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8th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 14 of 16

Plan, Form & Voice

Pick a text form, organize ideas, find your voice

What your child practices

Children choose a text form for a purpose and audience, group ideas with patterns such as cause and effect, and match tone and voice to what they are writing.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 8W2 · choosing a text form and organizing pattern for the audience, purpose and tone

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Your audience is the people who will read or see your work. Choose a form for them.
  2. Plan with tools like a storyboard, a web or a research planner.
  3. Voice is the writer’s personality showing in the words.

Example: Which tool helps you sketch the ideas for a story in pictures: a storyboard or a dictionary? You want to sketch scenes. A storyboard is a series of sketches. Answer: a storyboard

Plan, Form & Voice in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 14 of 16 in 8th grade English Language Arts, after Talking & Working Together and before Dialogue, Events and Judging Texts.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Voice in writing means…

    • the writer's personality showing in the words
    • the font size
    • the page margins
    • how loudly a person reads

  2. Question 2

    You are writing a thank-you note to a close friend. Which tone is best?

    • angry
    • warm and friendly
    • cold and formal
    • very technical

  3. Question 3

    Which sentence is the better topic sentence for a paragraph about recycling?

    • Recycling helps our community reduce waste.
    • There are bins.
    • I like Tuesday.
    • Plastic is a thing.

  4. Question 4

    You are writing a letter to the mayor. Which opening is best?

    • Dear Mayor Singh, I am writing about a safety problem near my school.
    • Hey you, listen up!
    • Yo, mayor!
    • Whatever, here is my complaint.

  5. Question 5

    Purpose is…

    • the length of the piece
    • the spelling
    • the reason you are writing, such as to inform, persuade or entertain
    • the title only

  6. Question 6

    Which tone fits a persuasive speech about reducing food waste?

    • confident and respectful, with strong reasons
    • so quiet nobody hears
    • silly with no facts
    • rude and angry

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