Chapter 16: English Language Arts, Literacy, and English Language Development in High School
Overview of the Span
Navigating the highs and lows of adolescence, thoughtful and perceptive teachers help students expand their world views beyond the confines of the school and community and to see themselves as powerful actors in these settings.
The standards at this grade span represent increasingly sophisticated expectations for students. Students are prompted to think and operate at levels that result in the achievement of the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language by the end of grade twelve. Students’ progress through the high school years involves or is reflected in many cognitive, physical, emotional, and social changes as these emerging adults contemplate their future and their place in the world around them. Adolescent brain development continues apace, and teen brains change and become more powerful every day.
Now ready to exercise their language and literacy muscles, students engage with interesting inquiries, inspirational literature, and the deep questions of humanity. They turn their developing competencies to tasks that engage with real issues of the day (and yesterday) and are motivated by teachers, settings, and tasks that challenge their own and others’ thinking and that honor their emerging stances and arguments. The depth of knowledge and level of thinking reflected in the standards are commensurate with the work that students will do in postsecondary education and careers.
Content and pedagogy in the grade span include the following:
Meaning Making: Students engage in increasingly sophisticated levels of analysis and interpretation in their reading, listening, speaking, and writing. They are expected to analyze, evaluate, and address multiple authors, sources, motivations, representations, perspectives and points of view, themes and ideas, and interpretations as they read, write, speak, and listen.
Language Development: Students come to understand and analyze how the structure of language and its organization in a variety of texts differ across academic disciplines, and they need to apply and adapt language forms and features to express their own ideas and construct arguments as appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal academic tasks.
Effective Expression: Students become increasingly effective at expressing themselves through different genres of writing using specific rhetorical devices to support assertions. They synthesize multiple sources in their writing and synthesize comments, claims, and evidence on all sides of an issue in collaborative discussions. Students develop and deliver increasingly sophisticated presentations on complex and varied topics. They use words, phrases, clauses, and varied syntax to link major sections of text.
Content Knowledge: Literacy is an essential tool for learning in every content area and for preparing for postsecondary futures. Students wield appropriate literacy tools in all the disciplines they study. They engage with literary and informational text participating in cross-disciplinary explorations and research projects. Wide reading supports their acquisition of knowledge in ELA and other disciplines. Participation in an organized independent reading program contributes to their knowledge.
Foundational Skills: Ideally, students’ knowledge of foundational skills is well established by the time they enter high school, and they access and produce printed language efficiently. However, students who for a variety of reasons have not developed proficiency in the foundational reading skills at this point need intensive instruction in these skills so that they can access grade-level content as soon as possible.
Students who are English learners continue to advance their language and thinking at these grade levels in preparation for college and careers. As they progress along the ELD continuum, they are expected to understand and use appropriate registers to express and defend nuanced opinions, consider context in adapting language choices, and address complex questions and show thoughtful consideration of ideas and arguments. They also are asked to analyze the effects of language choices made by writers and speakers and make connections and distinctions between ideas and texts based on evidence as they persuade others. As is the case for EL students at all ages, educators need to monitor progress carefully to ensure that teaching and learning experiences attend to the particular learning needs of individuals. Understanding students’ varied schooling experiences and English and primary language proficiencies helps teachers and schools ensure that each EL youth receives the academic challenge and support he or she needs to pursue his or her college and career aspirations.
Synchronous and Asynchronous Instruction. Teachers should carefully consider which learning experiences are given priority during synchronous instruction. Teachers identify lessons that are best conducted synchronously when teachers can make “in-the-moment” decisions about next instructional moves based on students’ performance as they engage in the lesson. For example, teachers provide real-time instruction on deconstructing complex sentences with new and challenging vocabulary or language structures. They model their thinking process and observe as students work together to understand selected passages. Teachers may also initiate a brief discussion about a text that students are reading and then organize students into breakout rooms to continue the discussion and respond to critical thinking questions. Teachers visit breakout rooms to observe and interact with students as needed to deepen their thinking. Other activities can occur effectively without the teacher available in real-time. For example, teachers might provide asynchronous activities in which students video themselves giving a book talk. Teachers may also video themselves demonstrating effective online search techniques and then ask students to conduct online research for a group project and record their notes in a shared document.
The following vignette features an interview with a high school teacher about her implementation of distance learning with her students. Discussions of standards and instructional considerations for ELA and literacy in grades nine through twelve follow the vignette.
Voices from the Field Kathleen Giannandrea | Orosi High School | Orosi, CA
We often hear about students who have multiple concurrent challenges—English language learning, socioeconomic disadvantages, and even social and emotional learning needs that accompany systemic poverty. English teacher Kathleen Giannandrea—who teaches in the rural southern San Joaquin Valley community of Cutler-Orosi—supports her learners in a variety of ways and ultimately focuses on how to achieve universal success.
Giannandrea is a 25-year veteran who deploys everything from technology to AVID strategies in her senior English courses at Orosi High School. Additionally, she teaches dual-enrollment college courses and serves as the AVID coordinator at both the school and district levels. Here, Giannandrea discusses her approach to instruction and the thoughtful use of technology.
How have you and your colleagues approached the implementation of distance learning?
Truth is, we have had success, as well as challenges. We are continuing to redefine expectations and examine our instruction through a larger lens of equity. As a staff, we are trying to support one another. Early on, we were trying all of the tools available. We experienced overload and both teacher and student frustration. We quickly realized that we had to focus on our top three tools and do those well.
We are a Google school and use the suite of Google Apps. We also use Pear Deck [a formative assessment platform] because of the different ways students can participate: drag and drop, multiple choice questions, draw and use visuals. And we use Edpuzzle [video-based lessons] to incorporate our own videos and outside video content, especially as a supplement for asynchronous opportunities.
Naturally, we have district expectations about the percentage of synchronous and asynchronous time. Friday has been our asynchronous day. It has been a poor attendance day, and our students have struggled during this asynchronous time. I continue to lean on AVID strategies to support them here.
In the English department, we focused our asynchronous time on things like front-loading next week’s content, as well as focusing on reflections. This includes written reflections on paper, as well as digitally using Flipgrid [video-based discussion software]. I am seeing lots of asynchronous time being devoted to responding to questions—often reflective in nature—as well as synthesizing what students have learned. We realize that a lot of students are largely on their own during asynchronous times.
In what other ways are you incorporating both analog and digital tools into your instruction?
Students in their final years of high school are expected to engage in sophisticated levels of analysis as they read and synthesize multiple sources of information. I’m finding, however, that many students are struggling right now with processing and organizing key points of the reading. Notetaking can be part of the solution here. We use sketchnotes—or visual notetaking. They can choose to do them either analog or digitally. We provide both analog and digital notetaking templates for them. As an example, we use another AVID strategy known as the One-Pager. We are also still reading books that students come to school and pick up. We have group projects planned related to books they are reading in small groups.
I also use Padlet [collaborative digital presentation software] a great deal. As an example, I used it with my seniors for work on college applications. They submitted what they were working on, incorporated pictures and graphics of their work and then responded to questions that were submitted. They also gave advice to next year’s students through Padlet.
How are you using technology to build the kind of critical thinking and literacy skills necessary for success in postsecondary education and the workforce?
We are building cross-disciplinary skills that prepare students for postsecondary education and the workforce. For example, we know that collaboration is important, and we have fully deployed successful Socratic Seminars on Zoom . We use Zoom breakout rooms, as well as Google Docs and Slides to maintain the shared collaboration.
We use these and other opportunities to focus on speaking and listening skills. We use the chat feature in Zoom a great deal. We have been using Google Jamboards [collaborative digital whiteboards] as well. If they cannot contribute verbally—often due to unstable internet at home—they can post a digital sticky note on a Jamboard. There are always multiple ways to participate.
Also important for postsecondary preparation is for students to refine their research skills. Therefore, we focused on investigative writing projects. We looked at bias, reliable sources, and what sources are helpful to one’s research. We used this time to develop information and media literacy skills. We helped them develop research questions and discussed how to conduct quality, academic research. Students could choose their topics; they pursued what current issues and events were of interest to them.
Which features do you prioritize when seeking out, advocating for, or selecting education technology?
I have had the realization that it’s not about what’s comfortable or even interesting to me but rather what my students need in terms of technology. Sometimes we have to be aware that it is not about the bells and whistles.
I will continue to use Google tools because I can see my students’ work in real time, which allows me to give timely feedback. This feature is critical to supporting students as they read and analyze complex text and write for a variety of purposes. I also want tools that are easy for students to use and that can be easily accessed in- and outside of class. Pear Deck works well this way, too. Tools that focus on collaborative experiences are especially valuable. Kami [an annotation and editing tool] provides this as well.
Tools that help students annotate or provide voice options are helpful. Both Pear Deck and Kami do these. I like the Mote add-on [a student feedback tool] for Google, too, as it provides verbal feedback. Students like to hear our voices. This is good for learners in so many ways. It is good for all learners, but especially EL students and learners with special needs. They appreciate reading and hearing at the same time. Hearing a good reader helps build fluency, which we continue to support as needed in this grade span.
Grades Nine and Ten: English Language Arts and English Language Development
The first year of high school is an exciting but anxious time for students. In the midst of one of the biggest transitions students make in their academic careers, they enter a new world of high school ELA and literacy in which they encounter new ideas, universal themes, and greater demands in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Students exercise new-found independence as they grapple with more complex ideas and an increased volume of reading and writing.
Students at grades nine and ten are called on to deploy their language and literacy skills to understand, interpret, and create text in ELA and all other subjects. Text complexity increases at these grades as students read Shakespeare and other works of world literature for the first time as well as textbooks and other sources in history/social studies, biology, health, geometry, and more. The standards expect students to question more and consider the impact of authors’ choices of language and text structure. For some students, this may be the first time they consider that a content area text may not represent indisputable truth or that literary text can be interrogated for its choices in presentation and ideas. The concept of the author as an imperfect individual is likely to be new. All students, and especially EL students, receive instruction designed to accelerate their progress in meeting the demands of the standards. Students learning English have ample opportunities to engage in extended discussions with peers and adults. They receive rich instruction in all content areas and a comprehensive program of ELD.
Standards and instructional considerations for grades nine and ten follow. In distance learning settings, teachers should carefully consider which learning experiences are given priority during synchronous instruction. Guidelines are presented in Chapter 10 and also addressed in the Overview of the Span in this chapter.
Some key standards are included in more than one theme, or critical area of instructional focus. For example, SL.9-10.1 is crucial in meaning making, language development, effective expression, and content knowledge. Thus, it is included in the first four charts that follow. In each case, the repeated standard is displayed with a pink background to make the repetition obvious. Likewise, RL/RI.9-10.10 appears in several charts, and so a different color (in this case, orange) is used to highlight the repetition. Presented first is a chart depicting the standards for grades nine and ten at a glance followed by detailed charts for each theme.
Critical Areas of Instructional Focus: At a Glance
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Meaning Making
Key ELA & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RL/RI.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. W.9-10.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. SL.9-10.3 Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b,11a.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia; justify opinions and positions or persuade others by making connections between ideas and articulating relevant textual evidence or background knowledge.
English language arts students in grades nine and ten are expected to conduct increasingly sophisticated analyses of the works they read and view. Students now delineate and evaluate arguments and specific claims, determine whether reasoning is valid, and identify false statements and fallacious reasoning (RI.9-10.8; SL.9-10.3). Students analyze the development of a central idea over the course of a text and how it is shaped by specific details (RL/RI.9-10.2); how complex characters develop and advance the plot or theme (RL.9-10.3); how an author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events (RI.9-10.3); how an author draws on and transforms source material (e.g., Shakespeare, Ovid) (RL.9-10.9); and seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (RI.9-10.9). To support meaning making, English language arts teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these complex processes with a range of text genres and disciplines. They look for opportunities to collaborate with librarians and teachers in other disciplines, particularly history-social studies.
Every student regularly engages with grade-level text with scaffolds (planned and “just-in-time”) provided and adjusted in accordance with the strengths and needs of the learner.
Text-dependent questions help students grapple with and investigate text at increasing levels of complexity. Thoughtfully prepared questions guide students to identify evidence in a text that reveals an author’s point of view or purpose and how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose (RI.9-10.6). Teachers and students analyze texts to create text-dependent questions that engage students’ motivations to read texts closely and that challenge and honor students’ thinking. Questions aimed solely at accountability for reading are minimized.
All students read a range of literary and informational texts both independently and collaboratively with their peers, and they discuss these texts with their peers and teachers. These include assigned texts and self-selected texts intended for in-depth study as well as independent reading texts designed to build reading enjoyment. Teachers confer with students individually or in small groups about their reading, and students share their reading with peers through book talks and other activities.
Teachers occasionally read aloud for specific, limited purposes. They read from selected passages of texts the class is studying to illustrate key points or to introduce new genres or beautiful language.
RL/RI.9-10.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts.
Students read and discuss increasingly complex texts of different types daily, with special attention given to books with appropriate complexity for grades nine and ten. Volume of reading is critical in building reading stamina, interest, and engagement. Teachers and librarians recommend books based on students’ current and potential interests.
Teachers support students in meaning making, teaching them how to navigate unfamiliar concepts and vocabulary and complex language structures (RL/RI.9-10.4; L.9-10.4-6; ELD.PI.9-10.12.Ex; ELD.PII.9-10.1-2.Ex). They guide the deconstruction of selected sentences and paragraphs to deepen students’ understanding of language structures, meaning making, and authors’ choices.
Teachers support students as they learn to analyze representations, scenes, or accounts in different mediums while considering emphases and omissions (RL/RI.9-10.7; SL.9-10.2).
Teachers create opportunities for all students to select the texts they read for study and enjoyment to capitalize on students’ increasing interest in novelty, exploration, and independence. Teachers and librarians acquire and recommend books that reflect the lives and languages of students—books that speak to the personal struggles and triumphs of all humanity.
W.9-10.1-3 Write arguments, informative/explanatory texts, and narratives.
ELD.PI.9-10.10a.Ex Write longer literary and informational texts collaboratively and independently.
All students write about the texts they read and view; writing helps students express, refine, and consolidate their understandings of new concepts and complex texts. Students use writing to capture specific text details and their reactions, interpretations, analyses, summaries, notes, outlines, and answers to questions about the text (RL/RI.9-10.1-3; RI.9-10.8; W.9-10.10).
