Grade 8
Unit 1
Making Our Reading Visible and
Developing Sustainable Adult Reading Habits
Section / Page NumberUnit Essential Questions / 2
Unit Goals and Sub Goals (Task Analysis) / 2-3
Unit Language / 4-5
Unit Assessments Checklist / 6-7
Unit Assessment Rubric / 8-11
Sample Unit Calendar / 12-13
Appendix A: Mini-lesson Correlation Chart / 14-15
Appendix B: Anchor Charts / 16
Works Cited / 17
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8th Grade Unit 1
Grade 8Content Unit 1 / Dates of Unit:
Unit Title: / Making Our Reading Visible and Developing Sustainable Adult Reading Habits
Stage 1 / Identify Desired Results
Standards:
(Alpha-numeric listing of standards incorporated in the unit) / Assessed:
8.RL.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
Supporting Standards:
8.RL.1: Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
8.RL.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
8.RL.10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of grades 6–8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
8.RI.1: Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Essential Questions: / What does it mean to be a life-long independent reader? / How does literacy help people to actively participate in the world?
Goals: / SWBAT track and analyze their reading habits in order to understand themselves as readers and improve their reading. / SWBAT analyze texts using various skills. / SWBAT write in response to their reading. / SWBAT actively participate in text discussions.
Learning Targets / I can produce artifacts to keep statistics on my reading habits. / I can determine what details are important (affect meaning and plot) in a text. / I can utilize quick responses to text (margin notes, Post-Its, etc.) to track my thinking as I read to aid my comprehension or prepare to talk/write about my reading. / I can select and communicate interesting elements or excerpts of text to pique the interest of a peer.
I can use my artifacts to investigate and analyze my reading habits and/or patterns. / I can make connections between my text and a familiar community text. / I can use long writing to focus my retelling for a specific objective. / I can come to my discussions prepared and ready to share.
I can independently set personal goals for improving my reading. / I can compare written texts to audio and/or visual versions. / I can share my text analyses in pairs or small groups.
I can cite textual evidence that most strongly supports my analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
I candetermine a theme or central idea of a text.
Stage 2 / Determine Assessment Evidence
Academic Language (What language will students need to sound like experts?)
Academic Language Function(s):
Expressing and Supporting Opinions
Retelling and relating past events / Academic Language Stems:
Easy for Beginners
- I think…because…
- I believe that …. because…
- I feel that… because…
- First, the ___ (verb)…
- Next, the ___ (verb)…
- Then, the ___ (verb)…
- Finally, the ___ (verb)…
- In my opinion, …based on …
- Based on…, I believe…
- I inferred that…, due to the fact that…
- I consider… because…
- In the beginning…(verb)…, but by the end…
- After that, …
- Later on, …
- After, …
- By the end of …, we see that ____ has become…
- According to …, therefore I opine that …
- Upon reflection, I am confident that …
- Due to …, one might suspect that …
- Initially, …; however, by the end …
- Following the …, … changes in that …
- During the course of …, we see that …
- Throughout …, one can see …
- In conclusion, …
Non-academic Vocabulary:
- habit
- prepare
- pique
- agency
- stamina
- artifact
- track
- statistic
- analyze/analysis
- cite/citation
- explicit/implicit
- infer/inferences
- connection
- excerpt/passage
- margin
- evidence
- strategy
- pattern
- setting
- character
- conflict
- theme
- plot
- elements
- community text
- fact v. opinion
- visualize
- literacy
- context
- elaborate
- investigate
- reflect/reflection
- meaning
- genre
- author
Assessment Tools: /
- Goals Rubric
- Assessment Checklist
Unit of Study Assessment Checklist
Student Name / I can produce artifacts to keep statistics on my reading habits. / I can use my artifacts to investigate and analyze my reading habits and/or patterns. / I can independently set personal goals for improving my reading. / I can determine what details are important (affect meaning and plot) in a text. / I can make connections between my text and a familiar community text. / I can compare written texts to audio and/or visual versions. / I can cite textual evidence that most strongly supports my analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. / NotesUnit of Study Assessment Checklist
Student Name / I candetermine a theme or central idea of a text. / I can utilize quick responses to text (margin notes, Post-Its, etc.) to track my thinking as I read to aid my comprehension or prepare to talk/write about my reading. / I can use long writing to focus my retelling for a specific objective. / I can select and communicate interesting elements or excerpts of text to pique the interest of a peer. / I can come to my discussions prepared and ready to share. / I can share mytext analyses in pairs or small groups. / NotesUnit of Study Assessment Rubric
Unit #1 - Making Our Reading Visible and Developing Sustainable Adult Reading Habits
Learning Target / Mastery / Proficient / Developing / BeginningI can produce artifacts to keep statistics on my reading habits. / I can produce an artifact (reading log, calendar) to consistently track details about my reading statistics, dependent on my own learning objectives. / I can produce an artifact (reading log or calendar) to consistently track details about my reading statistics. / I can fill in an artifact (reading log or calendar) to track details about my reading statistics when provided time. / I can explain the use of tracking details about my reading.
