• JAMS 7th Grade English Language Arts is an engaging and challenging course that connects to students’ lives and learning. It follows the California Common Core State Standards and is designed to help them grow as readers, writers, and thinkers.
• 
  The three main goals are:
• 1. Read quality literature with comprehension
• 2. Write with clarity and speak articulately
• 3. Develop vocabulary and its usage
• 
  Writing
  A. Analytical essays (argumentative)
      Introduction
      Claim and citing evidence
      Conclusion
• B. Informational
• C. Narrative
  D. Writing on Demand
       Literature excerpt given to read at home
      Class discussion follows on possible prompts and strategies for responding in an in-class timed writing
  
  Literature
  A. Core novels (at teacher’s discretion)
      The Outsiders
      The Giver
      Animal Farm
•     Red Scarf Girl
•     The Skin I’m In
•     The Crossover
  B. Self-selected independent reading
• C. Literary elements
      Plot
•     Setting
      Point of view
      Character analysis
      Conflict, climax, conclusion
      Theme
      Figurative Language
•     + Similes
      + Metaphors
      + Personification
•     + Irony
•     + Symbolism
•     + Idioms
•  
• Conventions
  A. Writing complete sentences
      Sentence fragments
      Run-on sentences
  B. Subject (simple/compound) and verb agreementC. Pronouns
      Pronoun forms
      + Subject pronouns
      + Object pronouns
      + Possessive pronouns
      Pronouns in contractions
  D. Modifiers
      Adjectives and adverbs
      Double negatives
      Word choice
      + Bad and badly
      + Few/little, fewer/less
  E. Consistent use of verb tenses
• F. Capitalization
      Proper nouns and adjectives
      + Names and personal titles
      + Languages, nationalities, religious terms
      + School subjects
      + Organizations, Institutions
      + Geographical names, events, time periods
  G. Punctuation
      Commas/semicolons in compound sentences
      Elements set off in a sentence
      + Introductory words
      + Nouns of address
      + Appositives
      Elements in a series
      Dates, addresses, letters
      Quotations
      + Direct quotations
      + End punctuation
      + Divided quotations
      + Quotation citation in analytical essays
• H. Spelling
• 
  Reading Comprehension
• + Understanding context clues
• + Academic Vocabulary
•  
• Speaking and Listening
• Socratic Seminars
  Language for Academic Interaction

Textbooks

Students may access textbooks online via Clever.
+California Collections

• Students enrolled in John Adams Middle School are not required to pay any fee, deposit, or other charge for participation in an educational activity offered by the school or the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, except as authorized by law and consistent with the California constitution and Hartzell v. Connell (1984) 35 Cal.3d 899. Donations are sought and accepted for various activities and supplies, and are at times critical to the continued success of classes and activities, but donations are always voluntary, and no child will be denied the right to fully and meaningfully participate in any activity because he/she has not donated money or supplies. For more information, go to 
  https://www.smmusd.org.