Students become more skilled in conveying meaning by varying their writing according to their task, purpose, and audience (W.9-10.4). They write frequently and often combine argumentative, explanatory, or narrative forms according to their purpose, task, and audience (W.9-10.10).
SL.9-10.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
ELD.PI.9-10.1.Ex Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions.
Discussions are increasingly sophisticated in grades nine and ten, and students’ engagement with others enhances their understanding of complex ideas. Students now draw on textual or research evidence from their preparation to stimulate a thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange of ideas (SL.9-10.1a; RL/RI.9-10.9). Students actively incorporate others in the discussion; respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives; summarize points of agreement or disagreement; clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and, when warranted, qualify or justify their views in light of evidence and reasoning presented (SL.9-10.1c,d).
Teachers create opportunities for students to work in pairs and small groups to engage in discussions in virtual and in-class settings. Students participate in both informally and formally structured discussions.
Teachers consider the purpose of the task and the EL students’ proficiency levels and group them heterogeneously with Peers at more advanced levels of English proficiency for core tasks and consider homogeneous groups for identified language needs.
Students adapt their speech in discussions and presentations as needed to accomplish their purposes and convey meaning to their audience; they use formal English as appropriate to the task (SL.9-10.4,6).
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Language Development
Key ELA & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RL/RI.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings. L.9-10.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words.
ELD.PI.9-10.6c.Ex Use knowledge of morphology, context, reference materials, and visual cues to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words on familiar and new topics.
Students continue to develop their understanding of figurative, connotative, and technical meanings of words and phrases in English language arts in grades nine and ten, now considering the cumulative impact of the choices of words and phrases in literary and informational texts (ELD.PI.9-10.8.Ex). English language arts teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) this process with a range of text types and topics.
Teachers employ strategies to develop students’ word consciousness and encourage students to be curious about new words and new meanings of known words that they encounter. They also encourage students to be curious about and analyze new grammatical and syntactical structures that they encounter in texts; teachers model their own processes for making sense of dense phrases and sentences (L.9-10.4-6).
Teachers leverage all students’ experiences and EL students’ native language where possible (e.g., highlighting cognates) to support vocabulary development.
RL/RI.9-10.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia using an increasing variety of verbs and adverbials.
Teachers support students to read complex texts by teaching text vocabulary explicitly, providing rich and engaging, as well as repeated, experiences with new words (L.9-10.4-6). Teachers select a limited number of words from the text that have high utility for text comprehension and use in other contexts. Teachers also model and encourage students to use strategies for independent word learning (ELD.PI.9-10.6c,8.Ex).
W.9-10.1-3 Write arguments, informative/explanatory texts, and narratives.
ELD.PII.9-10.2b.Ex Apply knowledge of familiar language resources for linking ideas, events, or reasons throughout a text to comprehending texts and to writing increasingly cohesive texts for specific purposes and audiences.
All students in grades nine and ten learn to use words, phrases, and clauses in increasingly powerful ways in their writing, including linking major sections of the text; clarifying complex relationships between claims, evidence, and counterclaims; and conveying a vivid picture of experiences, events, settings, or characters (W.9-10.1c,2c-d,3d; ELD.PI.9-10.12a.Ex). Teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these processes and provide appropriate feedback as they practice.
SL.9-10.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
ELD.PI.9-10.1.Ex Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions.
All students have regular opportunities to engage in brief and extended conversations with a range of others in a range of contexts for a range of purposes. These opportunities contribute to language development and are particularly important for EL students. Teachers encourage and support students to use target words and phrases in their discussions.
Students distinguish between formal and informal discourse and use formal English as appropriate to the task (SL.9-10.6).
L.6.1e Recognize variations from standard English in their own and others’ writing and speaking and identify and use strategies to improve expression in conventional language.(Grade 6 standard provided intentionally.) ELD.PI.9-10.7 Explain how successfully writers and speakers structure texts and use language to persuade the reader or create other specific effects, with moderate support.
Teachers support students to build their metacognitive awareness of their own and others’ language use in speaking and writing. Teachers create an environment that encourages students to experiment with language without being overly concerned with correctness. Teachers do focus students’ attention on correctness during the editing process. Teachers help students understand the impact of using powerful language correctly in formal settings, both on their audience and on their identities as writers and speakers.
Teachers model how they analyze complex sentences to understand their meanings, and they engage students in similar practices. Examining these language structures in the context of the texts the class is studying is more valuable than isolated grammar practice. It is helpful to all students, particularly EL students, to analyze or “unpack” complex sentences as examples of effective use of verb types and tenses, noun phrases, and adverbials to add and enrich details, and connect ideas (L.9-10.1-3; ELD.PII.9-10.3-6.Ex).
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Effective Expression
Key ELA & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RL/RI.9-10.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts.
All students read daily in virtual and in-class English language arts settings—both independently and collaboratively.
Teachers support students to read increasingly complex text and engage students in examining passages that represent samples of effective expression. Students and their teachers work to uncover what makes passages effective or complex and, for the first time, consider rhetorical effects.
Students analyze how an author has structured a text for particular effects (RL/RI.9-10.5) or has used rhetoric to advance a point of view or purpose (RI.9-10.6). Students also consider a particular point of view or cultural experience when analyzing a work of literature from outside the U.S. (RL.9-10.6).
W.9-10.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. W.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.W.9-10.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
ELD.PI.9-10.10.Ex Write longer literary and informational texts collaboratively and independently by using appropriate text organization and growing understanding of register; write increasingly concise summaries of texts and experiences by using complete sentences and key words.
All students increase their capacities to structure their writing and use language to effectively address their task, purpose, and audience. Students at grades nine and ten are expected to analyze substantive topics or texts and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information effectively in their writing. Teachers engage students in the analysis of a variety of mentor texts representing effective examples of text organization and language use and help students apply similar strategies to their own writing (ELD.PII.9-10.1-7.Ex).
In grades nine and ten, expectations are both more advanced and more nuanced. Students are expected to analyze substantive topics or texts, introduce precise claims, develop claims and counterclaims fairly, and point out strengths and limitations in a way that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level and concerns (W.9-10.1a,b). Teachers again use mentor texts and modeling to help students understand and practice these distinctions.
Teachers model and guide co-construction of increasingly effective text aligned to purpose and audience to build stronger coherence in writing.
All students write daily in virtual and in-class settings—both independently and collaboratively (W.9-10.10).
All students use technology to produce and publish writing and collaborate with others. In grades nine and ten, they are expected to use technology to display information flexibly and dynamically and link it to other information (W.9-10.6).
W.9-10.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
Teachers help students plan their writing by connecting the products of their reading (e.g., annotations, discussion notes, summaries, reflections, outlines, maps, responses to questions) to the writing task.
Students’ writing receives regular, specific feedback, so students become increasingly effective at expressing arguments, information, and narratives (W.9-10.8,9). Teachers and peers provide feedback on longer assignments early in the process so that students can set goals for improvement and make revisions. Feedback is focused on effective communication and selected features that have been the subject of instruction and classroom discussion. Teachers, rather than peers, offer feedback on correctness and form during the editing process (L.9-10.1-3).
Feedback is expressed in positive, encouraging ways that honor students’ efforts and acknowledge their progress. Teachers model and provide structures for constructive peer feedback, including opportunities for students to respond to the feedback they receive. Students regularly evaluate their own writing and identify progress they have made toward their own goals.
SL.9-10.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
ELD.PI.9-10.1,3.Ex Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions; negotiate with or persuade others in conversations using a growing number of learned phrases and open responses to express and defend nuanced opinions.
Teachers establish a climate that fosters trust, safety, equitable participation, and respect for individuals and multiple perspectives in both in-class and virtual settings.
Teachers engage students in using a variety of discussion structures and, together with students, develop norms of effective discussion. Teachers and students offer feedback on discussion processes and set goals for improving them (SL.9-10.1b-c; ELD.PI.9-10.5.Ex).
Students collaborate as partners and in small groups to plan their writing and oral presentations. They review one another’s writing or presentation plans at key points and provide feedback about its effectiveness. Teachers offer rubrics to focus feedback on important elements.
Teachers assess conversations for structure and language used and provide specific feedback aligned to academic language objectives.
SL.9-10.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task. ELD.PI.9-10.9.Ex Plan and deliver a variety of oral presentations and reports on grade-appropriate topics that present evidence and facts to support ideas by using growing understanding of register.
Students use technology creatively (e.g., audio or video of reports, public service announcements, dramatic performances, spoken word) to present arguments, information, and narratives as individuals, partners, or small groups (SL.9-10.5).
As students plan and deliver oral presentations, they focus on communicating their ideas effectively to their audience and adapting their speech, as appropriate, to the task (SL.9-10.6).
Teachers provide mentor texts in the form of clips from podcasts, films, readings, or other performances to demonstrate powerful language and content, clear structure, and effective presentation techniques (SL.9-10.2,5).
L.9-10.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. ELD.PI.9-10.4.Ex Adjust language choices according to the context, purpose, task, and audience.
Teachers accept and value students’ language varieties and establish an environment, both online and in class, that is respectful and safe for students to experiment with language.
Just as students set goals for improving the content and structure of their writing and oral presentations, they are guided in setting goals to improve their use of language conventions (L.9-10.1-3).
All students continue to adapt their use of informal and formal English according to the demands of the context, task, and audience (SL.9-10.6).
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Content Knowledge
Key ELA & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RI.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. W.9-10.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. SL.9-10.3 Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia.
Students in grades nine and ten are expected to conduct increasingly sophisticated analyses of the works they read and view in English language arts, delineating and evaluating arguments and specific claims, determining whether reasoning is valid, and identifying false statements and fallacious reasoning (RI.9-10.8; SL.9-10.3). Students now consider the rhetoric of written and spoken texts (RI.9-10.6; SL.9-10.3), and they understand more deeply how arguments and claims can be structured or expressed differently in various disciplines and genres (W.9-10.1; SL.9-10.3; ELD.PI.9-10.6a,11a.Ex). English language arts teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these processes and provide practice as needed.
Informational, as well as literary, texts are a crucial component of every grade level in English language arts—particularly in high school. Students read nonfiction and fiction texts to build knowledge, experience multiple perspectives, and gain fresh insights. Text selections are based on grade-level standards in different content areas (e.g., English language arts, science, social studies) and students’ interests and cultural experiences.
Informational and literary texts are read in combination in text sets and on their own. Students learn how text structures and evidence vary across genres and subgenres. Teachers look for opportunities to collaborate with librarians and teachers in other departments to integrate literacy across subject areas.
RI.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.
ELD.PI.9-10.6c.Ex Use knowledge of morphology, context, reference materials, and visual cues to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words on familiar and new topics.
Teachers help students examine vocabulary, language structures, organizational structures, and use of media in literary and informational texts of different genres and disciplines (L.9-10.4-6; RL/RI.9-10.5,7; SL.9-10.2). Students expand their content knowledge as they attend to the language features unique to these genres and disciplines.
RL/RI.9-10.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts.
All students read broadly across text genres and disciplines in classroom and virtual settings and at home. They read to gain knowledge, to become inspired, and for pleasure. Teachers organize independent reading programs that expose students to a variety of text types and capitalize on students’ interests.
Students have access to informational text in their home languages to amplify content knowledge and support meaning making.
W.9-10.1,2 Write arguments and informative/explanatory texts.
ELD.PI.9-10.10a.Ex Write longer informational texts collaboratively and independently.
All students write frequently to process information they learn through reading, viewing, and listening and to communicate their understandings and perspectives on what they have learned. As they write, students consolidate their existing and new content knowledge.
All students use technology to collaborate with classmates and to conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question or solve a problem (W.9-10.7; SL.9-10.5; ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex; ELD.PII.9-10.1.Ex). In grades nine and ten, students narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate and synthesize multiple sources on the topic (W.9-10.7).
Students now gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively. They integrate information into their text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation, including footnotes and endnotes (W.9-10.8; SL.9-10.3). Teachers and school librarians collaborate to help students use a standard citation format and advanced search terms effectively.
SL.9-10.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
ELD.PI.9-10.1.Ex Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions.
All students engage in discussions of what they have read and learned across genres and disciplines, contributing to their content knowledge. Students collaborate as partners or in small groups to conduct research and engage in other long-term projects based on their interests and areas of study (W.9-10.6,7; SL.9-10.5).
As students share their knowledge with others in formal presentations, they focus on communicating effectively with their audience and adapting their speech, as appropriate, to the task and the discipline (SL.9-10.5,6).
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Foundational Skills
Key ELA & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RF.5.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Ideally, students’ knowledge of foundational skills is well established by the time they enter grades nine and ten, and English language arts teachers continue to support students’ reading fluency to aid comprehension.
Support for students who lag significantly behind in foundational reading skills is provided strategically and effectively to allow for accelerated progress and full participation in core instruction.
Teachers provide EL students targeted instruction in foundational literacy skills based on students’ spoken English proficiency, native language proficiency, prior schooling, and assessed needs.
Class Spotlight
Arletta Raymond’s tenth-grade English students are reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (Haddon, 2004), the story of Christopher, a neurodivergent teenager who is investigating the violent death of a neighbor’s dog. Told in the first-person, the protagonist uses logic and reasoning to find the answer. The reader also perceives social challenges and ambiguities that the protagonist does not. “It’s a challenge for students to understand the character development of Christopher, when at times he is unaware himself,” said Ms. Raymond. “It’s a great opportunity for them to learn about the internal life of a character.” To support students’ meaning making at the start of the novel, Ms. Raymond and her class created a bank of character traits they assigned to Christopher, and the teacher created a digital word cloud to describe him. She posted this on their learning management system’s discussion board for future reference. Each period’s word clouds varied somewhat, but many of the descriptions were consistent throughout. They soon added word clouds for other major characters. As the novel developed, Ms. Raymond had students analyze for direct and indirect characterizations. “That’s a strength of this work, because virtually all of them are indirect,” she said. Students referred back to their initial word cloud to see which traits remained constant, and which ones were changing. In addition to aiding character analysis, the activity also supported students’ language development.
