6th Grade - Gateway 2
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Building Knowledge
Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and TasksGateway 2 - Partially Meets Expectations | 56% |
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Criterion 2.1: Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and Tasks | 18 / 32 |
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria that texts are organized around themes and build student’s reading comprehension of complex texts. Materials do not meet the criteria that texts are organized around a topic or theme/topic or themes or themes to build students’ knowledge and their ability to read and comprehend and analyze complex texts proficiently. While there are targeted questions and series of questions for students that promote students’ ability to draw conclusions and cite textual evidence, determine theme, and analyze point of view, they do not promote students' building knowledge of the content and texts. Students are presented with text-dependent and text-specific questions; however, the questions do not require students to build knowledge across the text. Culminating tasks do not require students to demonstrate knowledge of a topic, nor do they integrate skills. Materials include vocabulary over the course of a school-year, but there is no cohesive plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts. Materials support students’ increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students’ writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year. Materials provide frequent opportunities for students to engage in research activities that support the understanding of texts and topics within texts. Each selection is followed by at least one opportunity for students to engage in a research task, which includes a variety of individual, partner, and small group projects. Materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class. A gradual release of responsibility reading model moving students from guided reading to directed reading to independent reading is within each unit.
Criterion 2.1: Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and Tasks
Indicator 2a
Texts are organized around a topic/topics (or, for grades 6-8, topics and/or themes) to build students' ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 do not meet the criteria that texts are organized around a topic/topics (or, for grades 6-8, topics and/or themes) to build students' ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.
The instructional materials are placed in units based on genre. Each unit is also given a theme. Each selection in the unit closely or loosely relates to the theme provided. After each theme is presented on the title page of the unit, a description is offered to connect them theme/topic to the texts included in the unit. Each unit is composed of three levels of reading support: guided reading, directed reading, and independent reading. A quote at the beginning of each unit is intended to give insight into the collection of literature in the unit. Along with the quote are guiding questions and commentary that are meant to expand upon the quote. Many of the Mirrors & Windows questions focus on text-to-student understanding, rather than the text, and they are not building the student's knowledge of a topic or theme. Texts included in each unit are loosely connected by the unit's theme, but do not build students' ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.
The units for Grade 6 include: Unit 1: Finding a Place in the World (Fiction), Unit 2: Meeting Challenges (Fiction), Unit 3: Defining Freedom (Nonfiction), Unit 4: Testing Limits (Nonfiction), Unit 5: Expressing Yourself (Poetry), Unit 6: Encountering Nature (Poetry), Unit 7: Discovering Other Worlds (Drama), and Unit 8: Imaging the Fantastic (Folk Literature). Examples include:
In Unit 3, Defining Freedom (Nonfiction), the unit begins with a quote from Mohandas Gandhi, “The only education we receive is English Education. Surely we must show something for it. But suppose that we had been receiving during the past fifty years education through our vernaculars, what should we have today? We should have today a free India…” Following the quote, the directions for students explain that Gandhi was a peace activist who struggled to lead India to independence from British rule. As students read the unit, the directions are as follows: “As you read this unit, imagine how you would feel if your basic freedoms were challenged." Students are also assigned to read “Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima” by Walter Dean Myers and focus on the theme of fighting for freedom which connects to the unit theme using the following questions: “What about Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima’s story affected you the most? Why? Do you think the United States should help people in other countries win freedom from cruel leaders and undemocratic governments?” While these are compelling texts and questions, the teacher will have to supplement with other texts and possibly questions to support building knowledge.
In Unit 4, Testing Limits (Nonfiction), the unit begins with a quote by Maxine Hong Kingston, “This summer my son body-surfs...I hope that by September he will have had enough of the ocean. Tall waves throw surfers against the shallow bottom. Undertows have snatched them away.” Following the quote, directions challenge students by using the the following statement and purpose: “Everyone has limits, and testing limits can be exciting and satisfying...As you read this unit, consider different people’s limits. Ask yourself if you would be able to overcome the same obstacles others have faced." Students are also assigned to read “Developing Your Chops” by Fran Lantz and focus on the idea of testing one’s limits in terms of talent and effort. Questions such as “Who do you know who likes to practice playing an instrument? Do you think practice can make a musician out of someone who is not naturally talented? Or does artistic success require an innate gift?” are again engaging, but do not require deep reading of the texts and will not support students in building knowledge without further supplementary reading and questions.
