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8th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 6 of 14

Forms, Patterns & Visuals

Text forms, patterns and visual design

What your child practices

Comparing text forms such as editorials, news articles, poems and graphic novels, spotting text patterns like problem-solution and compare-contrast, and judging how features, images and design add to meaning.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 8.8(D); 8.9(C) · text forms, patterns and visual features

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Text forms: news articles report facts, editorials argue an opinion, graphic novels tell stories in panels.
  2. Text patterns: problem and solution, compare and contrast, cause and effect, sequence.
  3. Features like glossaries, headings, images and design help readers understand.

Example: A passage tells how two bikes are alike and how they differ. Which text pattern does it use? It shows likenesses and differences. That is the compare-and-contrast pattern. Answer: compare and contrast

Forms, Patterns & Visuals in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 6 of 14 in 8th grade English Language Arts, after Whose Story Is It? and before Reading Detective.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    According to the passage, which is an advantage of an e-book?

    Paper or Screen?

    Printed books and e-books both let readers enjoy stories. A printed book has pages that you hold and turn, and it does not need a battery. An e-book, in contrast, can hold hundreds of titles on one device and lets readers change the size of the text.

    However, many readers find that they remember more of what they read on paper. E-books are easier to carry; printed books are easier on the eyes for some people.

    • It does not need a battery.
    • It can hold hundreds of titles on one device.
    • It has pages you can turn.
    • It is easier on the eyes for everyone.

  2. Question 2

    A news story about a flood uses a photo of a calm, sunny lake. What problem could this cause?

    • The photo is too colorful.
    • The image does not match the message and could confuse readers.
    • Photos are not allowed in news stories.
    • It makes the story longer.

  3. Question 3

    A letter to the editor often follows which text pattern?

    • a rhyme scheme
    • a list of steps in order
    • a description of a place
    • problem and solution

  4. Question 4

    Why do designers use a large, bold font for a headline?

    • to make it harder to read
    • to hide the text
    • to catch attention and show that it is important
    • to save space

  5. Question 5

    Which word signals a contrast?

    Paper or Screen?

    Printed books and e-books both let readers enjoy stories. A printed book has pages that you hold and turn, and it does not need a battery. An e-book, in contrast, can hold hundreds of titles on one device and lets readers change the size of the text.

    However, many readers find that they remember more of what they read on paper. E-books are easier to carry; printed books are easier on the eyes for some people.

    • However
    • pages
    • Printed
    • enjoy

  6. Question 6

    Which signal words are common in a compare-and-contrast text?

    • first, next, finally
    • similarly, in contrast, however
    • for instance, such as
    • because, as a result

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