Mr-Skipper | English 8

English 8

To access the online textbook, go to Class Link, search for 'textbooks,' click the two links and there you go.

Unit 1: What attracts us to the mysterious? (15 class days)

August 7 - September 19

Plot Outline

Elements of Fiction

Flashbacks
Linear and parallel plot
Subplots
Irony
Inciting incident
Foreshadowing
Suspense
Motivation
Theme
Central message

Parts of Speech, Sub/Verb Agreement, Pronoun Agreement, Verb Tenses

Types of Sentences

Short Constructed Responses

Extended Constructed Responses

The Tell-Tale Heart - a short story by Edgar Allan Poe.

How do we know when a narrator is reliable? In Edgar Allan Poe’s classic short story “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the central mystery about the main character concerns his sanity in the midst of a terrible murder confession. Will he give himself away, or get away with murder?

The Landlady - a short story by Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda.

Monsters are Due on Maple Street - Rod Serling (1924–1975), creator of the science fiction television series The Twilight Zone, was one of the most popular writers in television history. One of his best-known scripts, “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” is about the reaction of a group of neighbors to a mysterious shadow that passes over their suburban street. After homes lose power and car batteries go dead, a neighborhood boy suggests that alien invaders in human form are responsible for the strange events. As power flickers back on here and there, neighbors become increasingly alarmed, turning their suspicions against one another.

A Poison Tree - a poem by William Blake

This poem allows the students to analyze how the characters' motivations and behavior influence the resolution of the conflict as well as the theme.

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The Lottery - a short story by Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson’s short story caused a sensation when it was first published. How could a tale about a tradition in an ordinary American town create such powerful interest?

The Lady or the Tiger - a short story by Frank Stockton

Frank Stockton, an engraver by trade, was said to have been influenced at an early age by the royalty and mythical creatures in fairy tales, as well as by a fourteen-year-old servant girl who amused him by reading blood-curdling stories aloud in his kitchen. Both influences are evident in "The Lady, or the Tiger", the most famous of all his works. The ambiguity of the story is the likely reason its popularity persists.

Sorry, Wrong Number - a play by Louise Fletcher

What happens when a woman hears a phone conversation she wasn’t meant to hear? In this excerpt from the first scene of Act I of Lucille Fletcher’s play Sorry, Wrong Number, the playwright develops the suspenseful plot through the use of a party line, or a shared telephone line in the days when operators used manual switchboards to connect one caller to another.

Digital Citizenship: The Four Factors of Fair Use

Technology Integration: Spreadsheet tracking STAAR and test results

Unit 2: Who are you in a crisis? (16 class days)

September 18 - October 25

prepositions, prepositional phrases

Literary Vocabulary

Graphic Feature
Text Structure
Organizational Pattern
Author’s Purpose
Evidence
Thesis
Controlling Idea
Argument
Claim
Counterargument
Informational Text
Audience

short constructed responses

extended constructed responses

When the Waters Rise - non-fiction by Alex Shultz

A Meme is Not Just a Meme (CommonLit): Thomas Pool's article "A Meme is Not Just a Meme" draws a comparison between modern memes and the succinct communication found in art from caves, emphasizing their similar capacity to communicate complex ideas.

A Kenyan Teen's Discovery (non-fiction by Nina Gregory): Having roamed the lands of present-day Kenya and Tanzania for thousands of years, the Maasai tribe had long coexisted with the region’s lion population. But now, the lion population is in sharp decline—and their next-door neighbors are a big reason why. Richard Turere is one of those neighbors, a 13-year-old inventor who lives among the Maasai near Nairobi National Park, which hosts many of the endangered lions of Kenya. Living in such proximity, some lions have begun to prey on the livestock owned by locals like Richard’s family. A struggle has emerged between the locals and the encroaching lions, resulting in the deaths of a highly threatened and endangered species (there are fewer than 2,000 lions remaining in Kenya). This article and its accompanying video, explore how young Richard devised an inventive way to save both livestock and lions from harm.

Who's the Real Hero? (non-fiction): Does a hero need to have special qualities? If so, what are they? Here, two writers with very different opinions face off over the definition and qualifications of heroism.