In Unit 5, Expressing Yourself (Poetry), students are assigned to read “Ode to La Tortilla” by Gary Soto. The speaker in this poem “expresses himself” by describing the sensory pleasures that homemade tortillas bring him. He describes making them with his mom and sharing one of the front lawn with a sparrow. Students also read “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” by Maya Angelou. The speaker in this poem “expresses herself” by describing various things that frighten children: shadows, things at night, a new school, etc. When she is awake, she becomes brave by saying “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” repetitively. To grow students' knowledge and engage students more deeply the teacher will have to identify other questions and tasks.
Indicator 2b
Materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts. While there are targeted questions and series of questions for students that promote students’ ability to draw conclusions and cite textual evidence, determine theme, and analyze point of view, they do not promote students' building knowledge of the content and texts. There are few questions that support students in analyzing author’s language and word choice. The questions that do focus on language and structure do not support students to analyze its effect on the text.
In some units, students dive into the texts and are provided opportunities to read closely and study the components and text as parts and as a whole. For example, in Unit 1, students read “The Goodness of Matt Kaizer” and complete the following tasks that allow them to make conclusions, analyze text, and draw comparisons:
Based on the author’s descriptions of Mary Beth’s appearance, ask students to draw conclusions about her emotional state. Model a response: “Mary Beth’s eyes were red and her face was wet, so she had probably been crying. She was very sad when Matt arrived.
Locating evidence to “suggest that Matt is a dynamic character. Students may point out Marley’s description of Matt’s changing appearance: he looks more and more haggard and silent, and he is becoming more neat and clean in appearance.”
Compare the descriptions of Matt at the beginning of the story with those at the end. How has Matt changed?
Another example is in Unit 7, when students read a lyric poem, “The Stolen Child,” and complete tasks and answer questions that analyze text, find meaning, and make judgment:
Have students identify descriptive lines that help the reader visualize the magical world of fairies.
Tell students to compare and contrast the purpose and content of the refrains in the two works.
What is the main idea of “The Stolen Child”? Besides the fact they steal a child, what other evidence can you find that these fairies may be harmful? What do you think will happen after the child enters the fairies’ world?
How do the fairies contrast their life to life in the real world? Do you think their description of the world is fair? Why or why not? How do the final lines of the last stanza differ from the final lines of the other stanzas? Why do you think Yeats chose to alter the last stanza?
In Unit 2, students read “The Serial Garden” and are asked to make inferences, create questions, and analyze text:
Ask students what they can infer from the facts of the ‘incalculable age’ of Mr. Johansen’s dog Lotta and her continued puppy-like friskiness.
Have each pair of students create a question about the selection. Model a possible question: ‘What would have happened if Rudi and the princess reunited?”
Students analyze their reading and provide examples from the text to answer, “What does Mark’s reaction to his discovery of the garden suggest about his personality?”
In this example, the materials provide an opportunity for students to read closely within the text and consider the key details, but they do not dive into the craft nor academic vocabulary.
In Unit 4, using the texts, “Noise Levels” and “Hearing Under Siege,” students write an informative paragraph explaining the possible source of hearing loss. The student must cite one example from the diagram or the article. This provides students an opportunity to read carefully, but not to build upon knowledge nor grow their academic vocabulary as they read closely.
In Unit 6, students read the poem, “English Sparrows,” and engage in the following collaborative learning task: "Think about the observations the poet makes about the man on the bench. Discuss the following question with a small group of classmates: Do you think the speaker wants to talk to the man she sees in the park sharing her appreciation for the day? Why or why not?" In this series of questions, the majority of the thinking has been completed through the questions, and the intellectual demand is not as rigorous for the student.
Indicator 2c
Materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent and text-specific questions and tasks that require students to analyze the the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts.
