Orange Board of Education
English Language Arts, Grade 8
Unit I:
Topic:
CCSS:
Fiction and
Nonfiction
RL.8.1
RL.8.2
RL.8.4
W.8.3
W.8.4
L.8.1
Goals: (The standards assessed for mastery at the end of the unit. For all standards to be
taught during the unit, please see Unit 1 in the Model Curriculum Grade 8 Overview
available at http://www.state.nj.us/education/modelcurriculum/ela/8.pdf.)
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from a text.
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of
the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective
summary of the text.
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative
and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and
tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective
technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
a. Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and
introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds
naturally and logically.
b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection, to
develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
c. Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence, signal
shifts from one time frame or setting to another, and show the relationships
among experiences and events.
d. Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language
to capture the action and convey experiences and events.
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when
writing or speaking.
a. Explain the function of verbals (gerunds, participles, infinitives) in general and their
function in particular sentences.
b. Form and use verbs in the active and passive voice.
Projected # of
days
35
Orange Board of Education
English Language Arts, Grade 8
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation,
and spelling when writing.
L.8.2
a. Use punctuation (comma, ellipsis, dash) to indicate a pause or break.
b. Use an ellipsis to indicate an omission.
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases
based on grade 8 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
L.8.4
a. Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word’s
position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words
L.8.6
and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important
to comprehension or expression.
Essential Questions: Is truth the same for everyone?
Assessments:
Formative: anecdotal records, annotations,
Summative: Model Curriculum Unit 1
Authentic: portfolio entries (narrative,
discussion notes, double-entry journals, exit
Assessment and District Writing Assessment
response to literature, response to
tickets, notes, reader/writer notebook
#1 and Big (Essential) Question task from pp. informational text, literary analysis) and one
entries, reader response journals, sticky
225.
Prentice Hall Performance Task from pp. 224notes, interest inventories from PHLit.
225.
Interdisciplinary Connections:
Language: Allusions (PHLit p. 46), History: Managing the Mississippi (PHLit p.68), Comparing Functional Texts: Consumer Document and Map
(PHLit pp. 82 - 86), Science: DNA Fingerprinting (PHLit p.146), Comparing Expository Texts: Magazine Articel and Scientific Article (PHLit pp.
182 – 189), Social Studies: A Bloody Battle (PHLit p. 204).
Technology Integration: PHLitOnline.com, SOLO 6, Spelling City, SmartBoard and responders
Key Vocabulary:
Big Question: bias, confirm, contradict, doubtful, evidence, factual, fantasy, illogical, investigate, objective, observation, opinion, persuade,
prove, theory.
Selection Vocabulary: prodigy, liable, reputation, pageant, periscope, gesture or alibi, rehabilitate, retribution, perceived, unobtrusively,
anguish; negotiation, quaint, deed, preliminary, possession, descendants or malicious, contemptuously, pretext, judicious, confronted,
emancipated; willingly, serene, luminous, ascent, conceivably, overwhelming or deductions, avert, sinister, tangible, invaluable, indiscreetly;
thrives, omens, inexplicable, reluctance, desolate, foreboding or unequivocal, antithesis, paradoxes, exploitation, devoid, perish.
Word Study:
Greek Root –scope (PHLit p.39), Latin root –limin (PHLit p. 63), Latin root –lum (PHLit p.119), Latin root –sol (PHLit p. 169).
Latin Root –trib (PHLit p.51), Latin root –judex (PHLit p.77), Latin root –duc (PHLit p. 153), Latin root –equi (PHLit p.177).