To sustain the productive engagement with the text of EL students and others who have reading difficulties, Ms. Raymond modeled the use of a set of clarifying bookmarks. In addition, she had EL students track language features (word choice, phrases, and clauses) used to describe character traits and explain their meaning. Students had choices for submitting their chapter analyses, which included dramatic structure, emerging themes, changes in the character, and evidence. Students expressed these analyses in writing and orally; some wrote their analyses using the class discussion board, while others submitted short video recordings of their responses. The video response choice quickly became the more popular option, and Ms. Raymond strengthened it by adding peer responses to the assignment. “These became more conversational as time went on,” said the teacher. Further supporting students’ effective expression, Ms. Raymond strategically organized heterogeneous breakout groups so that students could engage in sustained conversations of their emerging ideas about Christopher using evidence from the text. By the end of the novel, students saw that Christopher had become more independent and confident in himself, a struggle these adolescents could relate to their own lives. “Their comparisons of Christopher’s evolution as a person across the course of the novel mirrored many of their own experiences.”
Prominent ELA/ELD Themes: Meaning Making, Language Development, Effective Expression
Grades Nine and Ten: Literacy in History/Social Studies and English Language Development
In addition to the standards for English language arts, the California ELA/Literacy Standards at grades nine and ten include Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. Specifically, the Literacy Standards include the following:
Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies
Reading Standards for Science and Technical Subjects
Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
These standards are founded on the premise that instruction in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language is a shared responsibility within a school. Just as students learn to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively in ELA, so too do they learn the literacy skills and understandings required for college and career readiness in multiple disciplines. Literacy standards for grades nine and ten are based on the expectation that teachers of ELA, history/social studies, science, and technical subjects use their expertise to help students meet the particular challenges of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in their respective fields. It is important to note that the literacy standards are not meant to replace content standards in those areas but rather to supplement them.
Standards and instructional considerations for literacy in history/social studies at grades nine and ten follow. They are organized by the five crosscutting themes of the ELA/ELD Framework—meaning making, language development, effective expression, content knowledge, and foundational skills. For each theme, key Literacy Standards and key ELD Standards at the Expanding proficiency level are indicated in the left column. Related Standards and Instructional Considerations for each theme are noted in the right column. See Identification and Organization of the Standards in Chapter 11 for more specific information on the format and content of the standards.
In distance learning settings, teachers should carefully consider which learning experiences are given priority during synchronous instruction. Guidelines are presented in Chapter 10 and also addressed in the Overview of the Span in this chapter.
Some key standards are included in more than one theme, or critical area of instructional focus. For example, RH.9-10.10 is crucial in meaning making, language development, effective expression, and content knowledge. Thus, it is included in the first four charts that follow. In each case, the repeated standard is displayed with a pink background to make the repetition obvious. Likewise, WHST.9-10.2 appears in several charts, and so a different color (in this case, orange) is used to highlight the repetition. Presented first is a chart depicting the standards for grades nine and ten at a glance followed by detailed charts for each theme.
Critical Areas of Instructional Focus: At a Glance
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Meaning Making
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RH.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information. WHST.9-10.9 Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b,11a.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia; justify opinions and positions or persuade others by making connections between ideas and articulating relevant textual evidence or background knowledge.
History/social studies students in grades nine and ten are expected to conduct increasingly sophisticated analyses of the primary and secondary sources they read and view. Students now assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author’s claims (RH.9-10.8). Students analyze and summarize the development of key events or ideas over the course of a text (RH.9-10.2); determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them (RH.9-10.3); and compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources (RH.9-10.9). To support meaning making, history/social studies teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these complex processes with a range of sources. They look for opportunities to collaborate with librarians and English language arts teachers.
Every student regularly engages with grade-level text with scaffolds (planned and “just-in-time”) provided and adjusted in accordance with the strengths and needs of the learner.
Text-dependent questions help students grapple with and investigate text at increasing levels of complexity. Thoughtfully prepared questions guide students to identify evidence that reveals authors’ points of view and allows them to compare authors’ treatments of similar topics (RH.9-10.6). Teachers and students analyze texts to create text-dependent questions that engage students’ motivations to read texts closely and that challenge and honor students’ thinking. Questions aimed solely at accountability for reading are minimized.
All students read a range of primary and secondary sources both independently and collaboratively with their peers, and they discuss these texts with their peers and teachers. Teachers occasionally read aloud from selected passages of texts the class is studying to illustrate key points or to introduce new genres or powerful language.
Teachers consider the purpose of the task and the EL students’ proficiency levels and group them heterogeneously with Peers at more advanced levels of English proficiency for core tasks and consider homogeneous groups for identified language needs.
RH.9-10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia.
Students read and discuss increasingly complex texts in the discipline regularly, with special attention given to text with appropriate complexity for grades nine and ten. Volume of reading is critical in building reading stamina, interest, and engagement.
Teachers support students in meaning making, teaching them how to navigate unfamiliar concepts and vocabulary and complex language structures (RH.9-10.4; ELD.PI.9-10.12.Ex; ELD.PII.9-10.1,2.Ex). Teachers guide the deconstruction of complex sentences and paragraphs to deepen students’ understanding of language structures, meaning making, and authors’ choices.
Teachers support students as they learn to analyze how a text is structured to emphasize key points or advance an explanation or analysis (RH.9-10.5); and to integrate quantitative or technical analysis with qualitative analysis in print or digital text (RH.9-10.7).
Teachers create opportunities for all students to select the texts they read for study to capitalize on students’ increasing interest in novelty, exploration, and independence. Teachers and librarians acquire and recommend texts that reflect the lives and languages of students—texts that speak to the personal struggles and triumphs of all humanity.
Students have many opportunities to discuss texts with peers in virtual and in-class settings (ELD.PI.9-10.1.Ex). Their engagement with others enhances their understanding of the discipline. Students prepare for discussions, drawing on the textual or research evidence to stimulate a well-reasoned exchange of ideas. They actively incorporate others in the discussion and respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives. Opportunities for extended discussions are especially important for EL students.
WHST.9-10.1,2 Write arguments and informative/explanatory texts focused on discipline-specific content, including the narration of historical events.
ELD.PI.9-10.10a.Ex Write longer informational texts collaboratively and independently.
All students write about the texts they read; writing helps students express, refine, and consolidate their understandings of new concepts and complex texts. Students use writing to capture specific text details and their reactions, interpretations, analyses, summaries, notes, outlines, and answers to questions about the text (RH.9-10.1-3,8; WHST.9-10.10).
As they write, students convey meaning by varying their writing according to their task, purpose, and audience (WHST.9-10.4). They write frequently and may combine argumentative, explanatory, or narrative forms according to their purpose, task, and audience (WHST.9-10.10).
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Language Development
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RH.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social studies.
ELD.PI.9-10.6c.Ex Use knowledge of morphology, context, reference materials, and visual cues to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words on familiar and new topics.
Teachers support students to read complex disciplinary texts by teaching text vocabulary explicitly, providing rich and engaging, as well as repeated, experiences with new words (ELD.PI.9-10.8,12.Ex). Teachers select a limited number of words from the text that have high utility for text comprehension and use in other contexts (e.g., in several primary sources on the topic). Teachers also model strategies for independent word learning.
Students continue to develop their understanding of figurative, connotative, and technical meanings of words and phrases in grades nine and ten. History/social studies teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) this process with texts in the discipline (ELD.PI.9-10.8.Ex).
Teachers employ strategies to develop students’ word consciousness and encourage students to be curious about new words and new meanings of known words that they encounter. They also encourage students to be curious about new syntactical structures common to the discipline that they encounter in texts; teachers model their own processes for making sense of dense phrases and sentences.
All students have regular opportunities to engage in brief and extended conversations about texts with a range of others in a range of contexts for a range of purposes. These opportunities contribute to language development and are particularly important for EL students (ELD.PI.9-10.1.Ex). Teachers encourage and support students in using target words and phrases in their discussions.
Teachers leverage all students’ experiences and ELs’ native language where possible (e.g., highlighting cognates) to support vocabulary development.
RH.9-10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing multimedia using an increasing variety of verbs and adverbials.
All students have regular opportunities to read and discuss history/social studies texts. Increasingly complex text and rich content curriculum provide opportunities to learn new words and phrases, thereby deepening students’ language development.
Teachers model how they analyze complex sentences to understand their meanings, and they engage students in similar practices. Examining these language structures in the context of the texts the class is studying is more valuable than isolated grammar practice. It is helpful to all students, particularly EL students, to analyze or “unpack” complex sentences as examples of effective use of verb types and tenses, noun phrases, and adverbials to add and enrich details, and connect ideas (ELD.PII.9-10.3-6.Ex).
WHST.9-10.1-2 Write arguments and informative/explanatory texts.
ELD.PII.9-10.2b.Ex Apply knowledge of familiar language resources for linking ideas, events, or reasons throughout a text to comprehending texts and to writing increasingly cohesive texts for specific purposes and audiences.
All students in grades nine and ten learn to use words, phrases, and clauses to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claims, reasons, evidence, and counterclaims; students use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic and convey a style appropriate to the discipline and likely readers (WHST.9-10.1c,2d; ELD.PI.9-10.12a.Ex). Teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these processes and support students as they practice.
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Effective Expression
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RH.9-10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing multimedia.
All students read texts in the discipline regularly in virtual and in-class history/social studies settings—both independently and collaboratively. They discuss texts with one another, articulating their ideas clearly, and drawing on evidence from the text (WHST.9-10.9).
Teachers establish a climate that fosters trust, safety, equitable participation, and respect for individuals and multiple perspectives in both in-class and virtual settings.
Teachers support students to read increasingly complex text and engage students in examining passages that represent samples of effective expression. Students and their teachers work to uncover what makes passages effective or complex, considering how a text is structured to emphasize key points or how two or more authors treat the same or similar topics (RH.9-10.5,6).
Students use technology creatively (e.g., audio or video of reports, public service announcements, dramatic performances, spoken word) to present arguments, information, and narratives as individuals, partners, or small groups (WHST.9-10.6).
Teachers provide mentor texts in the form of clips from podcasts, films, readings, or other performances to demonstrate powerful language and content, clear structure, and effective presentation techniques.
WHST.9-10.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content. WHST.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events.
ELD.PI.9-10.10.Ex Write longer informational texts collaboratively and independently using appropriate text organization and growing understanding of register; write increasingly concise summaries of texts and experiences by using complete sentences and key words.
All students learn that the structure and use of language in their writing varies according to the task, purpose, and audience. Teachers engage students in the analysis of a variety of mentor texts representing effective examples of text organization and language use and help students apply similar strategies to their own writing (ELD.PII.9-10.1-7.Ex).
Teachers model and guide co-construction of increasingly effective text aligned to purpose and audience.
All students organize their writing in increasingly effective ways. Students introduce precise claims or topics; create an organization that establishes clear relationships among claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence or among ideas, concepts, and information; and provide a concluding statement that follows from and supports the argument or information (WHST.9-10.1a,1e,2a,2e).
All students write regularly in virtual and in-class settings—both independently and collaboratively (WHST.9-10.10). They use technology to produce and publish writing, collaborate with others, and display information flexibly and dynamically link it to other information (WHST.9-10.6).
Teachers support students in building their metacognitive awareness of their own and others’ language use in writing (and speaking). Teachers create an environment that encourages students to experiment with language without being overly concerned with correctness.
Teachers accept and value students’ language varieties and establish an environment, both online and in class, that is respectful and safe for students to experiment with language.
WHST.9-10.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
Teachers help students plan their writing by connecting the products of their reading (e.g., annotations, discussion notes, summaries, reflections, outlines, maps, responses to questions) to the writing task.
Students’ writing receives regular, specific feedback, so students become increasingly effective at expressing arguments and information. Teachers and peers provide feedback on longer assignments early in the process so that students can set goals for improvement and make revisions. Feedback is focused on effective communication in the discipline and selected features that have been the subject of instruction and classroom discussion. Teachers, rather than peers, offer feedback on correctness and form during the editing process.
Feedback is expressed in positive, encouraging ways to ensure motivation and enthusiasm for creating written work are maintained. Teachers engage students in evaluating their own writing and identifying progress they have made toward their own goals.
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Content Knowledge
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RH.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information. WHST.9-10.9 Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia.
Students assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a history/social studies text support the author’s claims, and history/social studies teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) this process and provide practice as needed (RH.9-10.8). Students practice identifying, evaluating, and expressing arguments (ELD.PI.9-10.6a,11a.Ex).
Teachers integrate history/social studies and literacy using text sets on a given topic. They look for opportunities to collaborate with librarians and teachers in other departments to integrate literacy across subject areas.
RH.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social studies.
ELD.PI.9-10.6c.Ex Use knowledge of morphology, context, reference materials, and visual cues to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words on familiar and new topics.
Teachers help students examine vocabulary, language structures, organizational structures, and use of graphics and media in print and digital historical and social studies texts. Students identify features unique to the discipline and consider their impact on text meaning (RH.9-10.5,7).
RH.9-10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing multimedia.
All students read broadly in the discipline. Teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) as needed to help students read grade-level texts, including primary source documents. The use of text complements and contributes to content instruction; it does not replace inquiry and other content approaches.
All students read widely in classroom and virtual settings and at home. They read to gain knowledge, to become inspired, and for pleasure.
All students have frequent opportunities to discuss the content of the texts they read (ELD.PI.9-10.1.Ex); these discussions enhance students’ content knowledge.
Students have access to informational text in their home languages to amplify content knowledge and support meaning making.
WHST.9-10.1,2 Write arguments and informative/explanatory texts.
ELD.PI.9-10.10a.Ex Write longer informational texts collaboratively and independently.
All students write frequently to process information they learn through reading, viewing, and listening and to communicate their understandings and perspectives on what they have learned. As they write, students consolidate their existing and new content knowledge.
All students use technology to collaborate with classmates, produce and publish writing, and gather information (WHST.9-10.6,8).
All students conduct short as well as more sustained research projects on topics of interest and to answer a question or solve a problem. They narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate and synthesize multiple sources on the subject (WHST.9-10.7; ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex; ELD.PII.9-10.1.Ex).
Students gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; and integrate information into the text, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation (WHST.9-10.8). Teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) increasingly sophisticated processes as needed. Teachers and school librarians collaborate to help students learn to locate and evaluate sources and understand plagiarism.
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Foundational Skills
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RF.5.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Ideally, students’ knowledge of foundational skills is well established by the time they enter grades nine and ten, and history/social studies teachers continue to support students’ developing reading fluency to aid comprehension.
Support for students who lag significantly behind in foundational reading skills is provided strategically and effectively to allow for accelerated progress and full participation in core instruction.
