Arkansas State Standards for Language Arts: Grade 8

AR.1. Oral and Visual Communication: Speaking: Students shall demonstrate effective oral communication skills to express ideas and to present information.

OV.1.8.1. Speaking Vocabulary: Use vocabulary from content area texts and reading/literature .

OV.1.8.2. Speaking Vocabulary: Use standard English in classroom discussion and presentations.

OV.1.8.3. Speaking behaviors: Speak for and to various purposes and audiences.

OV.1.8.4. Speaking behaviors: Demonstrate appropriate eye contact, posture, volume, and physical gestures.

OV.1.8.5. Speaking behaviors: Use correct pronunciation and inflection/modulation to communicate ideas and information.

OV.1.8.6. Speaking to share understanding and information: Contribute appropriately to class discussion .

OV.1.8.7. Speaking to share understanding and information: Deliver oral presentations using available technology .

OV.1.8.8. Speaking to share understanding and information: Report results of interviews, research, etc.

OV.1.8.9. Speaking for literary response and expression: Participate in a variety of speaking activities taken from literature or research.

OV.1.8.10. Speaking for critical analysis and evaluation: Critique oral presentations of self and peers based on preset criteria.

AR.2. Oral and Visual Communication: Listening: Students shall demonstrate effective listening skills in formal and informal settings to facilitate communication.

OV.2.8.1. Listening for information and understanding: Demonstrate effective listening skills by exhibiting appropriate body language.

OV.2.8.2. Listening for information and understanding: Establish purpose for listening.

OV.2.8.3. Listening for information and understanding: Listen attentively to summarize.

OV.2.8.4. Listening for information and understanding: Demonstrate attentive and reflective listening skills to respond to and interpret speaker's message.

OV.2.8.5. Listening for critical analysis and evaluation: Evaluate presentations using established criteria/rubrics (e.g., purpose, content, organization, and delivery).

AR.3. Oral and Visual Communication: Media Literacy: Students shall demonstrate knowledge an understanding of media as a mode of communication.

OV.3.8.1. Utilizing media for information and understanding: View a variety of visually presented materials for understanding of a specific topic.

OV.3.8.2. Utilizing media for critical analysis and evaluation: Evaluate a media source for bias, propaganda, and censorship.

OV.3.8.3. Utilizing a variety of resources to produce visuals that communicate through print and non-print media: Design presentations that incorporate media visuals.

AR.4. Writing: Process: Students shall employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately.

W.4.8.1. Prewriting: Self select and apply an appropriate prewriting strategy for a variety of writing purposes across the curriculum, with emphasis on interviewing, note-taking, and gathering data.

W.4.8.2. Prewriting: Organize ideas by using such graphic organizers as charts/graphs, and formal outlining with main topics, sub-topics, and details.

W.4.8.3. Prewriting: Select a focus and an organizational structure based on purpose, audience, length, and required format for expository, narrative, descriptive, and persuasive writing.

W.4.8.4. Prewriting: Use available technology to access information and to document interviews.

W.4.8.5. Drafting: Create a draft with emphasis on persuasive and expository organization.

W.4.8.6. Drafting: Create an effective lead paragraph by using quotes, description, or questions with the last sentence as a thesis statement.

W.4.8.7. Revising: Revise content for: Central Idea; Organization; Unity; Elaboration; Clarity.

W.4.8.8. Revising: Revise style for: Sentence variety; Tone (e.g., sense of audience, etc.); Voice (e.g., specificity, vividness, rhythm of piece, writer's attitude and presence, etc.); Selected vocabulary; Selected information.

W.4.8.9. Revising: Revise writing using various tools/methods, such as peer and/or teacher collaboration, a revision checklist rubric, and/or reference materials (e.g., dictionary, thesaurus, etc.).

W.4.8.10. Editing: Edit individually or in groups for appropriate grade-level conventions, within the following features: Sentence formation; Usage; Mechanics.

W.4.8.11. Publishing: Use available technology to create a product and communicate knowledge.

W.4.8.12. Publishing: Maintain a writing portfolio that exhibits growth in meeting goals and expectations .

W.4.8.13. Publishing: Publish/share according to purpose and audience.

AR.5. Writing: Purposes, Topics, Forms and Audiences: Students shall demonstrate competency in writing for a variety of purposes, topics and audiences employing a wide range of forms.

W.5.8.1. Purposes and Audiences: Develop multiple works in a variety of modes of discourse .

W.5.8.2. Purposes and Audiences: Select the form of writing that addresses the intended audience.

W.5.8.3. Topics and Forms: Create expository, narrative, descriptive, and persuasive writings.

W.5.8.4. Topics and Forms: Write poems using a variety of techniques/devices, with emphasis on free verse.

W.5.8.5. Topics and Forms: Write research reports that include a thesis and use a variety of sources .

W.5.8.6. Topics and Forms: Write to reflect ideas/ interpretations of multicultural and universal themes and concepts.

W.5.8.7. Topics and Forms: Write with and without prompts for a sustained period of time.

