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Language Arts - 8 - Parent/Community Course Guide

Adopted by Board of School Directors on February 2023
Grade Levels
:


Course Description
:


All eighth grade English students continue to develop reading, writing, thinking, speaking, and listening skills through the study of various literary forms: short stories, essays, plays, poems, novels, and non-fiction within major thematic units. The course builds on skills learned in seventh grade so that students are prepared to write in the narrative, expository/informational, and persuasive/argumentative modes in paragraphs, multi-paragraph essays, and research papers. To help students understand and use words effectively, the course will follow a systematic approach to grammar study and will examine vocabulary in context of literature. This course will prepare students for the PSSA exams.



Units
:


Unit #1 - Short Fiction
Unit #2 - Text Structure
Unit #3 - Reading Strategies with a Novel
Unit #4 - Literary Elements with a Novel
Unit #5 - Making Text Connections (Choice Novel)
Unit #6 - Vocabulary
Unit #7 - Grammar and Usage
Unit #8 - Effective Communication
Unit #9 - Research Strategies
Unit #10 - Narrative Writing
Unit #11 - Expository Writing


Course Resources
:



MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE:

Text: 18 Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe

-"Hop Frog"

-"The Raven"

-"Annabel Lee"

-Read Magazine "The Fall of the House of Usher" play

Non-fiction articles on Poe's life and death

Sherlock Holmes stories:

"The Adventures of the Speckled Band"

"Silver Blaze"

Optional:

  • "The Lottery"
  • "The Bus Ride"
  • "The Last Answer"
  • "Fetch"
  • "The Stroke of Twelve"
  • A&E Poe Biography
  • "Hound of the Baskervilles" VHS
  • Other stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe such as "Alone" "Dream Within a Dream," and "Conquorer Worm"


ACCEPTANCE AND EQUITY: 

Text: Raisin in the Sun
Brown Girl Dreaming (excerpts used for extension activities)
March: Book One (excerpts used for extension activities)


Optional: 

  • "I Have a Dream"
  • Kids Discover:Civil Rights (magazine)
  • Kids Discover:Martin Luther King (magazine)
  • Teaching Tolerance Teaching Kit and DVDs
  • The Ernest Green Story
  • "It Happened Here" article
  • Langston Hughes poetry


CONFORMITY & NONCONFORMITY:

Text: The Giver by Lois Lowry

-Lois Lowry Newbery Acceptance Speech

Optional:

  • "Harrison Bergeron"
  • "The Lottery"
  • "Jeremiah's Song"
  • "The Pedestrian"
  • "Old Glory"
  • "The Speeders"
  • The Truman Show DVD (excerpts)


INDIVIDUAL VS. SOCIETY:

Text: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

"Nothing Gold Can Stay" and other poems by Robert Frost

The Outsiders DVD

Optional:

  • Teacher selected poetry
  • Dateline Video segment "Lords of Chaos" from "Schools Under Siege: Stopping the Violence." Dateline. NBC, 25 September 1998.


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

  • TED.com
  • AmericanRhetoric.com