Shanghai American School
Standards and Benchmarks

Language Arts 8
(Revised:  March 14, 2005)

On the pages that follow are benchmarks that address standards identified by reputable organizations as being appropriate and important for students in school to master prior to graduation.  SAS has adopted standards written by US based national organizations unless otherwise indicated. The benchmarks do NOT represent the entire SAS curriculum. Rather, the benchmarks represent the minimums expected of students when they complete a given year or course.  Because the SAS instructional program is Pre-K-12 in scope all standards are not addressed each year or in every course. The benchmarks are intended to be rigorous and to help insure that there is comparability between school divisions and classrooms. This, however, does not mean that all classes will be identical and parents should not expect that all students will experience the same learning activities.

Although the benchmarks represent the work of many teachers and are based on the judgments of professional educators and scholars of specific disciplines, they should not be seen as the last word on what students at SAS should learn. As the standards are implemented over time, we should expect that many ideas for improving the benchmarks will emerge.  Parents, faculty and students are all encouraged review the benchmarks closely and work together to make them better.

Definitions: (From the SAS Accreditation Committee):

Standard: A general expectation for learning documented for all students to learn in a specific area of study and demonstrated by each student. All SAS standards were written by outside authorities.

Benchmark: An indicator of student progress towards a specific standard at a specific point in time. At SAS, the benchmark will serve as a minimum goal for students to achieve at the end of the year. It is assumed that most students will exceed this minimum. All SAS benchmarks were written /adapted by SAS faculty and staff.

Please contact your child’s teacher (s) if you have questions about benchmarks, standards and/or the instruction that your child is receiving. If you have a suggestion regarding the benchmarks, we ask that you contact the relevant divisional principals.

Language Arts

 

The Shanghai American School English standards are based principally on work generated by the US National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Reading Association (IRA). They draw upon a variety of other sources as well, including the Standards Project for the English Language Arts, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and the Incomplete Work Of The Task Forces Of The Standards Project For English Language Arts. The standards were compiled by the MCREL Foundation and ASCD.

 

"The vision guiding these standards is that all students must have the opportunities and resources to develop the language skills they need to pursue life's goals and to participate fully as informed productive members of society. These standards assume that literacy growth begins before children enter school as they experience and experiment with literacy activities-reading and writing, and associating spoken words with their graphic representations. Recognizing this fact, these standards encourage the development of curriculum and instruction that make productive use of the emerging literacy abilities that children bring to school. Furthermore, the standards provide ample room for the innovation and creativity essential to teaching and learning. They are not prescriptions for particular curriculum or instruction. Although we present these standards as a list, we want to emphasize that they are not distinct and separable; they are, in fact, interrelated and should be considered as a whole." (From the NCTE website, 2002)

 

 

Standard No. 1 (S1): Students will use the general skills and strategies of the writing process.

 

Standard No. 2 (S2): Students will use stylistic and rhetorical techniques in written compositions.

 

Standard No. 3 (S3): Students will use grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions.

 

Standard No. 4 (S4): Students will gather and use information for research purposes.

 

Standard No. 5 (S5): Students will use the general skills and strategies of the reading process.

 

Standard No. 6 (S6): Students will use reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of literary works.

 

Standard No. 7 (S7): Students will use reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts.

 

Standard No. 8 (S8): Students will use listening and speaking skills and strategies for a variety of purposes.

 

Standard No. 9 (S9): Students will use viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual media.

 

Standard No. 10 (S10): Students will understand the characteristics and components of the media.

 

On the pages that follow are benchmarks that address the standards, which are abbreviated to fit the template. The benchmarks do NOT represent the entire SAS curriculum. Rather, the benchmarks represent the minimums expected of students when they complete a given year or course. By the year 2004 students will be expected to demonstrate mastery of each of these benchmarks. Because the SAS instructional program is Pre-K-12 in scope all standards are not addressed each year and in every course.

 

 

Course Description:

Language Arts 8

 

Instructional Materials:

 

Grade 8 Language Arts incorporates a differentiated reading program which allows students choice and time to explore a variety of genres in whole and small group settings.

