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9th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 9 of 12

Form & Composing

Pick the right form for your audience and shape a clear text.

What your child practices

Practices choosing a form for purpose and audience, tone, organization, transitions, text features and design choices when composing and publishing.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: Writing 2; Language 3 · choosing a form and tone for the audience

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Choose a form for your purpose and audience: a how-to guide explains steps, a letter speaks to one reader.
  2. When you revise, improve ideas, organization and wording. Put the strongest point first in persuasive writing.
  3. Use transitions, text features and design to make the text clear.

Example: Which form best explains the steps for building a bird feeder: a poem, a how-to guide or a review? The goal is to explain steps in order. A how-to guide is made for that. Answer: a how-to guide

Form & Composing in Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 9 of 12 in 9th grade English Language Arts, after Summarizing Texts and before Research & Credibility.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Maine Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which feature helps a reader find information quickly in a long report?

    • headings
    • a longer title
    • a bigger font on every page

  2. Question 2

    Which of these is part of mechanics in writing?

    • the main idea
    • the topic
    • capital letters and punctuation

  3. Question 3

    Which text feature would you add to a science report to show data clearly?

    • a joke
    • a decorative border
    • a labeled graph

  4. Question 4

    The best way to start a persuasive essay is usually with…

    • a list of sources
    • a conclusion
    • a clear claim or thesis

  5. Question 5

    When writing for a formal audience such as a principal, you should use…

    • slang and text-message spellings
    • only pictures
    • polite, precise language

  6. Question 6

    Combining text with a chart and a photo in a digital report is an example of…

    • avoiding research
    • using multiple modes to strengthen ideas
    • making the text longer

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