The Mirrors & Windows questions are mostly text-to-student questions, where students do not refer to the text to respond. Questions and tasks do not require that students refer to the text, and it is unclear how the questions work to build knowledge across an individual text. In terms of the integration of ideas across multiple texts, each unit includes two texts that are paired with the intention of teaching literary elements across texts. The individual, paired texts have text-dependent questions at the end, but there is only one question that asks the students to compare the texts, and the question does not promote a deep analysis of the texts. There are other text-to-text connections established in the units, but the questions about these connections do not require an analysis of the integration of ideas.
The Exceeding the Standards and Meeting the Standards supplemental resources offer additional, yet limited, activities within the unit to compare a set of texts. Various texts within the units have student writing, speaking, and researching tasks for evidence of students’ need to perform analysis of texts to complete quality, cumulative assignments and tasks.
The During Reading questions require only a surface amount of knowledge to complete. During the reading of each text, questions are presented in the margin and answers are provided in the margins of the Teacher’s Edition. Guidance is offered in teaching the analysis questions in the margins. After each text, students are presented with Text Dependent Questions. There are some questions and tasks designed to increase in complexity from understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating; however, these questions comprise a small percentage of the questions and tasks that students are required to address.
In Unit 1, students read “The Circuit” by Francisco Jimenez and “Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez” by Kathleen Krull. Before reading “The Circuit," students are provided a tool to assist them in identifying causes and effects while reading. Additional Find Meaning and Make Judgments questions are provided at the end of the selection that will assist students in answering the Text to Text Connection. While reading “Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez," teachers instruct students to take notes on a chart while reading where they can ask questions, make predictions, react to ideas, and identify key points. Students are provided a sample chart that can be used to record the information. After reading both texts, students respond to the following “Text to Text Connection” prompt: “Compare and contrast the descriptions and historical setting of migrant farm life in 'The Circuit' with those in ‘Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez.’ How is Panchito’s experience as a migrant worker similar to Cesar Chavez’s experience? How is it different? What did Chavez do to improve the types of conditions described in both selections? To help you compare and contrast the selections, first summarize and synthesize the texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order."
In Unit 2, after reading the texts, “Becky and the Wheels-and-Brake Boys” by James Berry and “The Southpaw” by Judith Viorst, in the “Text Dependent Questions-Compare Literature” section, students review the details about Becky in “Becky and the Wheels-and-Brake Boys, and Janet in “The Southpaw” that they recorded in their character charts. Then, they must answer four text-dependent questions. One example is as follows: “How are Becky and Janet similar in the ways that other characters respond to them?”
In Unit 3, using “from All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten," an excerpt from the argumentative essay by Robert Fulghum, students create a two-column chart with the details on one side and what the details tell them about the author’s beliefs on the other. After reading the text, students are asked the following questions: “How long has it been since Fulghum played hide-and-seek? How does he say adults 'play' hide-and-seek? What are the things Fulghum considers doing to make the kid 'get found'?”
In Unit 4, using the scientific article, “The Five ‘Wanderers’ of the Ancient Skies" by Dennis Brindell Fradin, students are to keep track of details of the text by taking notes on a chart (example shown) that seem significant or interesting. Then after reading, students are to review their notes and write one or two main ideas for each section or page.
In Unit 5, students read the narrative poem, “One Time,” and respond to a series of questions and tasks that prompts them to make judgments. One question and task states: “What mood does this poem create? Name two details that contribute to the mood."
In Unit 6, students read the the poem, “Blazing in Gold and Quenching in Purple” and chart elements of personification in order to respond to text-specific questions.
In Unit 7, using “The Phantom Tollbooth, Act 2” written by Norton Juster and dramatized by Susan Nanus, students have the opportunity to move beyond a literal interpretation of the text when completing an informative writing task following the reading of the text: “‘Time flies, doesn’t it?’ Milo asks Tock, the watchdog. Think about how the author uses the literal meaning of the words in the idiom to create a humorous image. Find and list other idioms throughout the play, and in a brief literary essay, analyze the ways in which the author uses idioms to create humor."
