8th Grade ELA 2020-2021 Assignments

In this document, there are some ideas of what you may want to remember about the world or yourself in a few years. 


Use these ideas to write a handwritten letter to yourself. If you don’t want Mr. Nichols to read it, fold it up and seal it in an envelope. When you are getting ready to graduate high school, this letter will be mailed to you for you to reflect on where you were and what you’ve done! 


When you are done, you can drop off the letter to me, and I will hold onto it until the time comes. 

Make sure you include your address so it can be sent to you!

Hey everyone! 


Here, I've assigned the rubric for your final project. We have covered it piece by piece, and today we covered the last. I have also attached my project example if you need to use it for reference or have any questions.


Your project is due FRIDAY, 5/21! Make sure you work hard to get this done!

Read through the final rubric one more time, and grade yourself honestly. 


Put in points AND comments on the grade you believe your project has earned.


If you have a section where you feel you are lacking on points, use this to reflect on what you should go back and revise!

This is it! The final Daily Journal of the school year! 


Please take your time to finish this. Answer each question HONESTLY and COMPLETELY. 


I would like to see more than one word answers for the final journal!

For our final research question, you will look at an organization your figure was involved with or started and what that organization is like today. Through all the research you have completed, you have likely come across multiple names of organizations that your figure was involved with. If you would like to cover multiple, that would be great! Make sure you at least pick out the MOST important organization or the one that they were MOST involved with.


Make sure you pay attention to the directions of the assignment and rewatch my Class Recording from Monday 4/26 if you need. There are multiple parts to this research question and alternative places to fill in information depending on the organization. Your information from previous research questions should help in your process of completing RQ #4, but further research will be required to find out everything you can about these organizations, their importance, and what they do/did.

This week, you will look at some important issues that your figure was affected by or that they contributed to. In your research so far, you have like come across a ton of potential issues that could be included here!


Make sure you carefully read the directions in the assignment and WATCH MY VIDEO if you are not in class so you understand how to complete the research for this week; there are a lot of little pieces that go into this research question, but you should have a great start on it if you have kept up on your reading of books on Epic and RQ #1 and #2. 


Let me know if you have any questions after reading the directions! I know there are a lot, but the directions should make this RQ super easy! Don't forget to fully explain the interactions with at least 5-7 GOOD sentences in the boxes!

For this week's research question, you will outline 10 important events to the life of your figure and how they fit into the Civil Rights Era. Try to focus on major events in their career or during the 50s and 60s. RQ #1 likely covered a brief biography, so try to avoid important life events like birth or death. Stick to their significance during the Civil Rights Era!

Each slide should include:
-A title for the event and the date
-A picture
-Why the event is important
-What significance did it have for your figure
-What significance did it have during the Civil Rights Era

Using any questions you missed on the Civil Rights Era Vocab Quiz, complete the following assignment with correct definitions, explanations, and answers. For each correct response, you are able to earn half that point back which will go a long way on an assessment grade! The directions are as follows:


1. Write whether the question was matching or fill-in.
2. List the word/phrase and correctly define it.
3. (If it is a fill-in) Write out and answer the entire question and explain the correct answer.

This week, we will look at the importance of your figure and their lasting impact. We will start by answering some general information about them before drafting a short script for the video you will record explaining who your figure is and why they were important to the Civil Rights Era. 


On Friday, we will cover Flipgrid and work to record the video that covers your first RQ. Make sure you keep up on your work!

Be sure to answer EACH part of every question for full points!

All answers MUST be in your own words! Any answers clearly taken from a Google search will be marked WRONG.

We will complete the first half of this assignment Monday and the rest on Tuesday.

Make sure you follow along with the definitions provided in class or in my prerecorded video before associating words from Key Vocabulary with these new words. Be sure to explain why you associate these words as well!

We will complete the first half of this assignment on Tuesday, and the rest on Thursday.

Make sure you follow along with the definitions provided in class or my prerecorded video before you include a picture and your OWN definition!

Using any feedback, suggestions, or revisions from your Rough Draft, work to construct your Final Draft here!

Using the Essay Outline you filled out covering our Core Text and the Independent Book on Epic / Short Story shared on Classroom, write your Rough Draft here!

Read the directions in the attached Outline.

Using the thesis and claims you created in Argument Organization, begin outlining your essay that compares and contrasts two texts within the genre of Realistic Fiction!

If you need a quick refresher on the main points from Cheat, check out this link: http://www.orcabook.com/Assets/PDFs/Guides/cheat.pdf

This will not be a thorough understanding, so you may still need to refer back to the book, but it will give you a good place to start!

As we begin our final essay, we will start by creating a thesis statement to drive your writing as well as three strong claims to guide your body paragraphs.

