Cluster 1: Text Types and PurposesArchived

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General Information
Number: LAFS.7.W.1
Title: Text Types and Purposes
Type: Cluster
Subject: English Language Arts - Archived
Grade: 7
Strand: Writing Standards

Related Standards

This cluster includes the following benchmarks.

Related Access Points

This cluster includes the following access points.

Access Points

LAFS.7.W.1.AP.1a
Produce an introduction that introduces the writer’s claims and acknowledges alternate or opposing claims.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.1b
Create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s claim.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.1c
Write arguments to support claims with logical reasoning and relevant evidence from credible sources.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.1d
Use words, phrases and clauses to link opinions and reasons and clarify relationship of ideas.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.1e
Maintain a consistent style and voice throughout writing (e.g., third person for formal style, accurate and efficient word choice, sentence fluency, voice should be active versus passive).
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.1f
Provide a concluding statement or section that supports and summarizes the argument presented.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.2a
Organize ideas, concepts and information (using definition, classification, comparison/contrast and cause/effect).
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.2b
Introduce a topic clearly, previewing information to follow and summarizing stated focus.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.2c
Develop the topic (add additional information related to the topic) with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations or other information and examples.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.2d
Use transitional words, phrases and clauses that connect ideas and create cohesion within writing.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.2e
Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.2f
Maintain a consistent style and voice throughout writing (e.g., third person for formal style, accurate and efficient word choice, sentence fluency and voice should be active versus passive).
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.2g
Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information presented.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.2h
Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts, details and examples.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.2i
Report on a topic, with a logical sequence of ideas, appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details that support the main ideas.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.3a
Orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing the narrator and/or characters.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.3b
Organize ideas and events so that they unfold naturally.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.3c
When appropriate, use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.3d
Use a variety of transition words, phrases and clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.3e
Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.3f
Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.
LAFS.7.W.1.AP.3g
Use words, phrases or gathered information to accurately reflect literary context.

Related Resources

Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this topic.

Lesson Plans

Gr. 7 Lesson 2-The Everglades and Aquifers:

Students will be able to explain what an aquifer is and why aquifers are important for us and the Everglades. Students will also be able to explain how aquifers can become polluted. 

Type: Lesson Plan

Gr. 7 Lesson 1-Discovering What Wetlands Do:

Students will be able to 

  • Describe how human impacts have had an effect on the Everglades, such as water quality and altered flow of water 
  • Explain 3 important wetlands functions 
  • Write an informative text to examine the multi-step procedures and how they relate to human impacts on the Everglades using new vocabulary in context 

Type: Lesson Plan

Reflect It, Refract It, or Asorb It:

While working in groups, students will be provided various materials to design models that illustrate the refraction, reflection, and absorption of light.

Type: Lesson Plan

Child Soldiers Lesson 3: Research Paper:

In this lesson, students will conduct research and write a formal paper on child soldiers. Students will learn about primary and secondary sources and how to determine the credibility of their sources. The teacher will provide support on how students should record their citations and how to take notes on note cards. This is part three of a three-part lesson on child soldiers.

Unit overview: This unit will guide students though the process of reading multiple texts to develop knowledge about the topic of child soldiers and will culminate in a final research project. The first lesson focuses on news articles while the second lesson concentrates on one former child soldier's story as portrayed through interviews and his music. As a whole, the unit integrates close reading of multiple sources with speaking and listening activities and provides students with opportunities to write routinely from sources throughout the unit. The unit provides ample occasions for students to read, evaluate, and analyze complex texts as well as routine writing opportunities that encourage reflection.

Type: Lesson Plan

Analyzing Themes and Story Elements in the Classic Love Story, "Pyramus and Thisbe":

"Pyramus and Thisbe" is a tragic love story in which two lovers are separated by forces seemingly beyond their control. This lesson guides students through an analysis of the story elements and how they function together to create a theme. A plot diagram helps students to analyze this classic story after the teacher models analysis using the familiar children’s story, Cinderella. Students will write a response analyzing how the plot elements and symbols develop the story's themes.

Type: Lesson Plan

O' Oysters! The Opposite of Hero is not a Villain; It's a Bystander!:

Who knew the eldest Oyster could have saved them all? This lesson is the final lesson in a three-lesson series and can be used on its own or as the culmination of a unit using the poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll. In this final lesson, the poem's lessons are used to introduce an informational text on bullying and the bystander effect. The lesson involves close reading, chunking the text into digestible parts using a graphic organizer, text-dependent questions, and a narrative essay summative assessment.

