In the first half of Unit 3, students delve deeper into their chosen areas of intervention in the life cycle of plastic. Students choose a personal action to respond to the issue of plastic pollution, such as deciding to use less plastic or recycle more, communicating with officials, or researching an invention. They will form triads with classmates who have chosen the same category of action plan; together, they will determine how to coordinate their personal actions to be used in their documentary clip. Each homework includes the opportunity to enact and take notes on this personal action. Each lesson includes in-class time to discuss the results of the action plan and to further enact it through research or other efforts. In addition to working on their action plan, students will write their documentary script over the course of the first half of the unit. First, they review the Model Documentary Script, determining the characteristics of a strong narrative lead. Then each member of the triad practices these narrative writing skills by creating a lead to their documentary script. Triads work together to choose, revise, or combine their narrative drafts into one lead for their documentary script, focusing on eliminating redundancy and wordiness. Students then divide the remaining three sections of their documentary script among their triad, so that each student writes either the argument, action plan description, or conclusion. Before the mid-unit assessment, students engage in a Tuning protocol to improve the content of the script, focusing on presenting findings (including descriptions, facts, details, and examples) in a focused and coherent manner. For the mid-unit assessment, students demonstrate their revision skills, using the knowledge gained from the Tuning protocol to improve their section of the script.

In the second half of Unit 3, students work in their triads to create a storyboard, using visuals to clarify their claims and findings as well as to emphasize the points in their documentary script. They then learn how to pitch their documentary to potential film producers, observing a model pitch and using a Tuning protocol to practice and refine their presentation skills, such as using appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. Finally, in the end of unit assessment, each student in the triad pitches a part of their documentary script, focusing on using formal English, domain-specific vocabulary, their storyboard visuals, and their presentation skills.

Where does food come from and where does it go next? This unit on the cycling of matter and photosynthesis begins with 7th grade students reflecting on what they ate for breakfast. Students are prompted to consider where their food comes from and consider which breakfast items might be from plants. Then students taste a common breakfast food, maple syrup, and see that according to the label, it is 100% from a tree.

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“It is past time that we tackle the plastic problem that blights our oceans. Plastic pollution is surfing onto Indonesian beaches, settling onto the ocean floor at the North Pole, and rising through the food chain onto our dinner tables.” So explains Erik Solheim, the environment director of the U.N., quoted in Danielle Smith-Llera’s book Trash Vortex. Craig Leeson, one of the narrators of the documentary A Plastic Ocean, also conveys the urgency of the situation: “The problem with that is that today only a fraction of the plastic that we produce is recycled. The rest ends up in our environment, and it's coating our land and our oceans like a disease.” Students spend the module learning about how plastic pollution became such a widespread problem, particularly in our oceans, and what can be done to reduce pollution. Students use their anchor text, the documentary, and additional articles in Units 1 and 2 to gather background knowledge about the problem, as well as explore possible solutions to reducing plastic pollution at different points in the plastic life cycle. As students transform their understanding into action plans and documentary clips to share with their communities, they help make into reality the final part of Erik Solheim’s quote: “We’ve stood by too long as the problem has gotten worse. It must stop.”

In Unit 1, students are introduced to the topic of plastic pollution and how it affects humans, animals, and the environment. Students study the documentary A Plastic Ocean, noting the transcript’s portrayal of a subject as compared to the film’s portrayal. In each lesson throughout the first half of the unit, students view a film clip as a class several times. Then they work collaboratively to complete note-catchers and engage in discussions to compare the film and transcript portrayals of subjects as well as to evaluate the speakers’ arguments. In the second half of Unit 1, students address big ideas about where and how plastic pollutes, as well as what can be done about plastic pollution. Students analyze the anchor text Trash Vortex for the author’s purpose and central ideas. Students then learn to analyze the text to discover how the author distinguishes her position from that of others. During the end of unit assessment, students read and analyze the end of Trash Vortex, answering selected and constructed response questions to analyze central ideas as well as the author’s purpose and how she distinguishes her position from others.

