The House of the Scorpion

Age 12-14: Concept 2 - Semester 2: Unit 1

Summary of Skills

• Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. (Language Arts)
• Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new. (Language Arts)
• Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories). (Language Arts)
• Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot). (Language Arts)
• Analyze works written on the same topic and compare how the authors achieved similar or different purposes. (Language Arts)
• Anticipate and address reader/listener concerns and counterarguments. (Language Arts)
• Apply the parts of speech to clarify language usage. (Language Arts)
• By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently. (Language Arts)
• By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of grades 68 text complexity band independently and proficiently. (Language Arts)
• Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. (Language Arts)
• Compare and contrast persuasive texts that reached different conclusions about the same issue and explain how the authors reached their conclusions through analyzing the evidence each presents; and analyze the use of such rhetorical and logical fallacies as loaded terms, caricatures, leading questions, false assumptions, and incorrect premises in persuasive texts. (Language Arts)
• Compare and contrast persuasive texts that reached different conclusions about the same issue. (Language Arts)
• Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech. (Language Arts)
• Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced. (Language Arts)
• Deliver persuasive presentations that include a well-defined thesis (i.e., one that makes a clear and knowledgeable judgment), differentiate fact from opinion and support arguments with detailed evidence, examples, and reasoning, anticipate and answer listener concerns and counterarguments effectively through the inclusion and arrangement of details, reasons, examples, and other elements and maintain a reasonable tone. (Language Arts)
• Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing and demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English usage in everyday speech and more formal oral presentations. (Language Arts)
• Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words or phrases based on grade 8 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. (Language Arts)
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts. (Language Arts)
• Establish and maintain a formal style. (Language Arts)
• Introduce claim(s), acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically. Understand the importance of the engagement of audience by establishing a context, creating a persona, and otherwise developing interest. (Language Arts)
• Produce final drafts/presentations that demonstrate accurate spelling and the correct use of punctuation, capitalization, and format. (Language Arts)
• Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented. (Language Arts)
• Read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently. (Language Arts)
• Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text and arrange details, reasons, and examples effectively and persuasively. (Language Arts)
• Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text. Arrange details, reasons, and examples effectively and persuasively. (Language Arts)
• Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text. Arranges details, reasons, and examples effectively and persuasively. (Language Arts)
• Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. (Language Arts)
• Use pronouns correctly, including clear antecedents and case. (Language Arts)
• Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others. (Language Arts)
• Use verbs in the active and passive voice to achieve particular effects (e.g., emphasizing the actor or the action). (Language Arts)
• Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. (Language Arts)
• Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary). (Language Arts)
• With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. (Language Arts)
• Introduce claim, acknowledge and distinguish the claim from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically. Understand the importance of the engagement of audience by establishing a context, creating a persona, and otherwise developing interest. (LA) (Science)
• Support claim with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text and arrange details, reasons, and examples effectively and persuasively. (LA) (Science)
• Support claim with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text. Arrange details, reasons, and examples effectively and persuasively. (LA) (Science)
• Support claim with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text. Arranges details, reasons, and examples effectively and persuasively. (LA) (Science)
• Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. (Science)
• Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. (LA) (Science)