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How to learn High school: English language arts

Illinois academic standards: English language arts, High school

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1. Language Standards

  1. Vocabulary Strategies: Determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases using a flexible range of strategies — including context clues, Greek and Latin affixes and roots, reference materials, and verification of inferred meaning
  2. Academic Vocabulary: Acquire and use accurately a broad range of general academic vocabulary and domain-specific words — drawing new vocabulary from reading and listening and deploying it consciously in writing and speech to achieve particular effects
  3. Advanced Figurative Language: Understand and interpret figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meaning — including allusion, irony, pun, oxymoron, and extended metaphor — and distinguish between connotation and denotation when analysing or choosing words
  4. Purpose, audience, and context: Identify the purpose, audience, and context of a text and use this knowledge to support comprehension — recognising how writing aimed at different audiences (academic, popular, persuasive) uses different conventions, register, and tone
  5. Standard English: Know and understand the differences between spoken and written language — including differences in formality, register, grammar, and vocabulary — and between Standard English and other varieties of English, using Standard English confidently in writing and speech
  6. Speaking Formally and Giving Presentations: Use Standard English confidently in formal and informal spoken contexts — give short speeches and presentations expressing own ideas clearly, keeping to the point, and adapting register and vocabulary to the audience

2. Speaking and Listening Standards

  1. Evaluating Arguments in Non-Fiction: Evaluate arguments and claims in non-fiction texts — assess whether reasoning is sound, evidence is relevant and sufficient, distinguish between fact and opinion, and recognise bias, propaganda, and rhetorical techniques
  2. Research & Source Evaluation: Summarise and organise material from reading and research — gathering relevant information from multiple sources, assessing credibility, integrating evidence without plagiarising, and supporting ideas with factual detail

3. Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects 6—12

  1. Writing Across Genres: Write for a range of purposes and audiences beyond narrative — including scripts, poetry, personal and formal letters, notes for talks, and other forms — selecting the appropriate form, register, and conventions for each
  2. Using and Evaluating Textual Evidence: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of what a text says explicitly and what can be inferred, distinguishing between strong and weak evidence and explaining how the evidence supports a point
  3. Developed Informational and Explanatory Writing: Write informative and explanatory texts that examine a topic and convey ideas clearly — organising information logically with headings and formatting, developing the topic with relevant facts, definitions, details, and quotations, and using precise vocabulary
  4. Planning, Revising and Editing Writing: Plan, revise, and edit writing to improve coherence and effectiveness — considering how the writing reflects its intended audience and purpose, amending vocabulary, grammar, and structure, and proofreading for accurate spelling, punctuation, and grammar

4. Writing Standards

  1. Writing Character & Dialogue: Write narratives that develop real or imagined experiences using effective technique — including establishing context and point of view, developing characters through dialogue, pacing, and description, using varied transitions, and providing a reflective conclusion
  2. Persuasive Writing: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence — including introducing claims, acknowledging counterclaims, organising reasons logically, maintaining a formal style, and providing a concluding statement

5. Reading Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects 6—12

  1. Analysing Text Structure: Analyse how a text's structure — including its overall organisation, use of chapters, stanzas, scenes, paragraphs, or sections — contributes to its meaning, style, and development of ideas
  2. Literary and Language Terminology: Discuss reading, writing, and spoken language with precise and confident use of linguistic and literary terminology — including terms for word classes, sentence types, clause types, literary devices, and text-level features
  3. Tracing Theme Across a Text: Determine and analyse the theme or central idea of a text, trace how it develops across the text through key details and events, and provide an objective summary distinct from personal opinion

6. Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 6—12

  1. Critical comparison across texts: Make critical comparisons across texts — comparing themes, characters, settings, styles, or arguments in two or more works, including texts from different periods, genres, or cultures

7. Reading Standards for Literature

  1. Wide Independent Reading Across Genres: Read widely and independently across fiction and non-fiction — including whole novels, short stories, plays, poetry, and non-fiction from different genres, periods, and cultures — building stamina, breadth, and personal taste as a reader
  2. Plot Structure and Character Development: Analyse how plot structure unfolds through episodes or key events, and how characters develop, respond to challenges, and change over the course of a narrative — including the relationship between character, setting, and plot
  3. Understanding drama and performance: Understand how dramatists communicate meaning through performance — including staging, direction, set design, lighting, and actors' choices — and how different productions can interpret the same script differently
  4. Narrative Perspective and Unreliable Narrators: Analyse point of view and narrative perspective — including first person, third person limited and omniscient, and unreliable narrator — and how the author's or narrator's perspective shapes the reader's understanding and creates effects such as suspense, irony, or humour
  5. Figurative Language and Literary Devices: Determine the meaning of figurative and connotative language in context, analyse the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, and identify literary devices such as metaphor, simile, personification, allusion, and irony

8. The Standards for Speaking and Listening · Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on texts, topics,

  1. Formal Debates: Participate in formal debates and structured discussions — presenting a position with supporting evidence, responding to others’ points, summarising and building on what has been said, and following rules of discussion

9. The Standards for Writing and Language · Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

  1. Advanced Punctuation for Clarity: Use punctuation confidently and accurately for effect and clarity — including semicolons to link related clauses, colons to introduce lists or explanations, dashes and parentheses for parenthetical information, ellipsis for omission or suspense, and commas for coordinate adjectives and nonrestrictive elements

10. The Standards for Writing and Language · Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing.

  1. Verb Voice and Mood: Understand and use active and passive voice deliberately, and recognise verb moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, conditional) and their effects — choosing the appropriate voice and mood for purpose and audience

11. The Standards for Writing and Language · Demonstrate command of the conventions of English grammar and usage when writing.

  1. Phrases & Clauses: Understand and analyse the function of phrases (noun, verb, adjectival, adverbial, prepositional) and clauses (main, subordinate, relative) in general and in specific sentences, including recognising and correcting misplaced and dangling modifiers
  2. Types of Sentences: Choose among and construct simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences to signal different relationships among ideas, varying sentence patterns deliberately for meaning, interest, and style

12. The Standards for Writing and Language · Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

  1. Writing Techniques for Effect: Apply growing knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, and text structure to writing — drawing on literary and rhetorical devices from reading (e.g., rhetorical questions, tricolon, anaphora, contrast) to enhance impact

13. The Standards for Reading

  1. Grammar for Effect: Analyse the effectiveness and impact of grammatical features in texts read — understanding how authors make deliberate grammatical choices (sentence length, passive voice, fronted adverbials, listing) to create specific effects on the reader
  2. Poetic forms and conventions: Recognise and understand poetic conventions — including form (sonnet, ballad, free verse), metre, rhyme scheme, stanza structure, imagery, and sound devices (alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia) — and analyse how poets use them for effect