Descriptions of the Standards Grades 7–8

Below are descriptions for all the tested English Language Arts standards and an activity that you can do with your child to address each standard.

Information and Understanding

This standard focuses on understanding and remembering important facts in such different kinds of writing as newspaper articles and short stories. Students should be able to follow the important ideas and events while they read. They should be able to understand how one event leads to another. Students should also be able to collect facts and information from different kinds of writing and to explain that information.

Ask your child to imagine the perfect Saturday in the city when your family will go to a place that you have never been. Encourage him to craft a plan for going to this destination. Explain that he must find information about how to get there and what you can do while there. Once he has this information, ask him to offer a presentation of it.

Literary Response and Expression

This standard focuses on responding to different kinds of writing. Students should read, watch, and listen to plays, poems, and stories, and should be able to connect their own lives to what they see and hear. Students should also understand how a person's background, society, and history influence different pieces of writing.

Choose a book that you and your child can read at the same time. After you have each read a chapter or section, discuss the main character. Ask your child what she and the main character have in common. Then ask her to come up with differences. Discuss some of the main character's important decisions and ask your child to describe what she would have done.

Critical Analysis

This standard focuses on reading and thinking about different kinds of writing. Students should be able to ask questions, form opinions, and make decisions about what they read. They should be able to express their opinions in response to different ideas, experiences, and issues. Students should also be able to think and write about issues from different points of view.

When your child is close to finishing a book, ask her to write an ending to the story. Once your child has actually finished the book, compare her ending with the author's. You might discuss the following questions: How similar or different are the two endings? Which one do you think readers will prefer? Why? What made your child choose to end the book the way she did? What might have led the author to create the actual ending?

Social Interaction

This standard focuses on communicating with different types of people. Students should be able to speak and write in standard English. They should also be able to communicate effectively with many different groups of people, and to read and listen to what other people say in order to understand what they believe.

Ask your child to help you understand an upcoming election in your community. Read an article about a political candidate and have her summarize the candidate's beliefs about a particular issue. Talk about how to determine the candidate's beliefs from statements in the article. Then ask your child if she agrees or disagrees with the candidate, and why she would or would not vote for this person.