English Language Arts — Grade 8

Good medicine

Students will examine changes in technology, medicine, and health that took place in North Carolina between 1870 and 1930 and construct products and ideas which demonstrate understanding of how these changes impacted people living in North Carolina at that time. To achieve these goals, students will employ the eight intelligences of Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts, Social Studies, Mathematics, and Science)

By Leslie Ramsey.

Inference by analogy

Students will use historical sources and an archaeological site map to infer the use or meaning of items recovered from a North Carolina Native American site based on 17th-century European settlers' accounts and illustrations. They will also describe prehistoric lifeways based on archaeological and ethnohistoric information and explain why archaeologists use ethnohistoric analogy.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s “I Have A Dream” speech

Students will display their understanding of the symbolism and references that Dr. King used to enrich his famous speech on August 28, 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial by constructing a “jackdaw,” a collection of documents and objects.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Charlotte Lammers.

Paving the Road to the Constitution

Students will be able to assess the strengths and weaknessess of the Articles of Confederation as related to the United States and North Carolina. Students will be able to demonstrate an argument for or against ratification of the United States Constitution.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Computer Technology Skills)

By Kim Bennett.

Plan for a panel discussion regarding the validity of the Lincoln Administration

Many of the events surrounding the American Civil War era have become national myths rather than accurate historical facts. This paradigm can be rationalized as a need for national healing. This lesson encourages students to investigate all sides of the issues within the context of the Civil War era. This will contribute to an understanding of the actual events that were catalysts for Lincoln's executive decisions. Students will become “experts” on the Lincoln administration and accept the responsibility of sharing their expertise with their classmates through oral communication in a panel discussion. They will also be responsible for turning in the written work produced as a result of their research, as well as developing a handout and perhaps a visual aid, as they see fit.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Jamie Hulse.

Take action, save the past

In their study of archaeological resource conservation, students will use a problem-solving model to identify a problem and solve it creatively.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

What Can Scatterplots Tell Us?

Using data from peer surveys and self surveys of popular TV shows, students will create computer-generated scatterplots. Students will culminate a unit on correlation with a Parent vs. Teen scatterplot project.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Information Skills, English Language Arts, Computer Technology Skills, and Mathematics)

By Hilda Hamilton.

Lesson plans on the web

Dynamic duo text talks: Examining the content of Internet sites

Students read a variety of online texts about Anne Frank and the Holocaust prior to more extensive study of these topics. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 Computer Technology Skills and English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Power of Nonviolence

This lesson introduces students to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s philosophy of nonviolence and the teachings of Mohandas K. Gandhi that influenced King's views. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 7–8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provider: National Endowment for the Humanities

No more bullying: Understanding the problem, building bully-free environments

Students investigate the phenomena of bullying by considering its juxtaposition with the concepts of social justice and empathetic responding. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Would you have helped out?

Students will investigate the dangers faced by escaping slaves and their helpers on the Underground Railroad. Students consider whether they would have helped the escaping slaves. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 Information Skills, English Language Arts, Guidance, and Social Studies)

Provider: National Geographic