Oral language, vocabulary, reading habits and, in the early grades, phonics, spelling, fluency and handwriting: the building blocks of reading and writing.
E1.1 Oral language: build foundational spoken-language skills by listening, speaking, and joining discussions
E1.1A Take part in thoughtful, courteous discussion: listen attentively, respond fittingly, and tailor your communication to the audience and purpose
E1.1B Follow and give complex spoken directions to complete particular tasks, respond to questions, or work through problems and intricate processes
E1.1C Present in informal, formal, and technical language to fit audience, purpose, and occasion, with eye contact, pacing and pauses, volume, enunciation, purposeful gestures, and language conventions
E1.1D Collaborate with others by building on their ideas, offering relevant information, planning how to reach consensus, and setting ground rules for decisions
E1.2 Vocabulary: use newly learned words expressively in speaking and writing
E1.2A Use print or digital references such as technical dictionaries or glossaries to confirm exactly what technical or discipline-based terms mean
E1.2B Use context to tell denotative word meanings from connotative ones
E1.2C Work out the meaning of foreign words and phrases common in English, for example bona fide, caveat, carte blanche, and quid pro quo
E1.3 Self-sustained reading: choose grade-appropriate text and read independently for sustained periods
E1.3A Choose a text yourself and read it independently for a sustained stretch of time
Comprehension Skills
Using reading strategies to understand, summarize and make sense of what students read and hear.
E1.4 Comprehension: use metacognitive skills to build and deepen understanding of increasingly complex texts
E1.4A Set a purpose for reading both assigned and self-selected texts
E1.4B Ask questions about a text before reading, while reading, and after finishing it, to build understanding and gain information
E1.4C Make predictions using text features, genre characteristics, and structures, then correct or confirm them
E1.4D Form mental images to deepen understanding
E1.4E Relate the text to your own experiences, to ideas in other texts, and to society
E1.4F Make inferences and cite evidence to support understanding
E1.4G Weigh the details you read to identify key ideas
E1.4H Combine information from two texts to build new understanding
E1.4I Monitor comprehension and adjust when it breaks down, such as annotating, asking questions, drawing on background knowledge, or re-reading
Response Skills
Responding to texts in speaking and writing, with evidence and personal connections.
E1.5 Response: react to ever more demanding, varied sources that students read, hear, or view
E1.5A Explain how you personally relate to many kinds of source material, including self-selected texts
E1.5B Write responses showing understanding of texts, including comparisons of texts within and across genres
E1.5C Back up a comprehensive response with evidence from the text plus your own commentary
E1.5D Paraphrase and summarize texts while keeping the meaning and logical order
E1.5E Engage with sources in meaningful ways, for example notetaking, annotating, freewriting, or illustrating
E1.5F Use content and academic vocabulary you have learned in responses, where fitting
E1.5G Talk and write about what a text says directly and what it implies
E1.5H Answer in speech or writing using a fitting register, vocabulary, tone, and voice
E1.5I Reflect on responses and adjust them when valid evidence calls for it
E1.5J Defend or challenge authors' claims using relevant evidence from the text
Multiple Genres
Reading and analyzing fiction, poetry, drama, informational texts and media, and what makes each genre work.
E1.6 Literary elements: identify and analyze elements of literature in and between texts of growing complexity, whether traditional, contemporary, classical, or diverse
E1.6A Examine how characterization and plot build themes across varied literary texts
E1.6B Analyze how authors build complex yet believable fiction characters through assorted literary devices, including character foils
E1.6C Examine plot development that is non-linear, such as foreshadowing, flashbacks, subplots, and parallel plots, and compare it with linear plot development
E1.6D Examine the way setting shapes theme
E1.7 Genres: identify and analyze genre-specific traits, structures, and purposes in and across texts of growing complexity, traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse
E1.7A Read American, British, and world literature and respond to it
E1.7B Examine poems of many poetic forms for their prosody, structure, and graphic elements, such as word position and line length
E1.7C Analyze what dramatic conventions do, such as satire, asides, soliloquies, and dramatic irony
E1.7D Analyze informational texts' features and structure, such as a clear thesis, supporting evidence, pertinent examples, a conclusion, and multiple organizational patterns that develop the thesis
E1.7E Analyze features of argumentative texts such as an arguable claim, appeals, a convincing conclusion, evidence types, counterarguments, including rebuttals and concessions, and a clear audience
E1.7F Examine the features of multimodal and digital texts
Author's Purpose and Craft
How authors choose words, structure and techniques to inform, persuade and entertain.
