Heather Toll’s Curriculum Map for English Language Arts—Grade 8
Standard
Word Analysis 1.1
Word Analysis 1.2
Word Analysis 1.3
Reading Comprehension 2.1
Reading Comprehension 2.2
Reading Comprehension 2.3
Reading Comprehension 2.4
Reading Comprehension 2.5
Reading Comprehension 2.6
Reading Comprehension 2.7
Literary Analysis 3.1
Literary Analysis 3.2
Literary Analysis 3.3
Literary Analysis 3.4
Literary Analysis 3.5
Literary Analysis 3.6
Literary Analysis 3.7
Written Conventions 1.1
Written Conventions 1.2
Written Conventions 1.3
Written Conventions 1.4
Written Conventions 1.5
Written Conventions 1.6
Writing Strategies 1.1
Writing Strategies 1.2
Writing Strategies 1.3
Writing Strategies 1.6
Formative Standard Focus
Description
Analyze idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes
Word origins
Use context clues
Features of consumer materials and documents
Analyze text that uses proposition and support patterns
Find similarities and differences between texts
Compare original text to summary
Understand and explain technical directions
Use information to solve a problem from consumer documents
Evaluate text structure
Determine relationship of poetry (e.g., ballad, lyric, couplet, epic,
elegy, ode, sonnet)
Evaluate plot
Compare and contrast characters through history
Analyze the relevance of the setting to mood, tone, and
meaning of text
Identify and analyze recurring themes
Identify and interpret significant literary devices
Analyze a work of literature based on the author
Use correct and varied sentence types and openings
Identify and use parallelism
Use subordination, coordination, apposition, and other devices
Edit for grammar
Punctuation and capitalization
Spelling conventions
Essay structure (beginning, thesis, support, and conclusion)
Paragraph structure
Support theses or conclusions
Revision for word choice, organization, point of view, and
transitions
School City
Quarter 1
Assessment: Reading
Level Test, Diagnostic
Test, Benchmark1
Writing: Autobiographical
Incident, Summary
Unit/Key Pieces:
Fiction/Non-Fiction (1)
Short Stories (2)
“Charles”(336)
“Raymond’s Run”(27)
“The Tell Tale Heart”(293)
Projects: Graph of Life
Events, Literary Terms
Dictionary
Writing: Format of an
Essay, Autobiographical,
Summary
Grammar: Parts of
Speech,
Subject/Predicate, and
Parallelism
Listening: Song Analysis
Speaking: Q&A, Oral
Presentations
Big Question 1: Is the
truth the same for
everyone?
Big Question 2: Can all
conflicts be resolved?
Quarter 2
Assessment: Benchmark2
Writing: Response to
Literature
Unit/Key Pieces:
Non-Fiction (3)
Drama (5)
Poetry (4-Lit Terms)
“Anne Frank” (848)
Maus I
Quarter 3
Assessment: Benchmark3
Writing: Persuasive, Letter
Unit/Key Pieces:
Non-Fiction (3)
Poetry (4)
The Outsiders
Projects: Maus I Game
Projects: The Outsiders
Soundtrack
Writing: Summary of
Holocaust, Response to
Literature “RR”, Review
Essay Format
Writing: Persuasive
(Action magazine),
Persuasive Current Issues
Grammar: Parallelism,
Types of Sentences,
Punctuation
Grammar: Punctuation
and Revision (Correcting
Essays), Appositives
Listening: Song Analysis,
Movie Analysis-“Anne
Frank”, Book Analysis
Listening: Song Analysis,
Movie Analysis-The
Outsiders, Advertisement
Analysis
Speaking: Q&A
Novel: Maus I
Big Question 3: How
much information is
enough?
Big Question 4: What is
the secret to reaching
someone with words?
Big Question 5: Is it our
differences or similarities
that matter most?
1. RL 3.2, EC 1.4
2. RL 3.6, WC 1.6
3. RW 1.3, RC 2.5
4. RL 3.2, WS 1.1
5. RC 2.2, WS 1.2
6. RC 2.6, WC 1.3
Speaking: Q&A, Oral
Presentations
Novel: The Outsiders
Big Question 3: How
much information is
enough?
Big Question 4: What is
the secret to reaching
someone with words?
7. RW 1.3, RC 2.7
8. RL 3.3, WS 1.1
9. RL 3.4, WS 1.2
10. RL 3.7, WS 1.6
CSTs
Assessment: CST Prep,
Buckledown, CAHSEE;
Literary Terms Jeopardy
Testing Movie
“Freedom Writers”
Quarter 4
Assessment: CST
Writing: Research Report,
Outline
Unit/Key Pieces:
Themes in Am. Stories (6)
The Giver
2
2
5
2
3
2
2
3
3
3
2
Projects: Research
Report, What Song
Represents You?
3
2
Speaking: Q&A, Oral
Presentations
2
Novel: The Giver
1
3
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
4
4
3
6
Big Question 6: Are
yesterday’s heroes
important today?
Writing: Research Report
Grammar: Parallelism,
Revision
Listening: Song Analysis,
Movie Analysis“Pleasantville”
11.
12.
13.
14.
Heather Toll’s Curriculum Map for English Language Arts—Grade 8
Academic Language Vocabulary (Test Prep)
1.
Analyze: study very carefully
2.
Classify: arrange into categories based on similarities
3.
Compare: show how things are similar or how they are different
4.
Contrast: show how things are different
5.
Critique: review something and point out the good and the bad points
6.
Define: explain the meaning of a term
7.
Describe: explain something with detail
8.
Determine: decide about something
9.
Diagram: make a drawing of something and label the parts
10. Discuss: a complete and detailed explanation
11. Distinguish: to set apart as different
12. Establish: prove or decide something
13. Evaluate: determine the value of something; give your opinion about the subject
14. Explain: give the meaning of something in order to make it clear
15. Identify: select something based on the criteria established
16. Illustrate: giving examples; draw a picture
17. Infer: draw conclusions based on facts
18. Integrate: combine parts into a whole
19. Interpret: explain the meaning of something
20. Justify: give reasons to support a decision
21. Observe: examine and note what is seen
22. Order: put things into the correct place or sequence
23. Outline: an organized summary of the main ideas
24. Predict: a guess about what will happen in the future
25. Prove: give facts or reasons to show that something is true
26. Recall: remember something that was known before
27. Relate: show how things are alike or how they are connected
28. Represent: something that stands for or symbolizes something else
29. Restructure: put things into a new, more appropriate format
30. State: give the main points in a clear, brief form
31. Summarize: give a brief account, including only important information and leaving out needless details
32. Trace: tell about an event or process in a logical order
33. Verify: make sure that the answer or ideas are accurate by using facts and evidence
Pearson/Prentice Hall (2011)
Literature-Student Edition
Literature-Teacher Edition
Literary and Other Terms to Cover
Alliteration
Allusion
Analogy
Antagonist
Author’s Purpose
Characterization: static, dynamic
Connotation
Denotation
Figurative
Flashback
Foreshadowing
Genre
Hyperbole
Idiom
Imagery
Irony
Literal
Metaphor
Mood
Onomatopoeia
Oxymoron
Parallelism
Personification
Plot: exposition, setting, rising action, conflict, climax, falling action, resolution
Poetry: ballad, lyric, couplet, epic, elegy, ode, sonnet, stanza
Point of View
Protagonist
Roots (Greek and Latin)
Simile
Symbolism
Theme
Thesis
Tone
Transition/Transition Words