English Language Arts Grades 7-8 (2023)
Lesson Plans

Speaking and Listening (7-8.SL)

Students will learn to collaborate, express and listen to ideas, integrate and evaluate information from various sources, use media and visual displays as well as language and grammar strategically to help achieve communicative purposes, and adapt to context and task.

Standard 7-8.SL.3:

Use appropriate language, grammar, organization, development, and delivery styles appropriate to purpose and audience for formal or informal contexts.

• A Long Walk To Water Connection Experience
  In this co-taught 80-minute face-to-face lesson (assessment is homework or given time in a second class session) students will rotate through stations to make personal connections with the book, A Long Walk to Water by  Linda Sue Park. (Stations can be removed or customized to allow for time, budget, or supervision constraints.) Please note, this lesson works best when you have several adult volunteers to run stations. This lesson is best co-taught with an ELA teacher who will be reading and discussing the book with their students. (It can be slightly adapted to fit similar stories.) It is also an effective way to deepen understanding and connections after the class has read the book. Thumbnail Image: Woodwayne, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
• Book Reports
  This lesson plan meets the secondary requirements for The Engish Language Arts Standard Reading: Literature Grades 7-12 with the option of meeting the additional standard of Speaking and Listening. This lesson offers specific details with flexibility for implementation in the classroom. Students can work independently or in groups and be able to create their final book project using technology. 
• Dr. Cannon Goes to Washington: Utah Statues in National Statuary Hall
  Students will engage with primary source documents to explore the reasons behind memorializing people in public art. Students will craft written or oral statements to support an argument in favor of installing a statue of Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon, Philo T. Farnsworth, or Brigham Young in National Statuary Hall.
• Sentence Structure and Complexity
    Sentence Structure and Complexity:Students will learn about the common forms of sentence structures, including simple, complex, and compound sentences.  Several tips and tricks, such as choosing the appropriate transition and using commas to expand sentences, are included in this lesson, as well as opportunities to practice writing complex sentences.Student grouping: This Nearpod activity can be student-led, teacher-led or both. My preference is to present as teacher-led and then assign as student-led.This Item was created by Nearpod.
• Vivid Verbs
  This lesson teaches students the difference between linking and action verbs. It has students work in a group to practice using vivid verbs. Then students revise their own narrative and include more vivid action verbs. This should be given during a narrative writing unit when students have a narrative they are writing.
• Voices of American Indian Boarding Schools Audio Museum
  RI.6.6, W.6.1a, W.6.1b, W.6.1e, W.6.4, SL.6.1d, SL.6.4, SL.6.6Voices of Native American Boarding Schools Audio Museum Performance TaskCreate a museum exhibit made up of audio recordings using narratives bystudents of American Indian boarding schools.Steps1. Select a text (a poem, personal narrative, etc.) written by a survivor of the boarding schools.2. Write a preface for the text that introduces it and provides context.3. Write a reflection that explains why the text is meaningful.4. Record yourself reading your preface, text, and reflection aloud using proper and respectful intonation, volume, and pacing.5. Review and re-record your reading, polishing it to perfection!6. Welcome guests to the audio museum! Listen to the recordings of your classmates, and answer questions about three classmates? recordings on a note-catcher.8. Engage in a whole class discussion about the connections between the performance task and the module overall.PurposeThrough our work before and during the audio museum, we can help make sure that these powerful stories about American Indian boarding schools are exposed to a wider audience.

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http://www.uen.org - in partnership with Utah State Board of Education (USBE) and Utah System of Higher Education (USHE).  Send questions or comments to USBE Specialist - Naomi  Watkins and see the Language Arts - Secondary website. For general questions about Utah's Core Standards contact the Director - Jennifer  Throndsen.

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