Course Standards
General Course Information and Notes
Version Description
The purpose of this course is to provide grade 7 students, using texts of high complexity, integrated language arts study in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language for college and career preparation and readiness.
General Notes
The content should include, but not be limited to, the following:
- active reading of varied texts for what they say explicitly, as well as the logical inferences that can be drawn
- analysis of literature and informational texts from varied literary periods to examine:
- text craft and structure
- elements of literature
- arguments and claims supported by textual evidence
- power and impact of language
- influence of history, culture, and setting on language
- personal critical and aesthetic response
- writing for varied purposes
- developing and supporting argumentative claims
- crafting coherent, supported informative/expository texts
- responding to literature for personal and analytical purposes
- writing narratives to develop real or imagined events
- writing to sources using text- based evidence and reasoning
- effective listening, speaking, and viewing strategies with emphasis on the use of evidence to support or refute a claim in multimedia presentations, class discussions, and extended text discussions
- collaboration amongst peers
Special Notes:
Instructional Practices: Teaching from well-written, grade-level instructional materials enhances students' content area knowledge and also strengthens their ability to comprehend longer, complex reading passages on any topic for any purpose. Using the following instructional practices also helps student learning.
- Reading assignments from longer text passages, as well as shorter ones when text is extremely complex.
- Making close reading and rereading of texts central to lessons.
- Asking high-level, text-specific questions and requiring high-level, complex tasks and assignments.
- Requiring students to support answers with evidence from the text.
- Providing extensive text-based research and writing opportunities (claims and evidence).
English Language Development ELD Standards Special Notes Section:
Teachers are required to provide listening, speaking, reading and writing instruction that allows English language learners (ELL) to communicate information, ideas and concepts for academic success in the content area of Language Arts. For the given level of English language proficiency and with visual, graphic, or interactive support, students will interact with grade level words, expressions, sentences and discourse to process or produce language necessary for academic success. The ELD standard should specify a relevant content area concept or topic of study chosen by curriculum developers and teachers which maximizes an ELL's need for communication and social skills. To access an ELL supporting document which delineates performance definitions and descriptors, please click on the following link: http://www.cpalms.org/uploads/docs/standards/eld/la.pdf.
Additional Instructional Resources:
A.V.E. for Success Collection is provided by the Florida Association of School Administrators: http://www.fasa.net/4DCGI/cms/review.html?Action=CMS_Document&DocID=139. Please be aware that these resources have not been reviewed by CPALMS and there may be a charge for the use of some of them in this collection.
Qualifications
As well as any certification requirements listed on the course description, the following qualifications may also be acceptable for the course:
Any World Language certification plus English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Endorsement.
General Information
- Class Size Core Required
Educator Certifications
Student Resources
Original Student Tutorials
Learn to paraphrase grade level content in this tutorial that includes passages about some of America's most notable pioneers.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn to identify aspects of setting and character as you analyze several excerpts from “The Yellow Wallpaper," a chilling short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman that explores the impact on its narrator of being confined to mostly one room. You'll also determine how the narrator’s descriptions of the story’s setting better reveal her emotional and mental state.
This interactive tutorial is Part One in a two-part series. By the end of Part Two, you should be able to explain how the narrator changes through her interaction with the setting. Click below to launch Part Two.
The Power to Cure or Impair: The Importance of Setting in 'The Yellow Wallpaper' -- Part Two
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Continue to examine several excerpts from the chilling short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which explores the impact on its narrator of being confined to mostly one room. In Part Two of this tutorial series, you'll determine how the narrator’s descriptions of the story’s setting reveal its impact on her emotional and mental state. By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to explain how the narrator changes through her interaction with the setting.
Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two. Click HERE to launch "The Power to Cure or Impair: The Importance of Setting in 'The Yellow Wallpaper' -- Part One."
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Explore the mysterious poem “The House on the Hill” by Edwin Arlington Robinson in this interactive tutorial. As you explore the poem's message about the past, you’ll identify the features of a villanelle in the poem. By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to explain how the form of a villanelle contributes to the poem's meaning.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Continue to explore the significance of the famous poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, lines from which are engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.
In Part Two of this two-part series, you’ll identify the features of a sonnet in the poem "The New Colossus." By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to explain how the form of a sonnet contributes to the poem's meaning.
Make sure to complete Part One before beginning Part Two.
Click HERE to launch "A Giant of Size and Power -- Part One: Exploring the Significance of 'The New Colossus.'"
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Continue to explore excerpts from the beginning of the historical fiction novel The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez in Part Two of this two-part series. In Part Two, you'll examine how setting influences characters.
Make sure to complete Part One first. Click HERE to launch "Analyzing the Beginning of The Red Umbrella -- Part One: How Setting Influences Events."
Type: Original Student Tutorial
In Part One, explore the significance of the famous poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, lines from which are engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.
