bellevue high school curriculum 7th grade english...
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Bellevue High School Curriculum
7th Grade English / SpringBoard
Sarah Kunnen
Notes:
- The SpringBoard curriculum is a scaffolded sequence of instruction. I follow
SpringBoard’s pacing and complete four units over the course of the school year.
- SpringBoard authentically embeds grammar throughout the units. I add a daily bell
ringer that focusses on grammar to reinforce what is being addressed in
SpringBoard.
- Due to the recurring/overlapping nature of many of the English/Language Arts
standards, many of these standards are represented multiple times across several
units – each standard is addressed at least once, and will be associated with the unit
in which that standard is first addressed, but many standards can be addressed in
multiple units.
- I have attached the SpringBoard curriculum for access to all activities listed as well as
assessments and scoring rubrics.
- High end learning activities are bolded.
-
Unit 1: The Choices We Make
This unit introduces the yearlong focus on “choices,” using a variety of genres to investigate this
thematic concept. Students will examine texts that present characters that, for personal or
cultural reasons, have made choices about the way they live their lives. Students will analyze
fiction and nonfiction texts and create and present original works that express your own
connections to the texts in relationship to the choices they face.
Standards
RL7.01 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well
as inferences drawn from the text.
RL7.02 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the
text; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL7.03 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the
characters or plot).
RL7.05 Analyze how a drama or poem’s form or structure contributes to its meaning.
RL7.04 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and
connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration)
on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.
RL7.09 Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account
of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history.
RL7.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems in
the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the
range.
RI 7.05 Analyze the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections
contribute to the whole and to the development of the ideas.
W 7.03 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique,
relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
a. Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a
narrator and /or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds logically.
b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences,
events, and or characters.
c. Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts form
one time frame or setting to another.
d. Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture
the action and convey experiences and events.
e. Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events.
W 7.04 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W 7.05 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as
needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose
and audience have been addressed.
W 7.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and
shorter time frames (a single setting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes,
and audiences.
SL 7.01 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher
led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing
their own clearly.
a. Come to discussions prepared, having read or researched material under study; explicitly draw on that
preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas under
discussion.
b. Follow rules for collegial discussions, track progress toward specific goals and deadlines, and define
individual roles as needed.
c. Pose questions that elicit elaboration and respond to others’ questions and comments with relevant
observations and ideas that bring the discussion back on topic as needed.
d. Acknowledge new information expressed by others and, when warranted, modify their own views
L 7.01 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing
or speaking.
a. Explain the function of phrases and clauses in general and their function in specific sentences.
b. Choose among simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences to signal differing
relationships among ideas.
c. Place phrases and clauses within a sentence, recognizing and correcting misplaced and dangling
modifiers.
L 7.02 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling when writing.
a. Use a comma to separate coordinate adjectives (e.g., It was a fascinating, enjoyable movie but not He
wore an old [,] green shirt).
b. Spell correctly.
L 7.03 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading or listening.
a. Choose language that expresses ideas precisely and concisely, recognizing and eliminating
wordiness and redundancy.
L 7.04 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on
grade 7 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
a. Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word’s position or function in a
sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
b. Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word
(e.g., belligerent, bellicose, rebel).
c. Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both
print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its
part of speech.
d. Verify the preliminary determination
L 7.05 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word
meanings.
a. Interpret figures of speech (e.g., literary, biblical, and mythological allusions) in context.
b. Use the relationship between particular words (e.g., synonym/antonym, analogy) to better
understand each of the words.
c. Distinguish among the connotations (associations) of words with similar denotations (definitions)
(e.g., refined, respectful, polite, diplomatic, condescending).
L 7.06 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and
phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension
or expression.