In Unit 2, students continue exploring the problem of plastic pollution by focusing on what can be done to address the problem. They read three articles and revisit their anchor texts to understand what interventions can be taken at each stage of the plastic life cycle: beginning, middle, and end. Students also learn about new materials being invented to replace plastic at the beginning of the life cycle, what consumers can do to use less plastic in the middle of the life cycle, and efforts by governments and organizations to stop single-use plastic and invent ways of cleaning up plastic pollution at the end of the plastic life cycle. By the middle of the unit, students take a stand about which part of the plastic life cycle would be most effective to target. They have the opportunity to defend their position in a debate with their classmates. Although this debate is not assessed, students’ preparation and participation in the debate continues to prepare them for their end of unit assessment and performance task in the following unit. In the second half of the unit, students use the evidence and reasoning they’ve collected and organized from their reading to practice on-demand argument essay writing about which point in the plastic life cycle is the best place to target to reduce pollution.

In Unit 3, students delve deeper into their chosen areas of intervention in the life cycle of plastic. Students choose a personal action to respond to the issue of plastic pollution. Actions might include using less plastic or recycling more, communicating with officials, or researching an invention. They form triads with classmates who have chosen the same category of action to determine how to coordinate their personal actions to be used in their documentary clip. In addition to this action plan work, students write their documentary film clip script over the course of the first half of the unit. In the second half of Unit 3, students work in their triads to create a storyboard, using visuals and captions to clarify their claims and emphasize the points in their documentary script. They then learn how to pitch their documentary to potential film producers, observing a model pitch and using a Tuning protocol to practice and refine their presentation skills. These include using appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. Finally, in the end of unit assessment, students work in triads to each pitch a part of their documentary script, focusing on their use of formal English, domain-specific vocabulary, storyboard visuals, and presentation skills.

How does changing an ecosystem affect what lives there? This unit on ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity begins with students reading headlines that claim that the future of orangutans is in peril and that the purchasing of chocolate may be the cause. Students then examine the ingredients in popular chocolate candies and learn that one of these ingredients--palm oil--is grown on farms near the rainforest where orangutans live. This prompts students to develop initial models to explain how buying candy could impact orangutans.

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How do changes in the Earth's system impact our communities and what can we do about it? This unit on Earth’s resources and human impact begins with students observing news stories and headlines of drought and flood events across the United States. Students figure out that these drought and flood events are not normal and that both kinds of events seem to be related to rising temperatures. This prompts them to develop an initial model to explain how rising temperatures could cause both droughts and floods and leads students to wonder what could cause rising temperatures, too. This initial work sets students up to ask questions related to the query: How do changes in Earth’s system impact our communities and what can we do about it?

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Students begin Unit 1 by reading Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall. Theme and point of view are introduced through the text, as well as discussion norms, as students discuss their responses to the text. They also analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the reader create effects like suspense or humor. While reading Summer of the Mariposas, they closely read complex informational texts about the folklore of Mexico. In the second half of Unit 1, students analyze how incidents in the story reveal aspects of a character in order to prepare for a Socratic Seminar discussion. Theme is introduced and tracked in preparation for Unit 2.

Summer of the Mariposas contains references to sensitive topics such as a family’s abandonment by their father, a murder and children’s discovery of the corpse, illegal crossing of the border between the United States and Mexico, and Latin American folklore that includes references to magic, spells, witchcraft, and monsters. The issues presented must be carefully and sensitively discussed to give students context as they read the story. Speak with students and families in advance, especially those who may have sensitivity to topics discussed.

In this unit, students begin to read literary nonfiction texts at their level as they choose independent research reading texts. There are Independent Reading Sample Plans located on the Tools Page (http://eled.org/tools) with ideas on how to launch independent reading. Students should complete 20 minutes of independent research reading each evening that they are not prereading a chapter from the whole-class anchor text and should also continue independent research reading over weekends.

