Grade 8 ELA Minnesota standards Standards

Listening, Speaking, Viewing and Exchanging Ideas

Writing

Reading

Grade 8

Exchange ideas in discussion and collaboration, as listener, speaker and participant, A) including the voices and perspectives of Dakota and Anishinaabe people as well other perspectives, identities and cultures like and unlike their own, and B) expressing one's own ideas, stories and experiences.

Exchange ideas through storytelling, discussion and collaboration, expressing ideas, intentionally considering the perspectives of Dakota and Anishinaabe people as well as other perspectives.

Elaborate on others' ideas, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views based on the evidence presented.

Use tools to collaborate with others both synchronously and asynchronously.

Work toward a shared goal.

Ask questions that connect the ideas of several speakers and respond to questions and comments with relevant evidence, observations and ideas, demonstrating preparation for the discussion.

Adapt speech, writing or communications by utilizing constructive feedback from self and others.

Communicate with others, applying knowledge of vocabulary, language, structure and features of spoken language, considering audience and context.

Use vocabulary, language, structure and features of spoken language to establish personal voice, style and tone, and identify impact in communicating with others, considering audience and context.

Thoughtfully and safely access, analyze, and create written, oral and digital content applicable to task, purpose, audience and discipline.

Communicate claims and findings, emphasizing important points in a focused, coherent manner with relevant evidence, valid reasoning and carefully selected details, in a variety of presentation styles, following ethical and safe communication practices.

Create and share, individually or in a collaborative group, a persuasive multi-media work or digital communication, choosing tools to meet the task, purpose and audience, demonstrating understanding of digital footprint.

Read and comprehend independently A) both self- selected and teacher-directed texts, B) complex literary and informational texts, and C) from multiple sources representing perspectives and identities like and unlike their own from dominant, non-dominant and marginalized social groups.

Read independently and self-monitor understanding of grade-level text; independently annotate learning, applying strategies when meaning breaks down, including, but not limited to, consulting resources for more information, with guidance and support.

At grade 8 text complexity, select and proficiently read and comprehend texts that address academic tasks.

Locate, select and read texts that address personal identity and intersectionality, utilizing various search methods.

Read and comprehend independently both self-selected and teacher-directed complex literary and informational texts representing perspectives of historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe people.

Choose and read texts that address the purpose (e.g., personal interest, enjoyment, academic tasks), representing perspectives and identities of historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe people.

Read critically to comprehend, interpret and analyze themes and central ideas in complex literary and informational texts.

Cite textual evidence that most strongly supports conclusions of what a text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including analysis of what characters or individuals are saying in the text (dialogue and quotations); objectively summarize the text.

Determine multiple themes or central ideas of a single text and analyze its development over the course of the text.

Analyze the interactions or dialogue between complex characters and events to build plot or reveal aspects of a character in a literary text.

Analyze how a text makes connections between individuals, events or concepts in informational text.

Apply knowledge of text structure to understand and evaluate a wide variety of complex literary and informational texts.

Evaluate the differing structures, including narrative point of view, of two or more literary texts with similar themes or topics and how the structures contribute to their meaning and style (e.g., poetry/short story, drama/poem).

Analyze the informational text structure (including, but not limited to, cause/effect, problem/solution and proposition/support), highlighting the role that a particular sentence or paragraph has in developing and refining a key concept.

Compare and contrast the ideas/information conveyed through illustrations, graphics and other audiovisual elements in a wide variety of texts, based on accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance.

Analyze influences on content, meaning and style of text including fact and fiction, time period, and author perspective and identity, including Dakota and Anishinaabe perspective, in complex literary and informational texts.

Analyze how an author, including Dakota and Anishinaabe authors, develops the point of view and identity of the character to enrich a text.

Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events or character types from myths and traditional stories, including stories, poems and historical novels; describe how the material is rendered new.

Analyze a case in which two or more texts, including one text by or about Dakota and Anishinaabe people or other diverse cultures, provide conflicting information on the same topic, and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation.

Evaluate arguments and specific claims from complex informational texts.

Evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant/irrelevant and sufficient.

Examine the impact of vocabulary, including words and phrases, on content, style and meaning of complex literary and informational texts.

Analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone of literary text, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

Analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone applied to a variety of academic, technical and domain-specific words and phrases in informational text.

Access and gather information from a variety of sources, representing diverse perspectives, and assessing relevancy and credibility of information.

Access information from a wide variety of sources, on both sides of an issue or from multiple perspectives.

Evaluate perspective, bias, credibility, relevancy and sufficiency of sources related to task and purpose (e.g., purpose/motive of author or source).

Demonstrate knowledge of oral language, orthography, grammar and mechanics to express ideas in writing.

Consistently write and edit work for correct punctuation, spelling, capitalization and grammar.

No benchmark at this grade level.

Use nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and pronouns, placing clauses and phrases within sentences correctly, authentically in writing, building on skills from previous years.

Write routinely for various purposes and disciplines, representing one's own personal perspective, identity and voice.

Write routinely for a range of tasks (e.g., personal interest, enjoyment, academic tasks), purposes and audiences, choosing topics and format, including visual elements (e.g., illustrations, charts, tables and audio-visual elements) when applicable.

Write to reflect how personal perspective and identity have developed in relation to social or cultural groups.

Develop and strengthen writing by using a writing process including planning, drafting, revising, editing and publishing.

Plan and draft multiple pieces; self-select pieces to take through the writing process and methods for revision, editing and publishing.

Use words, phrases and sentence structures to express ideas precisely and concisely, recognizing and eliminating wordiness and redundancy.

Write arguments to support claims and to persuade in an analysis of topics or texts, using valid reasoning and evidence while considering audience.

Write to argue, clarifying the relationship among claims and evidence in both argument and counter-argument, building on skills from previous years.

Write to persuade, clarifying the relationship between opinions and supporting facts, building on skills from previous years.

Write informative or explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through use of informational and literary text, considering audience.

Write to inform or explain, integrating factual information to convey understanding about a topic, incorporating correctly-cited summary, paraphrase, and quotation, and using precise, domain-specific vocabulary and utilizing organization strategies common in a variety of text structures, building on skills from previous years.

Write to respond to a literary text, demonstrating understanding of style, mood and tone (e.g., writing personal reactions, analysis, and interpretation of text).

Write narratives, poetry and other creative texts with details and effective technique to express ideas.

Write to create, applying advanced literary techniques including complicated plots, pacing, rhythm and rhyme to develop mood and tone in various literary forms.

Craft dialogue to match character or narrator perspective and context, and use structure appropriate to chosen style and tone, in written narratives, poetry or other creative text.

Engage in inquiry-based learning and research processes to create texts and presentations for a variety of purposes and audiences.

Formulate self-generated questions that guide inquiry, generating additional questions for further research and investigation.

Plan and conduct independent research, synthesizing information from a wide variety of sources, and share findings in writing (e.g., sources of different formats and/or perspectives).

Support writing with evidence from sources, correctly citing those sources, and demonstrating an understanding of the rights and obligations of using intellectual property.

Use and cite a wide variety of print and digital sources, quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing, avoiding plagiarism.