Common Core Standards
Grade 8
Reading RL.8.7
Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors.
This standard is pretty self-explanatory: if you've ever heard students groan about how the latest movie in the Hunger Games trilogy botched a certain part of the novel, that's the time to whip out this Common Core Standard and whack them over the head with it. That's also the time to have them to take a look at any changes to a movie they didn't like (or did like) from a directorial stance, and ask them to come up with reasons why those parts of the novel might have been changed when it was turned into a movie.
Example 1
Here's an example lesson to use when your students are learning about poetry and slam poetry.
Ask students to brainstorm about different aspects of written and spoken poetry, such as:
- Where is it used?
- Is figurative language important? How so?
- How do public speaking skills play a role?
- What is the writing process like?
Have students discuss their thoughts with a partner. Then students should complete a compare and contrast chart to consider how these questions might be answered differently for poetry, slam poetry, and speeches.
Aligned Resources
- Teaching Maniac Magee: City Divided
- Teaching Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: Integration In Our Nation
- Teaching The Little Prince: Things Passed Down – A Poem
- Teaching Number the Stars: Friends, Danes, Countrymen…
- Teaching Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: T.J.'s Downward Spiral
- Teaching The Westing Game: A Puzzle Mystery: Share the Wealth: Pair with an Heir
- Teaching Watership Down: Friends (or Carrots) First
- Teaching Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: The Rules of Flag Flying (You Read That Right)
- Teaching The View from Saturday: Too Many Narrators? What's Your Point of View?
- Teaching The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963: Getting' Graphic with The Wool Pooh