Language Arts Grade 8
STRAND: ORAL LANGUAGE
(SPEAKING & LISTENING)
At the eighth-grade level, students will learn to apply interviewing techniques. Preparation for and
evaluation of the process of interviewing will be a part of the learning. Interviewing skills will be added to
the students’ repertoire of oral language skills.
STANDARD 1
The student will use interviewing techniques to gain information.
1.1
Prepare, by determining a purpose and selecting a subject for the interview, and ask
relevant questions.
 create and record questions that will elicit relevant responses
1.2
Apply effective note-taking strategies, including the use of abbreviations, graphic
organizers, key words, and recording devices for responses.
1.3
Synthesize information gathered in an interview, organize information, and present
findings in written and oral form.
1.4
Evaluate the effectiveness of their own and peer interviews, using rubrics or checklists.
STANDARD 2
The student will develop and deliver oral presentations in groups and individually.
2.1
Choose topic and purpose appropriate to the audience.

understand the purpose of the presentation

select and narrow the topic with attention to time limits and audience
2.2
Outline the organization of a speech, including an introduction; transitions, previews, and
summaries; a logically developed body; and an effective conclusion.
2.3
Choose vocabulary and tone appropriate to the audience, topic, and purpose.
2.4
Use appropriate verbal and nonverbal presentation skills, such as voice modulation,
enunciation, eye contact, and gestures.
2.5
Respond to audience questions and comments politely and succinctly.
2.6
Use grammatically correct language.
2.7
Use a rubric or checklist to evaluate oral presentations.
STANDARD 3
The student will analyze mass media messages.
3.1
Identify and analyze persuasive techniques used in the media, including
 name calling or innuendo – creating a negative attitude; hinting or implying;
using loaded, emotional, or slanted language
 glittering generalities or card stacking – telling only part of the truth;
generalizing from a shred of evidence
 bandwagon – creating a desire to join a large group satisfied with the idea;
making one feel left out if not with the crowd
 testimonials – using the declaration of a famous person or authoritative expert
to give heightened credibility
 appeal to prestige, snobbery, or plain folks – using a spokesperson who
appeals to the audience: a well-known or appealing person the audience wants
to emulate, a person like the audience members with whom they can identify, a
person whose lifestyle appeals to the audience
 appeal to emotions – connecting with emotions: loyalty, pity, or fear; love of
family, peace, or justice.
3.2
Describe the possible cause-effect relationships between mass media coverage and public
opinion trends.
3.3
Evaluate sources, including advertisements, editorials, and feature stories, for relationships
between intent and factual content.
STRAND: READING ANALYSIS
(READING & VIEWING)
At the eighth-grade level, students will continue to develop appreciation of literature through the study of
literary elements in classic and contemporary selections. They will describe themes and inferred main ideas,
interpret cause-effect relationships, and draw conclusions from a variety of literary and informational
selections. Students will build on the foundations for literacy developed in the previous grades. Students
will apply critical reading and reasoning skills across the content areas, including history and social science,
science, and mathematics.
STANDARD 4
The student will apply knowledge of word origins, derivations, inflections,
analogies, and figurative language to extend vocabulary development.
4.1
Identify and understand idioms and comparisons — such as analogies, metaphors, and
similes — in prose and poetry.
 Idioms: expressions that cannot be understood just by knowing the meanings of
the words in the expression, such as to be an old hand at something or to get
one’s feet wet
 Analogies: comparisons of the similar aspects of two different things
 Metaphors: implied comparisons, such as The stars were brilliant diamonds in
the night sky.
 Similes: comparisons that use ―like‖ or ―as,‖ such as The stars were like a
million diamonds in the sky.
4.2
Understand the influence of historical events on English word meaning and vocabulary
expansion.
 Example: Recognize how the early influences of Spanish explorers in North
America expanded American English vocabulary, adding words such as
tornado, tomato, and patio.
4.3
Verify the meaning of a word in its context, even when its meaning is not directly stated,
through the use of definition, restatement, example, comparison, or contrast.
 Example: Understand the meaning of pickle in a sentence, such as The pickle
was an important part of metal working. Use a dictionary to help clarify the use
of the word pickle in this context.
STANDARD 5
The student will read and analyze a variety of narrative and poetic forms.
5.1
Evaluate the structural elements of the plot, such as subplots, parallel episodes, and climax;
the plot’s development; and the way in which conflicts are (or are not) addressed and
resolved.
5.2
Compare and contrast the motivations and reactions of literary characters from different
historical eras confronting either similar situations and conflicts or similar hypothetical
situations.
5.3
Analyze the importance of the setting to the mood, tone, or meaning of the text.
5.4
Identify and analyze recurring themes (such as good versus evil) that appear frequently
across traditional and contemporary works, using evidence from the text as support.
 Example: Explore the theme that heroism demands unusual courage and risktaking. Read classic myths found in Alice Low’s The MacMillan Book of Greek
Gods and Myths or dramatic literature such as Rod Serling’s television play
Requiem for a Heavyweight to identify what both real and imaginary heroes
have done.
5.5
Contrast points of view — such as first person, third person, limited and omniscient, and
subjective and objective — in a literary text and explain how they affect the overall theme
of the work.
 First person: the narrator tells the story from the ―I‖ perspective
 Third person: the narrator tells the story from an outside perspective
 Limited narration: the narrator does not know all thoughts of all characters
 Omniscient narration: the narrator knows all thoughts of all characters
 Subjective: the point of view involves a personal perspective
 Objective: the point of view is from a distanced, informational perspective, as in
a news report
5.6
Discuss the purposes and characteristics of different forms of written text, such as the short
story, the novel, the novella, and the essay.
5.7
Determine and articulate the relationship between the purposes and characteristics of
different forms of poetry (including ballads, lyrics, couplets, epics, elegies, odes, and
sonnets).
 Ballad: a poem that tells a story
 Lyric: words set to music
 Couplet: two successive lines of verse that rhyme
 Epic: a long poem that describes heroic deeds or adventures
 Elegy: a mournful poem for the dead


