Reading—Grade 8

In eighth grade, students integrate a variety of comprehension and vocabulary strategies. They are able to adapt their reading to different types of text. Oral and written responses analyze and/or synthesize information from multiple sources to deepen understanding of the content. Students refine their understanding of the author's craft, commenting and critically evaluating text. They continue to analyze and/or synthesize information from multiple sources to deepen understanding of the content. Students continue to read for pleasure.

EALR 1: The student understands and uses different skills and strategies to read.

Note: Each grade-level expectation assumes the student is reading grade-level text. Since reading is a process, some grade-level indicators and evidences of learning apply to multiple grade-levels. What changes is the text complexity as students move through the grade levels.

Component 1.2 Use vocabulary (word meaning) strategies to comprehend text.

1.2.2 Apply strategies to comprehend words and ideas.

• Use word origins to determine the meaning of unknown words.
• Use abstract, derived root words, prefixes, and suffixes from Greek and Latin to analyze the meaning of complex words (e.g., statistic, statistician).
• Use vocabulary strategies to understand new words and concepts in informational/expository text and literary/narrative text.
• Use graphic features to clarify and extend meaning (e.g., science processes, diagrams).

Component 1.3 Build vocabulary through wide reading.

1.3.2 Understand and apply content/academic vocabulary critical to the meaning of the text, including vocabularies relevant to different contexts, cultures, and communities. W

• Integrate new vocabulary from informational/expository text and literary/narrative text (including text from a variety of cultures and communities; (e.g., lift as used in England compared to the U.S.A.) into written and oral communication.
• Explain the meaning of content-specific vocabulary words (e.g., photosynthesis, democracy, algorithms).
• Select, from multiple choices, the meaning of a word identified in the text.
• Transfer knowledge of vocabulary learned in content areas to comprehend other grade-level informational/expository text and literary/narrative text (e.g., definition of solar in science transferred to understanding science fiction text).

Component 1.4 Apply word recognition skills and strategies to read fluently.

1.4.2 Apply fluency to enhance comprehension.

• Read grade-level and informational/expository text and literary/narrative text orally with accuracy, using appropriate pacing, phrasing, and expression.
• Read aloud unpracticed grade-level text with fluency in a range of 145-155+ words correct per minute.

1.4.3 Apply different reading rates to match text.

• Adjust reading rate by speeding up or slowing down based on purpose (e.g., pleasure, informational reading, task-oriented reading), text level of difficulty, form, and style.

EALR 2: The student understands the meaning of what is read.

Component 2.1 Demonstrate evidence of reading comprehension.

2.1.3 Apply comprehension monitoring strategies during and after reading: determine importance using theme, main idea, and supporting details in grade-level informational/expository text and/or literary/narrative text. W

• State both literal and/or inferred main ideas and provide supporting text-based details.
• State the theme/message and supporting details in culturally relevant literary/narrative text.
• Choose, from multiple choices, a title that best fits the selection and provide details from the text to support the choice.
• Select, from multiple choices, a sentence that best states the theme or main idea of a story, poem, or selection.
• Organize theme, main idea and supporting details into a self-created graphic organizer to enhance text comprehension.

2.1.4 Apply comprehension monitoring strategies for informational and technical materials, complex narratives, and exposition: use prior knowledge. W

• Use previous experience, knowledge of current issues, information previously learned to make connections, draw conclusions, and generalize about what is read (e.g., relate what is learned in chemistry to new learning in biology; connect the author’s perspective and/or the historical context to text).

2.1.5 Apply comprehension monitoring strategies for informational and technical materials, complex narratives, and expositions: predict and infer. W

• Make inferences based on implicit and explicit information drawn from text and provide justification for those inferences.
• Make, confirm, and revise predictions based on prior knowledge and evidence from the text (e.g., using main idea statements, predict what kind of information the author will present next).
• Select, from multiple choices, a prediction , inference, or assumption that could be made from the text.
• Organize information to support a prediction or inference in a self-created graphic organizer.

2.1.6 Apply comprehension monitoring strategies for informational and technical materials, complex narratives, and expositions: monitor for meaning, create mental images, and generate and answer questions.

• Monitor for meaning by identifying where and why comprehension was lost and use comprehension-repair strategies to regain meaning.
• Develop questions before, during, and after reading and use knowledge of questioning strategies to locate answers.
• Use mental imagery while reading.
• Organize images and information into a self-created graphic organizer to enhance text comprehension.

