Looking for free content to use with your textbook? You’ve come to the right place!
Get Free Content to Use with Units of Study for Teaching Reading – 7th Grade
Khan Academy is a nonprofit with thousands of free videos, articles, and practice questions for just about every skill.
No ads, no subscriptions – just 100% free, forever.
| Investigating Characterization |
| Session 1: Read-Aloud: Attending to Details that Illuminate Perspective |
| Session 2: Attending to Minor Characters and How They See the World |
| Session 3: Figuring Out Point of View—Who Is Telling the Story? |
| Session 4: Authors Lead Readers to Epiphanies |
| Session 5: Authors Channel Readers’ Sympathy by Controlling Access to Characters’ Inner Thinking |
| Session 6: Distinguishing Simultaneous, Multiple Perspectives |
| Session 7: Reflecting across the Parts of a Reading Life |
| Session 8: Read-Aloud: Noticing Moments that Give Readers Extra Insight into Characters |
| Session 9: Analyzing Smaller Moments to Get Even More Insight into Characters |
| Session 10: Investigating Author’s Techniques |
| Session 11: Reaching for Precise Words to Describe an Author’s Technique |
| Session 12: Read-Aloud: Investigating the Author’s Goals, as Well as Techniques |
| Session 13: Rereading and Revising Initial Thoughts about an Author’s Techniques and Goals |
| Session 14: “Speed Dating” to Teach Others What You’re Learning |
| Session 15: Read-Aloud: Authors Set Readers Up to Develop Intense, Evolving Relationships with Characters |
| Session 16: Authors Use Time Shifts to Deepen a Reader’s Relationship with a Character |
| Session 17: Investigating Verb Tense and Its Relationship to Subtle Shifts in Time |
| Session 18: Readers’ Experience of Characters Helps Them to Also Explore Themes |
| Session 19: Moving from Themes to Reinvestigating Authorial Techniques |
| Session 20-21: Rehearsing, Producing, and Sharing Video Author Talks: A Final Celebration |
| Essential Research Skills for Teens |
| Session 1: Read-Aloud: Discerning Explicit and Implicit Ideas in Complex Nonfiction |
| Session 2: Becoming a Proficient Study Partner |
| Session 3: Tapping the Power of Introverts and Extroverts in Collaborative Work |
| Session 4: Conceptual Vocabulary Sorts |
| Session 5: Advanced Notebook Work: Synthesis Pages |
| Session 6: A Workday for Research and Note-Taking with Agency |
| Session 7: Synthesizing Knowledge as Infographics |
| Session 8: Watercooler Talks: Researchers Share Knowledge |
| Session 9: Read-Aloud: Discerning Arguments and Disputes inside a Research Topic |
| Session 10: Ethical Researchers Confront Their Own Biases |
| Session 11: Studying Mentor Notebooks to Deepen and Personalize Note-Taking |
| Session 12: Using a Continuum to Track the Fairness of Research |
| Session 13: Studying Connotative Language for Implicit Text Bias |
| Session 14: Investigating Authorship, Uncovering Agendas, and Critiquing Representation |
| Session 15: The Non-Neutrality of Search Engines |
| Session 16: Remaining Alert to the Possibilities of Fake News |
| Session 17: Flash-Debating to Rehearse Preliminary Arguments (and See Counterclaims) |
| Session 18: Read-Aloud: Starting with Mentors: Teen TED Talks |
| Session 19: Authoring Work Plans and Putting Them into Action |
| Session 20: Raising the Level of Talks |
| Session 21: Celebrating Content and Reflecting on Opportunities for Transfer |
| Historical Fiction Book Clubs |
| Session 1: Read-Aloud: Orienting Oneself to the Story |
| Session 2: Filling in the Backstory |
| Session 3: Analyzing How Characters Respond to Trouble |
| Session 4: Read-Aloud: The Collision of Internal Traits with External Conflict |
| Session 5: Attending to Minor Characters and Missing Perspectives |
| Session 6: Looking Back from the End of Stories with New Insights About Themes |
| Session 7: Clubs Analyze Their Progress and Plan Reading Projects |
| Session 8: Read-Aloud: Readers Become Students of an Era |
| Session 9: Reading Outside the Text to Build Up Background Knowledge |
| Session 10: Perspectives Clash with Each Other and with History |
| Session 11: Reading Differently Because You Have Knowledge of the Era |
| Session 12: Learning Truth From Fiction |
| Session 13: Clubs Curate Their Work in Reading Projects |
| Session 14: Characters Come of Age |
| Session 15: Analyzing Power in the Midst of Conflict |
| Session 16: Read-Aloud (Video-Aloud): Change Can Be Complicated |
| Session 17: The Past is Always with Us |
| Session 18: Clubs Leave a Legacy |
| A Deep Study of Character |
