English Language Arts Grade 7 Unit 1: Crafting Meaning Through Storytelling (22-27 days)

Assessments Unit Considerations Instructional Resources and Supporting Standards ELL Supports
Tools

Summary Statement: In this unit, readers will determine the themes of literary texts and analyze their development, citing several pieces of
textual evidence to support their analysis. They will also analyze the ways in which particular elements of a story or drama interact and provide
objective summaries. Writers will craft narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive
details, and well-structured event sequences.
Focus Standards
RL.7.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to
support analysis of what the text says explicitly as
well as inferences drawn from the text.
RL.7.2 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.
RL.7.3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or
drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the
characters or plot).
W.7.3 a-e Write narratives to develop real or
imagined experiences or events using effective
technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-
structured event sequences.
Unit 1: Crafting Meaning Through Storytelling
Standards Addressed in Multiple Units
RL.7.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RL.7.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other
repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or
section of a story or drama.
RL.7.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories,
dramas, and poems, in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with
scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
W.7.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and
style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W.7.5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and
strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new
approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
W.7.6 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.
W.7.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and
revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of
discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
SL.7.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in
groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues,
building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
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Students know...
citing is quoting or paraphrasing
evidence when responding to text.
analysis is a careful study of a text to
learn about its parts, what they do, and
how they are related to each other.
analysis is driven and supported by
evidence from text.
explicit meaning is clearly and
unambiguously contained in text.
inferences are conclusions or
interpretations formed from details or
evidence in text.
summaries are brief statements or
accounts of the main points of texts.
summaries are objective; they contain
key details about the text, not personal
opinions.
to determine is to ascertain meaning
based on context.
a central idea is the dominant impression
found in a text often described in a word
or phrase, sometimes referred to as a
thematic concept.
a theme is a timeless, universal, and
abstract statement that encapsulates an
interpretation of the dominant message
of a text.
analysis is a careful study of a text to
learn about its parts, what they do, and
how they are related to each other.
Unit 1: Crafting Meaning Through Storytelling
Reading Focus Standards
Students understand... Students can...(bolded skills are new)
RL.7.1
readers cite several pieces of textual evidence by
taking sentences and passages directly from the
text in order to give an example or to support
analysis.
readers analyze by considering the components
of a text, making inferences, and explaining how cite several pieces of textual evidence to
the components are related to one another to support analysis of what the text says explicitly
create and/or affect meaning. as well as inferences drawn from the text.
readers consider both explicit and implicit
meaning by deciding where in the text the
discussion can be taken literally, and where they
must analyze for deeper meaning.
RL.7.2
readers provide an objective summary of a text by
restating the main points of a text without provide an objective summary of the text.
including personal opinions.
RL.7.2
readers determine a central idea by considering
how literary elements interact to create a
dominant impression.
readers determine a theme by considering how a
determine a theme or central idea of a text and
central idea or thematic concept develops over
analyze its development over the course of
the course of the text and drawing conclusions
the text.
about a message based on textual evidence.
readers analyze the development of theme by
considering how details related to the central
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 analysis is driven and supported by
evidence from text.
elements of stories or dramas include
such components as characters, setting,
and plot.
interact means to come together and
have an effect on each other.
Students know...
narratives can be both real or imagined
descriptions of experiences or events.
introductions engage and orient the
reader and establish the narrator and/or
main characters.
the context establishes the
circumstances in which a narrative will
occur.
point of view is the perspective from
which a narrative is considered or
conveyed.
natural and logical event sequences are
arranged in a definite pattern.
narrative techniques are tools a writer
uses to deliver a story.
Unit 1: Crafting Meaning Through Storytelling
message are revealed early in the text and then
change or evolve by the end of the text.
RL.7.3
readers analyze by considering the components
of a text, making inferences, and explaining how
the components are related to one another to analyze how particular elements of a story or
create and/or affect meaning. drama interact.
Writing Focus Standards
Students understand... Students can...(bolded skills are new)
W.7.3
write narratives to develop real or imagined
writers craft narratives for a variety of purposes
experiences or events using effective technique,
including to convey experiences, share insights,
relevant descriptive details, and well-structured
and build empathy in readers.
event sequences.
W.7.3.a
writers engage readers by thinking about what
draws readers into a text.
writers orient readers by providing information that
sets the stage and supports them in making
meaning. engage and orient the reader by establishing a
writers establish context by creating a relevant context and point of view and introducing a
setting, clarifying what is happening, and narrator and/or characters.
establishing who is involved.
writers establish narrators and/or characters
points of view by selection of actions,
perspectives, dialogue, and word choice.
W.7.3.a
writers create event sequences that unfold
naturally and logically by deciding how events organize an event sequence that unfolds
connect to or impact subsequent aspects of the
naturally and logically.
plot, and then retelling those events so that they
make sense to the reader.
W.7.3.b
writers select from a range of narrative techniques
use narrative techniques, such as dialogue,
by choosing those that will create intended effects
pacing, and description, to develop experiences,
and best develop experiences, events, and/or
events, and/or characters.
characters.
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 dialogue is a technique that refers to the
words expressed by the characters in a
narrative.
pacing is a technique writers use to
control the speed and rhythm at which a
story is told.
transitional words, phrases, and clauses
connect ideas, sentences, and
paragraphs.
narratives can take place in more than
one time or setting.
precise words and phrases communicate
information and details about the
experiences and events in a way that is
clear and unambiguous for the reader.
relevant descriptive details are clearly
related to key aspects of the narrative.
sensory language communicates
experiences of sight, sound, smell, taste,
and/or touch.
a conclusion brings a narrative to a
purposeful close.
conclusions which include reflection
consider the effect or implication of the
narrative.
Unit 1: Crafting Meaning Through Storytelling
writers use dialogue by choosing which words
expressed by characters best develop and reveal
characterization.
writers adjust pacing through structural choices
(such as flashbacks or scene cuts) and the
accumulation or omission of details.
W.7.3.c
writers use a variety of transitions to help signal
the sequence of events, and shifts in time or use a variety of transition words, phrases, and
setting by considering the effects of different clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts
transitions and determining which transition will from one time frame or setting to another.
best create their intended effect.
W.7.3.d
writers capture the action and convey experiences use precise words and phrases, relevant
and events by carefully selecting language that descriptive details, and sensory language to
evokes the experiences of significant plot events capture the action and convey experiences and
in the story. events.
W.7.3.e
writers bring a sense of closure by providing a
resolution to the plot; having a character or
narrator come to a realization; and/or having a provide a conclusion that follows from and
reflects on the narrated experiences or events.
character or narrator reflect on the impact of the
experiences of the narrative.
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