ela-2017:W.7.4ela-2017:W.7.5ela-2017:W.7.6ela-2026:W.7.4
ela-2017:W.7.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
ela-2017:W.7.5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 7.)
ela-2017:W.7.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources, as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.
ela-2026:W.7.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Learning goal: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience. With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed, with editing that demonstrates command of the grade 7 Language standards. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing, to link to and cite sources, and to interact and collaborate with others.
Task, purpose and audience are three different questions. The task is what you have been asked to produce: a paragraph, a letter, a report, a post, a story. The purpose is what the writing is for: to persuade, to explain, to narrate, to request, to thank. The audience is who will read it, what they already know, and what they need. Together the three decide development (how much content, and which), organization (what order, what structure) and style (how formal, how technical, how long the sentences run). The grade-specific expectations for arguments, explanations and narratives are defined in the first three lessons of this unit; this lesson is about choosing among them and adjusting for the reader in front of you.
One set of facts, three audiences. Suppose the Fernbrook field committee has chosen the planting proposal and one writer must tell three audiences. The three model texts are original and short, and every figure is invented.
To families, a 60-word notice in the weekly newsletter. "Volunteers will plant native trees and shrubs along the Miller Run bank on Saturday, April 18, from 8 a.m. to noon. Students who take part should wear boots and gloves and bring water. The lower field will stay closed that day. The plants take two to three seasons to establish, so closures after heavy rain may continue for a time." Development is minimal: what will happen, what to bring, what to expect. Organization is event, then instructions, then expectation. Style is plain and warm.
To the principal, a one-paragraph recommendation. "The committee recommends the planting proposal. It is estimated at 6,900 dollars against 11,200 for the drain, leaving 5,100 dollars of the 12,000-dollar budget in reserve. The drain would take effect immediately, while planting needs two to three growing seasons; the committee judged that the reserve, which could help rent a nearby park field on closure days if one is available, outweighs that delay. The Cedar Bend log, in which a pipe outlet needed 1,800 dollars of repair in its third year, supports keeping a reserve." Development includes the evidence a decision-maker needs; organization is recommendation, cost, the objection and its answer, supporting evidence; style is formal and compact.
To students, a post on the school news site. Here the writer uses headings ("What was decided", "Why", "How to help"), a two-column table of the two estimates, a link to the full committee report and a comment thread for questions. Development is fuller than the family notice because students asked for reasons; organization uses formatting so a reader can skim; style is formal but direct, and the writer answers comments in the thread.
Same facts, three texts. Choosing which facts, in which order, in which voice, is what standard 4 asks.
Planning. Before drafting, write the answers to the three questions, then choose the text type, the length and the structure. A plan for the principal's paragraph is four lines: recommendation, cost, objection and answer, supporting evidence. A plan for the argument essay is the four-column table from the argument lesson. Planning is the cheapest place to fix a piece of writing, because nothing has been written yet.
Revising with guidance and support from peers and adults. Revising changes what the writing says and how it is organized. It is not proofreading. The standard says to focus on how well purpose and audience have been addressed, and that gives a peer conference its two questions: What is this writing trying to do? Where does it stop serving its reader? A useful response names a place ("in the third paragraph I get three numbers and cannot tell which is the reason") rather than a grade ("it's good"). The writer then decides among four responses: revise the passage, rewrite it from a blank line, try a new approach (a different order, a different opening, a different text type) or keep it and explain why. Trying a new approach is the response students use least and need most; a report that is not working as a list of causes may work as a comparison, and the only way to find out is to draft the first paragraph both ways and look.
