Writing
Fourth Draft - 10/26/00
8th Grade
Students will demonstrate previous grade-level skills
1. The student writes clearly and effectively.
- 1.1 Continues to focus on a topic for a specific purpose and demonstrates elaboration through examples, details, facts, reasons, etc.
- 1.2 Chooses a form appropriate to the topic.
- 1.3 Develops a topic or theme with carefully chosen and focused detail and content.
- 1.4 Continues to use effective organizational structures (i.e., paragraphs, stanza division, tables of contents, and titles) and constructs sequential paragraphs using effective transitions.
- 1.5 Writes coherent paragraphs.
- 1.6 Writes analytically and persuasively using basic and clear logic.
- 1.7 Uses voice, language, and sentence structure appropriate to the genre, audience, purpose, and topic.
- 1.8 Experiments with figurative language and sound patterns.
- 1.9 Increases spelling accuracy of more complex words.
- 1.10 Understands and correctly uses parts of speech and increase complexity of sentence structures.
- 1.11 Increases accuracy of punctuation, capitalization, and conventional grammar (i.e., subject/verb agreement and verb tense agreement).
- 1.12 Increases skill in using standard grammatical conventions.
- 1.13 Continues to use effective organizational structures (i.e., paragraphs, stanzas, tables of contents, and titles) and constructs sequential paragraphs using effective transitions.
- 1.14 Understands the concept of and avoids plagiarism.
- 1.15 Writes legibly.
2. The student writes in a variety of forms for different audiences and purposes.
- 2.1 Writes for different audiences.
- 2.2 Writes
in a variety of forms, such as:
- narrative - essay - character analysis - journal - letter - story - poetry - report - technical writing - 2.3 Increases sophistication
of writing for a variety of purposes, such as:
- description - explanation - information - persuasion - narration - self-expression
- 2.4 Writes for career applications.
3. The student understands and uses the steps of the writing process.
Prewrites
- 3.1 Uses a variety of prewriting strategies for planning and generating information and ideas.
- 3.2 Gathers information from a variety of sources.
- 3.3 Continues to use a variety of technological resources to produce a final product.
Drafts
- 3.4 Creates a draft by formulating and coordinating a number of ideas and points of view.
- 3.5 Organizes ideas clearly, coherently, and precisely with a logical flow of ideas and relationships.
Revises
- 3.6 Revises by conferring and incorporating suggestions from other sources.
- 3.7 Edits through he use of available technologies and self-correction.
- 3.8 Changes text to improve argument, flow of information, and logic.
Edits
- 3.9 Corrects mechanics and grammar.
Publishes
- 3.10 Produces a neat, legible final product by using a variety of available technologies.
4. The student analyzes and evaluates the effectiveness of written work.
- 4.1 Seeks and offers feedback with regard to concept and design, style, and conventions.
- 4.2 Assesses own strengths and developmental needs as a writer.
- 4.3 Uses established criteria to improve writing.