Literary Terms:
Orange Board of Education
English Language Arts, Grade 8
theme, title, plot (exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution), setting, characters, statements, symbols, central idea,
statements of fact, statistics, expert testimony, examples, firsthand accounts, personal experiences, anecdotes, analogies, predict, idioms,
euphemisms, infer, allusions, common/proper noun, text features, functional text, narrative, flashbacks, foreshadowing, voice, tone,
comparative and superlative adjectives, author’s purpose (to persuade, to inform, or to entertain), mood, author’s style, reflexive pronoun
Useful Sites: NJ Educator Resource Exchange (http://njcore.org/), In Common: Effective Writing for All students
(http://www.achievethecore.org/page/507/in-common-effective-writing-for-all-students), Engage NY
(http://www.engageny.org/resource/grade-8-ela-module-2a, http://www.engageny.org/resource/grades-6-8-ela-curriculum-appendix-1teaching-practices-and-protocols )
Primary Documents: (This section to be completed for RI only)
Text Crosswalk:
Reading: PHLit p. 227, Prentice Hall Reader’s Notebook, full-length work of literature, three to five short texts (two to three literature and one to
two informational) from Prentice Hall or other sources.
Writing: routine writing (PHLit pp. 53, 79, Explanatory Text PHLit pp. 104-109, 155, 179, 208-215), four analyses (PHLit pp. 86-103 and pp. 190207), one narrative (PHLit pp. 208-215), and one brief research project (PHLit p. 155).
Speaking & Listening: (PHLit pp. 53, 79, 218-219)
Language: Integrated Language Skills (52, 78, 154, 178, 216-217)
Differentiated Instruction Resources:
Prentice Hall Unit 1 Resources (Leveled Vocabulary, Leveled Selection and Leveled Selection Tests, Graphic Organizers), SOLO 6 (additional
resources can be found at http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com/, http://udlwheel.mdonlinegrants.org/)
Orange Board of Education
English Language Arts, Grade 8
Unit 2:
Topic:
CCSS:
Goals: (The standards assessed for mastery at the end of the unit. For all standards to be
Projected # of
taught during the unit, please see Unit 2 in the Model Curriculum Grade 8 Overview
days
available at http://www.state.nj.us/education/modelcurriculum/ela/8.pdf.)
Types of
RI.8.1
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says
36
Nonfiction
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RI.8.3
Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas,
or events.
RI.8.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word
choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
W.8.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and
information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
a. Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas, concepts, and
information, into broader categories; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g.,
charts, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
b. Develop the topic with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details,
quotations, or other information and examples.
c. Use appropriate and varied transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships
among ideas and concepts.
d. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the
topic.
e. Establish and maintain a formal style.
W.8.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Essential Questions: How much information is enough?
Assessments:
Formative: anecdotal records, annotations,
Summative: Model Curriculum Unit 2
Authentic: portfolio entries (narrative,
discussion notes, double-entry journals, exit
Assessment and Big (Essential) Question task response to literature, response to
tickets, notes, reader/writer notebook
from pp. 631.
informational text, literary analysis) and one
entries, reader response journals, sticky
Prentice Hall Performance Task from pp. 630notes
631.
Orange Board of Education
English Language Arts, Grade 8
Interdisciplinary Connections:
History: Fredrick Douglass (PHLit p. 492), Arts: Honoring Civil Rights (PHLit p. 508), Analyzing Expository Texts: Textbook Article, Public
Document and Letter (PHLit pp. 528 – 532), Culture: The Television Age (PHLit p. 561), Science: Lord of the Rings (PHLit p. 585), Analyzing
Arguments: Editorial and Speech (PHLit pp. 592 – 597), Law: Civil Rights Pioneer (PHLit p. 610).
Technology Integration: PHLitOnline.com, SOLO 6, Spelling City, SmartBoard and responders
Key Vocabulary:
Essential Question: accumulate, challenge, decision, development, discrimination, factor, global, reveal, statistics, explanation, exploration,
inequality, quality, quanity, valuable.
