7th Grade ELA grounds itself in the Roots 2 Reach question “Who am I?” Throughout the year students will answer this question multiple times with new information and skills they've acquired through the reading of our course texts.

We will begin the year by reading The House on Mango Street in order to analyze how this novel helps answer the questions “How does my environment impact my identity?” and “ What factors influence my identity?” After this, students will read The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian and begin thinking about the questions “How do internal and external expectations impact my identity?” “How does my history and culture impact my current identity?” and “Is it possible to be yourself and part of a group—even if you don’t identify with parts of that group?”. In the third quarter we will read The Giver and think about the questions “What is my identity within a community?” “Is it worth sacrificing identity for a life of peace, contentment, and ease?”. This unit also shares some essential questions that students will be answering in social studies as well: “Who determines what the rules are?” and “Where do you draw the line of authority?” By focusing each unit on a set of essential questions 7th graders are able to make sense of what we are reading and more clearly make connections from text to text and even class to class.

Throughout the year students will use literature, informational texts, poetry and short stories to analyze and build an understanding of the various essential questions. By approaching reading skills in this way, it is my hope that students will have a well rounded approach to literature and literacy which will empower students to feel confident as readers, writers and critical thinkers. I want all my students to have the literacy skills necessary to navigate the systems and structures of our society. 7th grade ELA relies heavily on discussion, participation and analysis, so it is very important that students read and engage with the assigned texts and activities or they will not be able to participate in group work and whole class discussions. It will be increasingly important to build reading stamina so that students can read independently for longer and longer stretches of time within our class period. We will use rigorous grade level standards and assess through ANET, MAP growth assessments, class participation, and many other activities to monitor student growth and achievement.