Class Spotlight
World history teacher Myka Henderson’s unit on revolutions around the world after World War II includes Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution in 1989. The unit deepens students’ knowledge of the period and the process of reporting history. The “Gentle Revolution” marked an extraordinary time of change that did not come about due to violence. With the goal of helping students build meaning when reading historical texts, the teacher used polls and a collaborative digital whiteboard to support her students’ analysis of texts. Using digital primary source documents, Ms. Henderson’s students analyzed three sources of newspaper coverage to compare and contrast how the event was reported at the time. “Journalism is the first draft of history,” said the teacher. “I want them to be able to critically analyze how the story was told at the time.” They first read an account of the week’s events in Czechoslovakia from an American newspaper. After their initial reading and discussion, they responded to a poll she deployed asking them to rate the relative level of objectivity on a scale of one to five (significantly biased to not biased). The polling responses averaged a four, meaning that students believed the report to be fairly objective.
Next, students read an article from a Prague newspaper and discussed it. This time, they rated it as a two, meaning that the account was fairly biased. “Let’s put these two articles side-by-side and compare them. What are the key points of agreement and disagreement?” she asked. The next ten minutes were spent co-constructing a collaborative digital whiteboard that featured two columns: Points of Agreement, and Points of Disagreement. Students posted items onto the whiteboard and moved these items into categories. “We’re not done yet,” Ms. Henderson offered. “Let’s read one more source.” The third source was coverage from a newspaper in the USSR. “Keep in mind that they were teetering toward a revolution of their own,” she said. After reading, the students rated the article as a one, meaning that it was significantly biased. The teacher had the class turn its attention back to the collaborative interactive whiteboard they were building, again posting evidence of agreement and disagreement.
“Now, let’s stand back from this,” said the teacher. “What did they all agree upon?” Her students quickly named the basic facts, such as names and locations, but little else. The points of disagreement far outweighed them, including the intentions of the protestors, the likely outcomes, and possible economic and political ramifications on the world stage. “Tomorrow, we’ll do this again. We’ll use a 2009 United Nations document about these events to examine a more historical perspective,” she said.
Prominent Literacy/ELD Themes: Content Knowledge, Meaning Making
Grades Nine and Ten: Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects and English Language Development
In addition to the standards for English language arts, the California ELA/Literacy Standards at grades nine and ten include Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. Specifically, the Literacy Standards include the following:
Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies
Reading Standards for Science and Technical Subjects
Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
These standards are based on the premise that instruction in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language is a shared responsibility within a school. Just as students learn to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively in ELA, so too do they learn the literacy skills and understandings required for college and career readiness in multiple disciplines. Literacy standards for grades nine and ten are based on the expectation that teachers of ELA, history/social studies, science, and technical subjects use their expertise to help students meet the particular challenges of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in their respective fields. It is important to note that the literacy standards are not meant to replace content standards in those areas but rather to supplement them.
Standards and instructional considerations for literacy in science and technical subjects at grades nine and ten follow. They are organized by the five crosscutting themes of the ELA/ELD Framework—Meaning Making, Language Development, Effective Expression, Content Knowledge, and Foundational Skills. For each theme, key Literacy Standards and key ELD Standards at the Expanding proficiency level are indicated in the left column. Related Standards and Instructional Considerations for each theme are noted in the right column. See Identification and Organization of the Standards in Chapter 11 for more specific information on the format and content of the standards.
In distance learning settings, teachers should carefully consider which learning experiences are given priority during synchronous instruction. Guidelines are presented in Chapter 10 and also addressed in the Overview of the Span in this chapter.
Some key standards are included in more than one theme, or critical area of instructional focus. For example, RST.9-10.10 is crucial in meaning making, language development, effective expression, and content knowledge. Thus, it is included in the first four charts that follow. In each case, the repeated standard is displayed with a pink background to make the repetition obvious. Likewise, WHST.9-10.2 appears in several charts, and so a different color (in this case, orange) is used to highlight the repetition. Presented first is a chart depicting the standards for grades nine and ten at a glance followed by detailed charts for each theme.
Critical Areas of Instructional Focus: At a Glance
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Meaning Making
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RST.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions. WHST.9-10.9 Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b,11a.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia; justify opinions and positions or persuade others by making connections between ideas and articulating relevant textual evidence or background knowledge.
Students in grades nine and ten are expected to conduct increasingly sophisticated analyses of the texts they read and view in science and technical subjects. Students now assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author’s claims or recommendations for solving a scientific or technical problem (RST.9-10.8). Students determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; trace the text’s explanation or depiction of a complex process; and summarize the text accurately (RST.9-10.2). Students compare and contrast findings presented in a text to those from other sources, noting when findings support or contradict previous explanations or accounts (RST.9-10.9). Science and technical subjects teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these complex processes with a range of scientific and technical texts and in collaboration with English language arts teachers.
Every student regularly engages with grade-level text with scaffolds (planned and “just-in-time”) provided and adjusted in accordance with the strengths and needs of the learner.
Text-dependent questions help students grapple with and investigate text at increasing levels of complexity. Thoughtfully prepared questions guide students to evidence that reveals the author’s purpose and defining the question the author seeks to address (RST.9-10.6). Teachers and students analyze texts to create text-dependent questions that engage students’ motivations to read texts closely and that challenge and honor students’ thinking. Questions aimed solely at accountability for reading are minimized.
All students read a range of scientific and technical texts both independently and collaboratively with their peers, and they discuss these texts with their peers and teachers. Teachers occasionally read aloud from selected passages of texts the class is studying to illustrate key points or to introduce new genres or specialized language.
Teachers consider the purpose of the task and the EL students’ proficiency levels and group them heterogeneously with Peers at more advanced levels of English proficiency for core tasks and consider homogeneous groups for identified language needs.
RST.9-10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia.
Students read and discuss increasingly complex texts in the discipline regularly, with special attention given to text with appropriate complexity for grades nine and ten. Volume of reading is critical in building reading stamina, interest, and engagement.
Teachers support students in meaning making with text, teaching them to follow precisely a complex multistep procedure (RST.9-10.3) and to navigate unfamiliar concepts and vocabulary, including the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases (RST.9-10.4; ELD.PI.9-10.12.Ex; ELD.PII.9-10.1,2.Ex). Teachers guide the deconstruction of complex sentences and paragraphs to deepen students’ understanding of language structures, meaning making, and authors’ choices.
Teachers support students as they learn to analyze the structure of the relationships among concepts and key terms (RST.9-10.5) and to translate quantitative or technical information expressed in words into visual form (e.g., chart) and translate information expressed visually (e.g., equation) into words (RST.9-10.7).
Teachers create opportunities for all students to select the texts they read for study to capitalize on students’ increasing interest in novelty, exploration, and independence. Teachers and librarians acquire and recommend texts that reflect the lives and languages of students.
Students have many opportunities to discuss texts with peers in virtual and in-class settings (ELD.PI.9-10.1.Ex). They prepare for discussions, drawing on the textual evidence or other sources of information to stimulate a well-reasoned exchange of ideas. Students actively incorporate others in the discussion and demonstrate understanding of and respect for others’ expression of growing knowledge. Opportunities for extended discussions are especially important for EL students.
WHST.9-10.1,2 Write arguments and informative/explanatory texts focused on discipline-specific content, including the narration of historical events.
ELD.PI.9-10.10a.Ex Write longer informational texts collaboratively and independently.
All students write about the texts they read and the investigations in which they participate; writing helps students express, refine, and consolidate their understandings of new concepts, complex texts, and learning experiences. Students use writing to capture specific text details and their reactions, analyses, summaries, notes, and answers to questions (RST.9-10.1,2,8; WHST.9-10.10).
As they write, students convey meaning by varying their writing according to their task, purpose, and audience (WHST.9-10.4). They write frequently and may combine argumentative, explanatory, or narrative forms according to their purpose, task, and audience (WHST.9-10.10).
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Language Development
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RST.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a scientific or technical context.
ELD.PI.9-10.6c.Ex Use knowledge of morphology, context, reference materials, and visual cues to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words on familiar and new topics.
Teachers support students to read complex disciplinary texts by teaching text vocabulary explicitly, providing rich and engaging, as well as repeated, experiences with new words (ELD.PI.9-10.6c.Ex). Teachers select a limited number of words from the text that have high utility for text comprehension and use in other contexts (e.g., in several scientific and technical subjects). Teachers also model strategies for independent word learning.
Students continue to develop their understanding of figurative, connotative, and technical meanings of words and phrases in grades nine and ten. Science and technical subjects teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) this process with texts in the discipline (ELD.PI.9-10.8.Ex).
Teachers employ strategies to develop students’ word consciousness and encourage students to be curious about new words and new meanings of known words that they encounter. They also encourage students to be curious about new syntactical structures common to the discipline that they encounter in texts; teachers model their own processes for making sense of dense phrases and sentences.
All students have regular opportunities to engage in brief and extended conversations about texts with a range of others in a range of contexts for a range of purposes. These opportunities contribute to language development and are particularly important for EL students. Teachers encourage and support students in using target words and phrases in their discussions.
Teachers leverage all students’ experiences and ELs’ native language where possible (e.g., highlighting cognates) to support vocabulary development.
RST.9-10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing multimedia using an increasing variety of verbs and adverbials.
All students have regular opportunities to read and discuss scientific and technical texts and learning experiences. Increasingly complex text and rich content curriculum provide opportunities to learn new words and phrases, thereby deepening students’ language development.
Teachers model how they analyze complex sentences to understand their meanings, and they engage students in similar practices. Examining these language structures in the context of the texts the class is studying is more valuable than isolated grammar practice. It is helpful to all students, particularly EL students, to analyze or “unpack” complex sentences as examples of effective use of verb types and tenses, noun phrases, and adverbials to add and enrich details, and connect ideas (ELD.PII.9-10.3-6.Ex).
WHST.9-10.1,2 Write arguments and informative/explanatory texts.
ELD.PII.9-10.2b.Ex Apply knowledge of familiar language resources for linking ideas, events, or reasons throughout a text to comprehending texts and to writing increasingly cohesive texts for specific purposes and audiences.
All students in grades nine and ten learn to use words, phrases, and clauses to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claims, reasons, evidence, and counterclaims; students use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic and convey a style appropriate to the discipline and likely readers (WHST.9-10.1c,2d; ELD.PI.9-10.12a.Ex). Teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these processes and support students as they practice.
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Effective Expression
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RST.9-10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing multimedia.
All students read texts in the discipline regularly in virtual and in-class science and technical subjects settings—both independently and collaboratively. They discuss texts and learning experiences with one another, articulating their ideas clearly, and drawing on evidence from the text (WHST.9-10.9).
Teachers establish a climate that fosters trust, safety, equitable participation, and respect for individuals and multiple perspectives in both in-class and virtual settings.
Teachers support students to read increasingly complex text and engage students in examining passages that represent samples of effective expression. Students and their teachers work to uncover what makes passages effective or complex, analyzing the structure of the relationships among concepts and key terms in a text (RST.9-10.5). Students also analyze the author’s purpose in providing an explanation or description and define the question the author seeks to address (RST.9-10.6).
Students use technology creatively (e.g., audio or video of reports, public service announcements, dramatic performances, spoken word) to present arguments and information as individuals, partners, or small groups (WHST.9-10.6).
Teachers provide mentor texts in the form of clips from podcasts, documentary films, panel discussions, or other presentations to demonstrate specialized language and content, clear structure, and effective presentation techniques.
WHST.9-10.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content. WHST.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of scientific procedures/experiments or technical processes.
ELD.PI.9-10.10.Ex Write longer informational texts collaboratively and independently using appropriate text organization and growing understanding of register; write increasingly concise summaries of texts and experiences by using complete sentences and key words.
All students learn that the structure and use of language in their writing varies according to the task, purpose, and audience. Teachers engage students in the analysis of a variety of mentor texts representing effective examples of text organization and language use and help students apply similar strategies to their own writing (ELD.PII.9-10.1-7.Ex).
All students organize their writing in increasingly effective ways. Students introduce precise claims or topics; create an organization that establishes clear relationships among claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence or among ideas, concepts, and information; and provide a concluding statement that follows from and supports the argument or information (WHST.9-10.1a,1e,2a,2e).
Teachers model and guide co-construction of increasingly effective text aligned to purpose and audience.
All students write regularly in virtual and in-class settings—both independently and collaboratively (WHST.9-10.10). They use technology to produce and publish writing, collaborate with others, and display information flexibly and dynamically link it to other information (WHST.9-10.6).
Teachers support students in building their metacognitive awareness of their own and others’ language use in writing (and speaking). Teachers create an environment that encourages students to experiment with language without being overly concerned with correctness.
Teachers accept and value students’ language varieties and establish an environment, both online and in class, that is respectful and safe for students to experiment with language.
WHST.9-10.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
Teachers help students plan their writing by connecting the products of their reading (e.g., annotations, discussion notes, lab notes, summaries, reflections, outlines, maps, responses to questions) to the writing task.
Students’ writing receives regular, specific feedback, so students become increasingly effective at expressing arguments and information. Teachers and peers provide feedback on longer assignments early in the process so that students can set goals for improvement and make revisions. Feedback is focused on effective communication in the discipline and selected features that have been the subject of instruction and classroom discussion. Teachers, rather than peers, offer feedback on correctness and form during the editing process.
Feedback is expressed in positive, encouraging ways to ensure motivation and enthusiasm for creating written work are maintained. Teachers engage students in evaluating their own writing and identifying progress they have made toward their own goals.
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Content Knowledge
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RST.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions. WHST.9-10.9 Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia.
Students assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author’s claim or recommendation for solving a scientific or technical problem; science and technical subjects teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) this process and provide practice as needed (RST.9-10.8). Students practice identifying, evaluating, and expressing arguments and explanations (ELD.PI.9-10.6a,11a.Ex).
Teachers integrate science/technical subjects and literacy using text sets on a given topic. They look for opportunities to collaborate with librarians and teachers in other departments to integrate literacy across subject areas.
RST.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a scientific or technical context.
ELD.PI.9-10.6c.Ex Use knowledge of morphology, context, reference materials, and visual cues to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words on familiar and new topics.
Teachers help students examine vocabulary, including technical terms, language structures, organizational structures, and use of symbols, graphics, and media in scientific and technical texts. Students identify features unique to the discipline and consider their impact on text meaning (RST.9-10.5,7).
