Oral language, vocabulary, reading habits and, in the early grades, phonics, spelling, fluency and handwriting: the building blocks of reading and writing.
8.1 Foundations (oral language): build spoken communication through listening, speaking, and group discussion
8.1A Listen attentively, interpreting messages by summarizing, questioning, and commenting
8.1B Follow and give complex spoken directions for performing tasks, answering questions, or solving problems
8.1C Advocate a position with anecdotes, analogies, and/or illustrations, using eye contact, pacing, volume, enunciation, varied natural gestures, and language conventions
8.1D Collaborate in discussions: plan agendas that have clear goals and deadlines, set speaker time limits, record notes, and hold votes on key issues
8.2 Foundations (vocabulary): use newly learned words in speech and writing
8.2A Use print or digital references to find a word's meaning, syllables, pronunciation, origin, and part of speech
8.2B Work out unfamiliar or ambiguous words from context found in or outside the paragraph
8.2C Work out the meaning and use of academic English words at grade level that come from Greek and Latin roots, for example ast, qui, path, mand/mend, duc
8.3 Foundations (fluency): read grade-level text smoothly with understanding, adjusting fluency to the reading purpose
8.3A Vary reading fluency to fit the purpose for reading grade-level text
8.4 Foundations (independent reading): read grade-appropriate texts on one's own
8.4A Pick texts and read on one's own for long, uninterrupted stretches
Comprehension Skills
Using reading strategies to understand, summarize and make sense of what students read and hear.
8.5 Comprehension: use metacognitive strategies to build and deepen understanding of increasingly complex texts
8.5A Set a reading goal for texts that are assigned or self-chosen
8.5B Ask questions about a text prior to, while, and following reading, to deepen understanding and gather information
8.5C Make predictions, then correct or confirm them using text features, genre characteristics, and structures
8.5D Form mental images to deepen understanding
8.5E Connect the text to one's own experiences, ideas from other texts, and society
8.5F Draw inferences, backing understanding with evidence from the text
8.5G Weigh the details read to decide which are the key ideas
8.5H Combine information to build new understanding
8.5I Check comprehension and make fixes when understanding falters, for example rereading, drawing on prior knowledge, asking questions, or annotating
Response Skills
Responding to texts in speaking and writing, with evidence and personal connections.
8.6 Response: respond to an increasingly demanding range of sources read, heard, or viewed
8.6A Describe how a range of sources, including texts one chooses independently, connect to one's own life
8.6B Write responses showing understanding of texts, including comparisons of sources within and across genres
8.6C Support a suitable response with evidence from the text
8.6D Paraphrase and summarize texts while keeping meaning and logical order
8.6E Engage with sources in purposeful ways, for example notetaking, annotating, freewriting, or illustrating
8.6F Use newly learned vocabulary in responses where fitting
8.6G Discuss and write about the stated and implied meanings of a text
8.6H Respond in speech or writing with suitable register, vocabulary, tone, and voice
8.6I Reflect on responses and adjust them as new evidence comes up
8.6J Defend or challenge authors' claims with relevant evidence from the text
Multiple Genres
Reading and analyzing fiction, poetry, drama, informational texts and media, and what makes each genre work.
8.7 Literary elements: recognize and analyze literary elements within and across texts old and new, classical, and varied
8.7A Analyze how themes develop through the interplay of characters and events
8.7B Analyze how characters' motives and actions shape the events of a story and the way its conflict is resolved
8.7C Analyze non-linear plot development, for example flashbacks, foreshadowing, subplots, or parallel plots, and compare it with linear plot development
8.7D Explain how setting shapes characters' values and beliefs
8.8 Genres: recognize and analyze what defines each genre, its traits, structures, and aims, within and across many kinds of text
8.8A Show familiarity with genres of literature, for example short stories, science fiction, fantasy, humor, mystery, historical fiction, adventure, and realistic fiction
8.8B Analyze how graphical elements like punctuation and line length affect poems across poetic forms like humorous, lyric, and epic poetry
8.8C Analyze how playwrights build dramatic action using acts and scenes
8.8D Analyze informational text, including controlling idea with evidence, features like footnotes, endnotes, citations, and multiple organizational patterns developing the thesis
8.8E Analyze argumentative text: identify the claim and analyze the argument, identify and explain the counter argument, and identify the intended audience
8.8F Examine the features of texts that are multimodal or digital
Author's Purpose and Craft
How authors choose words, structure and techniques to inform, persuade and entertain.