Type: Lesson Plan

One Wicked Walrus, a Careless Carpenter, and Oblivious Oysters:

In this lesson, which is part 2 in a series, students will study the seemingly innocuous poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll and analyze the plot sequence and main character attributes that lead to the ultimate demise of all those silly little oysters! The students will complete a plot organizer, answer text-dependent questions relating to the plot and character development, and write an essay at the end of the lesson to further analyze the characters in the poem. Graphic organizers and answer keys, text-dependent questions and a key, and the writing prompt and rubric are all included with the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

Sleep On It: A Close Reading Lesson:

In this lesson, students will conduct a close read of the article, "Why Teenagers Really do Need an Extra Hour in Bed" by Russell Foster (published on April 22, 2013 in Issue 2913 of NewScientist). For the first reading, students will focus on academic vocabulary. In the second reading, students will answer text-dependent questions to guide their comprehension of the article. In the third close reading, students will choose important facts in the article and cross-reference them with other articles to determine the validity and reliability of the evidence. Graphic organizers and worksheets, along with suggested keys and a writing rubric, have been provided. For the summative assessment, students will write a persuasive letter in which they make a claim regarding sleep and support it with textual evidence.

Type: Lesson Plan

A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words: From Image to Detailed Narrative:

This two-day lesson, "A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words: From Image to Detailed Narrative," by Traci Gardner, is provided by ReadWriteThink.org, a website developed by the International Reading Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, with support from the Verizon Foundation.

In the lesson, students view an image that tells a story and brainstorm the possible event or situation the image illustrates. Each student then writes a narrative from the point of view of one of the characters, revealing the character's thoughts/feelings and the events that led up to the image or the events that will follow.

Type: Lesson Plan

Close Reading: "For this is an Enchanted Land," an excerpt from Cross Creek:

In this lesson, students will conduct three close readings of an excerpt from Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.

For the first reading, the students will complete a graphic organizer to define select vocabulary words. In the second reading, students will complete another graphic organizer to analyze the types of figurative language used in the story and how they impact the tone and meaning. They will also complete a T-chart comparing and contrasting the sensory details used to describe a before and after of the author's home. In the final reading, students will answer text-based questions about the excerpt. Answer keys for the graphic organizers and text-based questions are included.

The summative assessment, in the form of a narrative/descriptive essay, will require the students to choose a special place of their own and describe it with specific words and figurative language that convey the appropriate tone.

Type: Lesson Plan

Close Reading Exemplar: The Secrets Behind What You Eat:

This close reading exemplar uses an excerpt from Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat. The goal of this two day exemplar from Student Achievement Partners web resources is to give students the opportunity to use reading and writing habits to unpack Pollan's investigative journalism of industrial farms. By reading and rereading the passage closely combined with classroom discussion about it, students will identify why and how farming practices have changed, as well as identify Pollan's point of view on the subject. When combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will begin to appreciate investigative journalism, as well as question from where their food is coming.

Type: Lesson Plan

Close Reading Exemplar: My Mother, the Scientist:

The goal of this three day exemplar from Student Achievement Partner web resources is to give students the opportunity to use reading and writing habits to absorb deep lessons from Charles Hirshberg's recollections of his mother. By reading and rereading the passage closely and focusing their reading through a series of questions and discussions about the text, students will identify how much his mother's struggles and accomplishments meant to both Hirshberg and the wider world. When combined with writing about the passage, and possibly pairing this exemplar study with Richard Feynman's memoir "The Making of a Scientist," students will discover how much they can learn from this mixed genre memoir/biography about what inspires life choices.

Type: Lesson Plan

Comparing and Contrasting an Organizational Pattern:

Students investigate picture books organized in comparison/contrast structures to discover methods of organization and the ways authors use transitions to guide readers. Students can then decide what organizational patterns and transitional words work best to accomplish their individual purposes in writing and apply those to their papers. This lesson is designed to be used during a unit when students are writing a comparison/contrast paper. It will be most helpful prior to drafting, but it could also be useful during revision.

Type: Lesson Plan

Close Reading Exemplar: As You Like It:

The goal of this two day exemplar is to give students the opportunity to use the reading and writing habits they've been practicing on a regular basis to unpack the meaning of Jacques' soliloquy from William Shakespeare's As You Like It. By reading and rereading the passage closely and focusing their reading through a series of questions and discussion about the text, students will be able to understand the structure and purpose of this particular soliloquy and how it delves into universal themes regarding the human condition. When combined with writing about the soliloquy, students will discover how much they can learn from even a very short selection of a text.

