ELA Unit-at-a-Glance
Grade 8, Quarter 4, 3-5 Weeks
What Makes a Hero?
ModuleSequence / Skills / Resources / Assessment / Instructional
Strategies
1. What Makes a Hero? Joseph Campbell’s Overview of a Hero and the Hero’s Journey
This module includes attachments. / Student will be able to:
determine the central ideas of a text on the hero’s journey and determine its development over the course of the text. (8.RI.2)
delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced. (8.RI.8) / Instruction:
Journal Prompt #1
Electronic Resources and Alternative Media:
Reading from Joseph Campbell’s A Hero with A Thousand Faces
The Hero’s Journey(PPT)
What Makes A Hero
/ Formative Assessments:
Small group and whole class participation
Cornell Notes
Hero’s Journey Organizer
Exit Ticket / Reflective writing
Elbow Partners or
Pair-Share
Whole class discussion
Cornell Note strategies
Small group practice
Independent practice: complete “hero’s journey” organizer
2. Can I be a Hero?
This module includes attachments. / Students will:
delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced. (8.RI.8)
gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources to write their paragraphs. (8.W.8) / Instruction:
Journal Prompt #2
Current print articles on local and national heroes with checklist
Argumentative Paragraph using ethos, pathos and logos and MLA citations:consult Module 2 attachments
Additional Hero’s Journey in Module 2 attachments / Formative Assessment:
Completed Drafts
Summative Assessment:
Final argumentative writing with citations / Reflective writing
Whole class discussion
Individual practice on articles and Venn Diagram
Pair-share or small group collaboration writing paragraphs
3. The Influence of the Media on What We Know and Remember
This module includes attachments. / Student will be able to:
delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced. (8.RI.8)
gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources to write their paragraphs. (8.W.8)
8.W.9Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
b. Apply grade 8 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g., "Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced").
8.SL.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
- Interpret figures of speech (e.g. verbal irony, puns) in context.
- Use the relationship between particular words to better understand each of the words.
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
Instruction:
Journal Prompt #3
Jigsaw Materials for Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Vocabulary Logs or Frayer Models
Cornell Notes, T-Chart, Venn Diagram
Venn Diagram
Persuasive Speaking/Writing Organizers
Rough drafts and final draft group composition
Citation website from Module 2
Electronic Resources and Alternative Media:
Rosa Parks Didn’t Act Alone article
Rosa Parks / Formative Assessments:
Cornell Notes
Compare/Contrast: Venn diagram on Parks and Colvin
Rough Draft organizers
Vocabulary Models
Summative Assessment:
Submit persuasive final drafts defending, refuting or clarifying decisions made by NAACP and other black leaders. / Vocabulary Pair-Share
Jigsaw Strategy: With Claudette’s story:
Individual work: Venn diagram, jigsaw notes, persuasive draft
Pair-Share or Tablemates: Peer edit
Whole class debate defending, refuting, clarifying decisions and media coverage
Whole class discussion answering essential questions.
4. Becoming the Hero Because Events Call You
This module includes attachments. / Student will be able to:
8.L.3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
Use verbs in the active and passive voice and in the conditional and subjunctive mood to achieve particular effects (e.g., emphasizing the actor or the action; expressing uncertainty or describing a state contrary to fact). / Instruction:
Journal Prompt #4 and #5
Copies of three poems: The Road Not Taken, Invictus, and I Like to Think of Harriet Tubman
Student generated vocabulary using Frayer Vocabulary Organizers
Figurative Language handout
with poetic devices
Organizer for poems
Talking to the Text Annotation Guide
Connections handout / Formative Assessments:
The Umbrella Organizer: making thematic connections
Vocabulary Models
Reflective writing prompts
Guiding questions for the poems
Connections / Vocabulary Pair-Share
Whole class discussion and participation
Guided practice on Talking to the Text annotation
Self-reflection journaling
5. Claudette Colvin and The Unsung Hero Project
This module includes attachments. / Student will be able to:
delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced. (8.RI.8)
write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. (8.W.1)
conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources.(8.W.7)
8.L.3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
Use verbs in the active and passive voice and in the conditional and subjunctive mood to achieve particular effects (e.g., emphasizing the actor or the action; expressing uncertainty or describing a state contrary to fact). / Instruction:
Journal Prompt #6
Research Project Overview: provided by instructor
Unsung/Sung Heroes of Diverse Times and Places: compilation by instructor (students may add to this list)
Citation Handout from Module 2
Possible research sites: list provided by instructor / Formative Assessments:
Practice handout on Works Cited page
and In-Text Citations
Completed rubrics for presentations of research
Summative Assessment:
Individual research paper, MLA, works cited page
Prezi, PowerPoint, 3-sided Poster
Presentation
Journal Prompts #1-6 / Whole class instruction and discussion
Tablemates assist in construction of practice citation handout, whole class share out and correction at Smart Board.
Pair – Share when looking over project directions
Modeling Presentation
6. Heroic Stories from Around the World
This module includes attachments. / Student will be able to:
determine the central ideas of a text on the hero’s journey and determine its development over the course of the text. (8.RI.2)
delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced. (8.RI.8)
write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. (8.W.1) / Instruction:
Understanding Mental Models Handout see Module 6 attachment
Copies of current heroic stories around the world (will vary).
RAFT organizer
Electronic Resources and Alternative Media:
Systems Thinking Habits Overview
Understanding Mental Models Handout see Module 6 attachment
Copies of current heroic stories around the world (will vary).
RAFT organizer / Formative Assessment
Hero analysis using Systems Thinking Habits
Summative Assessment
RAFT Final Copy / Whole class instruction and discussion
Tablemate discussion on Habits and Mental Models
Pair Share on RAFT
Individual practice
Whole class sharing on stories
ELA, Office of Curriculum Development ©
*These lesson modules are not an exhaustive list of resources and may be used by teachers in whatever way they choose to meet the needs of their students and meet the target standards per quarter. Page 1 of 6