| Session 1: Read-Aloud: Investigating Multiple Character Traits |
| Session 2: Readers Revise Their Thinking as They Accumulate Evidence |
| Session 3: Developing Courses of Study with a Partner: Book Choices and Thinking Work |
| Session 4: Perceptive Readers Acknowledge the Parts of a Character that Are Less Likable |
| Session 5: Read-Aloud: Some Character Traits Matter More Than Others, Because They Affect the Rest of the Story |
| Session 6: Lifting the Level of Your Writing about Reading |
| Session 7: Readers Consider the Pressures Acting on Characters |
| Session 8: Readers Reflect (on Their Novels and Their Reading Lives) |
| Session 9: Reading-Aloud: Characters Are Often Shaped by the Mood or Atmosphere of the Setting |
| Session 10: Readers Attend to the Precise Language Authors Use to Describe the Setting |
| Session 11: Sometimes Characters Are Torn by Competing Pressures, Including the Pressures of a Place |
| Session 12: Settings Can Change Over Time, Not Just Physically, but Psychologically |
| Session 13: Read-Aloud: Characters Acting as a Group Can Wield Enormous Influence |
| Session 14: Settings Also Change in Time, Often Bringing in Backstory to Develop the Character |
| Session 15: Readers Share Their Work and Reflect on Their Challenges and Growth |
| Session 16: Read-Aloud: Characters’ Troubles Become Motifs in a Story |
| Session 17: Moving from Motifs to Themes |
| Session 18: Investigating How Symbolism Relates to Themes |
| Session 19: Taking Charge of Your Collaborative Reading Life |
| Session 20: Read-Aloud: Reading Aloud to Support Repertoire and Agency |
| Session 21: Reflection and Agency Centers |
| Social Issues Book Clubs |
| Session 1: Read-Aloud: Reading for Trouble and Discerning Relationship Issues |
| Session 2: Weighing Character Relationships for the Positive and Negative–in Literature and in Life |
| Session 3: Noticing How Characters Contribute to Relationship Issues through Actions and Reactions |
| Session 4: Club Work that Fuels Reading Plans and Deeper Thoughtful Talk |
| Session 5: Read-Aloud: Analyzing How and Why Power Affects Relationships |
| Session 6: Studying When Character Traits Collide |
| Session 7: Reflecting on Relationships with Books to Decide on a Future Course of Study |
| Session 8: Read-Aloud: Thinking about Groups as Sources of Issues |
| Session 9: When People Within a Group Struggle, It’s Often Because of Power Imbalances |
| Session 10: Using Common Literary Themes to Think More Deeply about Group Issues in a Text |
| Session 11: The Intersection of Group Identities with Individual Traits |
| Session 12: Read-Aloud: Weighing Positive and Negative Messages in Stories |
| Session 13: Investigating When Texts Are Reinforcing and Challenging Assumptions about Groups |
| Session 14: Considering Roles People Can Play When Issues Arise–And Resolving to Be Upstanders |
| Session 15: Bringing Yourself, with All Your Complications, to Your Reading |
| Session 16: Learning from Our Texts and from One Another |
| Session 17: Identifying with Less Likable and Less Admirable Characters |
| Session 18: Curating Text Sets and Making Plans to Continue Reading Together |
| Tapping the Power of Nonfiction |
| Session 1: Read-Aloud: Reading with Engagement and Fascination Right from the Introduction |
| Session 2: Generating Questions and Ideas that Spark Rich Club Conversations |
| Session 3: Determining Central Ideas |
| Session 4: Rethinking Initial Ideas |
| Session 5: Learning from the Stories Embedded in Nonfiction Texts |
| Session 6: Ideas Have Roots: Tracing How Ideas Are Developed across a Text |
| Session 7: Self-Assessing and Goal-Setting |
| Session 8: Read-Aloud: Building Up a Bit of Background Knowledge When You Encounter a New Topic |
| Session 9: Drawing on All You Know to Tackle New Projects with More Skill |
| Session 10: Summarizing Complex Texts |
| Session 11: Synthesizing Across Texts |
| Session 12: Dealing with Tricky Parts: Reading Outside the Text to Help You Comprehend Inside |
| Session 13: Getting to Know the Lingo of Your Topic |
| Session 14: Readers Don’t Wait to Do Their Own Thinking |
| Session 15: Developing Carefully Curated Text Sets |
| Session 16: Launching a New Round of Research Groups with Greater Independence |
| Session 17: Inquiry into the Particular Challenges of Online Research |
| Session 18: Read-Aloud: Determining the Author’s Point of View and How It’s Advanced |
| Session 19: Dealing with Texts that Contradict Each Other |
| Session 20: Crafting TED Talks to Get Others Fascinated by Your Topic |
