Language Arts - 8th Grade

Introduction
Language is naturally acquired as a fundamental trait of humanness. As we enter school, even though we may have had little formal language instruction, we characteristically have a secure knowledge of our language, constructed almost unconsciously. The study and practice of language as a school content area involves the more focused examination of elements, structures, and functions in our language system. We use the term "language arts" to reflect how we develop skills and apply strategies to "craft" language for particular purposes and specific effects. We construct meaning from text we read or hear; we create intended meaning with text we write or speak.

The intent of secondary language arts instruction is to empower students in their use of language to understand and investigate themselves, others, cultures, and the environment. This involves developing students' awareness of language purposes, their knowledge of the language elements and processes through which meaning is created, and their ability to evaluate meaning from different points of view. It involves providing students with explicitly guided practice so they internalize more complex, sophisticated strategies as habits of mind. It involves students' reflective practice to recognize and value intricacies and idiosyncrasies of language meaning and effect. It also involves their use of language to interpret and connect with the world and to develop their sense of civic responsibility within it.

The Secondary Language Arts Core Curriculum emphasizes purposeful, strategic knowledge and processes in language applications. Language arts students should be practitioners of language skills, including being able to form literate expressions about learning.

Organization of the Secondary Language Arts Core

1. Each grade level begins with a brief course description.
2. The INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES (ILOs) describe the goals for language arts skills and attitudes. They are found at the beginning of each grade, and are an integral part of the Core. They should be included as part of instruction.
3. A STANDARD is a broad statement of what students are expected to understand. Several objectives are listed under each standard.
4. There are three standards: READING, WRITING, and INQUIRY/RESEARCH/ORAL PRESENTATION.
5. An OBJECTIVE is a more focused description of what students need to know and be able to do at the completion of instruction. If students have mastered the objectives associated with a given standard, they are judged to have mastered that standard at that grade level. Several indicators are described for each objective.
6. An INDICATOR is a measurable or observable student action that enables one to judge whether a student has mastered a particular objective. Indicators are not meant to be classroom activities, but they can help guide classroom instruction.
7. The use of E.G. in an indicator denotes an example of what might be assessed with that indicator; the use of I.E. denotes the only thing that can be assessed to evaluate that indicator.

Guidelines Used to Develop the Secondary Language Arts Core

1. The Utah Secondary Language Arts Core relies heavily on the National Council of Teachers of English Standards for English Language Arts and the International Reading Association Position Statement on Adolescent Literacy. (See Appendix B)
2. The Utah Secondary Language Arts Core builds deliberately and systematically on the language arts foundation provided in the elementary experience. The Elementary Language Arts Core (published May 9, 2003) identifies skills that students exiting 6th grade should have and be able to use.
3. The Utah Secondary Language Arts Core should provide a comprehensive and competent literacy education that leads to understanding literacy skills as complex and enjoyable forms of learning and discovery.
4. The Utah Secondary Language Arts Core assumes literal comprehension in reading. More sophisticated comprehension skills are addressed and expected as part of the secondary experience.
5. The Utah Secondary Language Arts Core assumes that reading skills and strategies are foundation pieces to a good reading curriculum and that, through the use of these skills and strategies, reading comprehension is achieved and improved.
6. The Utah Secondary Language Arts Core encourages students to use language for authentic purposes: to gather information, to enrich thinking, to explore culture and the human condition, and to be more forceful and articulate in using language in their lives.
7. The Utah Secondary Language Arts Core supports reading and writing efforts across the curriculum. However, it assumes that content-specific teachers (science, social studies, the arts, etc.) are addressing reading and writing in their particular courses as they guide students through domain-specific learning. The National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges reports that the total time spent writing during the educational day must be increased. In Utah's secondary schools, students should spend at least 45 minutes writing during the school day. In order to meet this goal, all content areas should spend time in writing to learn as well as in writing to demonstrate learning. In addition, common expectations for assessing writing should be developed across all curricular areas.
8. The Utah Secondary Language Arts Core requires instruction in reading in literary and informational text. Included in informational texts are the kinds of functional texts that may be encountered in language arts (charts, diagrams, etc.). It is expected that functional text will be addressed in other content areas where applicable and where materials may be more readily available.
9. The Utah Secondary Language Arts Core uses a form of analytical evaluation of writing based on six traits. There is no intention of recommending any product or program as sufficient for the entire curriculum where teaching writing is concerned. Utah uses a sixtrait model for consistency of vocabulary when talking about the development of skill in writing, and for consistency of evaluation across schools and districts in language arts and across content area writing programs.
10. The Utah Secondary Language Arts Core should address students' different educational needs, goals, and learning requirements, rather than seeing their cultural, intellectual, and linguistic differences as indications of inability or lack of academic interest.
11. The Utah Secondary Language Arts Core should help students acquire the necessary skills to enter the job market or to seek and succeed at continuing academic training.