I can use my artifacts to investigate and analyze my reading habits and/or patterns. / I can use an artifact (reading log, calendar) to investigate my reading, as well as recognize and evaluate interests, patterns, and habits regarding my reading. / I can use an artifact (reading log or calendar) to investigate my reading, as well as recognize interests, patterns, and habits regarding my reading. / I can use an artifact (reading log or calendar) to answer questions about reading interests, patterns, and habits. / I can use an artifact (reading log or calendar) to answer questions about reading interests, patterns, and habits with teacher support.
I can independently set personal goals for improving my reading. / I can set challenging personal goals for the purpose of improving my own reading. / I can set personal goals for improving my reading. / I can set personal goals for improving my reading with occasional teacher or peer input. / I can set personal goals with the assistance of a teacher or peer.
I can utilize quick responses to text (margin notes, Post-Its, etc.) to track my thinking as I read to aid my comprehension or prepare to talk/write about my reading. / I use a variety of strategies for quick responses to text to track my thinking as I read, to aid my self-reflection or to prepare myself to discuss about my reading. / I can use a limited number of strategies for quick responses to text to track my thinking as I read, aid my comprehension and to prepare to discuss about my reading. / I can use teacher-designated strategies for quick responses to text to prepare to talk/write about reading. / I can use teacher-designated strategies, with prompting, for quick responses to text to prepare to talk/write about my reading.
I can use longer written responses (reflection, journal entry, etc.) to focus my retelling for a specific objective (character development, plot change, etc.) / I can use a variety of longer written responses to text to focus my retelling for a specific objective. / I can use longer written responses to text to focus my retelling for a specific objective. / I can use teacher-designated longer written responses to text to focus my retelling for a specific objective. / With prompting, I can produce longer written responses to text to retell for a specific objective.
Learning Target
Discussing Text / Mastery / Proficient / Developing / Beginning
I can select and communicate interesting elements or excerpts of text to pique the interest of a peer. / I can select and communicate interesting elements or excerpts of text that match the interests of a targeted group of peers and explain my rationale. / I can select and communicate interesting elements or excerpts of text to pique the interest of a peer. / I can select and share a limited number of interesting excerpts from a text to pique the interest of a peer. / I can select and share interesting many excerpts from a text that I think would pique the interest of a peer.
I can come to my text discussions prepared and ready to share. / I can be prepared to share multiple ideas about my text in a discussion, elaborate upon these ideas, as well as spontaneously respond to others. / I can be prepared to share multiple ideas about my text in a discussion. / I can prepare at least one idea to share about my text in a discussion. / When prompted, I can prepare one idea to share about my text in a discussion.
I can share my thinking about my text analyses in pairs or small groups. / I can share multiple analyses of the text in an unstructured setting of pairs or small groups and be able to support them using a variety of textual evidence. / In a structured setting of pairs or small groups, I can share an analysis of the text and my evidence to support it. / In pairs, I can share my thinking about my text and my evidence to support it. / With my teacher, I can share my thinking about a text and my evidence to support my thinking,
Mastery / Proficient / Developing / Beginning
I can determine what details affect plot or theme/central idea in a text. / I can determine the most important details in a text with reason and support and explain how they affect plot or theme/central idea in a text. / I can point out and explain at least one key concept, idea or theme as important to understand the overall meaning of a text. / I can use text features to determine what is important, and I can categorize some parts of the text as more important than others. / I can point out parts in a text that I think might be important.
