Hazlet Township Public Schools
COURSE OF STUDY
FOR
Project Based Literature
May 2013
Ann Cioffi
Jennifer Mahoney
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):
7&8
UNIT NUMBER AND TITLE: Unit 1- Plot and Conflict
BRIEF SUMMARY OF UNIT:
Plot is the chain of events rising out of characters being placed in a particular situation and developing through one episode after another to a climax and a
conclusion. The characters usually face an external or internal struggle. They fight against the forces of nature or flaws in their character. By plotting the events
we explore the ups and downs of the character’s fortunes, destiny, or doom. Foreshadowing, flashbacks, and rising action guide us along the path.
College and Career Readiness
Key Ideas and Details: CCR Anchor Standards 1 - 3
1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when
support conclusions drawn from the text.
writing or speaking to
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
LINK TO CONTENT STANDARDS:
Grade 7 Standards:
7.RL.1 - Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
7.RI.1 - Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
7.RL.2 - Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
7.RI.2 - Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
7.RL.3 - Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
7.RI.3 – Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence
ideas or events).
Grade 8 Standards:
8.RL.1 – Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
8.RI.1 – Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
8.RL.2 – Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting
and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
8.RI.2 – Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas: provide an
objective summary of the text.
8.RL.3 – Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
8.RI.3 – Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or
categories).
1
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS THAT WILL
FOCUS TEACHING AND LEARNING:

How can I become a better reader?

How can I infer the author’s intentions
based on a text?

What techniques can I use to improve my
comprehension?
GUIDING QUESTIONS:

What skills do I need to comprehend nonfiction writing?

What skills do I need to comprehend
fiction writing?

How do I know what information is
important?
GRADE(S):
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND
ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS:
A: STUDENTS WILL KNOW:
 How to cite textual evidence and that it is
used support analysis of what the text.
7&8
ASSESSMENT (EVIDENCE OF
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTAND?)
STUDENTS WILL:
Diagnostic Assessment: Use to see if students are
prepared to read grade-level materials.

Reading skills and strategies, such as
visualize, monitor, make inferences, and
connect.

Assess Prior Knowledge: diagnostic
assessment given at the beginning of the
school year (see Materials).

The skills and strategies needed for active
reading.


Student reading inventory for selfassessment: students describe their
attitudes and thoughts toward reading.
Identify explicit information from a text;
identify stages of plot.


Recognize credible resources/sources.
Writing inventory for self-assessment:
students describe their attitudes and
thoughts toward writing.


To recognize theme or central ideas.

Independent Reading Inventory: contains a
passage from a book selection and 10
comprehension questions.
To identify supporting details.


To describe the elements of a story or
drama.
Cloze Test: assessment is based on
students “filling in” blanks created in a
passage of text unfamiliar to students (see
Materials)

To identify interactions between story
elements.

Writing Prompt with rubric: students
respond to a writing prompt requiring a
response to a reading selection.

To identify an episode (event).

Review Academic Vocabulary (plot,
conflict, setting, sequence, foreshadowing,
flashback, cause and effect, prefix, suffix,
root word, exposition, rising action,
climax, falling action, resolution,
suspense).
B: STUDENTS WILL UNDERSTAND THAT:
 Textual evidence is used to support
analysis.

There is deeper meaning within the
context of each story.
Formative Assessment: Use to gauge how
well students have grasped ideas and skills
during a lesson.

Summarizing is not analyzing text.

Engage in meaningful and active
participation.
2
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):


Authors use literary devices in order to
move along the plot.

They need to analyze what a text says
explicitly.
Inferences are formulated from textual
material.

Analysis is supported by citing resources.

Theme is developed over the course of the
text.

Story elements interact with each other.

A change in one story element shapes
another.
C: STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO:
 Explicitly analyze what a text says.

Formulate inferences from textual
material.

Cite resources that support analysis.

Determine a theme or central idea.

Analyze theme or central development
over the course of a text.

Identify stages of plot.

Analyze types of conflicts.

Locate and analyze foreshadowing,
flashback, and cause and effect
relationships

Analyze how a change in one element
shapes another.

