Grade 7:

Unit 7: Infectious Diseases

By the end of the unit, students will answer the following two writing prompts:
What students will do
What teacher says: In the last few weeks you have been reading a lot of historical fiction and informational text about infectious diseases. Part of
your work has been with the novel Fever 1793. Today you will be using that novel and other texts you have read in order to answer the question
below.
Prompt:
If the primary obligation of historical fiction is to be true to the past and to tell a compelling story that engages its readers, does Fever 1793 meet this criterion? Defend your
argument. Be sure to state your opinion, acknowledge counterclaims, and cite evidence from the text.

Dont forget:
Introduce your claim with precise language and establish the significance of the claim.
Develop the counterclaim fairly, and distinguish your claim from the counterclaim.
Anticipate audiences knowledge, concern, and possible biases.
Create cohesion between reasons and evidence and claims and counterclaims.
Maintain a formal style.
Your concluding statement should follow from and support your claim.

Week Mentor text Supplemental
text/Multimedia
Reading Standards Writing
Standards
Speaking/
Listening
Standards
Language
Standards
Informal Assessment
1
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse
Anderson (Lexile 580)

(Chapters 1-10)

An American Plague The True
and Terrifying Story of the
Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
by Jim Murphy (Lexile 1130)
Fever 1793 Historic Video
Strategy: Determining
Importance:
Annotating

Standards:
RL.7.1, RL.7.9,
W.7.7
W.7.8,
W.7.9
SL.7.1,
SL.7.3,
SL.7.5
L.7.1, L.7.2,
L.7.3,L.7.5,
L.5.6,
Quick write comparing the fictional portrayal of
the yellow fever epidemic with a historical
account of the same events
2

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse
Anderson (Lexile 580)
(Chapters 11-20)


Outbreak: Plagues That
Changed History by Bryn
Barnard (Lexile 1080)
Anatomy of an Epidemic Video
Strategy: Infer

Standards:
RL.7.1, RL.7.9
W.7.7
W.7.8,
W.7.9
SL.7.1,
SL.7.3,
SL.7.5
L.7.1, L.7.2,
L.7.3,L.7.5,
L.5.6
Quick write comparing the fictional portrayal of
the yellow fever epidemic with a historical
account of the same events.
3
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse
Anderson (Lexile 580)
(Chapters 21-epilogue)


You Wouldn't Want to Be Sick in
the 16th Century!: Diseases
You'd Rather Not Catch by
Kathryn Senior (Lexile 870)
The Effects of Spreading Disease
Video

Strategy:Determining
Importance:
Annotating

Standards:
RL.7.1, RL.7.9

W.7.1,
W.7.7,
W.7.8,
W.7.9
SL.7.1,
SL.7.3,
SL.7.5
L.7.1, L.7.2,
L.7.3,L.7.5,
L.5.6
Quick write on Poem: How does the form and
structure of this poem contribute to its
meaning?
4
Pestilence: a Poem written by
Philip Freneau
The Yellow Fever: a Poem
written by Lucretia Maria
Davidson
The 1918 Flu Pandemic by
Katherine Krohn (Lexile 700)
Year of Wonders by Geraldine
Brooks (Lexile 1080)
Strategy: Compare and
Contrast; Evaluate

Standards:
RL.7.1, RL.7.5, RL.7.7,
RL.7.9
W.7.1,
W.7.4,
W.7.5,

SL.7.1,
SL.7.3,
SL.7.5
L.7.1, L.7.2,
L.7.3,L.7.5,
L.5.6
Quick write on poems: How does the form and
structure of these poems contribute to their
meaning?
5
Excerpts from Outbreak
by Robin Cook (Lexile
870)
Outbreak: Plagues That Changed
History by Bryn Barnard( Lexile
1080)
Scenes from the movie Outbreak
Strategy: Synthesis

Standards:
RL.7.1, RL.7.5, RL.7.7,
RL.7.9
W.7.1
W.7.4
W.7.5,

SL.7.1,
SL.7.3,
SL.7.5
L.7.1, L.7.2,
L.7.3,L.7.5,
L.5.6
Prose constructed response
Quick write comparing the text Outbreak with
correlating scenes from the movie.

*note: Bold standards indicate when new standard is introduced
**Note: standards highlighted are the focus standards for the week