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

Writing (7-8.W)

Students will learn to write for a variety of tasks, purposes, and audiences using appropriate grammar/conventions, syntax, and style.

Standard 7-8.W.2:

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content, and provide a conclusion that supports the information or explanation presented.

• 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
• Add Context to Your Introductions with the "Then-and-Now Intro"
  One way that writers of all kinds begin a piece of writing is by creating a contrast between what has happened in the past and what is happening now. When writers do this, they aren?t trying to write about history, but rather they are beginning by creating context for the ideas they are about to reveal. This little history-corner-moment provides a dynamic beginning in any content area -- from art to economics to ecology!
• 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. 
• Congressional Biography
  What is a biography? Who are the people who represent Americans in Congress? How do you compose a biography about one of the representatives?
• Define Important Terms AND Make Your Intro Interesting with the Definition Hinge Structure
  In elementary school, someone may have taught you to ?hook a reader? by starting an essay with a definition. This has become pretty cliched and not engaging. But readers do need to have things defined for them. And while definitions may not help us start a piece of writing, they can help us structure a writing by bridging the introduction and the body. In this video, You?ll learn a move writers in all genre use -- the definition hinge structure -- to provide crucial context for readers while moving them from the introduction into the main ideas of your writing.
• 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.
• Easily Discuss Text Evidence with this Simple Structure Trick
  Mentor Texts:
  ?The question of humanness troubles the clones, as well as sympathetic individuals like the guardians. On Hailsham?s mission, one of the guardians Miss Emily proclaims, ?Most importantly, we demonstrated to the world that if students were reared in humane, cultivated environments, it was possible for them to grow to be as sensitive and intelligent as any ordinary human being.? The liberal-minded guardians invested in the students? cultural education not only with the aim of improving their quality of living, but also to establish that their lives were worth saving. Working against the rationalization of science, the guardians looked to the students? creativity as the truer measure of their being human.? -Mimi Wong, ?Kazuo Ishiguro?s Never Let Me Go is a Masterpiece of Racial Metaphor?, Electric Lit
• Examining History with Maya Angelou's Poetry
  Well known for addressing social issues in the world through her poetry, Maya Angelou's moving poems serve to teach historical topics in this lesson. To understand the world that surrounded her, students practice their visual literacy skills as they first examine photographs from the Library of Congress. These primary sources illustrate some of the events that affected her life and thus her writing. Next students research these events in order to create trading cards using the ReadWriteThink Trading Card Creator Student Interactive. While reading Angelou's poems, students share the trading cards to better understand the background for her writing.
• How to Paraphrase Text Evidence
  Direct quotes are the first thing that comes to mind when we think about text evidence. But more often than not, writer paraphrase their evidence -- putting it in their own words. In this video, we?ll look at cross-curricular examples of authors paraphrasing text, looks for patterns, and learn a method for paraphrasing ourselves.
• How to Punctuate Titles
  Punctuating different kinds of titles is super back-to-basics, but it?s something student writers often mistake. In this video, we?ll talk about why we punctuate titles the way we do, consider broader rules that govern title punctuation, and learn the basics. This video is perfect for assigning to small groups or individual students who need some refreshing!
• How to Write Complete Sentences & When to Break the Rule
  Writing complete sentences is harder than you might think, and it?s a fundamental writing skill that?s worthy of review. In this video, you?ll learn about what makes a complete sentence, tips for making sure your sentences are complete, and circumstances in which writers break this rule effectively.
• Informative Writing
  The lesson provides an opportunity for students to not only read and view the importance of choosing career choices now, but gives them an opportunity to write about their future career goals and think about the best way to achieve them starting now.
• Learn How to Write a Quick, Advanced Summary with the Pivot Synopsis
  When we need to quickly summarize an event, idea, or text, a 101-level synopsis won?t always do the trick. Sometimes the text is more complicated -- it contains a central tension or conflict that needs to be addressed. In that case, a Pivot Synopsis will do the trick. It?s the more nuanced cousin of Synopsis 101 that allows a writer to say something more sophisticated while still summarizing quickly.
• Let's Get Back to Basics: Structure 101
  In our first series of the 2022-2023 school year, we're getting back to the basics. Every Tuesday and Thursday, we'll release a new video that reviews a core writing move or strategy.
• New Ways to Incorporate Text Evidence
  One of our goals at Mini Moves for Writers is to teach you multiple ways to hack a writing skill. In this video, we'll build on the standard way you've probably been taught to weave text evidence into your writing in both English and social studies classes.
• Three Paragraph Structures Every Writer Needs to Know
  In this video, learn three fundamental paragraph types that will help any writer meaningfully organize their writing. Paragraphs -- even basic ones -- help both the reader and the writer make sense of and build connections between ideas in a piece of writing. This video features:
  1 Idea, 1 Paragraph
  Single-Sentence Paragraph
  1 Idea, Multiple Paragraphs (+ Transition)
• To Quote or Not to Quote (Text Evidence)?
  As we?ve talked about in Paraphrasing Text Evidence (? How to Paraphrase Text Evidence , professional writers paraphrase more often than they directly quote. So, how do we decide when a direct quote is the best way to support an idea? In this video, Rebekah shares three times writers choose to use a direct quote instead of paraphrasing and gives two important tips for how to quote with sophistication like the pros.
• Two Ways to Summarize an Event
  In this video, learn two ways to summarize an event. Summarizing events is a core component of storytelling and essential to any form of writing. Being able to summarize an event shows not only an understanding of the event itself, but also chronological reasoning and analysis. This video features:
  Observation + Cause-Effect Sandwich
  Observation + Explanation + Analysis

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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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