Selection vocabulary:
(more accessible: Baseball) rotate, scheme, option, evaded, shiftless, ignorance or (more complex: Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the
Underground Railroad) invariably, fugitives, incentive, dispel, mutinous, bleak; (more accessible: Always to Remember: The Vision of Maya
Ying Lin) authorized, criteria, harmonious, anonymously, eloquent, unanimous or (more complex: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) fiscal,
ceaseless, benign, valid, intolerant; (more accessible: The Trouble with Television) constructive, diverts, passively, pervading, trivial, skeptically
or (more complex: On Woman’s Right to Suffrage) posterity, mockery, violation, derived, rebellion, immunities; (more accessible: Sharing in the
American Dream) aspiration, deferred, compassionate, vulnerable, virtue, alliance or (more complex: Science and the Sense of Wonder)
exultantly, awed, cataclysm, radiation, conceivable, contraction.
Useful Sites: NJ Educator Resource Exchange (http://njcore.org/), In Common: Effective Writing for All students
(http://www.achievethecore.org/page/507/in-common-effective-writing-for-all-students), Engage NY
(http://www.engageny.org/resource/grade-8-ela-module-2a, http://www.engageny.org/resource/grades-6-8-ela-curriculum-appendix-1teaching-practices-and-protocols )
Primary Documents: (This section to be completed for RI only)
Text Crosswalk:
Reading: Preparing to Read Complex Texts- PHLit p. 633, Prentice Hall Notebook, extended literary nonfiction, three to five short texts (two to
three informational and one to two literature) from Prentice Hall or other sources.
Writing: routine writing (PHLit pp. 499, 589, 525, 548 – 553), four analyses (PHLit pp. 534 – 547 Comparing Types of Organization and PHLit pp.
598 – 613 Comparing Tone), one narrative, and one brief research project (PHLit p. 523).
Speaking & Listening: PHLit pp. 499, 589, 624 – 624.
Language: PHLit pp. 498, 524, 570, 588.
Differentiated Instruction Resources:
Prentice Hall Unit 3 Resources (Leveled Vocabulary, Leveled Selection and Leveled Selection Tests, Graphic Organizers) Resources, SOLO 6
(additional resources can be found at http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com/, http://udlwheel.mdonlinegrants.org/)
Orange Board of Education
English Language Arts, Grade 8
Unit 3:
Topic:
CCSS:
Goals: (The standards assessed for mastery at the end of the unit. For all standards to be
Projected # of
taught during the unit, please see Unit 3 in the Model Curriculum Grade 8 Overview
days
available at http://www.state.nj.us/education/modelcurriculum/ela/8.pdf.)
RI.8.1
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RI.8.2
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text,
including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
RI.8.3
Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas,
or events.
RI.8.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word
choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
RI.8.5
Analyze in detail the structure of a specific paragraph in a text, including the role of
particular sentences in developing and refining a key concept.
RI.8.6
Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author
acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.
Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
a. Introduce claim(s), acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or
opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.
b. Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate,
credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.
W.8.1
c. Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships
among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
d. Establish and maintain a formal style.
e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the
argument presented.
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
W.8.4
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Essential Questions: What is the secret to reaching someone with words?
Assessments:
Formative: anecdotal records, annotations,
Summative: Model Curriculum Unit 3
Authentic: portfolio entries (narrative,
Orange Board of Education
English Language Arts, Grade 8
discussion notes, double-entry journals, exit
Assessment and District Writing Assessment
response to literature, response to
tickets, notes, reader/writer notebook
#2 and Big (Essential) Question task from pp. informational text, literary analysis) and one
entries, reader response journals, sticky
797.
Prentice Hall Performance Task from pp. 796notes
797.
Interdisciplinary Connections:
(PHLit pp. 692 - 697) Comparing Functional Texts: recipe, product information, menu (PHLit pp. 766 - 771) Comparing Functional Texts:
technical directions, consumer document.
Technology Integration: PHLitOnline.com, SOLO 6, Spelling City, SmartBoard and responders
Key Vocabulary:
Big Question: benefit, connection, cultural, individuality, inform, relevant, significance, valid, experience, express, feedback, meaningful, media,
misunderstood, sensory.
