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 Grade 8 ELA Activities
Charting Passions
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Passion is what drives our strong feelings about what we love and
who we are. Because teenagers are passionate about many things, it’s
fun and useful to tap into their passions as a way to engage them
more deeply in the worlds of reading and writing. The things your
child loves to talk, think, and dream about are the same things he
will want to read and write stories about. This activity will allow
your child to make a chart of his passions that he can then use to
figure out what he already knows and what else he might explore.
Here's what you need:
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| A set of encyclopedias, a dictionary, an almanac, or any
general information source (all of these reference materials are available
at your local public library branch.) |
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| Paper |
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| Pen or pencil |
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| Notebook |
Here's what you do:
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Help your child investigate his passions by starting with such
questions as, What do I most enjoy? What do I really care about? What
do I want to know more about? What is something I have never done
but would really love to try? Use encyclopedias, dictionaries, and
general information sources at home or at the library to generate
more ideas.
As you view resources with your child, have him make a list of
his passions. For example, he might talk about a favorite country,
a hobby, an animal, a person, or a movie. Have him put stars besides
the passions he cares about most. After he narrows his search to one
passion, have him set up a notebook where he generates a K-W-L Chart.
This chart should contain three columns: What I Know (K), What I Want
to Know (W), and What I Learned (L). Encourage him to identify the
sources he will need for further research into the topic. Will he
look for certain books in the library? Will he share the topic with
his friends?
Help your child go forward with finding the sources he needs so
that he can discover “what he wants to know.” You may
find that the librarian in your neighborhood library branch is very
helpful for finding sources on many different topics.
Keep going...
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When your child thinks carefully about what he does or doesn't
know about a topic of interest, he is setting up the possibility of
learning more. If you want to give your child an additional challenge,
encourage him to seek out an expert who can tell him more about one
of his identified topics. Using a K-W-L chart, have him develop a
list of questions for the expert, and follow through with an interview
by phone or in person.
Grade 8 ELA Activities
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