English Language Arts Performance Tasks: 9th – 12th Grade

English 1

Task 1:

High Tech

Summary

This Performance Task focuses on Reading Informational Text and Writing Arguments. Students will identify the difference between what the author states directly and what is implied in the text; use a text to answer questions and find evidence to support those answers; figure out the meaning of unknown words; tell how the parts of a text fit together to develop a main idea or theme; read several texts describing the same event, idea or topic and explain how each author presents that topic; use many texts to gather information about a topic; summarize the main ideas and details of a text; explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support their main ideas; write a claim(s) and support it with valid reasons and enough evidence to build an argument that analyzes a topic or a text; and organize an argument to show clear connections between the claim(s), counterclaim(s), reasons, and evidence.

Task 2:

Make Amends

Summary

This Performance Task focuses on Reading Informational Texts and Writing Informative/Explanatory Text. Students will evaluate textual evidence; explain how a reader uses textual evidence to reach a logical conclusion; analyze multiple pieces of text to determine evidence that strongly supports both explicit meaning and inferential conclusions; choose a topic and identify and select the most relevant information to develop their ideas; and present information in a writing format to fit the task, purpose, or audience.

Task 3:

Views on Video Games

Summary

This Performance Task focuses on Informational Text, Research and Argument Writing. Students will draw evidence from the text to make logical inferences; determine the purpose of the text and its effect on the reader; evaluate claims made in the text; and analyze research to establish an independent claim.

Task 4:

With Brotherhood

Summary

This Performance Task focuses on Literary and Informational Text and Informative and Narrative Writing. Students will determine how images contribute to the tone of a text; analyze the development of a text; make logical inferences based on key details in the texts; analyze the use of language and its effect on the reader; present an argument to support a claim based on reading multiple texts; and create a narrative which clearly communicates the ideas to the reader.

English 2

Task 1:

Emily Dickinson

Summary

This Performance Task focuses on Reading Literature, Reading Informational Text and Narrative Writing. Students will identifyandexplain howtextualevidence supports whattheauthor states directlyandwhathe/sheimplies; identifythethemeor central ideaofa text;explainhowa themeis developedby specific details; identifyandshowsupport for theauthor’s tonethrough multiple wordsand phrases inthe text;analyze howanauthor uses structure to createeffectssuchas mystery, tension,or surprise; readavarietyoftextsononesubject andidentifyhowtheyare similar andhowthey are different; and write awell-structured,detailednarrative aboutreal or imaginedeventsor experiences.

Task 2:

Power of Words

Summary

This Performance Task focuses on Reading Informational Text, Argument and Speaking. Students will analyze the text and make inferences; interpret words and phrases as they are used and analyze how they shape meaning and tone of the speech; write arguments to support claims in an analysis of the text; produce clear and coherent writing in a style appropriate for the task, purpose, and audience; and adapt speech to a variety of communicative contexts, demonstrating Standard English appropriate for the task.

Task 3:

Prince of Tides

Summary

This Performance Task focuses on Reading Literature and Writing Informative/Explanatory Text. Students will cite text-based evidence that provides strong and thorough support for an analysis of literary text; determine the theme or central idea of a literary text; analyze the development of the theme or central idea over the course of the text (how it emerges and is shaped and refined by details); objectively summarize a literary text; determine the meaning of words and phrases in literary text (figurative, connotative, and technical meanings); analyze the overall impact of word choice on meaning and tone; analyze how an author’s choices about how to structure text, order events and manipulate time create intended effects; and write informative/explanatory texts that convey complex ideas and concepts clearly and accurately, using content that is carefully selected, organized, and analyzed.

Task 4:

Up in Smoke

Summary

This Performance Task focuses on Reading Informational Text, Argument Writing and Research. Students will identifythedifferencebetweenwhat the author states directlyandwhathe/she implies in thetext; provideanobjective summaryofthetext;determinethequalityoftheevidence usedtosupport whatthetext says;findacentral ideainatext andexplain its developmentthroughoutthetext; explain howanauthor outlines aseries ofideas or eventsin atext;determinehowtheauthor’s points are introduced anddevelopedinatext; write aclaim(s) andsupport it withvalid reasons andenough evidenceto buildan argument thatanalyzes atopic or atext; and research short as well as extended projects tosolve problemsor answer questions,includingquestions thattheycreate.

English 3

Task 1:

Between the Lines: Hemmingway

Summary

This Performance Task focuses on Literature and Writing. Students will define inference and explain how a reader uses textual evidence to reach a logical conclusion; read closely and find answers explicitly in the text and answers that require an inference; determine places in the text that leave matters uncertain; write to support an opinion; and determine a writing format/style to fit a task, purpose, and/or audience.

Task 2:

If I Were a Rich Man

Summary

This Performance Task focuses on Literature and Narrative Writing. Students will define inference and explain how a reader uses textual evidence to reach a logical conclusion; read closely and find answers explicitly in the text and answers that require an inference; determine places in the text that leave matters uncertain; define and identify forms of figurative language; analyze how specific word choices build on one another to create a cumulative impact on meaning and tone; analyze how an author’s choice of structuring parts of the text affects the overall meaning; evaluate various works that have drawn on or transformed the same source material and explain the varied interpretations of different authors; and write a narrative to develop real or imaged experiences or events.

Task 3:

More Powerful As One

Summary

This Performance Task focuses on Informational Text and Argument Writing. Students will identify and explain how textual evidence supports what the author states directly and what he/she implies; determine the quality of the evidence used to support what the text says; explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop through out the text; identify figurative language in an informational text; identify the structure of an author’s exposition or argument and evaluate its effectiveness for his/her purpose(s);determine whether an author’s structure makes his or her points clear, convincing, and interesting; explain how the author’s style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text; outline and explain the reasoning in key U.S.texts; outline and explain the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy; participate in a variety of discussions, building on others’ ideas, while expressing their own ideas clearly and convincingly; and write a claim(s) and support it with valid reasons and enough evidence to build an argument that analyzes a topic or a text.

Task 4:

Take a Knee

Summary

This Performance Task focuses on Informational Reading, Argument Writing and Collaborative Discussions. Students will cite strong and thorough evidence to support analysis of informational text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain; analyze the development of the theme or central idea over the course of the text (how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account); evaluate the effectiveness of the structure of an author’s explanation or argument (including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing and engaging); evaluate the reasoning (premises, purposes, and arguments) in works of public advocacy (including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning); write an analysis of substantive topics or text using valid reasoning and sufficient evidence; and adjust writing practices for different timeframes, tasks, purposes, and audiences.