English 8 and English 8+

Content/Topics/Learning Goals

Subject to Pacing and Schedules

1st Quarter- 

Perspectives & Narrative Unit

• Texts - 

  • Excerpts from Going Solo by Roald Dahl

  • Short excerpt from The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

  • Short excerpt from The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

  • Short excerpt from The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

  • Short excerpt from The Princess Bride by William Goldman

  • Short excerpt from The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

  • "Fish Cheeks" by Amy Tan

  • "My Mother's Garden" by Kaitlyn Greenidge

• Skills and Content:

  • Topic & Theme: The craft of narrative

  • Reading: Notice the impact of author's craft and structure

  • Writing: Write a narrative about a childhood memory

  • Activity Highlights: Write personal narratives, workshop with peers, watch video author interviews

  • Text Features: WWII memoir and contemporary coming-of-age 1st person narratives

Science & Science Fiction Unit

• Core text -Gris Grimly's Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Gris Grimly

• Skills and Content:

  • Topic & Theme: Creators vs. creations

  • Reading: Apply abstract concepts to an author’s portrayal of a character

  • Writing: Argue opposing claims about a character and resolve the contradiction

  • Activity Highlights: Write from a character's perspective, debate making creature a partner

  • Text Features: Gothic text in graphic form, archaic language, Biblical and mythological allusions

2nd Quarter- 

Continue Science & Science Fiction Unit

Novel Study Unit

• Core text - And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Unit

• Core text - Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

• Skills and Content:

  • Topic & Theme: Introduction to Shakespearean themes and language

  • Reading: Connect characters’ development to a conceptual framework

  • Writing: Choose between contradictory positions and argue with evidence

  • Activity Highlights: Perform scenes from the play, compare filmed performances to text

  • Text Features: Drama with Elizabethan language, inverted syntax, extensive figurative language

3rd Quarter- 

Liberty & Equality Unit

• Core text - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass

• Skills and Content:

  • Topic & Theme: The meaning of "all men are created equal"

  • Reading: Evaluate the argument and specific claims in a narrative text

  • Writing: Analyze how authors use language to make a case for liberty and equality

  • Activity Highlights: Emancipation Quest, watch dramatic readings, deliver abolitionist speech

  • Text Features: 19th century language and syntax, complex rhetorical styles

Holocaust: Memory & Meaning Unit

• Core text - Holocaust: Memory & Meaning Anthology

  • Excerpts from Shores Beyond Shores by Irene Butter

  • Excerpts from Child of Hitler, Maus, and Night

• Skills and Content:

  • Topic & Theme: Factors that led to the Holocaust, and the response

  • Reading: Synthesize multiple accounts to develop understanding and empathy

  • Writing: Analyze the impact of propaganda and explain the response to unfolding events

  • Activity Highlights: Image analysis, watch video with survivor, discuss importance of remembering

  • Text Features: Poems, articles, memoirs, graphic novel, portrayals of sensitive content

4th Quarter -  

Continue Holocaust: Memory & Meaning Unit 

Novel Study Unit

• Core text - The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson - ELA 8

• Core text - The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - ELA 8+