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Full-Text Articles in Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching
Proportional Relationships [7th Grade], Sabrina Bennett, Courtney Bryand
Proportional Relationships [7th Grade], Sabrina Bennett, Courtney Bryand
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
In this unit students will discover how everyday situations can be represented mathematically through proportional relationships. They will explore the use of ratios, rates and proportions as a problem solving tools. Students will examine proportional relationships in a variety of situations including percents, scaling, and purchasing situation (tax, tip, discount, best value etc). This unit provides two levels of learning activities. The seventh grade activities incorporate the seventh grade standards, and seventh grade pre-AP/GT activities compacts the seventh grade curriculum to incorporate both seventh and eighth grade standards. Pre-AP/GT activities can also be used as extension to the 7th grade …
What Section Do I Go To In Barnes And Noble? [7th Grade], Carol Cagnoni
What Section Do I Go To In Barnes And Noble? [7th Grade], Carol Cagnoni
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
The following unit is based upon the 7th grade reading TEKS and College and Career Readiness Standards for TEXAS. In this unit, students will explore a variety of genres. Through group discussion, lectures, and self-discovery, students will be able to better understand how to choose a book in a genre that interests them. The unit ends with students reading a self-selected book based on criteria tailored to them. Finally, after reading a book, the students will create a brochure advertising the book they completed as well as share their opinion with their peers.
Getting The Message [7th Grade], Vanessa Sanchez
Getting The Message [7th Grade], Vanessa Sanchez
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
This unit will serve as an introduction to Advanced Contemporary Literacy in the seventh grade. ACL is centered on the forms of media and media’s purpose, message, and construction. Through the use of real world examples, students will begin to gain an understanding of media, what it represents and how they can interpret it beyond the surface.
Success And Adversity Through Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone [7th Grade], Sarah Gamboa
Success And Adversity Through Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone [7th Grade], Sarah Gamboa
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
This unit focuses on what success and adversity are. Students will explore what success means to them. Essential questions for this unit are: What is success; Why are some people successful; and How can I be successful? Students will understand that: success is not inherent and must be achieved; certain habits help people become high achievers; and success can be achieved despite adversity. We will read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to focus on different forms of success and adversity. In the end, students will create an exhibit about success including a biographical piece and their plans for the …
Reflexive Writing And Literature [7th Grade], Kara Dougherty
Reflexive Writing And Literature [7th Grade], Kara Dougherty
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
The goal of this unit is for students to write their own reflexive piece of writing--a memoir. While students have had previous exposure to this in the past, their focus should be more on narrowing down their topic to the important facts and use vivid descriptions and sensory details to create imagery in their writing. We will read published examples of reflexive writing from both essay collections and the literature book, Elements of Literature: First Course published by Holt in order to analyse and understand how other writers make their literature interesting to the reader. We will also explore strategies …
Rational Numbers [7th Grade], Courtney Spickelmier
Rational Numbers [7th Grade], Courtney Spickelmier
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
This 6-7 week unit is designed to provide students with a deep understanding of rational numbers and what they represent: a part of a whole. The unit encompasses many aspects of working with rational numbers including converting between different forms of rational numbers, comparing and ordering rational numbers, understanding the relationship between improper and mixed number fractions, performing operations with rational numbers, finding percentages, and applying such skills to real world situations. Throughout this unit, students are given the opportunity to discover relationships between numbers, make connections to the real world and other mathematical topics, and reinforce skills through large …
Seedfolks: Individual And Community [7th Grade], Vanessa Sanchez
Seedfolks: Individual And Community [7th Grade], Vanessa Sanchez
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
Students will focus on the impact an individual can have on a community. The unit will then move on to a study of individuals who have affected their communities and the affect a community has on the behavior and understanding of an individual. Students will also read and discuss the novel Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman as a connection to the focus of the unit. Students will use their knowledge of community and individual influence to make a difference within their own community and reflect on the experience.