Editing for conventions demonstrates command of the grade 7 Language standards. Editing comes after revising, because there is no point polishing a paragraph that will be cut. At grade 7 the editing pass has specific items. Phrases and clauses: a phrase is a group of words without a subject and verb pair ("along the bank"); a clause has one ("because the clay was wet"); know what job each does in the sentence. Sentence types: a simple sentence has one independent clause and no dependent clause; a compound sentence joins two or more independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction or semicolon and has no dependent clause; a complex sentence has an independent clause and at least one dependent clause; a compound-complex sentence has two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause. Choose among them to signal the relationship among ideas: "The drain works at once, but it uses nearly the whole budget" (compound, equal weight) says something different from "Although the drain works at once, it uses nearly the whole budget" (complex, the second idea outweighs the first). Misplaced and dangling modifiers: a modifier must sit next to what it modifies. "Walking along the bank, the stakes looked small" makes the stakes walk; edit to "Walking along the bank, I thought the stakes looked small." "The coach counted the periods lost in a letter" misplaces the phrase; the periods were not lost in a letter. Commas with coordinate adjectives: adjectives that could be joined by and in either order take a comma between them ("a steep, slippery bank"), but adjectives that build on each other do not ("a native dogwood stake"). Spelling: check last, with a reference, and check homophones by hand, because software does not know whether you meant its or it's. Wordiness and redundancy: "at this point in time" is now; "the reason is because" is because; "each and every" is each. Recognize them and cut them.
Use technology to produce and publish, to link to and cite sources, and to interact and collaborate. A word processor or shared document produces the text; a class page, a school news site or a printed copy on the office board publishes it. Technology links to sources when the words "the committee report" carry a hyperlink to the report itself, so a reader can check the claim in one click; it cites sources when the writer adds a citation in a standard format at the end and, where the class uses them, in the text. Linking is not a substitute for citing: a link can break, and a citation names the author, title and date so the source can be found again. Technology supports interaction and collaboration when a shared document lets a peer leave a comment beside the sentence it concerns, when suggestion mode records a proposed change without erasing the original, when version history lets the writer compare the draft before and after a conference, and when a comment thread under a published post lets readers ask questions the writer answers. None of this replaces judgment. A link is only as good as the source it points to, and a comment is only useful if the writer decides what to do with it.
Worked audience adjustment: The principal's paragraph contains "estimated at 6,900 dollars against 11,200 for the drain." For the family notice the writer cut it. Families were not asked to decide anything, so the cost comparison does not serve their purpose; the boots-and-gloves instruction does. For the student post the writer kept the two figures but moved them into a table under the heading "Why", because students had asked for reasons and a table lets them compare 6,900 and 11,200 at a glance. The facts were identical; their selection and presentation changed with the audience.
Worked peer conference and response: Peer note on an argument draft: "Paragraph three gives the cost, the survey and the Cedar Bend log all together and I cannot tell which one is your reason." The writer had four options. Revise: split the paragraph into three, one per reason. Rewrite: draft it again from a blank line with a topic sentence naming one reason. Try a new approach: reorder the essay so the strongest reason (the reserve) comes last, just before the conclusion. Keep and explain: not possible here, because the reader's confusion is real. The writer chose the new approach, drafted the new order's first paragraph, compared it with the original in version history and kept the new order because the conference had shown that the reserve was the reason readers remembered.
Worked editing pass, grade 7 items: Draft: "Walking along the bank, the stakes looked really small and each and every one was a meter apart." Problems: a dangling modifier (the stakes were not walking); "really" adds nothing; "each and every" is redundant. Edit: "Walking along the bank, I thought the stakes looked small; each was a meter apart." Second draft sentence: "The drain works at once and it uses nearly the whole budget and there is too little left for repairs." Three ideas joined with and signal equal weight, which is not the relationship. Edit into a complex sentence: "Although the drain works at once, it uses nearly the whole budget and leaves too little for repairs." Third: "a steep slippery muddy bank." All three describe qualities of the bank and could be joined by and in any order, so they are coordinate: "a steep, slippery, muddy bank." Fourth: "The plants take two seasons to establish there roots." Spelling: their.
Worked linking and citing: A student post said "the full report explains the costs." The published version turned "the full report" into a hyperlink to the committee report and added, at the end, a citation in the format the class uses: the committee as author, the report's title, the school as publisher, the date and the address. The link lets a reader check the claim in one click; the citation lets the source be found if the link ever breaks, and credits the people who wrote it.
Three-audience task: Take one set of facts from this unit (the two estimates, the survey, the Cedar Bend log or the story of the 120 stakes) and write it for three audiences: a 60-word notice for families, a one-paragraph recommendation for a decision-maker and a formatted post for students with at least one heading and one table or link. Before writing each, record the task, the purpose and the audience in one line apiece. Afterwards, list one fact you included for one audience and cut for another, and say why.
