English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 8 PreAP
1st Nine Weeks :: The student is expected to...
TEKS
Reading
• adjust fluency when reading aloud grade-level text based on the reading purpose and the nature of the text.[1A]
• determine the meaning of grade-level academic English words derived from Latin, Greek, or other linguistic
roots and affixes.[2A]
• use context (within a sentence and in larger sections of text) to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or
ambiguous words or words with novel meanings.[2B]
• complete analogies that describe a function or its description (e.g., pen:paper as chalk: ______ or soft:kitten as
hard: ______).[2C]
• identify common words or word parts from other languages that are used in written English (e.g., phenomenon,
charisma, chorus, passé, flora, fauna).[2D]
• use a dictionary, a glossary, or a thesaurus (printed or electronic) to determine the meanings, syllabication,
pronunciations, alternate word choices, and parts of speech of words.[2E]
• compare and contrast the relationship between the purpose and characteristics of different poetic forms (e.g.,
epic poetry, lyric poetry).[4A]
• analyze linear plot developments (e.g., conflict, rising action, falling action, resolution, subplots) to determine
whether and how conflicts are resolved.[6A]
• analyze how the central characters' qualities influence the theme of a fictional work and resolution of the central
conflict.[6B]
• analyze different forms of point of view, including limited versus omniscient, subjective versus objective.[6C]
• analyze passages in well-known speeches for the author's use of literary devices and word and phrase choice
(e.g., aphorisms, epigraphs) to appeal to the audience.[7A]
• explain the effect of similes and extended metaphors in literary text.[8A]
• summarize the main ideas, supporting details, and relationships among ideas in text succinctly in ways that
maintain meaning and logical order.[10A]
• distinguish factual claims from commonplace assertions and opinions and evaluate inferences from their logic in
text.[10B]
• make subtle inferences and draw complex conclusions about the ideas in text and their organizational patterns.
[10C]
• synthesize and make logical connections between ideas within a text and across two or three texts representing
similar or different genres and support those findings with textual evidence.[10D]
• make inferences about text and use textual evidence to support understanding.[RCD]
Writing
• write a letter that reflects an opinion, registers a complaint, or requests information in a business or friendly
context.[17B]
Essential Questions
• How do foreign affixes affect word meaning?
• How do context clues from a passage help determine the meaning of unfamiliar words?
• How do analogies help build vocabulary?
• Identify new words and concepts acquired through study of their relationships to other words and concepts
• How do reference guides help with understanding of meaning?
• How do cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts illustrate author’s purpose and enhance understanding?
• How does vocabulary development enhance the reading experience?
• How do different forms of poetry enhance themes and compare to each other?
• How do literary elements layer meaning in an author’s work?
• Do students understand, make inferences, and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction?
• How do readers know that authors use different forms of point of view for different purposes?
• How do students write letters to communicate ideas and information to specific audiences and for specific
purposes?
2nd Nine Weeks :: The student is expected to...
TEKS
Reading
• analyze literary works that share similar themes across cultures.[3A]
• explain how the values and beliefs of particular characters are affected by the historical and cultural setting of
the literary work.[3C]
• analyze works written on the same topic and compare how the authors achieved similar or different purposes.
[9A]
• analyze text for missing or extraneous information in multi-step directions or legends for diagrams.[12A]
• evaluate graphics for their clarity in communicating meaning or achieving a specific purpose.[12B]
• evaluate the role of media in focusing attention on events and informing opinion on issues.[13A]
• interpret how visual and sound techniques (e.g., special effects, camera angles, lighting, music) influence the
message.[13B]
• evaluate various techniques used to create a point of view in media and the impact on audience.[13C]
• assess the correct level of formality and tone for successful participation in various digital media.[13D]
• summarize, paraphrase, and synthesize texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order within a text and
across texts.[RCE]
Writing
• plan a first draft by selecting a genre appropriate for conveying the intended meaning to an audience,
determining appropriate topics through a range of strategies (e.g., discussion, background reading, personal
interests, interviews), and developing a thesis or controlling idea.[14A]
• develop drafts by choosing an appropriate organizational strategy (e.g., sequence of events, cause-effect,
compare-contrast) and building on ideas to create a focused, organized, and coherent piece of writing.[14B]
• revise drafts to ensure precise word choice and vivid images; consistent point of view; use of simple, compound,
and complex sentences; internal and external coherence; and the use of effective transitions after rethinking how
well questions of purpose, audience, and genre have been addressed.[14C]
• edit drafts for grammar, mechanics, and spelling.[14D]
• revise final draft in response to feedback from peers and teacher and publish written work for appropriate
audiences.[14E]
• write a multi-paragraph essay to convey information about a topic that presents effective introductions and
concluding paragraphs.[17Ai]
• write a multi-paragraph essay to convey information about a topic that contains a clearly stated purpose or
controlling idea.[17Aii]
• write a multi-paragraph essay to convey information about a topic that is logically organized with appropriate
facts and details and includes no extraneous information or inconsistencies.[17Aiii]
• write a multi-paragraph essay to convey information about a topic that accurately synthesizes ideas from several
sources.[17Aiv]
• write a multi-paragraph essay to convey information about a topic that uses a variety of sentence structures,
rhetorical devices, and transitions to link paragraphs.[17Av]
• write responses to literary or expository texts that demonstrate the use of writing skills for a multi-paragraph
essay and provide sustained evidence from the text using quotations when appropriate.[17C]
Essential Questions
• How do cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts illustrate author’s purpose and enhance understanding?