Media Forms In Use [7th Grade], Salena Gonzales
Media Forms In Use [7th Grade], Salena Gonzales
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
Advanced Contemporary Literacy is a new course at NEISD where each grade level's curriculum is designed around a different focus for the year to meet the needs of students who require or desire a challenge and change of pace from the traditional reading class. In seventh grade, the focus is Media Literacy, the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms-from print to video to the Internet. Media Literacy is essential to today's adolescents because, according the the Center for Media Literacy, it "builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well …
Simple & Compound Machines [7th Grade], Roxanne Hammonds
Simple & Compound Machines [7th Grade], Roxanne Hammonds
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
Students will learn about the different types of simple machines including pulleys, levers, wedges, Screws, inclined planes, and wheel & axles. They will be able to classify objects as simple or compound machines. They will describe how humans use machines to make everyday tasks easier. They will illustrate their knowledge of simple machines throughout the unit through various science journals, fold books, and flashcards. As a culminating performance task, the students will use what they have learned to make a Rube Goldberg machine. Students will choose what type of useful work their machine will do. The students will present their …
Exploring Cause And Effect Through Change [7th Grade], Sarah Gamboa
Exploring Cause And Effect Through Change [7th Grade], Sarah Gamboa
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
This unit focuses on (as the title suggests) exploring cause and effect through change. Students will explore different personal, local, and global changes; what causes those changes, and what effects those change have on them, those around them, and the world. They will also understand that, while change is not avoidable, we empower ourselves by deciding how to react and respond to those changes. Students will read a fictional narrative in which they can relate to the main character: the story is about her first day at a US school. They will also read fictional and non-fiction letters to the …
Compare And Contrast Your Way To Better Judgment [7th Grade], Salena Gonzales
Compare And Contrast Your Way To Better Judgment [7th Grade], Salena Gonzales
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
We should evaluate of both sides of a story (or situation) before choosing which is better or worse. Fact and opinion are both vital to choosing preference. The choices we make have significant effects on our lives. (cause and effect) Fables are genre of short fiction stories with inferred morals to learn from.
Probability And Statistics [7th Grade], Courtney Spickelmier
Probability And Statistics [7th Grade], Courtney Spickelmier
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
In this 7th grade unit, students will be required to put their mathematical minds to work as they develop an understanding of both theoretical and experimental probabilities and as they learn to analyze and communicate data effectively. Students will use real life data to explore measures of central tendency and how different measures may lead to different conclusions about the same information. Through the performance assessment, students will collect and analyze data, choosing the best way to communicate their findings. Finally, students will have the opportunity to apply their knowledge of theoretical probability to make predictions and will test those …
Whose Fault Is History? [7th Grade], Kate Empson
Whose Fault Is History? [7th Grade], Kate Empson
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
In this unit students will learn about the events that culminated in the beginning of the Texas Revolution. Students will study specific legislative acts by the Mexican government and discover how these acts, which placed restrictions on activity in Texas, pushed many Texans to rebellion. They will then analyze these events and try to understand how historical figures in both Mexico and Texas would have viewed these legislative acts. The final performance assessment will require students to study a current conflict and the events that led up to that conflict. Students must then decide which side they would support in …
Cultural Justice [7th Grade], Kathleen Fenske
Cultural Justice [7th Grade], Kathleen Fenske
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
This unit focuses on cultural justice and how the type of justice implemented depends on the culture. The unit focuses on the 3 essential questions: What is justice? Is there truly justice for all? And is one culture's system of justice better than another? Along with these three questions, the unit also focuses on the 4 types of justice: revenge, retribution, rehabilitation, and restoration. This unit begins with reading Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelson, a story about a boy, Cole, who is sent to live alone on an island instead of being sent to jail for committing a crime. …
Why Learn Spanish? [7th Grade], Leigh Sheppard
Why Learn Spanish? [7th Grade], Leigh Sheppard
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
No abstract provided.