 

S1:    Writing Process

            Students will use the general skills and strategies of the writing process.


Benchmark 1
Use a variety of techniques to convey personal style and voice and demonstrate an awareness of audience.

Benchmark 2
Create persuasive essays that have a coherent thesis and make clear and well-supported conclusions.

Benchmark 3
Establish coherence within and among paragraphs through effective transitions, parallel structures, and similar writing techniques.

Benchmark 4
Support theses or conclusions with analogies, paraphrases, quotations and/or opinions from authorities, comparisons, and similar devices.

Benchmark 5
Revise writing for word choice, appropriate organization, consistent point of view, and transitions among paragraphs, passages, and ideas.

Benchmark 6
Write biographies or nonfiction essays, autobiographies (memoirs), short stories, and/or narratives that relate a clear, coherent incident, event, or situation by using well-chosen details; reveal the significance of, or the writer’s attitude about, the subject; and employ narrative and descriptive strategies (e.g., relevant dialogue, specific action, physical description, background description, comparison or contrast of characters).

Benchmark 7
Write processed essays of varied genres.

Benchmark 8
Write poetry that effectively attempts to use poetic elements such as imagery and figurative language.

Benchmark 9

Use personal response and experience as a basis for responding to a writing prompt.

 

Benchmark 10

Identify the distinct phases of the writing process.

 

Benchmark 11
Use feedback from the critiquing process (self, peer and teacher evaluations) to write multiple drafts of essays.


Benchmark 12
Participate in self-assessment of written pieces (via continuums and/or portfolio evaluation).

 


S2:  Style/Rhetorical Techniques

            Students will use stylistic and rhetorical techniques in written compositions.

Benchmark 1
Use formal and informal English appropriate to audience and circumstance.

Benchmark 2
Write compositions with a clear purpose and with an identified audience.

Benchmark 3
Write compositions that attempt to develop a personal style and voice.

Benchmark 4
Recognize the difference between supported and unsupported statements and generalizations.

Benchmark 5
Understand the basic structure of an academic essay

Benchmark 6
Identify poor word choice and begin building a stronger vocabulary.

Benchmark 7
Attempt varied and complex sentence structures.

 

S3:  Grammar and Mechanics
         Students will use grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions.

Benchmark 1
Use parallel structure in written discourse, including similar grammatical forms to present items in a series (e.g., consistency with tense, part of speech, possessives, or plurals).

Benchmark 2
Use subordination, coordination, apposition, and other devices to indicate the relationship between written ideas.

Benchmark 3
Edit written work to reflect appropriate and effective grammar (e.g., verb tense, pronoun antecedent, run-on sentences, fragments, etc.), spelling, and correct use of punctuation and capitalization.

Benchmark 4
Produce legible, correctly formatted work.

Benchmark 5
Write letters that follow the conventional style for the type of document (e.g., personal, business or memorandum).


S4:  Information Literacy
         Students will gather and use information for research purposes.

 

Benchmark 1
Plan and conduct multiple-step information searches using print and multimedia resources.

Benchmark 2
Use research information, sources, etc. to substantiate original thought (personal thesis, claims, conclusions, etc.).

Benchmark 3
Understand the structure and organization of (and use) encyclopedias, newspapers, periodicals, search engines and directories, and web reference sites.

Benchmark 4
Prepare reports or research presentations that define a thesis; record important ideas, concepts, direct quotations from significant information sources; paraphrase and summarize relevant perspectives on the topic; and organize and record information on charts, maps, or graphs.

Benchmark 5
Use a variety of primary and secondary sources, determining the nature and usefulness of each.

Benchmark 6
Evaluate accuracy and validity of information (e.g., identifying the web address, date of publication, author, target audience, purpose).

Benchmark 7
Cite sources parenthetically within text.

Benchmark 8
Provide a formal bibliography using a standard format.

Benchmark 9

Understand and avoid plagiarism. Understand the concept of citing sources both for quotes and ideas.

 

S5:  Reading Process
            Students will use the general skills and strategies of the reading process.

