9th grade English Language Arts
12 units matched to the Alabama Course of Study. Kids see this subject as “Language Arts”.
Focus areas
- Reading: complex literary and informational texts
- Writing, speaking and listening: argument and research, and discussion
- Vocabulary and language: building word knowledge and using grammar, spelling and punctuation
Units
Unit 1
Close Reading
Reading original short passages and answering questions about theme, tone, word choice, structure and the author's purpose, using evidence from the text.
Content standard: 9.4; 9.R2 · inference, theme and the author's craft
Unit 2
Literary Elements
Recognizing devices such as irony, symbolism, motif, allusion and foils in short excerpts, and describing tone and mood.
Content standard: 9.4; 9.5 · irony, motif, tone and mood
Unit 3
Grammar & Style
Semicolons, colons, dashes, commas and apostrophes, subject-verb agreement, pronoun case, misplaced modifiers, run-ons and fragments, and choosing a formal or informal register.
Content standard: 9.17; 9.19; 9.R6 · punctuation, agreement and register
Unit 4
Word Detective
Using prefixes, suffixes and Latin and Greek bases to work out new words, choosing a meaning from the sentence around a word, and subject words like product, mass and scale.
Content standard: 9.R7 · roots, prefixes and meaning in context
Unit 5
Literary Devices
Spotting allusion (a reference to something well known), analogy, juxtaposition (contrasts side by side) and flashback in short original excerpts, and explaining why a writer chooses them.
Content standard: 9.4; 9.16 · allusion, analogy, juxtaposition and flashback
Unit 6
Digital Smarts
Telling misinformation from disinformation, checking sources before trusting them, managing passwords and privacy, spotting phishing, and citing and using other people's work respectfully.
Content standard: 9.21; 9.R4 · credible sources, technology-made content and privacy
Unit 7
Forms & Features
Knowing what each text form does, how features such as an index, footnote or caption help readers, how signal words show a text's pattern, and how images, color and design shape meaning.
Content standard: 9.2; 9.5 · text patterns, visuals and media features
Unit 8
Summarizing Texts
Practices summarizing: grouping related ideas, separating important from less important information, paraphrasing and keeping the author's message.
Content standard: 9.25; 9.R1 · finding central ideas and summarizing in your own words
Unit 9
Form & Composing
Practices choosing a form for purpose and audience, tone, organization, transitions, text features and design choices when composing and publishing.
Content standard: 9.9; 9.17 · choosing a form and tone for the audience
Unit 10
Research & Credibility
Students practice effective research questions, peer review, conflicting sources, sampling, lateral reading, checking AI output for invented sources, and citing and synthesizing evidence honestly.
Content standard: 9.21; 9.22; 9.25 · research questions, conflicting sources, credibility and citing
Unit 11
Proofreading
Students practice proofreading in US spelling: commonly misspelled words and confusing pairs such as affect and effect, accept and except, principle and principal.
Content standard: 9.19; 9.R5 · editing writing for correct spelling and word choice
Unit 12
Media Analysis
Students analyze the purposes and techniques of media messages (rhetorical appeals, framing, propaganda, sponsored content, deepfakes) and how beliefs and algorithms shape interpretation.
Content standard: 9.12; 9.18 · analyzing how media messages use appeals, framing and other techniques
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