Grade 8, ELA

2007-2008

MONTH / CONTENT / SKILLS / ASSESSMENTS / PROJECTS / STANDARDS
Sept. -Oct.
(6- 8 weeks) / CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE / REALISTIC FICTION
·  Establish classroom, reading, and writing routines
·  Academic & Inclusion Classes: The Contender by Robert Lipsyte
Essential Question:
How do we overcome challenges to accomplish our goals?
·  SP Class: Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Essential Questions: Why do we fear things we don’t understand? Do all humans have the capacity for savagery and doing wrong? What role do rules and adult guidance have in controlling or influencing us?
(Other alternatives: Monster, To Kill a Mockingbird) /

READING

·  Identifying literature genres
·  Character study:
-  character traits
-  motivation
-  problems/challenges facing the main char.
-  minor characters
-  how a character changes
·  POV/Narration—how does it affect our understanding of the text?
·  Good reading habits / 7 habits of proficient readers
·  Text-to-self/text/world connections
·  Questioning the text
·  Making inferences
·  Visualizing
·  Use of literary devices (metaphor, similes, symbolism, foreshadowing etc…)
·  Author’s style: use of dialogue, thoughtshots (internal dialogue), flashbacks, etc…

WRITING

·  Writing a paragraph
·  General vs. specific/ faulty generalizations
·  Essay organization
·  Openings/introductions that get the reader’s attention
·  Use of supporting details
·  Capitalization & end punct.
·  Use of the writing process: planning, drafting, editing, proofreading, publishing

LISTENING & SPEAKING

·  Small group & class discussion skills / accountable talk / ·  Paragraph description of setting and characters
·  Advice (7 Habits of…) Posters
·  Summary of a narrative
·  Literary Essay comparing two texts
·  Persuasive Essay
·  Response to Independent Reading / Book Talk or Book Review / ·  Standard 2
·  Standard 3
·  NCTE 2, 3
· 
Nov. –Dec. –Jan. / ELA TEST PREPARATION / NONFICTION /

READING

·  Understanding the features of nonfiction: why we read and how do we read for information
·  Questioning text/ determining what information is important
·  Fact versus opinion
·  Vocabulary: using context clues to guess meaning
·  Identifying main idea and supporting details
·  Identifying the author’s purpose
·  Sequence
·  Cause and Effect
·  Understanding and responding to poetry

WRITING

·  Organizing ideas in an essay
·  Using quotations to support your ideas in an essay
·  Using the writing process within a time limit
·  Using quotation marks, apostrophes, commas

LISTENING

·  Identifying the main idea and important details
·  Identifying organizing structure of a passage
·  Using note-taking strategies e.g. abbreviations, symbols
·  Developing listening and note-taking stamina / ·  Personal Essay
·  Literary Essay
·  Expository Essay
·  Many Listening/ Note-taking Assessments & Essay Responses / ·  Standard 1
·  NCTE 2, 3, 5, 7
· 
Nov. -
Dec. / LITERATURE CIRCLES: MEMOIR (SP classes)
·  Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
·  Black Boy by Richard Wright
·  The Color of Water by James McBride
·  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Essential Questions:
What are memoirs? Why do people write memoir? Are memoirs all true? How does the subject of your memoir chang? What are the central themes of your author’s life? How does the writer’s craft contribute to your understanding of this theme? How do you think the author decided what to include? /

READING

·  Role Responses: making connections, asking questions, vocabulary word finding, researcher

LISTENING/SPEAKING

·  Group discussion skills: listening, asking questions, extending a conversation, & using evidence to support your ideas and opinions / ·  Lit Circle Wrap-Up Project: Write about key question, connection, words, research information and discussion skill.
·  How did these contribute to your understanding of the book?
·  How did these contribute to your group members’ understanding of the book? / ·  Standard 1
·  NCTE 2, 3, 5, 7
Jan.-
Feb. / Science Fiction/ Fantasy …?
·  Possible Sci. Fi: Fahrenheit 451, The Giver, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, The Last Book in the Universe, The Transall Saga, The Time Machine.
·  Fantasy: Watership Down, Sabriel. / ·  Understanding the genre
·  Using genre as a lens to understand a) author’s intent, b) characterization of society, c) characterization of individuals who function within society, d) question of morality/ ethics
·  Author’s purpose in writing in this genre? (Masking?)
·  Using historical context to make inferences
·  Themes
·  Writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing… etc…) / ·  Write a short story
·  Comparing two works of lit?
·  / ·  Standard 2
·  Standard 3
·  NCTE 6, 7
· 
Mar.-
Apr. / SS/ELA
(Night, Diary of Anne Frank, The Devil’s Arithmetic, Number the Stars) + Non-fiction articles about Holocaust
·  Function of Identity/ Memory
·  Defining identity
·  Meaning of truth/reality?
·  Revision of history / ·  Features of historical fiction
·  Symbolism
·  Manipulation of language:
Euphemisms
·  Author’s message
·  Theme
·  Writing style: Diary format
·  Establishing Voice / ·  Reader response journal
·  Historical fiction diary based during WWII
·  Presentations on holocaust: use of visual aides, and speech
·  Poetry…
·  / ·  Standard 1
·  Standard 3
·  Standard 4
·  NCTE 4, 7
· 
·  / ·  / · 
May-
June / Shakespeare
(Romeo and Juliet, or Macbeth) / ·  Major themes: role of male/female, society/individual, destiny/determinism??
·  How do these themes relate to today?
·  (Maybe briefly discuss development of these texts starting with Spanish Tragedy…??)
·  Shakespeare’s language…(wordplay, puns)
·  Poetic devices (prose, verse, iambic, metaphor…)
·  Subplot(s)?
·  Staging and performance
·  Character development / ·  Staging and performance scene (s)
·  Rewriting scene(s)
·  Analysis of a theme or character
·  Webquest (www.geocities.com/kawu018)
·  / ·  Standard 2
·  NCTE 8
·