With all the technological innovations coming from modern Japan, it's easy to forget that even they had a Stone Age.
7th Grade Historical Literacy consists of two 43 minute class periods. Writing is one 43 minute block and reading is another. The teacher has picked themes based on social studies standards, and a read-aloud novel based on social studies serves as the mentor text for writing and reading skills. More social studies content is addressed in reading through teaching nonfiction reading skills and discussion. Standards reflect CCSS ELA, Reading, and Social Studies Standards.
Students must "become" a character in a novel in order to describe themselves and other characters using powerful adjectives.
Before we can begin to study the first peoples, it is important to establish the concept of time. Historians use timelines to help aid in the understanding of the time frame in which the topic under study has taken place. The first step is to establish how the past is organized into sections of time. The organization of time into Eras is a choice made by historians. The sections of time that are being used in this book are divided by major turning points (big events that change humans forever) in history. This book is organizing the major Eras into the following four categories: Prehistory, Ancient History, Middle Ages, and Modern History.
Location, location, location. You may have heard this phrase before. It is used by realtors to explain that the most important thing in selling a house is its location. With the civilizations you are about to study, location might be the most important thing that determined the success of those civilizations.
What is an empire? How did they grow? What did they do? How did they work? Why do they decline and fall? These are some of the questions that historians have studied and tried to figure out for centuries. In this chapter you will learn about the difference between a civilization and an empire, the characteristics of empires, the impact of geography on civilizations and empires, how trade developed, and how empires were governed. Finally you will look at some examples of empires from this age.
In this chapter you will learn about religion. What is religion? Simply put, religion is the belief in a god or set of gods. Unfortunately, the study of religion is not simply put. Religion is very complex; it is one of the most interesting parts of human existence. Religion is a belief in a god or set of gods and so much more. It is part of a cultural system that includes practice, world views, ethics, and a social organization that connects humans to each other and to a source of existence. A religious belief system is also a way of explaining the mysteries of life.
War, poverty, environmental disasters, lack of resources, the struggle for power, and the quest for freedom and rights have been the common threads throughout history. These issues are still the core of the modern world’s agenda in hopes of improving the lives of all humans. In this unit you are going to identify a significant issue that is still plaguing the world today, research the issue, write a persuasive essay that presents your solution to the problem you investigated, and, finally create a campaign to put your solution into action. Basically, you are going to witness what a positive difference you can make in the world!
In this three week unit, students will practice skills related to argumentative writing. They will ultimately write an argumentative/persuasive letter to the school board regarding school safety policy.
Students will discuss the definition of a biography and determine what elements it contains. They will research a famous person and create a web graphic organizer with key achievements and personal information from their life. Peer feedback will be given on the web creation and then an oral presentation will be given.
To prepare for literature circles featuring historical novels, students research the decades of the 1930s to the 1990s and share their information using Prezi, a web application for creating multimedia presentations.
For this lesson, students will learn how to cite in-text in MLA. They will watch a video, be directed to an easy to understand web page with citation examples, and even be able to complete a worksheet on citing in-text in MLA. Once students are done with this lesson, they will be ready to cite in-text in their own research paper.
As part of their ELA coursework, students are reading an autobiography to study author's craft. In particular, students are exploring how authors use dialogue, transitional phrases/clauses, and sensory details to tell a personal story. The unit will culminate with students writing their own memoirs. The bulk of the unit takes place in the ELA classroom. In the ESL support block, students will receive support with reading an autobiography of their choice, noting examples of author's craft in the autobiography, and integrating this craft into their own writing.
In this first lesson of the unit, students choose from two memoirs 15 on the Road to Freedom and the Big Lie. Students participate in a F2F mini-lesson in how dialogue can develop characters in an autobiography. Students then transition to technology for a book introduction with historical context and a chapter 1 book preview (guided reading). Students in 15 on the Road to Freedom then continue to receive support via Ed Puzzle for identifying dialogue and documenting in a graphic organizer, while students in The Big Lie meet with the teacher for the support. While students in The Big Lie transition to continue completing the graphic organizer independently, students in the 15 on the Road to Freedom meet with the teacher F2F to discuss their completed graphic organizers. Students then return to their autobiographies (written on google docs and organized in google classroom) to include additional dialogue in their stories and peer-review a partnerÅ› story. Students then participate in a full group F2F wrap up/reflection where they share out examples of dialogue their partner included in their writing as a result of the lesson.
Online Lesson for Books: Historical Context/Chapter 1 Intro/Graphic Organizer Support
15 on the Road to Freedom: Book Introduction, Chapter 1 Preview, and Support with Graphic Organizer Task
The Big Lie: Book Introduction, Chapter 1 Preview (Note that support with graphic organizer is given F2F for this group)
Graphic Organizers
I can identify how authors use dialogue to develop characters
I can identify precise language authors use to introduce dialogue
I can identify how authors use sensory details to develop experiences
I can identify how authors use transitional words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence shifts
Assignment Sheet
ELA Autobiography Assignment Sheet (Created by Julia Koli, Connie Ray, and Elliot Willis-Begley at Scarlett Middle School, Ann Arbor MI)
F2F Mini-Lesson #1
Mini-Lesson on Character Development Through Dialogue
Please email daughertye@aaps.k12.mi.us if you would like me to send you the additional resources I created for the remaining mini-lessons and book chapters!
Student demonstration of analysis of literary elements in fiction and nonfiction.
Using their new skills in deconstructing advertisements, students will look at advertisements through the lens of gender. Students will be encouraged to critically analyze the cultural stereotypes for men and women. Students will deconstruct advertisements based on gender representation.Rationale: Students will begin to see how believing in stereotypes can lead towards a negative self image for men and women. This is Part 4 of a 5 part Unit: Media Manipulation: What Are They Really Saying?
Students will become familiar with terms, arguments and case studies involving globalization. After using our text to explore relevant definitions and initial pro-con arguments, students will rotate between five stations: (1) watch and respond to a Crash Course video in EdPuzzle, (2) investigate food security & trade issues with a small group white board flowchart, (3) access case studies online and respond to questions, (4) search out addition pro-con arguments online and (5) select a product to research and develop a script for a fashion show that highlights the effects of globalization. The unit will conclude with a "globalization fashion show" and a pro-con debate on globalization.
This activity emphasizes the importance of teaching reading and writing strategies for students to use with informational text.
Students will use the Five Core Concepts and Five Key Questions to analyze and evaluate media messages. These concepts will serve as the "Big Ideas" or the "Enduring Understanding" that students will need in order to become media literate. Students will learn the Language of Persuasion used in advertising, specifically techniques that appeal to pathos (emotion), logos (logic), and ethos (credibility/character). They will use these techniques to analyze both print advertisements and television commercials. The lesson will culminate in the analysis of advertisements and the various techniques that they use as well as an evaluation of their effectiveness.This is Part 3 of a 5 Part Unit: Media Manipulation: What Are They Really Saying?
For this assignment, students will review prepositions through an activity, a video, and a website. They will have an opportunity to prove their knowledge through a Quiz game and a worksheet. Once they understand how to write prepositions, they will end the lesson by using prepositions to describe a room in their house. They can share their assignment through Voicethread or a Padlet.
For this lesson, students will learn how to pick a topic for a research paper. They will then think of questions they want to answer in their research paper, and use those questions to guide what they take notes on. A detailed PowerPoint explains how to use PowerPoint to organize and take notes.