English Language Arts Curriculum at ARMS for 2004

English Language Arts Curriculum at ARMS for 2004 – 2005 We study English language arts to create, understand, interpret, connect, shape, and play with our world. We do this through reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking. 7^th Grade English Language Arts Curriculum – Last Update - August 25, 2004 A minimum of 5 units will be selected from the menu below. Two starred units are required. 1 additional unit is selected from each menu column
The seventh grade curriculum is organized around three primary thematic structures. Each thematic structure is based upon an essential question and an enduring understanding. Each of these primary thematic structures contains a number of units which are based upon additional essential questions and enduring understandings. A brief outline of these units appears below:
Who am I? Personal Identity Looking Within	Who are they? Beyond the Personal: Looking Out	Who are we? Synthesis: Making Sense of the World
Enduring Understanding: I can use language and literature to explore & describe who I am.	Enduring Understanding: There are other environments beyond our own and those environments affect who we are.	Enduring Understanding: Understanding who I am and who others are and have been helps me make sense of the world
*Who am I as a 7^thGrader?* (Exploring Adolescent Identity) Unit Title: Note to Self (draft) EU: Looking at me in a variety of ways will help me understand and express my adolescent self. Essential Questions: Who am I? What do I know and want to know about 7^th grade? What have I learned about 7^th grade? Guiding Questions: What should my English teacher know about me? What do I want to know about 7^th grade that will help me get through the year? What’s going on in my life right now that is worth remembering? What’s going on in the world right now that is worth remembering? What will I be like at the end of the year? What are my hopes and goals for the year? Unit Title: How I Got My Attitude (draft) EU: Looking at me in a variety of ways (music, media. lyrics, articles) will help me understand and express my adolescent self. Essential Question: How does musical and lyrical text help shape me and help create our culture, teen culture? Guiding Questions: What, why, and how are teens impacted by what they listen, see, and look at? In what ways are popular singers positive and/or negative role models? Choices & Identity in Writing & Literature Unit Title: Choices & Identity in Writing & Literature EU: A well-written character’s identity is multifaceted. When we look at who a character is, we gain some insight into who we are. Essential Questions: How do your past experiences influence the person you are now? What kind of impact do other people have on you? What do your choices say about you? What is included in a life story? Novels The Giver - Lowry Ender’s Game - Card A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Smith Children of the River - Crew Gathering Blue - Lowry Extension Book Gathering Blue - Lowry Stories: “The Lottery” – Jackson Films: Pleasantville, The Truman Show The Natural World (poetry & ecology) Naturalists’ Field Journals: Exploring Ecology & Poetry EU: Nature inspires scientists and poets alike. Essential Questions: Where are patterns in nature and in language? How can you unpack a poem or an ecosystem? How are scientists and poets connected to nature? Non-fiction Titles Ecology textbook Various field guides to wildflowers, trees Poetry Selections: Poems: “The Sun” – Mary Oliver; “A bird came down the walk,” “Is there such a thing as morning?” “I’ll tell you how the sun rose,” “A narrow fellow in the grass” – Emily Dickinson; “Dust of Snow,” “Stopping by woods on a snowy evening,” “Fireflies in the Garden,” “One Guess,” “Fire and Ice” – Robert Frost More Poetry Collections Ways of Seeing – Berger?, Donald Hall & Robert Francis Potential Novels: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek – Dillard, Who Killed Cock Robin?