Make sure you answer each question in the document! The thesis and claims you create will transfer into the Outline we begin on Thursday.

Once you have finished your short story, make sure you read it through AT LEAST one last time! Make sure you have added ALL the detail and dialogue you think is necessary, and be sure that you've hit two full pages with at least one line on a third page. Check back to the Word Choice & Dialogue slideshow from yesterday as you make your final revisions to the dialogue in your story and the other ways to say "said".

The rubric is attached here as well, and it will also be useful to read through the rubric again to make sure you have hit every point and section within so you can get all the credit!

In this document, use all the information you have created thus far (characters, setting, plot, structure, etc.) to write your very own short story!

A copy of the rubric is attached to view, and a copy of the rubric and a blank document will be assigned later this week for you to submit your final draft and revisions of your short story.

The document is already preset to Times New Roman, 12 pt. font, and double spaced lines. DO NOT CHANGE THESE SETTINGS!

You will need to include your title and name within the document in place of the two lines already included at the top. If you have an idea for a title before you begin or if your title will come to you once you have finished the story, either way is fine! Try to come up with a catchy or witty title that fits you and your story. Let me know if you have questions!

Since this is the first draft of your short story, it will earn points based on length, effort, and completion with the full 60 points being part of the final draft and submission only.

This week, we began by outlining potential story structures with the Story Spine. Then, you created the characters, protagonist and antagonist, that will be in your story.

In Short Story Structure, you will finalize the outline for the story you will tell! Fill in as much information as you can in each box so you have a great starting point and even better outline to your own unique short story that we will begin on Tuesday.

You may have some new ideas over the weekend, but this assignment should be the final structure that you plan to follow for your short story, so take the last steps today toward creating your first draft!

Yesterday, we began outlining possibilities for the short story you will write. To fill your world, it will need some characters!

Today, we will work to create the protagonist and antagonist of your story. The questions in this document are very similar to the Character Studies we completed a few weeks ago, and they will serve to help you create a well rounded bunch of characters.

Before you begin, watch the following video titled, "How to Create a Great Character". This will give you some insight into what may need to be included to hopefully make your characters likeable, competent, and active within your story!

https://video.link/w/v8aQb

In class, we will watch "Introduction to Structure" and the "Story Spine" video ("Story Spine" starting at 3:51) from the following Khan Academy link:

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/hass-storytelling/storytelling-pixar-in-a-box/ah-piab-story-structure/v/piab-storystructure

After this, we will begin outlining the short story you will write next week! The outline you create today may change a bit, or a lot, by the time we start writing next Tuesday, but this will be very useful as you outline some important aspects of the story you may want to tell as well as the message/theme you may want to have in your story!

Make sure you read the directions here and in the document entirely!

For this assignment, we will compare and contrast "Harrison Bergeron" to "The Lottery". Your response MUST include a Thesis Statement (see "Tips and Examples for Writing Thesis Statements" attached below) AND at least three paragraphs, 4-6 sentences each.

In your writing, you will also argue which story would be better for potential or current readers of dystopian fiction. Make sure you include evidence from both stories to really explain your comparisons/contrasts!

Since this is practice for the quick writing you will need to complete on your AIR Tests, I will be using the AIR rubric to grade your response, which is also attached.

This week, we will read two short stories within the genre of Dystopian Fiction (full description in the directions of the assignment).

On Monday, we will read and respond to Harrison Bergeron. A video and pdf link are both attached. Make sure you complete the Harrison Bergeron section of Comparing/Contrasting Short Stories within a Genre on Monday.

On Tuesday, we will read and respond to The Lottery. A video and pdf link are both attached. Make sure you complete The Lottery's section of Comparing/Contrasting Short Stories within a Genre on Tuesday.

The rest of this week, you will work to compare and contrast the two stories, and that assignment will be posted Thursday! We begin writing our own short stories next week, so this will give you a glimpse into some really awesome works!

The rules and purpose of Dialogue will be covered in the attached slideshow in class. After that, we will complete "Zooming In with Dialogue" to practice working with writing about the little details and creating dialogue, both of which will be very useful for your short story that is coming up!

Part of this assignment deals with the different types of conflict (Character vs. Character, Self, Society, and Nature). Check out the Disney video examples below to get a great example of each!

Character vs. Character (Frozen)
https://video.link/w/PYqJb

Character vs. Self (Tangled)
https://video.link/w/BVqJb

Character vs. Society (Mulan)
https://video.link/w/EZqJb

Character vs. Nature (Moana)
https://video.link/w/hYqJb

Throughout this quarter, you will also need to select and read one of the books from the Unit 3 collection assigned to you on Epic. The book selection can be found in this Sign-up Form.