RST.9-10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing multimedia.
All students read broadly in the discipline. Teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) as needed to help students read grade-level texts, including accounts of experiments and technical processes. The use of text complements and contributes to content instruction; it does not replace inquiry and other content approaches.
All students read widely in classroom and virtual settings and at home. They read to gain knowledge, to become inspired, and for pleasure.
All students have frequent opportunities to discuss the content of the texts they read (ELD.PI.9-10.1.Ex); these discussions enhance students’ content knowledge.
WHST.9-10.1-2 Write arguments and informative/explanatory texts.
ELD.PI.9-10.10a.Ex Write longer informational texts collaboratively and independently.
All students write frequently to process information they learn through reading, viewing, and listening and to communicate their understandings and perspectives on what they have learned. As they write, students consolidate their existing and new content knowledge.
All students use technology to collaborate with classmates, produce and publish writing, and gather information (WHST.9-10.6,8).
All students conduct short as well as more sustained research projects on topics of interest and to answer a question or solve a problem. They narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate and synthesize multiple sources on the subject (WHST.9-10.7; ELD.PI.9-10.6b.Ex; ELD.PII.9-10.1.Ex).
Students gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; and integrate information into the text, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation (WHST.9-10.8). Teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these increasingly sophisticated processes as needed. Teachers and school librarians collaborate to help students learn to locate and evaluate sources and understand plagiarism.
Students have access to informational text in their home languages to amplify content knowledge and support meaning making.
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Foundational Skills
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RF.5.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Ideally, students’ knowledge of foundational skills is well established by the time they enter grades nine and ten, and science and technical subjects teachers continue to support students’ developing reading fluency to aid comprehension.
Support for students who lag significantly behind in foundational reading skills is provided strategically and effectively to allow for accelerated progress and full participation in core instruction.
Class Spotlight
Ninth-grade earth science teacher Ken Paek, in a unit on intraplate volcanoes, prepares for a close reading of an informational text by developing questions to draw students’ attention to misconceptions. To support students’ meaning making, Mr. Paek engages his students with a close reading during synchronous learning by sharing his screen, so they can see the text. He selected a page from the science e-textbook, with an accompanying video animation. “The [textbook] is great because it’s visually powerful, but students tend to look at the sizzle and not evaluate the scientific principles that underpin a diagram. This is one of them,” he said. The animation and accompanying text on intraplate volcanoes emphasize that they form in the center, rather than on the boundaries of tectonic plates. “They’ve been learning that lots of volcanoes occur in places where plates collide, but they don’t realize that these ‘hot spots’ happen in lots of other places on Earth.” Mr. Paek moves back and forth on the screen between the video and the digital text to replicate how we move between the two to more fully understand and make meaning of this complex science concept. He explains that the key idea of this text is that volcanoes occur within plates and that the causation differs from boundary plate volcanoes. “I have to ask them questions that get them noticing that there’s information in the text about mantle plumes that form between the mantle and core.” Mr. Paek continued,
“There are two elements in the video animation they need to notice: An arrow shows the direction of the tectonic plate’s movement and the Hawaiian Islands featured next to it, along with text that says that the oldest islands are farthest from the plume. Some of my questions will be to draw their attention to these elements so they can realize there’s a conveyor belt effect going on here. The volcanoes keep forming and make a chain of islands. A lot of Earth Science deals with things that happen too fast or too slow to be seen.”
He continued, “It’s going to take some interpretation of information on their part to realize that the northwestern islands of Hawaii are five million years older than the southeastern end of the chain.” Ms. Lee, the ELD teacher who was co-planning the lesson with Mr. Paek, suggested that they think about strategies to help ELs and other students understand how different digital texts are structured. They consider strategies to explain how sections of the text work together while attending to language features used in science informational text, such as nominalization (in which a verb or adjective becomes a noun, such as from cause to causation, form to formation, or difficult to difficulty) and simultaneous, sequential, and causal connectives (words or phrases that show connections, such as at the same time; first, second, third; and because, as a result). Ms. Lee said, “Maybe modeling meaning making or deconstructing sentences and phrases as well as visuals could help students.” Mr. Paek was intrigued by the idea of deconstructing language from the text and agreed that they would include that strategy in this lesson.
Prominent Literacy/ELD Themes: Content Knowledge, Meaning Making
Grades Eleven and Twelve: English Language Arts and English Language Development
The final two years of high school are full of plans—plans for college, for careers, and for their future lives. Students are now at their most independent and are poised to make yet another momentous transition. In ELA and other content areas, students are increasingly sophisticated in their thinking and performances, displaying a critical and thoughtful stance toward their coursework and the problems of the day. Their reasoning and debating skills never better, they welcome the opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions and debates. Expectations for the volume, pace, and depth of reading and writing increase to new levels.
Students at these grades read Shakespeare, seminal documents of U.S. history, and works of American literature as well as textbooks and other sources in government, civics, chemistry, precalculus, and more. Students are expected to determine where the text leaves matters uncertain, identify inconsistencies, and analyze how complex ideas interact and develop. Students also evaluate the effectiveness of structures the author uses and identify rhetoric that is particularly effective. The formal study of syntax is introduced and students are expected to vary its use in their writing. Students write arguments and make presentations using precise and knowledgeable claims and counterclaims, supplying the most relevant evidence, and anticipating the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases. All students, and especially EL students, receive instruction designed to accelerate their progress in meeting the demands of the standards. Students learning English have ample opportunities to engage in extended discussions with peers and adults. They receive rich instruction in all content areas and a comprehensive program of ELD.
Standards and instructional considerations for grades eleven and twelve follow. In distance learning settings, teachers should carefully consider which learning experiences are given priority during synchronous instruction. Guidelines are presented in Chapter 10 and also addressed in the Overview of the Span in this chapter.
Some key standards are included in more than one theme. For example, SL.11-12.1 is crucial in meaning making, language development, effective expression, and content knowledge. Thus, it is included in the first four theme charts that follow. In each case, the repeated standard is displayed with a pink background to make the repetition obvious. Likewise, RL/RI.11-12.10 appears in several charts, and so a different color (in this case, orange) is used to highlight the repetition. Presented first is a chart depicting the standards for grades eleven and twelve at a glance followed by detailed charts for each theme.
Critical Areas of Instructional Focus: At a Glance
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Meaning Making
Key ELA & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RL/RI.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. W.11-12.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. SL.11-12.3 Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b,11a.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia; justify opinions and positions or persuade others by making connections between ideas and articulating relevant textual evidence or background knowledge.
English language arts students in grades eleven and twelve are expected to identify and analyze uncertainty and complex connections between themes, characters, events, and ideas within and across texts (RL/RI.11-12.1-3). Students delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including constitutional principles and legal reasoning, and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (RI.11-12.8; SL.11-12.3). They also analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (RI.11-12.9)and demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, and nineteenth-, and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature (RL.11-12.9). English language arts teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these complex processes with a range of text genres and disciplines. They look for opportunities to collaborate with librarians and teachers in other disciplines, particularly history-social studies.
In the last two years of secondary schooling, the expectations for students in grades eleven and twelve increase dramatically as students approach college and career readiness levels in their comprehension and analysis of texts. Every student regularly engages with grade-level text with scaffolds (planned and “just-in-time”) provided and adjusted in accordance with the strengths and needs of the learner.
Text-dependent questions help students grapple with and investigate text at increasing levels of complexity. Thoughtfully prepared questions guide students to evidence that reveals an author’s purpose or intended meaning in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective (RL/RI.11-12.6). Teachers and students analyze texts to create text-dependent questions that engage students’ motivations to read texts closely and that challenge and honor students’ thinking. Questions aimed solely at accountability for reading are minimized.
All students read a range of literary and informational texts both independently and collaboratively with their peers, and they discuss these texts with their peers and teachers. These include assigned texts and self-selected texts intended for in-depth study as well as independent reading texts designed to build reading enjoyment. Teachers confer with students individually or in small groups about their reading, and students share their reading with peers through book talks and other activities.
Teachers occasionally read aloud for specific, limited purposes. They read from selected passages of texts the class is studying to illustrate key points or to introduce new genres or beautiful language.
RL/RI.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend texts at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts.
Students read and discuss complex texts of different types daily. Students are now expected to read independently and proficiently reading at levels that approach standards of college and career readiness. Sustaining reading volume is critical for students to maintain reading stamina, interest, and engagement. Teachers and librarians recommend books based on students’ current and potential interests.
Teachers support students in meaning making, teaching them how to navigate unfamiliar concepts and vocabulary and complex language structures (RL/RI.11-12.4; L.11-12.4-6; ELD.PI.11-12.12.Ex; ELD.PII.11-12.1,2.Ex). They guide the deconstruction of complex sentences and paragraphs for students’ understanding of language structures, meaning making, and authors’ choices.
Teachers support students as they learn to integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (RI.11-12.7; SL.11-12.2). Additionally, students analyze multiple interpretations of performances, including at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist (RL.11-12.7).
Teachers create opportunities for all students to select the texts they read for study and enjoyment to capitalize on students’ increasing interest in novelty, exploration, and independence. Teachers and librarians acquire and recommend books that reflect the lives and languages of students—books that speak to the personal struggles and triumphs of all humanity.
W.11-12.1-3 Write arguments, informative/explanatory texts, and narratives.
ELD.PI.11-12.10a.Ex Write longer literary and informational texts collaboratively and independently.
All students write about the texts they read and view; writing helps students express, refine, and consolidate their understandings of new concepts and complex texts. Students use writing to capture specific text details and their reactions, interpretations, analyses, summaries, notes, outlines, and answers to questions about the text (RL/RI.11-12.1-3; RI.11-12.8; W.11-12.10).
Students become skilled in conveying meaning by varying their writing according to their task, purpose, and audience (W.11-12.4). They write frequently and often combine argumentative, explanatory, or narrative forms according to their purpose, task, and audience (W.11-12.10).
SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
ELD.PI.11-12.1.Ex Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions.
Discussions are increasingly sophisticated in grades eleven and twelve, and students’ engagement with others enhances their understanding of complex ideas. Students continue to draw on textual or research evidence from their preparation to stimulate a thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange of ideas (SL.11-12.1a; RL/RI.11-12.9). Students are expected to ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a topic or issue; promote divergent and creative perspectives; synthesize comments, claims, and evidence made on all sides of an issue; and resolve contradictions when possible (SL.11-12.1c,d).
Teachers create opportunities for students to work in pairs and small groups to engage in discussions in virtual and in-class settings. Students participate in both informally and formally structured discussions. Teachers consider the purpose of the task and the EL students’ proficiency levels and group them heterogeneously with Peers at more advanced levels of English proficiency for core tasks and consider homogeneous groups for identified language needs.
Students adapt their speech in discussions and presentations as needed to accomplish their purposes and convey meaning to their audience; they use formal English as appropriate to the task (SL.11-12.4,6).
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Language Development
Key ELA & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RL/RI.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings. L.11-12.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases.
ELD.PI.11-12.6c.Ex Use knowledge of morphology, context, reference materials, and visual cues to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words on familiar and new topics.
Students continue to develop their understanding of figurative, connotative, and technical meanings of words and phrases in English language arts in grades eleven and twelve, considering the quality of language use and its development over the course of literary and informational texts (ELD.PI.11-12.8.Ex). English language arts teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) this process with a range of text types and topics.
Teachers employ strategies to develop students’ word consciousness and encourage students to be curious about new words and new meanings of known words that they encounter. They also encourage students to be curious about and analyze new grammatical and syntactical structures that they encounter in texts; teachers model their own processes for making sense of dense phrases and sentences (L.11-12.4-6).
Teachers leverage all students’ experiences and EL students’ native language where possible (e.g., highlighting cognates) to support vocabulary development.
RL/RI.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend texts at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia using an increasing variety of verbs and adverbials.
Teachers support students to read complex texts by teaching text vocabulary explicitly, providing rich and engaging, as well as repeated, experiences with new words (L.11-12.4-6). Teachers select a limited number of words from the text that have high utility for text comprehension and use in other contexts. Teachers also model and encourage students to use strategies for independent word learning (ELD.PI.11-12.6c,8.Ex).
W.11-12.1-3 Write arguments, informative/explanatory texts, and narratives.
ELD.PII.11-12.2b.Ex Apply knowledge of familiar language resources for linking ideas, events, or reasons throughout a text to comprehending texts and to writing increasingly cohesive texts for specific purposes and audiences.
All students in grades eleven and twelve use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax in increasingly powerful ways in their writing, including linking major sections of the text; clarifying relationships among complex arguments, ideas, and concepts; and conveying a vivid picture of experiences, events, settings, or characters (W.11-12.1c,2c-d,3d; ELD.PI.11-12.12a.Ex). Teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these processes and provide appropriate feedback as they practice.
SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
ELD.PI.11-12.1.Ex Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions.
All students have regular opportunities to engage in brief and extended conversations with a range of others in a range of contexts for a range of purposes. These opportunities contribute to language development and are particularly important for EL students. Teachers encourage and support students to use target words and phrases in their discussions.
Students distinguish between formal and informal discourse and use formal English as appropriate to the task (SL.11-12.6).
L.6.1e Recognize variations from standard English in their own and others’ writing and speaking and identify and use strategies to improve expression in conventional language.(Grade 6 standard provided intentionally.) ELD.PI.11-12.7.Ex Explain how successfully writers and speakers structure texts and use language to persuade the reader or create other specific effects, with moderate support.
Teachers support students to build their metacognitive awareness of their own and others’ language use in speaking and writing. Teachers create an environment that encourages students to experiment with language without being overly concerned with correctness. Teachers do focus students’ attention on correctness during the editing process. Teachers help students understand the impact of using powerful language correctly in formal settings, both on their audience and on their identities as writers and speakers.
Teachers model how they analyze complex sentences to understand their meanings, and they engage students in similar practices. Examining these language structures in the context of the texts the class is studying is more valuable than isolated grammar practice. It is helpful to all students, particularly ELs, to analyze or “unpack” complex sentences as examples of effective use of verb types and tenses, noun phrases, and adverbials to add and enrich details, and connect ideas (L.11-12.1-3; ELD.PII.11-12.3-6.Ex).
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Effective Expression
Key ELA & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RL/RI.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend texts at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts.
