The following is a list of compiled skill sets that students should know for each academic year.
Teachers, please feel free to use this list as a guide of what you can expect from your students.

AN INCOMING 9TH GRADER SHOULD KNOW:

• Heading goes in upper left-hand corner of paper
• How to incorporate pre-writing strategies, such as listing or outlining
• How to write in complete sentences
• How to structure a paragraph, including a topic sentence
• How to take a position and use evidence to support their position
• How to compare and contrast in a piece of writing
• How to include voice elements in narrative writing- personification, humor, element of surprise
• How to include voice elements in informational writing- emotional appeal, strong opinion, credible support
• These students have had experience writing five-paragraph essays.
• Figurative language, including metaphors, similies, and personification.
• ..........These student should know MLA formatting by the end of the 1st 9 weeks in H.S.!!!!

AN INCOMING 10TH GRADER SHOULD KNOW:

• ALL OF THE ABOVE AND ...
• Proper MLA format
  Page set-up
  Bibliography / Works Cited page
  In-text parenthetical citations
• Five-paragraph essay formula, including organizational patterns
• Writing a THESIS statement and finding support
• Proper use of vocabulary and parts of speech
• How to determine: Symbolism, Theme, Tone, Diction, Mood/Atmosphere of a piece of writing
• Etymology skills- How to use parts of a word (like the prefix, suffix and root/base) to find the meaning of the word.
• Write descriptively: concrete and specific detail
• Support generalizations with specific examples
• Comma after an introductory element
• Punctuate compound sentences correctly: comma or semi-colon
• Vary Sentence Beginnings with phrases or individual parts of speech
• Very sentence types: simple, compound, complex, compound-complex

AN INCOMING 11TH GRADER SHOULD KNOW:

• ALL OF THE ABOVE AND ...
• Identify figures of speech and point of view
• How to write a persuasive speech using logical and emotional appeals along with rhetorical questions
• How to compose a business letter (letter of complaint, college, to author, cover letter to new teacher, introduce self)
• Research: using and collecting information from school approved data bases, writing a works cited page, MLA format, and compiling research from different types of sources
• Compose a five paragraph research paper
• The definition of plagiarism
• Literary terms: tone, theme, imagery, metaphor, sound effects, symbol, theme, irony, flashback, style , rhythm, allegory, personification, atmosphere, dialogue, parody, foreshadowing, characterization, voice
• Short story elements: plot, rising action, setting, conflict, local color
• Copy change a poem
• Compose a literary analysis using quotations from a novel
• Grammar: punctuation, subject verb agreement, pronoun usage, verbs, modifiers

AN INCOMING 12TH GRADER SHOULD KNOW:

• ALL OF THE ABOVE AND...
• Knowledge of phrases, independent and dependent clauses, and the proper punctuation to use
  with each (when to use a comma, semi-colon, or period)
• Proper use of parallelism
• The proper structure for a persuasive essay (to build on skills learned writing 10th grade research paper)
  -Intro
  -Thesis
  -Body paragraphs
  -Properly supported and documented evidence
  -Awareness of audience
  -Counterargument
  - Conclusion