English Language Arts
The English Language Arts program at Oak Middle School is one part of a K-12 curriculum plan that is designed to teach learners how to reason and use language purposefully as they comprehend, construct, and convey meaning. The goals of the program are in alignment with those identified by Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Frameworks. The goals are:
- to demonstrate understanding of the dynamic nature and structure of the English language
- to acquire strategies to comprehend and analyze a variety of written, spoken and visual materials
- to learn to reflect and respond thoughtfully to various forms of spoken and written language
- to learn to write and speak with clarity, focus, coherence, and personal engagement
- to use print and electronic media effectively
At the middle level, the program is both challenging and enriching. Strong emphasis is placed on developing thinking and language skills; emphasizing writing as an essential way to develop, clarify, and communicate ideas in various formats; teaching strategies necessary for acquiring academic knowledge and achieving common academic standards and attaining independence in learning. It is a balanced program and instruction includes a variety of methods, texts, strategies, and materials to encourage learners to excel and reach their highest potential.
The curriculum provides for explicit instruction in reading/writing strategies; speaking, listening and presenting; grammar, usage and mechanics; and research and technology. It draws on literature from many genres, time periods and cultures. As a core discipline, it is tied to and integrated into all other disciplines in a variety of ways.
Student progress is measured by a variety of assessment techniques. These may include formative assessments that measure a student’s progress against a standard such as review of class work and homework, quizzes, or oral presentations. It also may include summative assessment that measures a student’s attainment of the standard such as performances, essays, and research reports. It is expected that written answers and essays demonstrate understanding of key ideas, contain appropriate support of ideas and opinions, and have insightful vocabulary. It is further expected that written responses be well organized and contain correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Oak Middle School students participate in experiences that are designed to enrich and enhance learning. All students write often using a wide variety of genres including analytical essays, arguments, short essay responses and research reports. All students participate in a Summer Reading Program that is specifically designed for their particular interest and grade level. Upon returning to school each year, students discuss assigned selections and choice selections.
Grade 7 ELA Standards - Students will read several texts from a variety of genres such as Ghost, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, a variety of short stories from authors such as Edgar Allen Poe and Roald Dahl, and a wide range of non-fiction and informational texts. They will learn and practice formal strategies to use textual evidence to support ideas and claims, make connections, and explain their reasoning clearly. Students will also engage in a project-based learning research project that incorporates discreet research skills taught throughout the year and includes a presentation to an authentic audience.
Grade 8 ELA Standards - Reading strategies are taught and reinforced throughout the year using many different texts. Students will read novels from a variety of genres such as Nothing But the Truth, Fahrenheit 451, The Giver, Look Both Ways and a variety of short stories. Students will learn how to use textual evidence to support ideas, connections, and inferences to enhance analysis of text. Students will develop critical media literacy skills by understanding bias and distinguishing opinion from facts using a variety of sources. Students will develop their analytical writing skills, explore and create a Hero’s Journey, understand the elements of Elizabethan Drama through watching, reading, and analyzing Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and apply discretely taught research skills within a content-embedded research project
- Independently and proficiently read and comprehend literary texts representing a variety of genres, cultures, and perspectives and exhibiting complexity appropriate for at least grade 7.
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning, tone, or mood, including the impact of repeated use of particular images.
- Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what a text states explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, quoting or paraphrasing as appropriate.
- Determine importance, make connections, visualize, and synthesize information to strengthen comprehension of text.
- Apply strategies for using text features such as titles, subtitles, captions, italics, bold face, text boxes, and pictures to enhance comprehension.
- Use knowledge of common textual features, graphic features, and organizational structures to deepen comprehension.
- Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of a text.
- Analyze how particular elements of a story, poem, or drama interact.
- Analyze how aspects of a literary work’s structure contribute to its meaning or style.
- Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.
- Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version.
- Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
- Write arguments (e.g., essays, letters to the editor, advocacy speeches) to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
- Write informative/explanatory texts (e.g., essays, oral reports, biographical feature articles) to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
- Write narratives to develop experiences or events using effective literary techniques, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured sequences.
- Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
- Use technology, including current web-based communication platforms, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
- Apply identified grammar competencies in speaking, writing and editing.
- Identify and use phrases in sentences; eliminate sentence fragments and run-ons; correctly capitalize and punctuate.
- Spell high frequency words correctly in all writing.
- Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation.
- When conducting research, gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
- Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support written analysis, interpretation, reflection, and research.
- Independently and proficiently read and comprehend literary texts representing a variety of genres, cultures, and perspectives and exhibiting complexity appropriate for at least grade 8.
- Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports analysis of what a text states explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, quoting or paraphrasing as appropriate.
- Determine importance, make connections, visualize, and synthesize information to strengthen comprehension of text.
- Use knowledge of common textual features, graphic features, and organizational structures to deepen comprehension.
- Annotate and bookmark text.
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning, tone, or mood, including the impact of allusion and irony.
- Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of a text.
- Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story, poem, or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
- Compare and contrast the structures of two or more texts, analyzing how structure contributes to meaning and style in each text.
- Analyze how differences in point of view between characters and audience (e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.
- Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.
- Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced. Analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation.
- Write arguments (e.g., essays, letters to the editor, advocacy speeches) to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
- Write informative/explanatory texts (e.g., essays, oral reports, biographical feature articles) to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
- Write narratives to develop experiences or events using effective literary techniques, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured sequences.
- Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
- Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
- Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
- When conducting research, gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
- Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support written analysis, interpretation, reflection, and research
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