All students read daily in virtual and in-class English language arts settings—both independently and collaboratively.
Teachers support students to read increasingly complex text and engage students in examining passages that represent samples of effective expression. Students and their teachers work to uncover what makes passages effective or complex and consider their aesthetic and rhetorical impacts.
Students analyze authors’ choices in structuring text that contribute to meaning and aesthetic impact and makes points clear, convincing, and engaging (RL/RI.11-12.5). They grasp point of view by distinguishing what is directly stated from what is really meant (e.g., satire, irony) (RL.11-12.6), and they determine an author’s purpose or point of view in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text (RI.11-12.6).
W.11-12.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. W.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. W.11-12.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
ELD.PI.11-12.10.Ex Write longer literary and informational texts collaboratively and independently by using appropriate text organization and growing understanding of register; write increasingly concise summaries of texts and experiences by using complete sentences and key words.
All students increase their capacities to structure their writing and use language to effectively address their task, purpose, and audience. Students at grades eleven and twelve continue working to analyze substantive topics or texts and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information effectively in their writing. Teachers engage students in the analysis of a variety of mentor texts representing effective examples of text organization and language use and help students apply similar strategies to their own writing (ELD.PII.11-12.1-7.Ex).
In grades eleven and twelve, expectations for writing become yet more sophisticated. Students are expected to establish the significance of claims, develop claims and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, anticipate audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases, and use specific rhetorical devices to support assertions (W.11-12.1a-b,f). Teachers again use mentor texts and modeling to help students understand and practice these distinctions.
All students write daily in virtual and in-class settings—both independently and collaboratively (W.11-12.10).
Teachers model and guide co-construction of increasingly effective text aligned to purpose and audience.
All students use technology to produce and publish writing and collaborate with others. In grades eleven and twelve, they are expected to use technology to update projects in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information (W.11-12.6).
W.11-12.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
Teachers help students plan their writing by connecting the products of their reading (e.g., annotations, discussion notes, summaries, reflections, outlines, maps, responses to questions) to the writing task.
Students’ writing receives regular, specific feedback, so students become increasingly effective at expressing arguments, information, and narratives (W.11-12.8,9). Teachers and peers provide feedback on longer assignments early in the process so that students can set goals for improvement and make revisions. Feedback is focused on effective communication and selected features that have been the subject of instruction and classroom discussion. Teachers, rather than peers, offer feedback on correctness and form during the editing process (L.11-12.1-3).
Feedback is expressed in positive, encouraging ways that honor students’ efforts and acknowledge their progress. Teachers model and provide structures for constructive peer feedback, including opportunities for students to respond to the feedback they receive. Students regularly evaluate their own writing and identify progress they have made toward their own goals.
SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
ELD.PI.11-12.1,3.Ex Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions; negotiate with and persuade others in discussions and conversations using learned phrases and open responses to express and defend nuanced opinions.
Teachers establish a climate that fosters trust, safety, equitable participation, and respect for individuals and multiple perspectives in both in-class and virtual settings.
Teachers engage students in using a variety of discussion structures and, together with students, develop norms of effective discussion. Students work with peers to promote civil, democratic discussions and decision-making. Teachers and students offer feedback on discussion processes and set goals for improving them (SL.11-12.1b,c; ELD.PI.11-12.5.Ex).
Students collaborate as partners and in small groups to plan their writing and oral presentations. They review one another’s writing or presentation plans at key points and provide feedback about its effectiveness. Teachers offer rubrics to focus feedback on important elements.
Teachers assess conversations and presentations for structure and language used and provide specific feedback aligned to academic language objectives.
SL.11-12.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective and logical argument, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks. ELD.PI.11-12.9.Ex Plan and deliver a variety of oral presentations and reports on grade-appropriate topics that present evidence and facts to support ideas by using growing understanding of register.
Students use technology creatively (e.g., audio or video of reports, public service announcements, dramatic performances, spoken word) to present arguments, information, and narratives as individuals, partners, or small groups (SL.11-12.5).
As students plan and deliver oral presentations, they focus on communicating their ideas effectively to their audience and adapting their speech, as appropriate, to the task (SL.11-12.6).
Teachers provide mentor texts in the form of clips from podcasts, films, readings, or other performances to demonstrate powerful language and content, clear structure, and effective presentation techniques (SL.11-12.2,5).
L.11-12.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. ELD.PI.11-12.4.Ex Adjust language choices according to the context, purpose, task, and audience.
Teachers accept and value students’ language varieties and establish an environment, both online and in class, that is respectful and safe for students to experiment with language.
Just as students set goals for improving the content and structure of their writing and oral presentations, they are guided in setting goals to improve their use of language conventions (L.11-12.1-3).
All students continue to adapt their use of informal and formal English according to the demands of the context, task, and audience (SL.11-12.6).
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Content Knowledge
Key ELA & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RL/RI.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. W.11-12.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. SL.11-12.3 Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia.
Students in grades 11-12 are expected to conduct increasingly sophisticated analyses of the works they read and view in English language arts, delineating and evaluating the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including constitutional principles and legal reasoning, and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (RI.11-12.8; SL.11-12.3). Students consider written and spoken texts in which the rhetoric is particularly effective (RI.11-12.6; SL.11-12.3), and they understand more deeply how arguments and claims can be structured or expressed differently in various disciplines and genres (W.11-12.1; SL.11-12.3; ELD.PI.11-12.6a,11a.Ex). English language arts teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these processes and provide practice as needed.
Informational, as well as literary, texts are a crucial component of every grade level in English language arts—particularly in high school. Students read informational and literary texts to build knowledge, experience multiple perspectives, and gain fresh insights. Text selections are based on grade-level standards in different content areas (e.g., English language arts, science, social studies) and students’ interests and cultural experiences.
Informational and literary texts are read in combination in text sets and on their own. Students learn how text structures and evidence vary across genres and subgenres. Teachers look for opportunities to collaborate with librarians and teachers in other departments to integrate literacy across subject areas.
RL/RI.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.
ELD.PI.11-12.6c.Ex Use knowledge of morphology, context, reference materials, and visual cues to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words on familiar and new topics.
Teachers help students examine vocabulary, language structures, organizational structures, and use of media in literary and informational texts of different genres and disciplines (L.11-12.4-6; RL/RI.11-12.5,7; SL.11-12.2). Students expand their content knowledge as they attend to the language features unique to these genres and disciplines.
RL/RI.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend texts at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts.
All students read broadly across text genres and disciplines in classroom and virtual settings and at home. They read to gain knowledge, to become inspired, and for pleasure. Teachers organize independent reading programs that expose students to a variety of text types and capitalize on students’ interests.
Students have access to informational text in their home languages to amplify content knowledge and support meaning making.
W.11-12.1,2 Write arguments and informative/explanatory texts.
ELD.PI.11-12.10a.Ex Write longer informational texts collaboratively and independently.
All students write frequently to process information they learn through reading, viewing, and listening and to communicate their understandings and perspectives on what they have learned. As they write, students consolidate their existing and new content knowledge.
All students use technology to collaborate with classmates and to conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question or solve a problem (W.11-12.7; SL.11-12.5; ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex; ELD.PII.11-12.1.Ex). In grades eleven and twelve, students continue to narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate and synthesize multiple sources on the topic (W.11-12.7; SL.11-12.3).
Students continue to gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; and they continue to integrate information into their text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation, including footnotes and endnotes. Students now assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience (W.11-12.8). Teachers and school librarians collaborate to help students use a standard citation format and advanced search terms effectively.
SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
ELD.PI.11-12.1.Ex Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions.
All students engage in discussions of what they have read and learned across genres and disciplines, contributing to their content knowledge. Students collaborate as partners or in small groups to conduct research and engage in other long-term projects based on their interests and areas of study (W.11-12.6,7; SL.11-12.5).
As students share their knowledge with others in formal presentations, they focus on communicating effectively with their audience and adapting their speech, as appropriate, to the task and the discipline (SL.11-12.5,6).
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Foundational Skills
Key ELA & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RF.5.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Ideally, students’ knowledge of foundational skills is well established by the time they enter grades eleven and twelve, and English language arts teachers continue to support students’ reading fluency to aid comprehension.
Support for students who lag significantly behind in foundational reading skills is provided strategically and effectively to allow for accelerated progress and full participation in core instruction.
Teachers provide EL students targeted instruction in foundational literacy skills based on students’ spoken English proficiency, native language proficiency, prior schooling, and assessed needs.
Class Spotlight
The students in Mateo Ruiz’s eleventh-grade English class are writing argumentative essays focusing on effective written expression. They have all recorded their draft versions of their papers via Google Voice and sent them to their teacher. As they recorded, many students noticed errors and self-corrected. Mr. Ruiz responded to each student with a voice recording, noting strengths and suggesting changes. During their synchronous class session, Mr. Ruiz asked the students to complete a self-assessment on Google Forms, analyzing the strength of their claims and thesis statements, their organization and evidence, and the rhetorical devices they used to support their assertions. Mr. Ruiz then modeled his thinking with a paper written by a student from the previous year who granted permission to have work shown to others. Mr. Ruiz read aloud sections of the paper to his class, pausing to comment on the strengths and potential areas of improvement. As he noted, “There is a very strong claim here. The person who wrote this wants us to understand why they feel this way. Now, I’m looking for evidence to support the claim that has been made.”
The think aloud continues as Mr. Ruiz notes the evidence and then focuses on the appeal to emotion that the author used. Mr. Ruiz ends the class session letting students know that they will be in breakout rooms the following day to work on areas they expressed as needed. As he said, “You have all identified areas that you want to improve. You’ll have a chance to meet with others who have similar needs as well as others who have strengths in that area.” Mr. Ruiz also supports effective expression in discussions by reminding students to review the tools and protocols for successful academic discourse among peers with a focus on arguments. He also asks them to prepare a set of questions they have about the quality of their work. He proceeds to suggest a few questions, “Did I state my point of view clearly in the introduction? How well did I introduce quotations or evidence? How well did I expand my ideas? He continues, “We’ll be moving around different rooms for the whole period, and I’ll be meeting with you individually for conferences. Your argument papers are coming along very nicely, and I am seeing your passion for the topics you have selected.”
Grades Eleven and Twelve: Literacy in History/Social Studies and English Language Development
In addition to the standards for English language arts, the California ELA/Literacy Standards at grades eleven and twelve include Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. Specifically, the Literacy Standards include the following:
Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies
Reading Standards for Science and Technical Subjects
Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
These standards are based on the premise that instruction in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language is a shared responsibility within a school. Just as students learn to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively in ELA, so too do they learn the literacy skills and understandings required for college and career readiness in multiple disciplines. Literacy standards for grades six through eight are based on the expectation that teachers of ELA, history/social studies, science, and technical subjects use their expertise to help students meet the particular challenges of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in their respective fields. It is important to note that the literacy standards are not meant to replace content standards in those areas but rather to supplement them.
Standards and instructional considerations for literacy in history/social studies at grades eleven and twelve follow. They are organized by the five crosscutting themes of the ELA/ELD Framework—meaning making, language development, effective expression, content knowledge, and foundational skills. For each theme, key Literacy Standards and key ELD Standards at the Expanding proficiency level are indicated in the left column. Related Standards and Instructional Considerations for each theme are noted in the right column. See Identification and Organization of the Standards in Chapter 11 for more specific information on the format and content of the standards.
In distance learning settings, teachers should carefully consider which learning experiences are given priority during synchronous instruction. Guidelines are presented in Chapter 10 and also addressed in the Overview of the Span in this chapter.
Some key standards are included in more than one theme, or critical area of instructional focus. For example, RH.11-12.10 is crucial in meaning making, language development, effective expression, and content knowledge. Thus, it is included in the first four charts that follow. In each case, the repeated standard is displayed with a pink background to make the repetition obvious. Likewise, WHST.11-12.2 appears in several charts, and so a different color (in this case, orange) is used to highlight the repetition. Presented first is a chart depicting the standards for grades eleven and twelve at a glance followed by detailed charts for each theme.
Critical Areas of Instructional Focus: At a Glance
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Meaning Making
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RH.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole. WHST.11-12.9 Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b,11a.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia; justify opinions and positions or persuade others by making connections between ideas and articulating relevant textual evidence or background knowledge.
History/social studies students in grades eleven and twelve are expected to conduct increasingly sophisticated analyses of the primary and secondary sources they read and view. Students now evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information (RH.11-12.8). Students provide summaries that make clear the relationships among the key details and ideas (RH.11-12.2); evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain (RH.11-12.3); and integrate information from diverse sources, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources (RH.11-12.9). History/social studies teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these complex processes with a range of sources and in collaboration with English language arts teachers.
Every student regularly engages with grade-level text with scaffolds (planned and “just-in-time”) provided and adjusted in accordance with the strengths and needs of the learner.
Text-dependent questions help students grapple with and investigate text at increasing levels of complexity. Thoughtfully prepared questions guide students to evidence that helps them evaluate authors’ differing points of view on the same event or issue (RH.11-12.6). Teachers and students analyze texts to create text-dependent questions that engage students’ motivations to read texts closely and that challenge and honor students’ thinking. Questions aimed solely at accountability for reading are minimized.
All students read a range of primary and secondary sources both independently and collaboratively with their peers, and they discuss these texts with their peers and teachers. Teachers occasionally read aloud from selected passages of texts the class is studying to illustrate key points or to introduce new genres or powerful language.
Teachers consider the purpose of the task and the EL students’ proficiency levels and group them heterogeneously with Peers at more advanced levels of English proficiency for core tasks and consider homogeneous groups for identified language needs.
RH.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 11-12 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia.
Students read and discuss increasingly complex texts in the discipline regularly, with special attention given to text with appropriate complexity for grades eleven and twelve. Volume of reading is critical in building reading stamina, interest, and engagement.
Teachers support students in meaning making, teaching them how to navigate unfamiliar concepts and vocabulary and complex language structures (RH.11-12.4; ELD.PI.11-12.12.Ex; ELD.PII.11-12.1,2.Ex). Teachers guide the deconstruction of complex sentences and paragraphs to deepen students’ understanding of language structures, meaning making, and authors’ choices.
Teachers support students as they learn to analyze how a complex primary source is structured, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions contribute to the whole (RH.11-12.5); and to integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (RH.11-12.7).