I can make connections between my text and a familiar community text. / I can make specific and relevant connections in conversation between a “shared or community text” and my text comparing character, setting, conflict, and themes and explain the relevance of this connection (on my own understanding). / I can make specific and relevant connections in conversation between a “shared or community text” and text, comparing character, setting, conflict, and themes. / I can make connections between a “shared or community text” and text, in conversation, comparing character, setting, conflict, and themes. / I can make generic/obvious connections between a “shared or community text” and text.
I can compare written texts to audio and/or visual versions. / I can identify similarities and differences between a text and its audio/visual version and evaluate how the author/director’s decisions affect the various elements of the story. / I can identify similarities and differences between a text and its audio/visual version and explain how these impact the story. / I can identify similarities and differences between a text and its audio/visual version. / I can use a graphic organizer to categorize similarities between a text and its audio and/or visual version.
I can cite textual evidence that most strongly supports my analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. / I can make a claim and cite relevant textual evidence that strongly supports my analysis of what the text says explicitly (as well as inferences drawn from the text). / I can make a claim and cite relevant textual evidence that supports my analysis of what the text says explicitly (as well as inferences drawn from the text). / I can make a claim about a text says. / I give my opinion about what a text says.
Stage 3 / Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction
SAMPLE UNIT CALENDAR (Disclaimer – Copy Universal Language. We intend for this unit to be the time when we set up the foundations that we will use for the entire year, and many of these targets repeat in order to support that foundation. However, you may need to repeat these targets more often as needed.)
Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday1 | Page
8th Grade Unit 1
Appendix A: Supporting Mini-lesson Correlation Chart
Teaching Point / Reference to Minilessons- I can choose and utilize appropriate strategies and/or resources to aid comprehension when given challenging text.
Taking Charge of our Reading Lives and Becoming Active Learners [NP3](pg. 64-68)[NP4]
- I can produce artifacts to keep statistics on my reading habits.
- I can use my artifacts to investigate and analyze my reading habits and/or patterns.
Getting Better One Step at a Time-Logs and Goals (pg. 12-18)
Using the Reading Log as an Artifact to Help Us Reflect On and Improve Our Reading (pg. 81-86)
- I can independently set personal goals for improving my reading.
- I can determine what details are important (affect meaning and plot) in a text.
Imagining the Scenes in Our Stories (pg. 100-105)
- I can make connections between my text and a familiar community text.
- I can compare written texts to audio and/or visual versions.
Talking about More than One Book at a Time – The Art of the Allusion (pg. 128-131) FOUND ON CD ROM ONLY.
- I can cite textual evidence that most strongly supports my analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
- I candetermine a theme or central idea of a text.
Reading Between the Lines and Coauthoring the Text (pg. 92-99)
- I can utilize quick responses to text (margin notes, Post-Its, etc.) to track my thinking as I read to aid my comprehension or prepare to talk/write about my reading.
Making purposeful Choices About Our Methods for Retelling (pg. 87-91)
- I can use long writing to focus my retelling for a specific objective.
Writing Short and Long Responses to Books (pg. 128-131) FOUND ON CD ROM ONLY.
- I can select and communicate interesting elements or excerpts of text to pique the interest of a peer.
Talking About Books with Passion and Insight (pg. 132-135) FOUND ON CD ROM ONLY.
- I can come to my discussions prepared and ready to share.
- I can share my text analyses in pairs or small groups.
Building a Reading Life Section XV (pg. 18-19) FOUND ON CD ROM ONLY.
Appendix B: Anchor Charts
Works Cited
Calkins, L. (2010). Units of Study for Teaching Reading. In M. Ehrenworth, H. Atif Khan, & J. Mooney, Constructing Curriculum: Alternate Units of Study. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Calkins, L. (2019). Units of Study for Teaching Reading Grades 3-5. In H. Atif Khan, Construcing Curriculum: Alternate Units of Study CD ROM (pp. 128-150). Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Gallagher, K. (2003). Reading Reasons: Motivational Mini-Lessons for Middle and High School. Portland: Stenhouse Publishers.
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8th Grade Unit 1
[NP1]This is the boxed set title.
[NP2]This is the book title, within the boxed set.
[NP3]This is the chapter title, within the book, within the boxed set.
[NP4]Page numbers for the chapter.