Language Arts 8 Program of Studies
How Can I …?
General Outcome 1 – How can I listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent to explore my own thoughts, ideas, feelings, and experiences?
General Outcome 2 – How can I listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent to understand and respond (personally and critically) to oral, print, and other media texts?
General Outcome 3 – How can I listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent to manage ideas and information?
General Outcome 4 – How can I listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent to make my writing more clear and interesting to my readers?
General Outcome 5 – How can I listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent to respect, support, and collaborate with my classmates?
Reevaluating and Extending Personal Understanding1.1.1 / How can I change my understanding and expression of ideas by making connections with new and past knowledge and experiences?
1.1.2 / How can I review, reread, discuss and reflect on different types of text to explore, confirm, and revise my own understandings?
1.1.3 / How can I find and consider different ideas, opinions, and experiences to develop and extend my own ideas, opinions, and experiences?
1.2.1 / How can I acknowledge the value of others’ ideas and opinions when I am exploring and extending my own interpretations?
1.2.2 / How can I exchange ideas and opinions with others to clarify and broaden my own understandings and perspectives?
1.2.3 / How can I reconsider or revise my own initial responses in light of new information or feedback from others?
2.1.1 / How can I use strategies to add to and extend my own knowledge and experiences when I interpret new ideas?
3.3.7 / How can I incorporate new ideas with my previous knowledge to help me develop new understandings?
5.1.2 / How can I broaden and clarify my own opinions by looking at the ideas of others?
Experiencing Different Forms of Text
1.1.4 / How can I discuss and respond to ways that different texts enhance OR restrict the way ideas, information, and experiences are communicated?
2.2.1 / How can I enjoy a variety of texts from many cultural traditions and genres?
2.3.1 / How can I discuss how the form and genre of a text is appropriate for its intended purpose and audience?
2.3.2 / How can I discuss how useful different types of media texts are?
2.3.6 / How can I summarize the content of media texts and discuss the choices made when planning and producing them?
2.4.4 / How can I choose to use different text forms and genres for their particular purpose and affect they have on their audience?
3.4.1 / How can I communicate information in a variety of texts (interviews, mini-lessons, documentaries)?
4.1.8 / How can I choose a document format that is appropriate for my content, audience, and purpose?
Pursuing Personal Interests
1.1.5 / How can I pursue my own personal interest in specific genres of text?
2.1.2 / How can I use knowledge about authors, text forms, and genres (found in previous readings) to direct my own reading experiences?
Vocabulary
2.1.8 / How can I use strategies that help me improve my word identification, develop my vocabulary, and help my spelling?
2.1.9 / How can I use a thesaurus to improve my vocabulary and locate appropriate synonyms?
4.2.1 / How can I use words and phrases to clarify and enhance the ideas and descriptions in my own writing?
Attend to Spelling
2.1.8 / How can I use strategies that help me improve my word identification, develop my vocabulary, and help my spelling?
4.2.6 / How can I create a system for studying and remembering the correct spelling of key words?
4.2.7 / How can I use my knowledge of spelling rules to spell technical terms and unfamiliar words in my own writing?
4.2.8 / How can I identify different spellings of a word in texts and discuss why the different spellings are appropriate for the audience and purpose of the text?
Punctuation and Capitalization
4.2.9 / How can I use hyphens to break words at the end of a line and to make a new word from two related words?
4.2.10 / How can I identify semicolons, dashes, and hyphens, and can use them to help me understand the meaning of text?
4.2.11 / How can I use parentheses correctly in my writing?
4.2.12 / How can I use appropriate punctuation and capitalization when I refer to other texts in my writing?
Grammar and Usage
4.2.2 / How can I use different simple, compound, and complex sentences to make my writing interesting?
4.2.3 / How can I use correct pronoun-antecedent agreement in my writing?
4.2.4 / How can I use verb tenses consistently in my writing?
Editing and Revision
4.1.1 / How can I share my drafts with others so that I get useful feedback from them?
4.1.2 / How can I identify how certain features enhance or detract from the overall effectiveness of mine AND someone else’s work; How can I also suggest and make revisions to the text?
4.1.3 / How can I emphasize important ideas or create dominant impressions by revising my word choice?
4.1.4 / How can I revise my work to make my sentence variety, word choice, and tone better?
4.1.5 / How can I use electronic editing tools (spell check, thesaurus) to enhance the clarity of my texts?
Reading Comprehension Strategies
2.1.3 / How can I enhance my own understanding by paraphrasing main ideas and supporting details, and by rereading and discussing important passages?
2.1.4 / How can I adjust my reading rate (skim, scan, or read slowly) to help my understanding of the passage?
2.1.5 / How can I take notes, make outlines, and use other strategies (like read, recite, review) to remember ideas and information?
2.3.3 / How can I identify the difference between theme and topic/main idea?
3.2.4 / How can I adjust my reading or viewing rate to suit the purpose and density of the material I am reviewing?
Character Analysis
2.2.5 / How can I interpret characters’ choices and motivations in different texts and relate them to myself and others’ choices?
2.2.6 / How can I identify and describe character’s traits and motivations, showing proof from the text and my own personal experiences?
2.2.7
4.2.5 / How can I discuss ways that characters are developed and reasons why characters may change?
2.2.9 / How can I discuss how characters, plot, and setting are connected to each other?
