English Language Development

New to grades nine and ten are the following:

• Using parallel structure (L.9–10.1a)


• Using various types of phrases (noun, verb, adjectival, adverbial, participial, prepositional,
  absolute) and clauses (independent, dependent; noun, relative adverbial) to convey specific
  meanings and add variety and interest to writing or presentations (L.9–10.1b)


• Using a semicolon (and perhaps a conjunctive adverb) to link two or more closely related
  independent clauses (L.9–10.2.a)


• Using a colon to introduce a list or quotation (L.9–10.2b)
  Students learn these new conventions by identifying models of the conventions in the texts they
  read and then emulating those models in their own writing. Teachers call attention to the conventions,
  clarifying their purpose and use as needed. Focused practice with sentence combining is useful as
  well.

Content Knowledge

Students in grades nine and ten use their knowledge of language
and literacy to learn content in ELA and other subjects. Literature, in its
various forms, is the basis of much of the instruction in ELA, although
students do read and write about literary nonfiction and nonfiction in
ELA and in other content areas. In grades nine and ten the focus of
literature is often world literature. At the end of this grade-span section,
vignettes use world literature to illustrate teaching and learning in ELA
and ELD. In the following snapshot, ELA and literacy are integrated in
science instruction in a grade-ten class.

Snapshot 7.4. Force and Motion

Integrated ELA/Literacy and Science in Grade Ten

Ms. Shankle has been teaching a unit on force and motion to her tenth-grade science

class. In addition to investigative activities and work with important vocabulary, Ms. Shankle

has had her students read from the text, supplemental materials, and instructional Web sites

that contained both technical explanations and diagrams because she knows that it can often

be difficult to integrate these varied types of informational formats. She collaborates with

the ELA teacher on her team, Ms. Ryan, who suggests that the students can benefit from

generating questions to self-monitor their emerging understanding of the content as they

read. Ms. Ryan explains how this strategy requires students to be more actively involved

than simply answering teacher-generated questions and enables them to self-regulate their

learning. Ms. Ryan also suggests that the kinds of questions students produce will let Ms.

Shankle assess whether they are being distracted by extraneous information in the text or

if they are focusing on particular examples at the expense of overarching principles or main

ideas.

When she initially introduces the strategy, Ms. Shankle tells her students, “Today, we are

going to be reading about how to determine force and acceleration. You know that scientific

writing is very different from the kinds of text you might typically read in your English class or

for your own pleasure. This science text will have procedural information to guide you in the

steps of calculating force and acceleration. You will also see figures and formulas that relate to

what is being described in the written portions. The author of this text communicates a lot of

734 | Chapter 7 Grades 9 and 10