Grade 8 Curriculum
LANGUAGE ARTS
The goal of the Middle School Language Arts program is to enhance the growth of communication skills in an environment that encourages students to read, write, listen, and speak. Students are encouraged to think, to experiment, and to learn from their experiences. Teachers make a concerted effort to help students understand that reading and writing are connected. In the Middle School, Language Arts teachers also work closely with other subject area teachers to integrate reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills as part of the instructional process in all content area classes.
Heterogeneous class groupings provide a rich environment in which to study and apply language skills. Students are encouraged to share their reading and writing with all of their classmates in both formal and informal activities. Flexible groups are created occasionally to provide enrichment reading opportunities or to reinforce specific skills.
WRITING
The Writing Process instructional approach provides the foundation for our writing program. Writing activities vary. The flexibility of the Writing Process allows different stages to be emphasized in different types of writing. Writers are provided with regular blocks of time, choices of topics that connect to their experiences, positive and constructive responses to their ideas, and a literary environment in which to develop their writing. The expectation is that each student be engaged regularly in some stage of the development of a piece of writing.
Mini-lessons are a regular part of the classroom writing workshop. They are presented to address concepts, skills, conventions, or elements of writing that a whole class is ready to grasp. Much in-class instruction is in the form of individual or small group writing conferences. These may be tailored to address topic selection, content or organization of a particular piece, style, or editing for technical accuracy. Students are learning to “read like writers” and use specific, well-written books as models and inspiration for their own writing. Focus areas of instruction in conventions (sentence construction, grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation) are addressed systematically according to a school-wide guide, and through individual student writing.
THE WRITING PROCESS
STAGES
Pre-Writing includes all the activities such as brainstorming, discussions, reading, story-telling, listening, research, field trips, and other first-hand activities that provide ideas and inspiration for writing.
Planning involves selecting and narrowing the topic, and choosing from, refining, and organizing the material gathered in the pre-writing phase. Teachers help students focus on the particular purpose for this writing and the audience for whom they are writing. Decisions are made regarding voice and form. The resulting product of this stage is a visible plan to help guide (but not confine) drafting.
Drafting is the first attempt to put organized ideas or information on paper (or into a word processor) as a means of communication. Attention is paid to content and organization, rather than correct form and mechanics. The draft is a working document that will later be revised and edited.
Revising involves re-seeing, re-thinking, re-organizing, expanding, or clarifying the content. The first focus is on the writer’s original purpose. Students work to improve ordering, sentence variety, specific word choice, needed information, redundancies, opening and closing sections, etc. (Insertions, deletions, and changes are made with the knowledge that only the writer needs to be able to read them. Cut-and-paste, writing in the margins, arrows, cross outs, abbreviations, and scribbles are acceptable.) In addition to assessing one’s own writing, students obtain teacher and/or peer input by sharing drafts in writing conferences.
Editing is the process of reviewing the revised draft for form and conventions. With teacher and/or peer assistance, writers address “focus correction areas” in sentence structure, mechanics, grammar, usage, punctuation, capitalization, spacing, spelling, and paragraphing.
Publishing involves the preparation of the revised and edited piece in a form that can be presented to the intended audience. This sharing might entail inclusion in a portfolio or writing folder, publication in an anthology, mounting for a wall display, oral reading, mailing to a friend or relative, or submission to a teacher for evaluation.
PROOFREADING out loud is an important component of each stage.
READING
Students need to read widely in order to expand comprehension to higher levels, to increase vocabulary, to increase reading rate, to explore a variety of literary forms, and to develop a positive attitude toward reading. Moreover, reading enables students to think beyond themselves, to understand alternative viewpoints and ways of life, and to experience the richness of cultural heritage. The Language Arts program enables students to reach these goals by focusing on two types of reading experiences: independent (self-selected) reading and structured reading and discussion. Skill building is an important element of both types of experiences.
Students read most enthusiastically, and often with the greatest comprehension, when they have ownership in the reading process. As often as possible, they need to select their own reading materials, set their own purposes for reading, and determine their own reading rates. Independent reading gives students a chance to enhance their acquired skills, as well as opening them to worlds unknown. Our independent reading program expects that students are reading self-selected reading materials as part of the schoolwork/homework routine every day. Teacher-student interaction is in the form of formal book presentations and projects or informal conversations and activities. The Middle School Recommended Reading List is available to all students and their parents.
Structured literature lessons encourage students to expand their reading experiences by exposing them to a wide variety of literature. Certain “core literature” titles have been selected for use in reading instruction. Teachers design and deliver explicit instruction to help students understand the literature under study and then to apply these strategies to future reading endeavors. These activities take place in small groups, literature circles, or with a whole class. Flexible groupings and a tremendous assortment of teacher-created materials allow students of differing learning styles to be challenged and to succeed.
Students become more efficient readers when they have directed practice in selected skills areas. In all reading activities, teachers encourage students to explore elements of literature such as story structure, character development, setting and conflict. Teachers incorporate “think along” strategies, including creating mental images, determining what is important, making connections, asking questions, inferring, and synthesizing. Recognizing, understanding, and appreciating figurative language help students to become mature readers.
All core literature will be informed by the following guiding questions:
Unit I – Self and Society
All 8th graders will read
All 8th graders will read one of the following:
Unit II – Identity
All 8th graders will read
Unit III Facing History
All 8th graders will read
All 8th graders will read a selection of poetry, essays, short stories and memoirs from Holocaust anthologies including Art from The Ashes ed. Lawrence Langer and Facing History and Ourselves ed. Margot Stern Strom.
Short Stories
Over the course of the year, all 8th graders will read at least five of the following:
8th Grade Core Writing Experiences
(All 8th graders will take part in the following regular writing experiences)
I. Literary Analysis
Log Notes
Literature Responses
Persuasive Essays
Reviews
Personal and Creative Connections
II. Creative Writing Workshop
All students will have the experience of writing original works in some of the following genres:
Poetry
Short Stories
Memoirs
Vignettes
Novellas
Plays
Articles
III. Metacognitive (Reflective) Writing
Reader / Response Journals
Letters
Personal Narratives
Self Assessment
Peer Review
Critical evaluation
LISTENING & SPEAKING
Debating
Role-play – literature related
Oral Reading
Cooperative Learning skills instruction
Round table literature discussion
Writing Conferences