Selection Vocabulary: (more accessible: Cat, Silver, Your World) flatter, scampering, reeds, immensity, rapture or (more complex: The Drum,
Ring Out, Wild Bells, Thumbprint) resounding, strife, modes, spite, singularity, imprint; (more accessible: Concrete Mixers, Harlem Night Song,
The City Is So Big) ponderous, bellow, urban, roam, dew or (more complex: Little Exercise, Ode to Enchanted Light, The Sky Is Low, the Clouds
Are Mean) uneasily, unresponsive, boulevard, cicada, rut, debates; (more accessible: Old Man, Runagate Runagate, Blow, Blow/Thou Winter
Wind) legacy, aromas, supple, beckoning, shackles, ingratitude or (more complex: The New Colossus, Paul Revere’s Ride, Harriet Beecher
Stowe) exiles, yearning, somber, defiance, peril, transfigured; (more accessible: January, New World, For My Sister Molly Who in the Fifties)
pollen, recede, inexpressible, remote, wearisome, extinguished or (more complex: your little voice/over the wires came leaping, Drum Song,
Grandma Ling) jostling, impertinently, exquisite, vertical, burrow, tongue.
Literary Terms:
Structure, lines, stanzas, couplet, tercet, quatrain, analogy, alliteration, rhyme, meter, foot, ballads, epic poetry, dramatic poetry,
personification, consonance, speaker, imagery, simile, metaphor, extended metaphor, allusions, onomatopoeia, assonance.
Useful Sites: NJ Educator Resource Exchange (http://njcore.org/), In Common: Effective Writing for All students
(http://www.achievethecore.org/page/507/in-common-effective-writing-for-all-students), Engage NY
(http://www.engageny.org/resource/grade-8-ela-module-2a, http://www.engageny.org/resource/grades-6-8-ela-curriculum-appendix-1teaching-practices-and-protocols )
Primary Documents: (This section to be completed for RI only)
Text Crosswalk:
Reading: Preparing to Read Complex Texts- PHLit p. 799, Prentice Hall Notebook, full-length work of literature, three to five short texts (two to
three literature and one to two informational) from Prentice Hall or other sources.
Writing: routine writing (PHLit pp. 669, 689, 763, 708 - 713), four analyses (PHLit pp. 772 - 779 Comparing Types of Description and PHLit pp. 698
- 707 Comparing Poetry and Prose, one narrative (PHLit p. 739), and one brief research project (PHLit p. 689).
Speaking & Listening: PHLit pp. 669, 739, 790 – 791.
Language: PHLit pp. 668, 688, 738, 762.
Orange Board of Education
English Language Arts, Grade 8
Differentiated Instruction Resources:
Prentice Hall Unit 4 Resources (Leveled Vocabulary, Leveled Selection and Leveled Selection Tests, Graphic Organizers), SOLO 6 (additional
resources can be found at http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com/, http://udlwheel.mdonlinegrants.org/)
Orange Board of Education
English Language Arts, Grade 8
Unit 4:
Topic:
CCSS:
Drama
RL.8.1
RL.8.2
RL.8.3
RL.8.4
RL.8.6
W.8.3
Goals: (The standards assessed for mastery at the end of the unit. For all standards to be
taught during the unit, please see Unit 4 in the Model Curriculum Grade 8 Overview
available at http://www.state.nj.us/education/modelcurriculum/ela/8.pdf.)
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from a text.
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of
the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective
summary of the text.
Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action,
reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative
and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and
tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader
(e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective
technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
a. Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and
introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds
naturally and logically.
b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection, to
develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
c. Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence, signal
shifts from one time frame or setting to another, and show the relationships
among experiences and events.
d. Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language
to capture the action and convey experiences and events.
Projected # of
days
34
Orange Board of Education
English Language Arts, Grade 8
e. Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or
events.
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Essential Questions: Is it our differences or our similarities that matter most?