This famous poem also happens to be in the form of a sonnet. In Part Two of this two-part series, you’ll identify the features of a sonnet in the poem. By the end of this tutorial series, you should be able to explain how the form of a sonnet contributes to the poem's meaning. Make sure to complete both parts!
Click HERE to launch "A Giant of Size and Power -- Part Two: How the Form of a Sonnet Contributes to Meaning in 'The New Colossus.'"
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Explore excerpts from the beginning of the historical fiction novel The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez in this two-part series. In Part One, you'll examine how setting influences events. In Part Two, you'll examine how setting influences characters.
Make sure to complete both parts! Click HERE to launch Part Two.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to write a great "CER" paragraph that includes a claim, evidence, and reasoning with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Unlock the language of political propaganda and learn about bias and symbolism in propaganda with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Investigate essential and nonessential elements in a sentence. In Part Two of this two-part series, you'll learn about essential and nonessential phrases and clauses and how to use commas with nonessential phrases and clauses in a sentence.
Please complete Part One before beginning Part Two. Click HERE to launch Part One.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Examine how a significant event can influence individuals and ideas in this tutorial series about one of the most studied human injuries of all time. Read excerpts from John Fleischman’s book, Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science to learn about a young man’s remarkable survival after a near-fatal accident.
This tutorial is Part Three of a three-part series. Make sure to complete the other parts first.
Click HERE to launch Part One.
Click HERE to launch Part Two.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Investigate essential and nonessential elements in a sentence in this two-part, interactive tutorial series. In Part One, you'll learn about appositives and how to use commas with appositives when they provide nonessential information in a sentence.
When you're done, make sure to complete Part Two. Click HERE to launch Part Two.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Examine how a significant event can influence individuals and ideas in this tutorial series about one of the most studied human injuries of all time. Read excerpts from John Fleischman’s book Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science to learn about a young man’s remarkable survival after a near-fatal accident.
This tutorial is Part Two in a three-part series. Make sure to complete Part One first. Click HERE to launch Part One.
Then, make sure to complete Part Three! Click HERE to launch Part Three.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Investigate a mysterious punctuation mark--the dash--in this interactive, two-part tutorial. In this series, you'll learn about two types of dashes and their different uses. In Part Two, you'll learn about the em dash and practice using it correctly.
We recommend that you complete Part One first! Click HERE to launch Part One.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Investigate a mysterious punctuation mark--the dash--in this interactive, two-part tutorial. In this series, you'll learn about two types of dashes and their different uses. In Part One, you'll learn about the en dash and practice using it correctly. In Part Two, you'll learn about the em dash and practice using it correctly. We hope by the end of this series that the dash will no longer be quite so mysterious!
Make sure to complete Part Two! Click HERE to launch Part Two.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Examine how a significant event can influence individuals and ideas in this interactive tutorial series about one of the most studied human injuries of all time. Read excerpts from John Fleischman’s book Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science to learn about a young man’s remarkable survival after a near-fatal accident. Phineas Gage, at the age of twenty-six, survived a traumatic brain injury that would not only challenge the scientific understandings of his time but would also provide interesting revelations about the human brain to this day.
In Part One, you’ll begin to identify what makes a particular event significant, such as how a life-altering injury—like what happened to Phineas Gage—can influence an individual.
This tutorial is Part One of a three-part series. Make sure to complete all three parts!
Click HERE to launch Part Two.
Click HERE to launch Part Three.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Check out a mysterious punctuation mark . . . the ellipsis . . . in this interactive, English Language Arts tutorial. You'll learn a number of different uses for the ellipsis and apply what you learn to practice using the ellipsis correctly.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Don't be mystified by commas! This interactive tutorial will help you better understand how to correctly use this often mysterious punctuation mark. You'll learn several ways commas are commonly misused to help make sure you don't make these same mistakes in your own writing. Then, you'll learn several ways to correctly use a comma.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Check out a mysterious punctuation mark--the apostrophe--in this interactive tutorial. You'll learn several important rules and guidelines to help you demystify this punctuation mark so you can use it correctly in your own writing.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn 12 new academic vocabulary terms in this interactive tutorial! You'll practice the words' synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, and context clues in order to add them to your vocabulary.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn a number of important rules that will help you master the mysterious comma. In this interactive tutorial, you'll learn how commas are used to separate three or more items in a series and to “set off” certain aspects of a sentence.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Examine how the story elements of plot, setting, and character interact in an excerpt from the novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn to recognize and fix one of the most common grammar errors—the run-on sentence—as you complete this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn more about that dreaded word--plagiarism--in this interactive tutorial that's all about citing your sources and avoiding academic dishonesty!
