ELA – Grade 8
Required Core Connections Text and Lessons in green and Core Connections performance text and tasks in purple
Quarter
Extended Text
Literary Text
1 – Thrill of Horror
Short Story: “The
Monkey’s Paw”
(W. W. Jacobs)
Short Story: “TellTale Heart”
(Edgar Allan Poe)
Writing to Inform and
Explain
Play: “The
Literary Reading Focus Monkey’s Paw”
(W. W. Jacobs
RL.3 W.2
dramatized by
RL.6 W.7
Mara Rockliff)
RL.7
(Holt, Second
RL.9
Course, pp. 186195)
Film Clip: “The
Monkey’s Paw”
(Ricky Lewis Jr.)
Short Story: “The
Outsider” (H. P.
Lovecraft) (Close
Reader)
Short Story:
“Afflicted”
(Matthew
Johnson) (Gale)
Informational
Text
Essay: “Scary
Tales” (Jackie
Torrence)
Literary Criticism:
“What Is the
Horror Genre?”
(Sharon A.
Russell)
Info Text: “Salem
Witch Trials”
(Smithsonian.org)
Writing Tasks
Research Projects
Other
Daily routine
writing tasks to
develop and
convey
understanding of
texts
1 research project
to integrate
knowledge from
sources/culminating
writing analysis
essay (using
multiple texts from
unit)
Sources from
Collection 2
1 research project
to integrate
Sources from
Collection 3
4-6 short
response
analyses that
inform and
explain
Blog: “Famous
Horror First
Lines” (C.T.
Westing)
Short Story: “The
Black Cat” (Edgar
Allan Poe) (Gale)
*Short Story:
“Poison” (Roald
Dahl)
2 – The Move Toward
Freedom
Excerpt: “Bloody
Times: The
Poem: “O
Captain! My
Speech Excerpts:
“Abraham
Daily routine
writing tasks to
Funeral of
Writing to Inform and Abraham Lincoln
Explain
and the
Manhunt for
Informational and
Jefferson Davis”
Literary Reading Focus (James L.
Swanson)
RI/RL.3 W.2
RI/RL.4 W.6
RI/RL.5 W.8
Captain!” (Walt
Whitman)
Poem: “Identity”
(Julio Noboa
Polanco)
Poem: “Hard on
the Gas” (Janet
Wong
Short Story
Short Story: “A
Mystery of
Heroism”
(Stephen Crane)
(Close Reader)
*Poem: Refugee
in America
(Langston
Hughes) (Reading
classes)
(Historical
Fiction): “The
Drummer Boy of
Shiloh” (Ray
Lincoln” (Eulogy)
(Ralph Waldo
Emerson)
develop and
convey
understanding of
texts
Autobiography
Excerpts:
Narrative of the
Life of Frederick
Douglass, an
American Slave
(Frederick
Douglass)
4-6 short
response
analyses that
inform and
explain
Biography: “My
Friend Douglass”
(Russell
Freedman) (Close
Reader)
Biography
Excerpt: “Harriet
Tubman:
Conductor on the
Underground
Railroad” (Ann
Petry)
Media: “Battle of
Shiloh” (History
Channel)
(Student
eBook/Teacher
edition, p. 172)
knowledge from
sources/culminating
writing analysis
essay (using
multiple texts from
unit)
Teachers may
want to pull in
additional
resources
(pictures,
poems, letters,
etc.)
Additional
excerpts from
Frederick
Douglass
Battle of Shiloh
info text
Civil War from N
and S
viewpoints
Slavery from
differing
viewpoints
(www.pbs.org)
(/wnet/slavery/
Resources/wpa.
Html)
Pair Historical
Fiction and
Media clip on
Battle of Shiloh
Bradbury)
Journal Entries:
“Civil War
Journal” (Louisa
May Alcott)
(Close Reader)
*Speech: The
Gettysburg
Address
(Abraham
Lincoln)
*Speech: “I Have
a Dream” (Martin
Luther King, Jr.)
*Speech:
“Choice: A
Tribute to Dr.
