Course Details

Grade 8 ELA: "High School Preparation" Course Description

This course is focused on refining the advanced literacy skills needed for success in high school and beyond. Students will learn to analyze texts for subtle meanings, evaluate the strength and validity of an author's argument, and understand how a single word choice can impact the entire tone of a piece. Writing assignments will challenge students to produce sophisticated analyses and well-researched arguments, preparing them to communicate their ideas with clarity, precision, and power.

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What We'll Explore:

Evaluating the Strongest Evidence: We'll go beyond just finding evidence to deciding which piece is the most powerful. For example: "If you're arguing that a character is brave, which is stronger evidence: a sentence where they say they're brave, or a description of them taking a brave action?"

Analyzing Word Choice and Tone: We'll look at how authors use specific words to create a mood. For example, we'll compare how a spooky story uses short, sharp sentences and words like "shadow" and "crept," while a joyful story uses longer, flowing sentences and brighter vocabulary.

Connecting Modern Stories to Traditional Themes: We'll explore how new stories are often built on old ideas. For example: "How does the story of a modern superhero like Superman use the same themes and character archetypes found in ancient myths about heroes like Hercules?"

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Learning Outcomes

• Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis and inferences.
• Analyze how an author's choice of structure and word choice contributes to meaning and tone.
• Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing relevance and soundness.
• Analyze how modern fiction draws on themes, patterns, or character types from myths and traditional stories.
• Write strong arguments and informative texts using relevant evidence, clear reasoning, and formal style.