Unifying Concept: When Life Brings Challenges
Overview:
Students read, Revolution is Not a Dinner Party, in order to analyze culture and historical events. As students explore the text and investigate ideas of fairness and justice, they develop argumentative writing in response to issues the main character faces. Students explore additional multicultural texts in order to develop an understanding of diverse perspectives, stories and modes of writing. As an optional extension, students conduct inquiry and action projects related to human rights.
Purposes:
To connect to the world through literature
To examine the ideas of fairness and justice
To analyze texts for culture, and universal themes
Enduring Understandings:
Authentic reading and writing is the result of a multi-stage, reflective process in which the learner develops the capacity to connect to universal themes and share ideas about culture and the world around him or her. / Essential Questions:
1. Is fairness the same as justice, and how do you know?
2. How does the study of literature help individuals construct their understanding of reality?
3. How do writers use literary devices to build an argument?
4. Why is reflection necessary for learning?
Target Standards are emphasized during the quarter and used in a formal assessment to evaluate student mastery.
Highly-Leveraged1 arethe most essential for students to learn because they have endurance (knowledge and skills are relevant throughout a student's lifetime); leverage (knowledge and skills are used across multiple content areas); and essentiality (knowledge and skills are necessary for success in future courses or grade levels).
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.RL.5. Analyze how a drama or poem’s form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning.
Writing
7.W.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
Language
7.L.5 Show understanding of figurative language/nuances in word meanings
Supportingare related standards that support the highly-leveraged standards in and across grade levels.
Reading
7.RL.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.
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.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).
Writing
7.W.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.
7.W.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Speaking and Listening
7.SL.3 Delineate a speaker’s argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
7.SL.4 Present claims/findings; emphasize points in focused/coherent way; use eye contact/voice volume/clear pronunciation.
Constant Standards are addressed routinely every quarter.
7.RL.1,10
7.RI.1,10
7.W.4,5,10
7.SL.1,2,6
7.L.1,2,6
Selected Readings of Complex Texts
Extended/Short Texts:
Long Walk to Freedom, A, Nelson Mandela, p. 732
Under the Blood Red Sun, Graham Salisbury / Multicultural Adoptions:
Revolution is Not a Dinner Party, Ying Chang Compestine
Additional Instructional Resources
Electronic Resources and Alternative Media:
Near the Wall of a House, by Yehuda Amichai -Poem 074 | Poetry 180: A Poem a Day for American High Schools, Hosted by Billy Collins, U.S. Poet Laureate, 2001-2003 (Poetry and Literature, Library of Congress)
Poem: “Near the Wall of a House” by Yehuda Amichai
(resource for Cultural Revolution of China)
AVID resource writing template graphic organizers (obtained permission from AVID)
Performance Assessments
Formative Assessments:
Class Discussions, Personal Memory Maps, Journal Entries, Vocabulary Logs, Story Rays, Central Conflict Notes / Summative Assessments:Poetry Explication & Analysis, Character Analysis Chart, Narrative Letter, Completed Plot Analysis, Essay, Inquiry, Action Project
School City Assessment: Formative, Reading and Writing
1This definition for highly-leveraged standards was adapted from the “power standard” definition on the website of Millis Public Schools, K-12, in Massachusetts, USA.
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