vowel
patterns
• Builds vocabulary
Possible Activities:
• Timed repeated readings
• Expert readings
• Paired readings
• Readers’ Theatre
• Poetry
• Sustained reading time
Possible Activities:
• Directed Reading-Thinking Activity
• Graphic organizers (KWL; Venn Diagram to compare/contrast
characters or plot)
• Literature response journals
• Book clubs; literature circles
• Think Alouds
Possible Activities:
• Content area journals
• Reading response logs
• Summaries
• Narratives
• Reports
Possible Activities:
• Sorting by long vowel patterns or by r-controlled vowels
• Word study notebooks
• Studying and applying homophones
• List-group-label
• Semantic segmentation
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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Intermediate Reader Plan
Fluency (20%)
Goals:
• Reads silently and aloud with
appropriate accuracy, automaticity, and
expressions at mid- to lateIntermediate stage. Maintains reading
comprehension
• Rigby Assessment 26-30
• QRI Level 4
Comprehension (40%)
Goals:
• Reads silently and aloud with
comprehension
• Can discern author’s purpose
• Select appropriate sources for gathering
information and answering questions
• Understand relationship of main idea
and supporting details
Writing (20%)
Goals:
• Writes effective narratives and
explanations that are organized and
focus on one aspect of a topic.
Word Study (20%)
Goals:
• Syllable Juncture (Syllables and Affixes)
speller. Consistent control of spelling of
vowel patterns in stressed syllables;
developing control of vowel spellings in
unstressed syllable
• Builds vocabulary
Possible Activities:
• Timed repeated readings
• Expert readings
• Paired readings
• Readers’ Theatre
• Poetry
• Sustained reading time
Possible Activities:
• Anticipation guides
• Graphic organizers (story grammar; inquiry charts)
• Reciprocal teaching
• Question-Answer Relationship
• Think Alouds
Possible Activities:
• Content journals
• Notemaking
• RAFT papers
• Framed paragraph
• Narratives
• Reports
Possible Activities:
• Sort by VCCV, VCV, open and closed syllables, long vowel patterns in
stressed syllables
• List-group-label
• Semantic webs
• Word histories
• Sentence and word expansion
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
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Proficient Reader Plan
Fluency (20%)
Goals:
• Reads silently and aloud with
appropriate accuracy, automaticity,
and expressions at late- intemediate
to Proficient stage. Maintains
reading comprehension
• QRI Level 5
Comprehension (40%)
Goals:
• Reads silently and aloud with
comprehension
• Ask questions of text and author
• Scan for specific information
• Assimilate information from a variety
of sources
Writing (20%)
Goals:
• Writes for a variety of purposes
(e.g., describe, entertain, inform,
explain)
Word Study (20%)
Goals:
• Late-Syllable Juncture (Syllables and
Affixes) speller through Derivational
Constancy (Derivational Relations).
• Consistent control of vowel spellings
in unstressed syllable
• Builds vocabulary
Possible Activities:
• Timed repeated readings
• Expert readings
• Paired readings
• Readers’ Theatre
• Poetry
• Sustained reading time
Possible Activities:
• Anticipation guides
• Graphic organizers (story grammar; inquiry charts)
• Questioning the Author
• Question-Answer Relationship
• Dialogue journals
Possible Activities:
• Genre writing
• Cornell notemaking
• RAFT papers
• I-search paper
• Spool paper (e.g., 5 paragraph essay)
• Double entry journal
Possible Activities:
• Sort by r-controlled patters in stressed syllables; unstressed
syllable vowel patters, affixes
• Semantic feature analysis
• Concept of Definition map
• Word histories
• Sentence and word expansion
© ASPIRE K-12, Albemarle County Public Schools, 2003
Appendix B
34
Literacy Classroom Look-fors
Introduction
The division-level Literacy Achievement Team developed the Literacy
Classroom Look-fors in response to the division’s work with the Teacher
Performance Appraisal and Classroom Walkthroughs. These pages articulate
the type of practice in which English language arts, ESOL, and special
education teachers should engage as they plan and deliver literacy
instruction.
Each page is broken into two main sections: instructional practices and
environmental support. In essence, teachers must create an environment of
literacy both through instruction and through access to text and models.
Each major section is broken into two additional sections representing ends
of a continuum on Bloom’s taxonomy. The “low” category articulates those
practices at the knowledge or comprehension level, while the “high”
category articulates practices at the synthesis and evaluation levels.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix C
1
Literacy Classroom Look-fors
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix C
•
•
•
•
Writing for a variety of purposes
evidenced
Target boards
Crates/files from which students
choose organizers
Nonfiction in classroom library
Newspapers & periodicals
•
•
•
‘5 Paragraph’ poster on the wall
Exemplar papers posted without
specific criteria
Discussion on plot or main idea in
absence of structural questions
Classroom library restricted to
fiction
Text Structures
Fill in blanks on a generic Select from a variety of
graphic organizer
complex graphic
organizers
• Cause-effect
• Compare/contrast
• Sequence
• Concept-definition
• Problem-solution
Webs
• Detailed outlines
• Two-column
(Cornell) notes
• Structure-specific
organizers
Teacher-provided
Student-provided
organizer (same for
organizer (create your
everyone)
own)
Same organizer all year
Multiple organizers to
meet specific text
structures
Use organizers for reading Use organizers to bridge
OR writing
reading AND writing
Explain how a text is
Evaluate benefits of one
structured
organizational structure
over another
Identify a used structure
Evaluate & defend
author’s choice of
structure for a story or for
a student’s own writing
Identify
Evaluate author’s use of
elements/techniques of
elements/techniques to
author’s craft
advance a piece of writing
& apply those techniques
in student’s own writing
Taking all writing to
Lots of starts & targeted
fruition
lessons for various
audiences & purposes
•
•
HIGH
HIGH
LOW
Environmental Support
LOW
Instructional Practices
2
Literacy Classroom Look-fors
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix C
•
•
Databases and other credible search
engines linked on home page
Students using resources before
asking for the answer
Learning community
•
•
•
Computers in the classroom or
library
Dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia
on shelf
Teacher as resource for answers
Use of Resources
Identify fact or opinion
Evaluate source bias,
author bias, and overall
credibility
Find a source on a given
Evaluate the best sources
topic
for researching a given
topic based on specific
questions to be answered
and credibility criteria
Google
Use multiple databases,
and types of print and
online resources
Use a computer search
Select sources based on
engine to “look up”
pre-determined criteria
information
(with rubric in hand)
Find a word in a
Apply dictionary and
dictionary or thesaurus
thesaurus skills to gain
information beyond
spelling and 1st definition
or synonym
Use an encyclopedia
Evaluate information in
an encyclopedia
compared to other
sources
Use sources to find
Use sources to find
interesting information
relevant, meaningful
information
Identify parts of a
Synthesize text structures
textbook
with other reference
materials
Write a Works Cited or
• Defend use of a
Bibliography
Works Cited or a
Bibliography
• Write an Annotated
Bibliography
indicating value of
resources for
specific purposes
•
HIGH
HIGH
LOW
Environmental Support
LOW
Instructional Practices
3
Literacy Classroom Look-fors
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix C
•
Word walls related to features, roots,
or combining forms
Etymological questions for discussion
•
•
Random word walls (fun, interesting, big
words)
Spelling list on board
Vocabulary Instruction
10 unrelated words for
Words for
practice
practice/instruction
related through:
• Spelling pattern
• Vowel pattern
• Word feature
• Root
• Affix
Spelling quiz each week
Feature &/or meaning
analysis
Everyone has the same
Word study related to
word list(s)
students’ individual needs
Weakest students get the All students hear and use
“easiest” words
precise, powerful
vocabulary
Vocabulary books
“Playing” with words
Single sorts
Multiple and conceptual
sorts
Most common meaning
Explore multiple
meanings through:
• Context
• Definitions
• Background
knowledge
Vocabulary instruction in
Vocabulary instruction
language arts
across disciplines
Contextual vocabulary for Contextual vocabulary for
interest
meaning
Identify patterns &
Apply patterns and
morphemes
morphemic structure to
decode and determine
meanings of new words
Definition of words
Etymology of words –
explore vocabulary over
time – how a word means
Use a word from a text
Evaluate an author’s use
of language to convey
meaning
•
HIGH
HIGH
LOW
Environmental Support
LOW
Instructional Practices
4
Language! Program – Virginia Standards of Learning Correlations
Middle School
In the fall 2005, a task force including middle school Language! teachers, Albemarle County Public Schools
Language! trainer, and the Secondary Language Arts Coordinator reviewed the 3rd edition of Language! with respect
to the 6-8 language arts standards. The following pages identify that correlation. Additionally, the teachers provide
the point at which various activities/graphic organizers are introduced in the program in relation to the standards
they address. Highlighted standards are not addressed in the Language! program, to the teacher should
supplement their instruction to include those standards.
Representatives on the Committee
Patti Parmiter, Sutherland Middle School
Marianne Walendowski, Albemarle High School, Language! Trainer
Natalie Wood, Jouett Middle School
Sandra Whitaker, Office of Instruction
© Albemarle County Public Schools, November 2005
Appendix D
Language! – Virginia SOL Correlation
Middle School Reading
Standard
Component
Correlated Activity
Correlated Activity
Correlated Activity
Correlated Activity
6.3a
word origins
Define It: A-1-3
Explore It: C-13-1
Discover It: D-19-1
6.3a
derivations
Choose It: A-2-7
Double It: B-6-4
Divide It: C-13-8
Discover It: D-19-1
6.3a
inflections
Choose It: A-2-7
Add It: B-7-3
Discover It: D-19-1
6.3b
analogies
Identify It: A-3-4
Map It: B-7-3
Change It: C-17-2
Word Network: C13-5
6.3b
figurative language
Identify It: A-3-4
Map It: B-7-3
6.3c
meaning from context
Vocabulary: A-1-1
6.3c
multiple meanings
Vocabulary: A-1-1
Draw It: A-4-3
Mult Meaning: A-11
Mult Meaning: A-11
6.3d
use word-reference materials
Replace It: A-1-1
Define It: A-1-3
Explore It: C-13-1
6.4a
identify elements of narrative structure
use structures (narrative & poetic) for
comprehension
use structures (narrative & poetic) to
predict outcomes
Identify It: A-3-4
Map It: B-7-3
Spotlight: A-1-1
Blueprint: A-5-9
Map It: B-7-3
Spotlight: A-1-1
Blueprint: A-5-9
Map It: B-7-3
6.4b
6.4b
6.4c
6.4d
6.4d
describe images created by language
describe how word choice contributes to
meaning
describe how imagery contributes to
meaning
Define It: A-1-3
Blueprint: A-5-9
Define It: A-1-3
Explore It: C-13-1
Word Line: D-19-1
Explore It: C-13-1
Word Line: D-19-1
Explore It: C-13-1
Word Line: D-19-1
Not explicit in program
until Level D - Teachers
must address!
Text Connect: D19-3
Text Connect: D19-3
Text Connect: D19-3
Text Connect: D-19Answer It: A-3-3
3
Text Connect: D-19Answer It: A-3-3
3
Text Connect: D-19Answer It: A-3-3
3
6.4g
describe cause-effect relationships &
impact on plot
use explicit information to draw
conclusions - fiction
use explicit information to draw
conclusions - narr non-fic
use explicit information to draw
conclusions - poetry
use explicit information to make
inferences - fiction
use explicit information to make
inferences - narr non-fic
use explicit information to make
inferences - poetry
explain how character supports the
central conflict
explain how plot development supports
the central conflict
6.4h
paraphrase main points of text
Replace It: A-1-1
Answer It: A-3-3
Map It: B-7-3
6.4h
summarize main points of text
Replace It: A-1-1
Answer It: A-3-3
Map It: B-7-3
6.4e
6.4f
6.4f
6.4f
6.4f
6.4f
6.4f
6.4g
Map It: D
Think about It: A-1-1
Think about It: A-1-1
Think about It: A-1-1
Think about It: A-1-1
Think about It: A-1-1
Think about It: A-1-1
Spotlight: A-1-1
Spotlight: A-1-1
© Albemarle County Public Schools, November 2005
Appendix D
Correlated Activity
Use/Clues: B-7-3
Language! – Virginia SOL Correlation
Middle School Reading
6.5a
identify questions to be answered
6.5b
make, confirm, or revise predictions
meaning from context - technical
vocabulary
use explicit information to draw
conclusions - informational
use explicit information to make
inferences - informational
organize main idea & details to form a
summary - informational
compare/contrast information - 1 topic,
2 selections
select informational sources for given
purpose
6.5c
6.5d
6.5d
6.5e
6.5f
6.5g
Think about It: A-1-1
Answer It: A-3-3
Not explicit in program
until Level D - Teachers
Comprehend It: D-21-4
must address!