Analyze how elements of a story or drama
interact.
7&8

Answer the essential and guiding
questions.

Explain how reading a story told from
first- person point of view is similar to
reading someone’s journal or diary.

Explain what makes a narrator reliable or
trustworthy.

Keep a reading log; discuss reading habits
and volume of reading.

Reading Check (see Materials).

District benchmark assessments of grade
level material (e.g., Study Island);
scaffolding across the year.

Assessment Practice (use before the unit
test; available at the end of each
McDougall Littell literature unit).
Summative Assessment: Use to see how well
students are progressing over time in mastering
standards.

McDougal Littell Unit Tests

Benchmark Tests- the tests are cumulative
in that skill taught early in the year. Each
test includes new reading passages
followed by multiple-choice and shortanswer, open-ended questions as well as
an essay prompt.

Differentiate as Needed: McDougal Littell
Literature Selection Tests and Unit Tests
are available in A and B/C formats and use
the same passages to assess student
understanding. The A assessment format is
for students who struggle with reading and
literature. The B/C format is for students
who are working at or above grade level.
Give the C writing prompts to students
you wish to challenge.
3
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):
7&8
D: SUPPLEMENTAL NOVELS/TEXTS
Grade 7:
McDougal-Littell text (Assessment Practice
found in student text at the end of each unit)
Fiction/Short Stories:
“Seventh Grade”
“The Last Dog”
“Thank You, M’am”
“Rikki-tikki-tavi”
Reading for Information:
‘Spot’ Goes High-Tech
Nonfiction:
From Exploring the Titanic
From An American Childhood
Writing:
Descriptive Essay
Narrative Essay
MLA Format
Drama:
A teleplay- The Monsters are Due on Maple
Street
Media:
From Back to the Future- plot and setting in film
Novels:
Holes- Louis Sachar
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn- Dorothy Hoobler
The Great Turkey Walk- Kathleen Karr
4
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):
7&8
No Man’s Land- Susan Bartoletti
Bearstone- Will Hobbs
Good Night, Mr. Tom- Michelle Magorian
Nobody’s Daughter- Susan Pfeffer
North by Night- Katherine Ayers
The Dark is Rising- Susan Cooper
Grade 8:
McDougal-Littell text (Assessment Practice
found in student text at the end of each unit)
Fiction/Short Stories:
“Raymond’s Run”
“The Ransom of Red Chief”
“Clean Sweep”
“The Tell-Tale Heart”
“Hallucination”
“The Monkey’s Paw”
Reading for Information:
Manuscript Found in an Attic
Writing:
Personal narrative
Descriptive essay
Graphic Organizers for internal/external
conflict
Freytag’s Pyramid
Internal/external conflict essay
Comparison/Contrast Essays
Novels:
Hoot- Carol Hiaasen
The Circuit: Stories from the Life a Migrant
Child- Francisco Jimenez
Dancing at the Odinochka- Kirkpatrick Hill
Lord of the Deep- Graham Salisbury
The Kite Rider- Geraldine McCaughrean
5
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):
7&8
Sorceress- Celia Rees
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Code Orange- Caroline Cooney
A Girl Named Disaster- Nancy Farmer
Rag and Bone Shop- Robert Cormier
6
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):
7&8
SUGGESTED SEQUENCE OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES, INCLUDING THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY AND OTHER RESOURCES:





