Language Arts (Bartlett)

8th Grade: 

Module 4: Teens as Change Agents:  Students will study how young people initiate, influence, and lead social change. Students explore real-world examples, such as the Civil Rights movement through Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, analyzing how teenagers affect history and analyzing the use of evidence in argumentative writing. 

Module 2: The Great War: Students will study how WWI shaped individuals and society by reading literary and historical texts, viewing art and film, analyzing primary documents and analyzing secondary source accounts. The class will read "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque. The novel will be supported by materials about trench warfare, volunteering, women in the war, and victims of the war. Students will cite and evaluate evidence, analyze how incidents reveal character and psychological effects of war, compare text and film adaptations, build vocabulary and grammatical accuracy, participate in Socratic seminars, and produce explanatory writing. 

Module 1: The Poetics and Power of Storytelling: Students will study how we build community, understand ourselves, and explain the world around us suing stories and poems. They will read the novel The Crossover by Kwame Alexander and poetry and ask the question: What is the power of storytelling? Students are finishing this unit by creating a Poetry Portfolio. 

7th Grade: 

Module 3: Language and Power: Students will study how language is used to inspire, persuade, and control, often focusing on pivotal historical moments like the March on Washington and Martin  Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Students analyze how authors and speakers use rhetoric to shape perspective and incite action. Students will also read Animal Farm by George Orwell. 

Module 2: Americans All: Students will study how WWII shaped individuals and identities by reading memoirs and historical fiction, analyze photos and posters, as well ass examine primary and secondary sources. Students will read "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and "Code Talker" by Joseph Bruchac. Through these texts and supplemental materials, students will learn about Pearl Harbor, the Navajo code talkers, Japanese American internment at Manzanar, and broader wartime experiences. Students will explore how cultural identity, discrimination, service, and resilience influenced people's lives. Students will cite evidence, close read, write informative essays, learn vocabulary, and collaborate in discussions through Socratic Seminars. 

Module 1: Identity in the Middle Ages: Students are introduced to the daily lives of medieval Europeans. Immersed in the Middle Ages (500-1500 AD), students focus on identity and character and the impact of society on both. Students will be reading Castle Diary by Richard Platt and The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman. Students are finishing this unit by creating an end of module narrative story.