Grade 8 ELA Curriculum Modules
The Grade 8 curriculum modules are designed to address CCLS ELA outcomes during a 45-50 minute English Language Arts class. The overarching focus for all modules is building students’ literacy skills as they develop knowledge about the world.
Each MODULE provides 8 eight weeks of instruction, broken into three shorter units. Each module includes one end-of-module performance task as well as mid-unit and end-of-unit assessments for all three units
Taken as a whole, these modules are designed to give teachers concrete strategies to address the “shifts” required by the CCLS.
Grade 8, Module 1 Overview
Grade 8, Module 1 Assessments
Grade 8, Module 1 Performance Task
Each MODULE provides 8 eight weeks of instruction, broken into three shorter units. Each module includes one end-of-module performance task as well as mid-unit and end-of-unit assessments for all three units
Taken as a whole, these modules are designed to give teachers concrete strategies to address the “shifts” required by the CCLS.
Grade 8, Module 1 Overview
Grade 8, Module 1 Assessments
Grade 8, Module 1 Performance Task
Unit 1: In this first unit, students consider the crisis of war coming close to home. They begin the novel Inside Out and Back Again, by Thanhha Lai, focusing on how critical incidents reveal the dynamic nature of Ha, the main character, whose Vietnamese family is deciding on whether to flee during the fall of Saigon. Their study of the novel is paired with reading a rich informational article, "The Vietnam Wars," which gives students key background knowledge about the history of war in Vietnam.
Unit 2: In this second unit, students will build knowledge about refugees' search for a place to call home. They will read informational texts that convey the universal themes and experiences of refugees across various times and cultures. Students will focus on how particular incidents move the story of the novel forward and reveal aspects of Ha's character, a refugee who is faced with challenges that represent the universal refugee themes of fleeing and finding home.
Unit 3: Having finished the novel, students will reread critical incidents, while also working in research groups to study the experiences of refugees from one of several cultures. Students will use this knowledge to write an individual research based narrative that captures the story of a refugee in search of a home. Using the novel as a mentor text, students also will transform one moment from their research-based narrative into a free-verse narrative poem.
Unit 2: In this second unit, students will build knowledge about refugees' search for a place to call home. They will read informational texts that convey the universal themes and experiences of refugees across various times and cultures. Students will focus on how particular incidents move the story of the novel forward and reveal aspects of Ha's character, a refugee who is faced with challenges that represent the universal refugee themes of fleeing and finding home.
Unit 3: Having finished the novel, students will reread critical incidents, while also working in research groups to study the experiences of refugees from one of several cultures. Students will use this knowledge to write an individual research based narrative that captures the story of a refugee in search of a home. Using the novel as a mentor text, students also will transform one moment from their research-based narrative into a free-verse narrative poem.