2.3.4 / By considering a character’s words, actions, interactions with other characters, and the narrator’s perspective, How can I explain a character’s traits and motivations?
Creative and Figurative Language
2.2.10 / How can I discuss how word choice, figurative language, plot, setting , and characters work together to create mood and tone?
2.3.7 / How can I identify creative uses of language and visuals in popular culture; How can I also discuss how imagery and figurative language create tone and mood in these texts?
4.1.9 / How can I explain ways that new words, phrases, and expressions enter the language (popular culture, technology, other languages)?
4.1.10 / How can I understand the literal and figurative meaning of words, using idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes?
4.1.11 / How can I experiment with figurative language, voice, sentence structure, patterns, camera angle, and music to create a mood in my text?
Mood and Tone
2.2.10 / How can I discuss how word choice, figurative language, plot, setting , and characters work together to create mood and tone?
2.3.7 / How can I identify creative uses of language and visuals in popular culture; How can I also discuss how imagery and figurative language create tone and mood in these texts?
4.1.11 / How can I experiment with figurative language, voice, sentence structure, patterns, camera angle, and music to create a mood in my text?
Point of View
2.2.2 / How can I write and represent narratives from different points of view?
2.2.3 / How can I realize that there is more than one possible interpretation for texts and can discuss these different points of view?
2.3.5 / How can I compare and contrast different perspectives provided by first and third person narration?
2.4.2 / How can I retell texts from different points of view?
3.1.2 / How can I follow the development of arguments, opinions, or points of view in texts?
3.3.2 / How can I organize ideas and information to establish an overall point of view in my texts?
5.1.3 / How can I compare ways that texts show different cultures or periods in history?
Research Skills
2.1.6 / How can I identify and use clues in reference materials (catalogues, databases, web sites, thesauri, writers’ handbooks) to easily access information?
2.1.7 / How can I identify and use structural features of texts (magazines, newspapers, instruction booklets, advertisements, schedules) to find information and to help me read with purpose?
3.1.3 / How can I select appropriate sources of information for my topic, audience, purpose, and text form?
3.1.4 / How can I make my own plan to access, gather, and record information?
3.2.1 / How can I find information from a variety of sources when conducting research?
3.2.2 / How can I use tools and text features (subtitles, margin notes, key words, electronic searches, visual effects and sound effects) to access information?
3.2.3 / How can I record key ideas from texts and avoid overusing direct quotations?
3.2.5 / How can I develop and use criteria to evaluate the usefulness, currency, and reliability of information for my research?
3.3.3 / How can I make point-form notes that summarize major ideas and supporting details of my research sources?
3.3.4 / How can I discard information that isn’t important for my audience, purpose, form, or point of view?
3.3.5 / How can I use a consistent and approved format to give credit for my quoted and paraphrased ideas?
3.3.6 / How can I identify the relevance of information to my purpose AND can address gaps in my information?
3.4.3 / How can I consider different ways to achieve my research goals?
Presentation of Information
3.4.2 / How can I incorporate appropriate visuals and other media to inform and engage my audience?
4.1.7 / How can I vary my handwriting style and pace, depending on my purpose and audience?
4.3.1 / How can I plan small group and short, whole class presentations that share information?
4.3.2 / How can I present information that has a clear purpose, and that appeals to the interest and background knowledge of my audience?
4.3.3 / How can I use feedback from presentation rehearsals to modify my presentation AND can plan a particular effect or purpose that my presentation achieves?
4.3.4 / How can I predict how presentations will be organized and can identify important ideas and supporting details in the presentation?
4.3.5 / How can I respond respectfully by using appropriate verbal and non-verbal feedback?
Working With a Group
5.2.1 / How can I present ideas and promote ideas that help my group advance their thinking AND recognize everyone’s ideas?
5.2.2 / How can I contribute to group goals and extend my own learning?
5.2.3 / How can I cooperate with my group to get the task done by defining responsibilities, negotiation to reach agreements, setting objectives and time frames, and reviewing the group’s progress?
5.2.4 / How can I evaluate my contribution to the group, offer feedback to others, and suggest ways to improve our group task?
Text Structure and Composition
2.4.1 / How can I create texts that are related to issues I have encountered in other texts and in my own life?
2.4.3 / How can I create texts with both main and minor characters?
2.4.4 / How can I choose to use different text forms and genres for their particular purpose and affect they have on their audience?
3.1.1 / How can I experiment with different ways to focus a topic and select an appropriate text form for my purpose and audience?
3.3.1 / How can I organize ideas and information to create a comparison, chronology, or to show a cause-effect relationship?
3.4.1 / How can I communicate information in a variety of texts (interviews, mini-lessons, documentaries)?
4.1.6 / How can I use paragraphs to create unity and clarity in my texts?
4.1.8 / How can I choose a document format that is appropriate for my content, audience, and purpose?
Making Comparisons and Connections
2.2.4 / How can I make connections between an author’s biography and their texts?
2.2.8 / How can I compare the characters, plot, conflicts, and main ideas of similar texts?
5.1.1 / How can I compare my understanding of other people, cultural traditions, and values with others’ understandings through texts?
Community Conduct
5.1.4 / How can I participate in organizing and celebrating special events while recognizing their significance to Language Arts?
5.1.5 / How can I use language and actions that respects different races, cultures, genders, ages, and abilities?
Goal Setting
1.1.6 / How can I reflect on my growth in how I use language to make and revise my own personal goals?
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