W.5.8.8. Topics and Forms: Write responses to literature that demonstrate understanding or interpretation.

W.5.8.9. Topics and Forms: Write on demand with or without prompt within a given time frame .

W.5.8.10. Topics and Forms: Write across the curriculum.

AR.6. Writing: Conventions: Students shall apply knowledge of Standard English conventions in written work.

W.6.8.1. Sentence Formation: Vary sentence structure by using simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences and different kinds of sentences: Declarative; Interrogative; Imperative; Exclamatory.

W.6.8.2. Sentence Formation: Write more effective sentences by using all compound elements and by embedding clauses and prepositional, appositive, and verbal phrases .

W.6.8.3. Sentence Formation: Use clauses and phrases, including verbal, to invert sentence order for emphasis and variety.

W.6.8.4. Sentence Formation: Correct fragments, run-ons, comma splices, and fused sentences.

W.6.8.5. Sentence Formation: Evaluate personal, peer, or literature-based sentence formation for effective use of the parts of speech: Precise nouns; Pronouns to avoid repetition; Verbs; Adjectives to modify nouns and pronouns; Adverbs to modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs; Conjunctions; Interjections for excitement; Prepositions to indicate relationships.

W.6.8.6. Usage: Apply conventions of grammar with emphasis on the following: Subject-verb agreement; Parts of speech; Pronoun and antecedent agreement; Parts of a sentence and sentence patterns; Conjugation in regular, progressive, and emphatic verb forms; Verbals.

W.6.8.7. Spelling: Spell words correctly in all writing.

W.6.8.8. Capitalization: Apply conventional rules of capitalization in writing .

W.6.8.9. Punctuation: Apply conventional rules of punctuation in writing.

W.6.8.10. Punctuation: Edit own and peer papers with emphasis on All end marks: Commas; Dash; Hyphen; Quotation marks; Parentheses; Semicolons; Colons.

AR.7. Writing: Craftsmanship: students shall develop personal style and voice as they approach the craftsmanship of writing.

W.7.8.1. Purposefully shaping and controlling language: Use figurative language purposefully, such as alliteration and assonance, to shape and control language to affect readers.

W.7.8.2. Purposefully shaping and controlling language: Use a variety of sentence types and lengths (see Conventions Standard 6).

W.7.8.3. Purposefully shaping and controlling language: Use repetition for effect.

W.7.8.4. Purposefully shaping and controlling language: Use transition words/ phrases .

W.7.8.5. Purposefully shaping and controlling language: Use purposeful vocabulary with emphasis on developing tone.

W.7.8.6. Purposefully shaping and controlling language: Create an effective lead and conclusion .

W.7.8.7. Purposefully shaping and controlling language: Use flashback/time transitions.

W.7.8.8. Purposefully shaping and controlling language: Use dialogue effectively .

W.7.8.9. Purposefully shaping and controlling language: Use anecdotes and quotes .

W.7.8.10. Purposefully shaping and controlling language: Use scoring guides or rubrics to improve all aspects of written projects.

W.7.8.11. Purposefully shaping and controlling language: Self-evaluate writing.

AR.9. Reading: Comprehension: Students shall apply a variety of strategies to read and comprehend printed material.

R.9.8.1. Prior Knowledge: Use previewing, activating prior knowledge, predicting content of text, formulating questions, and establishing purposes for reading.

R.9.8.2. Making Connections: Evaluate the interrelations of text and world issues/events by applying connection strategies.

R.9.8.3. Making Connections: Connect, compare, and contrast ideas, themes, and issues across texts.

R.9.8.4. Using questioning and monitoring: Defend questions formulated and purposes established for reading.

R.9.8.5. Using questioning and monitoring: Generate and define questions related to universal themes to interpret meaning.

R.9.8.6. Using questioning and monitoring: Monitor reading strategies, including rereading, using resources, and questions, and modify them when understanding breakdowns.

R.9.8.7. Using inferences and interpretations: Connect own background knowledge and personal experience to make inferences and to respond to new information presented in text.

R.9.8.8. Using inferences and interpretations: Infer a character's role in development of plot and theme.

R.9.8.9. Using inferences and interpretations: Infer mood and theme of text.

R.9.8.10. Using inferences and interpretations: Use literary elements and historical context to infer author's intent.

R.9.8.11. Using inferences and interpretations: Analyze the literary elements of plot, subplot, and climax, and explain the way in which conflicts are resolved or unresolved .

R.9.8.12. Using inferences and interpretations: Compare and contrast points of view, such as first person, limited, and omniscient third person, and explain the effect on the overall theme of a literary work.

R.9.8.13. Using inferences and interpretations: Distinguish among stated fact, reasoned judgment, and opinion in text.

R.9.8.14. Determining Importance: Classify and organize information from more than one text, based on purpose and/or level of importance.

R.9.8.15. Determining Importance: Identify main ideas and supporting evidence in short stories and novels.

R.9.8.16. Determining Importance: Use the text features to locate and recall information, with emphasis on text organizers .