In Unit 8, using “Arachne," a Greek myth retold by Olivia Coolidge, the materials provide teacher modeling to use reading strategies during the guided reading, such as inferencing. For example, “Ask students to tell what kind of person Arachne is. Model using the detail that ‘praise was all she lived for’ to infer that Arachne is extremely proud of weaving. Ask students to make an inference based on the remainder of the sentence."
Indicator 2d
The questions and tasks support students' ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic (or, for grades 6-8, a theme) through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 do not meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic (or, for grades 6-8, a theme) through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).
Culminating tasks do not require students to demonstrate knowledge of a topic, nor do they integrate skills. Students complete each workshop independently of each other. Some tasks are loosely connected to unit texts, while others are not connected to texts. Students are often demonstrating mastery of the unit skills rather than demonstrating understanding or knowledge. Each unit includes three types of culminating activities: a Speaking and Listening Workshop, Writing Workshop, and Test Practice Workshop. The performance tasks that the students complete in these culminating activities correspond to the questions, discussions, and writing prompts.
In Unit 3, some tasks are loosely connected to unit texts, while others are not connected to texts. Students demonstrate a mastery of the unit skills rather than demonstrating understanding or knowledge. Students are assigned a culminating task under the “Writer’s Workshop” in which they write an argumentative essay that allows them to present and support their clearly stated opinion. Prior to being assigned the culminating task, students complete scaffolded and independent activities to prepare them to write an argumentative essay. In the following texts, students are provided with scaffolding and practice in writing argumentative essays:
After reading “Why? by Anne Frank,” students complete an argumentative writing assignment in the “Extend Understanding” section in which they create a main idea map on the most important things parents must do in raising children. They provide at least four supporting examples. Students then use this information to write an argumentative paragraphs convincing parents to do this thing. Students must state the main idea in the thesis.
After reading The Need of Solidarity Among the Ethnic Groups, students choose a current issue that they feel strongly about. They write a brief position statement outlining their feelings on the issue. Students describe their position in their thesis and include several reasons that support it.
In Unit 5, some tasks are loosely connected to unit texts, while others are not connected to texts. Students demonstrate a mastery of the unit skills rather than demonstrating understanding or knowledge. Students explore poetry where they will understand different elements and types of poetry. Students are assigned a culminating task where they plan and write a personal narrative in which they express their feelings about a person, place, thing or experience using sensory details, figurative language, and imagery to create a mood. Students are asked to write a personal narrative:
In the Analyze Literature section before students begin reading the poem Ode to La Tortilla, they are instructed to notice the poet’s use of imagery as they read. During reading, students are provided the following questions to assist them in identifying imagery: “What do you see on the lawn? What might a reader see and hear at the end of the poem?” After reading, in the Analyze Literature section students are to return to the poem to list images that bring a specific scene to life and record it on a provided chart.
In the Analyze Literature section before reading the poem, “Good Hot Dogs,” students are to name some of the sensory details in the poem and describe how the details add to the experience of eating at the store. In the “Analyze and Extend” section after reading, students are to create a menu of items they would serve and include sensory details to appeal to diners.
In Unit 7, in the Speaking and Listening Workshop, students are assigned a culminating task where they write about a person who has “strength of character”. The presentation includes a speaking rubric that includes a delivery and presentation component. The component addresses speaking confidently and expressively with appropriate volume. Prior to being assigned the culminating task, students complete scaffolded and independent activities to prepare them to write and give a presentation. These tasks prepare them for the skill of presentation, but do not build knowledge of a topic.
One activity requires students to write and present a screenplay. They select a scene from their favorite story and rewrite it using the screenplay format. Students share their screenplays in small groups. They are provided with feedback on how each screen play can be improved.
Later in the unit, students are assigned a scene from the play, “In The Fog,” and film the presentations of their scenes. They show each scene to the class while classmates take notes about the strengths and weaknesses of each scene.
Indicator 2e
Materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts.