In Unit 2, students will continue to read Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall. The first half of the unit will focus on theme in Summer of the Mariposas, analyzing how the theme has developed over the text and writing summaries. In the second half of the unit, students write a new scene for Summer of the Mariposas in which they modernize a different Latin American folklore monster in a similar manner to the other monsters chosen by McCall. In order to do this, students research a monster from Latin American folklore to choose.

As English Language Arts educators know, theme is a nuanced concept. It is a big idea, a message that develops over the course of the text, emerging from the events and character responses in the text itself. In The Summer of the Mariposas, as in other literary works, several notable and thought-provoking themes develop over the course of the text. EL Education has chosen to emphasize two prominent and important themes of the text (“Being kind and pure of heart can help people live fuller, more meaningful lives” and “Things are not always as they appear”) in order to allow students to track the development of these themes over multiple chapters of the text. This will not only help students deeply understand this particular text—it will also allow students to better understand the concept of theme development, so it can become one of the habits of mind they bring to any rich literary text.

It is important to note that EL Education has decided to include a theme statement at the end of chapter summary paragraphs. A summary is an objective synthesis of the key ideas of the chapter. It is true that a theme statement is not a core requirement of a summary, and not all summaries that students write anywhere else will include this type of analysis. However, this approach of ending with a theme statement (as a sort of “so what” after the synthesizing summary) helps students make a connection between summarizing and analysis.

For homework in Unit 2, students will continue to preread chapters of Summer of the Mariposas before discussing them in class. On any day that a prereading of a chapter is not assigned, students should continue their independent research reading by reading for at least 20 minutes and responding to a prompt. Additionally, students should continue independent research reading over the weekends.

In the first half of the unit, students read informational texts relevant to Summer of the Mariposas and the topic to determine central idea. In the second half of the unit, students write a literary analysis essay using the Painted Essay® structure to compare and contrast how La Llorona was portrayed in Summer of the Mariposas with the original story, to explain how Guadalupe Garcia McCall has rendered the story new. For their end of unit assessment, students write another essay explaining how they modernized their own monster in the narrative piece they wrote in Unit 2.

For homework, students will continue to preread chapters of Summer of the Mariposas before discussing them in class. On any day that a prereading of a chapter is not assigned, students should continue their independent research reading by reading for at least 20 minutes and responding to a prompt. Additionally, students should continue independent research reading over the weekends.

Why do things sometimes get damaged when they hit each other? Oh, no! I’ve dropped my phone! Most of us have experienced the panic of watching our phones slip out of our hands and fall to the floor. We’ve experienced the relief of picking up an undamaged phone and the frustration of the shattered screen. This common experience anchors learning in the Contact Forces unit as students explore a variety of phenomena to figure out, “Why do things sometimes get damaged when they hit each other?”

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Why do we see evidence of myths and traditional stories in modern narratives? How and why can we modernize myths and traditional stories to be meaningful to today's audiences? In this module, students develop their ability to analyze narratives and create their own stories and to analyze informational essays and create their own as they learn about Latin American folklore.

Students begin Unit 1 by reading Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall. Theme and point of view are introduced through the text, as well as discussion norms, as students discuss their responses to the text. They also analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the reader create effects like suspense or humor. While reading Summer of the Mariposas, they closely read complex informational texts about the folklore of Mexico. In the second half of Unit 1, students analyze how incidents in the story reveal aspects of a character in order to prepare for a Socratic Seminar discussion. Theme is introduced and tracked in preparation for Unit 2.

In Unit 2, students continue to read Summer of the Mariposas. The first half of the unit focuses on theme in Summer of the Mariposas, analyzing how themes have developed over the course of the text and writing summaries. In the second half of the unit, students write a new scene for Summer of the Mariposas in which they modernize a different Latin American folklore “monster” as a replacement for one of the other monsters chosen by McCall. In order to do this, students research a monster from Latin American folklore to choose.

