South Dakota ELA 11-12.RI.4

ELAGrades 11–12Reading Informational Text

The Standard

Interpret figurative, connotative, and technical meanings. Analyze how an author uses and refines key term(s) as they shape meaning or tone.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students use context to work out figurative phrases, loaded words, and subject-specific terms. They track how an author develops a key term and explain how it shapes meaning or tone.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can explain what a key term means in two parts of a text, using nearby lines as evidence. They can explain why the difference matters to the author's argument or tone.
Common Misconceptions: Students may treat a figurative phrase as literal or assume a technical term has its everyday meaning. They may notice a repeated word without seeing that the author changes or sharpens its meaning.
How to Assess It: Give students this passage: “The city called the flooded street an inconvenience. By Friday, inconvenience meant missed shifts, ruined groceries, and a school bus that never arrived.” Ask how the meaning of “inconvenience” changes and what tone that change creates.

Lesson moves

Give pairs three short excerpts from King's 'Letter from Birmingham Jail'; have them arrange the uses of 'tension' and label each meaning on sticky notes.
Ask: Why does King call tension constructive, and how does that word choice shape the tone of his argument?
Play a card sort with 'carbon budget,' 'drowning in paperwork,' and 'cheap excuse'; students label each phrase technical, figurative, or loaded.
Post a local roadwork notice; have students rewrite its use of 'disruption' as a commuter's complaint, then compare the two tones.

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