Class Overview

Eighth-Grade Language Arts continues to develop the arts of reading, writing, speaking and listening so that students feel confident and competent in communication - and understand that "Language Is Power" (our class motto).  We will begin by deepening our understanding of narratives by questioning and analyzing how writers create engaging, memorable stories, and we will write a narrative of our own, using some of these skills.  Next, we will delve further into literary analysis, practicing questioning authors' choices to discover how they use language to create various narrative elements, and how those elements' interplay create impact.  This unit leads naturally to comparative analysis, where we will consider two or three texts to understand a topic more fully.  Once we have practiced looking at more than one source, we will move to our argument unit, in which we will engage with issues that can be considered from various perspectives, and we will learn to respectfully and compellingly advocate for one side while acknowledging the other.  Finally, the year - and the entire middle school LA experience - culminate in our Multi-Genre Research Project.  Students will select a topic of their choice and learn to explore various genres to express it, creating a deeply meaningful collection of pieces that showcase their wonderful ideas and skills.  Additionally, we study grammar, vocabulary and independent reading skills throughout the year.