http://www.njascd.org/20911027164246590/FileLib/browse.asp?A=374&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&C=55678
www.commoncore.org/free
www.newscurrents.com with i-Pads
http://www.tweentribune.com with i-Pads
www.classzone.com
McDougal Littell Unit Resources
 Resource Manager
 Best Practices Tool Kit
 Standards Lesson File
 Easy Planner DVD
 WriteSmart CD
 Audio Anthology CD
 Multi-Language Academic Vocabulary Online
 eEdition CD & Online
 Assessment System
 Test Generator CD
 MediaSmart DVD
Writing:
 Use a graphic organizer to identify internal and external conflict
 Chart details from the story and label elements of plot
 Write a personal example of internal/external conflict
 Compare/Contrast essays
Listening/Speaking/Viewing:
 Work in small groups and present character’s conflicts
 Create media presentations and written reports using multi-media resources
 Role play events from the story
 Display a chart listing examples of foreshadowing and discuss events
7
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):
7&8
UNIT NUMBER AND TITLE: Unit 2
Point of View
BRIEF SUMMARY OF UNIT:
One of the critical concerns of fiction writing is the concept of point of view. Who is telling the story and what is his/her relationship to the material of the story.
The way the story is told and the voice that tells the story must be stressed as an integral part of the story itself. In fact, the overall meaning of the theme exists
only in the unity of subject matter and narrator. Every story is told or recorded by someone. The narrator’s consciousness is present behind every word. The
personal or impersonal relationship of the narrator to the context provides clues to thematic meaning.
College and Career Readiness
Craft and Structure: CCR Anchor Standards 4-6
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word
choices shape meaning or tone.
5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g. a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to
each other and the whole.
6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
LINK TO CONTENT STANDARDS:
Grade 7 Standards:
7.RL.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes
and other repetitions of sounds (e.g. alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.
7.RI.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings: analyze the impact of
a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
7.RL.5 - Analyze how a dramas or poem’s form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning.
7.RL.6 – Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author distinguishes his or her position from that of others.
Grade 8 Standards:
8.RL.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings: analyze the impact of specific
word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
8.RI.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of
specific word choices on meaning and tone. Including analogies or allusions to other texts.
8.RI.5 – Analyze in detail the structure of a specific paragraph in a text, including the role of particular sentences in developing and reefing a key concept.
8.RL.6 - Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such
effects as suspense or humor.
8.RI.6 – Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.
8
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS THAT WILL
FOCUS TEACHING AND LEARNING:


How does an individual’s point of view
affect the way he/she deals with conflict?
How does conflict influence an
individual’s decisions and actions?

How does what we know about the world
shape the way we view ourselves?

Do we need language to grow and
succeed?

Why is it important to be a critical reader
and listener?
GUIDING QUESTIONS:

How is style controlled by such
mechanisms as voice, syntax, diction,
point of view, and mood?

Why it is important to understand that
literature is a reflection of life?

Why is it important to recognize a
speaker’s purpose?

As a reader, what do we bring to the page
that influences what we take away?

How relationships, conflicts, and
experiences influence our sense of self?
GRADE(S):
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND
ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS:
A: STUDENTS WILL KNOW:

The difference between first-person, thirdperson limited, and third-person
omniscient point of view.
7&8
ASSESSMENT (EVIDENCE OF
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTAND?)
STUDENTS WILL:
Diagnostic Assessment: Use to see if students are
prepared to read grade-level materials.

Assess Prior Knowledge: diagnostic
assessment given at the beginning of the
school year.

How to identify and analyze a writer’s
point of view: subjective or objective.


The impact of rhymes and other repetitions
of sounds on a specific verse, stanza, story
or drama.
Student reading inventory for selfassessment: students describe their
attitudes and thoughts toward reading.


Writing inventory for self-assessment:
students describe their attitudes and
thoughts toward writing.
How the form of a drama or poem
contributes to its meaning.


How to identify and analyze character
traits and motives.
Independent Reading Inventory: contains a
passage from a book selection and 10
comprehension questions.

Cloze Test: assessment is based on
students “filling in” blanks created in a
passage of text unfamiliar to students.

Writing Prompt with rubric: students
respond to a writing prompt requiring a
response to a reading selection.

Review Academic Vocabulary (point of
view, narrator, first-person point of view,
third-person point of view (limited and
omniscient), main and minor characters)

The methods of characterization.

How to write a description of a person.
B: STUDENTS WILL UNDERSTAND THAT:
 That context clues help to gain
understanding of unfamiliar words in text.

Text can include figurative and
connotative meanings.

Rhymes and repetitions of sounds impact
poems, stories and drama.

The author’s choice of form or structure
contributes to the meaning of the work.

