Language Arts 7 B
Course Summary
This course is designed to introduce and instill core reading comprehension skills. The student will
enhance his skills in writing through grammar, mechanics, and language development. Glencoe's
Literature: Reading with Purpose is the textbook that provides the foundation for this course. The
course will explore informational text, short fiction, poetry, speeches, biographical text, folktales,
fantasy, and myth. The award-winning novel Dragonwings by Laurence Yep is also included in the
course to provide the student with an enhancement of such skills as predicting, clarifying,
summarizing, questioning, identifying plot development, cause-and-effect relationships, setting, and
characterization. The student will also have the opportunity to read selections of his choice. The
student will develop oral communication skills and improved listening comprehension through
strategically chosen passages that will be shared with his teacher and Learning Coach. The activities in
this course are not only designed to enable the student to read, comprehend, analyze, and critique
text, but to also connect the writing process to the literature he will read. The student will effectively
write in different modes through the mastery of skills in grammar, usage, mechanics, and vocabulary
development. He will also learn useful drafting, revising, and rewriting techniques in the context of
writing his own research reports, news articles, folktales, responses to literature, poetry, and
descriptive essays.
Is Progress Always Good?
1. Designating Book Response Activity Time
 Set up a "Book Response Activity" time
 Select an independent reading book and a book response activity
Genre Focus: Science and Technology Writing
 Paraphrase and summarize
 Use text features: heads
 Take notes
 Identify problem and solution
 Identify literary elements: author's craft, concept and definition, organization,
description
Writing Workshop Part 1: Research Report
 Use the writing process: draft
 Write a research report
 Include main ideas and supporting details
 Use a cause-and-effect structure
Paraphrasing and Summarizing
 Paraphrase and summarize
 Identify literary elements: author's craft
 Identify word structure: base words
 Identify clauses
 Identify phrases
 Make connections from text to self
Nonfiction Book Response Activity
 Select a nonfiction book to read for enjoyment
 Begin reading a self-selected book
Writing Workshop Part 2: Research Report
 Revise your writing for key elements, style, and word choice
Using Text Features
 Use text features: map, heading, footnote, photograph
 Use text features: side notes, headings, graphic organizers
 Identify literary elements: concept and definition
 Identify word structure: suffixes
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Use text features: chart, map, photograph
Make connections from text to self
Identify parts of speech
Taking Notes
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Take notes
Make connections from text to self
Identify literary elements: organization
Identify word structure: prefixes
Use punctuation: commas in a series
Respond to the text
Identify word structure: Greek and Latin word origins
Nonfiction Book Response Activity
 Continue to read a self-selected book
 Monitor your reading to ensure comprehension
Identifying Problem and Solution
 Identify problem and solution
 Make connections from text to self
 Identify literary elements: description
 Recognize and understand word structure
 Identify prefixes and suffixes
 Use punctuation: commas in introductory clauses and phrases
 Understand content-area words
Author's Craft
 Compare and contrast: author's craft
 Understand content-area words
 Use context clues: content-area words
 Write to compare texts
Nonfiction Book Response Activity
 Finish reading a self-selected book
Writing Workshop Part 3: Research Report
 Revise your writing for key elements, style, and word choice
Dragonwings
Setting Background for Dragonwings
 Learn about the author's life
 Understand how an author's writing is influenced by personal experience
 Identify the setting of the novel
Dragonwings, Chapter 1
 Compare and contrast a description of events
 Respond to questions about the text
Angel Island: Li Keng Wong's Story
 Identify and analyze character traits
 Respond to questions about the text
Dragonwings, Chapter 2
 Read and analyze the text
 Respond to questions that guide reading
Dragonwings, Chapter 3
 Read and analyze the text
 Respond to questions that guide reading
Dragonwings, Chapter 4
 Read and analyze the text
 Respond to questions that guide reading
 Understand words and their multiple meanings
Dragonwings, Chapter 5
 Read and analyze the text
 Respond to questions that guide reading
Dragonwings, Chapter 6
 Read and analyze the text
 Respond to questions that guide reading
Dragonwings, Chapter 7
 Read and analyze the text
 Respond to questions that guide reading
Dragonwings, Chapter 8
 Read and analyze the text
 Respond to questions that guide reading
Dragonwings, Chapter 9
 Read and analyze the text
 Respond to questions that guide reading
 Identify examples of internal and external conflict
Dragonwings, Chapter 10
 Read and analyze the text
 Respond to questions that guide reading
 Complete a story map of the novel
Dragonwings, Chapter 11
 Identify the rising action, climax, and falling action
 Recognize and discuss events that influenced the narrator
Dragonwings, Chapter 12
 Identify themes in the novel
 Discuss the portrayal of both ethnic groups
Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
 Analyze information from the text
 Understand the structure of a newspaper article
Why Do We Share Our Stories?
