English 7 and English 7+

Avon Lake City Schools

Curriculum Framework

English 7 and English 7+

Course Overview:

English 7 and English 7+ engage students in a wide variety of experiences in literature, composition, and grammar. In literature, the students read novels, poems, short stories and plays to understand and appreciate their content and artistry. In composition, students develop their skills in argumentative, narrative and expository prose. Exercises in grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary are included. English 7+ students move at an accelerated pace and read more challenging works.

Textbook (Title and Publishing Company):

Amplify ELA

Assessments:

Ohio State Test
NWEA MAP Growth
Amplify ELA Unit Assessments & Essays

Content/Topics/Learning Goals

Subject to Pacing and Schedules

1st Quarter

Red Scarf Girl & Narrative Unit

Core text - Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-li Jiang
Skills and Content:
- Topic & Theme: The impact of individual experiences
- Reading: Examine the differences between a character’s thoughts and actions
- Writing: Use revision to strengthen elaboration
- Activity Highlights: Use an app to trace a character's level of hopefulness over the course of a text
- Text Features: Memoir of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, historic propaganda images

Character & Conflict Unit

Core text - A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Skills and Content:
- Topic & Theme: Individual dreams, family dynamics, and societal restrictions
- Reading: Analyze a character’s unconscious motivations
- Writing: Make thematic connections across genres
- Activity Highlights: Perform scenes, analyze film, compare historical and fictional portrayals
- Text Features: Mid-20th century African-American drama

2nd Quarter

Continue Character & Conflict Unit

Brain Science Unit

Core text - Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science by John Fleischman
Skills and Content:
- Topic & Theme: Brain development and brain disorders
- Reading: Synthesize information from multiple texts to develop understanding of a topic
- Writing: Describe facts, explain concepts, and convince the reader of an opinion
- Activity Highlights: Perception Academy Quest, discussions to refine conceptual understanding
- Text Features: Narrative and informational nonfiction about discoveries in brain science

3rd Quarter

Poetry & Poe Unit

Texts -
- “The White Horse” by D. H. Lawrence
- “The Silence” by Federico García Lorca
- “A narrow fellow in the grass” by Emily Dickinson
- “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
- M'Naghten Rule, from Queen v. M'Naghten
- “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
- “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe
Skills and Content:
- Topic & Theme: Reading like a movie director
- Reading: Evaluate the reliability of a fictional narrator
- Writing: Compare and contrast characters’ perspectives on a narrative
- Activity Highlights: Use a storyboarding app, debate narrator's sanity, compare film adaptations
- Text Features: American poetry and gothic literature with unreliable narrators

The Frida & Diego Collection Unit

Core text - Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
- students will practice distinct skills to study and analyze these primary sources and conduct independent research
Skills and Content:
- Topic & Theme: Art as personal and political expression
- Reading: Identify various sources’ perspectives on a topic
- Writing: Synthesize information from several sources to develop an argument
- Activity Highlights: Descriptive writing, Socratic seminar, Internet research, and media project
- Text Features: Paintings, memoirs, articles, letters portraying unconventional artists