| Skill Category | Specific Skill | Example Daily Task | |----------------|----------------|--------------------| | | Citing textual evidence to support explicit and inferential claims. | "Find two sentences that show the narrator feels conflicted. Write them down." | | Central Idea & Theme | Distinguishing between a text's topic (one word) and its central idea (full statement); analyzing how theme develops over the text. | "In 1 sentence, state the central idea of paragraph 3. How does it connect to the title?" | | Text Structure & Development | Analyzing how specific sentences, paragraphs, or sections build ideas (e.g., compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution). | "Does the author use chronological order or comparison to explain the event? Mark the signal words." | | Author’s Purpose & Perspective | Determining an author’s point of view or purpose and analyzing how rhetoric (word choice, tone) achieves it. | "What feeling does the word 'shattered' create? What is the author trying to persuade you to believe?" | | Vocabulary in Context | Using context clues, affixes, and root words to determine the meaning of academic and domain-specific words. | "Define 'ephemeral' using the surrounding sentence. What clues helped you?" | | Analysis of Arguments | Tracing the claim, reasons, and evidence in an argument; identifying irrelevant evidence or logical fallacies. | "Does the author’s example about traffic prove their claim about pollution? Why or why not?" |
At the grade 8 level, students are expected to demonstrate the following reading comprehension skills: daily reading comprehension, grade 8 skills
How does the author organize the information in the passage? A. By presenting a problem, offering solutions, and discussing potential challenges. B. By comparing old buildings with new ones without offering an opinion. C. By listing various types of trees used in vertical forests. D. By telling a story about a specific architect in Italy. | Skill Category | Specific Skill | Example
Add a "synthesis" question (e.g., "How does this text challenge what you read yesterday?"). Ask students to rewrite a paragraph in a different text structure. | "In 1 sentence, state the central idea of paragraph 3