Communication Arts Speaking and Listening Content Standard 1—Students know and understand the role of the communication process and demonstrate effective speaking and listening skills.
Communication Arts Reading Content Standard 2— Students read by applying foundational skills and strategies to comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate texts.
Communication Arts Literature Content Standard 3— Students select, interpret, and respond to a range of literature.
Communication Arts Media Literacy Content Standard 4— Students effectively evaluate and create media messages.
Communication Arts Writing Content Standard 5— Students will write to communicate effectively for a variety of purposes and audiences.
8th Grade English Language Arts
Course Description:
Eighth grade students enhance reading comprehension skills using structural analysis. Students expand their vocabulary and knowledge of words through context, word study, and multi-media resources. They read and comprehend grade-appropriate text with fluency and expand their use of reading strategies and skills across content areas. They use the writing process to compose a variety of multi- paragraph texts with an awareness of audience and purpose. Students revise drafts and then edit for mechanics, word usage, and sentence structure. They formulate questions, research a topic, and write multi-paragraph text to inform or persuade. Students also write summaries. Students may publish their work. They participate in and sometimes lead group discussions. Students expand active listening skills and demonstrate public speaking techniques.
Course Objectives
Students Will: -select and narrow topics for specific occasions and develop an appropriate introduction, body and conclusion to deliver speeches
-adapt communication to a variety of formal and informal audiences, settings and purposes
-compare and contrast the verbal and nonverbal aspects of storytellers, the behaviors of audiences, and the settings and purposes of stories in the oral traditions of different cultures, including Montana American Indians
-use feedback to monitor and adjust speaking and listening effectiveness
-explain the importance of communicating ethically, including effectively referencing sources and displaying respectful communication to individuals and groups
-apply knowledge of word and sentence structure, analysis of word parts and context to decode unknown words -select and apply knowledge of syntax clues, word origins, roots and affixes, and context to decode unknown words
-expand and apply general and specialized vocabulary through the use of context clues, analysis of word parts, and reference sources
-adjust fluency based on purpose, complexity, and technical content -adjust fluency based on purpose and content
-identify when comprehension breaks down, analyze causes and self correct using effective strategies
-activate prior knowledge to connect text to self, text to text, and text to world
-make, revise, and explain predictions
-generate and answer literal, inferential, critical, and interpretive questions
-recall and explain a series of events or the sequence of information to draw conclusions
-summarize text by determining main idea and analyzing essential and nonessential supporting details
-summarize by stating main ideas and supporting details
-make and justify inferences based on context clues and/or background knowledge
-compare and contrast information to explain relationships and draw conclusions within and/or across texts
-analyze author’s purpose, point of view, language use, and credibility in culturally diverse texts, including those by and about Montana American Indians
Course Materials
A Beka Book Grammar and Composition II
Glencoe Literature Reading with Purpose Course 3
Modern Curriculum Press Spelling Workout H