1. 2017-18 Middle School English Language Arts Learning Targets: I can…
Grade 8 – Unit 1
1st 9 weeks
gse
Parent Guide
Learning Targets: I can…
Big Ideas
■ Interpret the author’s use of word choice,
structure, and perspective of multiple
information texts.
■ Assess and evaluate information and writing
styles on the same topic.
■ Comprehend written documents as a way of offering and supporting opinions, demonstrating understanding of subjects, and conveying real and imagined experiences and events.
■ Converse and collaborate effectively, building on the ideas of others and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
■ Create presentations based on information from multiple sources.
■ Apply the conventions of standard English to convey meaning in writing and speaking.
■ Acquire and apply knowledge of vocabulary by integrating words and phrases to convey meaning in writing, reading, listening, and speaking.
■ Integrate and analyze information and findings supported through the use of a variety of media to adapt and enhance presentations.
■ Cite evidence (using MLA formatting) from primary and secondary sources.
■ Write for a range of discipline specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Reading: 1 extended text and 6 short text (3 fiction and 3 nonfiction)
Whatever they are reading, students must show a steadily growing ability to discern more from and make fuller use of text, including: making an increasing number of connections among ideas and between texts, considering a wider range of textual evidence, and becoming more sensitive to inconsistencies, ambiguities, and poor reasoning in texts.
Close Reading
Writing: Text types, responding to reading, and research (4-6 arguments and 2-3 narratives )
Specific focus is placed on writing arguments, informative/explanatory texts, and narratives. The standards stress the importance of the writing-reading connection by requiring students to draw upon and write about evidence from literary and informational texts. Because of the centrality of writing to most forms of inquiry, research standards are prominently included in the standards and skills important to research are infused throughout.
Speaking & Listening: Flexible communication and collaboration
Students must learn to work together, express and listen carefully to ideas, integrate information from oral, visual, quantitative, and media sources, evaluate what they hear, use media and visual displays strategically to help achieve communicative purposes, and adapt speech to context and task.
Language: Conventions, effective use, and vocabulary
Students learn the essential “rules” of standard written and spoken English, but they also approach language as a matter of craft and informed choice among alternatives. They understand words and phrases, their relationships, and their nuances and on acquiring new vocabulary, particularly general academic and domain-specific words and phrases.
Words to Know
Academic style, Advertising/propaganda, Argumentative writing, Audience, Author’s purpose, Author’s style, Character, Colloquialism, Compare/contrast, Connotative meaning, Diction, Elements of poetry, Figurative meaning, Genre, Historical content, Memoir, Mood, Motif, Organizational structure, Plot structure, Plot devices, Point of view, Reference materials, Rules of formal writing, Research, Sentence choice, Stereotypes, Story elements, Style, Technical meaning, Text features, Textual evidence, Theme, Word choice, Writing process.
Revised