Learning Activities: See SpringBoard Attachment
1.1 Previewing the Unit
1.2 Exploring the Concept of Choice
1.3 Thinking About the Choices I Make
1.4 The Idea of Choice
1.5 Choices Have Consequences
1.6 Touch Choices That Reveal Character
1.7 Exploring Personal Narrative
1.8 Analyzing a Personal Narrative on Choice
1.9 The Choices We Make
1.10 Learning from Our Choices
1.11 Choosing a Topic for Timed Writing
1.12 Understanding Revision
1.13 How We Choose to Respond: Writing Groups
1.14 Revising the Beginning
1.15 Revising the Middle
1.16 Revising the Ending
1.17 Folk Literature
1.18 Characters and Choices
1.19 Introduction to Mythology
1.20 Structural Elements of a Narrative Plot
1.21 Know Your Roots: Word Choice
1.22 Poor Choices
1.23 Symbols
1.24 Myths and Reality
1.25 Creation Stories
Learning Targets
Students will…
- Analyze the skills and knowledge necessary for success in this unit.
- Explore the concept of choice
- Draft a response about a significant choice.
- Analyze words to build vocabulary.
- Interpret a poem.
- Understand that choices have consequences.
- Develop vocabulary through diffusing.
- Recognize the relationship between choice and character.
- Understand the key components of an effective narrative, apply narrative elements to
storytelling, draft ideas about personal incidents involving choice.
- Analyze the model of narrative structure and narrative elements.
- Understand the importance of annotating text.
- Recognize and use transitions that indicate time order.
- Recognize tone.
- Reflect on a significant incident.
- Plan writing in a timed situation and draft a personal narrative.
- Understand the purpose of revision.
- Communicate in a small writing group.
- Recognize different types of openings by published authors.
- Write engaging openings using different techniques.
- Learn techniques for revising the middle of a narrative, add sensory images and details,
revise to show characters’ thoughts and feelings.
- Understand the importance of a good ending and revise the ending of a narrative.
- Understand the characteristics and types of stories in folk literature.
- Understand the influence of mythology.
- Recognize the connection between mythos of various cultures.
- Understand the structural elements of a plot.
- Recognize theme in literary works.
- Engage in a close reading about choices and consequences.
- Provide textual evidence for statements about characterization.
- Understand symbols and their function in literary works.
- Apply knowledge of symbols in an illustration.
- Connect mythology to life and recognize how myths explain natural elements.
- Use visualization to promote comprehension.
Resources
Images that suggest stories
Illustrations of the myth of Icarus
Copies of advertisements
Technology
Internet access
Microsoft Word
Reading
- Excerpt from “You” by Edgar A. Guest
- “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
- Excerpt from “Staying Fat for Sarah Brynes” by Christ Crutcher
- Excerpt from “Dust Tracks on a Road” by Zora Neal Hurston
- “A Hundred Bucks of Happy” by Susan Beth Pfeffer
- “Ditching” from The Classroom of Life by Alan Lawrence Sitomer
- Excerpt from “A Single Shard” by Linda Sue Park
- “Daedalus and Icarus” by Geraldine McCaughrean
- “Phaethon” by Bernard Evslin
- “Arachne” by Olivia Coolidge
- “Raven and the Sources of Light” by Donna Rosenberg
Writing
- Quick writes
o Using your brainstorming cluster, write about a significant choice you had to make.
Describe the factors that went into making that decision.
o Write a description of how you would spend $100 you found on the street. What do
you think your choices reveal about you?
o Respond to one of the following quotations. Be sure to include whether or not you
agree or disagree and why. In your response, be aware of the pronouns you use and
make them agree with their antecedents.
“Was it stealing, to wait as Tree-ear had for more rice to fall before alerting the
man that this rice bag was leaking?”
“Did a good deed balance a bad one?”
“Scholars read the great words of the world. But you and I must learn to read
the world itself.”
- Writing prompts
o Write about an incident listed on your Choices Chart. You may use the same one you
used in your oral retelling. Use the 5 W’s that you used in your storytelling to generate
ideas for writing.
o Write a personal narrative about a significant event in your life in which you faced a
major challenge and were able to overcome it. Describe the challenge, explain how you
overcame it, and reflect on the impact it has had on you as a result.
o Explain a major theme that you think Daedalus and Icarus puts forward. Use specific
examples form the text to illustrate your answer.
o Write a dialogue between Icarus and his father that might have taken place if Icarus had
survived the fall. Be sure to write dialogue using correct punctuation and capitalization.