| Dystopian Book Clubs |
| Session 1: Read Aloud: Letting Genre Guide Your Work |
| Session 2: Understanding Character’s Responses to Power in a Dystopian World |
| Session 3: Noticing Dystopian Archetypes |
| Session 4: Understanding the Complexity of Archetypal Characters |
| Session 5: Thinking About Character’s Responses to Systemic Problems |
| Session 6: Doing More Wondering |
| Session 7: Seeking Emerging Symbolism in Dystopian Texts |
| Session 8: Welcoming Students to the Dystopian Club |
| Session 9: Figuring Out What Makes Series Reading Complex |
| Session 10: Using Your Notebook to Better Understand a Reading Series |
| Session 11: Connecting Scenes Across a Series |
| Session 12: Understanding the Pressures and Motivations that Lead to Character Change |
| Session 13: Studying How the Meaning of Symbols Can Shift Across Series |
| Session 14: Celebrating Thinking with a Gallery Walk |
| Session 15: Understanding What Dystopian Fiction Reveals about Our World |
| Session 16: Considering Connections between Dystopian Worlds and Our Own Society |
| Session 17: Read-Aloud: Supporting Transfer and Independence |
| Session 18: Thinking about How Symbols Move between Dystopian Worlds and Our Own Society |
| Session 19: Celebrating Growth, Inspiration, and Empowerment |
| Literary Nonfiction |
| Session 1: Read-Aloud: Reading for Central Ideas, Themes, and Issues |
| Session 2: Expecting Complexity: Finding Multiple Central Ideas within Key Sections |
| Session 3: Developing Note-Taking Systems to Track Complicated Thinking |
| Session 4: Read Aloud: Flexibility Activating Your Narrative and Information Schemas to Deepen Comprehension |
| Session 5: Perspectives, Positions, and Reasoning in Informational Text? You Bet! |
| Session 6: Reflecting on Reading Identities, Writing about Reading, and Partner Work |
| Session 7: Read Aloud: Expecting that Parts Connect, Even if at First They Seem Unrelated |
| Session 8: Analyzing Descriptive Passages Closely to Learn about Embedded Ideas, Themes, and Issues |
| Session 9: Recognizing Complex Causes and Effects |
| Session 10: Innovating Systems to Notice and Track Related Parts |
| Session 11: A Writing about Reading Seminar Workshop |
| Session 12: Read Aloud: Rereading, a Simple Tool for Handling Complexity |
| Session 13: Understanding When You’re Not Understanding, and Looking Inside and Outside the Text for Help |
| Session 14: Bringing the Lenses of Other Disciplines to Bear on Your Reading |
| Session 15: An Idea Showcase: Exploring Issues and Subtopics that Extend across Texts and Time Periods |
| Session 16: Getting to Know Other Formats of Literary Nonfiction through Inquiry Centers |
| Session 17: Harnessing Your Literary Nonfiction Skills and Innovating to Tackle New Formats |
| Session 18: Drawing on All You Know to Study Documentaries, with a Special Emphasis on Craft |
| Session 19: Reading for Bias: Considering Heard and Missing Perspectives and Voices |
| Session 20: Creating Digital Text Recommendation to Share a Powerful Text with Others |
| Critical Literacy: Unlocking Contemporary Fiction |
| Session 1: Seeking and Reading Reviews to Deepen Understanding |
| Session 2: Read Aloud: Being Alert to Mirrors and Windows, Even While Losing Oneself in a Novel |
| Session 3: Turning Readers’ Identities into Interpretive Lenses |
| Session 4: Read Aloud: Analytic Summaries for Complicated Narratives |
| Session 5: Personalizing Writing about Reading and Reading Response |
| Session 6: Readers Look Deeper into Part that at First Seem Obscure |
| Session 7: Readers Reflect, Set Goals, and Promote Their Novels |
| Session 8: Digital Read Aloud: Mapping Power across the Narrative |
| Session 9: Attending to Subtle Power Interactions and Microaggressions |
| Session 10: Analyzing Code-Switching to Negotiate Power |
| Session 11: Clubs Harness the Power of Introverts and Extroverts |
| Session 12: Digital Read-Aloud: Investigating the Power Exerted by Gender Norms |
| Session 13: Exploring the Power Exerted by Coinciding and Conflicting Pressures |
| Session 14: Negotiating Utter Powerlessness: Moments of Tragedy and Coming-of-Age Experiences |
| Session 15: Repertoire Read-Aloud |
| Session 16: Meaningful Reflection about Reading, Our Lives, and What Really Matters |
| Session 17: Digital Read-Aloud: Speaking About Books with Passion and Insight |
| Session 18: Returning to Parts of a Text |
| Session 19: Working With Autonomy to Raise the Level of Performances |
| Session 20: Book Slams! Recommending and Advocating for Contemporary Literature |