English Language Arts, Grade 8 Module 2

Paths to College and Career is a new, comprehensive English Language Arts curriculum for grades 6 to 12 built from the ground up over a three-year period to address the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts and Literacy. It reflects a deep understanding of the standards and assessments, and is written with a focus on the shifts in instructional practice and student experiences the standards require. It includes daily lesson plans, guiding questions, recommended texts, scaffolding strategies, and other classroom resources.

Paths to College and Career provides teachers, schools, and districts with a concrete and practical ELA instructional program that engages students with compelling and complex texts. At each grade level, Paths to College and Career delivers a yearlong curriculum that develops all students' ability to

* read closely and engage in text-based discussions,

* build evidence-based claims and arguments,

* conduct research and write from sources, and

* expand their academic vocabulary.Paths to College and Career's instructional resources address the needs of all learners, including students with disabilities, English language learners, and gifted and talented. The curriculum is flexible, user friendly, engaging, and purposefully built to prepare students for career, college, and life.

In Module 2 of Grade 8, students will continue to develop their ability to closely read text while studying the theme of taking a stand. Students will read two speeches reflecting examples of real people taking a stand, then continue to study the theme as it is revealed in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Students will engage in a character study of Atticus by analyzing his actions and words, and what others say about him, to better understand him as a character. They will develop their argument writing skills through scaffolded writing lessons, culminating in a literary analysis essay in which they argue whether or not it made sense, based on Atticus's character, for him to have taken a stand and defended Tom Robinson. Students will form groups to create a Readers Theater montage in which they select one key quote; then they will select scenes from the novel that reveal the message of the quote.