Grade 8 Spring — Capstone Composition, Public Speaking, Formal Style Mastery, and the K-8 Writing Portfolio
English · WR
G8
eng.g8.s.wr.four_pass_revision_capstone
Revise a capstone composition in 4 passes with formal teacher conferences (CCSS W.8.5)
Conduct disciplined 4-pass revision of one's capstone. Pass 1 STRUCTURE (audience-aware thesis; 5-9 paragraphs; counter-argument; conclusion). Pass 2 CONTENT (research-driven evidence; ≥5 sources; ≥10 citations; synthesis moves applied; counter-argument steel-manned; so-what audience-specific). Pass 3 SENTENCE (formal register sustained; sentence-length variation; verbals deliberate; voice/mood deliberate; cohesion/coherence). Pass 4 MECHANICS (MLA precision; Works Cited; pause-and-break; dash-colon; ellipsis ethical; spelling; title page). Includes ≥4 formal 5-minute writing conferences with teacher.
Mastery threshold
85%
Min instances
8
Typical minutes
70
Spaced intervals (days)
1, 3, 7, 14, 30
Common misconceptions
- Tries to revise everything at once at the 1500-2000-word scale — revision dies.
- Skips Pass 1 because the essay feels 'done' — misses structural issues that no amount of mechanics polishing will fix.
- Treats Pass 4 as the main revision (mechanics-as-revision is the lowest-leverage pass).