Martin Luther
King, Jr.” (Alice
Walker)
*Auto excerpt:
“No One Ever
Told Me Not to
Dream”
(Charlayne
Hunter-Gault)
3 – Culture and
Belonging
Writing to Argue
Short Story: “My
Favorite
Chaperone”
(Jean Davies
Okimoto)
Informational Reading
Focus
RI.3
RI.5
RI.8
SL.3
W.1
W.7
“Dear America”
series
Short Story:
“Golden Glass”
(Alma Luz
Villanueva) (Close
Reader)
Essays: NappingGood or Bad
Should
individuals be
prosecuted for
statements made
on social media?
(pp. 23-29 in
HMH Assessment
Workbook)
Text 1: “The
Dangers of
Cyberbullying
Text 2:
“Sacrificing the
First Amendment
to Catch
‘Cyberbullies’”
Text 3: “What is
Cyberbullying?”
Essay: “What to
Bring” (Naisha
Jackson) (Close
Reader)
Memoir excerpt:
“The
Latehomecomer”
(Kao Kalia Yang)
Memoir:
“Museum
Daily routine
writing tasks to
develop and
convey
understanding of
texts
4-6 short
response
analyses to
argue
1 research project
to integrate
knowledge from
sources/culminating
writing analysis
essay (using
multiple texts from
unit)
Sources from
Collection 1
(Teachers may
want to use
additional texts
in this
collection)
Indians” (Susan
Power) (Close
Reader)
Poem: “The New
Colossus” (Emma
Lazarus)
(Assessment
Booklet)
Media &
Analysis: “New
Immigrants Share
Their Stories”
(Lisa Gossels)
*Poem: “Legal
Alien” (Pat Mora)
Info Text: “Why
Learn Another
Language?”
Poem: “Chisholm” (Samantha
(Ruth Evelyn Reid) Roberts)
(Gale)
(Assessment
Booklet)
Poem:
“Americanization” Info Text: “Why
(Clara Edwards)
Waste Time on a
(Gale)
Foreign
Language?” (Jay
Matthews)
(Assessment
Booklet)
Article: “How a
Sonnet Turned a
Statue into the
Mother of Exiles”
(Sam Roberts)
(Assessment
Booklet)
4 - Approaching
Adulthood
Short Story:
“Marigolds”
(Eugenia Collier)
Writing to Argue
Narrative Writing
Informational Reading
Focus
RI.6
RI.7
RI.9
W.1
W.3
W.6
W.8
Novel Excerpt:
“The Adventures
of Tom Sawyer”
(Mark Twain)
Short Story: “The
Whistle” (Anne
Estevis) (Close
Reader)
Poem: “Hanging
Fire” (Audre
Lorde)
Poem:
“Teenagers” (Pat
Mora)
Poem: “Identity”
(Julio Noboa
Polanco) (Close
Reader)
Poem: “Hard on
the Gas” (Janet S.
Wong) (Close
Reader)
Articles: “When
Do Kids Become
Adults?”
(arguments from
New York Times
weekly feature)
Daily routine
writing tasks to
develop and
convey
understanding of
texts
History Article:
“Much Too
Young to Work
So Hard” (Naoki
Tanaka) (Close
Reader)
4-6 short
response
analyses to
argue
Article: “Nike
Pledges to End
Child Labor And
Apply U.S. Rules
Abroad” (John H.
Cushman, Jr.)
(Assessment
Booklet)
Article: “Nike’s
Dilemma: Is
Doing the Right
Thing Wrong?”
(David Montero)
(Assessment
Booklet)
Essay: “This
Company Is
Employing
1-2 extended
narratives to
convey
experiences,
events, and/or
procedures
1 research project
Sources from
to integrate
Collections 4
knowledge from
and 6
sources/culminating
writing analysis
essay (using
multiple texts from
unit)
Children?”
(Nadira
Faulmuller)
(Assessment
Booklet)
Letter: “Dear
Grandma Ella”
(Assessment
Booklet)
Article:
“President
Pushes States to
Raise Dropout
Age” (Mia Lewis)
(Assessment
Booklet)
Data Analysis:
“Average Income
By Education,
2009” (U.S.
Department of
Education)
(Assessment
Booklet)
Radio Interview:
“Paul Moran
Talks with Missy
Remiss on
WSCH”
(Assessment
Booklet)
*Auto: “When I
Lay My Burden
Down” (Maya
Angelou)