2.1.7 Apply comprehension monitoring strategies for informational and technical materials, complex narratives, and expositions: determine importance and summarize text. W

• Create an informational summary that includes an introductory statement, main ideas, and supporting text-based details; make connections among the key ideas from the entire text; use own words in an objective voice; is accurate to the original text; and avoids interpretation or judgment.
• Create a literary summary that includes an introduction stating the theme and/or author’s message supported by text-based evidence; use own words in an objective voice; is accurate to the original text.
• Select, from multiple choices, a sentence that best summarizes the text.
• Organize summary information for informational/expository, technical materials, and complex narratives into a self-created graphic organizer to enhance text comprehension.

Component 2.2 Understand and apply knowledge of text components to comprehend text.

2.2.1 Analyze an author’s use of time, order, and/or sequence to extend comprehension of text.

• Analyze an author’s development of time and sequence through the use of literary devices such as foreshadowing, flashbacks, dream sequences, parallel episodes and the use of traditional and/or cultural-based organizational patterns.
• Explain the use of order or steps in a process to convey meaning in an informational/expository text (e.g., scientific experiments, legislative processes, mathematical procedures, Native American talking circles and ceremonies).

2.2.2 Apply understanding of complex organizational features of printed text and electronic sources. W

• Use text features to verify, support, or clarify meaning.
• Select, from multiple choices, the purpose of a specific text feature and/or information learned from a text feature.
• Use the features of electronic information to communicate, gain information, or research a topic.

2.2.3 Understand and analyze story elements. W

• Interpret how situations, actions, and other characters influence a character’s personality and development.
• Explain how a story’s plots and subplots contribute to (or don’t advance) the conflict and resolution.
• Explain the influence of setting on mood, character, and plot.
• Explain the author’s point of view and interpret how it influences the text.
• Compare/contrast common recurring themes in books by the same or different authors.

2.2.4 Apply understanding of text organizational structures.

• Recognize and use knowledge of previously taught text organizational structures (description, comparison and contrast, sequential order, chronological order, cause and effect, order of importance, process/procedural, concept/definition, and problem/solution) to aid comprehension.
• Identify text written in episodic and generalization/principle organizational structure to find and/or organize information and comprehend text.

Component 2.3 Expand comprehension by analyzing, interpreting, and synthesizing information and ideas in literary and informational text.

2.3.1 Analyze informational/expository text and literary/narrative text for similarities and differences and cause and effect relationships. W

• Compare and contrast information from multiple sources to gain a broader understanding of a topic (e.g., compare and contrast a variety of ecosystems using text-based evidence).
• Compare and contrast how characters react to the same event using text-based evidence.
• Select, from multiple choices, a sentence that tells how two text elements are alike or different (e.g., characters, events, information/facts).
• Explain how certain actions cause certain effects (e.g., how the women’s suffrage movement changed the face of politics today or how Indian boarding schools contributed to the loss of Native American languages and culture; how the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II affected traditional Japanese family structure).

2.3.2 Analyze and evaluate informational materials for relevance in meeting a specific purpose.

• Examine information from a variety of sources, select appropriate information based on purpose, and defend selection citing evidence from text.

2.3.3 Evaluate the author’s use of literary devices to enhance comprehension. W

• Judge the effectiveness of the author’s use of literary devices and explain their use to convey meaning.
• Select, from multiple choices, a sentence from the story/poem/selection that is an example of a specific literary device.

2.3.4 Synthesize information from a variety of sources.

• Integrate information from different sources (e.g., newspaper article, biographical sketch, poem, oral records) to draw conclusions about character traits and/or author’s assumptions.

Component 2.4 Think critically and analyze author’s use of language, style, purpose, and perspective in literary and informational text.

2.4.1 Analyze informational/expository tex t and literary/narrative text to draw conclusions and develop insights. W

• Draw conclusions from grade-level text (e.g., the most important idea the author is trying to make in the story/poem/selection, what inspiration might be drawn from the story/poem/selection, who might benefit from reading the story/poem/selection).
• Select, from multiple choices, a statement that best represents the most important conclusion that may be drawn from the selection.

2.4.2 Analyze author’s purpose and evaluate an author’s style of writing to influence different audiences. W

• Identify and discuss different authors’ use of sentence structure, literary devices, and word choice to impact tone, message, and/or reader’s reaction.
• Explain and provide examples of how an author uses a wide variety of language structures to create an intended effect (e.g., words or phrases from another language, dialect, simile, and metaphor).
• Examine the author’s use of language registry (e.g., frozen, formal, consultative, casual, intimate) and how this influences meaning and different audiences.
• Select, from multiple choices, a sentence that explains why an author includes a specific technique.

2.4.3 Analyze and evaluate text for validity and accuracy. W

• Examine and critique the logic (reasoning, assumptions, and beliefs) and use of evidence (existing and missing information; primary and secondary sources) in an author’s argument or defense of a claim.