Speaking/Listening
- Oral story telling
- Writing groups
- Folk Literature presentations
- Oral Reading: “Daedalus and Icarus”
Formative Assessments
- Daily Oral Language Bell Ringer
- Exit slips
- Quick writes
- Writing Prompts
Summative Assessments
- Revising a Personal Narrative
o You will revise the personal narrative you created during the timed writing activity. Use
the revision techniques you have learned in this unit. You will also write a reflection on
the changes you make to improve your first draft and explain the effect of the changes
on the final piece.
- Creating an Illustrated Myth
o Working with a partner, create an original myth that explains a natural phenomenon
and also teaches a lesson or a moral. Include illustrations that complement the myth as
it unfolds.
Unit 2: What Influences My Choices?
The are many reasons why people choose to do something, buy something, or think a certain
way. In this unit, students will investigate how persuasion influences people’s choices. First,
students will look at the art of persuasion in nonprint texts, then move on to print texts. By the
end of the unit, students will become skilled readers and writers of persuasive texts and be able
to recognize the techniques writers use to influence the choices they make.
Standards
RI 7.01 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well
as inferences drawn from the text.
RI 7.02 Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of
the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
RI 7.03 Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas
influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events).
RI 7.04 Determine the meanings of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative,
connotative, & technical meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
RI 7.06 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author
distinguishes his or her position from that of others.
RI 7.07 Compare and contrast a text to an audio, video, or multimedia version of the text, analyzing
each medium’s portrayal of the subject (e.g., how the delivery of a speech affects the impact of the
words).
RI 7.08 Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is
sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claims.
RI 7.09 Analyze how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape their presentations of key
information by emphasizing different evidence or advancing different interpretations of facts.
W 7.01 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
a. Introduce claim(s), acknowledge alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence
logically.
b. Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and
demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.
c. Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s),
reasons, and evidence.
d. Establish and maintain a formal style.
e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
SL 7.03 Delineate a speaker’s argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning
and the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
Learning Activities
2.1 Previewing the Unit
2.2 Looking at My Choices
2.3 Consumeropoly
2.4 Media, Advertising, and Consumer Choices
2.5 Persuasive Techniques
2.6 Advertising Claims
2.7 Audience in Advertisements: Part One
2.8 Common Persuasive words and Phrases
2.9 Audience in Advertisements: Part Two
2.10 Elements of Advertisements
2.11 Analysis of an Advertisement
2.12 Fighting Back
2.13 What We Choose to Believe
2.14 Post-Reading: What We Choose to Believe
2.15: Fact or Opinion?
2.16 News or Views?
2.17 Exploring My Opinions
2.18 Developing an Argument
2.19 Reading an Editorial
2.20 Writing a Letter to the Editor
Learning Targets
Students will
- Recognize and analyze the influence of others on one’s choices.
- Write and revise an expository paragraph.
- Evaluate the forces of consumerism.
- Communicate in a small group.
- Identify main types of media.
- Recognize the role that advertising plays in the media.
- Consider factors that affect consumer choices.
- Recognize the methods that advertisers often use to persuade.
- Analyze advertisements for these techniques and apply the techniques to different
audiences.
- Recognize the ways in which advertisers use words to persuade.
- Write using persuasive language.
- Recognize the ways that advertisers ‘target’ specific audiences.
- Understand the relationship between purpose and audience.
- Identify key words and phrases that advertisers use.
- Examine the effects of specific persuasive words and phrases.
- Write an advertisement applying advertising techniques and words.
- Recognize and analyze ways that advertisers target specific audiences and use particular
words and phrases to persuade.
- Understand the key elements of a print advertisement and the intended effects on an
audience.
- Create an advertisement.
- Identify and evaluate advertising techniques.
- Write a well-developed analytical paragraph.
- Identify how and why ads mislead customers.
- Express concerns in a business letter.
- Examine an author’s persuasive skills.
- Consider how a readers’ mind can be changed by a persuasive text.
- Analyze a persuasive text and develop a thesis statement.
- Differentiate between face and opinion. Develop a position in response to a persuasive
text.