In the first half of Unit 3, students read the informational author’s note for Summer of the Mariposas as well as a model essay to determine central idea and write a summary. In the second half of the unit, students write a literary analysis essay using the Painted Essay® structure comparing and contrasting how La Llorona was portrayed in Summer of the Mariposas with the original story to explain how McCall has rendered the story new. For their end of unit assessment, students write another essay explaining how they modernized their own monster in the narrative piece they wrote in Unit 2.

Finally, for their performance task, students create a webpage for both their narratives and their essays, enriching their communities by raising awareness about Latin American folklore.

In this module, students explore the array of options, access, and information Americans have when deciding what to eat through the topic of Food Choices. As in previous modules, in Lesson 1 of Unit 1, students discover this topic by examining multiple artifacts, and they are introduced to the guiding questions of the module and the culminating performance task. In the second lesson, students begin reading their anchor text, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, and they analyze the author’s point of view and perspective. Throughout the subsequent lessons in the first half of the unit as they continue to read excerpts from The Omnivore’s Dilemma, students also analyze the structure Pollan uses and how it contributes to key points. Students begin to delineate and evaluate Pollan’s arguments, as well as arguments presented in video format. When reading and watching videos to delineate and evaluate arguments, they consider whether the evidence is sound and sufficient. This work prepares students for the Mid-Unit 1 Assessment.

In the second half of Unit 1, students continue to read The Omnivore’s Dilemma while exploring other mediums such as digital print, video, and photographs that express information about food choices. Students analyze the purpose and motive behind information presented in these different mediums and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums to present information. Students also analyze cases in which two sources disagree. This work prepares students for the end of unit assessment.

In Unit 2, students are introduced to new research skills as they work together to research how GMOs impact access to healthy food. Students choose a second topic about access to food—pesticides, organic food, food deserts, or high-fructose corn syrup—and begin to conduct internet research independently. This prepares students for their mid-unit assessment, in which are given a new research question and are assessed on their research skills.

In the second half of Unit 2, students plan and draft an informative essay using the Painted Essay® structure, explaining how the topic they chose to research impacts access to healthy food. For their end of unit assessment, students prepare a short lesson to present their findings to their classmates and include visuals in their presentations.

In the first half of Unit 3, students analyze language and connotations in The Omnivore’s Dilemma in order to understand what Michael Pollan intends his readers to understand. In the second half of Unit 3, students consider the many food choices they have researched and formulate an argument about a choice their community can make to eat healthily and sustainably. Students plan and draft argument essays to defend their claim.

For their performance task, students create an infographic to visually depict their argument and prepare prompt cards to present their argument to an audience of classmates, teachers, and community members.

Where does our food come from? How do we analyze arguments about how food should be grown and processed? What factors influence our access to healthy food? How do we research this? What factors should we prioritize when making choices about our food? How do we share these recommendations with others? In this module, students develop their ability to research, weigh different aspects of complex dilemmas, and formulate opinions supported by evidence and reasoning as they explore the topic Food Choices.

In the beginning of Unit 1, students discover this topic by examining multiple artifacts and being introduced to the guiding questions of the module and the culminating performance task. Throughout the module, students read excerpts from their anchor text, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and they analyze video clips of the Nourish: Food and Community documentary. Students learn how to analyze the author’s purpose and point of view, as well as structural elements he uses to convey key ideas. In addition, students learn how to delineate and evaluate the author’s arguments by tracking his central claim, supporting points, evidence, and reasoning. Students evaluate whether the author’s evidence and reasoning are sufficient and sound and consider if and how he addresses conflicting viewpoints. Students then evaluate an author’s motives for conveying information and consider the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums to do so. All of these skills further students’ abilities to be critical consumers of information and to be thoughtful about what is presented to them.

