Grade 8 at a glance

Fiction text: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Video: ​​What Is a Personal Legend—and Are You Living It? (Interview with Paulo Coelho) by Oprah Winfrey Network (~2 min)

Video: The Hero's Journey according to Joseph Campbell - video by Matthew Winkler and Kirill Yeretsky by Ueber-Brands (~3 min)

Video: The Hero with a Thousand Faces by The Joseph Campbell Foundation (~3 min)

Nonfiction text: Born to Fly: The First Women's Air Race Across America by Steve Sheinkin and illustrated by Bijou Karman 

Video: Book Trailer for Born to Fly by MacKids Books (~1 min)

Video: Film Trailer for Breaking Through the Clouds Documentary by Breaking Through the Clouds (~1 min)

Writing: narrative 

Literature text: A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen 

Video: The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall by Ted-Ed (~6 min)

Nonfiction text: Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin 

Video: Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian Football Team by BPLibraryKids (~3 min)

Video: Jim Thorpe | The Top 100: NFL’s Greatest Players (2010) by NFL Films (~4 min)

Writing: argument

Poetry: William Shakespeare - Sonnet 18, Sonnet 29, and Sonnet 116

Video: Why Shakespeare Still Matters by Learn Free (~3 min)

Video: "What is a Sonnet?": A Literary Guide for English Students and Teachers by OSU School of Writing, Literature and Film (~2 min)

Video: Sonnet 18 by the Sonnet Man ( ~4 min) 

Video: Sonnet 29 by the Sonnet Man by ChickenShop Shakespeare (~2 min) 

Video: Sonnet 116 by the Sonnet Man (~4 min)  

Nonfiction text: Gratitude by Oliver Sacks

Video: Gratitude is Good for You by John Templeton Foundation (~1 min)

Video: Dr. Oliver Sacks, Explorer of the Brain by NY Times (~2 min)

Writing: informative 

Fiction text: “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Nonfiction text: Introducing the Enlightenment: A Graphic Guide, written by Lloyd Spencer and illustrated by Andrzej Krauze

Video: Essential Enlightenment: What was the Enlightenment? by The Fraser Institute (~2 min)

Writing: informative

Fiction text: Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Video: Why should you read “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding? - Jill Dash by Ted-Ed (~5 min)

Nonfiction text: I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World by Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick 

Writing: argument 

Fiction text: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Video: John Steinbeck - Nobel Prize Author | Mini Bio by Biography (~ 3 min)

Video: Of Mice and Men film (1992) free on Tubi, Rated PG-13 (1 hour, 51 min)

Nonfiction text: “Hail Able Bodies” by Ashley Caveda. Southeast Review. Volume 33.2

Nonfiction text: “A Defense of Dependence” by Ashley Caveda. Pattern Magazine. (2024) 

Video: The Social Model of Disability | NDACA by Creative Connection (~3 min)

Video: The Story of Free Wheelchair Mission (2024 Update) by Free Wheelchair Mission (~2 min) 

Writing: argument 

Fiction text: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 

Nonfiction text: The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinkin

Video: 1944 Port Chicago Explosion: What happened at Port Chicago? by The National WWII Museum (~2 min) 

Video: Navy exonerates Black sailors 80 years after Port Chicago disaster, broadcast on July 20, 2024, by CBS Evening News (~3 min)

Writing: argument 

Fiction text: Witness by Karen Hesse

Video: The Early Ku Klux Klan and White Supremacy by NBC News Learn (~3 min)

Nonfiction text: “In the Lions' Den: A Conversation with Daryl Davis.” Harvard International Review. Published on August 9, 2020. 

Video: The KKK: Its history and lasting legacy by CNN (~7 min)

Video: Why I, as a black man, attend KKK rallies. | Daryl Davis from TEDxNaperville (~19 min)

Video: Daryl Davis Breaks Down His Technique for Talking to Klan Members from The Joe Rogan Experience (~15 min)

Writing: informative

Poems: “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay (1919); “The Lynching” by Claude McKay (1922); “Strange Fruit” by Abel Meeropol and performed by Billie Holiday (1939)

Video: Ida B. Wells: Fearless Investigative Reporter of Southern Horrors by Black History in Two Minutes or so (~2 min)

Video: The Harlem Renaissance by Black History in Two Minutes or so (~2 min)

Video: Audio recording of “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay posted by Poets Speak (~1 min)

Video: Reading of “The Lynching” by Claude McKay by Vincent Powell posted by Vincent Powell (Stop video at 1 min)

Video: Billie Holiday "Strange Fruit" Live 1959 posted by ReelinInTheYears66 (~3 min)

Book: The Burning: Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 by Tim Madigan, adapted by Hilary Beard

Video: The massacre of Tulsa's "Black Wall Street" by Vox (~ 9 min)

Writing: narrative