Vocabulary: A-1-1
Use/Clues: B-7-3
Think about It: A-1-1
Answer It: A-3-3
Think about It: A-1-1
Answer It: A-3-3
Explore It: C-13-1
Text Connect: D-193
Text Connect: D-193
Map It: B-7-3
Map It: B-7-3
7.4a
roots
Define It: A-1-3
Choose It: A-2-7
Explore It: C-13-1
Discover It: D-19-1
7.4a
affixes
Define It: A-1-3
Choose It: A-2-7
Discover It: D-19-1
7.4b
analogies
Identify It: A-3-4
Map It: B-7-3
Add It: B-7-3
Word Network: C13-5
7.4b
figurative language
Identify It: A-3-4
Draw It: A-4-3
Map It: B-7-3
*7.4c
connotations
Explore It: C-13-1
Word Line: D-19-1
7.5a
describe setting
Identify It: A-3-4
Map It: B-7-3
7.5a
describe character development
Spotlight: A-1-1
Identify It: A-3-4
7.5a
describe plot structure
Identify It: A-3-4
Map It: B-7-3
7.5a
describe theme
Identify It: A-3-4
Map It: B-7-3
7.5a
describe conflict
Identify It: A-3-4
Map It: B-7-3
*7.5b
compare/contrast forms
Map It: B-7-3
7.5c
describe impact of word choice
Think about It: A-1-1
Word Line: D-19-1
7.5c
describe impact of imagery
Think about It: A-1-1
Word Line: D-19-1
7.5c
describe impact of poetic devices
explain how form conveys meaning poetry
use explicit information to draw
conclusions - fiction
use implied information to draw
conclusions - fiction
use explicit information to draw
conclusions - narr non-fic
use implied information to draw
conclusions - narr non-fic
use explicit information to draw
conclusions - poetry
Think about It: A-1-1
Word Line: D-19-1
Standard not covered - also not
tested
Text Connect: DThink about It: A-1-1
19-3
Text Connect: DThink about It: A-1-1
19-3
Text Connect: DThink about It: A-1-1
19-3
Text Connect: DThink about It: A-1-1
19-3
Text Connect: DThink about It: A-1-1
19-3
*7.5d
7.5e
7.5e
7.5e
7.5e
7.5e
© Albemarle County Public Schools, November 2005
Appendix D
Map It: B-7-3
Language! – Virginia SOL Correlation
Middle School Reading
7.5e
7.5f
7.5f
7.5f
7.5f
7.5f
7.5f
7.5g
use implied information to draw
conclusions - poetry
use explicit information to make
inferences - fiction
use implied information to make
inferences - fiction
use explicit information to make
inferences - narr non-fic
use implied information to make
inferences - narr non-fic
use explicit information to make
inferences - poetry
use implied information to make
inferences - poetry
7.6c
summarize text
use structures (informational) for
comprehension
use words & phrases that signal
organizational pattern - inform
distinguish fact from opinion newspapers
distinguish fact from opinion magazines
distinguish fact from opinion - other
print media
7.6d
identify source - informational
7.6d
identify viewpoint - informational
7.6d
identify pupose - informational
describe how word choice conveys
author's view
describe how language structure
conveys author's view
7.6a
7.6b
7.6c
7.6c
7.6e
7.6e
7.6f
7.6g
7.6g
7.6g
7.6g
7.7a
7.7a
7.7b
summarize text - informational
organize information for written
presentations
organize information for oral
presentations
synthesize information for written
presentations
sythesize information for oral
presentations
use print sources to locate information
use electronic sources to locate
information
use graphic organizers to organize
information
Think about It: A-1-1
Text
19-3
Text
19-3
Text
19-3
Text
19-3
Text
19-3
Text
19-3
Text
19-3
Replace It: A-1-1
Map It: B-7-3
Blueprint: A-5-9
Map It: B-7-3
Think about It: A-1-1
Think about It: A-1-1
Think about It: A-1-1
Think about It: A-1-1
Think about It: A-1-1
Think about It: A-1-1
Connect: DConnect: DConnect: DConnect: DConnect: DConnect: DConnect: D-
Map It: B-7-3
Blueprint: A-5-9
Blueprint: A-5-9
Blueprint: A-5-9
Map It: B-7-3
Replace It: A-1-1
Map It: B-7-3
Map It: B-7-3
Map It: B-7-3
Map It: B-7-3
Standards not covered in
program - Teacher must
address!
Teachers should note that most
activities in Language! use
© Albemarle County Public Schools, November 2005
Appendix D
Text Connect: D-193
Language! – Virginia SOL Correlation
Middle School Reading
graphic organizers.
7.7c
synthesize information from multiple
sources
*7.7d
credit primary sources
*7.7d
credit secondary sources
Standards not covered - also not
tested
8.4a
identify simile
Identify It: A-3-4
Map It: B-7-3
8.4a
identify metaphor
Identify It: A-3-4
Map It: B-7-3
8.4a
identify personification
Identify It: A-3-4
Map It: B-7-3
8.4a
identify hyperbole
Identify It: A-3-4
Map It: B-7-3
8.4a
identify analogy
Identify It: A-3-4
Map It: B-7-3
Word Network: C13-5
8.4b
meaning from context
Mult Meaning: A-1-1
Vocabulary: A-1-1
Blueprint: A-5-9
Use/Clues: B-7-3
Explore It: C-13-1
8.4b
meaning from structure
Mult Meaning: A-1-1
Blueprint: A-5-9
Map It: B-7-3
Use/Clues: B-7-3
Explore It: C-13-1
8.4b
meaning from connotations
Blueprint: A-5-9
Explore It: C-13-1
Mult Meaning: A-1-1
Word Line: D-19-1
8.5a
symbols
Identify It: A-3-4
8.5a
figurative language
describe infered main idea with text
support
Identify It: A-3-4
Draw It: A-4-3
Map It: B-7-3
Think about It: A-1-1
Answer It: A-3-3
Think about It: A-1-1
8.5c
describe theme with text support
describe how lit elements create
meaning
*8.5d
compare/contrast poetic elements
Map It: B-7-3
*8.5e
Map It: B-7-3
8.5b
8.5b
Spotlight: A-1-1
*8.6b
compare/contrast authors' styles
background knowledge for
comprehension - informational
text structure for comprehension informational
analyze author's credentials informational
*8.6b
analyze author's viewpoint
*8.6b
Blueprint: A-5-9
8.6c
analyze author's impact
analyze author's use of structure informational
8.6c
analyze author's use of word choice
Blueprint: A-5-9
8.6d
analyze details for relevance
8.6d
8.6e
analyze details for accuracy
read & follow instructions to complete a
task
Word Line: D-19-1
Text Connect: DBlueprint: A-5-9
19-3
Text Connect: D19-3
Blueprint: A-5-9
Teachers must include - Text
style note included in program
8.6f
summarize text
Replace It: A-1-1
*8.6a
*8.6a
KWL: A-1-1
Blueprint: A-5-9
Blueprint: A-5-9
Use/Clues: B-7-3
Use/Clues: B-7-3
Text Connect: D-193
Standards not covered - also not
tested
Blueprint: A-5-9
© Albemarle County Public Schools, November 2005
Appendix D
Word Line: D-19-1
Map It: B-7-3
Text Connect: D-193
Text Connect: D-193
Text Connect: D-19-
Text Connect: D-193
Language! – Virginia SOL Correlation
Middle School Reading
3
8.6f
8.6g
8.6g
8.6g
8.6g
8.6h
8.6h
8.6i
8.6i
critique text
evaluate information for written
presentations
evaluate information for oral
presentations
synthesize information for written
presentations
sythesize information for oral
presentations
use explicit information to draw
conclusions
use implied information to draw
conclusions
use explicit information to make
inferences
use implied information to make
inferences
Text Connect: D-19-3
Text Connect: D-19-3
Text Connect: D-19-3
Text Connect: D-19-3
Text Connect: D-19-3
Think about It: A-1-1
Think about It: A-1-1
Think about It: A-1-1
Think about It: A-1-1
© Albemarle County Public Schools, November 2005
Appendix D
Not explicit in program
until Level D - Teachers
must address!
Text Connect:
Answer It: A-3-3
3
Text Connect:
Answer It: A-3-3
3
Text Connect:
Answer It: A-3-3
3
Text Connect:
Answer It: A-3-3
3
D-19D-19D-19D-19-
Language! – Virginia SOL Correlation
Middle School Writing
Standard
Component
6.6a
planning strategies
6.6b
establish central idea
6.6b
establish organization
6.6b
establish elaboration
6.6b
establish unity
select vocabulary to enhance
central idea, tone, & voice
select information to enhance
central idea, tone, & voice
expand & embed ideas using
modifiers
expand & embed ideas using
coordination
expand & embed ideas using
subordination
6.6c
6.6c
6.6d
6.6d
6.6d
6.6e
*6.7a
*6.7a
6.7b
6.7c
6.7d
6.7e
6.7e
6.7e
6.7f
revise for clarity
use a variety of graphic organizers
to analyze & improve sentences
use a variety of graphic organizers
to analyze & improve parapgraphs
subject-verb agreement with
intervening phrases & clauses
pronoun-antecedent agreement to
include indefinite pronouns
consistent tense inflections across
paragraphs
7.8d
Word Line: D-19-1
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Punctuate It: D-19-6
Diagram It: A-1-6
Match It: A-1-8
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Masterpiece: B-1-1
elaborate central idea
choose vocabulary to enhance tone
& voice
choose information to enhance tone
& voice
use clauses & phrases to vary
sentences
Word Line: D-19-1
Diagram It: A-1-6
Masterpiece: B-1-1
narr, expository,
persuasive
narr, expository,
persuasive
narr, expository,
persuasive
narr, expository,
persuasive
narr, expository,
persuasive
© Albemarle County Public Schools, November 2005
Appendix D
Correlated Activity
Masterpiece: B-1-1
choose adverbs to describe adverbs
correct spelling for frequently used
words
7.8b
Correlated Activity
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Masterpiece: B-1-1
planning strategies
7.8c
Correlated Activity
Correlated Activity
Blueprint for Writing: A-1-4/ Write It: A-5-5/ Map
It: B-7-3/ Outlines: B-10-4 & C-13-4
Reflect & Respond:
Masterpiece: B-1-1
C-15-10
Reflect & Respond:
Masterpiece: B-1-1
C-15-10
Reflect & Respond:
Masterpiece: B-1-1
C-15-10
Reflect & Respond:
Masterpiece: B-1-1
C-15-10
Reflect & Respond:
Masterpiece: B-1-1
C-15-10
Reflect & Respond:
Masterpiece: B-1-1
C-15-10
choose adverbs to describe verbs
choose adverbs to describe
adjectives
7.8a
7.8c
Text
narr, descrip,
explanation
narr, descrip,
explanation
narr, descrip,
explanation
narr, descrip,
explanation
narr, descrip,
explanation
narr, descrip,
explanation
narr, descrip,
explanation
narr, descrip,
explanation
narr, descrip,
explanation
narr, descrip,
explanation
narr, descrip,
explanation
Memorize It: A-1-1
Sort It: A-1-2
Blueprint for Writing: A-1-4/ Write It: A-5-5/ Map
It: B-7-3/ Outlines: B-10-4 & C-13-4
Classify It: A-1-6
Match It: A-1-8
Combine It: B-7-6
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Reflect & Respond:
C-15-10
Reflect & Respond:
C-15-10
Word Line: D-19-1
Word Line: D-19-1
Combine It: B-7-6
Language! – Virginia SOL Correlation
Middle School Writing
7.8e
revise for clarity
7.8e
revise for effect
use word processor to plan, draft,
revise, edit, & publish
use a variety of graphic organizers
to analyze & improve sentences
use a variety of graphic organizers
to analyze & improve parapgraphs
identify parts of speech & their
functions
*7.8f
*7.9a
*7.9a
*7.9b
7.9c
7.9d
pronoun-antecedent agreement
subject-verb agreement with
intervening phrases & clauses
7.9e
edit for verb tense consistency
8.7a
8.7b
8.7c
8.7c
8.7d
8.7d
8.7d
*8.7e
*8.8a
*8.8a
8.8b
8.8c
8.8c
8.8d
8.8e
planning strategies
organize details to elaborate central
idea
select specific vocabulary
select specific information
revise for word choice
revise for sentence variety
revise for transitions
use available technology
use a variety of graphic organizers
to analyze & improve sentences
use a variety of graphic organizers
to analyze & improve parapgraphs
punctuate correctly - include
conjuntions & transitions
choose correct case for pronouns in
prep phrases (compound obj)
choose correct number for
pronouns in prep phrases
(compound obj)
consistent tense inflections across
paragraphs
comparative & superlative degrees
in adverbs & adjectives
narr, expository,
persuasive
narr, expository,
persuasive
narr, expository,
persuasive
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Punctuate It: D-19-6
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Punctuate It: D-19-6
Standard not addressed - also not tested.
Diagram It: A-1-6
Match It: A-1-8
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Combine It: B-7-6
Diagram It: A-1-6
Standard not addressed - also not tested.
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Masterpiece: B-1-1
narr,
info
narr,
info
narr,
info
narr,
info
narr,
info
narr,
info
narr,
info
narr,
info
exp, per, &
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Blueprint for Writing: A-1-4/ Write It: A-5-5/ Map
It: B-7-3/ Outlines: B-10-4 & C-13-4
exp, per, &
Match It: A-1-8
exp, per, &
Masterpiece: B-1-1
exp, per, &
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Reflect & Respond:
C-15-10
Reflect & Respond:
C-15-10
Combine It: B-7-6
Word Line: D-19-1
Word Line: D-19-1
exp, per, &
Masterpiece: B-1-1
exp, per, &
Masterpiece: B-1-1
exp, per, &
Masterpiece: B-1-1
exp, per, &
Standard not addressed - also not tested.
Diagram It: A-1-6
Match It: A-1-8
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Combine It: B-7-6
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Match It: A-1-8
Combine It: B-7-6
Punctuate It: D-19-6
Diagram It: A-1-6
© Albemarle County Public Schools, November 2005
Appendix D
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Masterpiece: B-1-1
Word Line: D-19-1
Rubrics
This section contains writing, reading, and web site evaluation rubrics. The writing rubric is from the Virginia
Department of Education and is used for NCS Mentor and SOL testing.
The secondary literacy specialists developed the reading rubrics, one student-centered and one teachercentered, during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 school years.
Team Members:
Cynthia Fischer, Western Albemarle High School
Tina Goode, Walton Middle School
Pat Harder, Henley Middle School
Madeline Michel, Jouett Middle School
MegCarolyn Remesz, Burley Middle School
Karen Taylor, Sutherland Middle School
Marianne Walendowski, Albemarle High School
Louise Weaver, Monticello High School
Sandra Whitaker, Office of Instruciton
The e-portfolio pilot team developed the web site evaluation rubric during the 2004-05 school year.
Team Members:
Carol Clark, Sutherland Middle School
Cathy Glover, Burley Middle School
Pat Harder, Henley Middle School
Lynda Monahan, Jouett Middle School
Chad Sansing, Henley Middle School
Joy Tanksley, Burley Middle School
Emily VanNoy, Sutherland Middle School
Sandra Whitaker, Office of Instruction
Eric Yoder, Walton Middle School
© Albemarle County Public Schools, 2006, Appendix E
Student Reading Rubric
Word
Recognition
Vocabulary
Structure
Making
Meaning
Extending
Meaning
Strategic Reader
• I sound out words I don’t know.