Point of view affects the suspense, humor
or mood of the story.
Formative Assessment: Use to gauge how well
students have grasped ideas and skills during a
lesson.

Engage in meaningful and active
participation.

Answer the essential and guiding
questions.
9
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):

Differing structures of two or more texts
contribute to its meaning and style.

The reader must make inferences about
characters based on evidence in the text.


Communication enables us to gain and
share information about self, others, and
the world.



Keep a reading log; discuss reading habits
and volume of reading.

Reading Check (see Materials).

District benchmark assessments of grade
level material (e.g., Study Island);
scaffolding across the year.

Assessment Practice (use before the unit
test; available at the end of each
McDougall Littell literature unit).
Choices have consequences.
C: STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO:
 Identify different points of view.
Compare and contrast the structure of two
more texts and analyze the differing
structures between the two texts.
Examine clues and evidence that reveal the
narrator’s point of view.
D: SUPPLEMENTAL NOVELS/TEXTS
Grade 7:
McDougal-Littell text (Assessment Practice
found in student text at the end of each unit)
Fiction/Short Stories:
“Zebra”
“The Scholarship Jacket”
“A Retrieved Reformation”
“Charles”
Reading for Information:
7&8
Summative Assessment: Use to see how well
students are progressing over time in mastering
standards.

McDougal Littell Unit Tests

Benchmark Tests- the tests are cumulative
in that skill taught early in the year and are
carried over into the subsequent tests.
Each test includes new reading passages
followed by multiple-choice and shortanswer, open-ended questions as well as
an essay prompt.
Differentiate as Needed: McDougal
Littell Literature Selection Tests and
Unit Tests are available in A and B/C
formats and use the same passages to
assess student understanding. The A
assessment format is for students who
struggle with reading and literature.
The B/C format is for students who are
working at or above grade level. Give
the C writing prompts to students you
wish to challenge.
“Encounter with Martin Luther King, Jr.”
Nonfiction:
From The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.
10
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):
7&8
Writing:
Comparison/Contrast Essay
Drama:
A Christmas Carol
Media:
From A Christmas Carol- Style and Mood in
Photographs
Novels:
Holes- Louis Sachar
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn- Dorothy Hoobler
The Great Turkey Walk- Kathleen Karr
No Man’s Land- Susan Bartoletti
Bearstone- Will Hobbs
Good Night, Mr. Tom- Michelle Magorian
Nobody’s Daughter- Susan Pfeffer
North by Night- Katherine Ayers
The Dark is Rising- Susan Cooper
Grade 8:
McDougal-Littell text (Assessment Practice
found in student text at the end of each unit)
Fiction/Short Stories:
“The Treasure of Lemon Brown”
“Raymond’s Run”
“The Ransom of Red Chief”
“Clean Sweep”
“The Tell-Tale Heart”
“Hallucination”
“The Monkey’s Paw”
Reading for Information:
11
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):
7&8
Manuscript Found in an Attic
Timeline: Evolution of the Blues
Basic Blues: An American Art Form
Musicians Know the Blues Firsthand
Writing:
Personal narrative
Describing a person
Comparison/Contrast Essays
Listening/Speaking/Viewing:
Work in small groups to present different points
of view
Create media presentations and written reports
using multi-media resources
Role play events from the story
Novels:
The Contender- Robert Lipsyte
Warrior Angel-Robert Lipsyte
The Chief-Robert Lipsyte
The Wave-Todd Strasser
Call of the Wild- Jack London
And Then There Were None-Agatha Christie
Gentlehands-M.E. Kerr
Al Capone Does My Shirts-Gennifer Choldenko
Shades of Simon Gray-Joyce McDonald
The Bomb-Theodore Taylor
Under a War-Torn Sky- L.M. Elliott
The Brave-Robert Lipsyte
Runner-Carl Deuker
Nothing But the Truth-Avi
12
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):
7&8
SUGGESTED SEQUENCE OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES, INCLUDING THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY AND OTHER RESOURCES:
McDougal Littell Unit Resources
 Resource Manager
 Best Practices Tool Kit
 Standards Lesson File
 Easy Planner DVD
 WriteSmart CD
 www.classzone.com
 Audio Anthology CD
 Multi-Language Academic Vocabulary Online
 eEdition CD & Online
 Assessment System
 Test Generator CD
 MediaSmart DVD
Writing:
 Write a character sketch
 Write a Concept Web
 Illustrate a character
 Rewrite a story ending having characters undergo a major change in personality or developing a different outlook
 Compare characters
 Create a timeline of the main character’s fate
Listening/Speaking/Viewing:
 Discuss positive and negative qualities of characters
 Create media presentations and written reports, using multi-media resources
 Perform a drama or radio play
 Write a narrative essay interviewing a character
 www.newscurrents.com with i-Pads
 http://www.tweentribune.com with i-pads
13
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):
7&8
UNIT NUMBER AND TITLE: Unit 3
Characterization
BRIEF SUMMARY OF UNIT:
Characters are representational figures that fill fiction, poetry, and drama. Characterization is the process by which the author fashions these fictional figures into
people we can relation to because we understand their traits, emotions, actions and feelings. Most fictional characters are composites drawn from the author’s
experiences and interactions with family, friends, foes, and acquaintances. Then, the model is embellished by his/her artistry and imagination. Often, the
characters transcend origins and as a result of characterization remain alive through the decades.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: CCR Anchor Standards 7-9
7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the
evidence.
9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
LINK TO CONTENT STANDARDS:
Grade 7 Standards:
7.RL.7 Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to
each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).
7.RI.7 Compare and contrast a text to an audio, video, or multimedia version of the text, analyzing each medium’s portrayal of the subject (e.g., how the delivery
of a speech affects the impact of the words.)
7.RL.8 Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims, assessing whether the reasoning and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claim.
7.RL.9 Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how
authors of fiction use or alter history.
7.RI.9. Analyze how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape their presentations of key information by emphasizing different evidence or
advancing different interpretations of facts.
Grade 8 Standards:
8.RL.7 Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made
by the director or actors.
8.RL7 Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea.
8.RI.8 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient.
8.RL.9 Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as
the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new.
8.RI.9 Analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or
interpretation.
14
COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS THAT WILL
FOCUS TEACHING AND LEARNING:



How does an individual’s point of view
affect the way they deal with conflict?
How does conflict influence an
individual’s decisions and actions?
How does what we know about the world
shape the way we view ourselves?
GUIDING QUESTIONS:

How is “style” controlled by such
mechanisms as voice, syntax, diction,
point of view, and mood?

Why it is important to understand that
literature is a reflection of life.

Why is it important to recognize a
speaker’s purpose?
GRADE(S):
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND
ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS:
A: STUDENTS WILL KNOW:
 How to identify and analyze character
traits and motives.
7&8
ASSESSMENT (EVIDENCE OF
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTAND?)
STUDENTS WILL:
Diagnostic Assessment: Use to see if students are
prepared to read grade-level materials.

Speculate about text by generating literal
and inferential questions
How to write a description of a person.

Engage in meaningful and active
participation.
B: STUDENTS WILL UNDERSTAND THAT:

Answer the essential and guiding
questions.

Keep a reading log; discuss reading habits
and volume of reading.

The methods of characterization.


How to identify and analyze character
traits and motives.

The methods of characterization.

Reading Check (see Materials).

How to write a description of a person.


The reader must make inferences about
characters based on evidence in the text.
District benchmark assessments of grade
level material (e.g., Study Island);
scaffolding across the year.

Assessment Practice (use before the unit
test; available at the end of each
McDougall Littell literature unit).

Communication enables us to gain and
share information about self, others, and
the world.
C: STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO:
 Conduct an interview.
Formative Assessment: Use to gauge how well
students have grasped ideas and skills during a
lesson.

Take notes and write paragraphs.


Engage in meaningful and active questions
Locate and analyze the elements of
characterization.

Answer the essential and guiding

Discuss (using examples) character
development using visuals, multimedia, or
graphic organizers.

