Hello,
As your ELA teacher, I am excited to help you develop skills that enable you to better understand what you read and better write in order to be understood by others. Our daily reading and writing pracitce throughout the school year will be rigorous. We will analyze complex texts and compose a range of written pieces of diverse genres with specific tasks, purposes, and for specific audiences.
At a Glance
Seventh grade tends to be full of raging hormones and dizzying social dynamics. It’s also a year when schools expect students become more independent thinkers and learners. Much of the focus is on problem-solving and finding more than one way to do things.
To prepare for seventh grade, here are some of the skills students have practiced and are expected to know by the end of sixth grade, according to the Common Core State Standards.
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In preparation for seventh grade, students have worked on improving problem-solving skills.
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Seventh graders will be expected to continue writing organized responses to questions or prompts.
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It's important to remember that students have used reading and writing as foundational skills in all subject areas.
Skills to Get Ready for Grade 7: English Language Arts and Literacy
In preparation for seventh grade, students have practiced reading a variety of different types of material and expressed their understanding through discussions and written responses. In writing, they have practiced using correct grammar, citing evidence and details, as well as organizing their ideas logically. When they conducted research projects, they used and analyzed information from many different sources. These and other skills that students will work on during their seventh-grade year include the following:
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Figuring out the theme of something they read and supporting their answers with evidence from the text.
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Comparing poems, stories and historical novels, explaining the plot of each and how the characters react to the action.
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Using a number of reading strategies to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words.
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Learning both the figurative and implied meaning of words and phrases.
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Identifying specific claims or arguments in reading materials and deciding how valid they are.
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Writing arguments or opinion papers using clear reasoning and supportive facts.
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Writing for longer periods of time for a number of different tasks, purposes and audiences.
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Participating in class discussions and doing short research projects using many sources to answer a specific question.
| Key Skills to Promote Student Learning & Literacy |
| Reading |
Students will read challenging and complex texts closely. |
| Research |
Students will research and cite multiple instances of specific evidence to support key ideas. |
| Vocabulary |
Students will build college-and-career ready vocabulary. |
| Grammar |
Students will unpack meaning from complex sentence structures. |
| Speaking & Listening |
Students will discuss with peers topics from varying viewpoints. |
| Writing |
Students will write explanatory, argument, and narrative texts. |
My Mission
English Language Arts (ELA) instruction uses literature and informational text to develop reading strategies for comprehension. I will provide students with direct instruction using close-reading strategies to find key ideas and analyze texts. Students must be able to explain content and make claims through reasoning and evidence. In my class, students will be exposed to increasing demands of texts to promote their growing maturity as readers, writers, and communicators. My direct instruction in the area of writing will develop students' focus, format, and organization of narrative, explanatory, and argumentative pieces. Academic opportunities for students to develop research skills will also be a critical component of this course. I will model the writing process and integration of technology to help students build and present knowledge. I will challenge students as they learn to acquire and demonstrate command of vocabulary as well as conventions of Standard English grammar and usage. I will set expectations for students to speak and listen during group discussions and individual presentations. Students will have the opportunity to work both independently and collaboratively to develop and improve their language arts skills. ELA is a required course for all middle school students at each grade level with an end-of-year assessment.
from "Warner Middle School: Course Description Student Booklet"
My Daily Vision
To guide our daily learning in class, students will find displayed at the front of my classroom clear learning targets, or statements of our intended learning for each day. These learning targets help me know what to teach and how to plan. They also provide students with clear expectations of what will be learned and assessed. These learning targets can be thought of as the things students should know and be able to do by the end of each class.
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) requires students to demonstrate and apply their learning within four (4) target Learning Levels:
| Four (4) Target Levels of Learning |
| KNOWLEDGE Level |
Factual Information
Procedural Knowledge
Conceptual Understandings
_____________________________
"What does it say?"
"I know..."
|
| REASONING Level |
Specific Thought Processes
_____________________________
"What does it mean?"
"Why?"
"Support with evidence!"
|
| SKILL Level |
Demonstrations of skill-based performance
that are at the heart of learning.
_____________________________
"I can do... to accomplish..."
"Is it true or valid?"
|
| PRODUCT Level |
Creation of products or artifacts based on
specifications for quality
_____________________________
"Prove it!"
"I can create..."
|
RED = Basic Memorization ORANGE = Basic Comprehension
GREEN = General Application BLUE = Highly Critical Thinking |
Each day, students will demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways, and I will assess students' growth and achievement. Assessments will be content-based ("What does the student know?") or skill-based ("What can the student do?").
Effective assessment practices help me create a system for tracking and reporting information about students' progress. By providing effective and timly feedback to students, I can help them accurately interpret and use the assessment results to guide their learning and prepare them to take more independent ownership (i.e., scaffolding) of their learning.
Scaffolding
("Your teacher's goal is simple: To help you achieve yours!")
Follow us online this year as we develop skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening, as well as rules and conventions of the English language.