• I think about multiple word meanings
to understand what the author is
saying.
• I think about bigger concepts related
to what I read.
• I explore alternative word choices and
critique the author’s use of
vocabulary.
• I use what I know about words and
word parts to determine meanings of
new words.
• I read in natural phrases.
• I use text structure to help make
meaning of the text.
• Before reading, I look at images,
charts, and titles to get a sense of the
text.
• Before and during reading, I use other
things I know to understand the text
and to make predictions.
• As I read, I ask myself questions,
make predictions, write on the text,
summarize sections of text, and
connect the text to other things I
know.
• I can state the author’s purpose.
• I can state the author’s bias and use
text citations for support.
• I analyze the author’s style and
extend the author’s ideas to the world
around me.
• I debate interpretations of theme.
• I support analytical interpretations
with cited evidence, quotes, and other
sources.
• I draw conclusions to apply concepts
and to challenge author’s ideas.
• I integrate various perspectives and
uses comparative analysis to make
connections.
Engaging Reader
I know most of the words and I
attempt to sound out the words I
don’t know.
Developing Reader
• I know a lot of the words, but
when I don’t know a word, I ask
someone else.
Emerging Reader
• I know some of the words.
I use context clues to figure out
meanings of new words.
Once I read a word several times, I
am able to use it when I speak and
write.
I critique the author’s use of
vocabulary.
Sometimes I use what I know about
words and word parts to determine
meanings of new words.
• I use context clues to try to figure
out meanings of new words.
• I try to figure out which meaning
of a word an author is using.
• I use prefixes and suffixes to help
learn new words.
• When a word has more than
one meaning, I ask for help to
determine which meaning is
being used.
• I can identify specific word
choices that author’s use to
create meaning.
•
•
•
I read in natural phrases.
I can identify basic text structures.
I use images, charts, and titles to
understand the text.
• I read word-by-word.
• I am aware of the various text
structures and features authors
use to convey meaning.
•
I use other things I know to
understand the text and make
predictions.
As I read, I do some of the following
to make sense of the text: ask
questions, make predictions, write on
the text, summarize, and/or connect
the text to other things I know.
I can understand the author’s purpose
and bias when it is pointed out.
I can explain the text’s theme.
• I read in phrases and short
groupings.
• With help, I can use text
structures and features (images,
charts, titles) to understand the
text.
• When asked, I use other things I
know to make predictions.
• I can apply reading strategies
when asked to.
• I can retell the main points and
interesting details of a story.
• I can recognize theme.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
I support my opinions and
interpretations with evidence and
specific quotes.
I understand the text by making
connections to other text, life, and the
world around me.
I examine alternate points of view.
• I justify my opinions and
interpretations with general text
references.
• I understand the text by
connecting it to my own life.
• I understand that people vary in
their perspectives and try to
understand their points of view.
• I often need visuals or other
stories to help me understand
the text at hand.
• I make predictions when
prompted.
• I can apply reading strategies
when they are taught.
• I can retell points of interest.
• I offer my ideas about the text.
• I see the text for what it is and
need help to connect it to other
experiences.
• I understand that people vary
in their perspectives.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, 2006, Appendix E
Resources: Beers, K. (2003). When kids can’t read.; Billmeyer, R. (2001). Capturing all of the reader through the reading assessment system.; National Adult Literacy
Database - http://www.nald.ca/clr/btg/ed/evaluation/reading.htm.
General Reading Rubric
Word
Recognition
Vocabulary
Structure
Making
Meaning
Extending
Meaning
Strategic Reader
• Decodes unknown words.
• Analyzes words for subtle differences
in meaning.
• Applies conceptual meaning to new
and known words.
• Explores alternative word choices and
demonstrates sophisticated command
of vocabulary.
• Uses morphemic elements to
determine meanings of unfamiliar
words.
• Reads in meaningful phrase groups
with sophisticated text.
• Discriminates among genre, including
organizational patterns and story
elements.
• Automatically overviews text features
to aid in comprehension.
• Independently uses prior knowledge
to establish meaning and make
insightful predictions.
• Controls own metacognitive process
and embeds strategies: re-reading,
revising predictions, making personal
connections, using logographic cues,
summarizing, inferencing, and
questioning.
• Articulates author’s purpose and bias.
• Expands on author’s ideas and
analyzes author’s style.
• Debates interpretations of theme.
• Supports analytical interpretations
with cited evidence, quotes, and other
sources.
• Draws conclusions to apply concepts
and to challenge author’s ideas.
• Integrates various perspectives and
uses comparative analysis to make
connections.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Engaging Reader
Recognizes with accuracy 80% or
more of grade-level words, per QRI or
San Diego.
Developing Reader
• Automatically recognizes highfrequency words, per Frye list.
• Recognizes known words within
context.
Emerging Reader
• Knows basic/common words,
per Dolch list..
• Learns new words in isolation.
Uses known words in context to
determine meanings of unknown
words.
Moves new words from receptive to
productive vocabulary.
Infers word nuances and critiques
word choice.
Begins to use morphemic elements to
determine meaning of unfamiliar
words.
Reads in meaningful phrase groups.
Identifies characteristics of various
genre, including organizational
patterns and story elements.
Uses text features to aid in
comprehension.
• Attempts to make meaning of
unknown words from context.
• Understands multiple meanings
but doesn’t always select the
correct meaning for the context.
• Understands simple prefixes and
suffixes.
• Needs assistance to recognize
multiple meanings.
• Understands that many words
can convey almost the same
idea and identifies those words
authors use to convey
meaning.
• Reads in phrases and short
groupings.
• Needs assistance to identify
organizational patterns or story
elements.
• With assistance or when
reminded, uses text features to
aid in comprehension.
• Activates prior knowledge when
prompted.
• Applies basic reading strategies
but doesn’t demonstrate control
over own mentacognitive process.
• Retells without discriminating
main idea/points from
unimportant details.
• Recognizes theme.
• Reads word-by-word.
• Is aware of organizational
patterns and story elements.
• Is aware of text features but
does not use them to aid in
comprehension.
• Justifies opinions and
interpretations with general text
references.
• Connects literal meanings to
other text and to personal
experiences.
• Understands various perspectives
and the concept of bias.
• Offers literal interpretations.
• Needs guidance to extend
meaning beyond the text – to
other text or to life.
• Limited understanding of
various perspectives and bias.
Activates prior knowledge to establish
meaning and to make predictions.
Controls own metacognitive process
and applies some appropriate
strategies.
Can see author’s intent and bias when
it is explained.
Explains theme.
Supports opinions and interpretations
with evidence and specific quotes.
Constructs understanding through
connections to other text, life, and the
world.
Examines alternate points of view.
• Needs to build background
knowledge before reading.
• Makes and checks predictions
when prompted.
• Understands that proficient
readers use strategies, but
doesn’t demonstrate control
over own metacognitive
process.
• Retells points of interest.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, 2006, Appendix E
Resources: Beers, K. (2003). When kids can’t read.; Billmeyer, R. (2001). Capturing all of the reader through the reading assessment system.; National Adult Literacy
Database - http://www.nald.ca/clr/btg/ed/evaluation/reading.htm.
Virginia SOL Writing Rubric
Usage/
Mechanics
Rhythm
Tone
Voice
Written Expression
Information
Vocab
Unity
Organization
Composing
Elaboration
Central
Idea
4
Consistent Control (but not perfect)
3
Reasonable Control
2
Inconsistent Control
1
Little or No Control
Presented and focused but full
elaboration
Presented and focused by purposeful
elaboration
Central Idea may be present, or
several ideas may compete with
no one idea central.
Lacking, usually.
Full: details in sentences; illustrations,
examples, reasons, and/or anecdotes
within paragraphs.
Purposeful and found at both sentence
level and paragraph level. There may be
occasional thinness or unevenness of
elaboration.
Little or no elaboration; or a few
brief details; or list of general,
underdeveloped statements.
Sparse or not purposeful
elaboration; bare statement is the
norm.
Strong: minor lapses don’t detract;
narrative organization has no lapses, but
other modes may.
Reasonable: minor lapses don’t detract
significantly; narrative organization is
generally intact; other modes may lapse
somewhat, although overall plan is
apparent.
Very little apparent organization:
there may be a list of general
statements, or an underdeveloped
explanation, or skeleton of a
narrative.
Often not present: writing jumps
from point to point; sentences can
be arranged without changing
meaning.
Opening and closing present: more than
mere repetition; consistent point of view;
appropriate transitions; no digressions.
Few, if any, digressions; few, if any,
point of view shifts; introduction and
closing are present but not sophisticated;
transitions are purposefully used.
Opening and/or closing may be
present; closing may be contrived,
fake, or trite; significant
digressions; unity not fully created
because of lack of logically
elaborated central idea.
There may be some functional
transitions or no digressions, but
unity is never created.
Precise words create images in reader’s
mind due to careful choice of words and
avoiding anemic, vague words.
Specific, but a few vague words may be
present.
Imprecise, bland vocabulary.
Imprecise, bland, vague, general,
or repetitive vocabulary.
Precise and even information
presentation creates images in the
reader’s mind; figurative language is
purposeful.
Specific information present, making the
message clear, but there may be a few
general statements; some figurative
language may be present.
General information presentation
is uneven or tells everything that
the writer knows.
Imprecise, bland, vague, or
repetitive information.
Strong: enhanced by word choice and
information given.
Easily discernible, except when general
information or vague, functional
vocabulary is used.
Emerges seldom – only when
specific vocabulary and specific
information amplify it.
Doesn’t emerge because specific
vocabulary and information are not
present.
Purposeful
Flattens when information and
vocabulary are not specific.
Rarely emerges due to lack of
specific vocabulary & information.
Rarely emerges.
Effective, purposefully varied sentence
structure; modifiers and subordination
are effectively embedded.
Smooth rhythm due to sentence variety
and structure, but an occasional awkward
construction may diminish in places.
Sentence beginnings or types not
very varied, although an
occasional rhythmic cluster of
sentences may be present.
Sentence variety lacking; several
extremely awkward sentence
constructions may be present.
Thorough understanding of usage and
mechanics: capitalization, punctuation,
usage, and sentence formation, and
applies structural principles of spelling.
Basic understanding of usage and
mechanics: capitalization, punctuation,
usage, and sentence formation, and
applies structural principles of spelling.
Indicates significant weakness
through frequent errors. The
density of errors across features
outweighs the feature control
present in the paper.
Frequent and severe errors
distract and make the writing hard
to understand. The density of
errors overwhelms the
performance.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, 2006, Appendix E
Web Site Evaluation Rubric
Skill
Design
Content
Credibility
Publishing
Exceptional
The site is appropriate for the
intended audience and is free
from distractions. The design
evidences clear organization
that is easy to navigate,
sensible links, and a
consistent theme. Each page
includes a dominant feature
and is easy to read, including
font and color.
The content is of high quality
and is appropriate for the
intended purpose.
Information is meaningful,
accurate, and complete. The
purpose and main idea are
clear.
Effective
The site is appropriate for the
intended audience and is free
from distractions. The design
evidences clear organization
that is easy to navigate,
sensible links, and a
consistent theme. Some
pages include a dominant
feature. Most text is easy to
read.
The content is of high quality
and is appropriate for the
intended purpose.
Information is meaningful
and accurate but may be
somewhat incomplete. The
purpose and main idea are
clear.
Acceptable
The site is appropriate for the
intended audience. The
design evidences some
organization but navigation
may not be clear. Pages
contain a theme, but that
theme might not be
consistent across the site.
Most text is easy to read.
The site contains information
that is either bias-free or bias
sensitive (bias is recognizable
but presented in appropriate
ways). The site includes
accurate dates, contact
information, and
copyright/fair use
information. The URL clearly
denotes credibility.
The site contains only
appropriate and legal content
that has been edited and is
error free (mechanics).
External links include a
disclaimer. Copyright
information is clear.
The site contains information
that is either bias-free or bias
sensitive (bias is recognizable
but presented in appropriate
ways). The site includes
some dates, contact
information, and copyright
information but it may be
incomplete.
The site contains information
that is either bias-free or bias
sensitive (bias is recognizable
but presented in appropriate
ways). The site lacks dates,
contact information, and/or
copyright information.
The site contains only
appropriate and legal content
that has been edited and free
of major mechanical errors.
External links include a
disclaimer. Copyright
information is clear.
The site contains only
appropriate and legal
content. Some editing is
evident but mechanical errors
are frequent. External links
include a disclaimer.
Copyright information may be
clear.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, 2006, Appendix E
The content is of good quality
and is appropriate for the
intended purpose. Most
information is meaningful and
accurate but may be
incomplete.
Unsatisfactory
The site is not appropriate
for the intended audience.
AND/OR
Organization and navigation
are unclear.
Pages contain a theme, but
that theme might not be
consistent across the site.
Text might be difficult to
read.
The content is of poor
quality.
AND/OR
The content is inappropriate
for the intended purpose.
AND/OR
Information lacks meaning
and accuracy and is
incomplete.
The site demonstrates
considerable bias. The site
lacks dates, contact
information, and/or
copyright information.
The site contains
inappropriate and/or illegal
content.
AND/OR
External links have no
disclaimer. Copyright
information is unclear.
Genre Definitions
I.
Fiction
A. Realistic Fiction – Imaginative writing that accurately reflects life as it could be lived today.
Everything is a realistic fiction story could conceivably happen to real people living in today’s
natural physical world. Realistic fiction helps children move toward a fuller understanding of
themselves and others.
B. Historical Fiction – realistic stories that are set in the past. There are three types of
historical fiction. In one type, the author weaves a fictional story around actual events and
people of the past. In another type, the story has little or no reference to recorded historical
events or real persons, but how the characters live and make their living and the conflicts they
must resolve are true to the time period. In the third type, the story tells of the past through
another genre, such as fantasy.