Teachers create opportunities for all students to select the texts they read for study to capitalize on students’ increasing interest in novelty, exploration, and independence. Teachers and librarians acquire and recommend texts that reflect the lives and languages of students—texts that speak to the personal struggles and triumphs of all humanity.
Students have many opportunities to discuss texts with peers in virtual and in-class settings (ELD.PI.11-12.1.Ex). They prepare for discussions, drawing on the textual or research evidence to stimulate a well-reasoned exchange of ideas. Students are expected to ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a topic or issue; promote divergent perspectives; synthesize comments, claims, and evidence; and resolve contradictions when possible. Opportunities for extended discussions are especially important for EL students.
WHST.11-12.1,2 Write arguments and informative/explanatory texts focused on discipline-specific content, including the narration of historical events.
ELD.PI.11-12.10a.Ex Write longer informational texts collaboratively and independently.
All students write about the texts they read; writing helps students express, refine, and consolidate their understandings of new concepts and complex texts. Students use writing to capture specific text details and their reactions, interpretations, analyses, summaries, notes, outlines, and answers to questions about the text (RH.11-12.1-3,8; WHST.11-12.10).
As they write, students convey meaning by varying their writing according to their task, purpose, and audience (WHST.11-12.4). They write frequently and may combine argumentative, explanatory, or narrative forms according to their purpose, task, and audience (WHST.11-12.10).
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Language Development
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RH.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text.
ELD.PI.11-12.6c.Ex Use knowledge of morphology, context, reference materials, and visual cues to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words on familiar and new topics.
Teachers support students to read complex disciplinary texts by teaching text vocabulary explicitly, providing rich and engaging, as well as repeated, experiences with new words (RH.11-12.4). Teachers select a limited number of words from the text that have high utility for text comprehension and use in other contexts (e.g., in several primary sources on the topic). Teachers also model strategies for independent word learning (ELD.PI.11-12.6c,8.Ex).
Students continue to develop their understanding of figurative, connotative, and technical meanings of words and phrases in grades eleven and twelve. History/social studies teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) this process with texts in the discipline (ELD.PI.11-12.8.Ex).
Teachers employ strategies to develop students’ word consciousness and encourage students to be curious about new words and new meanings of known words that they encounter. They also encourage students to be curious about new syntactical structures common to the discipline that they encounter in texts; teachers model their own processes for making sense of dense phrases and sentences.
All students have regular opportunities to engage in brief and extended conversations about texts with a range of others in a range of contexts for a range of purposes. These opportunities contribute to language development and are particularly important for EL students (ELD.PI.11-12.1.Ex). Teachers encourage and support students in using target words and phrases in their discussions.
Teachers leverage all students’ experiences and ELs’ native language where possible (e.g., highlighting cognates) to support vocabulary development.
RH.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 11-12 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing multimedia using an increasing variety of verbs and adverbials.
All students have regular opportunities to read and discuss history/social studies texts. Increasingly complex text and rich content curriculum provide opportunities to learn new words and phrases, thereby deepening students’ language development.
Teachers model how they analyze complex sentences to understand their meanings, and they engage students in similar practices. Examining these language structures in the context of the texts the class is studying is more valuable than isolated grammar practice. It is helpful to all students, particularly EL students, to analyze or “unpack” complex sentences as examples of effective use of verb types and tenses, noun phrases, and adverbials to add and enrich details, and connect ideas (ELD.PII.11-12.3-6.Ex).
WHST.11-12.1-2 Write arguments and informative/explanatory texts.
ELD.PII.11-12.2b.Ex Apply knowledge of familiar language resources for linking ideas, events, or reasons throughout a text to comprehending texts and to writing increasingly cohesive texts for specific purposes and audiences.
All students learn to use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claims, reasons, evidence, and counterclaims; students use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic and convey a knowledgeable stance in a style appropriate to the discipline and the expertise of likely readers (WHST.11-12.1c,2d; ELD.PI.11-12.12a.Ex).Teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these processes and support students as they practice.
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Effective Expression
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RH.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 11-12 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing multimedia.
All students read texts in the discipline regularly in virtual and in-class history/social studies settings—both independently and collaboratively. They discuss texts with one another, articulating their ideas clearly, and drawing on evidence from the text (WHST.11-12.9).
Teachers establish a climate that fosters trust, safety, equitable participation, and respect for individuals and multiple perspectives in both in-class and virtual settings.
Teachers support students to read increasingly complex text and engage students in examining passages that represent samples of effective expression. Students and their teachers work to uncover what makes passages effective or complex, considering how a complex text is structured, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions contribute to the whole, and evaluating authors’ differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors’ claims, reasoning, and evidence (RH.11-12.5,6).
Students use technology creatively (e.g., audio or video of reports, public service announcements, dramatic performances, spoken word) to present arguments, information, and narratives as individuals, partners, or small groups (WHST.11-12.6).
Teachers provide mentor texts in the form of clips from podcasts, films, readings, or other performances to demonstrate powerful language and content, clear structure, and effective presentation techniques.
WHST.11-12.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content. WHST.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events.
ELD.PI.11-12.10.Ex Write longer informational texts collaboratively and independently using appropriate text organization and growing understanding of register; write increasingly concise summaries of texts and experiences by using complete sentences and key words.
All students increase their capacities to structure their writing and use language to address their task, purpose, and audience. Teachers engage students in the analysis of a variety of mentor texts representing effective examples of text organization and language use and help students apply similar strategies to their own writing (ELD.PII.11-12.1-7.Ex).
Teachers model and guide co-construction of increasingly effective text aligned to purpose and audience.
All students organize their writing in increasingly effective ways. Students introduce precise, knowledgeable claims or topics; create an organization that logically sequences the claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence or ideas, concepts, and information; and provide a concluding statement that follows from and supports the argument or information (WHST.11-12.1a,1e,2a,2e).
All students write regularly in virtual and in-class settings—both independently and collaboratively (WHST.11-12.10). They use technology to produce and publish writing, collaborate with others, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information (WHST.11-12.6).
Teachers support students in building their metacognitive awareness of their own and others’ language use in writing (and speaking). Teachers create an environment that encourages students to experiment with language without being overly concerned with correctness.
Teachers accept and value students’ language varieties and establish an environment, both online and in class, that is respectful and safe for students to experiment with language.
WHST.11-12.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
Teachers help students plan their writing by connecting the products of their reading (e.g., annotations, discussion notes, summaries, reflections, outlines, maps, responses to questions) to the writing task.
Students’ writing receives regular, specific feedback, so students become increasingly effective at expressing arguments and information. Teachers and peers provide feedback on longer assignments early in the process so that students can set goals for improvement and make revisions. Feedback is focused on effective communication in the discipline and selected features that have been the subject of instruction and classroom discussion. Teachers, rather than peers, offer feedback on correctness and form during the editing process.
Feedback is expressed in positive, encouraging ways to ensure motivation and enthusiasm for creating written work are maintained. Teachers engage students in evaluating their own writing and identifying progress they have made toward their own goals.
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Content Knowledge
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RH.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole. WHST.11-12.9 Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia.
Students evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence in a history/social studies text by corroborating or challenging them with other information, and history/social studies teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) this process and provide practice as needed (RH.11-12.8). Students practice identifying, evaluating, and expressing arguments (ELD.PI.11-12.6a,11a.Ex).
Teachers integrate history/social studies and literacy using text sets on a given topic. They look for opportunities to collaborate with librarians and teachers in other departments to integrate literacy across subject areas.
RH.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text.
ELD.PI.11-12.6c.Ex Use knowledge of morphology, context, reference materials, and visual cues to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words on familiar and new topics.
Teachers help students examine vocabulary, language structures, organizational structures, and use of graphics, formats, and media in print and digital historical and social studies texts. Students identify features unique to the discipline and consider their impact on text meaning (RH.11-12.5,7).
RH.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 11-12 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing multimedia.
All students read broadly in the discipline. Teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) as needed to help students read grade-level texts, including primary source documents. The use of text complements and contributes to content instruction; it does not replace inquiry and other content approaches.
All students read widely in classroom and virtual settings and at home. They read to gain knowledge, to become inspired, and for pleasure.
All students have frequent opportunities to discuss the content of the texts they read (ELD.PI.11-12.1.Ex); these discussions enhance students’ content knowledge.
Students have access to informational text in their home languages to amplify content knowledge and support meaning making.
WHST.11-12.1,2 Write arguments and informative/explanatory texts.
ELD.PI.11-12.10a.Ex Write longer informational texts collaboratively and independently.
All students write frequently to process information they learn through reading, viewing, and listening and to communicate their understandings and perspectives on what they have learned. As they write, students consolidate their existing and new content knowledge.
All students use technology to collaborate with classmates, produce and publish writing, and gather information (WHST.11-12.6,8).
All students conduct short as well as more sustained research projects on topics of interest and to answer a question or solve a problem. They narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate and synthesize multiple sources on the subject (WHST.11-12.7; ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex; ELD.PII.11-12.1.Ex).
Students continue to gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; and they continue to integrate information into their text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. Students now assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience and avoid overreliance on any one source (WHST.11-12.8). Teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these increasingly sophisticated processes as needed. Teachers and school librarians collaborate to help students learn to locate and evaluate sources and avoid plagiarism.
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Foundational Skills
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RF.5.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Ideally, students’ knowledge of foundational skills is well established by the time they enter grades eleven and twelve, and history/social studies teachers continue to support students’ developing reading fluency to aid comprehension.
Support for students who lag significantly behind in foundational reading skills is provided strategically and effectively to allow for accelerated progress and full participation in core instruction.
Class Spotlight
Eleventh-grade students in Ann-Marie Farmer’s U.S. history class are studying the internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans in camps during World War II and will conclude the unit by writing a document-based analysis essay online to reflect their knowledge of the content. With the aim of supporting her students’ effective expression, Ms. Farmer focuses her students on the analysis of the writing prompt. She says, “A strong writing assignment or prompt should lend itself to student analysis of task, purpose, and audience. This is especially important in asynchronous learning, when students must respond accurately to prompts without being able to ask clarifying questions in the moment.” She prepares her students to parse an asynchronous writing assignment by answering the following questions:
– What is my purpose for writing this piece? – Who is my audience? – What is the task?
The teacher has already prepared students to understand the organizational structure and language features of a strong document-based analysis essay. Modeling for students during synchronous learning, she engages them in deconstruction exercises in which they analyze complex essays and in collaborative peer co-construction exercises. Using the digital whiteboard, she now works with students to categorize key elements of the prompt to identify purpose, audience, and task. “I want them to build the habit of doing this on their own when facing an asynchronous writing assignment,” explained Ms. Farmer. Students also use digital self-assessment tools and rubrics to evaluate their own writing and submit it to their teacher, along with the writing assignment. “I’ve learned over the years that it starts with how solid my writing prompt is,” she said. Before students begin writing, she spends time parsing the prompt. “We talk about each of these dimensions so that they’re clear and I’m clear about what they need to do,” said the teacher. The writing prompt reads as follows:
What is the cost of freedom? After reading Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), the Supreme Court decision upholding the internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans during World War II, write a document-based analysis essay for fellow high school history students that compares the cases brought by the plaintiff and defendant and argues whether the court ruled rightly or wrongly on its constitutionality. Be sure to support your position with evidence from the text.
“I have them underline or highlight the answer to each of these questions on their digital documents using the annotation feature,” explained Ms. Farmer. “What’s my purpose? To write a document-based analysis essay,” she begins. “Who’s my audience? Fellow high school history students.” Ms. Farmer continues. “What’s my task? Compare the cases brought by the plaintiff and defendant and argues whether the court ruled rightly or wrongly on its constitutionality.”
“They have lots of high-stakes writing in their futures with college applications and such, and I want them to be able to shine. The more they practice this analysis and use the writing process to develop effective online essays, the better prepared they will be.”
Grades Eleven and Twelve: Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects and English Language Development
In addition to the standards for English language arts, the California ELA/Literacy Standards at grades eleven and twelve include Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. Specifically, the Literacy Standards include the following:
Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies
Reading Standards for Science and Technical Subjects
Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
These standards are based on the premise that instruction in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language is a shared responsibility within a school. Just as students learn to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively in ELA, so too do they learn the literacy skills and understandings required for college and career readiness in multiple disciplines. Literacy standards for grades eleven and twelve are based on the expectation that teachers of ELA, history/social studies, science, and technical subjects use their expertise to help students meet the particular challenges of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in their respective fields. It is important to note that the literacy standards are not meant to replace content standards in those areas but rather to supplement them.
Standards and instructional considerations for literacy in science and technical subjects at grades eleven and twelve follow. They are organized by the five crosscutting themes of the ELA/ELD Framework—meaning making, language development, effective expression, content knowledge, and foundational skills. For each theme, key Literacy Standards and key ELD Standards at the Expanding proficiency level are indicated in the left column. Related Standards and Instructional Considerations for each theme are noted in the right column. See Identification and Organization of the Standards in Chapter 11 for more specific information on the format and content of the standards.
In distance learning settings, teachers should carefully consider which learning experiences are given priority during synchronous instruction. Guidelines are presented in Chapter 10 and also addressed in the Overview of the Span in this chapter.
Some key standards are included in more than one theme, or critical area of instructional focus. For example, RST.11-12.10 is crucial in meaning making, language development, effective expression, and content knowledge. Thus, it is included in the first four charts that follow. In each case, the repeated standard is displayed with a pink background to make the repetition obvious. Likewise, WHST.11-12.2 appears in several charts, and so a different color (in this case, orange) is used to highlight the repetition. Presented first is a chart depicting the standards for grades eleven and twelve at a glance followed by detailed charts for each theme.
Critical Areas of Instructional Focus: At a Glance
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Meaning Making
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RST.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to important distinctions the author makes and to any gaps of inconsistencies in the account. WHST.11-12.9 Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b,11a.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia; justify opinions and positions or persuade others by making connections between ideas and articulating relevant textual evidence or background knowledge.
Science and technical studies students in grades eleven and twelve are expected to conduct increasingly sophisticated analyses of the texts they read and view in science and technical subjects. Students now evaluate the hypotheses, data, analysis, and conclusions in a science or technical text, verifying the data when possible and corroborating or challenging conclusions with other sources of information (RST.11-12.8). Students summarize complex concepts, processes, or information in a text by paraphrasing them in simpler but still accurate terms (RST.11-12.2). Students synthesize information from a range of sources into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information when possible (RST.11-12.9). Science and technical studies teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these complex processes with a range of sources and in collaboration with English language arts teachers.
