Appendix On Implementing District Standards
PA State Standards for English Language Arts:
CC.1.2.11-12.A
Determine and analyze the relationship between two or more central ideas of a text, including the development and interaction of the central ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
Allows students to create vital connections between texts to better understand meanings and situations. This critical skill will serve students in the classroom and all throughout their adult lives.
CC.1.2.11-12.B
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences and conclusions based on and related to an author’s implicit and explicit assumptions and beliefs.
Challenges students to support their arguments with evidence from the text, which is often a difficult ask for high school students. Also asks students to make inferences and support those ideas with textual evidence.
CC.1.2.11-12.D
Evaluate how an author’s point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
Extremely important skill for students; they need to know who the author of a text is and what biases they may be bringing to the text.
CC.1.2.11-12.G
Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g. visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.
Students learn to assess validity and reliability of texts, thinking critically about the author, and not only to what is being said but what isn’t being said and whose voices aren't being brought to the table.
CC.1.4.11-12.A
Write informative/ explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately.
This is a major skill important to students wherever they end up next, so not just important in an academic context for explaining one’s thoughts and ideas, but also necessary for the wider world.
CC.1.4.11-12.B
Write with a sharp distinct focus identifying topic, task, and audience.
Knowing who the audience is for a written piece (for example: student newspaper vs. letter to an elected official vs. email to a friend, etc) is a critical skill for high school students in their academic writing as well as their college applications and beyond.
CC.1.4.11-12.C
Develop and analyze the topic thoroughly by selecting the most significant and relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic; include graphics and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
Knowing how to research and pick out the relevant information is half the battle when it comes to writing, so when students can identify what information is important to their writing and bring that to the forefront (appropriately cited, of course) and be able to present that information to their class in addition to being able to generalize that skill for college and career pathways.
CC.1.4.11-12.J
Create organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence; use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text to create cohesion and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims; provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
This standard really hits at the crux of this unit, which is having students be able to argue a claim and also be able to cite counter-claims that would undermine their own claims and refute those as part of their argument. Students need to be able to cite their sources, make their argument, and be proactive when it comes to ideas that might refute their own.
PA State Standards for History and Civics:
CC.5.2.12.B
Examine the causes of conflicts in society and evaluate techniques to address those conflicts.
Implores students to take a closer look at the societal conflicts both in the literature they read and in their lives, bolsters critical thinking and close reading skills.
Comments: