8th Grade ELA (New Jersey NJSLS)

Language (L)

• L.SS.8.1 Use the English language system and structure correctly when writing or speaking.
  • 1. Explain what verbals (gerunds, participles, infinitives) do, in general and in sentences.
  • 2. Form and use active-voice and passive-voice verbs.
  • 3. Use verbs correctly in each mood: indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional and subjunctive.
  • 4. Spot and fix unwanted shifts in verb voice and mood.
  • 5. Show a pause or break with a comma, ellipsis or dash.
  • 6. Show that words were left out with an ellipsis.
  • 7. Recognize spelling conventions.
• L.KL.8.2 Apply knowledge of language conventions when writing, speaking, reading or listening.
  • 1. Use grade 8 academic and subject words correctly.
  • 2. Build word knowledge when choosing key words for understanding or expression.
  • 3. Use voice (active, passive) and mood (conditional, subjunctive) for particular effects.
• L.VL.8.3 Work out unknown and multiple-meaning words with a range of strategies.
  • 1. Use context such as the sentence or paragraph and a word's position or job.
  • 2. Analyze how word choices affect meaning and tone.
  • 3. Use common Greek and Latin affixes and roots to help with meaning.
  • 4. Check print and online references for pronunciation, exact meaning or part of speech.
  • 5. Confirm a first guess at a meaning from context or a dictionary.
• L.VI.8.4 Understand figurative language, word relationships and shades of meaning.
  • 1. Interpret figures of speech such as verbal irony and puns in context.
  • 2. Use how particular words relate to understand each one better.
  • 3. Analyze how word choices, including analogies and allusions, affect meaning and tone.
  • 4. Tell apart connotations of words with similar meanings.

Reading Literature (RL)

• RL.CR.8.1 Cite the evidence that best supports analysis of what a literary text says and implies.
• RL.CI.8.2 Work out a theme and how particular details develop it; summarize without personal opinion.
• RL.IT.8.3 Analyze how elements of literary texts interact, including across text types.
• RL.TS.8.4 Compare text structures and how each adds to meaning, tone and style.
• RL.PP.8.5 Analyze how differences between characters' and readers' perspectives (e.g. dramatic irony) build effects such as suspense.
• RL.MF.8.6 Evaluate how creators present an idea in different media, including whose views are stressed or missing.
• RL.CT.8.8 Analyze how a literary author shapes material by stressing or interpreting evidence differently from historical accounts.

Reading Informational Text (RI)

• RI.CR.8.1 Cite a range of evidence, including charts, graphs and diagrams, to support analysis of an informational text.
• RI.CI.8.2 Work out a central idea and how particular details develop it; summarize without personal opinion.
• RI.IT.8.3 Analyze how elements of informational texts interact, e.g. how context and people shape events.
• RI.TS.8.4 Analyze how authors use structure to organize ideas, set a point of view or build an argument.
• RI.PP.8.5 Analyze how authors build perspective or purpose by answering conflicting evidence or views.
• RI.MF.8.6 Evaluate creators' choice of medium and the pros and cons of different formats for a question.
• RI.AA.8.7 Outline and judge an argument and its claims: is the reasoning sound and is the evidence relevant and enough?
• RI.CT.8.8 Analyze two or more informational texts that conflict and pinpoint where they disagree.

Writing (W)

• W.AW.8.1 Write arguments in different subjects backing claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
  • 1. Introduce claims, set them apart from opposing claims and organize reasons and evidence logically.
  • 2. Support claims with sound reasoning and accurate, relevant, credible evidence.
  • 3. Connect claims, counterclaims, reasons and evidence with words, phrases and clauses.
  • 4. Set up and keep a formal or academic style.
  • 5. End with a conclusion that follows from and supports the argument.
• W.IW.8.2 Write informative/explanatory texts that examine a topic with relevant content.
  • 1. Introduce the topic, preview what follows and organize it with structures and features.
  • 2. Build the topic with relevant facts, definitions, details, quotations or examples.
  • 3. Use transitions to show how ideas relate.
  • 4. Use exact subject vocabulary suited to grade 8.
  • 5. Set up and keep a formal, academic style.
  • 6. End with a conclusion that pulls the information together.
• W.NW.8.3 Write narratives about real or imagined experiences with technique, detail and clear structure.
  • 1. Set context, point of view and narrator or characters, and order events logically.
  • 2. Use dialogue, pacing, description and reflection to develop events and characters.
  • 3. Use varied transitions to show order and changes of time or place.
  • 4. Use exact words, sensory language and detail to capture action.
  • 5. End with a conclusion that reflects on the events.
• W.WP.8.4 With guidance, plan and keep at complex writing, seeking feedback and thinking of purpose and reader.
• W.WR.8.5 Carry out short research projects to answer a question, using several sources and raising focused new questions.
• W.SE.8.6 Collect relevant information from several sources, judge credibility and cite properly to avoid plagiarism.
• W.RW.8.7 Write regularly, over long and short time frames, for subject tasks, purposes and readers.

Speaking and Listening (SL)

• SL.PE.8.1 Take part well in group discussions with different partners, building on others' ideas and giving your own.
  • 1. Come prepared, using research and evidence to explore ideas.
  • 2. Follow discussion rules, track progress to goals and deadlines and set roles.
  • 3. Ask questions that connect several speakers' ideas and answer with relevant evidence.
  • 4. Take on board new information and qualify or justify your views from the evidence.
• SL.II.8.2 Analyze why information is presented in different media and judge the motives behind it.
• SL.ES.8.3 Outline a speaker's argument and claims and judge the reasoning and evidence.
• SL.PI.8.4 Present claims and findings clearly with relevant evidence, sound reasoning, good details and strong delivery.
• SL.UM.8.5 Blend multimedia and visuals into presentations to clarify information and strengthen claims.
• SL.AS.8.6 Adjust speech to the situation and task, using formal English when suitable.