• How does vocabulary development enhance the reading experience?
• How does the time period affect author’s purpose and character development?
• How does comparing literature to current events and real world situations allows students to gain a better
understanding of society and themselves?
• How does the sequence of steps presented in procedural texts help the reader learn or accomplish a task?
• How do the messages and purposes of graphics inform or mislead?
• How do the messages and purposes of media inform or mislead?
• How do visual and sound techniques in media influence the message?
• How do the messages of media inform or mislead?
• What happens to the writing process if a step is changed or omitted?
• How can student writers demonstrate that purpose, audience and topic determine how a draft is planned?
• How can students use elements of the writing process to compose text?
• How do good writers know that peer and teacher feedback on drafts is helpful in the revising step of the revising
process?
• How do good writers demonstrate understanding of a clearly stated purpose or controlling idea and continue
that understanding into writing a multi-paragraph essay?
• How do good writers know and demonstrate that a written response to literary or expository text needs to
include text evidence and appropriate quotations?
3rd Nine Weeks :: The student is expected to...
TEKS
Reading
• analyze how different playwrights characterize their protagonists and antagonists through the dialogue and
staging of their plays.[5A]
• compare and contrast persuasive texts that reached different conclusions about the same issue and explain
how the authors reached their conclusions through analyzing the evidence each presents.[11A]
• analyze the use of such rhetorical and logical fallacies as loaded terms, caricatures, leading questions, false
assumptions, and incorrect premises in persuasive texts.[11B]
• make inferences about text and use textual evidence to support understanding.[RCD]
• summarize, paraphrase, and synthesize texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order within a text and
across texts.[RCE]
• make connections between and across texts, including other media (e.g., film, play), and provide textual
evidence.[RCF]
Writing
• produce a multimedia presentation involving text, graphics, images, and sound using available technology.[17D]
Research
• brainstorm, consult with others, decide upon a topic, and formulate a major research question to address the
major research topic.[22A]
• apply steps for obtaining and evaluating information from a wide variety of sources and create a written plan
after preliminary research in reference works and additional text searches.[22B]
• follow the research plan to gather information from a range of relevant print and electronic sources using
advanced search strategies.[23A]
• categorize information thematically in order to see the larger constructs inherent in the information.[23B]
• record bibliographic information (e.g., author, title, page number) for all notes and sources according to a
standard format.[23C]
• differentiate between paraphrasing and plagiarism and identify the importance of using valid and reliable
sources.[23D]
• narrow or broaden the major research question, if necessary, based on further research and investigation.[24A]
• utilize elements that demonstrate the reliability and validity of the sources used (e.g., publication date, coverage,
language, point of view) and explain why one source is more useful and relevant than another.[24B]
• draws conclusions and summarizes or paraphrases the findings in a systematic way.[25A]
• marshals evidence to explain the topic and gives relevant reasons for conclusions.[25B]
• presents the findings in a meaningful format.[25C]
• follows accepted formats for integrating quotations and citations into the written text to maintain a flow of ideas.
[25D]
Essential Questions
• How do dramatic literary elements layer meaning in an author’s work?
• How does a speaker’s use of literary devices/word choice make a speech more appealing to the audience?
• How do supporting details enhance the comprehension of main idea?
• How does differentiating between fact and opinion as related to current events and real world situations allow
students to gain a better understanding of society and themselves?
• How does the ability to inference and draw conclusions enhance understanding of ideas?
• How does making connections between texts/genres enhance student understanding/comprehension of the
content?
• What are common persuasive techniques used by writers?
• How are arguments structured, and how can arguments be refuted?
