"A book, too, can be a star, 'explosive material, capable of stirring up fresh life endlessly,' a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe." - from Madeleine L'Engle's Newberry Medal Acceptance Speech

Thursday, January 12, 2012

8th Grade Citywide Performance Assessment

The city is requiring that all 8th grade ELA students complete this assessment which includes several different tasks. It will take 2-3 days to complete this. Even though this is not a standardized test, it is very good practice for the citywide test in April.

You will be reading and annotating 3 different texts and watching and taking notes on 4 short news clips on a related topic. Finally, you will have to write an argumentative essay taking a stand on the topic.

Skills we have been practicing that apply to the assessment:
-reading and identifying main ideas and supporting details
-annotating important details and ideas in a text
-making connections between texts
-writing about texts
-stating and supporting your opinion thesis
-incorporating research/sources in writing
-writing essays - thesis, intro, body paragraphs, and conclusion
-proofreading and editing
-writing correct sentences
-spelling words and homophones correctly
Here are the links to the videos:

Task 1: http://www.kcra.com/r-video/26907891/detail.html
Task 4, Video 1: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3683084n
Task 4, Video 2: http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/health/healthy_living/pressure-on-teen-athletes-soars-as-concussions-triple
Task 4, Video 3: http://www.kcra.com/r-video/26872547/detail.html

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