Connecticut State Standards for Language Arts: Grade 8

CT.ELA. State ELA Frameworks

ELA.1. Reading and Responding: Students read, comprehend and respond in individual, literal, critical and evaluative ways to literary, informational and persuasive texts in multimedia formats.

1.1. Students use appropriate strategies before, during and after reading in order to construct meaning.

1.2. Students interpret, analyze and evaluate text in order to extend understanding and appreciation.

1.3. Students select and apply strategies to facilitate word recognition and develop vocabulary in order to comprehend text.

1.4. Students communicate with others to create interpretations of written, oral and visual texts.

ELA.2. Exploring and Responding to Literature: Students read and respond to classical and contemporary texts from many cultures and literary periods.

2.1. Students recognize how literary devices and conventions engage the reader.

2.2. Students explore multiple responses to literature.

2.3. Students recognize and appreciate that contemporary and classical literature has shaped human thought.

2.4. Students recognize that reads and authors are influences by individual, social, cultural and historical contexts.

ELA.3. Communicating with Others: Students produce written, oral and visual texts to express, develop and substantiate ideas and experiences.

3.1. Students use descriptive, narrative, expository, persuasive and poetic modes.

3.2. Students prepare, publish and/or present work appropriate to audience, purpose and task.

ELA.4. Applying English Language Conventions: Students apply the conventions of standard English in oral, written and visual communication.

4.1. Students use knowledge of their language and culture to improve competency in English.

4.2. Students speak and write using standard language structures and diction appropriate to audience and task.

4.3. Students use standard English for composing and revising written text.

CT.GLE. Grade Level Expectations

GLE.1. READING: Students comprehend and respond in literal, critical and evaluative ways to various texts that are read, viewed and heard.

1.5. After Reading (General Understanding): Explain how a story's plots and subplots do/do not contribute to the conflict and resolution.

1.6. After Reading (General Understanding): Interpret how situations, actions and other characters influence a character's personality and development.

1.7. After Reading (Developing an Interpretation): Develop literal and inferential questions about texts using explicit and implicit evidence from the texts.

1.8. After Reading (Developing an Interpretation): Compare and contrast literature written in a variety of genres and explain why certain genres are best suited to convey a specific message or invoke a particular response from the reader.

1.9. After Reading (Developing an Interpretation): Analyze the characteristics and structural elements/essential attributes in a variety of poetic forms, e.g., epic, sonnet, ballad, haiku, free verse.

1.10. After Reading (Developing an Interpretation): Compare, contrast and critique two author's beliefs and assumptions about a single topic or issue and decide which author presents the stronger argument.

1.11. After Reading (Developing an Interpretation): Explain how certain actions cause certain effects, e.g., how the Holocaust changed international politics today or how the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II affected traditional Japanese family structure.

1.12. After Reading (Making Reader/Text Connections): Identify motivations and reactions of literary characters from different cultures or historical periods when confronting similar personal conflicts, and hypothesize how those characters would handle a similar modern conflict.

1.13. After Reading (Content and Structure): Critique the way in which an author uses a variety of language structures to create an intended effect, e.g., words or phrases from another language, dialect, simile and metaphor.

1.14. After Reading (Content and Structure): Critique an author's reasoning and use of evidence in an argument or defense of a claim.

1.15. After Reading (Content and Structure): Analyze and critique the intended effects of propaganda techniques the author uses to influence readers' perspectives.

1.16. After Reading (Content and Structure): Evaluate recurring themes in literature that reflect worldwide social and/or economic change, e.g., social change, such as characters that change their attitudes after learning about different cultures.

1.17. After Reading (Content and Structure): Extend the meaning of a text by expressing an insight implied but not stated, e.g., author's perspective, the nature of conflict, or use text-based information to solve a problem not explicitly identified in the text, e.g., use information in an article about fitness to design an exercise routine.

1.18. Reading Reflection/Behaviors: Set goals for reading and develop a reading improvement plan.

1.19. Reading Reflection/Behaviors: Track reading progress through the use of such tools as portfolios, learning logs, self-scoring rubrics or strategy charts.

GLE.2. ORAL LANGUAGE: Students will listen and speak to communicate ideas clearly.