Type: Lesson Plan

Car Shopping:

This MEA requires students to formulate a comparison-based solution to a problem involving finding the best decision on purchasing official vehicles for school district considering different aspects. Students are provided the context of the problem, a request letter from a client asking them to provide a recommendation, and data relevant to the situation. Students utilize the data to create a defensible model solution to present to the client.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

User Beware: Foreshadowing and Morals in "The Monkey's Paw":

In this lesson, students will read "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. They will answer text-dependent questions that include having students analyze the text for foreshadowing clues, as well as use of situational irony. Students will use context clues and dictionaries to determine the meanings of selected vocabulary words from the story. Students will also work to determine morals in the story and will write two extended response paragraphs articulating the moral and how each is developed and supported by textual details. A PowerPoint on theme versus morals, foreshadowing, and situational irony is provided to help students with these concepts. Text-dependent questions, an answer key, a vocabulary handout, a teacher's guide for the story, and a rubric for the summative assessment are provided.

Type: Lesson Plan

"A Retrieved Reformation" by O. Henry -Comparing Themes:

Students will read O. Henry's "A Retrieved Reformation" and an additional O. Henry selection to compare the themes of love and redemption. They will identify supporting details of the themes in each text and use them to support their analysis in a short written response.

Type: Lesson Plan

Disease "X" MEA:

Solve a problem as a team by designing a procedure to select the best approach to stop the spread of a virus throughout a population.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

Community and Me:

Students will discuss various ways to get involved in their community and will research current organizations and their roles in supporting community needs. Students will use their research to write a well-developed essay explaining the types of community organizations that are currently involved in supporting community needs and will determine how they might want to become involved.

Type: Lesson Plan

Edgar Allan Poe: "Annabel Lee":

In this lesson, students will read and analyze “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe and will analyze and discuss the poetic devices and figurative language used in the poem as it supports the topic of “The Death of a Beautiful Woman.” Students will write a short response to explain their analysis.

Type: Lesson Plan

Artifact Bags, Writing Territories, and the Writing Process:

Students will engage in the narrative writing process to brainstorm ideas, produce organized, thoughtful drafts, provide peer feedback, edit their writing, and produce a final product. Students will create a list of ideas they will use as a basis for their writing. They will also practice each stage of the writing process (brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) during writing workshop. Students will receive feedback from peer reviewers at each step of the way as they perfect their writer's craft. Students will produce a final narrative essay for the summative assessment.

Type: Lesson Plan

What Went Wrong: Writing a Prequel to "Harrison Bergeron":

Upon reading Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron", students will write a prequel to the text that focuses on the cause or causes that led to the United States becoming a dystopian society by 2081. The students will use logical sequencing to connect the prequel to the original text.

Type: Lesson Plan

Say Cheese!:

This resource provides a Model-Eliciting Activity where students will analyze a real-world scenario to solve a client's problem and provide the best possible solution based on a logically justified process. The students will consider a request from Simple Photography Classes to evaluate several digital cameras and help them decide which one they should purchase.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Ranking Banking:

In this activity, the students are given specifics and data tables to figure out which banking institution best fits the needs of the customer. Student have to figure out the company's monthly banking activities and use this information to rank the banks provided in the table(s) to determine which bank will give them the most service for the least cost. The twist adds a new situation to take into consideration that may or may not change their original recommendation.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Along for the Ride!:

This resource provides a Model-Eliciting Activity where students will analyze a real-world scenario to solve a client's problem and provide the best possible solution based on a logically justified process. The students will consider a request from Cut It Out Section of the Building and Grounds Maintenance Department of a school district to evaluate several lawn tractor models and help them decide which unit they should purchase.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Travel Troubles:

This activity engages the students into time scheduling, budgeting, and decision making to maximize time efficiency.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Batteries Included:

This resource provides a Model-Eliciting Activity where students will analyze a real-world scenario to solve a client's problem and provide the best possible solution based on a logically justified process. The students will consider a request from E-Z Go Taxi Cab Service to evaluate several batteries and help them decide which battery they should purchase.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Literary Analysis of "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and Narrative Writing Activity:

In this lesson, students will be able to analyze how Rudyard Kipling uses theme and short story elements to create the classic story, "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." Students will engage in various pre-reading activities to scaffold background knowledge, vocabulary, and ability to identify theme. Working in cooperative groups will allow students to discuss and evaluate their learning in a non-threatening environment. At the conclusion of the lesson, students will write an original narrative using what they learned in this lesson to create their own story.