Materials include vocabulary over the course of a school-year, but there is no cohesive plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts. Vocabulary is repeated in contexts, as seen in the Vocabulary and Spelling lessons which are integrated with two of the literature selections in each unit. These lessons incorporate vocabulary words from the preceding selection to provide context and repetition for students to increase their understanding and vocabulary knowledge. However, academic vocabulary is not repeated sufficiently across units throughout the course of the year.
The Teacher’s Edition has key terms with definitions, but there is little to no representation of academic vocabulary. When the academic vocabulary is mentioned within a unit or along with a reading they are not repeated sufficiently through the unit or throughout the course of the year.
A Language Arts Handbook is provided as a student resource at the back of the text which includes Vocabulary and Spelling, and teachers can direct students to these resources.
The Meeting the Standards Unit Resources do include cumulative vocabulary lists and the Teacher’s Edition provides a Building Vocabulary which includes an overview of all unit vocabulary words, academic vocabulary, and key terms. The Master word lists cover vocabulary from Common Core Tier One, Tier Two, and Tier Three words. Academic words included and addressed in the Vocabulary Practice Lessons that follow do not appear in other Vocabulary Lessons within the grade level and do not appear within the assessment practice or Writing Workshop within the same unit. Additionally, the Exceeding the Standards resource includes a vocabulary and spelling section that contains lessons and practice on word parts and word origins; borrowed words and informal language; testing vocabulary and choosing words; and working with academic vocabulary.
In Unit 1, students complete a Vocabulary Practice with synonyms and antonyms, such as the following: “For each of the following words, list one synonym and one antonym. 1. Formal." Students can respond with answers such as “synonym: proper or official” and “antonym: casual.” The example to begin the Vocabulary & Spelling lesson is from one of the selections in Unit 1, “The All-American Slurp” by Lensey Namioka, and an explanation is provided, “In the sentence above, mortified is a synonym for humiliated or embarrassed. An antonym would be proud.” If the words included in the Vocabulary Practice are from the selections students read during the unit, there are no citations with page numbers for students to return to the source and read the word in context from the previous selection. The teacher’s edition includes a Program Resource with the following in the margin: “You will find additional lessons on Synonyms and Antonyms in the Exceeding the Standards: Vocabulary & Spelling resource.” Words in Use are addressed with the following Academic Vocabulary: mortified, anxiety, rigid, isolate. The academic vocabulary words included in the Vocabulary Practice lesson were not used again specifically in the Writing Workshop that follows.
In Unit 3, students are presented with information on Word Parts- Prefixes, Suffixes and Base Words in the “Vocabulary and Spelling” lesson. Academic vocabulary is presented in the bottom margin: derives, accurately, precede, proceed, exceed, supercede, condemnation, undulating. Students have “Word Knowledge” practice with these words in which they give the origin of the word and the definition, on the same page in the textbook within this lesson. These words are not revisited in any other resource book or in any other text in the unit.
In Unit 5, students are presented with information on “Spelling with Prefixes and Suffixes” in the “Vocabulary and Spelling” lesson. Students learn how affixes can change the spelling of the words and the definitions. Students also practice on this page. No academic vocabulary is provided in the bottom margins.
In Unit 7, students are introduced to the academic vocabulary, Theosophists and playwright. The vocabulary word Theosophists is used in the Build Background section before reading. “In Yeats’s time, a group called the Theosophists was interested in the spirit world and believed fairies were spirits lighter than gas, and therefore invisible.” Playwright is addressed in the Introduction to Drama section before the unit selections. “A playwright envisions how the story will unfold and includes in the work such specifics as actors’ locations onstage and details about props and sets.” Playwright is also used in the Mirrors and Windows question at the end of the excerpt: “What is your impression of the fairies? How is it different from your impression of the chorus? Why might playwrights include such 'songs' in a play?” No explicit instruction on the meanings of the terms or opportunities to build knowledge or use the terms are provided. Finally, playwright is used in the Extend Understanding where students are to address the question “Did the playwright have a purpose for the humor other than entertainment?” No instruction for learning or utilizing the academic vocabulary is provided. The vocabulary terms are not addressed further in the school year and no activities or tasks address the words.