2.4.4 Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the author’s use of persuasive devices to influence an audience. W

• Examine and explain the intended effects of persuasive vocabulary (e.g., loaded words, exaggeration, emotional words, euphemisms) that the author uses to influence reader’s opinions or actions.
• Examine and explain the intended effects of propaganda techniques the author uses to influence readers’ perspectives.
• Judge the author’s effectiveness in the use of persuasive devices to influence an audience.

2.4.5 Analyze text to generalize, express insight, or respond by connecting to other texts or situations. W

• Generalize about universal themes, human nature, cultural and historical perspectives, etc., from reading multiple texts.
• Select, from multiple choices, a sentence that describes the most important idea, concept, or conclusion that can be drawn from the selection.
• Provide a response to text that expresses an insight (e.g., author’s perspective, the nature of conflict) or use text-based information to solve a problem not identified in the text (e.g., use information in an article about fitness to design an exercise routine).

2.4.6 Analyze treatment of concepts within, among, and beyond multiple texts. W

• Compare and contrast treatments of similar concepts and themes within multiple texts (e.g., how the idea of coming of age is presented in multiple texts representing a variety of cultures).
• Select, from multiple choices, a sentence that tells how two pieces of information are alike or different.

2.4.7 Analyze and evaluate the reasoning and ideas underlying an author’s beliefs and assumptions within multiple texts. W

• Examine informational/expository text and literary/narrative text to show how they reflect the heritage, traditions, and beliefs of the author.
• Compare and critique two author’s beliefs and assumptions about a single topic or issue, citing text-based evidence and decide which author presents the stronger argument.
• Make judgments about how effectively an author has supported his/her belief and/or assumptions, citing text-based evidence.
• Select, from multiple choices, a sentence that identifies the author’s opinions, assumptions, and beliefs.
• Select, from multiple choices, a sentence that describes the faulty reasoning of the author or character.

EALR 3: The student reads different materials for a variety of purposes.

Component 3.1 Read to learn new information.

3.1.1 Analyze web-based and other resource materials (including primary sources and secondary sources) for relevance in answering research questions.

• Examine resource materials to determine appropriate primary sources and secondary sources to use for investigating a question, topic, or issue (e.g., encyclopedia and other reference materials, pamphlets, book excerpts, newspaper and magazine articles, letters to an editor).

Component 3.2 Read to perform a task.

3.2.2 Apply understanding of complex information, including functional documents, to perform a task.

• Use functional documents to perform a task (e.g., read applications, legal documents, and use that information to perform everyday life functions).

Component 3.3 Read for career applications.

3.3.1 Understand and apply appropriate reading strategies for interpreting technical and non-technical documents used in job-related settings.

• Select, use, monitor, and adjust appropriate strategies for different reading purposes (e.g., skim/scan for big ideas, close reading for details, inferring information from graphs and charts).
• Use professional-level materials, including electronic information, that match career or academic interests to make decisions.
• Select and use appropriate skills for reading a variety of documents (e.g., maps, graphs, blueprints, computer manuals).

Component 3.4 Read for literary experience in a variety of genres.

3.4.2 Analyze traditional and contemporary literature written in a variety of genres.

• Respond to literature written in a variety of genres (e.g., explain why certain genres are best suited to convey a specific message or invoke a particular response from the reader).
• Analyze the characteristics and structural elements/essential attributes in a variety of poetic forms (e.g., epic, sonnet, ballad, haiku, free verse).

3.4.3 Understand and analyze recurring themes in literature.

• Identify motivations and reactions of literary characters from different cultures or historical periods when confronting similar conflicts.
• Identify and analyze recurring themes in literature across literary genres (e.g., themes of good vs. evil or heroism as expressed in plays, poetry, short stories).

3.4.4 Analyze how great literary works from a variety of cultures contribute to the understanding of self, others, and the world.

• Compare and contrast traditional, classic, and/or contemporary works of literature that deal with similar topics and problems (e.g., uses of power, family and community structures; meaning of loyalty, freedom, and responsibility).
• Relate literary works to the traditions, themes, and issues of the era they represent (e.g., the generation gap, women and children in the workforce).

EALR 4: The student sets goals and evaluates progress to improve reading.

Component 4.1 Assess reading strengths and need for improvement.

4.1.2 Evaluate reading progress and apply goal setting strategies and monitor progress toward meeting reading goals.

• Set goals for reading and develop a reading improvement plan.
• Track reading progress through the use of such tools as portfolios, learning logs, self-scoring rubrics, or strategy charts.

Component 4.2 Develop interests and share reading experiences.

4.2.1 Evaluate books and authors to share reading experiences with others.

• Discuss responses to literary experiences and/or ideas gleaned from informational/expository text with others.