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn the rules of capitalization in this interactive tutorial! By the end, you'll have undergone a "crash course" in correct capitalization.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn 12 new academic vocabulary terms in this interactive tutorial! You'll practice the words' synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, and context clues in order to add them to your vocabulary.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about text structures found in informational texts by reading an article about lotteries in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn 12 new academic vocabulary terms in this interactive tutorial! You'll practice the words' synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, and context clues in order to add them to your vocabulary.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn 12 new academic vocabulary terms using synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, and context clues in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to tailor your writing based on your task, purpose, and audience. In this interactive tutorial, you will review the differences between informative and argumentative writing, and you will also learn the differences between formal and informal writing styles.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Explore the structure and meaning of poetry and learn how poems are organized to express and develop themes. Along the way, you will also learn some key terms like diction, imagery, and mood. This interactive tutorial uses two famous poems as examples, one by William Blake and one by Emily Dickinson.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Select a character and learn to identify and explain the central idea within a text. In this interactive tutorial, you'll analyze an article about video games to find the central idea of each paragraph and the entire article.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Discover how different authors approach the same topic in different ways by examining several passages that describe how insects have become a common food in certain parts of the world. With this interactive tutorial, you will learn how to analyze an author's approach based on the central idea of the text and the evidence used as support.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn to identify and understand the evidence presented within a text about Sacagawea. In this interactive tutorial, you will analyze information within the text, identify and cite textual evidence, and make inferences based on the information provided in the text.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to use commas to connect two sentences, how to use commas with coordinate adjectives, and how to use the Oxford comma. In this interactive tutorial, you will complete practice exercises and read several short passages about primates, including gorillas and baboons.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Improve your writing by identifying language that is too wordy or repetitive. With this interactive tutorial, you'll learn how to replace wordy sentences with clear, concise language.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to evaluate candidates running for political office. You'll play the role of a voter choosing between 2 candidates running for mayor of your town!
This interactive tutorial is a companion to Election Time in Tutorial Town.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn what separates clauses from sentences in this basketball-themed, interactive tutorial. You'll also learn about four sentence types: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex. Game on!
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Read the famous poem "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" and see how its author embellishes historical fact to create historical fiction in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Read an original short story about a car crash to analyze the points of view of the different characters in the story. This interactive tutorial will help you decide if they objective or subjective.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Analyze the interactions between individuals, ideas, and events in an excerpt from the famous autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Find the meanings of unfamiliar words by analyzing their word parts, like roots and prefixes. In this interactive tutorial, you'll see how these "signs" will guide you in your reading.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Read several short stories about pirates and treasure and learn how to summarize a story, identify its theme, and tell the difference between the two with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to identify sound devices such as repetition, alliteration, and assonance in the poems of Edgar Allan Poe. As you complete this interactive tutorial, you'll read portions of "The Raven," "The Bells," and "Annabel Lee."
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Read the short story "The Last Leaf" by O. Henry to learn how to make inferences based on explicit and implicit information and your own reasoning as you complete this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how figures of speech like simile, metaphor, and personification are used in the speeches of famous individuals. In this interactive tutorial, you'll examine text from speeches by John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn all about political parties in the U.S., including what they are and how they function in our political system with this interactive tutorial. You'll learn lots about the two major parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, and also about third parties and what it means to be a political "independent."
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to identify explicit evidence and understand implicit meaning in a text.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to identify a speaker’s argument or claim. You will also learn how to evaluate the evidence and reasoning presented in a speech.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn how to write a strong introduction for an argumentative essay as you complete this interactive tutorial. When you master argumentative writing, you can convince your reader to believe whatever you want them to believe!
Learn how to identify and write strong argumentative claims.
You’ll practice brainstorming and selecting the evidence that best supports an argumentative claim.
You’ll learn how to identify and write great grabbers to hook your reader’s attention and make them want to read your writing,
And finally, you’ll write a complete introduction using all that you’ll learn.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Tutorials
In this tutorial game, you will be running for the office of President of the United States! But it's not that simple--you've got to plan your campaign, decide on platform issues, select a campaign manager, and much more. Hurry--time is running out. We need a new leader, and that leader just might be you! Good luck!
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice using commas correctly in sentences. For each practice item, you must use commas in a sentence only where appropriate. After every response, you will get immediate feedback.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice using commas correctly in sentences. For each practice item, you must use commas in a sentence only where appropriate. After every response, you will get immediate feedback.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice fixing comma errors in sentences. For each practice item, you must select the best choice to revise a sentence so that it uses commas correctly. After every response, you will get immediate feedback.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice fixing comma errors in sentences. For each practice item, you must correct the comma error in a sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. The site also provides an explanation of the rules of proper sentence structure for you to study, simply click the hyperlinked "Comma Tip” that appears with feedback.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice avoiding misplaced and dangling modifiers. For each practice item, you must determine how to complete a sentence to avoid a misplaced or dangling modifier. After every response, you will get immediate feedback.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice in recognizing misplaced and dangling modifiers. For each practice item, you must select only the sentence that does not contain a misplaced or dangling modifier. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are also provided. There’s also an explanation of the rules of proper sentence structure for you to study, simply click the hyperlinked word "rules."