8.9 Author's craft: analyze authors' choices and how they shape meaning, and apply craft in one's own products and performances
8.9A Explain an author's purpose and message in a text
8.9B Analyze how text structure supports the author's purpose
8.9C Analyze how an author uses print and graphic features for specific purposes
8.9D Describe how figurative language like extended metaphor serves specific purposes for an author
8.9E Identify and analyze devices of literature, including irony and the use of several narrative perspectives
8.9F Analyze how an author's language shapes mood, voice, and tone
8.9G Explain why writers use rhetorical devices, for example analogy or juxtaposition, and logical fallacies, for example bandwagon appeals or circular reasoning
Composition and Writing
Writing process, genres of writing, and the conventions of grammar, usage, punctuation and spelling.
8.10A Plan a first draft by choosing a genre fitting the topic, purpose, and audience, using strategies like personal interests, discussion, and background reading
8.10B Develop drafts into focused, structured, coherent text: purposeful structure (transitions, an introduction and conclusion, coherence within and between paragraphs); a deep, engaging idea, specific facts, details, examples
8.10C Revise for clearer, better developed and organized writing with stronger style, diction, and varied sentences
8.10D Edit drafts: complete complex sentences (subject-verb agreement; no comma splices, run-ons, fragments); consistent verb tenses; active and passive voice; prepositional phrases and their effect on agreement; correct capitalization; pronoun-antecedent agreement; semicolons, colons, parentheses and commas around nonrestrictive phrases and clauses; correct spelling, commonly confused words included
8.10E Share finished writing with fitting audiences
8.11 Writing genres: compose meaningful texts using genre characteristics and craft
8.11A Write literary texts, for example personal narratives, fiction, or poetry, applying the characteristics and craft of the genre
8.11B Write informational texts, including essays of multiple paragraphs on a topic, built on a controlling idea or thesis statement that is clear, plus genre craft
8.11C Write multi-paragraph argumentative texts applying genre characteristics and craft
8.11D Write correspondence that gives an opinion, lodges a complaint, or asks for information, in business or friendly format
Inquiry and Research
Asking questions, finding and evaluating sources, and presenting what was learned.
8.12 Inquiry and research: carry out brief and extended recursive inquiry for many purposes
8.12A Pose questions, chosen by students or guided by teachers, for formal and informal inquiry
8.12B Create a research plan and revise it
8.12C Refine the main research question if needed, using answers to secondary questions
8.12D Identify and collect relevant information from varied sources
8.12E Tell primary sources from secondary sources
8.12F Synthesize information from varied sources
8.12G Distinguish paraphrasing from plagiarism when using source materials
8.12H Evaluate sources for credibility, reliability, and bias, including omission, and for flawed reasoning, for example bandwagon appeals, repetition, or loaded language
8.12I Provide academic citations and use sources ethically
8.12J Present results using a suitable delivery mode: written, oral, or multimodal
There are 64 8th Grade TEKS ELAR Standards on this page, in 7 strands: Foundational Language Skills, Comprehension Skills, Response Skills, Multiple Genres, Author's Purpose and Craft, Composition and Writing, and Inquiry and Research.
How do I write an assessment for an 8th Grade TEKS ELAR standard?
Pick a standard on this page and choose Make a quiz or Make an exit ticket. AssessmentWiz opens the generator with the standard's code and text filled in, so every question targets that standard.
What does a code like 8.1A mean?
TEKS ELAR codes read grade, knowledge and skills statement, student expectation. In 8.1A, the first number is the grade (K for kindergarten), the next number is the knowledge and skills statement, and the letter is the student expectation under it.