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

Reading (7-8.R)

Students will learn to proficiently read and comprehend grade level literature and informational text, including seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band, with scaffolding as needed. *Standard R.4 includes an asterisk to refer educators back to the Text Complexity Grade Bands and Associated Lexile Ranges in the introduction of the standards.

Standard 7-8.R.7:

Analyze the impact of character and plot development on the overall story or drama. (RL)
Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text. (RI)

• A Christmas Carol Characterization
  A Christmas Carol LessonThis lesson uses the acronym STEAL to teach characterization as students read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Time Frame: 10 ELA blocks of about 30 min each.
• A Story of Epic Proportions: What makes a Poem an Epic?
  Some of the most the most essential works of literature in the world are examples of epic poetry, such as The Odyssey and Paradise Lost. This lesson introduces students to the epic poem form and to its roots in oral tradition.
• BBC My World Media Literacy
  My World Media Literacy, developed in partnership by BBC Learning, BBC World Services, and Microsoft, is a free educational platform for students ages 11-14 designed with the goal of increasing global media literacy and the evaluation of information presented in modern journalism. Featuring ten 45-minute lesson plans, each with activities and a companion video, these 21st century resources increase students? critical thinking skills needed to be responsible consumers of news while inspiring them to become citizen journalists in order to navigate the news and form their own opinions.
• Character Changes Lesson and iPad Assignment
  This is a lesson plan is meant to assist in teaching and assessing students' ability to identify character development, types, and changes. This resource can be modified to fit a novel unit study, short stories, or plays. The resource is intended to be used as a digital element in an in-person class but can be modified to fit other class types and modalities.Cover image: Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash
• One Pager for Novel Response
  My project is making One Pagers to show their understanding of the text they have read, in this case, a novel that they read independently. One Pagers can be used to respond to a variety of texts, but for this lesson plan, I have the One Pager for students responding to a novel that they have read independently. I have included the requirements for both 7th and 8th grade as some of the requirements are different. I have also included some websites on how others use One Pagers. Anchor Standard 2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize key supporting details and ideas.Anchor Standard 3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas interact over the course of a text. The photo that I am using for my thumbnail was taken by me, Melanie Shurtz. 
• Student Storytelling Podcast Episode (GarageBand)
  This lesson plan describes a project done by students for an online, at-home Honors ELA course (6th grade). Students find a published, narrative story that they would like to retell. They evaluate the quality of that story using a rubric. Then they learn about performance techniques (diction, inflection, and pacing) and practice their storytelling. Eventually, they audio-record themselves telling the story using GarageBand. This audio file is submitted as the project, and is graded with a rubric. I published the audio files onto a Google Site and called it our class podcast! Viking ship image by pixabay.com
• The U.S. House of Representatives and the Gag Rule
  What is a gag rule? Why was a gag rule imposed by the House of Representatives? What are the implications for the country if the House of Representatives should pass other gag rules?

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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.

These materials have been produced by and for the teachers of the State of Utah. Copies of these materials may be freely reproduced for teacher and classroom use. When distributing these materials, credit should be given to Utah State Board of Education. These materials may not be published, in whole or part, or in any other format, without the written permission of the Utah State Board of Education, 250 East 500 South, PO Box 144200, Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-4200.