- Identify and analyze two sides of an issue.
- Recognize the difference between a news article and an editorial.
- Examine an argument and explore a position on the issue.
- Communicate in a small group context.
- Examine appeals and persuasive techniques in arguments.
- Analyze and critique a response to an editorial.
- Examine and evaluate effective arguments.
- Analyze and evaluate an editorial argument.
- Review business letter format and craft a letter to the editor.
Resources
- Advertisement examples
- Consumeropoly board game and money
- Magazine covers
- Print ads and videos of TV ads
- Editorial examples
Technology
- Smartboard
- Internet access
Reading
“Today’s Youth Look to Advertising as Much as their Friends When Making Purchase Decisions,”
From Harris Interactive
“From Ramp to Riches,” by Lea Goldman
“Facts about Marketing to Children,” from The Center for a New American Dream
“America the Not-So-Beautiful,” from Not That You Asked by Andrew Rooney
“Bullying Into the Green Movement,” by Alex Williams
“City Schools Cut Parents’ Lifeline” by Elissa Gootman
“Hang it Up” by Jesse Scaccia
Writing
- Quick write
o Choose one advertisement. What is the relationship between audience,
purpose, and content in the advertisement?
o Sometimes people are dissatisfied with a product they have purchased. Select
an item that disappointed you, and describe the experience.
o Should schools require students to wear uniforms? Explain.
- Writing Prompt
o Write a well-developed expository paragraph about what and who most
influence the choices you make. Provide support by describing actual choices
you have made because of those influences, and explain the effect of those
choices on your life. Be sure to use a variety of sentence structures. Edit for
correct use of punctuation and subject verb agreement.
o How does the advertisement attempt to influence the targeted audience? Is the
ad effective? Provide specific detail from the ad to support your analysis.
o Write a thesis statement responding to the author’s opinion about the Green
Movement.
Speaking/Listening
- Consumeropoly
- Discussion Groups
- Working with a partner, choose a common object to sell. Identify your target audience,
and create an ad for the product. Use a persuasive technique and persuasive words you
have learned. Present your ad to the class.
- Work collaboratively with your group to write a response to the article. Include the
following in your response: position statement, direct reference to the article and a
point that you agree or disagree with, support for your position.
Formative Assessments
- Daily Oral Language Bell Ringer
- Exit slips
- Quick writes
- Writing Prompts
Summative Assessments
Analyzing an Advertisement and Creating a New One:
- Your assignment has three parts. First, select a print ad, and write a well-developed
analytical paragraph that identifies specific techniques, claims, language, and images in
the ad and analyze the effect of these elements on the intended audience. Next, create
a new ad for the same product that is targeted to a different audience. Finally, write a
reflection to explain the relationship between the content of an ad and the intended
audience. Support your explanation by pointing out difference between the original and
new ads.
Writing a Letter to the Editor:
- Your assignment is to choose an editorial, analyze the persuasive arguments, and write
a letter to the editor, agreeing or disagreeing with the writer of the editorial.
Unit 3: Our Choices and Life’s Lessons
Students will explore a text that focuses on one young man’s emerging realizations about
himself, his family, and as a member of the society. Students will interpret, analyze, and
evaluate a novel in terms of point of view, characterization, plot, structure, and other elements
that create a unique text. Finally, students will analyze the choices made by the characters in
the novel and relate the concept of choices and consequences to their own lives.
Standards
RL7.06 Analyze how an author develops and contrasts points of view of different characters or narrators
in a text
RL7.07 Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia
version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or
camera focus and angles in a film).
RI 7.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6-8 text
complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed, at the high end of the range.
W 7.02 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and
information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
a. Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas, concepts, and information,
using strategies such as definition, classification, comparison/contrast, and cause/effect; include
formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding
comprehension.
b. Develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information
and examples.
c. Use appropriate transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts.
d. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform or explain about the topic.
e. Establish and maintain a formal style.
f. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or
explanation presented.
W 7.06 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite
sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources
W 7.06 Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and
generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation.