Benchmark 1
Use knowledge of word relationships, as well as word roots and context clues, to determine the meaning of specialized vocabulary and to understand the precise meaning of grade-level-appropriate words.

Benchmark 2
Use idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes to infer the literal and figurative meanings of phrases.

Benchmark 3
Use the dictionary as a tool for reading (e.g., pronunciation, parts of speech, etc.).

 

S6:  Interpret Literature
            Students will use reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of literary works.

Benchmark 1
Evaluate the proposition-and-support patterns in persuasive text.

Benchmark 2
Make inferences and draw conclusions based on implicit and explicit information.

Benchmark 3
Summarize and paraphrase information in texts, accurately reflecting the main ideas, including critical details, and conveying the underlying meaning of the original text.

Benchmark 4
Use information from a variety of consumer, workplace, and public documents to explain a situation or decision or to solve a problem.

Benchmark 5
Understand connections between essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives of an informational text.

Benchmark 6
Use reading strategies, such as predictions, text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world connections to understand and interpret written pieces

S7:  Interpret Informational Text
         Students will use reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts.


Benchmark 1
Determine the purposes and characteristics of a variety of written texts.

Benchmark 2
Name the structural elements of the plot (e.g., exposition, rising action, climax), the plot’s development, and explain the extent to which conflicts are addressed and resolved.

Benchmark 3
Understand relevance of setting (place, time, and customs) to the mood, tone, and meaning of text.

Benchmark 4
Identify and analyze recurring comparative themes (e.g., good and evil, heroism, appearance v. reality) across works.

Benchmark 5
Identify significant literary devices that define a writer’s style (e.g., metaphor, symbolism, alliteration) and use those elements to interpret the work.

Benchmark 6
Explain connections among essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives of literary text.

Benchmark 7
Make inferences and draw conclusions based on implicit and explicit information.

Benchmark 8
Produce responses to literature that develop interpretations, exhibit careful reading and insight (e.g., connect the student’s own responses to specific textual references; draw supported inferences about the effects of a literary work on its audience), and support judgments through references to the text, other works, other authors, or to personal knowledge.

S8:  Listening and Speaking Skills
            Students will use listening and speaking skills and strategies for a variety of purposes.

Benchmark 1
 Respond to oral interpretations of literature

Benchmark 2
Evaluate the quality of a speaker (e.g., organization of information for audience and purpose, correct language and grammar, voice modulation, tone, and pacing).

 

Benchmark 3
Make constructive comments to one another's reading and writing.

 

Benchmark 4
Discuss one another's ideas in groups and through journal dialogues, focusing on a respect for viable perspectives/arguments.

 

Benchmark 5
Attempt appropriate grammar, word choice, pronunciation, and pace during formal presentations.

Benchmark 6
Plan and shape presentations to achieve particular purposes or effects and use feedback from rehearsals to make modifications.

Benchmark 7
 Deliver clear, coherent formal and informal presentations that use voice modulation, tone, and gestures expressively to enhance meaning and that are appropriate to audience and purpose, e.g.:

 

S9:  Viewing Skills

            Students will use viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual media.

Benchmark 1
Recognize the different ways media products reflect the society for which they were created.

Benchmark 2
Identify examples of bias in the media.

Benchmark 3
Analyze strategies employed by the media (e.g., band wagon appeal, appeal to pity, perpetuation of stereotypes, use of visual representations, special effects, language) to inform, persuade, entertain, and transmit culture.

Benchmark 4
Critically reflect on advertisements' purposes and methods.

 

Benchmark 5
Reflect on how personal values/experiences compare with those spread by the media.

 

Benchmark 6
Compare and reflect on media sources (such as discrepancies of information, various points of view, various agendas).

 

Benchmark 7
Consider the validity and/or reliability of internet sites and other media.

 

S10:  Media Literacy

            Students will understand the characteristics and components of the media.

 
Benchmark 1
Identify and compare forms of media (ex. newspapers, magazines, television, internet) and evaluate them for purpose, audience, accuracy, and validity.