Common Core Curriculum Map 2012-2013
Common Core Unit Name:
Biography/Autobiography
Unit Number: 1
Enduring Understanding: Biography and Autobiography should be taught as a unit in which you focus on one theme, which is
overcoming obstacles. This can, but is not limited to, excerpts from various influential people in history.
Standard
Essential Questions
Pacing Guideline
Key
Academic
Vocabulary
How do the interactions between an individual and events or
ideas influence other individuals, ideas, and events?
6 Weeks for the entire
Unit.
Suggestions:
Teachers can pick
one person and focus
on them for an entire
six weeks, or pick a
group of people with
common
backgrounds or
“themes” to focus on
for the six weeks.
Biography
Autobiography
Inference
Theme
Central Idea
Characters
Narrator
Connotative
Denotative
Strand: Reading Literary Text
RL7. 1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to
support analysis of what the text says explicitly as
well as inference drawn from the text.
RL7.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and
analyze its development over the course of the text:
provide an objective summary of the text.
RL7. 6 Analyze how an author develops and
contrasts the points of view of different characters or
narrators in a text.
What central idea or theme is conveyed through the person
that the biography or autobiography is written about? Are
those themes relevant to your life and if so, how?
Other
Vocabulary
will be
dependent on
the text.
Are there different points of view in the autobiography or
biography? How does the author connect those points of
view back to the person that the story is about? What
impact do those different points of view have on the text?
Strand: Reading Informational Text
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Common Core Curriculum Map 2012-2013
R.I. 7.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to
support analysis of what the text explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from text.
RI. 7.3 Analyze the interactions between individuals,
events, and ideas in a text (e.g. how ideas influence
individuals or events, or how individuals influence
ideas or events.
RI. 7.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases
as they are used in a text, including figurative,
connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the
impact of a specific word choice on meaning and
tone.
How does this persons story influence individuals, events or
ideas? For example, if you are doing the autobiography of
Amelia Earhart, how did she influence women in making
history and also how did she influence aviation?
In the information text that you are reading, what words are
not familiar to you? How can you determine the meaning of
these words to help you understand the meaning of the
text?
RI. 7.5 Analyze the structure an author uses to
organize a text, including how the major sections
contribute to the whole and to the development of the
ideas.
How can you summarize and organize the information in the
non-fiction text to help understand the meaning?
Strand: Language
L.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of
standard English grammar and usage when writing
or speaking. a. Explain the function of phrases and
clauses in general and their function in specific
sentences. b. Choose among simple, compound,
complex, and compound-complex sentences to
signal differing relationships among ideas. c. Place
phrases and clauses within a sentence, recognizing
and correcting misplaced modifiers and dangling
modifiers.
L.2 Demonstrate a command of the conventions of
standard English capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling when writing. a. Use a comma to separate
coordinate adjectives (e.g., It was a fascinating,
enjoyable movie but not He wore an old [,] green
shirt). b. Spell correctly
Can students write and speak using standard English. Can
they explain the function of clauses in sentences? Do they
know when to use different types of sentences (simple,
compound, complex)? I can place and correct when
necessary phrases and clauses in a sentence?
Can students use standard English capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling when writing?
L.3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions
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Common Core Curriculum Map 2012-2013
when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. a.
Choose language that expresses ideas precisely and
concisely, recognizing and eliminating wordiness
and redundancy.
L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and
multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade
7 reading and content, choosing flexibility from a
range of strategies. a. Use context (e.g., the overall
meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word's
position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the
meaning of a word or phrase. b. Use common, gradeappropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as
clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., belligerent,
bellicose, rebel). c. Consult general and specialized
reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries,
thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the
pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its
precise meaning or its part of speech. d. Verify the
preliminary determination of the meaning of a word
or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in
context or in a dictionary).
Does the use of context, common, grade-appropriate Greek
or Latin affixes and roots as clues help with the meaning of
unfamiliar words?
L.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative
language, word relationships, and nuances in word
meanings. a. Interpret figures of speech (e.g., literary,
biblical, and mythological allusions) in context. b.
Use the relationship between particular words (e.g.
synonym/antonym, analogy) to better understand
each of the words. c. Distinguish among the
connotations (associations) of words with similar
denotations (definitions) (e.g., refined, respectful,
polite, diplomatic, condescending).
What is the difference in connotative and denotative
meaning? What are some examples of that in the text?
How does using connotative meaning of words affect the
way the reader responds to the text?
L.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate
general academic and domain-specific words and
phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when
considering a word or phrase important to
comprehension or expression.
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Common Core Curriculum Map 2012-2013
Strand: Writing
W. 7.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine
a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information
through the selection, organization, and analysis of
relevant content.
After reading and analyzing informational autobiographies
and biographies, can you take the information that you have
learned and develop an explanatory essay with clear
organization and analysis that is relevant to the content?
W. 7.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which
the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Is your writing clear and coherent writing and is appropriate
to the task, purpose and audience that you are writing to?
W. 7.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational
texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. b.
Apply grade 7 Reading standards to literary
nonfiction (e.g. “Trace and evaluate the argument
and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the
reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and
sufficient to support the claims”).
Strand: Speaking and Listening
SL1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative
discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led)
with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and
issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their
own clearly. a. Come to discussions prepared, having
read or researched material under study; explicitly
draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on
the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas
under discussion. b. Follow rules for collegial
discussions, track progress toward specific goals
and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed.
c. Pose questions that elicit elaboration and respond
to others' questions and comments with relevant
observations and ideas that bring the discussion
back on topic as needed. d. Acknowledge new
information expressed by others and, when
warranted, modify their own views.
Is the information in your essay supported by facts that can
be found in your informational text article?
SL2: Analyze the main ideas and supporting details
presented in diverse media and formats (e.g.,
visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how the
Students should identify main ideas in books, videos,
speeches, lectures, etc, identify the details that support the
main idea and analyze those main ideas and supporting
After reading the autobiographies and biographies students
can take the information that I have learned and the themes
that are relevant to my life and have a collaborative
discussion on that topic.
What are the ground rules for collegial discussions in class?
Can you pose questions to other students in the class that
are relevant to the themes and knowledge that was gained
in the reading?
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Common Core Curriculum Map 2012-2013
ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.
details to explain how they make a topic, text, or issue clear.
Resources
Where they can be found
The Noble Experiment- Jackie Robinson
Annie Dillard excerpt from An American Childhood
Russel Bakers excerpt from Growing Up
Lance Armstrong
Autobiography Langugae of Literature-Mcdougal Litel
Autobiography Langugae of Literature-Mcdougal Litel
Autobiography Langugae of Literature-Mcdougal Litel
Biography
http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/ACa/Armstrong-Lance.html#b
Novel Check your library
Biography/Narrative Nonfiction- Langugae of Literature-Mcdougal Litel
Autobiography Langugae of Literature-Mcdougal Litel
Novel Check your library
Storm Warriors
The Night the Bed Fell
From Knots in my Yo-Yo-String
Miss Spitfire(autobiography of Annie Sullivan)
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