This resource accompanies our Rethink 8th Grade ELA course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning. 

This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 8th grade ELA content.

This teacher's guide for Addie on the Inside by James Howe contains discussion questions, activities, and research assignments.

A teachers guide for All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot, including a list of vocabulary words, a set of questions to promote deeper comprehension, prompts for class discussion, and related resources post-read.

In this lesson, students will use compare/contrast and question/answer text structures to analyze how nonfiction text is structured, identify transitions that support text structures, and cite evidence to support the identification of text structures.

This project requires students to apply the use of an extended metaphor/allegory after completing a reading of Animal Farm. This resource provides reading review activities that prepare the students for the project. This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

This resource is a collection of discussion questions to supplement The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

In this lesson, students read Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar", then research the assassination of another historical figure.

What drives changes to classic myths and fables? In this lesson students evaluate the changes Disney made to the myth of "Hercules" in order to achieve their audience and purpose.

This resource is a collection of discussion questions to supplement The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver.

Students use Shakespeare's Secret, a featured title on the Teachers' Choices Booklist (International Reading Association, 2006), as a springboard to exploration of the controversy regarding the authorship Shakespeare's works. The novel makes liberal use of the historical details surrounding William Shakespeare's life, and exposes students to the possibility raised by some theorists that Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, was the true author of the works that have long been attributed to the Bard. Students explore the historical references in the novel and generate questions for further research. As they research these questions on suggested websites, they organize their findings with the help of the ReadWriteThink Notetaker. Then they work in small groups to create and present short dramatic skits that creatively connect the novel with the historical facts.

A teachers guide for Betsey Brown by Ntozake Shange, including chapter-specific questions for increased comprehension, questions for class discussion, and suggestions for further study.

This is a collection of discussion questions and activities to supplement The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin Jr.

This teacher's guide for The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson with Marilyn J. Harran and Elisabeth B. Leyson contains discussion questions and activities for reading comprehension, learning about craft and structure, integrating information, and writing practice.

In “Broken Chain,” Alfonso, a seventh grader, dislikes his appearance. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

Students examine books, selected from the American Library Association Challenged/Banned Books list, and write persuasive pieces expressing their views about what should be done with the books at their school.

This language arts lesson offers a hands-on opportunity for students to understand characterization in literature and to connect historical and contemporary culture. Through research and study of Shakespearean England, student pairs get to know about the life of a character in the book Shakespeare Stealer. Students collect props and clues to create a “life box” and a poem about their character. Using props adds a visual and physical dimension to their learning while using words engages mental facilities, making this a whole brain activity. Students must communicate their clues and interpret others clues to reveal character’s identities.

This three week lesson provides instruction in the basic elements of literature by reading Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Students are also provided the opportunity to understand how their choices can change their attitudes and behavior through a reading of the novel and a series of writing assignments.

Students are introduced to character, plot development, point of view, and tone through the use of comic strips. Students will identify these four attributes in comic strips and present their findings to the class.

The main character is unhappy about her family’s move to Cincinnati and spends most of her time in her room, miserable. Then one day, she goes grocery shopping for her parents and falls in love with the bag boy. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.