C. Modern Fantasy – requires the willing suspension of disbelief. Fantasy creates another world
for characters and readers, asking that the reader believe this other world could exist. There
are two types of fantasy – fantastic stories and high fantasy.
i. Fantastic stories - are realistic in most details but still require the reader to willingly
suspend disbelief. They contain fantastic elements, such as talking animals, eccentric
characters in preposterous situations, anthropomorphism, or extraordinary worlds.
Charlotte’s Web (White) and Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt) are examples.
ii. High fantasy - takes place is a created world or imaginary kingdom. Serious in tone,
the story primarily focuses on the conflict between opposing forces, and concerns itself
with cosmic questions and ultimate values, such as goodness, truth, courage, or wisdom.
The Book of Three (Alexander), The Chronicles of Narnia (Lewis), and The Hobbit
(Tolkien) are examples.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, August 1996
Appendix F
1
D. Mystery – presents a puzzle or riddle to be solved. Mysteries contain a character who acts as
the detective, and contain clues to help he reader solve the puzzle. Mysteries written for older
students have a suspenseful mood and contain foreshadowing.
E. Science Fiction – speculates on a world that, given what we know of science, might one day
be possible. It stresses the scientific laws and technological inventions, scientific plausibility,
and “future history.” What distinguishes science fiction from fantasy is that fantasy presents a
world that never was and never could be, while the world presented in science fiction may one
day exist. Science fiction involves the interactions between humans and scientific laws.
II.
Traditional Literature
Traditional literature can be defined as all forms of narrative, written or oral, which have come to
be handed down through the years. The time period of traditional literature is not defined, but it
occurs in the past. All forms have plots and problems, often with a clear conflict between good
and evil. The tales and stories usually have happy endings.
A. Fables – very brief stories, usually with animal characters, that point clearly to a moral or
lesson.
B. Fairy Tales – tales of magic and the supernatural; usually begin “Once upon a time” and end
“and they lived happily ever after.”
C. Folk Tales
i. Beast Tales – tales in which animals talk and act like human beings.
ii. Cumulative Tales – tales that sequentially repeat actions, characters, or speeches until
a climax is reached.
iii. Noodlehead Stories – humorous stories that involve ridiculous, absurd happenings.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, August 1996
Appendix F
2
iv. Pour quoi Stories – stories that answer a question or explain how animals, plants, or
humans were created and why they have certain characteristics.
v. Trickster Tales – tales featuring a character who plays tricks or cheats. Most wellknown trickster may be coyote of Native American tales.
D. Legends – stories that are similar to myth but are based on more historical truth and less
upon the supernatural. Examples include Trojan War, Robin Hood, and King Arthur.
E. Mother Goose and Nursery Rhymes – rhymes, including counting-out rhymes, finger plays,
and alphabet verses, which originated in the spoken language of both common folk and
royalty.
F. Myths – stories containing fanciful or supernatural incidents intended to explain nature of tell
about gods and demons of early peoples.
G. Tall Tales – stories that contain exaggerations and lies. American tall tales are a combination
of history, myth, and fact.
III.
Poetry
Poetry includes written literature that is not prose. It expresses how the poet feels, makes the
reader see something ordinary in a new way, and tends to be rhythmic. It includes a variety of
forms and styles such as:
A. Ballad – narrative poems that have been adapted for singing or that give the affect of song.
Ballads usually deal with heroic deeds.
B. Concrete – picture poems that make the reader see what the poet is saying. The message of
the poem is presented not only in words but in the arrangement of the words. Meaning is
reinforced or even carried by the shape of the poem.
C. Free Verse – poetry characterized by lack of rhyme and less predictable rhythm.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, August 1996
Appendix F
3
D. Limerick – five-line poems in which the first, second, and fifth lines rhyme and the third and
fourth lines rhyme. Oddities and humorous twists characterize this form of poetry.
E. Lyrical – poems emphasizing sound and picture imagery rather than narrative or dramatic
movement. Lyrical poems emphasize musical, pictorial, and emotional qualities.
F. Narrative – story poems that relate a particular event or tell a long tale. They may take
different forms; the one requirement is that they tell a story.
G. Nursery Rhymes – see traditional literature
IV.
Drama
Unlike a short story or novel, a play is a work of storytelling in which the characters are
represented by the actors and which is acted out on a stage before an audience. Plays typically
include an introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The action speaks for
itself as it unfolds. Important features of plays are set, stage, lighting, gesture, and oral
interpretation.
V.
Nonfiction
A. Informational Materials
i. Concept Book – a book that describes various dimensions of an object (size, shape,
color), a class of objects (trucks, tools), or an abstract idea (over, under, love). Counting
books and alphabet books are examples.
ii. Experiment and Activity Books – books that provide children with scientific
experiments and activities.
iii. How-to Books – books that present an array of crafts and directions to guide the reader
in performing an activity.
iv. Identification Books – naming books, such as Peterson’s Guide to Birds.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, August 1996
Appendix F
4
v. Informational Picture Books – information books published in picture book format;
may or may not have words.
vi. Life-cycle Books – books that are structured around the life span of an animal or plant.
vii. Photographic Essays – books that rely on the camera to particularize information, to
document emotion, or to assure the reader of truth in an essentially journalistic way.
viii. Survey Books – books that give an overall view of a substantial topic and furnish a
representative sampling of facts, principles, or issues.
ix. Reference Materials – materials that allow for rapid access to information. Dictionaries,
encyclopedias, periodicals, and electronic media are examples.
B. Biography and Autobiography
Biography and autobiography provide a history of the life of an individual, with information
about the time period in which the person lived. They bring a person to life in a way that is
true to reality.
C. Essay
Essays are nonfiction prose that advance a thesis and illustrate or defend it by means of various
methods of development, including definition, comparison/contrast, example and illustration,
cause and effect, analysis, and argument. A good essay expresses the voice of its author while
communicating its message simply, clearly, and logically.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, August 1996
Appendix F
5
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
English
6th Grade
Virginia Technology SOL and Content-area SOL
This section, which is the work of a division-level technology team, denotes the correlation between the
Virginia technology standards and the English language arts standards.
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
Oral Language
All students should:
C/T 6-8.8: The student will
use technology resources for recognize that each
solving problems and making member brings to the
informed decisions. Select and group a viewpoint
use appropriate tools and
reflective of his or her
technology resources to
background.
accomplish a variety of tasks.
6.2b: The student will
listen critically and
express opinions in oral
presentations, and
compare and contrast
viewpoints.
C/T 6-8.9: The student will
use a variety of media and
formats to communicate
information and ideas
effectively to multiple
audiences. Independently use
technology tools to create and
communicate for individual
and/or collaborative projects.
Produce documents
demonstrating the ability to
edit, reformat, and integrate
various software tools.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
To be successful with
this standard, students
are expected to plan and
deliver an oral
presentation, using the
following steps-gather
information, organize
the information with
outlines, files cards, or
graphic organizers, and
create visual aids
Using graphic
organizers, grouped
students organize their
information for an oral
presentation. They then
create a multimedia
presentation using clip
art or other visuals.
Apply productivity/
multimedia tools and
peripherals to support
personal productivity,
group collaboration, and
learning throughout the
curriculum.
1
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
English
6th Grade
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
Technology
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
Reading
All students should:
recognize that many
words have multiple
meanings and that
context and dictionaries
are both supportive in
determining which
meaning is appropriate
To be successful with
this standard, students
are expected to use
word reference
materials, including
online sources.
Students use the
Internet and the online
card catalog to locate
and access both print
and nonprint resources
including sources of
word etymologies,
dictionaries, and
thesaurus.
Apply productivity/
multimedia tools and
peripherals to support
personal productivity,
group collaboration, and
learning throughout the
curriculum.
To be successful with
this standard, students
are expected to use
graphic organizers, such
as flow charts, story
maps; and, to plot
elements that illustrate
cause and effect
relationships, and plot
development
Working in small groups,
students use graphic
organizers to develop an
understanding of an
assigned reading.
Apply productivity/
multimedia tools and
peripherals to support
personal productivity,
group collaboration, and
learning throughout the
curriculum.
To be successful with
this standard, students
are expected to
comprehend, record,
and remember details
and/or facts in order to
arrive at a conclusion or
generalization.
Working in small groups,
students use graphic
organizers to develop an
understanding of an
assigned reading.
Apply productivity/
multimedia tools and
peripherals to support
personal productivity,
group collaboration, and
learning throughout the
curriculum.
Reading
Reading
6.3: The student will
read and learn the
meanings of unfamiliar
words and phrases
C/T 6-8.6: The student will use
technology to locate, evaluate,
and collect information from a
variety of sources. Use Internet
and other electronic resources to
locate information in real time.
C/T 6-8.7: The student will
evaluate and select new
information resources and
technological innovations based
on the appropriateness for
specific tasks.. Use search
strategies to retrieve
information. Evaluate the
accuracy, relevance, and
appropriateness of electronic
information sources.
6.4e: The student will C/T 6-8.8: The student will use All students should:
read and demonstrate technology resources for solving identify and define the
problems and making informed elements of narrative
comprehension of a
decisions. Employ technology in structure.
variety of fiction,
the development of strategies for
narrative nonfiction,
and poetry by
solving problems. Participate in
describing cause-effect collaborative problem-solving
relationships and their activities. Select and use
appropriate tools and technology
impact on plot.
resources to accomplish a variety
of tasks.
C/T 6-8.8: The student will
6.5e: The student
All students should: use
use technology resources for graphic organizers to
will read and
solving problems and making organize and summarize
demonstrate
comprehension of a informed decisions. Employ text.
technology in the
variety of
development of strategies for
informational
solving problems. Participate
selections,
organizing the main in collaborative problemsolving activities. Select and
idea and details to
use appropriate tools and
form a summary.
technology resources to
accomplish a variety of tasks.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
2
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
Reading
Reading
English
6th Grade
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
6.5f: The student will C/T 6-8.8: The student will All students should: use To be successful with
this standard, students
read and demonstrate use technology resources
graphic organizers to
for solving problems and
comprehension of a
organize and summarize are expected to use
graphic organizers to
variety of informational making informed decisions. text.
show similarities and
selections by
Employ technology in the
differences in the
development of strategies
comparing and
information found in
for solving problems.
contrasting
several sources about
information about one Participate in collaborative
the same topic.
problem-solving activities.
topic contained in
Select and use appropriate
different selections.
tools and technology
resources to accomplish a
variety of tasks.
6.5g: The student will C/T 6-8.9: The student will All students should: read To be successful with
this standard, students
read and demonstrate use a variety of media and in order to gather,
are expected to
formats to communicate
comprehension of a
organize, and restate
variety of informational information and ideas
information for written understand and use the
effectively to multiple
selections select
and oral presentations. references available in
the classroom, school,
informational sources audiences. Choose the
public libraries, including
appropriate for a given appropriate tool, format,
and style to communicate
purpose.
general and specialized
information.
databases and Internet
Independently use
resources, as
technology tools to create
appropriate for school
and communicate for
use.
individual and/or
collaborative projects.
Produce documents
demonstrating the ability to
edit, reformat, and
integrate various software
tools.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
Working in small groups,
students use graphic
organizers to develop an
understanding of an
assigned reading.
Apply productivity/
multimedia tools and
peripherals to support
personal productivity,
group collaboration, and
learning throughout the
curriculum.
Students will select
appropriate technology
for communicating
information for an
intended purpose and
audience.
Collaborate with peers,
experts, and others
using
telecommunications and
collaborative tools to
investigate curriculumrelated problems, issues,
and information, and to
develop solutions or
products for audiences
inside and outside the
classroom.
3
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
VA SOL
Strand for
Content
Writing
English
6th Grade
VA SOL Standard
for Content
VA SOL Standard for Technology
6.6a: The student
will write narratives,
descriptions, and
explanations, using a
variety of planning
strategies to
generate and
organize ideas.
All students should: use To be successful with
prewriting strategies to this standard, students
are expected to use
select and narrow
selected prewriting
topics
techniques, such as:
Webbing, mapping,
clustering, listing,
organizing graphically,
questioning, outlining.
C/T 6-8.7: The student will evaluate
Elaborate to give detail,
and select new information resources
add depth, continue the
and technological innovations based on
flow of an idea
the appropriateness for specific tasks..
Use search strategies to retrieve
information. Evaluate the accuracy,
relevance, and appropriateness of
electronic information sources.
C/T 6-8.6: The student will use
technology to locate, evaluate, and
collect information from a variety of
sources. Use databases and
spreadsheets to evaluate information.
Use Internet and other electronic
resources to locate information in real
time.
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
Student use word
processing and related
tools, graphic
organizers, databases,
and online reference
materials effectively to
retrieve and present
information
Apply productivity/
multimedia tools and
peripherals to support
personal productivity,
group collaboration, and
learning throughout the
curriculum.
C/T 6-8.8: The student will use
technology resources for solving
problems and making informed
decisions. Employ technology in the
development strategies for solving
problems. Participate in collaborative
problem-solving activities. Select and
use appropriate tools and technology
resources to accomplish a variety of
tasks.
C/T 6-8.9: The student will use a
variety of media and formats to
communicate information and ideas
effectively to multiple audiences.
Choose the appropriate tool, format,
and style to communicate information.
Independently use technology tools to
create and communicate for individual
and/or collaborative projects. Produce
documents demonstrating the ability to
edit, reformat, and integrate various
software tools.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
4
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
English
6th Grade
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
Writing
C/T 6-8.9: The student will
use a variety of media and
formats to communicate
information and ideas
effectively to multiple
audiences. Produce
documents demonstrating the
ability to edit, reformat, and
integrate various software
tools.
All students should
revise drafts for
improvement, using
teacher assistance, peer
collaboration, and
growing independence.
To be successful with
this standard, students
are expected to
understand that revising
to improve a draft
includes rereading,
reflecting, rethinking
and rewriting.
Students use the
features in a word
processor to help them
revise their drafts of
writing pieces.
6.6e: The student will
write narratives,
descriptions, and
explanations, and revise
writing for clarity.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
Apply productivity/
multimedia tools and
peripherals to support
personal productivity,
group collaboration, and
learning throughout the
curriculum.