Assessments:
Formative: anecdotal records, annotations,
Summative: Model Curriculum Unit 1
Authentic: portfolio entries (narrative,
discussion notes, double-entry journals, exit
Assessment and Big (Essential) Question task response to literature, response to
tickets, notes, reader/writer notebook
from pp. 1003.
informational text, literary analysis) and one
entries, reader response journals, sticky
Prentice Hall Performance Task from pp.
notes.
1002-1003.
Interdisciplinary Connections:
History: What is Women’s work? (PHLit p. 822), (PHLit pp. 830 – 835) Comparing Functional Texts: public document, contract, job application,
History: Air Raids (PHLit p. 875), History: Safe Havens (PHLit p. 888), History: Taking the Beaches, Ending the War (PHLit p. 947), (PHLit pp. 962 –
967) Comparing Expository Texts: web site, news release.
Technology Integration: PHLitOnline.com, SOLO 6, Spelling City, SmartBoard and responders
Key Vocabulary:
Essential Question: class, discriminate, distinguish, divide, identify, judge, represent, assumption, common, generalization, separate, superficial,
sympathy, tolerance, unify.
Selection Vocabulary: (The Governess) inferior, discrepancies, discharged, satisfactory, lax, guileless; (The Ninny) account, carelessness,
spineless, timidly; (The Diary of Anne Frank – Act I) conspicuous, tension, represent, insufferable, bewildered, fatalist; (The Diary of Anne Frank –
Act II) inarticulate, apprehension, blackmail, forlorn, intuition, ineffectually.
Literary Terms: complex characters, dramatic irony, comedy, tragedy, tragic flaw, play, dialogue, script, playwright, stage directions.
Word Study:
Latin suffix –ory (PHLit p. 825), Greek suffix –ist (PHLit p. 913), Latin prefix –into (PHLit p. 957), Latin prefix –in (PHLit p. 959).
Useful Sites: NJ Educator Resource Exchange (http://njcore.org/), In Common: Effective Writing for All students
(http://www.achievethecore.org/page/507/in-common-effective-writing-for-all-students), Engage NY
(http://www.engageny.org/resource/grade-8-ela-module-2a, http://www.engageny.org/resource/grades-6-8-ela-curriculum-appendix-1teaching-practices-and-protocols )
Primary Documents: (This section to be completed for RI only)
Text Crosswalk:
Reading: Preparing to Read Complex Texts- PHLit p. 1005, Prentice Hall Notebook, extended literary nonfiction, three to five short texts (two to
three informational and one to two literature) from Prentice Hall or other sources.
W.8.4
Orange Board of Education
English Language Arts, Grade 8
Writing: routine writing (PHLit pp. 915, 959), four analyses (PHLit pp. 836 – 841 Comparing Adaptations to Originals and PHLit pp. 968 – 981
Comparing Sources with A Dramatization), one narrative, and one brief research project (PHLit p. 959).
Speaking & Listening: (PHLit pp. 827, 915, 996 – 997).
Language: (PHLit pp. 826, 914, 958).
Differentiated Instruction Resources:
Prentice Hall Unit 5 Resources (Leveled Vocabulary, Leveled Selection and Leveled Selection Tests, Graphic Organizers), SOLO 6 (additional
resources can be found at http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com/, http://udlwheel.mdonlinegrants.org/)
Orange Board of Education
English Language Arts, Grade 8
Unit 5:
Topic:
CCSS:
Short
Stories
RL.8.1
RL.8.4
RL.8.5
RL.8.6
RL.8.9
W.8.1
W.8.4
W.8.8
Goals: (The standards assessed for mastery at the end of the unit. For all standards to be
taught during the unit, please see Unit 5 in the Model Curriculum Grade 8 Overview
available at http://www.state.nj.us/education/modelcurriculum/ela/8.pdf.)
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from a text.
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative
and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and
tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
Compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts and analyze how the differing
structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style.
Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader
(e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.
Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character
types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including
describing how the material is rendered new.
Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
a. Introduce claim(s), acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or
opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.
b. Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate,
credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.
c. Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships
among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
d. Establish and maintain a formal style.
e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the
argument presented.
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms
effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the
data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format
for citation.
Projected # of
days
35
Orange Board of Education
English Language Arts, Grade 8
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and
research.
b. Apply grade 8 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g., “Delineate and
evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the
reasoning is sound and the evidence irrelevant and sufficient; recognize when
irrelevant evidence is introduced”).
Essential Questions: Can all conflicts be resolved?
Assessments:
Formative: anecdotal records, annotations,
Summative: Model Curriculum Unit 5
Authentic: portfolio entries (narrative,
discussion notes, double-entry journals, exit
Assessment and District Writing Assessment
response to literature, response to
tickets, notes, reader/writer notebook
#3 and Big (Essential) Question task from pp. informational text, literary analysis) and one
entries, reader response journals, sticky
455.
Prentice Hall Performance Task from pp. 454notes
455.
Interdisciplinary Connections:
History: Gateways to New World (PHLit p. 271), Culture: Guided by Gilbran (PHLit p. 283), Science: Phosphorescence (PHLit p. 324), (PHLit pp.
308 – 311) Comparing Expository Texts: Summary, Science: Test Inventors (PHLit p. 350), (PHLit pp. 408 – 413) Comparing Arguments:
advertisements, Social Studies: The Sioux Nation: (PHLit p. 428).
Technology Integration: PHLitOnline.com, SOLO 6, Spelling City, SmartBoard and responders
Key Vocabulary:
Big Question: argument, injury, insecurity, interact, negotiate, oppose, reaction, solution, viewpoint, comprise, irritate, mislead, stalemate,
victorious, violence.
Selection Vocabulary: (more accessible: Who Can Replace a Man?) distinction, respectively, deficiency, debris, erosion, ravaged or (more
complex: Tears of Autumn) turbulent, relentless, affluence, radical, recoiled, degrading; (more accessible: Hamadi) tedious, expansive,
surrogate, obscure, refugees, melancholy or (more complex: The Tell – Tale Heart) cunningly, resolved, stealthily, vex, audacity, derision; (more
accessible: Charles) renounced, insolently, deprived, simultaneously, cynically, haggard or (more complex: Flowers for Algernon) deceive,
refute, intellectual, naïveté, deterioration, introspective; (more accessible: Thank You, M’am) slung, frail, contact, presentable, mistrusted,
barren or (more complex: The Story-Teller) persistent, inevitable, conviction, suppressed, immensely, assail.
Useful Sites: NJ Educator Resource Exchange (http://njcore.org/), In Common: Effective Writing for All students
(http://www.achievethecore.org/page/507/in-common-effective-writing-for-all-students), Engage NY
(http://www.engageny.org/resource/grade-8-ela-module-2a, http://www.engageny.org/resource/grades-6-8-ela-curriculum-appendix-1teaching-practices-and-protocols )
Primary Documents: (This section to be completed for RI only)
Text Crosswalk:
Reading: Preparing to Read Complex Texts- PHLit p. 457, Prentice Hall Notebook, extended literary nonfiction, three to five short texts (two to
W.8.9b.
Orange Board of Education
English Language Arts, Grade 8
three informational and one to two literature) from Prentice Hall or other sources.
Writing: routine writing (argument: PHLIT pp. 275, 305, 326 – 331), four analyses, one narrative (PHLit pp. 312 – 325), and one brief research
project.
Speaking & Listening: PHLit pp. 405, 448 – 449.
Language: PHLit pp. 304, 404.
Differentiated Instruction Resources:
Prentice Hall Unit 2 Resources (Leveled Vocabulary, Leveled Selection and Leveled Selection Tests, Graphic Organizers), SOLO 6 (additional
resources can be found at http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com/, http://udlwheel.mdonlinegrants.org/)