Indicator 2f
Materials include a cohesive, year-long plan to support students' increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students' writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the criteria that materials support students’ increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students’ writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year.
The materials support students’ increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students’ writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year. After each reading selection, there is a section called Extend Understanding which provides students with a choice between two writing assignments. Throughout the course of the units, these Extend Understanding writing tasks are providing students opportunities to develop their writing skills. After each Lesson Test, students also practice their writing skills by answering one essay question forcing the student to cite the text to support their answers. Each unit concludes with a Writing Workshop task that addresses the four types of writing over the course of the year: Argumentative, Informative, Descriptive, and Narrative. The workshop offers flexibility to meet the needs of students as well as provide the opportunity to include writing not merely to help students develop communication skills, but to promote learning and thinking. In the Writing Workshops, students are guided through the writing process: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and proofreading, and publishing and presenting. Students are issued a revision checklist and a student model in which they can refer.
Throughout the year, both teacher and peers provide feedback to ensure that students' writing skills are increasing. Multiple additional writing supports can be found in the support materials of the curriculum.
The Common Core Assessment Practice booklet that contains reading selections with occasional short answer questions that refer to the text and constructed response writing prompts covering argument, informational/explanatory, and narrative writing types.
The Meeting the Standards booklet has short answer questions that relate to texts and the use of literary elements, and it has worksheets that can be used to scaffold some of the Extend the Text writing prompts.
The Exceeding the Standards booklet gives detailed, structured support for the entire writing process for one type of writing per unit.
The Assessment Guide has a summative assessment for each of the reading selections in each unit that includes a writing prompt that requires students to reference the text.
When all of the program resources are used in coordination with each other, teachers can provide a year-long, cohesive plan of writing instruction and tasks which support students in building and communicating substantive understanding of topics and texts. Examples of a cohesive plan of writing instruction and tasks to meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to, the following:
In Unit 1, at the conclusion of the unit in the “Writing Workshop, students respond to a short story.
In Unit 2, Writing Workshop, students are provided with a plot diagram in the drafting phase of the writing process to support them in creating the planning of the climax of their short stories.
In Unit 3, Writing Workshop, students write argumentative essays and create a pro and con chart during the prewriting phase of development. Students list arguments for and against their opinion and determine at least two pros and cons.
In Unit 4, with the Performance Task in the Writing Workshop, students write a Cause-and-Effect Essay where they analyze how or why one thing leads to another. Students are encouraged to find and choose a topic. Supports are provided during drafting and revising, such as with the Revising Checklist: “Does the introduction present the cause-and-effect relationship closely? Is the essay organized in a logical way? Is the relationship between causes and effects explained and supported?”
In Unit 5, Writing Workshop, students are taken through the writing process for a descriptive essay. Students review a student model and are asked to locate sensory details. They discuss which sense seems most prominent.
In Unit 6, students satisfy the following expectations for their writing: “Do your teacher’s guidelines require double-spacing? Have you done that? Always check to be sure you have met all the presentation guidelines before submitting your work. Making a clean, neat final copy is one of the many ways in which a writer considers his or her audience.”
By Unit 8, students are required to gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources and draw on evidence from informational texts to support research in their Performance Task during the Writing Workshop. Assigned to write a Research Report, they must use at least four different sources, both primary and secondary. The instructional materials remind students to do the following: “Avoid plagiarism by crediting all my sources, both in references in the text and in a Works Cited list, and by providing my own explanation as much as possible.”
Indicator 2g
Materials include a progression of focused research projects to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area by confronting and analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the criteria that materials include a progression of focused, shared research and writing projects to encourage students to develop and synthesize knowledge and understanding of a topic using texts and other source materials.
