What does a student learn in StateAlabama,GradeGrade 7,SubjectEnglish Language Arts?

Students look at how an author organizes facts, chooses words, and shapes a point of view to build a central idea. They judge which parts of a nonfiction text do the most work in making the author's point land.

Students read nonfiction and judge whether the author's structure (comparing ideas, tracing cause and effect, or backing up claims with real evidence) actually does the job the piece set out to do.

Students explain how an author's choices (the setting, the characters, the conflicts) shape what a story or poem means. They point to specific lines from the text to back up what they say.

Students examine how an author's word choices, comparisons, and figurative language shape the meaning and feeling of a story or poem, then explain their interpretation using specific lines from the text.

Students listen to a speech or presentation and judge how the speaker builds their argument. They look at why the speaker chose certain words, examples, or comparisons to persuade or inform the audience.

Students listen to a speech or recorded presentation and judge how the speaker uses exaggeration, word choice, and figurative language to shape the audience's feelings.

Students write stories, arguments, and explanatory pieces that fit the assignment and the reader. That means choosing the right words, structure, and tone for the job, whether explaining a topic, making a case, or telling what happened.

Students write a story with a clear purpose, using dialogue, pacing, and description to bring events to life. Events unfold in order or through flashbacks, with key literary elements woven throughout.

Students write explanatory paragraphs or essays with a clear structure, formal word choices, and facts drawn from reliable sources. They connect ideas with transition words and use specific vocabulary to keep the explanation focused.

Students write a persuasive piece that states their position, backs it up with evidence from reliable sources, and addresses the opposing side honestly.

Students read or listen to a source, then discuss with others whether its claims hold up and whether the evidence actually supports them.

Students talk through poems and stories with classmates, weighing how an author's choices, like word repetition or an unexpected narrator, shape the meaning of the piece.

Students read online sources with a critical eye, asking who wrote it, why, and whether it can be trusted. They learn to spot the difference between a reliable source and one that isn't.

Students look at how different websites, videos, or digital tools ask and answer questions, then judge which formats explain ideas most clearly.

Students look at how digital sources use design choices like headlines, images, and layout to shape the reader's reaction. The goal is to spot what the creator is trying to make the audience think or feel.

Students listen to podcasts, videos, or other digital sources and figure out who made it, why, and whether it can be trusted.

Students create digital projects (a slide deck, a website, a video) and make deliberate choices about what to say, how formal to sound, and who will read or watch it.

Students use digital tools like hyperlinks, images, or embedded video to make their writing clearer or more useful for a reader.

Students choose a digital format (a slideshow, a video, a blog post) that fits their topic, their audience, and what they want the reader to do or feel. The format and tone should match the purpose, not just look good.

Students spot and apply the grammar rules that make writing clear: things like subject-verb agreement, pronoun use, and sentence structure. This standard focuses on recognizing those rules in real writing, not just on a worksheet.

Students learn when a group noun like "team" or "audience" takes a singular or plural verb, and how to match verbs to paired subjects joined by conjunctions like "both/and" or "either/or."

Students learn to spot four sentence structures (simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex) and understand how writers use each one to show how ideas connect or depend on each other.

Students identify phrases and clauses in a sentence and explain what job each one is doing, such as adding detail, showing cause, or completing a thought.

Students spot and explain how capital letters, punctuation marks, and spelling follow standard rules across different kinds of writing, from a news article to a personal letter.

Students catch and fix punctuation mistakes in a classmate's writing, focusing on commas, apostrophes, quotation marks, colons, and semicolons.

Students listen to a speech or presentation and judge whether the speaker organized their ideas in a way that makes the argument or message land. They consider what the speaker believes, why they're speaking, and whether the structure actually works.

Students read or listen to a passage and figure out whether the speaker is being formal or casual, then shape their own response to match the situation.

Students write with correct grammar, punctuation, and word choice. This means spelling words right, using commas where they belong, and building sentences that say exactly what they mean.

Students fix punctuation mistakes in their own writing, paying close attention to commas, apostrophes, quotation marks, colons, and semicolons. The goal is learning to catch and correct those errors before a piece is finished.

Students learn to build four types of sentences, from basic to layered, so their writing can show whether ideas are equal, connected, or dependent on each other.

Students learn to tuck describing phrases into the right spot in a sentence so the meaning stays clear. They also practice spotting and fixing phrases that accidentally describe the wrong word.

Students practice trimming sentences down to their clearest form, picking the exact word that says what they mean rather than a vague or wordy phrase that says almost the same thing.

Students find information from real documents, books, and websites, then record it honestly by crediting where it came from. That means no copying without attribution and no leaving out sources that change the story.

Students learn to judge whether a source is worth trusting. They check if the information actually relates to their topic, comes from a credible source, and holds up when compared to what other sources say.

Students listen carefully to a speaker or presentation, then judge whether the information is accurate and worth using in their research.

Students write research pieces both ways: a longer project built over weeks with time to revise, and a shorter one completed in a single sitting with less teacher support.

Students learn to pull information from sources three ways: exact quotes, restating in their own words, and boiling ideas down to the main point. They also credit where the information came from so they're not copying someone else's work.

Students pull research into a spoken presentation, using facts and details to back up their main ideas rather than just stating opinions on their own.

Students gather information on a topic, then use what they find to answer follow-up questions and talk through their findings with others.

Students figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words by breaking them into roots and prefixes, reading the surrounding sentences for clues, or looking the word up in a dictionary or reliable online source.

Students read science and social studies texts to notice how each subject uses its own specialized words and organizes information differently from other subjects.

Students practice figuring out the meaning of unfamiliar words by listening closely to how those words are used in conversation, lectures, and discussions.

Students use specific, well-chosen words in their writing to say exactly what they mean. This standard is about moving past vague words like "good" or "said" and reaching for the word that fits the moment.

Students practice choosing words that fit who they're writing or speaking to. A word that works in a text to a friend may fall flat in a class presentation, and this skill is about knowing the difference.