Grade 8 ESL

ESL focuses on systematic, explicit, and sustained language development within the context of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and WIDA. Language is taught within the rich, meaningful circumstances of key academic practices, and the teacher builds on students’ cultural and linguistic knowledge to develop key academic habits of thinking. The Big Ideas and Major Learning Experiences reflect priority language skills across grade-level content and serve as a focus of collaboration between the Multilingual Department and other departments.

Unit

Time

frame

Big Ideas (Statements or Essential Questions)

Major Learning Experiences from Unit 

Reflecting and Inspiring Confidence for the Future


Connect to:

Social and Instructional Language

6 weeks 

  • How has my own thinking evolved about myself, my relationships, and my goals over the course of my life?


  • How do I develop the confidence, language, and skills to advocate for myself and pursue my goals?


  • How can I become more independent in ways that will advance my goals for high school and beyond?


Students will: 

  • NARRATE by identifying and raising questions about what might be unexplained, missing, or left unsaid

  • INFORM by determining what is known vs. unknown

  • EXPLAIN by offering alternatives to extend or deepen awareness of factors that contribute to particular outcomes

  • ARGUE by evaluating changes in thinking, identifying trade-offs

Learning from and Giving Back to our Community


Connect to:

Language of Social Studies


and


Social and Instructional Language

6 Weeks

  • How do we interpret and evaluate information from a variety of sources to form our own opinions?


  • What is my role and responsibility as a citizen of my community?


  • How do our unique life experiences, skills, and strengths best position us to give back to our communities?

Students will:

  • INTERPRET SOCIAL STUDIES EXPLANATIONS by analyzing sources for logical relationships among contributing factors or causes

  • CONSTRUCT SOCIAL STUDIES EXPLANATIONS that introduce and contextualize phenomena or events

  • INTERPRET SOCIAL STUDIES ARGUMENTS by identifying topic and purpose (argue in favor or against a position, present a balanced interpretation, challenge perspective)

  • INTERPRET SOCIAL STUDIES ARGUMENTS by analyzing relevant information from multiple sources to support claims

  • EXPLAIN by acting on information to revise understandings of how or why something is or works in particular ways


See Grade 8 Social Studies Overview for more context.

The Power of Persuasion


Connect to:

Language of ELA


and


Social and Instructional Language

6 weeks 

  • How can language be used to change minds and spark transformation?


  • How do writers communicate with a specific audience in mind?


  • Every voice has power.  What is your voice and how can you use it to make a positive transformation in the world around you?

Students will:

  • CONSTRUCT LANGUAGE ARTS ARGUMENTS that engage and adjust for audience using narrative anecdotes

  • INTERPRET LANGUAGE ARTS ARGUMENTS by analyzing how an author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints

  • INTERPRET LANGUAGE ARTS ARGUMENTS by evaluating relevance, sufficiency of evidence, and validity of reasoning that support claim(s)

  • CONSTRUCT LANGUAGE ARTS ARGUMENTS that support claims with reasons and evidence that are clear, relevant, and credible

  • ARGUE by clarifying and elaborating ideas based on feedback


The focus this year is on persuasive/argumentative writing.  See Grade 8 ELA Overview for more context.

Cause and Effect in the Scientific World


Connect to:

Language of Science


and


Social and Instructional Language

6 weeks 


  • How do scientists explain causes of natural phenomena and predict future events?


  • How do scientists use visual models to represent abstract concepts that are not immediately observable?

Students will: 

  • INTERPRET SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS by determining central ideas in complex evidence and information to help explain how or why a phenomenon occurs

  • INTERPRET SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS by evaluating scientific reasoning that shows why data or evidence adequately supports conclusions

  • CONSTRUCT SCIENTIFIC ARGUMENTS that support or refute a claim based on data and evidence

  • EXPLAIN by following and describing cycles and sequences of steps and their causes and effects


See Grade 8 Science Overview for more context.

Types of Change


Connect to:

Language of Math


and


Social and Instructional Language

6 weeks 

  • What kinds of changes do we observe in the world?  What doesn’t change?


  • Describe types of changes: when are they constant and when are they variable?


  • When does one type of change depend on another type of change?


  • How can change be presented in a variety of ways (in equations, tables, graphs, and words)?

Students will:

  • INTERPRET MATHEMATICAL EXPLANATIONS by analyzing possible ways to represent and solve a problem

  • CONSTRUCT MATHEMATICAL ARGUMENTS that create conjecture, using definitions and previously established results

  • INFORM by sorting, clarifying, and summarizing relationships

  • EXPLAIN by comparing changing variables, factors, and circumstances


See Grade 8 Mathematics Overview (Unit 3 Linear Relationships and Unit 4 Linear Equations) for more context.