In Unit 2, students research GMOs and a second topic of their choice (pesticides, high-fructose corn syrup, organic food, or food deserts) that bring to light influences on Americans’ access to healthy food. Students learn new research skills as they explore ways in which access to healthy food can be increased or decreased. After researching GMOs as a whole class, students choose their own topic and utilize the research skills they learned in the first half of the unit to research their topic of choice. Students then write an expository essay on how their research topic impacts access to healthy food. At the end of Unit 2, students participate in a Desktop Teaching Activity that will allow them to teach a mini lesson on the topic they research, and to participate in their classmates’ mini lessons on other case studies.

In Unit 3, students analyze language used in The Omnivore’s Dilemma to better understand the author’s intended meaning. Students begin to consider the food choices at play in the many texts and topics they have examined and begin to formulate their own opinions about which food choice would be the most beneficial for themselves and those in their community. For the final assessment, students write an argument essay defending this recommendation. In preparation for this, students analyze a model essay, plan and draft a practice essay, and plan and draft their assessment essay.

For their performance task, students create an infographic and talking points to defend their argument. Students will present to an audience of community members in roundtable presentations.

How can a sound make something move? In this unit, students develop ideas related to how sounds are produced, how they travel through media, and how they affect objects at a distance. Their investigations are motivated by trying to account for a perplexing anchoring phenomenon — a truck is playing loud music in a parking lot and the windows of a building across the parking lot visibly shake in response to the music.

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In this module, students explore the topic of Voices of the Holocaust. In Lesson 1 of Unit 1, students discover this topic by examining multiple artifacts and encountering the guiding questions of the module and the culminating performance task. As the unit continues, students read an informational text providing an overview of the Holocaust to build their background knowledge on the scope and gravity of the Holocaust. They will be introduced to their anchor text, Maus I, a graphic novel and closely read the first chapter to understand how dialogue and tone reveal aspects of characters. As students continue to read the text, they will track character, plot, and emerging themes. This work prepares students for the Mid-Unit 1 Assessment.

In the second half of Unit 1, students continue to read Maus I and track plot and emerging themes. This work prepares students for the end of unit assessment. At the end of Unit 1, students write a summary of the entire anchor text, Maus I, including a statement of a major theme developed throughout the text.

In Unit 2, students analyze a model literary analysis, an expository essay that compares and contrasts the structures and themes of a poem and a novel to prepare students to write their own literary analysis. Students then closely read a new poem, “Often a Minute” by Magdalena Klein, in order to write their own essay comparing the structure and theme of this poem to their anchor text, Maus I. Students spend two days planning their essay and two days drafting and revising their essay based on peer feedback. For their mid-unit assessment, students answer selected and constructed response questions to compare and contrast a new poem’s structure and theme with that of Maus I.

In the second half of Unit 2, students read excerpts from memoirs written by victims and survivors of the Holocaust to analyze development of theme and write summaries. They will also participate in mini lessons and practice verb conjugation, voice, and mood. This work prepares students for the end of unit assessment. At the end of Unit 2, students answer selected and constructed response questions about verb conjugation, voice, and mood.

In Unit 3, students read informational accounts of upstanders during the Holocaust in order to learn more about how and why many people took action against Hitler and the Nazis during the Holocaust. Students write reflections about how these individuals took action and what makes them upstanders. Students also participate in mini lessons on and practice with how to use punctuation such as commas, ellipses, and dashes. This work prepares students for their mid-unit assessment, in which they will be presented with a reflection paragraph and will answer selected and constructed response questions about the use of punctuation and verb voice and mood.

In the second half of Unit 3, students will create a graphic panel to present one of the summaries they wrote and will observe one another’s work in order to scaffold towards their performance task. Students will discuss common traits of upstanders that they saw across the texts they read and will analyze a model narrative of a fictional interview with an imaginary upstander in order to be able to write their own. Students will plan a narrative of their own by creating a profile of a fictional upstander, creating interview questions and answers, and planning an “explode the moment” with sensory details and figurative language to slow down the pacing of a key moment of the narrative. This will prepare students for their end of unit assessment, in which they will draft their narrative.

