Embedded Files
Unit Overview
Unit Overview
In this unit, students will focus on developing their speaking and listening skills in collaboration with their community book club groups. Choice novels were selected to make connections to various elements of culture and history in India, the Middle East, and Africa to support what students are learning in social studies classes. Students will develop their own questions and engage each other in student-guided book discussions to explore the idea of community through a lens of character and/or place. Throughout the unit, students will investigate and discuss how our identity is shaped by the places we are from and the power of language in expressing our identity. Additionally, students will conduct short research projects to learn more about the place and culture that creates the setting of their novel, and they will compare that knowledge with the events from the book.
In this unit, students will focus on developing their speaking and listening skills in collaboration with their community book club groups. Choice novels were selected to make connections to various elements of culture and history in India, the Middle East, and Africa to support what students are learning in social studies classes. Students will develop their own questions and engage each other in student-guided book discussions to explore the idea of community through a lens of character and/or place. Throughout the unit, students will investigate and discuss how our identity is shaped by the places we are from and the power of language in expressing our identity. Additionally, students will conduct short research projects to learn more about the place and culture that creates the setting of their novel, and they will compare that knowledge with the events from the book.
Unit Vocabulary
Unit Vocabulary
Collaboration
Discussion
Reflect
Goal Setting
Active Listening
Elaborate
Levelled Questions
Detail
Argument
Perspective
Reason/logic
Clarity
Presence
Volume
Focus
Multimedia
Presentation
Audience
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
Who am I as a reader, as a writer, as a speaker, and as a thinker?
Why are reading, writing, and storytelling essential components of the human experience?
How does where we come from shape our identity?
Why do we want to belong and what are our responsibilities to those who don’t?
What is a person’s responsibility to his or her community?
Unit Standards
Unit Standards
All ELA standards can be found listed in the updated 2017 Massachusetts State ELA Grade 7 Frameworks:
Students will learn...
Reading for Literature:
Key Ideas and Details
How to explain the development of a dynamic character in a work
Craft and Structure
How to determine the denotation of a word and explain its impact
How to determine the connotation of a word and explain its impact
How to determine the author's (narrator's/character's) position in relationship to the story that is being told
Reading for Information:
Key Ideas and Details
How to make connections between texts
Speaking and Listening
Comprehension and Collaboration
How to prepare for discussion with notes and evidence
How to use the text in a discussion
What discussion rules are and how to apply them
How to set and track goals for speaking and listening
What roles are in collaborative work and how to apply them
How to elaborate and keep discussions on track
How to pose good questions
How to respond with detail
How to reflect thoughtfully
How to connect various media to discussion
How to track a speaker’s argument through a work
How to acknowledge new information
How to analyze key perspectives and explain how those perspectives and details clarify a topic of text
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
How to apply the following presentation skills:
Have a main idea
Use logic
Eye contact
Volume
clarity
How to integrate multimedia into presentations
How to have a focused presentation with salient/relevant points
How to identify the intended audience and its effect on presentations
Mentor and Choice Texts:
Mentor and Choice Texts:
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
The Night Diary by
Veera Hiranandani
Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
Refugee by Alan Gratz
I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosin
Echo by Pal Munoz Ryan
I Will Always Write Back by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda with Liz Welch
The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Page updated
Report abuse