Concepts and Skills: What Students Need to Know and Be able to Do Reading
Drawing inferences
Determine theme
Compare and contrast point of view and similar treatment of themes and topics
Describe character, setting or event
Determine the meaning of words
Make connections between diverse formats of texts
Writing (Narrative)
Write narratives
Organize chronologically
Orients the reader
Uses dialogue and description
Provide a conclusion·
Use transitional words and phrases
Use sensory details
Speaking/Listening
Collaborate
Engage effectively
Build on others ideas
Evaluate a speaker’s reasons and evidence
Report out on a topic or text
Add audio or visual to presentation
Use English appropriate to the context
Language
Demonstrate command of conventions, grammar and usage
Foundational Skills
Apply grade level phonics and words analysis skill
Read accurately
Self-correct
Use context to confirm decoding
Pedagogical Considerations
ClusterBeforeDuringAfter
ReadingAt the end of third grade: Students will ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for their answers.
At the end of fourth grade: Students will refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
At the end of fifth grade: Students will quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Writing At the end of third grade: Students will write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. At the end of fourth grade Students will write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
Students will write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
Speaking/Listening Students will engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade three topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Students will engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade four topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Students will engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade five topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Language Students will demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
Students will demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
Students will demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
Foundational Skills Students will know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words while sufficiently reading with accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Students will know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words while sufficiently reading with accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Students will know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words while sufficiently reading with accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Instructional Considerations - Misconceptions
1.Students may also experience difficulty when writing narratives. Aide students in this process by introducing a wide range of effective techniques that may be incorporated into their narrative writing. Strategies may include, but are not limited to: flashback (movement in time that provides background information such as dreams and retelling of memories), foreshadowing (writer gives clues about events to come), third person point of view (using a third person’s point of view to tell a story without the use of a narrator), dual narrative (tell stories using two perspectives), quotation marks (to show dialogue), sensory details,etc. 2.Writing Paragraphs a.Some students might have difficulty with determining the parts of a paragraph, especially providing a topic and conclusion in their writing. Spend time defining these parts of writing and showing good examples of topic and conclusion sentences. b.Provide students with good graphic organizers and or outline forms to note take on the details of a particular topic. c.Teach and model how to develop their writing by using quotations. Students will need to know the punctuation involved and how to cite the quoted statement.
Appendix A: Research Supporting Key Elements of the Standards and Glossary of Key Terms From Appendix A, p.23
Narrative Writing Narrative writing conveys experience, either real or imaginary, and uses time as its deep structure. It can be used for many purposes, such as to inform, instruct, persuade, or entertain. In English language arts, students produce narratives that take the form of creative fictional stories, memoirs, anecdotes, and autobiographies. Over time, they learn to provide visual details of scenes, objects, or people; to depict specific actions (for example, movements, gestures, postures, and expressions); to use dialogue and interior monologue that provide insight into the narrator’s and characters’ personalities and motives; and to manipulate pace to highlight the significance of events and create tension and suspense. In history/social studies, students write narrative accounts about individuals. They also construct event models of what happened, selecting from their sources only the most relevant information. In science, students write narrative descriptions of the step-by-step procedures they follow in their investigations so that others can replicate their procedures and (perhaps) reach the same results. With practice, students expand their repertoire and control of different narrative strategies.
Creative Writing beyond Narrative The narrative category does not include all of the possible forms of creative writing, such as many types of poetry. The Standards leave the inclusion and evaluation of other such forms to teacher discretion.
Texts that Blend Types Skilled writers many times use a blend of these three text types to accomplish their purposes. For example, The Longitude Prize, included above and in Appendix B, embeds narrative elements within a largely expository structure. Effective student writing can also cross the boundaries of type, as does the grade 12 student sample “Fact vs. Fiction and All the Grey Space In Between” found in Appendix C.