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Colorado Standards

Colorado Grades 9–10 ELA Standards

All 10 Colorado English language arts standards for grades 9–10, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Colorado Department of Education's document, linked at the end of this page.

10 standards

Oral Expression and Listening

2 standards
RW.H1.1.1
Drive prepared discussions with peer-set rules, link new questions to the wider topic, respond fairly to differing views, combine media sources, and judge a speaker's reasoning and rhetoric.
RW.H1.1.2
Deliver clear, logical presentations with solid evidence and an organization suited to the audience, use digital media strategically, adapt to formal settings, and revise using feedback.

Reading for All Purposes

3 standards
RW.H1.2.1
Analyze classic and modern literature with thorough evidence: trace a theme, follow complex characters, weigh an author's structural choices, compare art forms, and judge historical context.
RW.H1.2.2
Follow the logic of complex nonfiction by citing thorough evidence, tracing how ideas and claims build, analyzing rhetoric, judging arguments, and studying founding U.S. and world documents.
RW.H1.2.3
Pin down word meanings with context, word-form patterns like react and reaction, and reference tools, interpret euphemism and oxymoron, and weigh subtle differences between near synonyms.

Writing and Composition

4 standards
RW.H1.3.1
Write a fair, formal argument with a precise claim, counterclaims weighed with evidence, appeals to ethos, pathos and logos, links between sections, and a conclusion that supports it.
RW.H1.3.2
Write to explain complex ideas with clear connections, using headings, graphics and media, well-chosen facts and quotations, varied transitions, an objective tone, and a strong conclusion.
RW.H1.3.3
Write a real or imagined story with several plot lines, events that build toward an outcome, vivid sensory detail, poetic or figurative devices, and a reflective ending.
RW.H1.3.4
Draft, revise and publish solo or shared writing, using parallel structure, varied phrases and clauses, semicolons and colons correctly, and a style guide such as MLA.

Research Inquiry and Design

1 standard
RW.H1.4.1
Run short and longer research projects, narrow or widen the question, combine authoritative sources found with advanced searches, cite them in a standard format, and use evidence to analyze.

The official Colorado documents

The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Colorado's standards, not the official wording, which Colorado Department of Education publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.