GENERAL STANDARD 22: Standard English Conventions Students will use knowledge of standard English conventions in their writing, revising, and editing. We write to make connections with the larger world. A writer’s ideas are more likely to be taken seriously when the words are spelled accurately and the sentences are grammatically correct. Use of standard English conventions helps readers understand and follow the writer’s meaning, while errors can be distracting and confusing. Standard English conventions are the “good manners” of writing and speaking that make communication fluid.
Grade Level
Learning Standards
PreK–4
PreK–K
22.1: Print upper- and lower-case letters of the alphabet.
Grades 1–2
(Continue to address earlier standard as needed.)
22.2: Use correct standard English mechanics such as:
• printing upper- and lower-case letters legibly and using them to make words;
• separating words with spaces;
• understanding and applying rules for capitalization at the beginning of a sentence, for names and places (“Janet,” “I,” “George Washington,” “Springfield”), and capitalization and commas in dates (“February 24, 2001”);
• using correct spelling of sight and/or spelling words; and
• using appropriate end marks such as periods and question marks.
Grades 3–4
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
22.3: Write legibly in cursive, leaving space between letters in a word and between words in a sentence.
22.4: Use knowledge of correct mechanics (end marks, commas for series, capitalization), usage (subject and verb agreement in a simple sentence), and sentence structure (elimination of fragments) when writing and editing.
22.5: Use knowledge of letter sounds, word parts, word segmentation, and syllabication to monitor and correct spelling.
22.6: Spell most commonly used homophones correctly in their writing (there, they’re, their; two, too, to).
5–8
Grades 5–6
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
22.7: Use additional knowledge of correct mechanics (apostrophes, quotation marks, comma use in compound sentences, paragraph indentations), correct sentence structure (elimination of fragments and run-ons), and correct standard English spelling (commonly used homophones) when writing, revising, and editing.
Grades 7–8
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
22.8: Use knowledge of types of sentences (simple, compound, complex), correct mechanics (comma after introductory structures), correct usage (pronoun reference), sentence structure (complete sentences, properly placed modifiers), and standard English spelling when writing and editing.
9–10
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
22.9: Use knowledge of types of clauses (main and subordinate), verbals (gerunds, infinitives, participles), mechanics (semicolons, colons, hyphens), usage (tense consistency), sentence structure (parallel structure), and standard English spelling when writing and editing.
11–12
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
22.10: Use all conventions of standard English when writing and editing.
Composition:
GENERAL STANDARD 23: Organizing Ideas in Writing Students will organize ideas in writing in a way that makes sense for their purpose. When ideas are purposefully organized to advance the writer’s intentions, they have the greatest impact on the writer’s audience. Writers who understand how to arrange their ideas in ways that suit their purposes for writing will achieve greater coherence and clarity.
Grade Level
Learning Standards
PreK–4
Grades PreK–2
23.1: Arrange events in order when writing or dictating.
For example, Kindergarten students organize captioned illustrations in their class report on how seeds grow.
23.2: Arrange ideas in a way that makes sense.
For example, students preparing to describe their favorite animal put ideas about the animal’s appearance in one group of sentences and ideas about behavior in another group of sentences.
Grades 3–4
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
23.3: Organize plot events of a story in an order that leads to a climax.
23.4: Organize ideas for a brief response to a reading.
23.5: Organize ideas for an account of personal experience in a way that makes sense.
5–8
Grades 5–6
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
23.6: Decide on the placement of descriptive details about setting, characters, and events in stories.
For example, when writing their own mystery stories, students plan in advance where clues will be located, what red herrings will complicate the search, and what special talents the detective will employ to solve the mystery.
23.7: Group related ideas and place them in logical order when writing summaries or reports.
For example, students write a summary of a biography of George Washington, grouping their ideas in categories that make sense for the biography (early life, education, battle strategies, actions as president) and placing the categories in a logical order as they compose a multi-paragraph report.
23.8: Organize information about a topic into a coherent paragraph with a topic sentence, sufficient supporting detail, and a concluding sentence.
Grades 7–8
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
23.9: Integrate the use of organizing techniques that break up strict chronological order in a story (starting in the middle of the action, then filling in background information using flashbacks).
For example, after reading the short story, “The Bet,” by Anton Chekhov, students use a flashback in their own stories and discuss the effect of this technique.
23.10: Organize information into a coherent essay or report with a thesis statement in the introduction, transition sentences to link paragraphs, and a conclusion.
23.11: Organize ideas for writing comparison-and-contrast essays.
For example, in writing a comparison between two characters, students consider two forms for organizing their ideas. In the opposing form they describe all the similarities together, write a transition, and then describe all the differences. In the alternating form, they create categories for their information (appearance, character traits, relationships with other characters) and describe both similarities and differences within each category.
9–10
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
23.12: Integrate all elements of fiction to emphasize the theme and tone of the story.
23.13: Organize ideas for a critical essay about literature or a research report with an original thesis statement in the introduction, well constructed paragraphs that build an effective argument, transition sentences to link paragraphs into a coherent whole, and a conclusion.
For example, students write an essay on the causes for the murder of Lenny in Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. They choose the deductive approach, describing the murder and then explaining the causes, or the inductive approach, explaining the causes and then describing the murder.
11–12
(Continue to address earlier standards as needed.)
23.14: Organize ideas for emphasis in a way that suits the purpose of the writer.
For example, students select a method of giving emphasis (most important information first or last, most important idea has the fullest or briefest presentation) when supporting a thesis about characterization in Edwin Arlington Robinson’s narrative poems, “Richard Corey” and “Miniver Cheevy.” Or students use one of five methods (comparison and contrast, illustration, classification, definition, analysis) of organizing their ideas in exposition as determined by the needs of their topic.
23.15: Craft sentences in a way that supports the underlying logic of the ideas.
For example, after writing a critical essay, students examine each sentence to determine whether the placement of phrases or dependent clauses supports the emphasis they desire in the sentence and in the paragraph as a whole.
