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Last updated: 3/21/2014
Copy of ELA Grade 8 Module 5
Subject
Grade
Module
Suggested Timeline
English Language Arts
8
5
6-8 weeks
Grade Level Summary
In eighth grade, students grapple with high-quality, complex, nonfiction texts and great works of literature. The focus of informational texts shifts from narrative to
expository. Students know how to cite textual evidence supporting an analysis or critique. Students know how to question an author’s assumptions and assess
the accuracy of the claims. Eighth grade students read closely and find evidence to use in their own writing; they analyze two or more texts that provide conflicting
information on the same topic and identify whether the disagreement is over facts or interpretation. They analyze how point of view can be manipulated to create
specific effects such as dramatic irony and investigate how particular passages within a text connect to one another to advance the plot, reveal a character, or
highlight an idea. Students have developed a strong vocabulary of academic words which they use to speak and write with more precision. Their writing continues
to grow focusing on organizing ideas, concepts, and information into broader categories; choosing relevant facts well; and using varied transitions to clarify or
show the relationships among elements.
Grade Level Modules
Module 1: Determining the Path to Getting Ahead as Conformist or Individualist
Module 2: Critical Moments and the Way They Shape Who They Are
Module 3: The Way the Message is Delivered Can Impact the Way It is Received
Module 4: The Motives of People Today in Comparison to Those of the Past
Module 5: Experiences May Be Shaped by Events
Module Title
Module 5: "Experiences May Be Shaped by Events"
Module Overview
In this module, reading, writing, and speaking and listening are confronted with the big idea that experiences may be shaped by events. Students conduct
research using relevant information from multiple sources, and write effectively and logically using a variety of transitions to show the relationships among the
experiences and events. They write with an awareness of the stylistic aspects of writing to achieve particular effects, including the use of verbs in active and
passive voice, the use of verbs in conditional and subjunctive mood, and the creation of tone and voice. Students avoid plagiarism by implementing a standard
format for citation.
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Module Objectives
At the end of this module, students will be able to independently use their learning to:
Logically organize an event sequence using transitionsand providing a conclusion
Analyze the connotative meaning of words and how they influence tone
Write with an awareness of voice and tone
Conduct a short research project to answer a self generated question
Focus Standards Addressed in this Module
CC.1.2.8.B -
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences, conclusions, and/or
generalizations drawn from the text.
CC.1.2.8.F -
Analyze the influence of the words and phrases in a text including figurative and connotative, and technical meanings; and how they shape
meaning and tone.
CC.1.4.8.P -
Organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically using 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; provide a conclusion that
follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events.
CC.1.4.8.Q -
Write with an awareness of the stylistic aspects of writing.
Use verbs in the active and passive voice and in the conditional and subjunctive mood to achieve particular effect.
Use sentences of varying lengths and complexities
Create tone and voice. though precise language.
CC.1.4.8.V -
Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional
related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
Important Standards Addressed in this Module
CC.1.2.8.D -
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.
CC.1.2.8.L -
Read and comprehend literary non-fiction and informational text on grade level, reading independently and proficiently.
CC.1.4.8.W -
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.
CC.1.5.8.E -
Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks.
CC.1.5.8.G -
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English when speaking based on grade 8 level and content.
Misconceptions
Proper Conceptions
“Voice” cannot be taught to writers; they either write with it or they don’t.
Voice is a culminating outcome of the many choices a writer makes including word
Transition words/phrases always appear at the beginning of a sentence.
choice, order of words, sentence style and length.
Transition words/phrases can appear at any point of the sentence.
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Concepts
Competencies
Text Analysis
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text
says explicitly as well as inferences, conclusions, and/or generalizations drawn from
the text.
Vocabulary
Organization for Writing
Writing Style
Conducting Research
Analyze the influence of the words and phrases in a text including figurative,
connotative, and technical meanings, and how they shape meaning and tone.