Ode: a poem of praise
Sonnet: a rhymed poem of 14 lines
5.8
Identify significant literary devices, such as metaphor, symbolism, dialect or quotations,
and irony, which define a writer’s style and use those elements to interpret the work.
5.9
Compare and contrast authors’ styles.
STANDARD 6
The student will read, comprehend, and analyze a variety of informational
materials and nonfiction materials.
6.1
Draw on background knowledge and knowledge of text structure to understand selections.
6.2
Analyze the author’s use of text structure, such as boldface, underlining, indentation,
illustrations, heading, and footnotes, and word choice.
6.3
Analyze text that uses proposition (statement of argument) and support patterns.
 Example: Read and analyze the organization of the ―pro‖ and the ―con‖
editorials on a topic of interest in USA Today. In each, decide if the argument is
simply and clearly stated. Decide if there are at least three major points in
support of the argument, with the strongest argument given first.
6.4
Use rules and strategies to summarize text, such as deleting trivia and redundancy,
substituting a general term for a list, and finding or creating a main idea statement.
6.5
Compare the original text to a summary to determine whether the summary accurately
describes the main ideas, includes important details, and conveys the underlying meaning.
 Example: After writing summaries or creating graphic organizers on an
informational text read for class, exchange the summary or organizer with
another student. Evaluate this classmate’s summary, based on how well the
student describes the most important elements of the text.
6.6
Evaluate the logic (inductive or deductive argument), internal consistency, and structural
patterns of text.
6.7
Draw conclusions and make reasonable statements about a text, supporting the conclusions
and statements with evidence from the text.
6.8
Organize and synthesize information for use in written and oral presentations.
6.9
Read and follow instructions to complete an assigned task.
STRAND: WRITING
At the eighth-grade level, students will plan, draft, revise, and edit narratives as well as informational,
persuasive, and expository pieces with attention to composition and written expression. Students will
continue the process of becoming independent with sentence formation, usage, and mechanics and
understand that the conventions of language help convey the message from the writer to the reader.
Students will use writing for expressive purposes and as a tool for learning academic concepts. They will
use technology as available and appropriate.
The St. Michael’s School writing program is based on the 6-Traits of Writing: Ideas, Organization, Voice,
Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, and Conventions.
STANDARD 7
The student will write in a variety of forms, including narrative, expository,
persuasive, and informational.
7.1
Discuss ideas for writing, keep a list or notebook of ideas, and use graphic organizers to
plan writing.
7.2
Use strategies of note-taking, outlining, and summarizing to impose structure on
composition drafts.
7.3
Create compositions that have a clear message, a coherent thesis (a statement of position
on the topic) (IDEAS).
7.4
Support theses or conclusions with analogies (comparisons), paraphrases, quotations,
opinions from experts, and similar devices (IDEAS).
7.5
Create an organizational structure that balances all aspects of the composition and uses
effective transitions between sentences to unify important ideas (ORGANIZATION).
7.6
Plan and organize writing to address a specific audience and purpose (VOICE).
7.7
Choose vocabulary and information that will create voice and tone (WORD CHOICE).
7.8
Use clauses and phrases to vary sentences (SENTENCE FLUENCY).
7.9
Review, evaluate, and revise writing for meaning and clarity.
7.10
Revise writing for word choice; appropriate organization; consistent point of view; and
transitions among paragraphs, passages, and ideas.
7.11
Edit and proofread one’s own writing, as well as that of others.
7.12
Use a computer to create documents by using word-processing skills and publishing
programs.
STANDARD 8—CONVENTIONS
The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation,
spelling, sentence structure, and paragraphing.
8.1
Use correct and varied sentence types (simple, compound, complex, and compoundcomplex) and sentence openings to present a lively and effective personal style.
8.2
Use and punctuate correctly varied sentence structures to include conjunctions and
transition words


use and correctly punctuate transitional words, such as furthermore, however,
since, and next
use and correctly punctuate conjunctions, such as either/or and neither/nor
8.3
Choose the correct case and number for pronouns in prepositional phrases with compound
objects.
8.4
Maintain consistent verb tense across paragraphs.

use the six verb tenses (present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect,
future) and the progressive verb forms correctly throughout text
8.5
Use comparative and superlative degrees in adverbs and adjectives.
8.6
Identify and use infinitives (the word to followed by the base form of a verb, such as to
understand or to learn) and participles (made by adding -ing, -d, -ed, -n, -en, or -t to the
base form of the verb, such as dreaming, chosen, built, and grown)..
8.7
Use correct capitalization.
8.8
Create citations to document the sources used in writing by using the rules from the MLA
style manual.