English Language Arts — Grade 7

Asian, African, or Australian Inventors & Inventions

The lesson integrates both Social Studies and Language Arts in a research and a creative writing component. The student will further understand inventors or inventions from Asia, Africa, and Australia, the focused continents in the 7th grade Social Studies curriculum, as well as have the opportunity to develop his/her writing, reading, and oral communication skills. The project also incorporates mathematics with an emphasis on percentages and graphing.

Format: lesson plan (grade 7 Information Skills, English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Mathematics)

By Jeff Rachlin and Melissa Reid.

Elements of a Fable

In this lesson students will examine the elements of a fable. Students will use their understanding of fable elements to create an original fable and present it in dramatic form.

This lesson includes modifications and alternative assessments for Advanced Limited English Proficient students.

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

By Kate Boyce.

Grandparent Interview

Students will interview a grandparent and write a news article based upon their interview. They will also do research on historical events to develop questions to be asked during the interview.

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

By Teachers Connect.

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

This lesson is part of an interdisciplinary integrated unit on DNA and genetics. The idea is that students will complete a week's worth of activities in science, math, and language arts related to this topic. This lesson is Part C: Language Arts. Students will apply information retrieval skills as they investigate controversial issues on human genetic cloning. Students then will develop a point-of-view essay stating their personal opinion on whether human cloning should or should not be allowed.

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

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

Issues, we've all got them: Language arts/visual arts integration

Students will learn how to deal positively with social issues important in their lives through personal investigation of social issues addressed in literature and art.

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

By Runell Carpenter.

Respect and Responsibility Character Traits - Cut and Paste Activity

Using 20 different quotations that are out of sequential order--each with a relationship to the respect and responsibility character traits--students are to cut and paste (MOVE) the text in ascending sequential order, save, and print.

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

By Jane M. Harris.

Lesson plans on the web

ABC bookmaking builds vocabulary in the content areas

Engages and motivates students in building content area vocabulary through the creation of ABC books. (Learn more)

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

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Alphabiography project: Totally you

In this lesson, students write alphabiographies recording an event, person, object, or feeling associated with each letter of the alphabet after reading Totally Joe by James Howe. (Learn more)

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

Provider: 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)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Beyond the story: A Dickens of a party

Students understand the values and customs that Dickens' characters represented in Victorian society by virtually attending a 19th-Century party as a character from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. (Learn more)

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

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Book report alternative: Creating a childhood for a character

In this lesson, students examine the character traits of an adult character in a book they have read, create a childhood for the character, and describe that childhood in the form of a short story, journal entry, or time capsule letter. (Learn more)

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

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Book report alternative: Summary, symbol, and analysis in bookmarks

Students practice summarizing, recognizing symbols, and writing reviews—all while writing for an authentic audience. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 7 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Book reviews, annotation, and web technology

Students will write a group book review, write short research papers as annotations for their reviews, and post the review to the web, demonstrating the synchronicity of hypertext. (Learn more)

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

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Campaigning for fair use: Public service announcements on copyright awareness

In this lesson that introduces issues of fair usage and copyright laws, students create audio public service announcements that can be broadcast over the school's public address system or published as podcasts on the Internet. (Learn more)

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

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Character clash: A mini-lesson on paragraphing and dialogue

Helps students differentiate dialogue from narrative in their stories. (Learn more)

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

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Choose your own adventure: A Hypertext writing experience

In this lesson that focuses on reading and writing, students discuss various stories and plan their own adventure story. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts and Computer Technology Skills)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Cooking up descriptive language: Designing restaurant menus

In this lesson students explore the genre of menus by analyzing existing menus from local restaurants and creating their own original menus. (Learn more)

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

Provider: 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 English Language Arts and Visual Arts Education)

Provider: 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)

Provider: 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)

Provider: IRA/NCTE