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Florida Standards

Florida 9th Grade ELA B.E.S.T. Standards

All 24 Florida English language arts standards for 9th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is one click away under each one.

24 standards

Reading

12 standards
Reading Prose and Poetry
ELA.9.R.1.1
Explain how story elements like setting, conflict, characterization and tone add deeper layers of meaning or shape the style of a literary work.
Official wording
Explain how key elements enhance or add layers of meaning and/or style in a literary text.
ELA.9.R.1.2
Analyze how a story develops a universal theme, one that applies to people anywhere, like the tension between the ideal and the real.
Official wording
Analyze universal themes and their development throughout a literary text.
ELA.9.R.1.3
Analyze how a narrator's outlook shapes a text, and explain how the author uses it to create irony or satire.
Official wording
Analyze the influence of narrator perspective on a text, explaining how the author creates irony or satire.
ELA.9.R.1.4
Analyze the heroes and other characters, the structure and the major themes of epic poems, like Homer's Odyssey.
Official wording
Analyze the characters, structures, and themes of epic poetry.
Reading Informational Text
ELA.9.R.2.1
Analyze how several structures and features in a nonfiction text, like a problem and solution layout with headings and charts, serve its purpose or meaning.
Official wording
Analyze how multiple text structures and/or features convey a purpose and/or meaning in texts.
ELA.9.R.2.2
Judge how well the facts, examples and appeals an author uses support the main idea of a nonfiction text.
Official wording
Evaluate the support an author uses to develop the central idea(s) throughout a text.
ELA.9.R.2.3
Analyze how an author pursues a goal through logos, ethos and pathos or figures of speech, like an allusion to history that lends a speech weight.
Official wording
Analyze how an author establishes and achieves purpose(s) through rhetorical appeals and/or figurative language.
ELA.9.R.2.4
Compare how two opposing arguments on one topic are built, judging how convincing and how logically sound each side's claims are.
Official wording
Compare the development of two opposing arguments on the same topic, evaluating the effectiveness and validity of the claims.
Reading Across Genres
ELA.9.R.3.1
Explain how figures of speech create a text's mood, like personification that makes a storm feel menacing.
Official wording
Explain how figurative language creates mood in text(s).
ELA.9.R.3.2
Rephrase a ninth grade passage in your own words, like explaining a dense paragraph from a novel or speech in plain terms.
Official wording
Paraphrase content from grade-level texts.
ELA.9.R.3.3
Compare and contrast how authors have reworked myths, classical works or religious texts, like a modern novel retelling a Greek myth.
Official wording
Compare and contrast the ways in which authors have adapted mythical, classical, or religious literary texts.
ELA.9.R.3.4
Explain how an author uses rhetoric, like appeals and devices such as antithesis or metonymy, to persuade or move readers.
Official wording
Explain an author’s use of rhetoric in a text.

Communication

9 standards
Communicating Through Writing
ELA.9.C.1.2
Craft stories with storytelling techniques like dialogue or flashback, a range of transitions, and a narrator whose point of view is clear from the start.
Official wording
Write narratives using narrative techniques, varied transitions, and a clearly established point of view.
ELA.9.C.1.3
Argue a position in writing, backing claims with logic and credible sources, rebutting opposing claims with evidence, and keeping a clear structure and fitting tone.
Official wording
Write to argue a position, supporting claims using logical reasoning and credible evidence from multiple sources, rebutting counterclaims with relevant evidence, using a logical organizational structure, elaboration, purposeful transitions, and a tone appropriate to the task.
ELA.9.C.1.4
Write informational pieces that explain and analyze facts from several sources, organized logically with purposeful transitions and a tone suited to the task.
Official wording
Write expository texts to explain and analyze information from multiple sources, using a logical organization, varied purposeful transitions, and a tone appropriate to the task.
ELA.9.C.1.5
Revise writing to make it clearer and more connected, using suggestions from teachers, classmates or online editing tools.
Official wording
Improve writing by considering feedback from adults, peers, and/or online editing tools, revising for clarity and cohesiveness.
Communicating Orally
ELA.9.C.2.1
Present a talk that is well organized and on point, supported by credible evidence and held together by one clear viewpoint, like a stance on school start times.
Official wording
Present information orally, with a logical organization and coherent focus, with credible evidence, creating a clear perspective.
Following Conventions
ELA.9.C.3.1
Write with correct grammar, punctuation, capitalization and spelling for ninth grade, starting to use parallel structure and varied phrases and clauses.
Official wording
Follow the rules of standard English grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling appropriate to grade level.
Researching
ELA.9.C.4.1
Research a question using several reliable sources, then narrow or widen the question to fit what the sources reveal.
Official wording
Conduct research to answer a question, drawing on multiple reliable and valid sources and refining the scope of the question to align with findings.
Creating and Collaborating
ELA.9.C.5.1
Build a digital presentation, given live or viewed on its own, whose ideas connect and share one clear viewpoint.
Official wording
Create digital presentations with coherent ideas and a clear perspective.
ELA.9.C.5.2
Use online platforms to write with others and export a polished piece aimed at a particular audience, like a shared document saved as a PDF.
Official wording
Use online collaborative platforms to create and export publication-ready quality writing tailored to a specific audience.

Vocabulary

3 standards
Finding Meaning
ELA.9.V.1.1
Put academic words from across subjects, like hypothesis, synthesize and context, to deliberate use in high school speaking and writing.
Official wording
Integrate academic vocabulary appropriate to grade level in speaking and writing.
ELA.9.V.1.2
Figure out word meanings from where words come from and how new words are built with affixes, like sinister first meaning left in Latin.
Official wording
Apply knowledge of etymology and derivations to determine meanings of words and phrases in grade-level content.
ELA.9.V.1.3
Determine both the plain meaning and the emotional shading of words and phrases, using context, figurative language, related words or references, like home versus house.
Official wording
Apply knowledge of context clues, figurative language, word relationships, reference materials, and/or background knowledge to determine the connotative and denotative meaning of words and phrases, appropriate to grade level.

The official Florida documents

Florida's B.E.S.T. Standards for English Language Arts, Florida Department of Education.

The plain-English lines are EMStudio's own explanations, shown beside the official wording. They are not part of the standards.