Topic: Speaking and Listening Standards, Grades 9 and 10.

Review:

.Participate effectively in group discussions.

.Prepare for discussions by reading and researching.

.Cooperate with peers to set goals and establish roles.

.Build on others’ input.

.Acknowledge ideas and  contributions of others, reach decisions and complete the task.

.Evaluate whether the team has met its goals.

.Synthesize information presented multimodally.

.Determine presenter’s position or point of view by assessing evidence.

.Plan and deliver sufficient evidence in support of claims and reasoning, adjusting presentation to particular audiences and purposes.

.Make use of visual displays.

.Demonstrate command of formal English.

.Adjust  speech to a variety of contexts.

Comment: How do I define “formal English?” Eliminating certain characteristics of conversation like needless repetition, especially with words like “it,” “there,” “get,” “thing”; making clear the antecedents of the demonstrative pronouns “this,” “that,” “these,” and “those”; eliminating sexist language by using the plural to avoid such constructions as “his and her,” “he and she”; carefully using parallel structure, preferring  the active voice to the passive voice and correcting dangling and misplaced modifiers. RayS.

Source:  “CCSSI (Common Core State Standards Initiative) for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies and Science.” March 10, 2010. You will find the standards at http://www.corestandards.org/.