- George, Hoot – Hiaasen, Phoenix Rising – Hesse Stories: Ray Bradbury	Sense of Place Unit Title: Sense of Place EU: You are intricately connected to your environment; if affects who you are. Essential Questions: What is environment? What does it mean to survive your environment? How does your reaction to problems help you survive your environment? Why is setting important in life and in literature? Novels A Girl Named Disaster- Farmer Hatchet – Paulsen Julie of the Wolves- George Incident at Hawk’s Hill- Eckert The Perfect Storm- Junger Island of the Blue Dolphins – O’Dell Fever, 1793 – Anderson My Side of the Mountain- George Endurance – Lansing Snow Bound – Mazer Extension Books: Julie’s Wolf Pack – George Frightful’s Mountain – George Julie – George Brian’s Return – Paulsen Brian’s Winter – Paulse, The Ear, Eye, and the Arm – Farmer Walk Two Moons – Creech Additional Novel Possibilities: The Hobbit – Tolkien, The Kin – Dickinson, Galapagos – Vonnegut, “Ice 9” – Cat’s Cradle – Vonnegut Stories: Ecology multi-genre book from Perfection Learning, Survival stories anthology, To Build a Fire – London, a sound of Thunder - Bradbury Oral Tradition & Folklore Unit Title: Oral Tradition & Folklore EU: Stories and traditions of common folk help shape and preserve culture. Essential Questions: What is oral tradition? What is its relationship to folktales in a variety of cultures? How do stories help people deal with moral dilemmas? Why are motifs like quests, journeys, and mistaken identities common in stories across cultures? How do stories help people to understand their culture? Character & Culture Unit Title: Character & Culture EU: We know character by what they say and do. Culture and surrounding environment also help us to understand characters. Essential Questions: Are elements of culture found in literature? How do writers show us who a character is? How can reading help me to see the world from a different perspective? Can a character be a part of more than one culture? Novels Homeless Bird - Whelan Shabanu – Staples Esperanza Rising – Munoz Ryan The Talking Earth – George Chasing Redbird – Creech A Single Shard – Park The Breadwinner – Ellis Dream of the Blue Heron – Barnouw Extension Titles Haveli - Staples Wanderer - Creech Suggested Short Stories: “The Necklace” – de Maupassaunt, “Charles” – Jackson, “All American Slurp,” “Raymond’s Run,” “The Circuit,” “The Goodness of Matt Kaiser” – Avi, “Talk to Me” – Avi, “Run Sheep Run,” “Thank You M’am” – Hughes Film: Bend It Like Beckham (cultural differences)	World Mythology Unit Title: World Mythology EU: Mythology is each culture’s answers to the how’s and why’s of human nature and nature itself. Essential Questions: Through their myths, how do cultures tell how the world began? How do myths tell about good and evil? What are similarities between the myths of different cultures? How are myths connected to geography (i.e. mountains, climate)? What is the role of the supernatural (i.e. gods, goddesses) in myths? How do myths explain natural processes (thunder, lightning, animal stripes)? What is metaphor? How is it used mythology? Myths Iroquois creation myths Pandora – good/evil Sysiphus – punishment, afterlife, endurance Icarus – arrogance, vanity Prometheus - compassion Understanding Similarities Understanding Differences Unit Title: Understanding Differences EU: Seeing things through someone else’s eyes helps us to understand differences and to be better world citizens (ELA). EU: Differences are valuable. Variation is strength. Humans have more commonalties than differences (Integrated Unit). Essential Questions: What is difference? Why do differences have a negative association? How does environment (setting) create conflict for differences? How do people react to difference? How are differences valuable? (ELA) Novels The Outsiders – Hinton Stargirl – Spinelli Freak the Mighty – Philbrick Hidden Talents – Lubar Watsons go to Birmingham – Curtis Habibi – Nye Dragonwings – Yep The Moorchild – McGraw When Zachary Beaver Came to Town – Holt Joy Pigza Swallowed the Key – Gantos Children’s Books: Sneeches – Dr. Seuss, Jonathan of Gull Mountain – Jens Ahlbom, Trudi & Pia – Ursula Hegi, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Stories America Street Extension Book: Dance of the Tiger – Kurten Film: X- Men Television: Star Trek ½ faces, Frontline: Manufacture of Cool, Star Trek episodes ??? Unit Title: Birth Order Characteristics (draft) EU: Seeing through someone else’s eyes helps us to understand differences and to be better world citizens. Essential Questions: What can we learn about people based on the way they look and they way they act? How and why do we group people? Guiding Questions: What are characteristics and why are they important? Does birth order influence characteristics? Novels The Outsiders – S.E. Hinton Short Stories “Birth Order Blues”- Family Matters “Third Child” – Family Matters Mentor Texts Selections from Mango Street Additional works by Gary Soto and Amy Tan Hero