2.5. Listening / Speaking: Engage in oral telling of stories from a variety of cultures an periods of history that use a range of strategies to make the story engaging to the audience, e.g., using dialogue and suspense; showing narrative action with movement, gestures and expressions.

GLE.3. WRITING: Students express, develop and substantiate ideas and experiences through their own writing and artistic and technical presentations.

3.3. Capitalization / Punctuation / Usage: Use capitalization, punctuation, and usage rules from previous grades.

3.4. Capitalization / Punctuation / Usage: Capitalizes the title of a specific course, e.g., History 9a as opposed to history.

3.5. Capitalization / Punctuation / Usage: Use commas to enclose titles, e.g., Jennifer Longstreet, M.D., is a pediatrician.

3.6. Capitalization / Punctuation / Usage: Use commas for emphasis or clarity, e.g., What the teacher does, does affect students' learning.

3.7. Capitalization / Punctuation / Usage: Place commas and periods inside quotation marks.

3.8. Capitalization / Punctuation / Usage: Use apostrophes to form plurals of letters or numbers, e.g., know your ABC's.

3.9. Capitalization / Punctuation / Usage: Use apostrophes in possessive compound nouns, e.g., the mother-in-law's birthday.

3.10. Capitalization / Punctuation / Usage: Use a colon between title and subtitle, e.g., Write Source 2000: A Guide to Thinking, Writing and Learning.

3.11. Capitalization / Punctuation / Usage: Uses slash (/) correctly, e.g., in a fraction; to show choice.

3.12. Capitalization / Punctuation / Usage: Uses parallel construction when listing infinitive phrases, e.g., parallel: Bradley likes to run, dive, and ride horses; not parallel: Bradley likes to run, to dive, and ride a horse.

3.13. Capitalization / Punctuation / Usage: Use paragraph conventions, e.g., designated by indentation or block format, skipping lines between paragraphs.

3.14. Capitalization / Punctuation / Usage: Use textual markers, e.g., rows, columns, tables.

3.15. Capitalization / Punctuation / Usage: Cite sources according to prescribed format, e.g., MLA, APA.

3.16. Writing Process: Plan: collect and explore ideas for later use as a basis for informational, persuasive or literary writing, e.g., maintain writer's notebook.

3.17. Writing Process: Draft: decide if multiple drafts are necessary, and continue drafting/revising as appropriate.

3.18. Writing Process: Revise: revise, checking for organization, clarity, fluency and elaboration.

3.19. Writing Process: Edit: use multiple resources, e.g., dictionary, glossary, thesaurus, for proofreading and editing.

3.20. Writing Process: Publish/Present: uses different technologies to produce, design and publish a finished product, e.g., political cartoons, brochure, stock market or consumer analysis.

3.21. Writing Process: Reflect: critique work independently and in groups, and establish a focus collaboratively, e.g., author's craft, elaboration, fluency.

3.22. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Descriptive): Write a script for a play or television episode, fully developing setting and characters so actors can take on role.

3.23. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Descriptive): Write a piece selecting literary devices to convey a specific meaning, e.g., symbols and analogies.

3.24. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Descriptive): Write a piece selecting words for connotation and denotation, e.g., plump vs. fat, shack vs. house.

3.25. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Narrative): Write elaborate dialogue, e.g., script, commercial.

3.26. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Expository): Write a speech about a mathematical or scientific concept.

3.27. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Expository): Write an informational report, e.g., science, social studies, art history, music.

3.28. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Expository): Write minutes to a group meeting.

3.29. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Expository): Write a letter to the editor.

3.30. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Persuasive): Analyze and synthesize information from multiple resources to establish and support a position, and to examine opposing perspectives.

3.31. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Persuasive): Prepare a position for and engage in a debate.

3.32. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Persuasive): Develop a business portfolio to sell a product.

3.33. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Persuasive): Write a review of a restaurant, movie, television show, concert, website.

3.34. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Persuasive): Write a newspaper editorial.

3.35. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Persuasive): Write a public service announcement.

3.36. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Persuasive): Write a cover letter to a business expressing interest in volunteering, employment.

3.37. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Poetic): Write poetry in style of choice.

3.38. Writing Genres, Traits and Crafts (Poetic): Research and present types of poetry not yet learned.