7th Grade Curriculum

    Unit 7.1 Identity

    All of us possess distinguishing characteristics that combine together to make our unique selves. These include our physical traits, attitudes, and talents. as the Enduring Understanings and Essential Questions suggest, the Identity them invites students to think about how our experiences and relationships shape us. The anchor and supplementary texts provide opportunity to analyze the qualities of characters in literature and cinsider how characters actions and decisions are influenced by personality traits. Along with the common tasks, reading, writing, and discussion should offer an occasion for self-reflection, for students and teachers to consider their own identities.

    Enduring Understanings

    • Experiences and relatonships influence identity
    • Indentity affects perceptions and behavior
    • Effective readers make inferences about characters in a text

    Essential Questions

    • What is identity and how is it shaped?
    • How does self-concept affect perceptions and behaviors?
    • How do writers develop characters' identities?

    Core Novels

    • Adventures of Tom Sawyer
    • Catherine, Called Birdy
    • Freak the Mighty
    • Midwife's Apprentive
    • Nothing But the Truth
    • The Outsiders
    • The Sword in the Stone
    • Welcome Home Jellybean

    Unit 7.2 A Sense of Place

    Our sense of self is deeply related to our sense of place. This includes physical location, the people with whom we associate, and feelings of belonging. As the Enduring Understanings and Essential Questions suggest, the Sense of Place theme invites students to think about the affects place has on an individual. The anchor and supplementary texts provide opportunity to analyze the qualities of characters in literature and consider how their thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by the sense of place pr lack of it. Along with the common tasks, reading, writingm and discussion should offer an occasion for self-reflection, for students and teachers to ponder their own sense of place.

    Enduring Understandings

    • Where I am affects who I am
    • Writers use place to develop character and plot

    Essential Questions

    • What is my place in the world?
    • How does place influence behavior?
    • How do writers create a sense of place?

    Core Novels

    • Call of the Wild
    • The Cay
    • Jack London Short Stories
    • Walk Two Moons

    Unit 7.3 Voices From the Past

    The past exists in the record of what people endured in other places and other times. The Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions of this unit indicate a belief that the past lives in the voices that have spoken, and continue to speak of it. The anchor and supplementary texts afford students the chance to participate in the experiences of people shaped by circumstances of very different places and times. The common tasks, reading, writing, and discussion shouls offer an occasion to wonder at both the honor and the cruelty that is the legacy of those who came before, to reflect on the cirumstances of our own time in history, and to consider how our response to those circumstances will define our own legacy.

    Enduring Understandings

    • Voices from the past speak to us of other times and places
    • Learning about the past illuminates our understanding of the present

    Essential Questions

    • How do good writers bring the past to life?
    • How do readers make connections to coives from the past?

    Core Novels

    • Anne Frank
    • Endless Steppe
    • The Master Puppeteer
    • The Miracle Worker
    • The Story of My Life: Helen Keller

    Unit 7.4 Creativity

    Core Novels

    • A Midsummer Night's Dream