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Grade 8 (pdf) STANDARD #2 – Students will demonstrate the interest and ability to write effectively for a variety of purposes and audiences. CONTENT Students will: • write for a variety of purposes in a variety of subject areas with an emphasis on developing skills in the following: • drama: scene, monologue, dialogue or one-act play. • business letter to persuade. • research report. • formal research paper. • character study. • short essay. • write to a teacher-selected prompt. • bring 6 pieces to final copy. • write open-response answers to questions, supplying supporting details. PROCESS Students will: • free write regularly to enhance fluency and ease in composing. • apply the writing process. • apply the research process. • initiate writing for a variety of purposes and audiences including creative, expository, narrative, and practical writing. • use paragraphing independently to show a central idea which is clear and complete; indicate changes in idea, setting, time, or character; and employ appropriate organizational patterns (e.g., chronological order and compare/contrast). • use transitional words appropriately. • use varied sentence length and structure to enhance meaning. • use interesting leads/hooks. • write a conclusion that provides closure. • use style, expressions, voice, and point of view (1st, 3rd, omniscient) that are appropriate to the purpose and audience. • self-edit for spelling and items listed in Mechanics and Usage for grades K-8. • analyze and revise their writing independently and in collaboration with others. • conference with teacher and peers resulting in revision for clarity, pace, expansion, conciseness, richness, and voice. GRAMMAR/USAGE/MECHANICS Students will: • self-edit for spelling and items listed in Mechanics and Usage Grades K-8. • define and identify direct and indirect objects. • define and identify prepositional phrases as adjective or adverb phrases. • review 8 parts of speech. • identify run-on sentences and sentence fragments. • capitalize letters for periods and events in history (e.g., World War I, Middle Ages). • use dashes to indicate a sudden break in a sentence (e.g., There is one thing - actually more than one thing – that I find hard to believe about computers taking over the world.). • use an ellipsis to show a pause in dialogue (e.g., One place that I…ah…checked out on the Internet said there will be a discovery to cure all cancers in the near future.). • use an ellipsis to show that words or sentences have been left out. STANDARD #3 – Students will demonstrate the interest and ability to speak purposefully and articulately, as well as listen and view attentively and critically. Students will: • use appropriate articulation, pronunciation, volume, and inflection. • listen and view responsively by using eye contact, body language, and focus. • monitor understanding of the spoken message and seek clarification as needed. • listen to identify examples of rich language such as rhyme schemes, figurative language, and interesting vocabulary. • participate in dramatic presentations (e.g., reader’s theater and role playing). • choose and adapt spoken language to the audience, purpose, and occasion. • anticipate words, meanings, and outcomes. • reflect what a speaker has said. • draw conclusions. • continue to view and listen effectively to spoken and audio-visual messages (e.g., stories, factual presentations and directions). • understand and evaluate spoken and audio-visual messages by following the sequence of ideas, making informed reasoned inferences, and making judgments and interpretations. • make oral presentations with notes. • integrate visuals to clarify and refine ideas before making a presentation (e.g., diagram, time line, picture). • give informative speeches. • support and defend ideas in a public forum. • Select the appropriate word for the context using different levels of language (e.g., polite, informal, colloquial, and slang). • use oral language skills to: • clarify ideas. • solve problems. • make decisions. • paraphrase what is said. • use varied vocabulary. • voice an opinion. • follow and give a multi-step direction. STANDARD #4 – Students will demonstrate competence in understanding, appreciating, interpreting, and critically analyzing classical and contemporary American and British literature as well as literary works translated into English. READING BEHAVIORS Students will: • understand characteristics of a wide variety of genres with an emphasis on drama. • begin to recognize author’s bias. • show an appreciation of literature from various cultures and historical and literary periods. • demonstrate think-aloud behaviors as modeled by the teacher. • identify, analyze, and interpret literary themes and elements. • understand that themes and events in literature often parallel real life. • analyze the structure of a play. • analyze character-development using methods of characterization, direct and indirect. NOTE: ALL PREVIOUSLY LEARNED LITERARY CONCEPTS (K-7) SHOULD CONTINUE TO BE REINFORCED AS LITERARY TERMS • Demonstrate knowledge of use of literary terms: characterization (direct and indirect), tone, analogy, satire, and narrative. METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES • use comprehension strategies (flexibly and as needed) while reading or listening to literature. REPAIRING UNDERSTANDING Students will: • monitor the adequacy of their understanding. • use “fix-up” strategies flexibly to repair faulty comprehension. CONNECTING Students will: • make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections about works they read, hear, and view. • continue to analyze the ways that literature reflects the range of human experience. • continue to analyze the ways readers and writers are influenced by personal, social, cultural, and historical contexts. QUESTIONING Students will: • ask questions of themselves about plot, theme, character, setting, and point of view to help them understand the text. VISUALIZING Students will: • use sensory imagery from the text to visualize settings, characters and actions. • create visual images in their minds based on literal and figurative language from the text to enhance comprehension. DETERMINING IMPORTANCE Students will: • identify essential and supporting ideas which are central to the meaning. INFERRING Students will: • continue to think abstractly to create an understanding of characters, theme, and meaning. SYNTHESIZING Students will: • synthesize information within and across texts and relate it to their prior reading and personal experiences. • consider a text objectively by performing a range of tasks including comparing and contrasting, understanding the impact of the organizational structure, and analyzing the use of such elements as bias, satire, and analogy. • continue to critically analyze and evaluate texts for their practical, informational, or aesthetic value. • continue to analyze and evaluate text for writer’s craft, writer’s biases, and the inherent ability of the work to communicate. STANDARD #5 – Students will demonstrate competence in using the interactive language processes of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing, to gather and organize information in a variety of subject areas. Students will: • continue to use a variety of strategies to obtain and evaluate information at appropriate grade level. • compare and evaluate information from multiple sources. • continue to use a variety of organizational strategies at appropriate grade level. • read, listen to, view, and understand a variety of informational resources at appropriate grade level. • summarize information including main idea, supporting data, relevance, and begin to identify bias. |
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