Critical Content
Power Standards
- Cite evidence from fiction and nonfiction text to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as the inferences drawn in order to write an objective summary of the text. (RL & RI 8.1; RL & RI 9-10.2; SL 8.1)
- Analyze the perspective of multiple primary sources on related concepts/topics and apply evidence drawn from these sources to support proposed solutions to authentic problems. (RI 8.9, 9-10.2)
Power Standards Critical Content
In the language of instruction, students will…
- Locate and summarize strong evidence in the text to support analysis of what the text says
- Determine the credibility of the author and his/her purpose (who wrote it, when it was written, and why was it written)
- Read closely and analyze an author’s words to find answers and determine the textual evidence that most strongly supports both explicit and inferential questions
- Distinguish between what the text explicitly states versus what the text implies, or hints at
- Use inferences to explain how the text evidence supports a logical conclusion (“based on what I’ve read, it’s most likely true that…”)
- Recognize how two or more texts can provide conflicting information on the same topic
- Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text
- Analyze how authors interpret and emphasize different evidence when writing about the same topic
- Identify where two or more texts on the same topic disagree on matters of fact or interpretation
- Analyze if the authors’ reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient
- Identify when irrelevant evidence is introduced and argue why it is irrelevant
- Determine a central idea or theme of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text
- Analyze how the central idea/theme emerges in the text and is shaped and refined by specific details
- Compose an objective summary stating the key points of the text and is void of opinions or feelings
- Synthesize salient ideas from multiple sources on the same topic into an objective summary of the topic
- Create a solution to a complex problem using evidence from multiple sources on related topics
*”text” refers to any content introduced through written text, audio, visual media (charts, graphs, diagrams, pictures, video, web pages, etc.)
*”explicit evidence” includes direct quotes, graphic details, paraphrasing, summary of author’s words/ideas
Additional Critical Content
- Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or events in a story or drama contribute to the action, reveal aspects of a character, or cause a character to make a decision
- Understand and analyze how an author’s specific word choice affects the meaning and tone of a text and mood for the reader
- Recognize how an author develops the points of view of characters and narrators by revealing thoughts, feelings, actions, and spoken words
- Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths and traditional stories including describing how the material is rendered new
- Analyze and compare/contrast multiple texts according to:
- How an author makes connections and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events through comparisons (e.g., The Underground Railroad and the Jewish Resistance Movement), analogies (e.g., One-part-per-billion is equal to one sheet in a roll of toilet paper stretching from New York to London.) or categories (e.g., Leader of Change – Rosa Parks, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Henry Ford)
- The benefits of various text structures
- How a film or live production of a story compares to the original story including how an actor’s or director’s portrayal of the character compares to the author’s portrayal.
- How authors address conflicting evidence or viewpoints
- How various techniques used in film or live production of a story or drama can add to or change the experience of the audience.
- How various authors use different mediums of presentation (e.g., video diary, PowerPoint, visual display).
- The advantages and disadvantages of presenting a topic or idea using different mediums.