Standard 4 : Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity (Archived)



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General Information

Number: LAFS.8.RL.4
Title: Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
Type: Cluster
Subject: English Language Arts - Archived
Grade: 8
Strand: Reading Standards for Literature

Related Standards

This cluster includes the following benchmarks
Code Description
LAFS.8.RL.4.10: 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.


Related Access Points

This cluster includes the following access points.

Access Points

Access Point Number Access Point Title
LAFS.8.RL.4.AP.10a: Read or listen to a variety of texts or adapted texts, including historical novels, periodicals, dramas or plays, poetry (including soliloquies and sonnets), fiction and nonfiction novels.
LAFS.8.RL.4.AP.10b: Use a variety of strategies to derive meaning from a variety of texts.


Related Resources

Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this topic.

Original Student Tutorials

Name Description
Personification in "The Railway Train":

Explore the poem “The Railway Train” by Emily Dickinson in this interactive tutorial. Learn about personification and vivid descriptions and determine how they contribute to the meaning of a poem. 

Make a Wish: Theme in "The Monkey's Paw":

Learn to identify and analyze the development of theme in this interactive tutorial. We'll read excerpts from "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs and examine how several different themes are developed throughout the text. We'll explore how each theme is conveyed in the story as the plot unfolds.

Metaphors: The Ultimate Transformers!:

Learn about two types of figurative language—similes and metaphors—in this interactive tutorial. You'll read several classic poems, including "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost and "Hope" by Emily Dickinson. You'll examine how each poem uses metaphor to convey a specific idea to readers.

Lesson Plans

Name Description
Florida: Feast of Figurative Language:

In this lesson (lesson two of a two-lesson unit), students will use Bishop's poem as a model to write their own Florida poem brimming with figurative language and vivid vocabulary. They will also select digital media to reflect the content of their original poems.

To the Heart of Human Experience: Structure and Theme (Part 3 of 3):

In this third lesson of a three-part unit, students will explore structure and its affect on theme in poetry. Using pairs of poems about the Holocaust, students will use graphic organizers and rubrics to help them organize their observations into a comparison/contrast essay and Socratic Seminar contributions. The summative assessment for the three-lesson unit is a final draft of an essay (drafted in Part I of the unit) about what separates poetry from prose.

To the Heart of Human Expression: Form and Theme in Poetry (Part 2 of 3):

In this second lesson of a three-part unit, students will explore how to identify and explain theme in poetry. Small group and full class discussions will be included as will a review of poetic and sound devices. Using Shakespeare's "Sonnet 71" and poetry of the Holocaust, students will analyze two poems and write theme analysis paragraphs for one of them with the help of a graphic organizer and rubric.

The Paths We Take: A Poetic Comparison:

Students will study two poems in this lesson: Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" and Dale Wimbrow's "The Guy in the Glass." Students will identify and explain the use of metaphor in each poem, and they will also examine the imagery and personification used in each one. Students will also determine a theme of each poem and explain the similarities and differences in their related themes.

To the Heart of Human Expression: Tools of the Poet's Trade (Part 1 of 3):

The three-part unit, of which this lesson is the first, examines the poet's ability to marry form and theme using poetic devices in order to create verse that cuts to the heart of some of humanity's most profound experiences. This first lesson is an exploration of a broad range of poetic and sound devices, and a detailed analysis of how these devices are at work in Shakespeare's Sonnet 71. The lesson culminates in small group review sessions where students apply their learning about poetic terms to revising their own written musings on what distinguishes poetry from prose.

Teaching Ideas

Name Description
Close Reading Exemplar: Dulce et Decorum Est:

The goal of the exemplar from Student Achievement Partner web resources is to give students practice in reading and writing about poetry. The poem makes connections to World War I as students closely analyze the poet's depiction of war. Students explore complex text through a) re-reading, paraphrasing, and discussing ideas, (b) achieving an accurate basic understanding of the stanzas of the poem, (c) achieving an accurate interpretive understanding of the piece, and (d) building a coherent piece of writing that both constructs and communicates solid understanding of the poem.

Teaching Tolerance: Maya Angelou: This resource from Teaching Tolerance focuses on Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise." It begins with a discussion of figurative language and the power of words and moves into a discussion of overcoming hardships.


Student Resources

Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this topic.

Original Student Tutorials

Title Description
Personification in "The Railway Train":

Explore the poem “The Railway Train” by Emily Dickinson in this interactive tutorial. Learn about personification and vivid descriptions and determine how they contribute to the meaning of a poem. 

Make a Wish: Theme in "The Monkey's Paw":

Learn to identify and analyze the development of theme in this interactive tutorial. We'll read excerpts from "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs and examine how several different themes are developed throughout the text. We'll explore how each theme is conveyed in the story as the plot unfolds.

Metaphors: The Ultimate Transformers!:

Learn about two types of figurative language—similes and metaphors—in this interactive tutorial. You'll read several classic poems, including "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost and "Hope" by Emily Dickinson. You'll examine how each poem uses metaphor to convey a specific idea to readers.