Maine Learning Standards for English Language Arts -- Grades 9 - 12

E. PROCESSES OF WRITING AND SPEAKING

Students will demonstrate the ability to use the skills and strategies of the writing process. Students will be able to:

1. Ask pertinent questions during writing conferences and when working alone, using knowledge of personal writing strategies, strengths, and weaknesses to improve one's own writing.
• Building Language PROGRAM
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/index.asp
  

2. Reflect on, evaluate, revise, and edit a sequence of drafts to improve and polish finished work.
• Step by Step: Writing as a Process -- Why Write? AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/5.asp
  
• I Need Your Support! The Art of the Paragraph AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7.asp
  
• Analyzing Your Own Style
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/9d.asp
  
• Story Time: Narrative Writing AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/12.asp
  
• Expository Essays: Behind the Words AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/13.asp
  
• Prove It: Persuasive Writing AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/14.asp
  

3. Use planning, drafting, and revising to produce, on demand, a well-developed, organized piece that demonstrates effective language use, voice, and command of mechanics.
• Step by Step: Writing as a Process -- Why Write? AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/5.asp
  
• I Need Your Support! The Art of the Paragraph AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7.asp
  
• To Whom It May Concern: Considering Audience AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/8.asp
  
• The House of Style AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/9.asp
  

4. Evaluate the remarks and oral presentations of others to find the key ideas, and explain the ways in which these ideas were developed.
• To Whom It May Concern: Considering Audience
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/8.asp
  
• Defining the Audience
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/8a.asp
  
• Choosing the Appropriate Structure
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/8d.asp
  
• Usage, Diction, and Word Choice
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/8e.asp
  

F. STANDARD ENGLISH CONVENTIONS

Students will write and speak correctly, using conventions of standard written and spoken English. Students will be able to:

1. Edit written work for standard English spelling and usage, evidenced by pieces that show and contain:
• no significant errors in the use of pronouns, nouns, adjectival and adverbial forms coordinating and subordinating conjunctions
• no significant errors in the spelling of frequently used words and the correct use of commonly confused terms
• no significant errors in the common conventions of capitalization and ending punctuation marks and common uses of the comma
• few significant errors in the spelling of commonly misspelled and rare words, the less common capitalization conventions, the colon, semicolon, hyphen, dash, apostrophe, quotation marks, italics, marginal notes, and footnotes.

• Basically Speaking: Language Arts Rudiments AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/1.asp
  
• Going Steady: Conjugation and Agreement AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/2.asp
  
• Have You Seen My Keys? Unlocking Sentences AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/3.asp
  
• 'Halt! Who Goes There?': Using Punctuation AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/4.asp
  
• Citations
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6e.asp
  
• Confusable Words
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/10b.asp
  

2. Demonstrate how language usage may depend on the situation.
• To Whom It May Concern: Considering Audience
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/8.asp
  
• Choosing the Appropriate Structure
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/8d.asp
  
• Usage, Diction, and Word Choice
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/8e.asp
  

3. Demonstrate command of the conventions involved in a formal speech, effectively engaging peers during presentation and fielding responses afterwards.
• What Style Is Appropriate?
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/9c.asp
  
• Analyzing Your Own Style
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/9d.asp
  

G. STYLISTIC AND RHETORICAL ASPECTS OF WRITING AND SPEAKING

Students will use stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing and speaking to explore ideas, to present lines of thought, to represent and reflect on human experience, and to communicate feelings, knowledge, and opinions. Students will be able to:

1. Write stories that effectively develop such elements as setting, major events, problems and solutions.

• Story Time: Narrative Writing AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/12.asp
  

2. Write pieces and deliver oral presentations that effectively use descriptive language to clarify, enhance, and develop ideas.
• Using Descriptive Language
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/12b.asp
  

3. Write pieces and deliver oral presentations that include a variety of sentence structures and lengths.
• Introductions and Conclusions
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7a.asp
  
• Topic Sentences
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7b.asp
  
• Support Sentences
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7c.asp
  
• Details, Details, Details
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7d.asp
  
• Transitions between Sentences
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7e.asp
  

4. Write pieces and deliver oral presentations that are targeted for various audiences (e.g., informed or uninformed, sympathetic or hostile).
• To Whom It May Concern: Considering Audience AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/8.asp
  

5. Write pieces and deliver oral presentations that achieve distinct purposes (e.g., to persuade, evaluate, analyze, defend).
• Writing to Express Yourself
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/12a.asp
  