The materials provide frequent opportunities for students to engage in research activities that support the understanding of texts and topics within texts. Each selection is followed by at least one opportunity for students to engage in a research task, which includes a variety of individual, partner, and small group projects. Throughout each unit, students are presented with an After Reading section after each text or grouping of texts. Within most After Reading sections, students complete tasks in categories such as: Media Literacy, Lifelong Learning, Critical Literacy, Collaborative Learning, etc. Within these categories, students compose research that is influenced by the topic(s), themes, and genre of the specified reading selection. The textbook offers research opportunities through various writing options also located within the After Reading section. Materials meet the expectations of including a progression of focused research projects to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area by confronting and analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials. Research projects are varied throughout the instructional materials and offer tasks that are connected to most texts within a unit.
In addition to opportunities in the textbook, the Exceeding the Standards resource provides extension activities for several selections that ask the students to engage in a more complex research process with multiple steps.
In Unit 2, students read “The Bracelet” a short story by Yoshiko Uchida. The Extend Understanding section includes a Lifelong Learning task where students are assigned to research and report what caused the government to intern so many people during World War II. They task reads, “Research Executive Order 9066 and consider whether you think such as action would ever be taken today and explain why or why not” (page 159). Students are to report to the class.
In Unit 4, students are provided photographs from NASA “Earth from Space” to view. They are assigned to read the news article “An Ancient Computer Surprises Scientists” by John Noble Wilford. The Extend Understanding section includes a Critical Literacy task where students are to split into small groups and assign each person a satellite function. It reads, “Use the internet to analyze maps, graphs, and tables based on your satellite’s function” (page 391). Instruction for looking at visual data is provided. Students will write a brief paragraph explaining the function.
In Unit 6, students read the narrative poem “The Wreck of the Hesperus” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The Teacher’s Edition provides a Research Skills section that task students to use “a variety of print and online resources to look up information about famous shipwrecks” (page 555). Each student is to choose a different shipwreck and make a chart sharing when, where, what caused the wreck and the outcome. Students are then to use the notes to summarize the information on an index card. Cards are to be traded in order for students to read about other shipwrecks.
In Unit 8, students read “The Orb Weaver,” a lyric poem by Robert Francis. The Extend Understanding section includes a Collaborative Learning task where students are to research various characteristics in groups, including how they live, what they eat, and what kind of webs they spin. It reads, “Choose one species of spider to research in depth. Present your findings to the class” (page 714).
Indicator 2h
Materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the criteria that materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.
The materials provide a gradual release of responsibility reading model moving students from guided reading to directed reading to independent reading within each unit. Independent Readings are implemented to encourage a shift of responsibility from teacher to student. In the Independent Reading section, students read two or more selections based on a similar theme of the unit and have the opportunity to practice focused reading skills on their own. In the margins of the Teacher’s Edition under Independent Reading, teachers are provided with guidance to foster independence. At the conclusion of each Independent Reading selection, students are provided with text-dependent questions and tasks. At the conclusion of the second Independent Reading selection, students are given a section entitled, “For Your Reading List," offering text suggestions that connect to the genre of the unit. The additional information provides more options for students to select reading materials. This model assists students with navigating the independent selections which offer minimal support before and after reading while expecting students to apply skills independently. An E-Library and Audio Library are included with the program and offer a big selection of literary classics, poems, novels, plays, and nonfiction selections.
In Unit 1, students read “Aaron’s Gift” by Myron Levoy in the Independent Reading section and they have the opportunity to use the skill of drawing conclusions. For example, teachers ask students to draw conclusions about why Aaron’s mother wanted him to stay away from the boys. “Based on the actions of the boys, would students describe their group as a gang or a club?”
In Unit 3, students read an excerpt from “ All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum. They are assigned to create a chart to organize the details of the essay. In the first column students should record the details that are important and in the second column students should write what the details tell about the author’s beliefs. A sample chart is provided.
In Unit 5, students read “ Ode to La Tortilla” by Gary Soto and are assigned to keep track of the sequence of events the poet describes. “Are the events told in the order they occurred? How do you know? Pay attention to the tense of the speaker’s words.” A sample chart is provided.
Also in Unit 5, students read “A Remarkable Adventure” by Jack Prelutsky as an Independent Reading selection. Then, they have an opportunity to demonstrate in a small group their ability to put the sequence of events in order from the poem.