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice in recognizing misplaced and dangling modifiers. For each practice item, you must identify whether a sentence contains a misplaced or dangling modifier. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are also provided. There’s also an explanation of the rules of proper sentence structure for you to study, simply click the hyperlinked word "rules."
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice in recognizing misplaced and dangling modifiers. For each practice item, you must select only the sentence that does not contain a misplaced or dangling modifier. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are also provided. There’s also an explanation of the rules of proper sentence structure for you to study, simply click the hyperlinked word "rules."
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice in recognizing misplaced and dangling modifiers. For each practice item, you must identify whether a sentence contains a misplaced or dangling modifier. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are also provided. There’s also an explanation of the rules of proper sentence structure for you to study, simply click the hyperlinked word "rules."
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice correcting two common types of run-on sentences: comma splices and fused sentences. For each practice item, you must identify the best way to correct either a comma splice or a fused sentence. Explanations of each correct answer are also provided. There’s also an explanation of the rules of proper sentence structure for you to study, simply click the hyperlinked word "rules."
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice identifying two common types of run-on sentences: comma splices and fused sentences. For each practice item, you must identify whether a run-on sentence is a comma splice or a fused sentence. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are also provided. There’s also an explanation of the rules of proper sentence structure for you to study, simply click the hyperlinked word "rules."
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice in recognizing sentence fragments types. For each practice item, you must identify the type of fragment being presented. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are also provided. There's also an explanation of the rules of proper sentence structure for you to study, simply click the hyperlinked word "rules."
Type: Tutorial
This tutorial game will give you the chance to "play" the roles of the three branches of government. Rather than simply learning about each branch in isolation, you will control each branch and learn how they interact. The goal is to move public policy issues from ideas to fully formed laws with the collaboration of all 3 branches.
Type: Tutorial
In this tutorial, you will use your personal interests to drive a mock political debate. You will have the opportunity to select questions in the debate, rate the candidates' responses, and vote for the candidate of your choice. This is a great opportunity for you to weigh in as a citizen and participate in the democratic process!
Type: Tutorial
This interactive exercise will give you practice simplifying sentences with apostrophes. For each practice item, you must simplify a sentence by typing a revision that demonstrates the correct use of an apostrophe. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. If you don’t know which word or words to type, the “I Give Up” button will help you out.
Type: Tutorial
This interactive exercise will give you practice simplifying sentences with apostrophes. For each practice item, you must simplify a sentence by typing a revision that demonstrates the correct use of an apostrophe. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. If you don’t know which word or words to type, the “I Give Up” button will help you out.
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice in correcting sentence fragments. For each practice item, you must select the best choice to correct a fragment in a short passage. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are also provided. There's also an explanation of the rules of proper sentence structure for you to study, simply click the hyperlinked word "rules."
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice in correcting sentence fragments. For each practice item, you must select the best choice to correct a fragment in a short passage. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are also provided. There's also an explanation of the rules of proper sentence structure for you to study, simply click the hyperlinked word "rules."
Type: Tutorial
This fun and interactive exercise will give you practice in correcting sentence fragments. For each practice item, you must select the best choice to correct a fragment in a short passage. After every response, you will get immediate feedback. Explanations of each correct answer are also provided. There's also an explanation of the rules of proper sentence structure for you to study, simply click the hyperlinked word "rules."
Type: Tutorial
This is a guide to the composition and usage of clauses, including independent and dependent clauses. A PowerPoint and several practice quizzes are provided to help students with independent clauses and recognizing clause functions.
Type: Tutorial
This is a comprehensive guide to the proper use of prepositions and prepositional phrases. Several interactive quizzes are provided.
Type: Tutorial
This is an online guide to adjective usage. It includes informational text about rules of adjective usage, a video from Schoolhouse Rock, and several interactive quizzes.
Type: Tutorial
This is a comprehensive guide to adverb usage. Detailed definitions, explanations, and examples are provided. It also provides links to two quizzes for students to individually practice their skills at using adverbs correctly. There is also a video from Schoolhouse Rock on adverbs.
Type: Tutorial
This is a comprehensive guide to conjunctions and their usage. The resource also includes the engaging video "Conjunction Junction" from Schoolhouse Rock; it explains the various functions of conjunctions.
Type: Tutorial
This is a comprehensive guide to the usage of nouns. Interactive quizzes are provided, as well as an engaging video from Schoolhouse Rock on the use of nouns.
Type: Tutorial
This guide explains how to vary sentence length and structure to add interest and expression to writing. It includes several online quizzes covering variety in modifier placement, variety in subject placement, and identifying sentence types. Quizzes include the correct answers with explanations.
Type: Tutorial