| ACADEMIC STANDARDS - LANGUAGE ARTS - 12th GRADE |
STANDARDS FOR LANGUAGE ARTS
This document has been formatted to separate skills and strategies into the following headings for the ease of the user. It is understood however, that reading and writing skills develop simultaneously and are integrated throughout a balanced curriculum. State adopted content and performance standards recommend that, in addition to regular school reading (as measured by number of books or pages read, or minutes of daily reading), students read a good representation of narrative (i.e. contemporary and classic literature) and expository (i.e. magazines, newspapers, on-line information) text appropriate for grade level:
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By grade 4, students read half a million words annually |
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By grade 8, students read one million words annually |
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By grade 12, students read two million words annually |
Twelfth Grade Standards
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Reading/Literature |
1. Reading is a process which includes demonstrating comprehension, analyzing and interpreting printed texts, and making extensions and applications of a text
- All students will complete a minimum of 600 pages per quarter of Outside Reading. Materials can be selected from the following: fiction, non-fiction, drama, short stories
- All students will demonstrate a thorough understanding of their reading.
2. All students will complete a systematic vocabulary study which focuses on the history of the English language.
3. All students will analyze and evaluate consumer, workplace, and public documents, focusing on the power, validity, and truthfulness of the argument, the appeal to audience, and the anticipation of counterclaims.
4. All students will read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of British literature, tracing and analyzing the historical, social, and political development of its major philosophies.
5. All students will identify and analyze the use of sophisticated literary elements:
- sub-genres of poetry; archetypes, litotes, kennings; and paradox.
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Writing |
1. Writing is a process through which a writer shapes language to communicate effectively in terms of purpose, audience, and context
- All students will write controlled and effective texts, employing appropriate rhetorical devices and sophisticated structure and argumentation, with revision to highlight voice, style, and coherence
- All students will respond to selected literary works by writing organized, formal essays which contain a thesis sentence, appropriate concrete detail, relevant commentary and elaboration, and a conclusion. These writings will be multi-draft and polished in the final form.
2. All students will experience the following types of writing:
- response to literature
- reflective essay
- autobiographical narrative
- researched multi-media report (Senior Project).
3. All students will produce a multi-page word-processed document based on work in which the student has located a variety of types of sources and evaluated the credibility and relevance of the sources; synthesized and revised such information with focus on coherence of purpose and voice; integrated appropriate citations and support material; and used the proper MLA format.
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Language Conventions |
1. All students will demonstrate control of standard English conventions and accepted manuscript form. Independently, students will use the South Tahoe High School English Department Editing Guide to revise and correct their own writing and speaking.
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Listening and Speaking |
1. All students will recognize, analyze, and evaluate the various strategies that media use to inform, persuade, entertain, and transmit culture, and will support those judgments with convincing evidence.
2. All students will deliver focused and coherent extemporaneous presentations that incorporate gestures, tone, and vocabulary tailored to audience and purpose. Student speaking will demonstrate command of standard English, use of the appropriate rhetorical strategies, logical argument, appropriate appeals to emotion, and effective visual aids.
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Study Skills |
1. All students will practice the organization and test-taking strategies necessary for academic success.
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