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Grade 8

TEKS ELA Standard: 8.11.A

compose literary texts such as personal narratives, fiction, and poetry using genre characteristics and craft

St. Patrick and Other Legends
St. Patrick and Other Legends
How would real people feel about the legends that have been created about them?
Comparing Characters’ Bedrooms
Comparing Characters’ Bedrooms
What item’s in a character’s bedroom would reflect their deepest desires? And what if they toured a similar character’s room?
Change A Story’s Genre
Change A Story’s Genre
What if we rewrote a story’s climax into a totally different genre?
Emoji Stories 🐻
Emoji Stories 🐻
Students will create a story about 🐻🎩🎙️🐰🤣.
Looking Closely at Holiday Photos
Looking Closely at Holiday Photos
Let’s write from multiple perspectives using an old timey holiday photo!
Holiday Writing: Packing Crates
Holiday Writing: Packing Crates
Students will look closely at this old image and write a short, structured poem.
Thanksgiving Photo Writing
Thanksgiving Photo Writing
Starting with an old-timey photo, students will write from a particular item’s point of view.
Writing About Art: Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons
Writing About Art: Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons
Students will create a pretty darn interesting poem about Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons.
Writing About Art: Impression, Sunrise
Writing About Art: Impression, Sunrise
Students will create a surprisingly good poem based on Monet’s Impression, Sunrise.
Writing About Art: Chōshi in Shimosha
Writing About Art: Chōshi in Shimosha
Get your students writing some pretty darn impressive poetry based on Japan’s most famous artist.
Writing About Art: Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog
Writing About Art: Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog
Students will look closely at a piece of art and then write a structured poem about it.
Writing About Art: Twilight in the Wilderness
Writing About Art: Twilight in the Wilderness
Students will write about a beautiful painting from Frederic Edwin Church.
Writing About Art: The Scream
Writing About Art: The Scream
Your students will turn the iconic painting The Scream into a vivid, sensory poem.
Do Narrators Have Too Much Power?
Do Narrators Have Too Much Power?
Imagine being a character in a story. Are you worried that your story’s narrator may inaccurately describe you? What if they reveal something you wanted to be kept secret? Do narrators have too much power!?
Identifying Author’s Voice
Identifying Author’s Voice
What if… Edgar Allen Poe wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?
Showing A Character’s Trait
Showing A Character’s Trait
We tell students to “show, not tell” in their writing, but this advice isn’t effective until they experience the difference. In this video, we’ll put a famous character (of students’ choosing) into a mundane situation and develop a fun scene to show off their main traits.
Studying and Remixing “The Raven”
Studying and Remixing “The Raven”
Ready to push kids beyond the boring, old ABAB rhyme scheme and into something a bit more complex?
Literary Technique: Juxtaposition
Literary Technique: Juxtaposition
Put a grumpy character next to a joyful one and they make each other stand out even more. Opposites are powerful!
Create A Creature
Create A Creature
Create a new creature based on the adaptations of existing creatures from the same biome.
Better Stories Part 2: Types of Conflict
Better Stories Part 2: Types of Conflict
If your students’ stories are packed with endless ninja fights or arguments between frenemies, it’s time to expose them to a wider range of conflicts.
Better Stories Part 3: Literary Themes
Better Stories Part 3: Literary Themes
A typical student narrative includes plot and characters but lacks a larger idea to hold it all together. This is where a lesson on themes comes in…