Pacing Guide & Standards
8th Grade Year at a Glance (Pacing Guide) - This is the outline of the year for 8th grade ELA. Teachers follow these units and timeline as closely as possible, assessing students for mastery on all priority standards through a variety of District Benchmark Assessments and Formative Assessments contained in the Units of Study.
8th Grade Missouri Learning Standards
8th Grade Missouri Learning Standards
- 8th Grade Standards Placemat - All 8th grade ELA standards on one ledger size piece of paper.
Units of Study
Unit Overviews (updated throughout the calendar year by the Curriculum Writing Committee)
Unit 1: Reading Major: Reading for High School - Applying Strategies to Challenging Texts
Unit 2: Writing Major: The Literary Essay (Argumentative)*
Unit 3: Reading Major: Non-Fiction Research Clubs
Unit 4: Writing Major: Position Papers (Informative/Argument Hybrid)*
Unit 5: Reading Major: Evaluating Journalism (Non-Fiction Reading)
Unit 6: Writing Major: Investigative Journalism*
Unit 7: Reading/Writing Major: The Road Not Taken (Poetry)
*Follow "Lucy Calkin's Units of Study for Writing"
Unit 1: Reading Major: Reading for High School - Applying Strategies to Challenging Texts
Unit 2: Writing Major: The Literary Essay (Argumentative)*
Unit 3: Reading Major: Non-Fiction Research Clubs
Unit 4: Writing Major: Position Papers (Informative/Argument Hybrid)*
Unit 5: Reading Major: Evaluating Journalism (Non-Fiction Reading)
Unit 6: Writing Major: Investigative Journalism*
Unit 7: Reading/Writing Major: The Road Not Taken (Poetry)
*Follow "Lucy Calkin's Units of Study for Writing"
Writing Workshop
Writing Assessment: Students should be assessed in writing workshop using the on-demand writing prompts included in your Writing Kit (they are in the Writing Pathways book). All students should be pre-assessed at the beginning of the year on all three strands of writing (Narrative, Informational, Opinion/Argument), and then post-assessed at the end of each writing unit using the on-demand prompt that matches the unit that was taught. Teachers should also conduct informal assessment of students writing through conferencing and keep an ongoing record of these conferences.
Writing Workshop Resources:
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Reading Workshop
Reading Workshop Units of Study: The Lucy Calkins book, A Curricular Plan for The Reading Workshop, provides support in planning reading workshop teaching points.
Reading Assessments:
Reading Resources: |
Additional Components of Balanced Literacy
Interactive Read Aloud - This is a time when the teacher reads a piece of quality writing aloud to the whole class and stops at planned points to think aloud (model comprehension work for students) or to ask questions that elicit student response. Students learn to think deeply about text, to listen to others, and to grow their own ideas. The teacher models metacognitive reading strategies, provides opportunities for students to practice the strategy and invites students to participate in a grand (whole class) conversation about the text following the read aloud. During the interactive read aloud, students should engage in accountable talk. Accountable talk is when, at points during the read aloud, students turn and talk to a partner to discuss their thoughts and ideas about the text. Questions posed for turn and talk should be open ended and thought provoking.
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