Embedded Files
Unit Overview
Unit Overview
In this writing unit, students will write essays that build nuanced, convincing arguments based on community issues they have identified as a cohort. These essays will aim to provide a balance of evidence and analysis to persuade their audience to change their minds or to take action on an issue. At the end of the unit, students will share their writing with members of their school community.
In this writing unit, students will write essays that build nuanced, convincing arguments based on community issues they have identified as a cohort. These essays will aim to provide a balance of evidence and analysis to persuade their audience to change their minds or to take action on an issue. At the end of the unit, students will share their writing with members of their school community.
Unit Vocabulary
Unit Vocabulary
research
relevant evidence
analysis
critical perspective
rhetorical devices
counterclaims
rebuttal
nuanced claim
context
flawed argument
voice
counterargument
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 English Language Arts expand our perspective?
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...
Text Types and Purposes
How to write arguments (e.g., essays, letters to the editor, advocacy speeches) to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
a. How to introduce claim(s), acknowledge alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically in paragraphs and sections.
b. How to support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.
c. How to use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s), reasons, and evidence.
d. How to establish and maintain a style appropriate to audience and purpose (e.g., formal for academic writing).
e. How to provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
How to conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation.
When conducting research, how to gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
How to draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support written analysis, interpretation, reflection, and research, applying one or more grade 7 Standards for Reading Literature or Reading Informational Text as needed.
Production and Distribution of Writing
How to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. For example, students studying the genre of mystery stories write narratives in which they introduce a variety of characters with distinctive traits, create plausible yet mysterious events, use vivid descriptions to create mood, use foreshadowing clues that point to the solution of the mystery, and resolve the mystery with an explanation by one of the characters.
How to develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
a. How to demonstrate command of standard English conventions
b. How to demonstrate the ability to select accurate vocabulary appropriate for audience and purpose
How to use technology, including current web-based communication platforms, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
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