5
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
English
6th Grade
In order to assist teachers who are interested in using technology for project-based learning, below is an example of a long-term project that
incorporates several content and technology SOL.
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
Reading
Writing
All students should:
C/T 6-8.4: The student will
To be successful with
practice responsible use of
this standard, students
technology systems,
understand that fiction are expected to:
information, and software.
includes a variety of
Demonstrate the correct use of genres, including short notice an author’s craft;
recognize poetic
fair use and copyright
story, novel, folk
elements in prose and
regulations.
literature, and drama;
poetry; use strategies
understand that
for summarizing; use
C/T 6-8.5: The student will
narrative nonfiction
graphic organizers, such
demonstrate knowledge of
includes biography,
as “It says, I say” to
technologies that support
autobiography, and
record clues in the text
collaboration, personal
personal essay;
pursuits, and productivity.
understand that poetry and inferences or
conclusions made by the
Work collaboratively and/or
can be rhymed,
reader as a result of
independently when using
unrhymed, and/or
technology. Explore the
patterned; differentiate those clues; activate
prior knowledge before
potential of the Internet as a between narrative and
reading; pose questions
means of personal learning
poetic forms;
and the respectful exchange of understand that imagery prior to and during the
ideas and products.
and figurative language reading process;
enrich texts; recognize comprehend, record,
C/T 6-8.6: The student will
an author’s craft as the and remember details
and/or facts in order to
use technology to locate,
purposeful choice of
arrive at a conclusion or
evaluate, and collect
vocabulary, sentence
generalization; use
information from a variety of formation, voice, and
graphic organizers to
sources. Use Internet and
tone; recognize an
other electronic resources to
author’s theme(s); use show similarities and
differences in the
locate information in real time. graphic organizers to
organize and summarize information found in
several sources about
C/T 6-8.7: The student will
text; read beyond the
the same topic; use
evaluate and select new
printed text to
information resources and
understand the message strategies and rules for
technological innovations
stated or implied by an summarizing;
understand and use the
based on the appropriateness author; select
references available in
for specific tasks. Use search appropriate sources of
strategies to retrieve
information based on the the classroom, school,
and public libraries; use
information. Evaluate the
purpose for reading;
selected prewriting
accuracy, relevance, and
use a variety of
techniques; elaborate to
appropriateness of electronic strategies, including
give detail, add depth
information sources.
context, structural
analysis, and reference and continue the flow of
sources, for determining an idea; understand that
the meaning of
revising to improve a
6.4 a, d, f and h: The
student will read and
demonstrate
comprehension of a
variety of fiction,
narrative nonfiction, and
poetry: identify the
elements of narrative
structure, including
setting, character, plot,
conflict, and theme;
describe how word choice
and imagery contribute to
the meaning of a text;
use information stated
explicitly in the text to
draw conclusions and
make inferences; and,
paraphrase and
summarize the main
points in the text.
6.5 a, d, e and f: The
student will read and
demonstrate
comprehension of a
variety of informational
selections: identify
questions to be
answered; draw
conclusions and make
inferences based on
explicit and implied
information; organize the
main idea and details to
form a summary;
compare and contrast
information about one
topic contained in
different selections; and,
select informational
sources appropriate for a
given purpose.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
Have students choose an Exhibit legal and ethical
behaviors when using
issue (such as the
information and
balance between
technology, and discuss
freedom and security,
global activism, etc.) or consequences of misuse.
a value (compassion,
Apply productivity/
tolerance, heroism)
around which they wish multimedia tools and
to build several pieces of peripherals to support
personal productivity,
writing for the year.
group collaboration, and
Using a graphical
learning throughout the
organizer, have the
curriculum.
students brainstorm
potential sub-topics for
research. Through the Design, develop,
publish, and present
course of the year,
products e.g., Web
weave in readings and
pages, videotapes using
writing assignments
using the chosen topic. technology resources
Have the students create that demonstrate and
a web site that collects communicate curriculum
all their information on concepts to audiences
this topic, including their inside and outside the
classroom.
own writings,
recommended reading
Collaborate with peers,
list, connections to
recommended web sites, experts, and others
and any other pieces the using
students wish to include. telecommunications and
Share the web site with collaborative tools to
the wider community by investigate curriculumrelated problems, issues,
advertising it in local
media outlets.
and information, and to
develop solutions or
products for audiences
inside and outside the
classroom.
Research and evaluate
the accuracy, relevance,
appropriateness,
comprehensiveness, and
bias of electronic
6
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
6.6 a and e: The
student will write
narratives, descriptions,
and explanations: use a
variety of planning
strategies to generate
and organize ideas; and,
revise writing for clarity.
6.7 The student will edit
writing for correct
grammar, capitalization,
punctuation, spelling, and
sentence structure.
English
6th Grade
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
C/T 6-8.9: The student will
unfamiliar and technical draft includes rereading,
reflecting, rethinking,
use a variety of media and
vocabulary; read in
and rewriting.
formats to communicate
order to gather,
information and ideas
organize, and restate
effectively to multiple
information for written
audiences. Choose the
and oral presentations;
appropriate tool, format, and use prewriting strategies
style to communicate
to select and
information. Independently
narrow topics; elaborate
use technology tools to create writing to continue the
and communicate for individual flow from idea to idea
and/or collaborative projects. without interruption;
Produce documents
select vocabulary and
demonstrating the ability to
tone with awareness of
edit, reformat, and integrate
audience and purpose;
various software tools.
revise drafts for
improvement, using
teacher assistance, peer
collaboration, and
growing independence.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
information sources
concerning real-world
problems.
7
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
English
7th Grade
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
Oral Language
7.2: The student will
identify the relationship
between a speaker’s
verbal and nonverbal
messages by using
nonverbal communication
skills, such as eye
contact, posture, and
gestures.
C/T 6-8.6: The student will
use technology to locate,
evaluate, and collect
information from a variety of
sources. Use technology
resources such as calculators
and data collection probes for
gathering information.
Oral Language
7.3: The student will
describe persuasive
messages in nonprint
media, including
television, radio, and
video.
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
To be successful with
Apply productivity/
All students should:
During one of the oral
exhibit confidence when this standard, students presentations students multimedia tools and
are expected to use
peripherals to support
speaking.
do in the beginning of
proper posture and
personal productivity,
the year, they should
stance when speaking; also focus on nonverbal group collaboration, and
identify whether or not a communication skills.
learning throughout the
nonverbal message
Using videotapes of their curriculum.
complements the spoken performance, they
message, and match
should conduct a selfC/T 6-8.8: The student will
vocabulary, tone, and
critique and re-tape the
use technology resources for
volume to the audience, presentation based on
solving problems and making
purpose and topic of the their observations and
informed decisions. Employ
message.
conclusions about
technology in the development
nonverbal
of strategies for solving
communication
problems.
techniques.
Research and evaluate
All students should:
Students choose an
To be successful with
C/T 6-8.6: The student will
this standard, students issue with proponents on the accuracy, relevance,
use technology to locate,
identify the effect of
evaluate, and collect
persuasive messages on are expected to describe at least two sides. They appropriateness,
information from a variety of the audience and notice the effect on the
research television and comprehensiveness, and
audience of persuasive radio spots (which may bias of electronic
sources. Use Internet and
use of persuasive
messages in the media; also be available on web information sources
other electronic resources to
language and
concerning real-world
locate information in real time. connotations to convey identify effective word
sites) and use an
choice in the media.
viewpoint.
evaluation rubric to help problems.
C/T 6-8.7: The student will
distill the persuasive
evaluate and select new
techniques and language
information resources and
used by the authors of
technological innovations
these advertisements.
based on the appropriateness
of electronic information
sources. Use search strategies
to retrieve information.
Evaluate the accuracy,
relevance, and appropriateness
of electronic information
sources.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
8
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
Reading
Reading
English
7th Grade
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
C/T 6-8.9: The student will
All students should:
use a variety of media and
recognize that authors
formats to communicate
make choices and
information and ideas
identify poetic forms
effectively to multiple
(including haiku,
audiences. Choose the
limerick, ballad, free
appropriate tool, format, and verse, couplet and
style to communicate
quatrain).
information. Independently
use technology tools to create
and communicate for individual
and/or collaborative projects.
Produce documents
demonstrating the ability to
edit, reformat, and integrate
various software tools.
C/T 6-8.7: The student will
7.6a: The student will
All students should: use
evaluate and select new
read and demonstrate
external textual aids to
information resources and
comprehension of a
enhance comprehension.
technological innovations
variety of informational
texts by using knowledge based on the appropriateness
of electronic information
of text structures to aid
sources. Evaluate the
comprehension.
accuracy, relevance, and
appropriateness of electronic
information sources.
7.4d: The student will
read and demonstrate
comprehension of a
variety of fiction,
narrative nonfiction, and
poetry by explaining how
form, including rhyme,
rhythm, repetition, line
structure, and
punctuation, conveys the
mood and meaning of a
poem.
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
To be successful with
this standard, students
are expected to
understand and analyze
elements of an author’s
style, including word
choice, sentence
structure and language
patterns, imagery and
figurative language.
Working in small groups,
students create
electronic presentations
using various poems
related to a chosen
theme, providing
commentary on the
choices made by the
author in their poems.
Apply productivity/
multimedia tools and
peripherals to support
personal productivity,
group collaboration, and
learning throughout the
curriculum.
To be successful with
this standard, students
are expected to
understand the
characteristics of
resources tools,
including the Internet.
Students should
evaluate the structure of
a variety of web pages
and how the various
textual formats aid
understanding and
comprehension. They
should then create their
own web page on a topic
using the same
techniques.
Design, develop, publish
and present products
(e.g. Web pages,
videotapes) using
technology resources
that demonstrate and
communicate curriculum
concepts to audiences
inside and outside the
classroom.
Select and use
appropriate tools and
technology resources to
accomplish a variety of
tasks and solve
problems.
C/T 6-8.9: The student will
use a variety of media and
formats to communicate
information and ideas
effectively to multiple
audiences. Choose the
appropriate tool, format, and
style to communicate
information.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
9
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
Reading
Reading
English
7th Grade
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
7.5f and g: The student C/T 6-8.8: The student will
All students should: use
will read and demonstrate use technology resources for graphic organizers to
solving problems and making organize and summarize
comprehension of a
informed decisions. Employ
variety of informational
text.
selections by summarizing technology in the development
of strategies for solving
what is read and
problems. Participate in
organizing and
synthesizing information collaborative problem-solving
for use in written and oral activities.
presentations.
C/T 6-8.4: The student will
7.7a: The student will
All students should: use
practice responsible use of
apply knowledge of
research tools available
technology systems,
appropriate reference
in school media centers
information, and software.
materials by using print
and public libraries.
and electronic sources to Demonstrate the correct use of
locate information in
fair use and copyright
regulations.
books and articles.
C/T 6-8.6: The student will
use technology to locate,
evaluate, and collect
information from a variety of
sources. Use Internet and
other electronic resources to
locate information in real time.
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
To be successful with
this standard, students
are expected to
recognize internal text
structures to enhance
comprehension and
recognize the words and
phrases authors use to
signal organizational
patterns.
To be successful with
this standard, students
are expected to
understand the
characteristics of
resource tools, including
educational online
resources and the
Internet.
Working in small groups,
students use graphic
organizers to develop an
understanding of an
assigned reading,
focusing on text
structures and
organizational patterns.
Apply productivity/
multimedia tools and
peripherals to support
personal productivity,
group collaboration, and
learning throughout the
curriculum.
Students will select a
variety of resources
when researching a
topic, and include Web
pages, online databases
and subscription-based
resources. They will
properly cite all their
resources.
Select and use
appropriate tools and
technology resources to
accomplish a variety of
tasks and solve
problems.
C/T 6-8.7: The student will
evaluate and select new
information resources and
technological innovations
based on the appropriateness
of electronic information
sources. Use search strategies
to retrieve information.
Evaluate the accuracy,
relevance, and appropriateness
of electronic information
sources.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
10
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
English
7th Grade
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
Reading
C/T 6-8.8: The student will
use technology resources for
solving problems and making
informed decisions. Select and
use appropriate tools and
technology resources to
accomplish a variety of tasks.
All students should:
choose and use
appropriate graphic
organizers.
To be successful with
this standard, students
are expected to organize
and synthesize
information with tools,
including graphic
organizers,
spreadsheets, databases
and presentation
software.
Students will choose
appropriate graphic
organizers when
conducting research in
order to help organize
and synthesize their
information.
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
Writing
C/T 6-8.5: The student will
demonstrate knowledge of
technologies that support
collaboration, personal
pursuits, and productivity.
Explore the potential of the
Internet as a means of
personal learning and the
respectful exchange of ideas
and products.
All students should use a To be successful with
this standard, students
process for writing,
are expected to apply
including planning,
revising procedures.
drafting, revising,
proofreading, editing,
and publishing and use
peer and individual
revising and editing.
7.7c: The student will
apply knowledge of
appropriate reference
materials by synthesizing
information from multiple
sources.
7.8e and f: The student
will develop narrative,
expository, and
persuasive writing,
revising for clarity and
effect, and using a word
processor to plan, draft,
revise, edit, and publish
selected writings.
Students use a word
processor to draft and
revise their writings,
using feedback from
other students, either
from their own class or
from a web site that
allows students to share
their work.
Apply productivity/
multimedia tools and
peripherals to support
persona productivity,
group collaboration, and
learning throughout the
curriculum.
Apply productivity/
multimedia tools and
peripherals to support
personal productivity,
group collaboration, and
learning throughout the
curriculum.
C/T 6-8.9: The student will
use a variety of media and
formats to communicate
information and ideas
effectively to multiple
audiences. Independently use
technology tools to create and
communicate for individual
and/or collaborative projects.
Produce documents
demonstrating the ability to
edit, reformat, and integrate
various software tools.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
11
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
English
7th Grade
In order to assist teachers who are interested in using technology for project-based learning, below is an example of a long-term project that incorporates
several content and technology SOL.