W 7.07 Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms
effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and
conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
W 7.08 Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms
effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and
conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
W 7.09 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
a. Apply grade 7 reading standards to literature. (e.g. Compare and contrast a …)
b. Apply grade 7 reading standards to informational texts. (e.g. Trace and evaluate…)
SL 7.02 Analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g.,
visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.
SL 7.04 Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with
pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and examples; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and
clear pronunciation.
SL 7.05 Include multimedia components and visual displays in presentations to clarify claims and
findings and emphasize salient points.
SL 7.06 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English
when indicated or appropriate.
Learning Activities
3.1 Previewing the Unit
3.2 Peeling a Tangerine
3.3 Selling the Novel
3.4 Previewing the Novel
3.5 Getting into the Text: A Close Reading of the Prologue
3.6 Beginning the Novel
3.7 Choices and Consequences One
3.8 A Memo
3.9 First Day of School Experience
3.10 Film Connections
3.11 Lightning Strikes
3.12 Wonders of the World
3.13 The Sinkhole
3.14 Amazing Rescues
3.15 Choices and Consequences Two
3.16 The Choices We Make
3.17 Another New School
3.18 Comparing Schools
3.19 The New Team
3.20 Seeing and Understanding
3.21 It’s Just a Game
3.22 Choices and Consequences Three
3.23 Novel Structure: Conflict and Plot
3.24 Saving the Grove
3.25 Real Life: Bully-Proofing
3.26 Saving Paul
3.27 Choices and Consequences Four
3.28 Paul’s Report to the Police
3.29 What is a Brother
3.30 Brainstorming for a Research Project
3.31 Evaluating My Sources: How Reliable Are They?
3.32 Creating an Annotated Bibliography
Learning Targets
Students will…
- Apply sensory imagery in oral and written form.
- Apply knowledge of simile and metaphor to writing.
- Make predictions based on print and nonprint text.
- Examine the structure of the novel.
- Establish a method of active reading; double entry journal.
- Generate connections among texts and to oneself.
- Identify characters, setting, and opening situation of the novel.
- Make predictions and draw inferences from a close reading
- Read actively by questioning the text.
- Visualize details of the setting.
- Interpret the consequences of choices the characters make.
- Provide textual support
- Make predictions
- Understand the significance of point of view in creating text
- Gain awareness of audience, language, and purpose in writing
- Use subordinate clauses and appositives
- Analyze flashback and foreshadowing
- Analyze methods of characterization in film and novels
- Compare and contrast relationships between characters
- Write a comparison/contrast paragraph of essay
- Use transition words
- Develop and revise a paragraph
- Analyze and evaluate voice
- Analyze a significant event in the main characters growth
- Transform text from one genre to another
- Analyze text to create interpretive questions
- Understand hyperbole
- Create a newspaper article in an assigned voice
- Analyze the structure of the novel
- Differentiate between major and minor conflicts and plots
- Categorize conflicts
- Predict and question the text
- Write for a specific audience and purpose
- Determine meaning from context and multiple readings
- Make connections between a poem and the novel
- Summarize key events in the novel
- Distinguish between literal and figurative meaning
- Evaluate the effectiveness of text
- Brainstorm research topics derived from ideas in the novel
- Conduct research
- Create an annotated bibliography
Resources
- Film: Sandlot
- Tangerines
- Dramatic rescue informational text
Technology
- Internet access
- Smart board
- Power point
Reading
Tangerine by Edward Bloor
“Taming Wild Girls”, by Jeffery Kluger
“To an Athlete Dying Young,” by A. E. Housman
Writing
- Daily double entry journal with reading of Tangerine
- Writing Prompt
o Identify which of the choices on your chart is the most significant and explain
why.
o Write an interpretive response about the use of flashback. Use sentence
structures you have learned in this unit. If appropriate, add an appositive to
your response.
o Use information from your double entry journal, identify which of the choices is
the most significant and explain why.
o Write a paragraph that focuses on the differences between the two schools.
Include a strong topic sentence that makes a point about the differences. Use
transition words and conjunctions as you draft and revise your paragraph.
o Use the format of a business letter and the framework of a problem / solution
essay. In your letter, describe the bullying situation, explain why it is a serious
problem, offer possible solutions, and make a plea for the person or group to
whom you are writing to help make a change.
