Full year
The Grade 8 English Language Arts program aims to refine students’ skills and knowledge in reading, writing, speaking, and listening across various genres and forms of literature. Our belief is that literature is a powerful tool for learning and expression. Throughout the course, students read a range of literature that provides both “windows” into other cultures and experiences and “mirrors” to reflect their own individual identities and cultures, as students prepare to thrive in our increasingly interconnected global society. The learning goals of analyzing and appreciating how literature communicates themes, messages, and perspectives are infused throughout all units. Students explore universal themes such as the nature of humanity, overcoming the odds, and our growing relationship and reliance on technology.
Writing instruction prioritizes refining skills in crafting narratives, arguments, informational text, and poetry. Additionally, students personalize the writing process to best meet their needs, using a combination of notebooks and technology to capture their ideas during the planning, revision, editing, and publication phases. Students continue to understand and apply the essential “rules” of standard written and spoken English as a matter of craft and informed choice.
Students will:
- Explain how an author organizes the content in a text to achieve a specific purpose and structure
- Describe how a main idea or theme develops over the course of a text
- Compare arguments to alternative or opposing arguments
- Evaluate the relevance, sufficiency, credibility, and accuracy of evidence for a specific claim
- Describe how the events in a text affect the development of the story in a narrative text
- Describe the overarching purpose and the dominant point of view in a text
- Describe the advantages and disadvantages of expressing ideas in various media
- Generate introductory and conclusion sections that strengthen the ideas presented in the body of a text
- Generate claims and distinguish them from counterclaims
- Avoid plagiarism when quoting or paraphrasing the work of others
Throughout the year, we will explore essential questions such as:
- How do stories impact the way we understand ourselves, others, and the world around us?
- What is the power of the story in relation to the human experience?
- How do authors use literary techniques to communicate important ideas or themes about humanity?
- What does science fiction teach us about ourselves and our world?