R.9.8.17. Determining Importance: Determine text structure(s) to enhance understanding .

R.9.8.18. Determining Importance: Organize information, including simple outlining.

R.9.8.19. Determining Importance: Use skimming, scanning, note-taking, outlining, and questioning as study strategies.

R.9.8.20. Summarizing and Synthesizing: Synthesize information from multiple texts and provide evidence to support .

R.9.8.21. Evaluating: Evaluate conflicts, motivations, points of view, and changes that affect the plot or theme.

R.9.8.22. Evaluating: Evaluate personal, social, and political issues as presented in text.

AR.10. Reading: Variety of text: Students shall read, examine, and respond to a wide range of texts for a variety of purposes.

R.10.8.1. Exhibits behaviors and habits of an active reader: Read for a substantial amount of time daily, including assigned and self-selected materials at independent and instructional levels.

R.10.8.2. Exhibits behaviors and habits of an active reader: Read texts that reflect contributions of different cultural groups.

R.10.8.3. Exhibits behaviors and habits of an active reader: Vary reading strategies according to text and purpose.

R.10.8.4. Reading a variety of informational materials for enjoyment, critical analysis, and evaluation: Examine the author's credibility, use of text structure, word choice, and viewpoint to evaluate message .

R.10.8.5. Reading a variety of informational materials for enjoyment, critical analysis, and evaluation: Use skimming, scanning, note taking, outlining, and questioning as study strategies.

R.10.8.6. Reading a variety of literature for enjoyment, critical analysis and evaluation: Read a variety of literature, including essays and plays.

R.10.8.7. Reading a variety of literature for enjoyment, critical analysis and evaluation: Evaluate the credibility of the narrator.

R.10.8.8. Reading a variety of literature for enjoyment, critical analysis and evaluation: Identify the basic parts of drama.

R.10.8.9. Reading a variety of literature for enjoyment, critical analysis and evaluation: Describe how stage directions help the reader understand a play.

R.10.8.10. Reading a variety of poetry for enjoyment, critical analysis and evaluation: Read a variety of poetry, with emphasis on free verse .

R.10.8.11. Reading a variety of poetry for enjoyment, critical analysis and evaluation: Interpret poetry, noting distinctive poetic devices .

R.10.8.12. Reading a variety of practical materials for enjoyment, critical analysis and evaluation: Read and utilize functional/practical texts, including manuals, memos, job applications, and career guides.

R.10.8.13. Reading a variety of practical materials for enjoyment, critical analysis and evaluation: Analyze newspaper articles and editorials for bias and propaganda.

AR.11. Reading; Vocabulary, Word Study, and Fluency: Students shall acquire and apply skills in vocabulary development and word analysis to be able to read fluently.

R.11.8.1. Word recognition: Automatically decode words to ensure focus on comprehension.

R.11.8.2. Word recognition: Continue to develop and maintain an adequate body of sight words.

R.11.8.3. Word recognition: Add content words to sight vocabulary.

R.11.8.4. Word Study and Vocabulary: Use knowledge of root words and affixes and word relationships to determine meaning.

R.11.8.5. Word Study and Vocabulary: Use context to determine meaning of multiple meaning words.

R.11.8.6. Word Study and Vocabulary: Use resources to determine meaning of technical and specialized vocabulary.

R.11.8.7. Word Study and Vocabulary: Determine useful and relevant words.

R.11.8.8. Word Study and Vocabulary: Identify and explains similes, metaphors, personification, hyperboles and analogies to infer the literal and figurative meanings of phrases.

R.11.8.9. Word Study and Vocabulary: Identify how words from other cultures have been incorporated into English vocabulary usage.

R.11.8.10. Word Study and Vocabulary: Use context, structure, denotations and connotations to determine meaning of words and phrases.

R.11.8.11. Reading with fluency: Read grade level text with an approximate rate of 171 words per minute.

R.11.8.12. Reading with fluency: Read grade level text orally with accuracy and expression.

AR.12. Inquiring/Researching: Research/Inquiry Process: Students shall engage in inquiry and research to address questions, to make judgments about credibility, and to communicate findings in ways that suit the purpose and audience.

IR.12.8.1. Accessing information: Formulate original questions to explain and select a topic for research.

IR.12.8.2. Accessing information: Use appropriate reference features and text features to access information effectively .

IR.12.8.3. Accessing information: Use print and electronic sources independently to locate information.

IR.12.8.4. Accessing information: Gather information from more than one type of source (e.g., interviews, Internet, lab notes, etc.).

IR.12.8.5. Accessing information: Self-select credible sources appropriate to purpose and topic.

IR.12.8.6. Interpreting Information: Create visual graphics to interpret information .

IR.12.8.7. Interpreting Information: Use notes to narrow a topic to develop a thesis statement.

IR.12.8.8. Interpreting Information: Create a formal topic outline of thesis, main topics, sub-topics, and details .

IR.12.8.9. Interpreting Information: Use research to create one or more oral, written, or visual presentations /products.