English Language Arts Course Description

The 7th-grade English Language Arts classes feature a unique blend of contemporary and classic literature, combining rigorous reading and writing routines to guide students toward mastery. In these classes, students actively think, write, and communicate their thoughts on the themes of the associated literary selections.

The ELA curriculum is a standards-based program that uses themes to guide instruction in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. It integrates classic and contemporary literature through a digital platform with multimedia resources and includes numerous formative reading and writing assessments, as well as end-of-unit summative evaluations (The associated scoring rubrics can be found in Infinite Campus). The curriculum is designed to be flexible, with scaffolds and supports for diverse learners, and is available in both print and digital formats.

The ELA curriculum is organized into six engaging units, each centered on a single theme and essential question. Instruction is integrated across listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking skills. Students engage with a large library of classic and contemporary literature, with options for both complex texts and scaffolds for struggling readers. Rich multimedia and digital tools are used to engage students and enhance instruction. Students regularly complete short, written response assignments designed to check comprehension, encourage concise thinking, and practice specific writing skills like supporting an argument with evidence and reasoning. Students will also be challenged by a common, district-end-of-unit assessment that uses grade-level-appropriate passages to assess student performance against the key reading standards covered in the unit.

In addition to the ELA curriculum, students will read two complete, paperback novel studies per year. Students read complete novels because it develops cognitive skills like sustained attention and critical thinking, improves emotional intelligence and empathy, and provides a deeper understanding of themes and character development than reading excerpts. Engaging with a full-length novel builds neural pathways for complex thought and helps students connect with universal human experiences.

Advanced English Language Arts Class

Students in the Advanced English Language Arts classes will experience a different depth and complexity of instruction. This class requires students to think analytically while clearly expressing ideas. The independent novel studies will challenge students to a higher level of thinking and help them build stamina as they dig deeper into the concepts related to the associated unit and understand them with greater complexity.

Habits of Scholarship

In Mr. Norton's 7th-grade English Language Arts class, students’ character development is equally important as developing vocabulary knowledge and mastering reading and writing skills. Throughout their educational journey, students are working to become effective learners, ethical people, and contributors to a better world. Perseverance, responsibility, and self-advocacy are essential for success in school and life. To support the development of these skills, Mr. Norton evaluates a student's habits of scholarship weekly (The associated scoring rubric can be found in Infinite Campus).

Grading Practices

Mr. Norton utilizes a standards-based grading system that assesses students on their mastery of specific learning standards, rather than on points earned for individual assignments. Standards-based grading focuses on what students know and how they are progressing toward their learning goals. This grading method provides students with multiple opportunities to demonstrate success or receive enrichment and builds in time for redos of formative assessments and reassessment of standards. Standards-based grading separately assesses the influence of work habits on student learning. This method of grading better measures student learning, and it can also help parents understand what is expected of students. You can find out more about Cresthill Middle School's grading practices by selecting this link.

Mr. Norton updates information in Infinite Campus on a timely basis, as this is his primary way of communicating a student's academic achievement and engagement in his class. Infinite Campus is the district-wide student information system used by Cresthill Middle School to manage student data, such as grades. In addition to in-progress grade reporting, students and parents can also view the associated learning objectives, scoring rubrics, and teacher comments in Infinite Campus.

Contact Information

Robert Norton, MA Ed.

English Teacher

Cresthill Middle School

rnorton@dcsdk12.org