New Mexico State Standards for Language Arts: Grade 8

NM.I: Reading and Listening for Comprehension. Students will apply strategies and skills to comprehend information that is read, heard, and viewed.

I-A: Listen to, read, react to, and interpret information

I-A:1. Narrate a personal account that:

I-A:1.a. establishes a point of view and sharpens focus;

I-A:1.b. uses remembered feelings;

I-A:1.c. selects details that best illuminate the topic; and

I-A:1.d. connects events to self and society.

I-A:2. Interact in group activities and/or seminars to:

I-A:2.a. share personal reactions to questions raised;

I-A:2.b. give reasons and cite examples from texts to support opinions;

I-A:2.c. clarify, illustrate, or expand on a response; and

I-A:2.d. ask classmates for similar expansion.

I-A:3. From oral selections, compare, contrast, and evaluate for details, main ideas, themes, actions, and main character.

I-B: Gather and use information for research and other purposes

I-B:1. Use information for specific tasks by:

I-B:1.a. analyzing and evaluating information to extend ideas;

I-B:1.b. analyzing and evaluating themes and central ideas in relation to personal and societal issues; and

I-B:1.c. creating a research product in both written and presentation form.

I-B:2. Use images, videos, and visual representations as informational research tools.

I-C: Apply critical thinking skills to analyze information

I-C:1. Create a research product in both written and presentation form by:

I-C:1.a. determining purpose, audience, and context;

I-C:1.b. choosing a relevant topic;

I-C:1.c. selecting a presentation format (e.g., video, essay, interactive technology);

I-C:1.d. evaluating information for extraneous detail, inconsistencies, relevant facts, and organization;

I-C:1.e. researching and organizing information to achieve purpose using notes and memory aides to structure information;

I-C:1.f. supporting ideas with examples, definitions, analogies, and direct references to primary and secondary sources;

I-C:1.g. citing sources used; and

I-C:1.h. employing graphics, charts, diagrams, and graphs to enhance communication.

I-C:2. Analyze the inferences and conclusions from fictional and non-fictional contexts, events, characters, settings, and themes.

I-D: Demonstrate competence in the skills and strategies of the reading process

I-D:1. Analyze the purpose of the author or creator and the impact of that purpose by evaluating biases, messages, and underlying assumptions of a variety of texts and media.

I-D:2. Analyze and evaluate themes and central ideas in literary and other texts in relation to personal and societal issues.

I-D:3. Recognize when information presented in a text is new knowledge and describe how it can be used.

I-D:4. Use the various parts of a text to locate specific information (index, table of contents, glossary)

I-D:5. Identify the topic sentence in a reading selection.

I-D:6. Independently apply the reading process and strategies to a variety of literary and informational texts and use the defining features and structures of those works to understand main elements, perspective, and style.

NM.II: Writing and Speaking for Expression. Students will communicate effectively through speaking and writing.

II-A: Use speaking as an interpersonal communication tool

II-A:1. Present similar content for various purposes and to different audiences showing appropriate changes in delivery.

II-A:2. Create and present arguments that persuade by:

II-A:2.a. engaging the audience by establishing a context, creating a persona, and developing interest;

II-A:2.b. developing an idea that makes a clear and informed conclusion;

II-A:2.c. arranging details, reasons, and examples persuasively; and

II-A:2.d. anticipating and addressing reader/listener concerns and counter-arguments.

II-A:3. Identify formal and informal speaking contexts that are reflected in slang, jargon, and different language styles.

II-B: Apply grammatical and language conventions to communicate

II-B:1. Use correct and varied sentence types and sentence openings.

II-B:2. Identify and use parallelism to present ideas in a series.

II-B:3. Juxtapose items for emphasis.

II-B:4. Use subordination, coordination, apposition, and other devices to indicate the relationship between ideas.

II-B:5. Evaluate the use of dialects in standard and non-standard English.

II-B:6. Prepare an outline based upon a chosen pattern of organization to include an introduction; transitions, previews, summaries; a logically developed body; and an effective conclusion.

II-B:7. Revise writing for word choice, appropriate organization, consistent point of view, and transitions between paragraphs, passages and ideas.

II-C: Demonstrate competence in the skills and strategies of the writing process

II-C:1. Describe the significance of the subject to the author.

II-C:2. Demonstrate competence in writing by using specific strategies (e.g., tension, suspense, eliminating extraneous details, inconsistencies).

II-C:3. Create written arguments to persuade by:

II-C:3.a. establishing context;

II-C:3.b. creating a persona;

II-C:3.c. developing interest;

II-C:3.d. developing a controlling idea that makes a clear and knowledgeable judgment;

II-C:3.e. arranging details, reasons, and examples effectively; and

II-C:3.f. anticipating and addressing reader/listener concerns.

NM.III: Literature and Media. Students will use literature and media to develop an understanding of people, societies, and the self.

III-A: Use language, literature, and media to understand various social and cultural perspectives

III-A:1. Demonstrate familiarity with selected:

III-A:1.a. classic literature;

III-A:1.b. mythology;

III-A:1.c. classic fiction and non-fiction; and

III-A:1.d. drama.

III-A:2. Use literature and media to reflect on learning experiences by:

III-A:2.a. evaluating personal perspectives and how they are influenced by society, cultural differences, and historical issues;

III-A:2.b. appraising learning as change in perspective; and

III-A:2.c. evaluating personal circumstances and background that shape interaction with literature and media.

III-A:3. Analyze a work of literature showing how it reflects the heritage, traditions, attitudes, and beliefs of its author.

III-B: Identify ideas and make connections among literary works

III-B:1. Identify conflict, rising action, and resolution of conflict in a literary work.

III-B:2. Describe how tone and meaning is conveyed in poetry and expository writing through word choice, figurative language, sentence structure, line length, punctuation, rhythm, repetition, and rhyme.

III-B:3. Identify significant literary devices (e.g., metaphor, symbolism, dialect, irony) to understand the author's meaning and perspective.

III-B:4. Identify the defining characteristics of classic literature and themes.