Full year
The Grade 7 English Language Arts program aims to develop students’ understanding of literature and other media by engaging students in critical thinking, close reading, analysis, and research. During the course, students explore text structures embedded within various genres as they discover universal themes such as belonging, coming of age, and relationships. By examining works of literature and nonfiction, students are able to move beyond the “who, what, when, where, and why” of text to uncover the theme, message, and author’s purpose.
Writing instruction places an emphasis on the development of writing narratives, arguments, informational text, and poetry. Students are provided opportunities and strategies to plan, revise, edit, and publish their writing pieces. The importance of the reading-writing connection is stressed as students are required to draw upon their knowledge of text structures and author’s craft as they write to inform, explain, and share their opinions. Students also refine their abilities to use text evidence as they write in response to print and digital media. Students continue to understand and apply the essential “rules” of standard written and spoken English as a matter of craft and informed choice.
Students will:
- Explain how the structure of a story and drama contributes to it’s meaning
- Describe how the main idea and theme develops over the course of a text
- Trace an argument and its claim
- Analyze how the characters’ and narrators’ points of view are developed and contrasted in a narrative text
- Explain how the tone and mood are developed through word choice in a narrative text
- Compare the techniques and evidence two authors use to present their perspectives on the same topic
- Write an introduction and conclusion appropriate to the text structure of a text
- Cite sources when quoting and paraphrasing the data or conclusions of others
- Assess the credibility and accuracy of sources
- Create structured event sequences that logically and naturally relay the events of a narrative
Throughout the year, we will explore essential questions such as:
- How does our need to belong affect our actions and behavior?
- How can we use stories to build our empathy and understanding of others?
- How does engaging in arguments shift our perspectives and shape our values?
- How can we use our voices to better the community through civil discourse?
- How might poetry inspire or reflect the human experience?