Independent performance: Choose one longer piece from this unit (argument, explanation or narrative). Hold a peer or adult conference using the two questions "what is this trying to do?" and "where does it stop serving its reader?" and record the responses. Then do all four: revise one passage, rewrite one paragraph from a blank line, try a new approach to one element (order, opening or text type) and keep or reject it with a reason, and complete an editing pass that checks phrases and clauses, sentence types chosen to signal relationships, misplaced and dangling modifiers, commas between coordinate adjectives, wordiness and redundancy, and spelling. Produce the final version in a shared document with at least one heading, one hyperlink to a source you actually used and a citation for it in a standard format. Share it for comments and answer at least two. Submit the conference notes, the version history showing the before and after of your new-approach trial, and the published link or printed copy. Success criteria: every revision is tied to purpose or audience; every edit names the grade 7 convention it applies; the published piece both links to and cites its source.
An adult may read the prompts aloud. Answer independently with words, objects, drawings or a demonstration before opening the answer guide. Award 1 point for a correct result or claim and 1 point for a matching explanation or demonstration; where a question asks only for a result (a corrected sentence, a spelling, a count), a fully correct result earns both points, and the answer guide shows what a complete response contains. Record prompting separately. The total (two points per question) is local practice feedback, not an Ohio proficiency level.
State the task, purpose and audience of the family newsletter notice, and explain why the two cost estimates were cut from it.
Task: a 60-word notice; purpose: tell families what will happen and what students should bring; audience: families who are not making the decision. The cost comparison supports a decision families are not making, so it does not serve their purpose; the instruction about boots and gloves does.
The standard says to focus revision on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. Turn that into the two questions a peer should ask, and explain why "it's good" is not useful.
"What is this writing trying to do?" and "Where does it stop serving its reader?" A grade names no place in the text, so the writer cannot act on it; a located observation can be revised, rewritten, answered or reorganized.
Explain the difference between revising, rewriting and trying a new approach, using the paragraph that mixed three reasons.
Revising changes the existing passage, for instance splitting it into three paragraphs. Rewriting drafts it again from a blank line with one reason in its topic sentence. Trying a new approach changes the plan itself, such as reordering the essay so the reserve comes last, and then judging the result against the original.
Edit "Walking along the bank, the stakes looked really small and each and every one was a meter apart," and name each grade 7 convention you applied.
"Walking along the bank, I thought the stakes looked small; each was a meter apart." Conventions: corrected a dangling modifier by giving the participial phrase a subject it can modify; eliminated wordiness ("really") and redundancy ("each and every").
Rewrite "The drain works at once and it uses nearly the whole budget and there is too little left for repairs" as one complex or compound-complex sentence, and say what relationship the new sentence type signals that the original did not.
"Although the drain works at once, it uses nearly the whole budget, so too little is left for repairs." The dependent clause beginning "although" marks the first idea as a concession outweighed by the second, and "so" marks the third as a result; the original's repeated "and" gave all three equal weight.
Decide whether each needs a comma between its adjectives and explain the test: "a steep slippery bank" and "a native dogwood stake."
"A steep, slippery bank" takes a comma because steep and slippery are coordinate: "steep and slippery" and "slippery, steep" both work. "A native dogwood stake" takes none because the adjectives build on each other; "dogwood and native stake" does not work.
Give one way technology lets a writer link to a source and one way it lets the writer cite a source, and explain why doing only the first is not enough.
Linking: turn the words "the committee report" into a hyperlink to the report. Citing: add a citation at the end naming the author, title, publisher, date and address in a standard format. A link alone can break and does not name who wrote the source or when; the citation lets the source be found again and credits its authors.
Name two ways technology supports interaction and collaboration during revision, with an example from the lesson.
A comment placed beside the sentence it concerns in a shared document, such as the peer note about paragraph three; suggestion mode or version history that records a proposed change without erasing the original, such as comparing the reordered essay with the first version. A comment thread under a published post, answered by the writer, is a third.