Family [7th Grade], Amy Nichols
Family [7th Grade], Amy Nichols
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
In this unit, students will explore the different forms and meaning family can take. Throughout, there will be an emphasis put on a fluid definition of family. From the traditional mother-father-children to friends who are like brothers to a woman caring for her aging boss, this unit will use age-appropriate literature to guide an exploration of what family can look like. In turn, there will also be opportunities for exploration of how families choose to represent and define themselves. Additionally, there will be study of the importance of point of view. A story and a situation--can change dramatically depending on …
Who Am I? [7th Grade], Lisa Shay, Judy Shaw
Who Am I? [7th Grade], Lisa Shay, Judy Shaw
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
In this three week unit students will gain a better understanding of themselves and how their life experiences and environment have shaped them. Students will also understand that by gaining self-knowledge they are better able to set goals for their future. In order to better understand themselves, students will first examine others lives and obstacles that these individuals have overcome to achieve some level of success. Through this examination students will be able to discover that the past doesn t have to decide their future. They will gain an insight into how certain individuals have triumphed despite difficulties and have …
Historical Sources [7th Grade], Beth Mcphail
Historical Sources [7th Grade], Beth Mcphail
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
This unit introduces the concepts and skills associated with historical research and interpretation. Students will learn how to identify primary and secondary sources and how to interpret sources in a variety of formats. They will learn how to identify bias and some of the reasons it exists. Students will apply these skills of analysis and interpretation in a performance assessment that asks them to interpret a variety of sources about a historical event. Students will create a presentation for their peers in which they explain this event, based on their source analysis. The purpose of this unit is to prepare …
Obstacles: The Study Of Life's Hurdles Through Reading And Writing Personal Narratives [7th Grade], Nilima Patel
Obstacles: The Study Of Life's Hurdles Through Reading And Writing Personal Narratives [7th Grade], Nilima Patel
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
The study of writing and reading is all too often carried out separately. Students learn how to read and write in isolation; such learning proves to be limited. This unit aims to integrate these two studies into one. Students will study authors and the strategies they employ when writing. These strategies will then be applied in their own writing. Such strategies include developing characters and ideas, organizing ideas using the plot components, and cultivating writing through tone and mood.
Survival Guide: Writing A Personal Narrative [7th Grade], Nilima Patel
Survival Guide: Writing A Personal Narrative [7th Grade], Nilima Patel
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
The goals of this unit are threefold: first, instilling in students a sense of purpose for writing. Too often, students do not understand why it is important to write, and more acutely, they do not understand why it is important for them to write. Secondly, this unit aims to teach students specific strategies to implement when writing that will serve to engage the audience. There are three strategies that develop students writing in very concrete, understandable ways. Lastly, students will recognize the benefit of collaborating with peers when writing. While writing is primarily an individual exercise, this unit will challenge …
Catastrophic Events [7th Grade], Theodore Risinger
Catastrophic Events [7th Grade], Theodore Risinger
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
This unit focuses on the study of earthquakes and volcanoes as a means for better understanding the dynamic Earth we live on; and the impact of catastrophic events on human life. The student should complete this unit with a greater understanding of Earth's dynamic nature, being able to scientifically explain the cause of earthquakes and volcanoes. Along with the science of volcanoes and earthquakes the student will appreciate the value of scientific study as it relates to the protection of human life and society. This unit is by no means an all inclusive look at all catastrophic events. The goal …
Native Texan Cultures [7th Grade], Beth Mcphail
Native Texan Cultures [7th Grade], Beth Mcphail
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
In this unit, students will explore the basic understanding that geography influences history within the context of Native American cultures. They will begin by finding ways in which geography has influenced their own culture and presenting these connections in a brochure for newcomers to the area. Students will then apply the same concept to the study of native cultures. They will learn about the major tribes and cultural groups that existed in Texas prior to European exploration, and how these cultures reflected the environments in which they lived. The culminating performance assessment will require students to develop a fictional native …
Texas Revolution [7th Grade], Katharine Givens
Texas Revolution [7th Grade], Katharine Givens
Understanding by Design: Complete Collection
This unit focuses on the road to the Texas Revolution and the Texas Revolution. The unit begins with Students learning the causes of the Texas Revolution as well as the events that led up to the war. The unit will also focus on the people who were involved in the Texas Revolution. The road to revolution will end with students completing a letter writing activity in which they take on the role of a person living in Texas or Mexico before the revolution and write letters about the problems they are facing. Students will also respond to these letters and …