Every student regularly engages with grade-level text with scaffolds (planned and “just-in-time”) provided and adjusted in accordance with the strengths and needs of the learner.
Text-dependent questions help students grapple with and investigate text at increasing levels of complexity. Thoughtfully prepared questions guide students to evidence that helps them analyze the author’s purpose (RST.11-12.6). Teachers and students analyze texts to create text-dependent questions that engage students’ motivations to read texts closely and that challenge and honor students’ thinking. Questions aimed solely at accountability for reading are minimized.
All students read a range of scientific and technical texts both independently and collaboratively with their peers, and they discuss these texts with their peers and teachers. Teachers occasionally read aloud from selected passages of texts the class is studying to illustrate key points or to introduce new genres or specialized language.
Teachers consider the purpose of the task and the EL students’ proficiency levels and group them heterogeneously with Peers at more advanced levels of English proficiency for core tasks and consider homogeneous groups for identified language needs.
RST.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 11-12 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia.
Students read and discuss increasingly complex texts in the discipline regularly, with special attention given to text with appropriate complexity for grades eleven and twelve. Volume of reading is critical in building reading stamina, interest, and engagement.
Teachers support students in meaning making, teaching them to follow precisely a complex multistep procedure and analyze the specific results based on explanations in the text (RST.11-12.3)and to navigate unfamiliar concepts and vocabulary, including the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases and complex language structures (RST.11-12.4; ELD.PI.11-12.12.Ex; ELD.PII.11-12.1,2.Ex). Teachers guide the deconstruction of complex sentences and paragraphs to deepen students’ understanding of language structures, meaning making, and authors’ choices.
Teachers support students as they learn to analyze how a text structures information or ideas into categories or hierarchies and demonstrate understanding of the information or ideas (RST.11-12.5) and to integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media in order to address a question or solve a problem (RST.11-12.7).
Teachers create opportunities for all students to select the texts they read for study to capitalize on students’ increasing interest in novelty, exploration, and independence. Teachers and librarians acquire and recommend texts that reflect the lives and languages of students.
Students have many opportunities to discuss texts with peers in virtual and in-class settings (ELD.PI.11-12.1.Ex). They prepare for discussions, drawing on the textual evidence or other sources of information to stimulate a well-reasoned exchange of ideas. Students actively incorporate others in the discussion and demonstrate understanding of and respect for others’ expression of growing knowledge. Opportunities for extended discussions are especially important for EL students.
WHST.11-12.1,2 Write arguments and informative/explanatory texts focused on discipline-specific content, including the narration of scientific procedures/experiments or technical processes.
ELD.PI.11-12.10a.Ex Write longer informational texts collaboratively and independently.
All students write about the texts they read and the investigations in which they participate; writing helps students express, refine, and consolidate their understandings of new concepts, complex texts, and learning experiences. Students use writing to capture specific details, including hypotheses and data, in a science or technical text and to record their reactions, analyses, summaries, notes, and answers to questions (RST.11-12.1-3,8; WHST.11-12.10).
As they write, students convey meaning by varying their writing according to their task, purpose, and audience (WHST.11-12.4). They write frequently and may combine argumentative, explanatory, or narrative forms according to their purpose, task, and audience (WHST.11-12.10).
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Language Development
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RST.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a scientific or technical context.
ELD.PI.11-12.6c.Ex Use knowledge of morphology, context, reference materials, and visual cues to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words on familiar and new topics.
Teachers support students to read complex disciplinary texts by teaching text vocabulary explicitly, providing rich and engaging, as well as repeated, experiences with new words (RST.11-12.4). Teachers select a limited number of words from the text that have high utility for text comprehension and use in other contexts (e.g., in several scientific and technical subjects). Teachers also model strategies for independent word learning (ELD.PI.11-12.6c,8.Ex).
Students continue to develop their understanding of figurative, connotative, and technical meanings of words and phrases in grades eleven and twelve. Science and technical studies teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) this process with texts in the discipline (ELD.PI.11-12.8.Ex).
Teachers employ strategies to develop students’ word consciousness and encourage students to be curious about new words and new meanings of known words that they encounter. They also encourage students to be curious about new syntactical structures common to the discipline that they encounter in texts; teachers model their own processes for making sense of dense phrases and sentences.
All students have regular opportunities to engage in brief and extended conversations about texts with a range of others in a range of contexts for a range of purposes. These opportunities contribute to language development and are particularly important for EL students (ELD.PI.11-12.1.Ex). Teachers encourage and support students in using target words and phrases in their discussions.
Teachers leverage all students’ experiences and ELs’ native language where possible (e.g., highlighting cognates) to support vocabulary development.
RST.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 11-12 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing multimedia using an increasing variety of verbs and adverbials.
All students have regular opportunities to read and discuss scientific and technical texts and learning experiences. Increasingly complex text and rich content curriculum provide opportunities to learn new words and phrases, thereby deepening students’ language development.
Teachers model how they analyze complex sentences to understand their meanings, and they engage students in similar practices. Examining these language structures in the context of the texts the class is studying is more valuable than isolated grammar practice. It is helpful to all students, particularly EL students, to analyze or “unpack” complex sentences as examples of effective use of verb types and tenses, noun phrases, and adverbials to add and enrich details, and connect ideas (ELD.PII.11-12.3-6.Ex).
WHST.11-12.1-2 Write arguments and informative/explanatory texts.
ELD.PII.11-12.2b.Ex Apply knowledge of familiar language resources for linking ideas, events, or reasons throughout a text to comprehending texts and to writing increasingly cohesive texts for specific purposes and audiences.
All students in grades eleven and twelve learn to use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claims, reasons, evidence, and counterclaims; students use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic and convey a knowledgeable stance in a style appropriate to the discipline and the expertise of likely readers (WHST.11-12.1c,2d; ELD.PI.11-12.12a.Ex).Teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these processes and support students as they practice.
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Effective Expression
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RST.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 11-12 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing multimedia.
All students read texts in the discipline regularly in virtual and in-class science and technical studies settings—both independently and collaboratively. They discuss texts with one another, articulating their ideas clearly, and drawing on evidence from the text (WHST.11-12.9).
Teachers establish a climate that fosters trust, safety, equitable participation, and respect for individuals and multiple perspectives in both in-class and virtual settings.
Teachers model and guide co-construction of increasingly effective text aligned to purpose and audience
Teachers support students to read increasingly complex text and engage students in examining passages that represent samples of effective expression. Students and their teachers work to uncover what makes passages effective or complex, analyzing how a text structures information or ideas into categories or hierarchies (RST.11-12.5). Students also analyze the author’s purpose in providing an explanation or description and identify important issues that remain unresolved (RST.11-12.6).
Students use technology creatively (e.g., audio or video of reports, public service announcements, dramatic performances, spoken word) to present arguments and information as individuals, partners, or small groups (WHST.11-12.6).
Teachers provide mentor texts in the form of clips from podcasts, documentary films, panel discussions, or other presentations to demonstrate specialized language and content, clear structure, and effective presentation techniques.
WHST.11-12.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content. WHST.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of scientific procedures/experiments or technical processes.
ELD.PI.11-12.10.Ex Write longer informational texts collaboratively and independently using appropriate text organization and growing understanding of register; write increasingly concise summaries of texts and experiences by using complete sentences and key words.
All students learn that the structure and use of language in their writing varies according to the task, purpose, and audience. Teachers engage students in the analysis of a variety of mentor texts representing effective examples of text organization and language use and help students apply similar strategies to their own writing (ELD.PII.11-12.1-7.Ex).
All students organize their writing in increasingly effective ways. Students introduce precise, knowledgeable claims or topics; create an organization that logically sequences the claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence or ideas, concepts, and information; and provide a concluding statement that follows from and supports the argument or information (WHST.11-12.1a,1e,2a,2e).
All students write regularly in virtual and in-class settings—both independently and collaboratively (WHST.11-12.10). They use technology to produce and publish writing, collaborate with others, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information (WHST.11-12.6).
Teachers support students in building their metacognitive awareness of their own and others’ language use in writing (and speaking). Teachers create an environment that encourages students to experiment with language without being overly concerned with correctness.
Teachers accept and value students’ language varieties and establish an environment, both online and in class, that is respectful and safe for students to experiment with language.
WHST.11-12.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
Teachers help students plan their writing by connecting the products of their reading (e.g., annotations, discussion notes, lab notes, summaries, reflections, outlines, maps, responses to questions) to the writing task.
Students’ writing receives regular, specific feedback, so students become increasingly effective at expressing arguments and information. Teachers and peers provide feedback on longer assignments early in the process so that students can set goals for improvement and make revisions. Feedback is focused on effective communication in the discipline and selected features that have been the subject of instruction and classroom discussion. Teachers, rather than peers, offer feedback on correctness and form during the editing process.
Feedback is expressed in positive, encouraging ways to ensure motivation and enthusiasm for creating written work are maintained. Teachers engage students in evaluating their own writing and identifying progress they have made toward their own goals.
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Content Knowledge
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RST.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to important distinctions the author makes and to any gaps of inconsistencies in the account. WHST.11-12.9 Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia.
Students evaluate the hypotheses, data, analysis, and conclusions in a science or technical text, verifying the data when possible and corroborating or challenging conclusions with other sources of information; science and technical subjects teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these processes and provide practice as needed (RST.11-12.8). Students practice identifying, evaluating, and expressing arguments and explanations (ELD.PI.11-12.6a,11a.Ex).
Teachers integrate science/technical subjects and literacy using text sets on a given topic. They look for opportunities to collaborate with librarians and teachers in other departments to integrate literacy across subject areas.
RST.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a scientific or technical context.
ELD.PI.11-12.6c.Ex Use knowledge of morphology, context, reference materials, and visual cues to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words on familiar and new topics.
Teachers help students examine vocabulary, including technical terms, language structures, organizational structures, and use of symbols, graphics, formats, and media in scientific and technical texts. Students identify features unique to the discipline and consider their impact on text meaning (RST.11-12.5,7).
RST.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 11-12 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing multimedia.
All students read broadly in the discipline. Teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) as needed to help students read grade-level texts, including accounts of experiments and technical processes. The use of text complements and contributes to content instruction; it does not replace inquiry and other content approaches.
All students read widely in classroom and virtual settings and at home. They read to gain knowledge, to become inspired, and for pleasure.
All students have frequent opportunities to discuss the content of the texts they read (ELD.PI.11-12.1.Ex); these discussions enhance students’ content knowledge.
Students have access to informational text in their home languages to amplify content knowledge and support meaning making.
WHST.11-12.1,2 Write arguments and informative/explanatory texts.
ELD.PI.11-12.10a.Ex Write longer informational texts collaboratively and independently.
All students write frequently to process information they learn through reading, viewing, and listening and to communicate their understandings and perspectives on what they have learned. As they write, students consolidate their existing and new content knowledge.
All students use technology to collaborate with classmates, produce and publish writing, and gather information (WHST.11-12.6,8).
All students conduct short as well as more sustained research projects on topics of interest and to answer a question or solve a problem. They narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate and synthesize multiple sources on the subject (WHST.11-12.7; ELD.PI.11-12.6b.Ex; ELD.PII.11-12.1.Ex).
Students continue to gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; and they continue to integrate information into their text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. Students now assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience and avoid overreliance on any one source (WHST.11-12.8). Teachers model and scaffold (planned and “just-in-time”) these increasingly sophisticated processes as needed. Teachers and school librarians collaborate to help students learn to locate and evaluate sources and avoid plagiarism.
Critical Area of Instructional Focus: Foundational Skills
Key Literacy & ELD Standard(s)
Related Standards and Instructional Considerations
RF.5.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Ideally, students’ knowledge of foundational skills is well established by the time they enter grades eleven and twelve, and science and technical studies teachers continue to support students’ developing reading fluency to aid comprehension.
Support for students who lag significantly behind in foundational reading skills is provided strategically and effectively to allow for accelerated progress and full participation in core instruction.
Class Spotlight
Physics teacher Charlie Larson’s eleventh- and twelfth-grade students use virtual labs and simulations to deepen their content knowledge and learn principles of the subject. Their next simulation will be on gravitational force and the inverse square law. “They get all the materials in front of them, and they want to go to town,” he said. “The procedural information and the questions to promote scientific thinking are on the lab sheet, but they rush through it.” Mr. Larson now has lab partners collaboratively annotate the digital lab sheets before they get to work. “They’re going to be writing individual lab reports after the simulation to address questions about comparison between larger and smaller masses and how they exert forces on one another,” he explains.
Mr. Larson had met with the ELD teacher. Together they identified the essential science concepts and academic vocabulary that they consider inseparable from the conceptual understandings. To support students’ language development, they selected eight words from the reading that will be the target academic vocabulary for the unit. The physics teacher created collaborative slides in advance for each lab group that include activities to develop the target abstract and technical academic vocabulary and concepts for the unit. The slides contain the background reading on Newton’s Third Law to prepare for the simulation. “If they don’t understand that, they will miss a huge learning point,” he says. Collaborative digital annotation encourages students to work together as they read and discuss the text. Students read and mark the text together, using a protocol of Mr. Larson’s own devising.
Circle the verbs and write a synonym in the margin.
Draw a slash and write the phrase “stop and observe” at each point in the lab where this will be necessary.
Write questions about anything that is not clear to you and your lab partners so I can answer them.
“As they meet in their breakout rooms, I can see the progress on each of their slides and read their annotations,” said Mr. Larson. “I get a quick measure of how well they understand what they will need to do.” The physics teacher also noted that, “It’s also made me get better at writing labs so that they’re clear and worded in such a way that I am prompting their critical thinking, not just completing a procedure,” he said. When students begin to write their lab reports, they return to their annotated version one more time. “It helps them to remember what they were thinking about before they performed the simulation, which makes it easier for them to reflect on their learning,” said Mr. Larson.
Prominent Literacy/ELD Themes: Content Knowledge, Language Development
Note: Digital tools and resources to support the implementation of the strategies and considerations identified in this section are included in the Appendices. Please also note that digital tools referenced in Appendix B include free and premium options, and their inclusion in the guidance are largely derived from interviews with California educators. LEAs exercise local control when selecting digital tools and resources. Resources and digital tools included in the guide should not be considered endorsements by the CDE.