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
Reading
Writing
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
7.2a and b: The student
will identify the
relationship between a
speaker’s verbal and
nonverbal messages: use
verbal communication
skills, such as word
choice, pitch, feeling,
tone, and voice; use
nonverbal communication
skills, such as eye
contact, posture, and
gestures.
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
All students should:
C/T 6-8.8: The student will
use technology resources for
solving problems and making Exhibit confidence when
informed decisions. Employ
speaking; recognize that
technology in the development authors make choices to
of strategies for solving
create stories; make
problems. Use a variety of
inferences and draw
technologies to identify and
conclusions based on
provide possible solutions to
information supplied by
real-world problems. Use
an author combined with
content-specific tools,
the reader’s own
software, and simulations such background knowledge;
as environmental probes,
use strategies and
graphic calculators,
graphic organizers to
exploratory environments, and summarize and analyze
7.5a, b, e, f, and g:
The student will read and web tools. Participate in
text; read, understand,
collaborative problem-solving and differentiate the
demonstrate
activities. Select and use
comprehension of a
characteristics and
appropriate tools and
variety of fiction,
narrative structures of
technology resources to
narrative nonfiction,
short stories, novels,
accomplish a variety of tasks. folk literature, plays,
and poetry: describe
setting, character
personal essays,
C/T 6-8.9: The student will
development, plot
biographies and
use a variety of media and
structure, theme, and
autobiographies; choose
formats to communicate
conflict; compare and
and use appropriate
contrast forms, including information and ideas
graphic organizers; use
effectively to multiple
short stories, novels,
a process for writing,
audiences. Choose the
plays, folk literature,
understand that good
appropriate tool, format, and writing has been
poetry, essays, and
style to communicate
biographies; draw
elaborated horizontally
information. Independently
conclusions based on
and vertically, and
use technology tools to create understand and apply
explicit and implied
and communicate for individual the elements of
information; make
inferences based on
and/or collaborative projects. composing; become
explicit and implied
independent in checking
Produce documents
demonstrating the ability to
information; and
spelling, using
edit, reformat, and integrate
summarize text.
dictionaries and/or
various software tools.
electronic tools.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
Exhibit legal and ethical
Using a broad theme
that has applicability for behaviors when using
7th grade students, such information and
technology, and discuss
as the meaning of
consequences of misuse.
Use appropriate facial
heroism or the conflict
expressions and
between group and
gestures or motions to personal responsibility, Apply productivity/
add to what is being
multimedia tools and
develop a reading list
said; use proper posture that provides a wide
peripherals to support
and stance when
personal productivity,
variety of literary
speaking; match
group collaboration, and
formats. Students
vocabulary, tone and
should work together in learning throughout the
volume to the audience, small groups to choose curriculum.
purpose, and topic of the particular pieces from
message; understand
the reading list to read Design, develop,
the elements of story,
and analyze through the publish, and present
including setting,
unit. The use of various products e.g., Web
characters, external
graphic organizers can pages, videotapes using
technology resources
conflicts, internal
later be incorporated
that demonstrate and
conflicts, plot and
into a multimedia
communicate curriculum
theme; use graphic
presentation. This
concepts to audiences
organizers; understand presentation, made
inside and outside the
and analyze elements of orally to their parents
an author’s style,
during a special event, classroom.
including word choice,
should use examples
sentence structure and from their readings,
language patters;
incorporate literary
imagery, and figurative analysis based on form,
language; use strategies and provide an opinion
for summarizing;
or insight developed by
organize and synthesize the students on the
information with tools; chosen topic. They may
use a variety of
use personifications of
prewriting strategies;
fictional characters or
and use written
real people and/or
expression to draft and authors to illustrate their
revise compositions with points.
attention to voice, tone,
selection of information,
embedded phrases and
clauses that clarify
meaning; vivid and
precise vocabulary,
To be successful with
this standard, students
are expected to:
12
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
English
7th Grade
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
7.7b, c and d: The
student will apply
knowledge of appropriate
reference materials: use
graphic organizers to
organize information;
synthesize information
from multiple sources;
credit primary and
secondary sources.
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
figurative language, and
sentence variety.
7.8a, b and c: The
student will develop
narrative, expository, and
persuasive writing: apply
knowledge of prewriting
strategies, elaborate the
central idea in an
organized manner;
choose vocabulary and
information that will
create voice and tone.
7.9: The student will edit
writing for correct
grammar, capitalization,
punctuation, spelling,
sentence structure and
paragraphing.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
13
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
English
8th Grade
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
Oral Language
All students should:
To be successful with
C/T 6-8.8: The student will
use technology resources for synthesize information this standard, students
solving problems and making gathered in an interview. are expected to evaluate
informed decisions. Employ
the effectiveness of their
technology in the development
own and/or peer
of strategies for solving
interviews using rubrics
problems. Use a variety of
or checklists.
technologies to identify and
provide possible solutions to
real-world problems.
Oral Language
8.1d: The student will
use interviewing
techniques to gain
information and evaluate
the effectiveness of the
interview.
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
C/T 6-8.9: The student will
use a variety of media and
formats to communicate
information and ideas
effectively to multiple
audiences. Choose the
appropriate tool, format, and
style to communicate
information. Independently
use technology tools to create
and communicate for individual
and/or collaborative projects.
8.3a and c: The student C/T 6-8.6: The student will
All students should:
will analyze mass media use technology to locate,
understand the
messages by evaluating evaluate, and collect
relationship between
the persuasive technique information from a variety of causes and effects and
being used and evaluating sources. Use Internet and
identify the effects of
other electronic resources to
various sources for the
persuasive messages on
locate information in real time. the audience.
relationships between
intent and factual
C/T 6-8.7: The student will
content.
evaluate and select new
information resources and
technological innovations
based on the appropriateness
of electronic information
sources. Use search strategies
to retrieve information.
Evaluate the accuracy,
relevance, and appropriateness
of electronic information
sources.
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
Using an audio or video
tape of their interview,
students review their
techniques and
questions to determine
where they may find
gaps or misinformation.
They then plan a followup interview to address
these issues.
Apply productivity/
multimedia tools and
peripherals to support
personal productivity,
group collaboration, and
learning throughout the
curriculum.
Collaborate with peers,
To be successful with
Students use the
this standard, students Internet to gain access experts, and others
using
are expected to identify to various media
telecommunications and
and analyze persuasive examples to practice
techniques used in the
evaluating for viewpoint collaborative tools to
investigate curriculummedia; describe the
and persuasive
effect of persuasive
techniques. They then related problems, issues,
messages in the media create their own ad or
and information, and to
on the audience; identify opinion piece based on develop solutions or
products for audiences
and evaluate word
one of the various
inside and outside the
choice, choice of
persuasion techniques
information, and
often used by the media. classroom.
viewpoint in the media. Students then evaluate
Research and evaluate
the writings by other
students (unidentified) the accuracy, relevance,
appropriateness,
and determine which
comprehensiveness, and
persuasive technique
bias of electronic
was being used.
information sources
concerning real-world
problems.
C/T 6-8.9: The student will
use a variety of media and
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
14
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
English
8th Grade
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
formats to communicate
information and ideas
effectively to multiple
audiences. Choose the
appropriate tool, format, and
style to communicate
information. Independently
use technology tools to create
and communicate for individual
and/or collaborative projects.
Produce documents
demonstrating the ability to
edit, reformat, and integrate
various software tools.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
15
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
Reading
Reading
English
8th Grade
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
C/T 6-8.8: The student will
8.4b: The student will
apply knowledge of word use technology resources for
solving problems and making
origins, derivations,
inflections, analogies, and informed decisions. Employ
technology in the development
figurative language to
of strategies for solving
extend vocabulary
problems. Use content-specific
development by using
tools, software, and
context, structure, and
connotations to determine simulations such as
environmental probes, graphic
meaning of words and
calculators, exploratory
phrases.
environments, and web tools.
C/T 6-8.9: The student will
use a variety of media and
formats to communicate
information and ideas
effectively to multiple
audiences. Independently use
technology tools to create and
communicate for individual
and/or collaborative projects.
8.5c: The student will
C/T 6-8.6: The student will
use technology to locate,
read and analyze a
evaluate, and collect
variety of narrative and
poetic forms, describing information from a variety of
sources. Use databases and
how authors use
characters, conflict, point spreadsheets to evaluate
of view and tone to create information.
meaning.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
All students should: use To be successful with
this standard, students
word structure to
are expected to
analyze and relate
recognize the
words; recognize
relationships between
internal and external
inflections that change words related by origin
and derivation; use both
meaning and
pronunciation; recognize context and reference
that words have nuances skills independently to
determine nuances and
of meaning and that
connotations of words;
understanding the
understand, evaluate
connotations may be
necessary to determine and use figurative
language.
the appropriate
meaning; recognize that
figurative language and
analogy enrich text.
All students should:
analyze an author’s craft
and style; make
interferences, draw
conclusions, and point to
an author’s implications
in the text.
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
Apply productivity/
Using graphic
multimedia tools and
organizers, students
analyze various pieces of peripherals to support
personal productivity,
unfamiliar and abovegroup collaboration, and
level writing for
learning throughout the
relationships between
words used. Using the curriculum.
graphic organizers to
help, students decode
meaning of unfamiliar
words.
Apply productivity/
Students will create a
To be successful with
this standard, students database to store their multimedia tools and
are expected to
analyses of books read peripherals to support
personal productivity,
understand the elements throughout the year.
of story; understand and The database will include group collaboration, and
learning throughout the
analyze elements of an a review of the book
curriculum.
author’s style; and
that addresses
understand an author’s characters, conflict,
use of literacy devices. point of view, and tone. Collaborate with peers,
experts, and others
They will merge their
database with others at using
telecommunications and
the end of the year to
collaborative tools to
create a resource for
investigate curriculumother students and
related problems, issues,
determine how best to
provide that resource.
and information, and to
develop solutions or
products for audiences
inside and outside the
classroom.
16
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
English
8th Grade
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
Writing
C/T 6-8.8: The student will
use technology resources for
solving problems and making
informed decisions. Employ
technology in the development
of strategies for solving
problems.
All students should: use
word processing tools,
including spell checkers
and grammar checkers
when available.
To be successful with
this standard, students
are expected to use a
variety of pre-writing
strategies, including
webbing and using
graphic organizers;
apply revising
procedures.
Students use graphic
organizers to develop
their ideas for writing
pieces and word
processing software to
complete their
assignments in writing.
Apply
productivity/multimedia
tools and peripherals to
support personal
productivity, group
collaboration, and
learning throughout the
curriculum.
To be successful with
this standard, students
are expected to diagram
complex sentences.
Students use web sites
or software to practice
their skills in
diagramming sentences
and paragraphs.
Use content-specific
tools, software, and
simulations (e.g.,
environmental probes,
graphing calculators,
exploratory
environments, Web
tools) to support
learning and research.
Writing
8.7a and e: The student
will write in a variety of
forms, including
narrative, expository,
persuasive and
informational, including
using prewriting
strategies to generate
and organize ideas and
using available
technology.
8.8a: The student will
edit writing for correct
grammar, capitalization,
punctuation, spelling,
sentence structure and
paragraph structure,
using a variety of
diagrams, including
sentence diagrams, to
analyze and improve
sentence formation and
paragraph structure.
C/T 6-8.9: The student will
use a variety of media and
formats to communicate
information and ideas
effectively to multiple
audiences. Choose the
appropriate tool, format, and
style to communicate
information. Independently
use technology tools to create
and communicate for individual
and/or collaborative projects.
Produce documents
demonstrating the ability to
edit, reformat, and integrate
various software tools.
C/T 6-8.8: The student will
All students should:
use technology resources for proofread and edit drafts
solving problems and making with teacher assistance,
informed decisions. Employ
peer collaboration and
technology in the development growing independence.
of strategies for solving
problems.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
17
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
English
8th Grade
In order to assist teachers who are interested in using technology for project-based learning, below is an example of a long-term project that incorporates
several content and technology SOL.
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
Oral Language
Reading
Writing
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
8.1a, b, and c: The
All students should:
C/T 6-8.4: The student will
To be successful with
practice responsible use of
this standard, students
student will use
interviewing techniques to technology systems,
synthesize information are expected to:
information, and software.
gain information,
gathered in an
Demonstrate the correct use of interview; recognize an determine the purpose
including preparing and
ask relevant questions for fair use and copyright
author’s viewpoint and of the interview; select
a subject for the
regulations.
the interview, making
use of persuasive
interview; create and
notes of responses, and
language; read and
C/T 6-8.6: The student will
compiling and reporting
analyze writing critically; record questions that
will elicit relevant
use technology to locate,
responses.
choose graphic
evaluate, and collect
organizers based on the responses; apply
effective note-taking
information from a variety of internal text structure
8.6a, b, c, d, and g:
strategies; analyze and
sources. Use Internet and
The student will read,
most prevalent in the
record information,
comprehend, and analyze other electronic resources to
text; use graphic
a variety of informational locate information in real time. organizers and/or rules using internal text
structures, including
sources, drawing on
to analyze and
cause-and-effect,
C/T 6-8.7: The student will
background knowledge
summarize text; read
comparison/contrast,
evaluate and select new
and knowledge of text
several texts on a
enumeration or listing,
information resources and
structure to understand
similar topic and
selections, analyzing the technological innovations
synthesize what is read sequential or
chronological,
based on the appropriateness in writing to be
author’s credentials,
concept/definition,
of electronic information
viewpoint, and impact,
presented orally;
generalization, process;
analyzing the author’s use sources. Use search strategies evaluate an author’s
analyze an author’s
of text structure and word to retrieve information.
choice of words and
choice of details by
Evaluate the accuracy,
choice and analyzing
images; recognize an
examining accuracy,
details for relevance and relevance, and appropriateness author’s use of
accuracy. Students will
of electronic information
connotations, persuasive placement,
thoroughness,
sources.
also evaluate and
language, and
synthesize information to
craftsmanship to convey relevance, effectiveness;
apply in written and oral C/T 6-8.9: The student will
viewpoint.; use a
use graphic organizers
use a variety of media and
to record clues in the
presentations.
process for writing,
formats to communicate
text and inferences or
including planning,
information and ideas
conclusions made by the
8.7: The student will
drafting, revising,
effectively to multiple
reader as a result of
write in a variety of
proofreading, editing,
audiences. Choose the
forms, including
publishing; understand those clues; use written
appropriate tool, format, and that good writing has
expression to draft and
narrative, expository,
style to communicate
revise compositions with
persuasive, and
been elaborated
information. Independently
attention to voice, tone,
informational.
horizontally and
use technology tools to create vertically; use peer and selection of information
and communicate for individual individual revising and
and details, embedded
phrases and clauses that
and/or collaborative projects. editing; write in a
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
As a long-term project, Apply productivity/
students are paired with multimedia tools and
peripherals to support
an elementary school
personal productivity,
class (either locally or
group collaboration, and
not) to create small
learning throughout the
books (print or online)
for the younger students curriculum.
relating to topics they
are studying. The older Design, develop,
students must conduct publish, and present
products e.g., Web
research using online
sources as well as other pages, videotapes using
technology resources
books on the topic,
evaluating them for style that demonstrate and
communicate curriculum
and bias. Using good
pre-writing and writing concepts to audiences
inside and outside the
skills, they write the
classroom.
book and receive
comments from their
Collaborate with peers,
peers and perhaps
children’s authors online. experts, and others
using
The students publish
their stories for the use telecommunications and
of the younger students. collaborative tools to
investigate curriculumrelated problems, issues,
and information and to
develop solutions or
products for audiences
inside and outside the
classroom.