Speaking/Listening
- Group research project
- Think pair share
- Share double entry journals
- Class discussion: bullying solutions
Formative Assessments
- Daily Oral Language Bell Ringer
- Exit slips
- Quick writes
- Writing Prompts
Summative Assessments
Writing an Analytical Essay
- Now that you have read the novel Tangerine, write a multiparagraph literary analysis
essay in which you analyze the choices made by Paul’s parents, by Paul, or by another
character in the novel. Consider the impact of these choices on Paul. For example, you
might focus on how the character’s choices affect Paul’s life, his self-concept, and his
relationship with his peers and or family members.
Research and Presenting a Problem and Solutions
- Work with our research group to describe a real life problem as it is presented in the
novel Tangerine. For this assignment, you will conduct research on your problem and
propose solutions to the problem using the reference materials that you located. Your
final product will be a visual display in the form of digital slides or a trifold project
display board, which will be viewed by an audience.
Unit 4: Reflecting On My Choices
Students will reflect upon the choices they have made in their writing, in addition to setting
new goals for the remainder of the year. This unit includes activities and tasks that allow the
student to revisit, reflect on, and transform previous assignments in order to understand the
role that purpose, audience, and structure can have in the revision process.
Standards
W 7.05 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as
needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose
and audience have been addressed.
L 7.01 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing
or speaking.
a. Explain the function of phrases and clauses in general and their function in specific sentences.
b. Choose among simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences to signal differing
relationships among ideas.
c. Place phrases and clauses within a sentence, recognizing and correcting misplaced and dangling
modifiers.
L 7.02 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling when writing.
a. Use a comma to separate coordinate adjectives (e.g., It was a fascinating, enjoyable movie but not He
wore an old [,] green shirt).
b. Spell correctly.
L 7.03 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading or listening.
a. Choose language that expresses ideas precisely and concisely, recognizing and eliminating
wordiness and redundancy.
Learning Activities
4.1 Previewing the Unit
4.2 Revisiting Choices
4.3 Revisiting Writing
4.4 Choosing Your Voice
4.5 RAFT Brainstorming
4.6 Reviewing Revision
4.7 Revision: Replacing “Dead Words”
4.8 Revision: Deleting Wordiness
4.9 Revision: Combing Sentences
4.10 Revising Structure: Rearranging a Text
Learning Targets
Students will
- Access prior knowledge about key ideas and concepts
- Interview others about choice
- Reflect on the effects of and attitudes about choice
- Generate a draft for revision
- Revisit prior work
- Recognize changes and development in writing skills
- Recognize how audience influences voice
- Write in a specified voice for a specified audience
- Analyze language use that distinguishes voice
- Reinforce the significance of role, audience, format, and topic in writing
- Transform text based on changes in role, audience, format, and topic
- Reflect on knowledge and attitudes about revising texts
- Understand the difference between editing and revising
- Revise by deleting and substituting
- Increase awareness of local revision choices
- Eliminate wordiness in texts
- Combine sentences by using appositives
- Create and combine sentences by using subordination
Resources
- Previous written pieces
Technology
- Internet / computer lab access
Reading
- Exemplar texts
Writing
- Quick write
o Select one of the choices you explored and write a paragraph explaining your
attitude and the effect of your choice. Include a reflection evaluating whether
you would make this choice again.
o Based on your quick write and your interview with other about choice, write a
thesis sentence that makes a generalization about the choices people make and
the impact of choices on their lives.
o Using your brainstorming cluster, write about a significant choice you had to
make. Describe the factors that went into making that decision.
Speaking/Listening
- Think pair share
- Choices interview
- Revision survey
Formative Assessments
- Daily Oral Language Bell Ringer
- Exit slips
- Quick writes
- Writing Prompts
Summative Assessments
Making Revision Choices
- Your assignment is to revise a piece of your writing using the revision techniques you
have learned throughout the year. After you have completed your revision, write a
reflection on the changes you made to the piece and the ways that these changes
improved your piece.