Rhetorical Literary Analysis*
The Rhetorical Literary Analysis Big Idea applies to both 9th and 10th Grade ELA/ELD courses as the level of text increases across grade levels. Scaffolding should be provided as needed for 9th grade students.
Using knowledge of rhetoric to analyze literature from diverse perspectives and write narratives
Students gain a deeper understanding of diverse perspectives portrayed in literature from around the world when they employ rhetorical analysis (chapter 1, ELA/ELD Framework p. 6). Students critically examine cultural experiences reflected in texts and use this knowledge to craft narratives that effectively convey real or imagined experiences. Through this process, students develop the skills to analyze and act on understandings of audience, purpose, and context to produce clear and coherent narratives that reflect an appreciation for the complexities of human expression and storytelling (chapter 7, ELA/ELD Framework p. 689).
Big Idea Success Criteria
The categories and their related standards below unpack the success criteria of this big idea.
- RL.9-10.6: Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.
- RL.9-10.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
- ELD.PI.6: Explain ideas, phenomena, processes, and relationships within and across texts (e.g., compare/contrast, cause/effect, themes, evidence-based argument) based on close reading of a variety of grade-level texts, presented in various print and multimedia formats, using a variety of detailed sentences and a range of general academic and domain-specific words.
- ELD.PI.7: Explain how successfully writers and speakers structure texts and use language (e.g., specific word or phrasing choices) to persuade the reader (e.g., by providing well-worded evidence to support claims or connecting points in an argument in specific ways) or create other specific effects, with light support.
- ELD.PI.8: Explain how a writer’s or speaker’s choice of a variety of different types of phrasing or words (e.g., hyperbole, varying connotations, the cumulative impact of word choices) produces nuances and different effects on the audience.
- RL.9-10.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
- ELD.PI.6: Explain ideas, phenomena, processes, and relationships within and across texts (e.g., compare/contrast, cause/effect, themes, evidence-based argument) based on close reading of a variety of grade-level texts, presented in various print and multimedia formats, using a variety of detailed sentences and a range of general academic and domain-specific words.
- ELD.PI.8: Explain how a writer’s or speaker’s choice of a variety of different types of phrasing or words (e.g., hyperbole, varying connotations, the cumulative impact of word choices) produces nuances and different effects on the audience.
- ELD.PII.6: Connecting ideas.
Connecting Ideas:Combine clauses in a variety of ways to create compound and complex sentences that make connections between and link concrete and abstract ideas, for example, to make a concession (e.g., While both characters strive for success, they each take different approaches through which to reach their goals.), or to establish cause (e.g., Women’s lives were changed forever after World War II as a result of joining the workforce).
- W.9-10.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
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- a. Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events.
- e. Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative.
- W.9-10.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
- ELD.PI.9-10.10a: Write longer and more detailed literary and informational texts (e.g., an argument about water rights) collaboratively (e.g., with peers) and independently using appropriate text organization and register.
- ELD.PI.9-10.12. Use a variety of grade-appropriate general (e.g., anticipate, transaction) and domain-specific (e.g., characterization, photosynthesis, society, quadratic functions) academic words and phrases, including persuasive language, accurately and appropriately when producing complex written and spoken texts.
- ELD.PII.9-10.1. Apply analysis of the organizational structure of different text types (e.g., how arguments are organized by establishing clear relationships among claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence) to comprehending texts and to writing clear and cohesive arguments, informative/explanatory texts and narratives.
- ELD.PII.9-10.2a. Apply knowledge of a variety of language resources for referring to make texts more cohesive (e.g., using nominalization, paraphrasing, or summaries to reference or recap an idea or explanation provided earlier) to comprehending grade‐level texts and to writing clear and cohesive grade‐level texts for specific purposes and audiences.
Alternative Means of Expression
The following options give educators and IEP teams viable alternative means of expression a student could use when showing their understanding of this big idea. Much of the initiative team’s approach to identifying options centered on developing or adopting performance tasks to show what assessment might look like for this big idea.
Remember, LEAs adopt their own policies related to how a student meets the requirements for graduation. Educators and IEP teams should explore these resources with knowledge of these local policies.
Sample Coursework
Project Created Performance Task
Alternate Means of Expression Option 1 is a performance task created by the project team that represents a viable alternate means of expression a school, district, teacher, or IEP team could utilize as an assessment option for this big idea.
Performance Tasks
Alternate Means of Expression Option 2 represent either a single performance task or a set of performance tasks that have been curated from publicly available task repositories that can be used as a viable assessment option.
Bring Your Own Task (BYOT)
A Call to IEP Teams
We want students’ IEP team members to share their ideas regarding viable alternative means of expression pertaining to this big idea for students with disabilities, including those eligible for the CAA, these teams serve. IEP teams can define viable alternative means of expression for an individual student with an IEP, as long as these mediums meet the local requirements of the coursework.
A Call to Content-based Educators
In addition to IEP teams, we know secondary teachers and district curriculum leads have a wealth of experience and ideas related to innovative ways to assess students’ understanding of this content. We are interested in sample alternative means of expression this community sees as viable assessments of this big idea.
Please use the entry boxes below to share these ideas.
Important Note —These assessment tools will not be shared outside the review of the initiative team and will remain the intellectual property of the users who have made this submission. Furthermore, feedback or comments from the initiative team will not be given to uploaded content, nor does uploading materials imply that the alternative means of expression strategy is a viable option for this big idea.
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