Research and evaluate
the accuracy, relevance,
appropriateness,
comprehensiveness, and
bias of electronic
information sources
concerning real-world
problems.
18
Virginia C/T SOL and Content Area SOL
Technology Integration Strategies
VA SOL Strand VA SOL Standard for
for Content
Content
8.8: The student will edit
writing for correct
grammar, capitalization,
punctuation, spelling,
sentence structure, and
paragraphing.
English
8th Grade
VA SOL Standard for
Technology
VA SOL Essential
Understanding
VA SOL Essential
Knowledge
Produce documents
demonstrating the ability to
edit, reformat, and integrate
various software tools.
variety of forms,
including
expository – writing to
explain and build a body
of well-organized and
understandable
information
use a variety of
prewriting strategies,
including brainstorming,
webbing, mapping,
outlining, clustering,
listing, using graphic
organizers; use word
processing tools,
including spell checkers
and grammar checkers
when available;
understand and apply
the elements of
composing; proofread
and edit drafts with
teacher assistance, peer
collaboration, and
growing independence.
clarify meaning and
increase variety, vivid
and precise vocabulary,
figurative language,
sentence variety,
transitional words and
phrases; apply revising
procedures; use
complete sentences with
appropriate punctuation,
including the
punctuation of dialogue
and the punctuation
between dependent and
independent clauses;
choose and maintain
tense (present, past,
future) and throughout
an entire paragraph or
text.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006
Appendix G
Technology
NETS-S Performance
Integration Strategies Indicators
19
Web Site Links
The Albemarle County Language Arts Web Site contains links to over 100 credible web sites relating to
language arts content and instruction. Most of the links are annotated, and they are sorted according to
various aspects of instruction and literary eras. Sites are appropriate for students, but teachers and
parents must be cognizant of the individual student’s background knowledge in preparation for accessing
the content.
The author links lead teachers and students to home pages for living authors.
The Fun Links section, the most appropriate links for young children, provides access to language games
and educational enrichment.
You may access the site at www.k12albemarle.org. The path from that point is “Instruction” to “Language
Arts” to “Useful Links.”
© Albemarle County Public Schools
Appendix H
Appendix I
Under Development
This appendix will thread one literary concept, myth, throughout the K-12 articulation.
© Albemarle County Public Schools
Appendix I
Albemarle County Public Schools Challenged Books List
Grade(s)
K-5
Title
Bridge to
Author
Katherine Paterson
Terabithia
Parameter for Use
1. Elementary parents/guardians should be informed that Bridge to Terabithia
includes the use of profanity prior to it being assigned as a reading activity;
2. Parents/guardians should be informed of the opportunity to read the book in a
reasonable time frame prior to its assignment to students;
3. A parent/guardian objection to its use should result in a comparable
assignment that is mutually acceptable to the parent/guardian and teacher being
made available to the child.
K-5
The Great Gilly
Katherine Paterson
Hopkins
1. Teachers in 5th grade should be free to use The Great Gilly Hopkins as a 5thgrade novel and the novel should be available for self-selection in school libraries
and in 4th and 5th-grade classroom libraries;
2. When The Great Gilly Hopkins is assigned reading parents should be informed
as to its content and language to enable them to review the novel themselves
and/or discuss its instructional use with the teacher and the principal….the parents
should also be informed about the book’s content and language when the book is
self-selected either in the classroom or school libraries;
3. If a parent reviews the novel and/or discusses its use with the school personnel
and still does not want it assigned/checked out to the child, the school will provide
an alternative novel.
K-5
Hatchet
Gary Paulsen
1. Elementary schools may continue to make Hatchet available to students if the
principal and faculty determine that the book meets the criteria for Media Materials
cited in School Board Policy IIBD;
2. Parents shall be notified of the subjects that may be sensitive for elementaryaged children –marital infidelity, divorce and suicide—which are incorporated in
this book.
K-8
It’s Perfectly
Robie Harris
Normal
© Albemarle County Public Schools, 2006
Appendix J
1. The Board voted to leave this educational resource on the general circulation of
the library.
1
Albemarle County Public Schools Challenged Books List
Grade(s)
K-12
Title
Living Dogs
Author
R. Lanny Hunter
and Dead Lions
Parameter for Use
1. Remove Living Dogs and Dead Lions from middle school libraries;
2. Living Dogs and Dead Lions should not be made available to middle school
students;
3. Must go through a review process, as specified by school board policy, at the
school if Living Dogs and Dead Lions is to be placed in the high schools.
K-12
The Education
Forrest Carter
1. Inform students that the book is a fictionalized personal narrative and not an
autobiography prior to reading the book.
Paul Fleischman
1. Seedfolks may be taught at the high-school level only.
of Little Tree
K-12
Seedfolks
2. Schools may continue to keep Seedfolks in the library and in classroom libraries
at the middle-and high-school levels.
No action: remain in schools.
Ten Little Indians (Agatha Christie)
Bright and Early Thursday Evening (Audrey Wood)
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Active New Religions, Sects, and Cults (B. BeitHallahmi)
The Encyclopedia of Native American Religions (A. Hirschfelder and P. Molin)
Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions, and the Occult (G. Mather and L. Nichols)
The Encyclopedia of Monsters (J. Rovin)
The Right to Die: Public Controversy, Private Matter (K. Gay)
Euthanasia: The “Right to Die” Issue (D. Jussim)
The Egypt Game (Zilpha Keatley Snyder)
Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger)
To Be A Slave (J. Lester)
Never officially challenged
The Hot Zone ()
Yellow Raft on Blue Water (M. Dorris)
The Bible as/in Literature ()
© Albemarle County Public Schools, 2006
Appendix J
2
Annotated Bibliography
Reading
and
Literature
Writing
Vocabulary
&
Grammar
Nonfiction
Curriculum
and
Instruction
ESOL
Strategies
Technology
Personal
Connections
Allen, J. (1999). Words, Words, Words: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4-12.
Portland: Stenhouse.
Alliance for Excellent Education. (2004). Reading Next: A Vision for Action and
Research in Middle and High School Literacy. Washington, DC: Alliance for
Excellent Education.
This report, prepared for the Carnegie Corporation of New York, details the current state of
literacy education in the United States and makes recommendations on necessary next steps to
achieve literacy for all students.
Allington, R. L. (2001). What Really Matters for Struggling Readers. New York:
Longman.
Probably the most accessible comprehensive look at reading research to its publication date,
this book synthesizes research in key areas of reading. The text also includes some strategies
to reach struggling readers. Allington is the current president of the International Reading
Association.
Allington, R., & Cunningham, P. (1994). Classrooms that work - they can all read and
write. 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Respected authors Patricia Cunningham and Dick Allington discuss an integrative approach to
literacy - based on the simple idea that the more children read and write, the better they will
read and write.
Allington, R., & Cunningham, P. (2002). Schools that work - where all children read
and write. 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
This book offers suggestions for change that must take place in order for schools to meet the
increased demands of education for the 21st century. Based on their experience as teachers,
administrators, researchers, reformers, evaluators, and school consultants, the authors
examine policies, practices, and organizational plans that will improve or hinder learning in
schools today and in the schools of the future.
Atwell, N. (1987). In the Middle. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook.
This classic resource details the ins and outs of writers’ workshop. Atwell explains the power of
mini-lessons to address key aspects of writing as well as strategies for managing writers’
workshop.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006.
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Atwell, N. (1998). In the Middle: New Understanding about Writing, Reading, and
Learning, 2nd edition. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook.
Published ten years after the original edition, the second edition of In the Middle includes
updated reflections, resources, and guidelines for transforming virtually any middle school
language arts classroom into an interactive reading and writing workshop enivronment. While
the book is divided into chapters, it incorporates mini-lessons to use in daily teaching. A
thorough and helpful resource for teachers looking to establish workshops in their classrooms.
Atwell, N. (2002). Lessons that Change Writers. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
This collection of mini-lessons within the writing workshop construct gives teachers and
students access to meaningful examples that move writing forward. The companion notebook
of reproducible pages allows teachers to immediately apply the mini-lessons in their own
classrooms.
Beck, I., McKeown, M.G. and Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing Words to Life. New York:
Guilford Press.
Using a broad research base, the authors address the challenges of teaching vocabulary. The
authors present a brilliant rationale for delivering lively and direct vocabulary instruction. They
offer excellent advice on how to select rich words, present them to students, and help them
revel in their usefulness. They provide many strategies and examples at various levels of the
K-12 continuum that will allow kids to enter a lifelong fascination with words.
Beers, K. (2003). When Kids Can’t Read, What Teachers Can Do. Portsmouth:
Heinemann.
This in-depth resource takes strategies from theory into practice. Throughout the text, Beers
weaves in narrative and student samples to demonstrate how the reading strategies work and
which reading issues they address. The text can be taken in order or in pieces. It is likely the
most user-friendly reading resource to emerge in the last decade.
Buckner, A. (2005). Notebook know-how: strategies for the writer's notebook.
Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
This book is filled with tips for launching a notebook, teaching mini-lessons throughout the year
to help students become more skilled in keeping notebooks, helping struggling students
transfer their notebook writing to other forms of written expression, organizing notebooks for
flexibility and easy access to information, utilizing writer notebooks to help students become
better readers, and effectively assessing notebooks.
Burke, J. (1999). The English Teacher’s Companion. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
This book truly is an English teacher’s companion. It describes everything from teaching writing
to getting a job as an English teacher. Though there is much discussion on theories, there are
also a multitude of practical applications regarding those theories.
Calkins, L. (2000). The art of teaching reading. 1st ed. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn
and Bacon.
Nationally acclaimed educator Lucy Calkins offers a compelling look at the methods, insights
and day-to-day classroom practices used by hundreds of highly effective reading teachers. She
tells the stories of brilliant teachers whose children eagerly learn to read and then talk and
write about their reading in amazing ways.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006.
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Christensen, L. (2000). Reading, Writing, and Rising Up. Milwaukee: Rethinking
Schools.
Down-to-earth, outspoken, and accessible, this text offers teachers a range of strategies to
reach disenfranchised students. Christensen walks through a multitude of writing ideas that
get students to put pen to paper to write about real-life experiences, thus helping them to
discover the power of their own voices.
Cole, A. (2003). Knee to knee, eye to eye - circling in on comprehension. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
In this book, the author advocates the combination of books and conversation to increase
learning for all students. She offers suggestions for appropriate texts, organization,
management, and assessment.
College Board, The. (2002). The AP Vertical Teams Guide for English. Washington,
DC: The College Board.
This text begins with AP curriculum and backward maps the necessary skills for all children to
engage at the AP level to middle school. The College Board details the four major skill areas
required of any student in an advanced placement course – literary analysis, close reading,
rhetoric, and writing tactics.
Costa, A. L. & Kallick, B. (2000). Activating & Engaging Habits of Mind. Alexandria:
ASCD.
Framing the ways in which people think about their work and their thinking requires one to go
beyond the general scope of standards in learning. Costa, a former president of the
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and Kallick present ideas to get kids
to think about their thinking and the ways in which they approach academic study.
Culham, R. (2003). 6+1 Traits of Writing. New York: Scholastic.
This text details the various traits of writing and provides teachers with information about how
to teach and assess those traits. Truly a foundational text. The six traits provided the
underpinnings for the Virginia SOL in writing.
Daniels, H. (1994). Literature Circles: Voice & Choice in the Student-Centered
Classroom. Portland: Stenhouse.
In this original text on literature circles, Harvey Daniels introduces strategies for using
“authentic” text in the classroom by designing reading groups that appeal to various students’
needs and interests. He presents some strategies to engage students in conversation about
text and to manage simultaneous multiple book studies.
Daniels, H. (2002). Literature Circles: Voice & Choice in Book Clubs & Reading
Groups. Portland: Stenhouse Publishers.
In this updated text on literature circles, Harvey Daniels extends the original concept of reading
groups and applies the concept across disciplines. With much more emphasis on a variety of
text structures, including nonfiction, Daniels again presents strategies for engaging students in
conversation about text and extending that conversation to the real world.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006.
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Daniels, H. and Steineke, N. (2004). Mini-lessons for Literature Circles.
Portsmouth: Heinemann.
An excellent practical companion to the other Daniels titles, this work provides more than 40
minil-lessons for establishing and running literature circles. These lessons are easily adaptable
to both middle and high school classrooms.
