English Language Arts — Grade 7

What do you see? (pre-visit)

This lesson introduces students to the importance of making accurate, detailed scientific observations, and the value of learning about others' views and perspectives regarding a specific topic or event. It also serves as an activity to prepare students for a visit to the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill, NC (or any museum, real or virtual). This lesson is the first of three lessons that build upon each other, using the Ackland Art Museum as the focus.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

By Reagan West.

TV careers: Reality vs. fantasy

In CareerStart lessons: Grade seven, page 1.6

In this lesson for grade seven, students discuss compare television portrayals of careers with reality.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts and Guidance)

By Jen Presley.Adapted by Kenyatta Bennett and Sonya Rexrode.

Interdisciplinary Integrated Unit on DNA/Genetics Part C: Language Arts

The third lesson of an interdisciplinary integrated unit on DNA and genetics, focusing on language arts. The first two lessons in the unit focus on science and math.

Format: lesson plan (grade 7 English Language Arts and Information Skills)

By Jane Lentz, Jimmy White, Marlene Smith, and Tori Goldrick.

Resources on the web

Reciprocal revision: Making peer feedback meaningful

This lesson from ReadWriteThink is designed to help middle school students develop more constructive peer feedback on writing through the use of reciprocal teaching strategies. Students observe online examples of artwork, and use the strategies of predicting,... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Points of view in the news

Students will read articles from National Geographic News and answer questions describing each article's source, purpose, and viewpoint. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 7–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: National Geographic

Leading to great places in the middle school classroom

This mini-lesson examines types of leads in prominent young adult literature and challenges students to search for great leads and then write original examples. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Inventing and presenting unit 2: Effective speeches and building the invention

Students read about inventors, propose inventions to solve problems they have identified, and build and test their inventions. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–7 English Language Arts and Science)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Finding the science behind science fiction through paired readings

In this lesson, students explore the genre of science fiction, while learning more about the science integrated into the plot of the story using nonfiction texts and resources. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Expository escapade-Detective's handbook

In this lesson, students combine reading the detective fiction genre with expository writing. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Critical media literacy: Commercial advertising

Conducting an evaluation of television and magazine advertisements, students critique the effect mass media has on American culture. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 7–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Critical literacy: Point of view

Students learn to look at texts from different viewpoints. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–7 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Creative communication frames: Discovering similarities between writing and art

Students will build a comparative frame to explore the creative processes of writing and art as communication. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 7 Visual Arts Education and English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE

Analyzing advice as an introduction to Shakespeare

Students read and analyze the advice given in Mary Schmich's 1997 Chicago Tribune column “Advice, Like Youth, Probably Just Wasted on the Young,” as an introduction to studying the advice that Polonius gives to Laertes in Shakespeare's Hamlet. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 7 English Language Arts)

Provided by: IRA/NCTE