Help your Grade 8 students master text structure the way RI.8.5 actually demands it: not whole-text organization, but the detailed structure of a single paragraph - the role of particular sentences in developing and refining a key concept. This complete unit teaches students to find a paragraph’s key concept, label the job each sentence does, and analyze how specific sentences build the concept up and sharpen it.

Where younger students analyze how the major sections of a whole text fit together, Grade 8 readers zoom in to a single paragraph and analyze it sentence by sentence. The keystone Paragraph Structure Statement brings the key concept, the role of particular sentences, and the developing-and-refining distinction into one analytical sentence students can apply to any informational paragraph.

WHAT IS INCLUDED

• 52-slide Google Slides / PowerPoint deck, 10 lessons, with full speaker notes
• Worksheet 1: text-structure vocabulary, develop-versus-refine sorting, key concept and sentence roles, quick check (2 pages)
• Worksheet 2: naming sentence roles, sorting developing and refining sentences (2 pages)
• Worksheet 3: independent analysis, Paragraph Structure Statement, self-assessment (2 pages)
• Exit ticket with an original unseen paragraph and a four-task assessment
• 4-point assessment rubric with teaching notes and differentiation guidance

CCSS STANDARDS

RI.8.5 - Analyze in detail the structure of a specific paragraph in a text, including the role of particular sentences in developing and refining a key concept

All passages are original - not recycled public-domain filler.