Daniels, H. and Zemelman, S. (2004). Subjects Matter: Every Teacher’s Guide to
Content-Area Reading. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Infused with student examples, this text is organized largely around reading strategies
applicable to nonfiction text structures. Each strategy includes a description, a justification
statement, a step-by-step guide, and a citation for additional information.
Diller, D. (2003). Literacy work stations: making centers work. Portland, ME:
Stenhouse.
This book provides practical, realistic ways to establish literacy centers in K-3 classrooms. The
author describes the necessary materials, procedures for introducing and modeling the work
stations, suggestions for differentiating and solving problems, and ideas for assessment and
accountability.
Echevarria, J., Vogt, M. & Short, D. (2000). Making Content Comprehensible for
English Language Learners. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Echevarria, Vogt and Short present the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP)
model to outline specific strategies for organizing and making content accessible to English
Language Learners. The SIOP model is based on research on second language learning and
acquisition which states that language can only be acquired when the input is made
comprehensible. This book shows teachers how to write language objectives, build on previous
knowledge and experience, use realia and maniputlatives, and provide scaffolded instruction
and activities that engage and encourage students to produce language.
Elbow, P. & Belanoff, P. (2000). Sharing and Responding. Boston: McGraw Hill.
Probably the most straightforward and practical book out there that details how to create a
classroom geared toward the writing workshop. It takes readers step-by-step through the
revision process, helping students understand appropriate and helpful methods for responding
to each other’s work.
Erickson, H. L. (2001). Stirring the Head, Heart, and Soul. Thousand Oaks: Corwin
Press.
Erickson’s book takes teachers back to the heart of education – connecting learning in very real
ways. She contends that to move kids beyond rote memorization, teachers must address the
overarching ideas in a discipline and connect those to real-world examples.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006.
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Erickson, H. L. (2002). Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction. Thousand
Oaks: Corwin Press.
In this more recent text, Erickson unpacks the big ideas of concept-based curriculum and
presents specific ideas for instruction in various disciplines. She defines terminology and
provides the reader with specific examples of that terminology in practice. This book is one of
the foundational texts for the Framework for Quality Learning and the work of the vertical
teams.
Fountas, I. C. and Pinnell, G. S. (2000). Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3-6:
Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Fountas and Pinnell explore all the essential components of a literacy program, including
independent reading, guided reading, literature study, comprehension and word analysis, and
the reading-writing connection. Includes a comprehensive book list containing 1,000 books
organized by title and level. The appendices feature useful tools including reading and writing
workshop forms, graphic organizers, lists, and bibliographies.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006.
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Freeman, Y. S. & Freeman, D. E. (1998). ESL/EFL Teaching: Principles for
Success. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Probably the most recognized experts in teaching English Language Learners (ELLs), Freeman
and Freeman present specific ideas for whole-to-part instruction that allows ELLs to make
meaning of content and language.
Freire, P. & Macedo, D. (1987). Literacy: Reading the Word and the World. Westport,
Connecticut: Bergin and Garvey.
This text challenges readers to reevaluate their current ideas regarding literacy and what it
means to be literate, both in terms or decoding words and interacting with their environment.
Readers will come away from this book with a profound new sense of what it takes to engage
in a literate society.
Ganske, K. (2000). Word Journeys. New York: The Guilford Press.
Ganske’s text walks the reader through the basics of word study and its various stages. The
text is designed to help teachers analyze students’ spelling and word knowledge and apply
strategies to advance student understanding of words and their structure. The text also
includes the Descriptive Spelling Analysis (DSA) used as one “dipstick” measure in most
schools.
Goleman, D. (1994). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.
In his book, Goleman contends that successful people think with their hearts and their minds.
The text defines emotional intelligence and details numerous examples of emotional
intelligence in action.
Grossman, F. (1982). Getting From Here to There: Writing and Reading Poetry.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Harvey, S. (1998). Nonfiction matters: reading, writing, and research in grades 3-8.
Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
This book not only gives teachers ideas on how to teach nonfiction writing, but also on how to
learn along with the students by inquiring about real things in life. Included are incentives to
motivate students along with simple ideas that will get students writing passionate, interesting
nonfiction papers.
Harvey, S. and Goudvis, A. (2000). Strategies that Work. Portland: Stenhouse
Publishers.
This book tells how to teach students to think while reading (through think-alouds) and offers
mini-lessons and suggested books for teaching seven reading comprehension strategies.
Heard, G. (2002). The Revision Toolbox. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
This thin book offers useful and practical strategies for incorporating the revision process into
the classroom. From “cracking open words” to revision centers, students feel more ownership
over their work and, therefore, become more engaged.
Jacobs, H. H. (1997). Mapping the Big Picture. Alexandria: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Currently the gold standard for vertical curriculum mapping, this text walks the reader through
the process of spiraling and aligning curriculum. Jacobs contends that all curriculum spiraling
must wrap around literacy and students’ ability to understand and work with text to make
meaning of content.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006.
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Jago, C. (2004). Classics in the Classroom. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
In this text, Jago contends that all students must engage with great literature, even if it isn’t
easy. The author presents numerous strategies for bringing difficult, complex literature to life
and lessons that address specific textual challenges.
Johnston, F. R., Juel, C., and Invernizzi, M. A. (1998). Book Buddies: Guidelines for
Volunteer Tutors of Emergent and Early Readers. New York: Guildford Press.
This is a comprehensive tutorial manual for trainers and tutors developed from the Book
Buddies program of Charlottesville, Virginia. The authors describe how to set up a tutorial
program in the early grades and present a lesson format for individualized instruction in
reading, writing, and phonics. Appendices include assessment and lesson plan forms, alphabet
cards and charts, and recommendations and sources for children’s books.
Kajder, S. B. (2003). The Tech-Savvy English Classroom. Portland: Stenhouse
Publishers.
This text applies several technology advances (at the time of publication) to the classroom.
Through detailed examples, Kajder walks those technologies into the classrooms of beginning
technology, advanced technology, and tech-savvy teachers. The underlying principle in the
text is that technology should be a tool for understanding and should only be used in those
powerful ways that advance curricular goals.
Kirby, D. & Liner, T. (1988). Inside Out: Developmental Strategies for Teaching
Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Koch, K. Rose, Where Did You Get That Red? Teaching Great Poetry to Children. New
York: Vintage Books.
This book offers a plethora of prompts inspiring children to create their own unique poetry. It
includes prompts, sample response poems, and lesson plans ideas. Ideas in this book are very
useful in helping engage reluctant readers and writers.
Lattimer, H. (2003). Thinking Through Genre. Portland: Stenhouse.
Contending that genre provides a schema for reading and writing, Lattimer takes the reader
through structures of various genre and provides suggestions for moving each structure
forward in a classroom setting.
Lundin, S. C., Paul, H. & Christensen, J. (2000). Fish! New York: Hyperion.
Are you looking for a fun, quick read that will add life to your classroom? This text is it! Based
on the principles employed at the famous Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, WA, this text
teaches quick strategies for applying those principles to your classroom and to your life.
Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J. & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom Instruction that
Works. Alexandria: ASCD.
This text presents the now-famous “Marzano Nine,” research-based strategies that make a
difference in student achievement. Each strategy includes its research foundation, student
samples, and quick steps for implementation.
McCarrier, A., Fountas, I. C., and Pinnell, G. S. (2000). Interactive Writing: How
Language and Literacy Come Together, K-2. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
McCarrier, Pinnell, Fountas demonstrate how students can learn how to compose a wide variety
of texts alongside their teacher as they learn the conventions of print and how to communicate
their discoveries through writing.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006.
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Miller, D. (2002). Reading with meaning: teaching comprehension in the primary
grades. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
In this book, the author suggests a scaffolded approach to help young students engage and
develop as lifelong readers. Included are chapters about building schema, making mental
images, inferring, questioning, reading non-fiction, synthesizing, and related book lists for
each topic.
Milner, J.O. & Milner, L. (1999). Bridging English. Columbus, OH: Merrill.
This thorough book not only addresses theories of learning, but it also provides instruction
around planning a lesson, enabling writing, and evaluating learning. There are also detailed
lesson plans ranging from poetry to nonfiction to media studies.
National Council of Teachers of English & International Reading Association. (1996).
Standards for the English Language Arts. Urbana: NCTE.
This text delineates the national standards for English language arts as articulated by the two
leading organizations for teachers of English language arts. The text includes not only the
standards but also research, classroom vignettes, and a comprehensive glossary. This text
was foundational to the work of the Language Arts Vertical Team.
National Research Council. (2000). How People Learn. Washington: National
Academy Press.
The most comprehensive research study to date on how people make meaning from ideas and
how that meaning transfers into learning.
O’Conner, P. (1996). Woe is I – The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in
Plain English. New York: Riverhead Books.
When you need to quickly cut to the heart of an obscure (or not so obscure) grammar rule that
seems impossible to explain to students, turn to this guide for witty explanations in plain
English. It's grammar, but you may actually laugh while reading. More informative for middle
and high school classrooms, but relevant to anyone who has to tackle the ins and outs of
grammar instruction.
Payne, R. K. (1998). A Framework for Understanding Poverty. Baytown: RFT
Publishing Co.
Payne’s notable text details the conditions of poverty and wealth and applies them to learning
structures. She presents a framework for thinking about students from various backgrounds
and explains how to use that framework to promote learning for all students.
Pinnell, G. S. & Fountas, I. C. (1998). Word Matters. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Pinnell, G., & Scharer, P. (2003). Teaching for comprehension in reading grades k2. New York: Scholastic.
The first part of this book discusses the strategies and structures readers need to comprehend
text-and the changes those readers experience as they move up the primary grades. The
second part shows strategy instruction in action, in real classrooms, by master teachers. The
third part focuses on how planning, organization, and management support instruction.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006.
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Popham, W. J. (1999). Classroom Assessment: What Teachers Need to Know. Boston:
Allyn and Bacon.
Rasinski, T. (2003). The fluent reader: oral reading strategies for building word
recognition, fluency, and comprehension . New York: Scholastic.
This easy-to-read book has chapters that describe particular techniques such as paired reading
for very low readers and fluency development lessons for the whole class.
Rief, L. (2003). 100 Quickwrites. New York: Scholastic.
If student writing is to be compelling, the models and prompts they use must also be
compelling. This collection of poems and short passages not only model excellent writing, they
allow students to engage in the writing process in ways that are meaningful to them.
Robb, L. (1999). Easy Mini-Lessons for Building Vocabulary: Practical Strategies That
Boost Word Knowledge and Reading Comprehension. New York: Scholastic
Professional Books.
Robb, L. (2000). Teaching Reading in Middle School. New York: Scholastic.
Using research and more than 30 years of professional experience, Robb presents useful,
concrete strategies for teaching reading comprehension. Organized around pre-, during-, and
post-reading strategies, the text includes student samples paralleled with Robb’s commentary.
Robb, L. (2003). Teaching Reading in Social Studies, Science, and Math. New
York: Scholastic.
A precursor to her 2004 title, Nonfiction Writing from the Inside Out, this text weaves reading
comprehension strategies across curricular disciplines, allowing teachers to dig into reading
comprehension with nonfiction text structures. This text uses the same, successful, structure
of Robb’s other texts, incorporating pre-, during-, and post-reading strategies.
Robb, L. (2004). Nonfiction Writing from the Inside Out. New York: Scholastic.
A noted expert in reading and writing, particularly across discipline areas and at the middleschool level, this text digs into strategies for teaching students how to write effectively across
nonfiction structures. Robb explains the necessity of writing to promote and analyze thinking
and presents useful, timely, and real applications for getting kids to put pen to paper.
Routman, R. (2005). Writing essentials raising expectations and results while
simplifying teaching. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
In Writing Essentials, the author demystifies the process of teaching writing well and provides
knowledge, research, and precise instructional strategies for implementing successful writing
instruction into the classroom.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006.
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Stern, D. (1995). Teaching English So It Matters: Creating Curriculum For and With
High School Students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.
Stern includes entire thematic instructional units ranging from power to racism to the hero.
Materials and rubrics, not to mention detailed lesson pans, are included.
Stiggins, R.J., Arter, J.A., Chappuis, J. and Chappuis, S. (2004). Classroom
Assessment for Student Learning. Portland: Assessment Training Institute.
Szymusiak, K., & Sibberson, F. (2001). Beyond leveled books: supporting
transitional readers in grades 2-5. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Transitional readers have mastered many skills but are often not yet able to choose books and
sustain reading independently in a variety of genres. This book takes a look at the way
classroom routines, small-group instruction, mini-lessons, and conversations can help move
students toward independence.
Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability
Classrooms. Alexandria: ASCD.
Truly a foundational text for any teacher, Tomlinson’s book discusses the four ways to
differentiate instruction and provides specific examples of each.
Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by Design. Alexandria: ASCD.
In this text, Wiggins and McTighe present the notion of “backwards design” to write curriculum
and prepare for instruction. They contend that educators must start with what kids need to
know and be able to do, and how they will assess that knowledge and those skills, before they
begin preparing specific lessons for instruction. This text is foundational to the Framework for
Quality Learning.
Wilhelm, J. (2001). Improving comprehension with think-aloud strategies: modeling
what good readers do. New York: Scholastic.
This book provides information about helping students learn how to read better with the thinkaloud strategy, a powerful technique that makes the reading process come alive.
Wilhelm, J. (2002). Action strategies for deepening comprehension: role plays, text
structure tableaux, talking statues, and other enrichment techniques that
engage students with text. New York: Scholastic.
This book has many motivating ideas that energize students before, during, and after reading.
Comprehension strategies such as activating prior knowledge, inferring, visualizing, and
making connections can be used by individual students, pairs, or groups.
Yopp, R., & Yopp, H. (2001). Literature-based reading activities. 3rd ed. Needham
Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
This book is filled with theoretically supported exercises that may be applied to books of all
levels.
Zimmermann, S., & Oliver Keene, E. (1997). Mosaic of thought : teaching
comprehension in a reader's workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
This text redefines teaching reading comprehension as a strategic process that enables readers
to make connections and move beyond literal recall.
© Albemarle County Public Schools, April 2006.
Appendix K
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