To prepare for their performance task, students will peer review one another’s narrative and provide feedback; they will then analyze a model performance task that includes a graphic panel to visually represent elements of the narrative and a reflection on the narrative and panel. Students will then plan their own panel and reflection, draft these elements, and prepare to present. For their performance task, students will present their graphic panel to an audience and will answer questions about their work in order to share their learning and honor the memory of those who lived, died, and took action during the Holocaust.

How can a magnet move another object without touching it? This unit launches with a slow-motion video of a speaker as it plays music. In the previous unit, students developed a model of sound. This unit allows students to investigate the cause of a speaker’s vibration in addition to the effect.

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What was the Holocaust and how did it occur? Why do we remember it? How did victims and survivors respond, and how can we honor their voices? How did upstanders respond, and what can we learn from their voices? In this module, students learn about a terrible time period in history, remember the voices of victims, survivors, and upstanders, and at the same time, they develop their ability to determine and track themes, understand the development of characters, identify and track the development of central ideas, and write narratives to honor the memories of those who served as upstanders during the Holocaust.

In the beginning of Unit 1, students discover the topic by examining multiple artifacts and encountering the guiding questions of the module and the culminating performance task. Students read an informational text providing an overview of the Holocaust to build their background knowledge on the scope and gravity of the Holocaust. They are introduced to their anchor text, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History, a graphic novel, and closely read the first chapter to understand how dialogue and tone reveal aspects of characters. As students continue to read the text, they track character, plot, and emerging themes. This work prepares students for the Mid-Unit 1 Assessment. In the second half of Unit 1, students continue to read Maus I and track plot and emerging themes. This work prepares students for the end of unit assessment. At the end of Unit 1, students write a summary of the entire anchor text, Maus I, including a statement of a major theme developed throughout the text.

In Unit 2, students analyze a model literary analysis, an expository essay that compares and contrasts the structures and themes of a poem and a novel. Students then closely read a new poem, “Often a Minute” by Magdalena Klein, in order to write their own essay comparing the structure and theme of this poem to their anchor text, Maus I. Students spend two days planning their essay and two days drafting and revising their essay based on peer feedback. For their mid-unit assessment, students are presented with a new poem and answer selected and constructed response questions to compare and contrast its structure and theme with that of Maus I. In the second half of Unit 2, students read excerpts from memoirs written by victims and survivors of the Holocaust and also participate in mini lessons and practice verb conjugation, voice, and mood. This work prepares students for the end of unit assessment. At the end of Unit 2, students answer selected and constructed response questions about verb conjugation, voice, and mood.

In Unit 3, students read informational accounts of upstanders during the Holocaust. Students write reflections about how these individuals took action. Students also participate in mini lessons and practice how to use punctuation such as commas, ellipses, and dashes. This work prepares students for their mid-unit assessment, in which they are presented with a reflection paragraph from an informational text and answer selected and constructed response questions about the use of punctuation and verb voice and mood. In the second half of Unit 3, students create a graphic panel as a representation of one of the summaries they wrote and observe one another’s work in order to scaffold towards their performance task. Students discuss common traits of upstanders that they saw across the texts they read and analyze a model narrative of a fictional interview with an imaginary upstander. Students plan a narrative of their own by creating a profile of a fictional upstander, creating interview questions and answers, and planning an “explode the moment” with sensory details and figurative language to slow down the pacing of a key moment of the narrative. This prepares students for their end of unit assessment, in which they draft their narrative.

To prepare for their performance task, students peer review one another’s narrative and provide feedback and then analyze a model performance task that includes a graphic panel to visually represent elements of the narrative and a reflection on the narrative and panel. Students then plan their own panel and reflection, draft these elements, and prepare to present. For their performance task, students present their graphic panel to an audience and answer questions about their work.