Eighth Grade Literacy Content Standards

Students read a wide range of texts to build comprehension; to acquire and comprehend new information; to respond to texts through evaluation, analysis and reflection, and for personal fulfillment.

Students use the writing process to communicate effectively in terms of purpose, audience, and context.

Students listen and speak effectively with different audiences and purposes.

Eighth grade students are expected to:

• Reading
  • Use conventions of language, such as commas and periods, to facilitate oral reading and comprehension
  • Use phonics, meaning, grammar, overall context, and outside resources to determine pronunciation and meaning
  • Display fluency and intonation, and when appropriate dramatic interpretation, while reading orally
  • Continue to use comprehension strategies such as rereading, questioning, monitoring, reading with others, and predicting and confirming to read
  • Begin to build text interpretations with others
  • Comprehend text
    • use prior experiences to understand text or visual media
    • put ideas into own words
    • summarize information
    • make connections to related topics or information
    • state one or more of the main ideas revealed in the text or visual media
    • relate new information to prior knowledge and experience
    • recognize and use common persuasive techniques
    • analyze arguments and positions advanced by others
    • make and support warranted and responsible assertions about the text
  • Enjoy reading
    • be self-motivated and enthusiastic readers
    • select favorite authors, topics, and genres
    • select books for recreational reading
  • Write about the extent and nature of his or her reading and reflect on the scope and depth of personal reading
• Writing
  • Create an organizing structure appropriate to a specific purpose audience, and content
  • Develop a controlling idea that conveys a perspective on the subject; includes relevant facts and details; exclude extraneous and inappropriate information
  • Use paragraph development and transition to organize ideas, hold the reader’s attention and facilitate understanding
  • Use all stages of the writing process
  • Engage the reader by establishing a rich context to develop reader interest
  • Analyze and revise own drafts to further develop the piece of writing by adding or deleting details and explanations, clarifying difficult passages, rearranging words, sentences, and paragraphs to improve meaning
  • Proofread own writing and the writing of others, using dictionaries and other resources, including the teacher or peers as appropriate
  • Write to inform the reader
    • provide appropriate facts from multiple sources to develop subject
    • make inferences or evaluate facts and details
    • include visuals or graphs as appropriate to support the text
    • include clear and complete descriptions, anticipating reader’s needs, providing transitions between steps
    • analyze the subjects and provide commentary
  • Write to persuade the reader
    • promote a critical judgment that is interpretive, analytic, evaluative, and/or reflective
    • support the judgment through references from the text, personal knowledge, other works, non-print media, works from other authors
  • Write for self-expression or to entertain
    • use literary elements, such as situation, plot, point of view, setting with increasing facility and detail
    • use dialogue with increasing skill
    • use a variety of literary techniques, such as suspense, flashbacks, simile, alliteration, metaphor, tension, hyperbole
  • Write to summarize or paraphrase by stating the main idea and significant details in his or her own words and connect subordinate ideas to the main idea
  • Manage the conventions of written language so that they aid rather than interfere with reading
  • Use a variety of sentence structures and careful word choice to make writing effective and interesting
• Speaking and listening
  • Ask pertinent and challenging questions in a respectful way
  • Respond clearly and completely to the questions of others
  • Use appropriate word choice, grammar, and pacing during formal oral presentations
  • Listen responsively and respectfully and respond to others’ points of view
  • Use language which is clear, audible, and appropriate for communicating to the intended audience
  • Use eye contact, intonation, gestures, and pacing to engage the listener in formal presentations and speeches
  • Anticipate the listener’s point of view and address this perspective in the presentation
  • Present effectively various types of oral presentations

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