Texas 8th Grade ELA Standards

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1-4 Developing and sustaining foundational language skills

• 1 Listening, speaking, discussion, and thinking–oral language. The student develops oral language through listening, speaking, and discussion.
  • A listen actively to interpret a message by summarizing, asking questions, and making comments;
  • B follow and give complex oral instructions to perform specific tasks, answer questions, or solve problems;
  • C advocate a position using anecdotes, analogies, and/or illustrations employing eye contact, speaking rate, volume, enunciation, a variety of natural gestures, and conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively; and
  • D participate collaboratively in discussions, plan agendas with clear goals and deadlines, set time limits for speakers, take notes, and vote on key issues.
• 2 Listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking–vocabulary. The student uses newly acquired vocabulary expressively.
  • A use print or digital resources to determine the meaning, syllabication, pronunciation, word origin, and part of speech;
  • B use context within or beyond a paragraph to clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or ambiguous words; and
  • C determine the meaning and usage of grade-level academic English words derived from Greek and Latin roots such as ast, qui, path, mand/mend, and duc.
• 3 Listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking–fluency. The student reads grade-level text with fluency and comprehension. The student is expected to adjust fluency when reading grade-level text based on the reading purpose.
• 4 Listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking–self-sustained reading. The student reads grade-appropriate texts independently. The student is expected to self-select text and read independently for a sustained period of time.

5 Comprehension skills

• 5 Listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts.
  • A establish purpose for reading assigned and self-selected texts;
  • B generate questions about text before, during, and after reading to deepen understanding and gain information;
  • C make, correct, or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures;
  • D create mental images to deepen understanding;
  • E make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society;
  • F make inferences and use evidence to support understanding;
  • G evaluate details read to determine key ideas;
  • H synthesize information to create new understanding; and
  • I monitor comprehension and make adjustments such as re-reading, using background knowledge, asking questions, and annotating when understanding breaks down.

6 Response skills

• 6 Listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student responds to an increasingly challenging variety of sources that are read, heard, or viewed.
  • A describe personal connections to a variety of sources, including self-selected texts;
  • B write responses that demonstrate understanding of texts, including comparing sources within and across genres;
  • C use text evidence to support an appropriate response;
  • D paraphrase and summarize texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order;
  • E interact with sources in meaningful ways such as notetaking, annotating, freewriting, or illustrating;
  • F respond using newly acquired vocabulary as appropriate;
  • G discuss and write about the explicit or implicit meanings of text;
  • H respond orally or in writing with appropriate register, vocabulary, tone, and voice;
  • I reflect on and adjust responses as new evidence is presented; and
  • J defend or challenge authors’ claims using relevant text evidence.

7-8 Multiple genres

• 7 Listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts–literary elements. The student recognizes and analyzes literary elements within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse literary texts.
  • A analyze how themes are developed through the interaction of characters and events;
  • B analyze how characters’ motivations and behaviors influence events and resolution of the conflict;
  • C analyze non-linear plot development such as flashbacks, foreshadowing, subplots, and parallel plot structures and compare it to linear plot development; and
  • D explain how the setting influences the values and beliefs of characters.
• 8 Listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts–genres. The student recognizes and analyzes genre-specific characteristics, structures, and purposes within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts.
  • A demonstrate knowledge of literary genres such as realistic fiction, adventure stories, historical fiction, mysteries, humor, fantasy, science fiction, and short stories;
  • B analyze the effect of graphical elements such as punctuation and line length in poems across a variety of poetic forms such as epic, lyric, and humorous poetry;
  • C analyze how playwrights develop dramatic action through the use of acts and scenes;
  • D analyze characteristics and structural elements of informational text, including:
    • i the controlling idea or thesis with supporting evidence;
    • ii features such as footnotes, endnotes, and citations; and
    • iii multiple organizational patterns within a text to develop the thesis;
  • E analyze characteristics and structures of argumentative text by:
    • i identifying the claim and analyzing the argument;
    • ii identifying and explaining the counter argument; and
    • iii identifying the intended audience or reader; and
  • F analyze characteristics of multimodal and digital texts.

9 Author’s purpose and craft

• 9 Listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the authors’ choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts. The student analyzes and applies author’s craft purposefully in order to develop his or her own products and performances.
  • A explain the author’s purpose and message within a text;
  • B analyze how the use of text structure contributes to the author’s purpose;
  • C analyze the author’s use of print and graphic features to achieve specific purposes;
  • D describe how the author’s use of figurative language such as extended metaphor achieves specific purposes;
  • E identify and analyze the use of literary devices, including multiple points of view and irony;
  • F analyze how the author’s use of language contributes to the mood, voice, and tone; and
  • G explain the purpose of rhetorical devices such as analogy and juxtaposition and of logical fallacies such as bandwagon appeals and circular reasoning.

10-11 Composition

• 10 Listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts–writing process. The student uses the writing process recursively to compose multiple texts that are legible and uses appropriate conventions.
  • A plan a first draft by selecting a genre appropriate for a particular topic, purpose, and audience using a range of strategies such as discussion, background reading, and personal interests;
  • B develop drafts into a focused, structured, and coherent piece of writing by:
    • i organizing with purposeful structure, including an introduction, transitions, coherence within and across paragraphs, and a conclusion; and
    • ii developing an engaging idea reflecting depth of thought with specific facts, details, and examples;
  • C revise drafts for clarity, development, organization, style, word choice, and sentence variety;
  • D edit drafts using standard English conventions, including:
    • i complete complex sentences with subject-verb agreement and avoidance of splices, run-ons, and fragments;
    • ii consistent, appropriate use of verb tenses and active and passive voice;
    • iii prepositions and prepositional phrases and their influence on subject-verb agreement;
    • iv pronoun-antecedent agreement;
    • v correct capitalization;
    • vi punctuation, including commas in nonrestrictive phrases and clauses, semicolons, colons, and parentheses; and
    • vii correct spelling, including commonly confused terms such as its/it’s, affect/effect, there/their/they’re, and to/two/too; and
  • E publish written work for appropriate audiences.
• 11 Listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts–genres. The student uses genre characteristics and craft to compose multiple texts that are meaningful.
  • A compose literary texts such as personal narratives, fiction, and poetry using genre characteristics and craft;
  • B compose informational texts, including multi-paragraph essays that convey information about a topic, using a clear controlling idea or thesis statement and genre characteristics and craft;
  • C compose multi-paragraph argumentative texts using genre characteristics and craft; and
  • D compose correspondence that reflects an opinion, registers a complaint, or requests information in a business or friendly structure.

12 Inquiry and research

• 12 Listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student engages in both short-term and sustained recursive inquiry processes for a variety of purposes.
  • A generate student-selected and teacher-guided questions for formal and informal inquiry;
  • B develop and revise a plan;
  • C refine the major research question, if necessary, guided by the answers to a secondary set of questions;
  • D identify and gather relevant information from a variety of sources;
  • E differentiate between primary and secondary sources;
  • F synthesize information from a variety of sources;
  • G differentiate between paraphrasing and plagiarism when using source materials;
  • H examine sources for:
    • i reliability, credibility, and bias, including omission; and
    • ii faulty reasoning such as bandwagon appeals, repetition, and loaded language;
  • I display academic citations and use source materials ethically; and
  • J use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present results.