8.DSR.A Read a variety of grade-level complex text with accuracy, automaticity, appropriate rate, and meaningful expression in successive readings to support comprehension. Monitor while reading to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, as necessary.

8.DSR.B Proficiently read and comprehend a variety of literary and informational texts that exhibit complexity at the higher range of the grades 6-8 band.

8.DSR.C When responding to text through discussion and/or writing, draw several pieces of evidence from grade-level complex texts to support claims, conclusions, and inferences, including quoting or paraphrasing from texts accurately and tracing where relevant evidence is located.

8.DSR.D Regularly engage in reading a series of conceptually related texts organized around topics of study to build knowledge and vocabulary (These texts should be at a range of complexity levels so students can read the texts independently, with peers, or with modest support.). Use this background knowledge as context for new learning.

8.DSR.E Use reading strategies as needed to aid and monitor comprehension when encountering challenging sections of text. These sense-making strategies attend to text structure, common organizational structures, summarizing, asking questions of the text, and others.

8.RV.1.A Develop and accurately use general and academic language and content-specific vocabulary by listening to, reading, and discussing a variety of grade-eight texts and topics.

8.RV.1.B Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word's position or function in a sentence) to determine the meaning of words or phrases.

8.RV.1.C Apply knowledge of Greek and Latin roots and affixes to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.

8.RV.1.D Use the relationship between particular words, including synonyms, antonyms, and analogies to better understand each word.

8.RV.1.E Analyze the construction and meaning of an author's use of symbols, analogy, and figurative language such as simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, and idiom.

8.RV.1.F Discriminate between the meanings of connotative words and their denotative meanings.

8.RV.1.G Use general and specialized word-reference materials, print and digital, to determine pronunciation, etymology, derivations, and parts of speech.

8.RV.1.H Use newly learned words and phrases in multiple contexts, including in students' discussions and speaking and writing activities.

8.RL.1.A Analyze and explain the development of theme(s) over the course of texts and their relationship to the characters, settings, plots, and overall messages.

8.RL.1.B Explain how different plot patterns (e.g., comedy, drama, tragedy) and subplots create meaning and examine their influence on characters, theme, pacing, and point of view.

8.RL.1.C Justify the decisions and actions of dynamic versus static characters using dialogue or specific events from the text.

8.RL.2.A Interpret the meaning and analyze the impact of poetic elements in prose and poetry (e.g., rhyme, rhythm, repetition, alliteration, and onomatopoeia) on the reader.

8.RL.2.B Analyze how the elements of an author's style (e.g., dialogue, sentence structure and word choices) are used to influence and develop tone and voice.

8.RL.2.C Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.

8.RL.2.D Analyze how an author's use of literary devices including foreshadowing, flashback, symbolism, and irony are used to build mystery, suspense, or surprise.

8.RL.3.A Compare and contrast the structure of two or more stories, poems, and plays and analyze how the differing structure of each literary text contributes to its meaning and style.

8.RL.3.B Compare and contrast fictional portrayals of a time, place, or character with historical accounts of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history.

8.RL.3.C Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories; literary nonfiction and informational) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.

8.RI.1.A Create a main idea statement and provide an accurate summary, clarifying the relationships among the key details and ideas or events.

8.RI.1.B Analyze how the author unfolds a perspective or series of ideas or events in historical, scientific, or technical texts, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections drawn between them.

8.RI.1.C Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning and evidence are relevant and sufficient to support the claims.

8.RI.2.A Evaluate an author's use of text features (e.g., boldface and italics; type set in color; underlining; indentation; sidebars; illustrations, graphics, and photographs; headings and subheadings; footnotes and annotations) to enhance and support the reader's comprehension.

8.RI.2.B Analyze how an author's word choice, organizational pattern, language structure, viewpoints, and qualifications impact meaning and credibility of a text.

8.RI.2.C Analyze how an author establishes and conveys a perspective or purpose in a text and acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.

8.RI.3.A Analyze ideas within and between selections including how specific sentences, paragraphs, sections, and text features contribute to the development and refinement of the ideas presented.

8.RI.3.B Compare and contrast how two or more authors present conflicting information on the same topic by assessing where the texts disagree in reasoning and evidence.

8.W.1.A Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or to alter an existing text, using well-structured event sequences, precise words and phrases, and transitional words to develop the characters, convey sequence, and capture the action.

8.W.1.B Write expository texts to examine a topic or concept that conveys ideas and information by maintaining a clear focus with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, and examples from multiple credible sources, using structures and patterns (e.g., description, enumeration, classification, comparison, problem-solution, or cause-effect) to clarify relationships among ideas and concepts.