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English Language Arts

7th Grade

7th Grade ELA Course Summary


In 7th Grade English Language Arts, students explore the question of what it means to be American through texts that address diverse aspects of the American experience: Uprising, Flesh and Blood So Cheap, A Raisin in the Sun, The House on Mango Street, American Born Chinese, The 57 Bus, and relevant texts: short stories, poems articles, and digital media. Through these texts, students will think deeply about the complex past, present, and future of America, and how to define their ever-changing identity as a nation. Across the 6 units, students deepen their writing skills through argumentative, informational, and narrative tasks, and continue to build their academic vocabularies, speaking and listening skills, and social-emotional competencies.

Throughout the course, students address all ELA Common Core Standards as they engage with increasingly complex texts, participate in class discussions, and write daily. Each unit helps build students’ knowledge and understanding of the world around them through thematically organized core and supplemental texts, embedded writing instruction and extended writing assignments in response to Essential Questions, and daily opportunities to engage in multiple tiers of academic discourse

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Units


Unit 1

25 Lessons

Defining America: Poems, Essays, and Short Stories

Students explore the diversity of the American experience through a variety of voices, texts, and genres.

Unit 2

38 Lessons

Fighting Injustice: Uprising & Flesh and Blood So Cheap

Students explore the American experience through close study of the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the social history of the early 20th century.

Unit 3

27 Lessons

Pursuing Dreams: A Raisin in the Sun

Students explore the American experience through the story of an African-American family struggling to achieve their dreams.

Unit 4

19 Lessons

Finding Home: The House on Mango Street

Students explore the American experience through the eyes of a young Latina girl as she struggles to define herself in relation to her community.

Unit 5

22 Lessons

Exploring Identity: American Born Chinese

Students explore the American experience through the story of a young boy's conflicted relationship with his Chinese-American identity.

Unit 6

20 Lessons

Claiming Our Place: LGBTQ+ Experiences in the United States

Students explore the contributions and experiences of LGBTQ+ Americans in the past and present.

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