E1.8 Author's craft: use critical inquiry to analyze how authors' choices shape meaning, and apply author's craft purposefully in one's own products and performances
E1.8A Examine what a text's author intends, who it addresses, and its message
E1.8B Examine how an author uses text structure to serve their purpose
E1.8C Judge how well print and graphic features serve the author's specific purposes
E1.8D Examine how language choices serve the author's specific purposes
E1.8E Examine literary devices, such as oxymoron and irony, used to accomplish specific purposes
E1.8F Examine how an author's diction and syntax help create a text's mood, voice, and tone
E1.8G Explain why writers use rhetorical devices such as overstatement and understatement, and the effect of fallacies in logic, such as red herring and straw man arguments
Composition and Writing
Writing process, genres of writing, and the conventions of grammar, usage, punctuation and spelling.
E1.9 Writing process: loop back repeatedly through the process to produce several legible texts that follow appropriate conventions
E1.9A Plan writing for varied purposes and audiences, generating ideas through strategies such as discussing, reading, journaling, or brainstorming
E1.9B Draft focused, coherent, organized pieces in timed and open-ended settings with a structure suited to context, topic, audience, and purpose and a deep, engaging idea with details, examples, commentary
E1.9C Revise drafts for sentence effectiveness, diction, style, organization, development, and clarity, including parallel structure and where phrases and dependent clauses sit
E1.9D Edit drafts for standard English conventions: varied, complete, controlled sentences with no unintended comma splices, run-ons or fragments; consistent, fitting verb tense; active and passive voice; agreement between pronouns and antecedents; correct capitalization; commas, semicolons, colons and dashes that set off phrases and clauses where needed; and correct spelling
E1.9E Publish finished writing for audiences that suit it
E1.10 Composing genres: write several meaningful texts using the characteristics and craft of their genres
E1.10A Write literary texts, such as poetry and fiction, applying genre characteristics and craft
E1.10B Write informational texts, such as personal essays, reports, and explanatory essays, applying genre characteristics and craft
E1.10C Write argumentative texts applying genre characteristics and craft
E1.10D Write correspondence with either a professional or a friendly structure
Inquiry and Research
Asking questions, finding and evaluating sources, and presenting what was learned.
E1.11 Research: take part in recursive inquiry, whether short-term or sustained, for many purposes
E1.11A Come up with questions to guide both formal and informal inquiry
E1.11B Evaluate every step of the research process and make changes when needs are identified
E1.11C Build and revise a plan
E1.11D Adjust the main research question as needed so the plan stays focused
E1.11E Find relevant sources
E1.11F Synthesize information drawn from varied sources
E1.11G Check sources for bias, including omission, and credibility, and for faulty reasoning such as slippery slope, ad hominem, or loaded language
E1.11H Show academic citations, including those for paraphrased and quoted material, and use sources ethically to avoid plagiarism
E1.11I Present results using a fitting delivery mode: written, oral, or multimodal
There are 62 TEKS English I Standards on this page, in 7 strands: Foundational Language Skills, Comprehension Skills, Response Skills, Multiple Genres, Author's Purpose and Craft, Composition and Writing, and Inquiry and Research.
How do I write an assessment for an English I TEKS ELAR standard?
Pick a standard on this page and choose Make a quiz or Make an exit ticket. AssessmentWiz opens the generator with the standard's code and text filled in, so every question targets that standard.
What does a code like E1.1A mean?
TEKS ELAR course codes read course, knowledge and skills statement, student expectation. In E1.1A, E1 is English I and E2 is English II, the number is the knowledge and skills statement, and the letter is the student expectation under it.