State Curriculum Guide for English II

Performance Indicators for Writing

1. Combine sentences using a comma and coordinating conjunction, or correct a run-on sentence within a writing sample.
2. Distinguish fact from opinion from a passage or writing sample.
3. Identify the targeted audience for a selected passage.
4. Choose the sentence that relates the writer’s purpose.
5. Evaluate the relevance of each supporting sentence by deleting an irrelevant sentence in a passage.
6. Select the most appropriate title for a passage.
7. Recognize the proper use of the comparative and superlative form of adjectives.
8. Select the correct word for the sense of the sentence (your and you’re; where and were; it’s and its; their, they’re, and there; to and too).
9. Choose the correct word for the sense of the sentence (stationary and stationery, complement and compliment, principle and principal, accept and except, capitol and capital, affect and effect).
10. Determine the stage of the writing process (using graphics which represent the stages: prewriting, first draft, revision, editing, and publishing).
11. Combine or correct sentence fragments using a subordinating conjunction within a writing sample.
12. Recognize correct subject/verb agreement with confusing intervening prepositional phrases within a writing sample.
13. Select sentences to strengthen an argument within a writing sample or a passage.
14. Select correct pronoun/antecedent agreement within a writing sample.
15. Select the appropriate transitional word for a given sentence within a paragraph.
16. Distinguish the strongest or weakest point of an argument within a passage.
17. Select the most effective method of combining three sentences to improve the structure within a passage.
18. Select vivid words to strengthen a description (adjective or adverb) within a writing sample or a passage.
19. Select vivid words to strengthen a sentence (verb) within a writing sample or a passage.
20. Determine the most effective order of sentences within a writing sample or passage.
21. Choose the correct pronoun case in a sentence in which the pronoun follows “than” within a writing sample or passage.
22. Recognize a shift in any of the following: verb tense, point of view, tone, or pronoun usage within a writing sample.
23. Recognize the correct use of quotation marks in a direct quote.
24. Recognize the correct use of a semicolon in a compound sentence within a writing sample or passage.
25. Choose the thesis that is more effective than the underlined thesis statement (given an introductory paragraph of a student essay).
26. Rearrange the order of the supporting paragraphs in a specified organizational pattern (e.g., strongest to weakest, time order, cause/effect, comparison/contrast) within a writing sample.
27. Select the best placement for an additional supporting sentence within a writing sample.
28. Recognize the correct use of the comma to set off nonessential elements in a sentence.
29. Determine which rebuttal statement best refutes the writer’s viewpoint or a line that reveals the writer’s biases, assumptions, or values within a passage.
30. Revise sentences using effective parallelism within a writing sample.
31. Choose the transitional device that appropriately connects paragraphs (e.g., transitional adverbs, verbal phrases, unambiguous pronoun references) within a writing sample.

Performance Indicators for Reading

32. Discern an implied main idea from a passage.
33. Interpret an author’s point of view (1^st person or 3^rd person limited/omniscient).
34. Identify the simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, alliteration, or personification in a given portion of a poem.
35. Identify how the author reveals character (physical characteristics, dialogue, what other characters say about them, character’s own actions).
36. Draw inference(s) from a selected passage.
37. Determine the meaning of a word in context.
38. Differentiate between verbal and situational irony.
39. Pinpoint a cause/effect relationship in a given passage.
40. Discover the common theme in a series of passages.
41. Determine the significance/meaning of a symbol in a written selection.
42. Determine the analogous relationship of a vocabulary word from one of the passages.
43. Select the allusion in a given passage.

Performance Indicators for Viewing and Representing

44. Select the type of conflict (man vs. man, man vs. environment, man vs. himself, man vs. supernatural, et al.) in a photograph.
45. Select the appropriate persuasive device in a given ad (e.g., famous people say, new and improved, everybody’s using it, if you want to be popular, et al.).
46. Infer the mood or tone in a photograph.
47. Prioritize the most reliable media sources given four different sources (e.g., personal journal, interview, authorized biography, People magazine, et al.).

Performance Indicators for Speaking and Listening

48. Determine the appropriate preparation for an oral presentation to a specified audience or a special interest group.
49. Determine the interest level of an audience through nonverbal communication (e.g., While you are giving a presentation to your classmates, you know that they are interested in what you are saying when . . .).
50. Choose the appropriate volume, pitch, rate, diction, inflection, gestures, or body language when delivering a speech (e.g., When delivering a speech, you can best convey your enthusiasm for a topic by . . .).