Informational: Organize ideas, concepts, and information into broader categories;
use appropriate and varied transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships
among ideas and concepts; provide a concluding statement or section; include
formatting when useful to aiding comprehension. Argumentative: Organize the
claim(s) with clear reasons and evidence clearly; clarify relationships among claim(s),
counterclaims, reasons, and evidence by using words, phrases, and clauses to
create cohesion; provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and
supports the argument presented. Narrative: Organize an event sequence that
unfolds naturally and logically using 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; provide a conclusion that
follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events.
Write with an awareness of the stylistic aspects of composition.
Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated
question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused
questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
Vocabulary
supports
self-generated
avenues
analyze
influence
propel
reveal
provoke
influence
evaluate
motives
diverse
distinguish
alternate or opposing claim
compare and contrast
differing
modern
themes
patterns
traditional
rendered
relationships
particular
Assessments
The assessments below include summative assessment examples (Formative assessment examples are located in the "Suggested Strategies to Support Design
of Coherent Instruction").
The sample summative assessments below focus on _____________, ________________, and _____________from text. The open ended response item allows
students to __________________________________________.
The assessment below includes an excerpt from Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl. After students have read the text, have them respond to multiple choice
questions that focus on ________________, ______________, and ___________________. The open-ended response offers an opportunity for students to write
________________.
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Excerpts from- Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (retrieved from: http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~param/quotes/annefrank.html)
Wednesday, 23th Feb 1944 (partial diary entry)
"As long as this exists," I thought, "and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies, while this lasts, I cannot be unhappy."....... As long as this exists,
and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature
brings solace in all troubles.
Saturday, 15th July 1944 (partial diary entry)
It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of
everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. …..
Tuesday, 1st Aug 1944 (partial diary entry)
I'm awfully scared that everyone who knows me as I always am will discover that I have another side, a finer and better side. I'm afraid they'll laugh at me, think
I'm ridiculous and sentimental, not take me seriously. I'm used to not being taken seriously but it's only the "light-hearted" Anne that's used to it and can bear it;
the "deeper" Anne is is too frail for it. Sometimes, when I really compel the good Anne to take the stage for a quarter of an hour, she simply shrivels up as soon
as she has to speak, and lets Anne number one take over, and before I realize it, she has disappeared.
Therefore, the nice Anne is never present in company, has not appeared one single time so far, but almost always predominates when we're alone. I know exactly
how I'd like to be, how I am too... inside. But, alas, I'm only like that for myself. And perhaps that's why, no, I'm sure it's the reason why I say I've got a happy
nature within and why other people think I've got a happy nature without. I'm guided by the pure Anne within, but outside I'm nothing but a frolicsome little goat
who's broken loose.
……...
A voice sobs within me: "There you are, that's what's become of you: you're uncharitable, you look supercilious and peevish, people dislike you and all because
you won't listen to the advice given you by your own better half." Oh, I would like to listen, but it doesn't work; if I'm quiet and serious, everyone thinks it's a new
comedy and then I have to get out of it by turning it into a joke, not to mention my own family, who are sure to think I'm ill, make me swallow pills for headaches
and nerves, feel my neck and my head to see whether I'm running a temperature, ask me if I'm constipated and criticize me for being in a bad mood. I can't keep
that up: if I'm watched to that extent, I start by getting snappy, then unhappy, and finally I twist my heart around again, so that the bad is on the outside and the
good is on the inside and keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would so like to be, and what I could be, if... there weren't any people living in the
world.
This is the last entry in the diary. Anne's family's hiding place was discovered by the gestapo a few days later. She died in a concentration camp in 1945.
1. Which of the following sentences from the passage best shows cause and effect organization?
a. “As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort or every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be.” *
b. “Therefore, the nice Anne is never present in company, has not appeared one single time so far, but almost always predominates when we're alone.”
c. “And perhaps that's why, no, I'm sure it's the reason why I say I've got a happy nature within and why other people think I've got a happy nature without.”
d. “And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”
2. Read the following sentence from the passage above:
"There you are, that's what's become of you: you're uncharitable, you look supercilious and peevish, people dislike you and all because you won't listen to the
advice given you by your own better half."
