8th Grade ELA (Mississippi CCR Standards)

Reading Literature (RL)

• RL.8.1 Choose the text evidence that best supports analysis of stated and inferred meaning.
• RL.8.2 Find a theme or central idea, trace how details shape it, and summarize accurately.
• RL.8.3 Analyze how lines of dialogue or incidents move the action, reveal character, or prompt decisions.
• RL.8.4 Work out word meanings and how word choice, analogies, and allusions affect meaning and tone.
• RL.8.5 Compare the structures of two or more texts and how each shapes meaning and style.
• RL.8.6 Analyze how gaps between what characters and readers know, such as dramatic irony, create suspense or humor.
• RL.8.7 Judge how faithful a film or staged version is to the text and evaluate the director's or actors' choices.
• RL.8.8 (Not applicable to literature.)
• RL.8.9 Analyze how modern works borrow themes and character types from myths, folk tales, or religious texts.
• RL.8.10 Read literature at the top of the grade 6–8 band on their own.

Reading Informational Text (RI)

• RI.8.1 Choose the text evidence that best supports analysis of an informational text.
• RI.8.2 Find a central idea, trace how details shape it, and summarize accurately.
• RI.8.3 Analyze how a text links and separates people, ideas, or events, such as through comparisons.
• RI.8.4 Work out word meanings and how word choice, analogies, and allusions affect meaning and tone.
• RI.8.5 Analyze how a single paragraph is built and how its sentences develop a key idea.
• RI.8.6 Identify the author's view or purpose and how the author handles opposing evidence or views.
• RI.8.7 Weigh the pros and cons of print, digital, video, or multimedia for presenting a topic.
• RI.8.8 Outline and judge an argument, its reasoning and evidence, and spot irrelevant evidence.
• RI.8.9 Analyze texts that conflict on a topic and find where they disagree on fact or interpretation.
• RI.8.10 Read nonfiction at the top of the grade 6–8 band on their own.

Writing (W)

• W.8.1 Write arguments that back claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
  • a. State the claim, set it apart from opposing claims, and order reasons and evidence logically.
  • b. Support the claim with logical reasoning and accurate, credible sources.
  • c. Use linking words to tie together claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
  • d. Keep a formal style throughout.
  • e. End with a conclusion that supports the argument.
• W.8.2 Write informative or explanatory texts that examine a topic with well-chosen, organized content.
  • a. Introduce the topic with a preview, group ideas into broader categories, and use headings or graphics.
  • b. Develop the topic with well-chosen facts, details, quotations, and examples.
  • c. Use varied transitions to link ideas and make the text cohesive.
  • d. Use exact language and subject vocabulary.
  • e. Keep a formal style throughout.
  • f. End with a conclusion that follows from the explanation.
• W.8.3 Write real or imagined narratives with good technique, detail, and a clear sequence of events.
  • a. Set the context and point of view, introduce characters, and order events naturally.
  • b. Use dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection to develop events and characters.
  • c. Use transitions to show sequence, time shifts, and how events relate.
  • d. Use exact words and sensory details to capture the action.
  • e. End with a conclusion that reflects on the events.
• W.8.4 Write clearly and coherently, matching development and style to task, purpose, and audience.
• W.8.5 With some help, improve writing by planning and revising, checking it suits purpose and audience.
• W.8.6 Use technology to publish writing, show how ideas link, and collaborate.
• W.8.7 Carry out short research projects, including on their own questions, and raise new lines of inquiry.
• W.8.8 Search print and digital sources well, judge credibility and accuracy, and quote or paraphrase without plagiarism.
• W.8.9 Draw on evidence from literary or informational texts in analysis and research.
  • a. Apply grade 8 literature reading standards in writing.
  • b. Apply grade 8 informational reading standards in writing.
• W.8.10 Write regularly, over both long and short time frames, for many tasks and audiences.

Speaking and Listening (SL)

• SL.8.1 Take part well in a range of discussions on grade 8 topics and issues, building on others' ideas.
  • a. Prepare for discussions and use evidence from the material to explore ideas.
  • b. Follow rules for discussion and decisions, track goals, and take on roles.
  • c. Ask questions that connect several speakers' ideas and answer with evidence.
  • d. Take in new information and, when justified, qualify or defend their views.
• SL.8.2 Analyze why information is presented in a given medium and judge the motives behind it.
• SL.8.3 Outline a speaker's argument, judge its reasoning and evidence, and spot irrelevant evidence.
• SL.8.4 Present claims in a focused way with sound reasoning and evidence, good eye contact, and clear voice.
• SL.8.5 Build multimedia and visuals into presentations to clarify, strengthen claims, and add interest.
• SL.8.6 Adjust speech to the context and task, using formal English when suitable.

Language (L)

• L.8.1 Use standard English grammar and usage in writing and speech.
  • a. Explain what gerunds, participles, and infinitives do in sentences.
  • b. Form and use verbs in active and passive voice.
  • c. Form and use verb moods: indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, and subjunctive.
  • d. Spot and fix unsuitable shifts in verb voice and mood.
• L.8.2 Use standard capitalization, punctuation, and spelling in writing.
  • a. Use a comma, ellipsis, or dash to show a pause or break.
  • b. Use an ellipsis to show something left out.
  • c. Spell words correctly.
• L.8.3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions.
  • a. Use voice and mood on purpose, for example to stress the actor or express doubt.
• L.8.4 Work out unknown and multiple-meaning words using a range of strategies.
  • a. Use context as a clue to word meaning.
  • b. Use Greek and Latin roots and affixes as clues.
  • c. Use general and specialized reference works to check pronunciation, meaning, or part of speech.
  • d. Check a guessed meaning in context or a dictionary.
• L.8.5 Understand figurative language, word relationships, and shades of meaning.
  • a. Interpret figures of speech such as verbal irony and puns.
  • b. Use relationships between words to understand each word better.
  • c. Tell apart the connotations of words with similar definitions.
• L.8.6 Learn and use grade-level academic and subject-specific words and phrases.