Type: Lesson Plan

Where in the world?:

This resource provides a Model-Eliciting Activity where students will analyze a real-world scenario to solve a client's problem and provide the best possible solution based on a logically justified process. The students will consider a request from Always On Time Delivery Service to evaluate several GPS units and help them decide which unit they should purchase.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Clean Park - Environmental MEA:

The environmental conditions in parks can influence the availability of food, light, space, and water and hence affect the growth and development of animals. It can become worse and lead to endangerment and extinction of various species. The following are areas in nature that can be affected: lakes, plants, animal life in and outside of water and many more.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

Best School for Kevin:

In this MEA, the students will compare data to decide which school would be the best for a couple's son who is transferring into the county.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Analysis of a Political News Article:

Students will read a news article on an immigration policy being presented by the President just prior to election. Students will determine the essential message of the article, examine the information presented to determine author intent, and write a written response citing evidence from the text.

Type: Lesson Plan

Close Reading Exemplar: "Unbroken" and "Farewell to Manzanar":

As students will have previous exposure to the historical themes and factual information about the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the United States involvement in WWII, and the internment of Japanese in camps throughout the western United States, this lesson exemplar will allow students to participate in critical discussion of two stories that illuminate important, yet divergent, experiences of war and conflict. This lesson exemplar will push students to think critically about the experience of wartime as felt by both soldiers and civilians as they navigated specific trials that were a part of their direct or peripheral involvement in WWII.

Type: Lesson Plan

Close Reading Exemplar: Tom Sawyer:

The goal of this one day exemplar is to give students the opportunity to use the reading and writing habits they've been practicing on a regular basis to discover the rich humor and moral lesson embedded in Twain's text. By reading and rereading the passage closely, and focusing their reading through a series of questions and discussion about the text, students will explore the problem Tom Sawyer faced and how he "solved" his conundrum. When combined with writing about the passage, students will learn to appreciate how Twain's humor contains a deeper message and derive satisfaction from the struggle to master complex text. At the end of the lesson, students are provided two writing prompts to constructive a narrative inspired by Twain's text.

Type: Lesson Plan

Government Knows Best!:

Government take over is upon the United States--well, it is in the short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr! In this lesson, students in your classroom will question if we are all treated equally and if we really want equality "every which way." This close reading lesson allows students to explore cause and effect relationships in this engaging, dystopian short story. Students are also challenged to compare the messages in "Harrison Bergeron" with the poem "Government of Evil." Graphic organizers, text-dependent questions, answer keys, and a writing rubric for the summative assessment are included with the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

Sustain Me:

The purpose of this MEA is to have students explore human impact on Earth as well as to look at workable solutions that they can implement in order to minimize this impact. This MEA focuses on water sustainability as defined by the EPA and requires that the students explore several Low Impact Development (LID) options to implement at school.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Original Student Tutorials

CER: Writing a Great Paragraph:

Learn how to write a great "CER" paragraph that includes a claim, evidence, and reasoning with this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Jeans for Learning: Argumentative Writing:

Learn how to identify and write strong argumentative claims. In this interactive tutorial, you'll first learn how to create a strong claim, and then you'll practice writing the introduction to your own argumentative essay.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Teaching Idea

Finding Science through Reading Science Fiction:

In this ReadWriteThink.org lesson, students will be able to explore the genre of science fiction, while learning more about the science integrated into the plot of the story using nonfiction texts and resources. First, students define the science fiction genre and then read and discuss science fiction texts. Next, they conduct research to find science facts that support or dispute the science included in the plot of the science fiction book they read. Students then revisit their definition of the genre and revise based on their reading. Finally, students complete a project that examines the science fiction genre in relation to real-world science concepts and topics. This lesson plan makes the connections between the worlds in science fiction and students' real world explicit by asking them to explore the underlying science that supports the fictional world and considering its relationship to the real science in today's society.

Type: Teaching Idea

Unit/Lesson Sequence

Petey: Overcoming Adversity:

Petey is the story of a man who was born with cerebral palsy in 1922 and lived in institutions his entire life. In this unit, students will learn about important challenges individuals with severe disabilities may face and the importance of regarding persons with disabilities with respect and dignity as they cite textual evidence to support analysis of the text, analyze how particular elements of a story interact, and write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and evidence.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

Video/Audio/Animation

The Case Against Good and Bad:

In this animated video from TEDed, students will learn why words like "bad" and "good" are not descriptive and have no place in their writing. They will also be able to choose many other more appropriate and expressive words to improve their writing once they finish the video.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

Student Resources

Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this topic.

Original Student Tutorials

CER: Writing a Great Paragraph:

Learn how to write a great "CER" paragraph that includes a claim, evidence, and reasoning with this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Jeans for Learning: Argumentative Writing:

Learn how to identify and write strong argumentative claims. In this interactive tutorial, you'll first learn how to create a strong claim, and then you'll practice writing the introduction to your own argumentative essay.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Parent Resources

Vetted resources caregivers can use to help students learn the concepts and skills in this topic.