• How does making complex inferences from text enhance comprehension and provide meaning?
• How can the use of multimedia enhance student engagement?
• How do the steps in the research process help the student achieve his/her research process?
• How does a researcher select sources that are valid and reliable?
• How does a researcher select sources that are valid and reliable?
4th Nine Weeks :: The student is expected to...
TEKS
Reading
• compare and contrast the similarities and differences in mythologies from various cultures (e.g., ideas of
afterlife, roles and characteristics of deities, purposes of myths).[3B]
Writing
• write an imaginative story that sustains reader interest.[15Ai]
• write an imaginative story that includes well-paced action and an engaging story line.[15Aii]
• write an imaginative story that creates a specific, believable setting through the use of sensory details.[15Aiii]
• write an imaginative story that develops interesting characters.[15Aiv]
• write an imaginative story that uses a range of literary strategies and devices to enhance the style and tone.
[15Av]
• write a poem using poetic techniques (e.g., rhyme scheme, meter).[15Bi]
• write a poem using figurative language (e.g., personification, idioms, hyperbole).[15Bii]
• write a poem using graphic elements (e.g., word position).[15Biii]
• write a personal narrative that has a clearly defined focus and includes reflections on decisions, actions, and/or
consequences.[16A]
• establishes a clear thesis or position.[18A]
• considers and responds to the views of others and anticipates and answers reader concerns and
counter-arguments.[18B]
• includes evidence that is logically organized to support the author's viewpoint and that differentiates between
fact and opinion.[18C]
Essential Questions
• How do similarities and differences in mythologies from different cultures affect the values and beliefs of the
principal characters?
• How can students successfully write literary texts to express their ideas and feelings about real or imagined
people, events, and ideas?
• How can students successfully write persuasive texts to influence the attitudes or actions of a specific
audience?
• How do students demonstrate the knowledge that logically organized text evidence is necessary to support an
author’s viewpoint, and that it must differentiate between fact and opinion?
• How do students effectively write of their own experiences?
Concepts Taught All Year :: The student is expected to...
TEKS
• adjust fluency when reading aloud grade-level text based on the reading purpose and the nature of the text.[1A]
• establish purposes for reading selected texts based upon own or others
• ask literal, interpretive, evaluative, and universal questions of text.[RCB]
• reflect on understanding to monitor comprehension (e.g., summarizing and synthesizing; making textual,
personal, and world connections; creating sensory images).[RCC]
• make inferences about text and use textual evidence to support understanding.[RCD]
• summarize, paraphrase, and synthesize texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order within a text and
across texts.[RCE]
• use and understand the function of the following parts of speech in the context of reading, writing, and speaking
verbs (perfect and progressive tenses) and participles.[19Ai]
• use and understand the function of the following parts of speech in the context of reading, writing, and speaking
appositive phrases.[19Aii]
• use and understand the function of the following parts of speech in the context of reading, writing, and speaking
adverbial and adjectival phrases and clauses.[19Aiii]
• use and understand the function of the following parts of speech in the context of reading, writing, and speaking
relative pronouns (e.g., whose, that, which).[19Aiv]
• use and understand the function of the following parts of speech in the context of reading, writing, and speaking
subordinating conjunctions (e.g., because, since).[19Av]
• write complex sentences and differentiate between main versus subordinate clauses.[19B]
• use a variety of complete sentences (e.g., simple, compound, complex) that include properly placed modifiers,
correctly identified antecedents, parallel structures, and consistent tenses.[19C]
• use conventions of capitalization.[20A]
• use correct punctuation marks, including commas after introductory structures and dependent adverbial clauses,
and correct punctuation of complex sentences.[20Bi]
• use correct punctuation marks, including semicolons, colons, hyphens, parentheses, brackets, and ellipses.
[20Bii]
• spell correctly, including using various resources to determine and check correct spellings.[21A]
• listen to and interpret a speaker's purpose by explaining the content, evaluating the delivery of the presentation,
and asking questions or making comments about the evidence that supports a speaker's claims.[26A]
• follow and give complex oral instructions to perform specific tasks, answer questions, or solve problems.[26B]
• summarize formal and informal presentations, distinguish between facts and opinions, and determine the
effectiveness of rhetorical devices.[26C]
• advocate a position using anecdotes, analogies, and/or illustrations, and use eye contact, speaking rate,
volume, enunciation, a variety of natural gestures, and conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively.
[27A]
• participate productively in discussions, plan agendas with clear goals and deadlines, set time limits for speakers,
take notes, and vote on key issues.[28A]