Use a Venn diagram to compare and
contrast characters.
questions.

Keep a reading log; discuss reading habits
and volume of reading.

Reading Check (see Materials).

District benchmark assessments of grade
level material (e.g., Study Island);
scaffolding across the year.
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COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):
D: SUPPLEMENTAL NOVELS/TEXTS

Grade 7:
McDougal-Littell text (Assessment Practice
found in student text at the end of each unit)
7&8
Assessment Practice (use before the unit
test; available at the end of each
McDougall Littell literature unit).
Summative Assessment: Use to see how well
students are progressing over time in mastering
standards.
Fiction/Short Stories:

McDougal Littell Unit Tests
“Encounter with Martin Luther King, Jr.”
“Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed”
“Dirk the Protector”

Benchmark Tests- the tests are cumulative
in that skill taught early in the year and are
carried over into the subsequent tests.
Each test includes new reading passages
followed by multiple-choice and shortanswer, open-ended questions as well as
an essay prompt.

PowerPoint / Prezi presentation

Literary circles
Reading for Information:
From The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.
An Interview with Ray Bradbury
U.S. Involvement in Vietnam
Nonfiction:
From Exploring the Titanic
From An American Childhood
Writing:
Comparison/Contrast Essay
Media:
Differentiate as Needed: McDougal Littell
Literature Selection Tests and Unit Tests are
available in A and B/C formats and use the same
passages to assess student understanding. The A
assessment format is for students who struggle
with reading and literature. The B/C format is
for students who are working at or above grade
level. Give the C writing prompts to students
you wish to challenge.
Style and Mood in Photographs
Novels:
The Outsiders- S.E. Hinton
The Devil’s Arithmetic- Jane Yolen
Grade 8:
McDougal-Littell text (Assessment Practice
found in student text at the end of each unit)
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COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):
7&8
Fiction/Short Stories:
“The Drummer Boy of Shiloh”
“New York Day Women”
“The Lady or the Tiger”
Reading for Information:
From Civil War Journal
From Ellis Island and I
Timeline: Evolution of the Blues
Basic Blues: An American Art Form
Letter to Harriet Tubman
Cartoon Tribute to John Henry
Writing:
Describing a person
Speaking and Listening:
Conducting an Interview
Media:
From Whale Rider
Novels:
Kira Kira-Cynthia Kadohata
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry-Mildred D. Taylor
A Thief in the House of Memory-Tim Wynne
Jones
Hope Was Here- Joan Bauer
Song of the Trees-Mildred D. Taylor
I, Juan de Pareja- Elizabeth Borton De Trevino
An Innocent Soldier-Josef Holub
Summerland-Elin Hilderbrand
The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian
Anderson and the Struggle for Equal RightsRussell Freedman
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COURSE TITLE:
Project Based Literature
GRADE(S):
7&8
SUGGESTED SEQUENCE OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES, INCLUDING THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY AND OTHER RESOURCES:
McDougal Littell Unit Resources
 Resource Manager
 Best Practices Tool Kit
 Standards Lesson File
 Easy Planner DVD
 WriteSmart CD
 www.classzone.com
 Audio Anthology CD
 Multi-Language Academic Vocabulary Online
 eEdition CD & Online
 Assessment System
 Test Generator CD
 MediaSmart DVD
Writing:
 Utilize 10 character traits that would make them want to know someone better
 Write a concept map
 Illustrate a character
 Use a graphic organizer to identify internal and external conflict
 Chart details from the story and label elements of plot
 Write a personal example of internal/external conflict
 Compare/Contrast essays
Listening/Speaking/Viewing:
 Work in small groups and present character’s conflicts
 Work in literary circles
 Create media presentations and written reports using multi-media resources
 Role play events from the story
 Display a chart listing examples of foreshadowing and discuss events
 Utilize www.newscurrents.com with i-Pads
http://www.njascd.org/20911027164246590/FileLib/browse.asp?A=374&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&C=55678
www.commoncore.org/free
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