9 th Grade Literature

1. 9th Grade Literature EOCT Information

2. 1. How will the End of Course Test affect my final grade? • For every seven (7) points you score below your current average, your final average is reduced by one point. This could mean a failing grade to someone on the borderline of passing, and it could mean the difference of a letter grade to someone who is within one or two points between two letter grades. • Example: You are so happy because you actually have a 72 in 9th grade literature class. You take the EOCT and score a 51 on it. This is 21 points below your average, or 3 X 7 points, so your final average goes down to a 69 (72 – 3). It keeps you from passing the class. • Example: You have worked very hard and have a 92 in 9th grade literature. You take the EOCT and pass it with a 71. This is 21 points below your average, or 3 X 7 points, so your final average goes down to a B, an 89 (92 – 3).

3. 2. Will studying help me on the EOCT? • Yes, some standardized tests are nearly impossible to study for at the last minute, but the EOCT covers terms and ideas which you need to review beforehand to do your best.

4. 3. What will the EOCT have on it? It will cover all areas taught under the current Georgia curriculum for ninth grade literature. These are listed under four headings: 1) Reading and Literature—general understanding of what you read, identifying the different genres (nonfiction-fiction, for instance), recognizing main and subordinate ideas, recognizing and analyzing structural elements (like plot or rhyme scheme) and literary elements (like alliteration or metaphor) in different forms of literature. 2) Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Viewing in all subjects—vocabulary, proper research techniques, responses to a variety of genres and media 3) Writing—audience, purpose, stages of the writing process, introductions and conclusions 4) Conventions—grammar, punctuation, sentence construction, and forms of writing (formal-informal, for instance)

5. In short stories and other prose fiction, make sure you understand how to: • Determine the plot. • Determine what the conflict is. • Recognize foreshadowing, irony, point of view, symbolism, imagery, and theme. • Determine personality traits of characters and how they interact with the plot. • Determine the setting and can tell how setting affects the plot, characterization, or mood. • Determine the mood or tone, and tell how the author has established it.

6. In nonfiction, make sure you understand how to: • Determine the effects of language (diction, imagery, symbolism, figurative language) in memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies. • Analyze the characteristics of memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies, including structure and point of view • Use your reading skills to understand the literal meaning and the “between the lines” meaning of memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies

7. In poetry, make sure you understand how to: • Determine the form of the poetry (fixed, free form, rhymed, unrhymed, narrative, lyrical, sonnet, haiku, limerick, villanelle) • Relate ideas found in poetry to universal themes or topics typical for specific types of poetry • Analyze the use of sound devices, including alliteration, onomatopoeia, consonance, assoncance, rhythm, and rhyme • Determine what kind of figurative language is being used, find figurative language in a selection, or determine how figurative language contributes to the meaning of a poem—including personification, metaphor, simile, hyperbole

8. In drama, make sure you understand how to: • Recognize dramatic conventions and analyze their effect on a particular dramatic passage (exposition, dialogue, monologue, soliloquy, climax) • Analyze interactions between characters in a dramatic passage • Recognize dramatic irony • Determine the theme • Evaluate the purpose and benefits of stage directions

9. For vocabulary, make sure you understand how to: • Determine the meaning of a word or phrase in a text without looking it up in the dictionary • Define unfamiliar words by using structural analysis skills including prefixes (anti, bi, dis, mis, non, pre, re, semi, sub, un), suffixes (able, dom, en, ful, hood, ish, less, ly, ment, ness, ous), root words (biblio, logy, magni, micro, ped, phon), and text aids such as footnotes • Select an affix that will create a given meaning when given a word • Determine the meaning of idioms, cognates, and figurative language • Understand the correct meaning of a given Latin or Greek word, root or affix • Determine how the affix in a given word affects its meaning • Infer the meaning of a root word based on one or more words containing the same root • Use excerpts from dictionaries, thesauruses, or related references to understand vocabulary

10. Finally, make sure you understand how to: • Recognize cause and effect relationships • Analyze how the writer’s language and style influences the theme • Compare and contrast the presentation of a theme across genres • Recognize the existence of multiple themes • Evaluate the writer’s choice of a genre to present a universal theme • Determine important ideas and viewpoints based on references • Recognize how a reference or allusion contributes to the excerpt • Compare and contrast one excerpt to other excerpts from a specific literary period • Compare and contrast excerpts of similar and different historical settings

11. 2) Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Viewing In reading critically, make sure you understand how to: • Draw inferences from reading • Determine what assumptions the author made in an argument • Recognize what an author implies or effects of an author’s argument which may or may not be directly stated • Determine the implied comparison in a metaphor • Determine what the metaphor means within the passage’s context • Determine the correct definition of a multi-meaning word, based on the context • Determining what the author is saying by the connotation of his words

12. In reading mass media, you should understand how to: • Determine how the diction in a speech or presentation affects the mood and tone • Compare and contrast the ways different media (documentaries, newspapers, TV news, on-line news, magazines, textbooks) cover the same event or topic • Evaluate the effectiveness of a presentation, commercial, advertisement, speech, report, web page, or news report in communicating a specific message • Recognize the purpose and intended audience of a specific presentation • Evaluate the effects of a presentation including layout, lighting, color, background, etc.

13. To gain insight into life experiences occurring within a literary text, you should understand how to: • Recognize universal life experiences occurring in the reading selection • Infer how one or more characters’ actions are influenced by the author’s life experiences • Determine how an author’s life experiences contribute to the creation of a literary work

14. In evaluating an argument presented by a speaker or writer, you should understand how to: • Determine what type of argument the speaker is using (authority, emotion, logic) • Determine the evidence used to support an author’s argument • Recognize author’s purpose in entire passage, specific section, or for the use of a word, phrase, or sentence • Make judgements about topics and provide support from the text