Based on the context of the sentence what does supercilious mean?
a. arrogant*
b. superficial
c. humble
d. vicious
3. Read the following sentence from the excerpt above:
“I'm guided by the pure Anne within, but outside I'm nothing but a frolicsome little goat who's broken loose”
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“I'm guided by the pure Anne within, but outside I'm nothing but a frolicsome little goat who's broken loose”
What type of figurative language is used to describe Anne as "a frolicsome little goat" in this sentence?
a. personification
b. simile
c. metaphor
d. hyperbole
4. Anne most likely chooses not to be “quiet and serious” as stated in the last paragraph because...
a.
b.
c.
d.
Suggested Strategies to Support Design of Coherent Instruction
Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching: Domain 3 Instruction
Argument (40%), Informational (40%), and Narrative Writing (20%)
Reflecting on their experiences reading novels and informational text in this unit, as well as literature read all year, have students write an argumentative, narrative, or
informational piece in order to answer the essential question. Students should edit their writing for style, grammar, and conventions studied over the course of the year with an
understanding of their intended audience and purpose.
Differentiation
Teachers in differentiated classrooms begin with a clear and solid sense of what constitutes powerful curriculum and engaging instruction. Then they ask what it will take to
modify that instruction so that each learner comes away with understandings and skills that offer guidance to the next phase of learning. (The Differentiated Classroom:
Responding to the Needs of All Learners by Carol Ann Tomlinson. 1999)
The following list represents various methods for differentiation that could be employed by teachers. They are organized by content, process and product.
Content
* Full text
* Excerpts of speeches
* Audio File/Books
* Graphic organizers/Study Guides
Process
* Flexible Grouping
* Practical Examples
* Video
* Graphic Organizers
* Tiered Assignments
* Real World Application
* Web quests
* Curriculum compacting
* Reading and writing conferences with the teacher
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* Reciprocal teaching opportunities within groups and the class as a whole
* Re-teaching and / or pre-teaching
* Leveled, guided reading
* Modeling
* Chunking the reading material or reading process
* Chunking for the writing process with explicit graphic organizers
Product
* LDC tasks are crafted from the most fundamental levels of difficulty (Level 1) to additional demands to a “next step-up” skill or cognitive demand (Level 2) to a task in
which writers are asked to make connections and use background knowledge (Level 3)
* Independent student projects
* Menu of tiered assignments pertaining to specific material
* Multi-modal activities
* Supplemental opportunities for student choice in both reading and writing
Interdisciplinary Connections
History and Social Studies - Teachers could promote content learning while building skill in the following literacy standards by exploring how point of influences perceptions.
http://pdesas.org/main/fileview/PA_Common_Core_Standards_for_Reading_in_History_and_Social_Studies_8-7-12.pdf
http://pdesas.org/main/fileview/PA_Common_Core_Standards_for_Writing_in_History_and_Social_Studies_8-7-12.pdf
CC.8.5.6-8.A
CC.8.5.6-8.B
CC.8.5.6-8.C
CC.8.5.6-8.E
CC.8.5.6-8.F
CC.8.6.6-8.B
CC.8.6.6-8.G
CC.8.6.6-8.I
Science and Technology - Teachers could promote content learning while building skill in the following literacy standards by exploring how point of influences perceptions.
http://pdesas.org/main/fileview/PA_Common_Core_Standards_for_Reading_in_Science_And_Technical_Subjects_8-7-12.pdf
http://pdesas.org/main/fileview/PA_Common_Core_Standards_for_Writing_in_Science_and_Technical_Subjects_8-7-12_rev_2.pdf
CC.3.5.6-8.A
CC.3.5.6-8.B
CC.3.5.6-8.C
CC.3.5.6-8.E
CC.3.5.6-8.F
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CC.3.6.6-8.B
CC.3.6.6-8.G
CC.3.6.6-8.I
Additional Resources
Created By
Developed by teams of Pennsylvania educators from across the Commonwealth.
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