Fill out this Google Form with your name and the book you will be reading independently. At the end of the quarter, you will write an essay that compares/contrasts your independent reading book to our Core Text, Cheat.

For the Final Project that we have been building up to with our research, you will create a Google Sites presentation that contains all of the research you have done so far!

Use this rubric as a checklist! This will be how I grade your final project.

If you have questions or comments on your project, feel free to add them here so I can answer questions and give feedback!

Go through the final rubric for your website and grade yourself! Include how many points you believe you have earned for each section in the “Points Earned” column, and leave comments as well! In your comments, tell me about the work you did and why you think you have earned the number of points that you have listed. I will take your comments into consideration as I grade your final project.

Watch my video explanation, and read through the directions and examples listed in the assignment. Then, fill in AT LEAST 5 titles and authors from resources you have used in your research. This part should be done today, Monday.

On Tuesday, we will expand on the Bibliography and review the steps to complete one, but be sure to have your authors and titles completed on Monday to save time later this week!

Today, you begin research on the factors present during the Civil War that affected your figure and the war itself!

The outline for this week is as follows:

Tuesday - First, watch Mr. Claes's video introducing the many political, social, and economic factors that affected your figure and the war itself. Then, review the example of RQ #3 that Mr. Claes created that is found below. After reviewing the video for context, and reviewing the example, you will begin your research on two (2) political factors that affected your figure, and two (2) social factors that affected your figure (Mr. Claes's explanation should be a terrific starting point for your research).

Wednesday - Catch up day: Work on RQ #1-3 (Biography, Timeline, and Factors), or your Achievement Board Final Draft from the end of Quarter 1.

Thursday/Friday - Continue your research from Tuesday, now looking at the different economic factors that affected the North and the economic factors that affected the South during the war.

Make sure you are keeping track of ANY AND ALL resources you use while you research. Next week, we will begin the Bibliography of all the resources you have used so far, and you will need to have a list of EVERYTHING you have used as a resource from books, to articles, to videos, and more!

In your timeline, you will cover any 5 events that are important to the Civil War itself and 5 events that were specifically important to your figure. Above the line, list the events from the Civil War. Below the line, list the events important to your figure. You are welcome to rearrange the boxes, stars, and arrows on the first slide if you want, but you must still have 10 events total!

On each slide labeled Event 1-5, you will list the year, date, and name/short explanation of the event. You will also write a short 5-6 sentence paragraph MINIMUM about the event to explain what it was and why it is important to the Civil War/your figure. You must also include a relevant picture on each slide to accompany your explanation.

We will work on this all week, and the schedule is as follows:

Monday - Complete the first slide to have all 10 events you will discuss listed for when you start your research Tuesday.

Tuesday/Wednesday - Work on completing the 5 events important to the Civil War (remember you need the date, the name/short explanation of the event, and a picture on each slide)

Thursday/Friday - Work on completing the 5 events that are most significant to your figure (remember you need the date, the name/short explanation of the event, and a picture on each slide)

Let me know if you have any questions!

Here, my video explaining the research for this week is posted, as well as Mr. Claes's video covering a timeline of the Civil War.

Watch BOTH videos, complete the Guided Notes Mr. Claes has created for you, and then go to RQ #2 - Civil War Timeline. Today, you should finish the first slide of your Timeline with all 10 events that you will be researching and explaining this week!

AFTER you have completed your biography for you figure and I have checked it, use the information you have researched to write these paragraphs which will be very useful for the website you will create in a few weeks!

Topics will be decided in class. If you do not pick a topic in class, one will be sent to you based on the topics you have researched in "Topic Exploration" and the "3 Topic Trial". If you do not have any research, and are not in class, a topic will be decided for you, and you will need to complete this assignment with your selected topic.

In class, topics will be introduced a little more in depth before we continue with the research today. If you need to refer back to the slideshow from today for research purposes, or if you miss class, it is posted here as well.

Using your 5 topics from Topic Exploration, narrow that list down to 3. Expand on your research as well, spending 20 minutes with each topic and answering ALL questions for each.

Today, we are starting our Daily Journals. These will be at least one complete sentence that answers the posted question, and will be done at the start of class every day as a very short writing process.

Next, we are continuing the research for our Unit. You will explore 5 topics today, and narrow it down to one by the end of the week. Let me know if you have questions!

Start with the Tuesday 10/27 video posted here, and then review the Civil War Era Intro slides as needed.

Watch the video, Civil War Intro, where Mr. Claes introduces the material for Unit #2, read through the directions in "Intro to Civil War", and complete this set of guided notes off his prezi presentation.

Last, start looking through Epic Books for potential resources that you will explore in depth tomorrow as we begin our research on the Civil War Era!