Middle School Language Arts 1/Middle School Language Arts 1 Advanced

Competency

Students will demonstrate the ability to read accurately with understanding by identifying the theme or central idea of the text and writing a detailed, accurate summary.

Project

You are a craft artist who is opening a shop on etsy.com. You have decided to make products for book lovers of all kinds. To add authenticity to your products, each one will come with a card giving a detailed, accurate summary of the text that the product is from. The card will also explain the central theme or idea that inspired the product.

Competency

Student will demonstrate the ability to write an informational article by conducting research and organizing, integrating, presenting, and citing information.

Project

You are a camp expert. Your specialty is researching and recommending summer camp programs to meet parents’ and children’s specific interests and needs.

Your job is to learn about a variety of summer camps and the interesting things that happen there. You will prepare a report that summarizes the services provided by a variety of camps. This will be a resource for parents.

Competency

Student will demonstrate the ability to write an original narrative essay by using literary techniques such as dialogue, descriptive words, sequence of events, and point of view to create characters, setting, and plot.

Project

You are a comic book writer who writes original fiction short stories for young adult magazines. You recently landed a contract to write a short story for your favorite YA comic book publisher. You will not be illustrating the comic, only writing the story. The topic of the story is of your choice. The only requirement in the contract is that you meet their submission standards and your writing is descriptive and structured.

Competency

Students will demonstrate the ability to compare and contrast how writers use genre, tone, and style to express themes by analyzing two or more texts of different genres.

Project

You are a conference planner, and you have been asked to select a keynote speaker for a science conference. The topic of the conference is “The Role of Science in Literature.”

In order to select an appropriate keynote speaker, you will need to analyze the writings of potential keynote speakers and decide on a speaker who uses a genre, tone, and style that is appropriate for the conference’s theme. You will prepare a proposal for the conference committee with your recommendation for the keynote speaker.

Competency

Students will demonstrate an understanding of the use and development of characters, plot, and theme in literature by analyzing narrative texts.

Project

You are a game writer who has been hired by a group of investors to design several escape rooms based on narrative texts. The investors will take care of details like construction, props, staffing, and promotion. You are responsible for making sure the theme, storyline, characters, and setting are true to the original narrative texts.

You will create a proposal that includes the theme, plot, list of characters, set description, and a few ideas for puzzles. (You are not responsible for designing the puzzle strategy).

Competency

Students will demonstrate the ability to write a persuasive essay for an intended purpose and audience that includes claims, counterclaims, reasoning, and supporting evidence.

Project

You are a restaurant critic, and you have been hired to write a persuasive essay. Your task is to write an essay persuading your readers to visit your favorite restaurant. Your essay should include a claim, counterclaims, sound reasoning, and supporting evidence to explain what makes your favorite restaurant the best in the area and worth a visit by others.