Grade 08 ELA - EC: E08.A-K.1.1.3
Continuum of Activities
The list below represents a continuum of activities: resources categorized by Standard/Eligible Content that teachers may use to move students toward proficiency. Using LEA curriculum and available materials and resources, teachers can customize the activity statements/questions for classroom use.
This continuum of activities offers:
- Instructional activities designed to be integrated into planned lessons
- Questions/activities that grow in complexity
- Opportunities for differentiation for each student’s level of performance
Grade Levels
8th Grade
Course, Subject
English Language Arts
Related Academic Standards / Eligible Content
Activities
- Identify lines of dialogue in a literary text by stating who said it and why.
- Identify a particular line of dialogue or moment in a literary text that propels action forward.
- Identify a moment or line of dialogue in a literary text that provokes a decision for a character.
- Explain, with text-based evidence, why a particular line of dialogue or incident in a literary text is important to the overall story.
- Make an inference about a character in a literary text using a line of dialogue as supporting evidence.
- Analyze the impact of particular lines of dialogue or incidents on the overall development of meaning in a literary text.
- Evaluate the decisions of an author to include particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a literary text to propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision for a character.
Answer Key/Rubric
- Student identifies lines of dialogue in a literary text by stating who said it and why. The student correctly defines dialogue as conversation or speech between two or more characters in a literary text. The student correctly identifies and matches a line of dialogue to the character that said it and the reason why it was said.
- Student identifies a particular line of dialogue or moment in a literary text that propels action forward. The student recognizes both dialogue and key events can propel the action or plot of the story forward. For example, the plot of a story is propelled forward when characters discuss a future plan of action then execute that plan in a subsequent section of the text.
- Student identifies a moment or line of dialogue in a literary text that provokes a decision for a character. The student correctly identifies a line of dialogue and matches it to a decision made by a character. The student recognizes the connection and the relationship between dialogue and action.
- Student explains, with text-based evidence, why a particular line of dialogue or incident in a literary text is important to the overall story. The student’s explanation may describe a line of dialogue or incident as being important because of the information it reveals to them as a reader about a character. The explanation displays evidence of the connection between what a character says and the actions of a character as a result.
- Student makes an inference about a character in a literary text using a line of dialogue as supporting evidence. The student uses a line of dialogue to make an inference about the character that said it. For example, a character’s motivation, or reason for acting, is often times revealed to a reader by what the character says explicitly and implicitly.
- Student analyzes the impact of particular lines of dialogue or incidents on the overall development of meaning in a literary text. The student’s analysis may link particular lines of dialogue or incidents to the development of characters or the progression of plot in a literary text.
- Student evaluates the decisions of an author to include particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a literary text to propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision for a character. The student uses clear and direct text-based evidence to explain the effectiveness of particular lines of dialogue to develop other aspects of a text including, but not limited to, characterization and plot.