• Telling About Setting
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/12c.asp
  
• Comparison
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/13b.asp
  
• Definition and Classification
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/13c.asp
  
• Process Essays
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/13d.asp
  
• Cause and Effect
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/13e.asp
  
• Prove It: Persuasive Writing
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/14.asp
  
• Forms of Persuasion
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/14a.asp
  
• Persuasive Technique
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/14b.asp
  
• Persuasive Language
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/14c.asp
  
• Specifics and Generalizations
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/14d.asp
  

6. Write pieces and deliver oral presentations that effectively employ explicit transitional devices in order to change a situation or to move the reader/listener through the piece.
• Transitions between Sentences
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7e.asp
  
• Transitions between Paragraphs
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7g.asp
  

7. Write pieces and deliver oral presentations in which the organization of the work follows from the purpose.
• Defining Purposes for Writing
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/5b.asp
  
• I Need Your Support! The Art of the Paragraph
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7.asp
  
• Introductions and Conclusions
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7a.asp
  
• Topic Sentences
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7b.asp
  
• Support Sentences
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7c.asp
  
• Details, Details, Details
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7d.asp
  
• What Style Is Appropriate?
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/9c.asp
  

8. Write pieces and deliver oral presentations in a personal style, with a discernible voice and effective wording.
• To Whom It May Concern: Considering Audience AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/8.asp
  
• The House of Style AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/9.asp
  
• Confusable Words
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/10b.asp
  

9. Write essays and deliver oral presentations that reliably support and provide details for the explicitly stated generalizations.
• Support Sentences
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7c.asp
  
• Details, Details, Details
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7d.asp
  
• Specifics and Generalizations
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/14d.asp
  

10. Make effective use of a variety of techniques to provide supporting detail (e.g., analogies, anecdotes, illustrations, detailed descriptions, restatements, paraphrases, examples,comparisons) in written work and oral presentations.
• Support Sentences
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7c.asp
  
• Details, Details, Details
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/7d.asp
  
• The Literary Essay
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/11c.asp
  
• Literary Symbols
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/11d.asp
  
• Expository Essays: Behind the Words AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/13.asp
  
• Prove It: Persuasive Writing AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/14.asp
  

11. Make effective use of a variety of techniques for introducing and representing ideas and insights in written work and oral presentations.
• Story Time: Narrative Writing AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/12.asp
  
• Expository Essays: Behind the Words AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/13.asp
  
• Prove It: Persuasive Writing AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/14.asp
  

H. RESEARCH-RELATED WRITING AND SPEAKING

Students will work, write, and speak effectively when doing research in all content areas. Students will be able to:

1. Develop an appropriate strategy for finding information on a particular topic.

• Where Do I Begin? Research Strategies
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6.asp
  
• Tools for Research
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6b.asp
  

2. Use referencing while doing research.
• Where Do I Begin? Research Strategies
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6.asp
  
• Premise of Research
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6a.asp
  
• Gathering Material and Keeping Track
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6d.asp
  

3. Record significant information from events attended and interviews conducted.
• Premise of Research
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6a.asp
  
• Gathering Material and Keeping Track
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6d.asp
  
• Citations
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6e.asp
  

4. Identify and use library information services.
• Where Do I Begin? Research Strategies AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6.asp
  

5. Use government publications, in-depth field studies, and almanacs for research.
• Where Do I Begin? Research Strategies AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6.asp
  

6. Use CD-ROM, microfiche, and similar resource media for research.
• Where Do I Begin? Research Strategies AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6.asp
  

7. Identify and use a variety of news sources (e.g., newspapers, magazines, broadcast and recorded media, artifacts), informants, and other likely sources for research purposes.
• Where Do I Begin? Research Strategies AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6.asp
  

8. Use search engines and other Internet resources to do research.
• Cyberspace: Using the Internet for Research
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6c.asp
  

9. Make extensive use of primary sources when researching a topic and carefully evaluate the motives and perspectives of the authors.
• Where Do I Begin? Research Strategies AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6.asp
  

10. Analyze the validity and weigh the reliability of primary information sources and make appropriate use of such information for research purposes.
• Where Do I Begin? Research Strategies AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6.asp
  

11. Evaluate information for accuracy, currency, and possible bias.
• Where Do I Begin? Research Strategies AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6.asp
  

12. Report orally, using a variety of technological resources to present the results of a research project.
• Where Do I Begin? Research Strategies AND ALL FOCUS TOPICS
  http://www.beyondbooks.com/law81/6.asp