Genre Focus: Folktales
 Understand cause and effect
 Monitor comprehension: ask questions
 Make predictions
 Analyze text
 Identify literary elements: theme, character, cultural context, dialect
Understanding Cause and Effect
 Understand cause and effect
 Make connections from text to self
 Identify literary elements: theme
 Understand idioms
 Identify direct objects
 Understand slang
 Identify indirect objects
Writing Workshop Part 1: Modern Folktale
 Use the writing process: draft
 Write a folktale
 Use literary elements: point of view, dialogue, characterization, theme
 Use compound and complex sentences
Nonfiction Book Response Activity
 Select an activity that is appropriate for the content of a self-selected
nonfiction book
 Begin drafting a response that reflects the content of the book
Questioning
 Ask questions
 Make connections from text to self
 Identify literary elements: characterization
 Understand words in phrases
Predicting
Analyzing
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Combine sentences
Understand dialect
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Make predictions
Make connections from text to self
Identify literary elements: cultural allusions
Understand dialogue
Use punctuation: commas in compound sentences
Use punctuation: commas in complex sentences
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Analyze text
Make connections from text to self
Identify literary elements: dialect
Distinguish literal from metaphoric meanings
Identify run-on sentences
Correct run-on sentences
Comparing Literature: Cultural Context
 Compare and contrast: cultural context
 Interpret metaphorical meanings
 Create a chart to compare and contrast texts
Nonfiction Book Response Activity
 Finish drafting a response that reflects the content of a self-selected nonfiction
book
Writing Workshop Part 2: Modern Folktale
 Revise writing for key elements, style, and word choice
 Write compound and complex sentences
Unit Review
There are no objectives for this lesson.
Unit Test
There are no objectives for this lesson.
What Makes You Tick?
Genre Focus: Poetry
 Evaluate text
 Interpret text
 Monitor comprehension: rereading
 Make connections from text to self
 Identify literary devices: sound, symbolism, rhyme, rhythm, meter, figurative
language
Evaluating
 Evaluate text
 Make connections from text to self
 Identify literary devices: alliteration, assonance
 Use prior knowledge
 Identify word structure: suffixes, roots
 Identify subjects and verbs
 Identify Latin roots
Writing Workshop Part 1: Poem
 Use the writing process: draft
 Write a poem
 Use literary elements: conventions of poetry, figurative language
 Use synonyms
Fiction Book Response Activity
 Select a fiction book to read for enjoyment
 Begin reading a self-selected book
Interpreting
 Interpret text
 Make connections from text to self
 Identify literary devices: symbolism
 Identify Latin roots
 Use correct subject-verb agreement: "be" verbs
 Identify Anglo-Saxon roots
 Use correct subject-verb agreement: inverted sentences
Monitoring Comprehension
 Monitor comprehension
 Make connections from text to self
 Identify literary devices: rhyme, rhythm, meter
 Use structural analysis: roots, prefixes, suffixes
 Respond to literature: poem
 Use correct subject-verb agreement: compounds
 Respond to literature: rap song
Fiction Book Response Activity
 Continue to read a self-selected book
 Monitor your reading to ensure comprehension
Connecting
 Make connections with text
 Identify literary devices: figurative language
 Explore word origins
 Use correct subject-verb agreement: indefinite pronouns
 Explore language growth
 Use correct subject-verb agreement: collective nouns
Comparing Figurative Language
 Compare and contrast: figurative language
 Use structural analysis: roots
 Respond to literature: write about figurative language
Writing Workshop Part 2: Poem
 Revise your writing for key elements, style, and word choice
 Use correct subject-verb agreement
Unit Review
There are no objectives for this lesson.
Unit Test
There are no objectives for this lesson.
What Is a Community?
Genre Focus: Historical Documents
 Visualize
 Skim and scan text
 Clarify ideas and text
 Make predictions
 Identify literary elements: organization, teleplay
Visualizing
 Visualize
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Make connections from text to self
Identify literary devices: imagery
Identify compound words
Use punctuation: hyphens
Use context clues
Writing Workshop Part 1: A Word Picture
 Use the writing process: draft
 Write a description
 Use literary elements: imagery, sensory details
 Write with fluency and clarity
Fiction Book Response Activity
 Select a response activity that is appropriate for the content of a self-selected
book
 Begin drafting a response that reflects the content of the book
Skimming and Scanning
 Skim and scan text
 Identify literary elements: organization
 Identify acronyms and abbreviations
 Use punctuation: colons
 Make connections from text to self
Clarifying
 Clarify ideas and text
 Make connections from text to self
 Identify literary devices: figurative language
 Identify borrowed words
 Identify synonyms
 Use punctuation: semicolons
 Identify historical influences on English
Fiction Book Response Activity
 Complete an activity from the list of Book Response Activity options
 Complete an activity that reflects the content of a self-selected book
Predicting
 Make predictions
 Make connections from text to self
 Identify literary elements: teleplay
 Identify English language changes
 Use punctuation: quotation marks
Reading Across Texts: Author's Credibility
 Compare and contrast: author's credibility across texts
 Make connections from text to self
 Identify historical influences on English
 Visualize
 Skim and scan text
 Clarify ideas and text
 Make predictions
Writing Workshop Part 2: A Word Picture
 Revise your writing for key elements, style, and word choice
Unit Review
There are no objectives for this lesson.
Unit Test
There are no objectives for this lesson.