6th Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials for Grade 6 partially meet expectations for indicator 2a in that texts are organized around a topic/topics and/or themes (as is appropriate for grades 6 and up) to build students' ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently as they build knowledge. Grade 6 is developed around the thematic concept of change. During the year, students learn how writers use that theme to tell stories in poetry, short stories, and nonfiction texts. Students are also asked to research topics and deepen understanding using film. However, there are missed opportunities for students to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently as they build knowledge because student engagement with text throughout the year often relies solely on students' individual understanding, and there is inconsistent teacher guidance.

In the Unit Overview for Unit 1, the authors state "Unit 1 introduces the idea of 'change' as the conceptual focus for the year. By reading, analyzing, and creating texts, you will examine changes that happen in your life as well as in the world around you. Through your responses to texts, you will better understand that change is threaded through all of our lives and is something we can tell stories about."

While each unit is developed around a theme, there are some series of texts related to topics within a theme. In Unit 3, for example there are series of texts related to the topic of dangerous sports, and another series related to social networking. In Unit 4 there is a series of texts on the topic of Shakespeare.

Reading, questions, writing tasks, and speaking and listening activities all revolve around the study of choices made and how they impact society while growing knowledge about subtopics within each unit. Students have ample opportunity during collaborative discussions to share connections between concepts taught in class and their independent reading, and are provided opportunities to demonstrate new knowledge and stances on the themes and topics in culminating activities. There is little teacher support to redirect or reteach should students misunderstand core work or need comprehension support. Without additional supports students may not be able to develop the ability to read and comprehend complex text independently and proficiently as they build knowledge.

The online Close Reading Workshops include strategies to support students in determining what each text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from what it does not say explicitly. Should the teacher not engage students explicitly with these materials as they read, students may not incorporate the strategies and supports appropriately or in context.

The materials for Grade 6 partially meet the expectations of indicator 2b, as texts and materials require students to analyze language and/or author's word choice (according to grade level standards). Students are provided directions to attend to language, key ideas, details, craft, and structures of texts, but have inconsistent opportunities to engage with academic vocabulary that will grow knowledge. The majority of vocabulary study is focused on literary terms. Deeper exploration of key ideas within texts and additional supports for students struggling with the text are needed.

Students have several opportunities to analyze language and author's word choice through Sidebar Word Meaning and Word Connection. Lessons and questions require them to interact with the text to find examples of figurative, sensory and vivid language, as well as roots and affixes, etc. Students are given opportunities to identify key ideas and details through numerous sidebars in the student edition, as well as in the teacher edition. The tasks throughout each unit, as well as culminating activities, set expectations and purpose for analyzing structure and craft through multiple Language and Writer's Craft Lessons within each unit. However, the support for teachers and students should students misunderstand is minimal. Additionally, students' engagement with rich content vocabulary beyond literary terms is weak.

The questions and tasks provided for students to learn about craft, style, and engage in study of key ideas have an extensive focus on surface- level elements of the text and rely heavily on student interpretation. There is little teacher support should students misunderstand or need further direct instruction.

An example found in Unit 1 illustrates how the program partially meets the expectations of indicator 2b:

In Unit 1 Key Ideas and Details: Activity 1.6, "He Said, She Said" there are tasks listed for characterization using a novel excerpt from Flipped by Wendelin Van Drannen . The teacher is provided with Key Idea and Details sidebars that direct the instructor to point out how the author uses precise words to drive the action and switch perspective, although directions are minimal. Some examples of the information provided in Key Ideas and Details sidebars include possible prompts and responses for the teacher to model:

• Questions for the student: In the My Notes space, summarize the first meeting between Jill and Bryce, from Bryce’s point of view. Use details from the story to describe what Bryce says and does:
• Teacher : Jill ‘barged and shoved and wedged her way’ into Bryce’s life on the day he moved into the neighborhood. When Bryce tries to ‘ditch’ her by walking into the house, Jill entangles herself in his hands, and then, when she tries to pursue him further, he runs away, and hides in the bathroom
• Questions for the student: Notice that Jill uses the verbs ‘charge’ and ‘catapult’ to describe how she moves. These verbs mean more than simply ‘to walk or run’; they have strong connotations. How does the connotative effect of these words describe Jill’s attitude toward her friendship with Bryce?
• Teacher: The words help convey Jill’s sudden, forceful, impulsive, and intense feelings for Bryce.
• Questions for the student: How does the author pace the narrative? What words or phrases does the author use as transitions?
• Teacher: The pacing of the narrative is dramatic and quick, and is characterized by active,forceful verbs. Examples of transitions include “When I got to his side...that’s when everything changed...but then his mother came out.”

While this work is closely reading for the verbs and some detail, there is little attention paid to the overall theme, content , message, and character development in the story. Some discussion of connotations continues throughout the program, but there are minimal supports for teachers to support students who have misunderstandings. This is a trend throughout the program, with questions guiding students to the structures and writing components of the text, but fewer directions and guidance around the content of the text itself.

The Grade 6 materials partially meet the expectations of indicator 2c. Text-dependent questions and tasks are sometimes coherently sequenced for students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas in single texts and across multiple texts. While questions and tasks are text dependent, they do not consistently support students’ analysis of knowledge and ideas.

Students read to analyze a variety of texts and work with questions and tasks to understand the forms through which ideas are conveyed, such as poetry, essay, novel, and film. Through close reading and analyzing elements skilled writers use to develop text, students learn to write real and imagined narratives while they learn about the topics and themes. Students analyze components, organizational structures, and language. The materials do not consistently support students’ building knowledge of the content provided by the texts, however. Rich texts are used as a vehicle to learn the component parts of texts, but students are not guided to engage in deeper critical thinking about the texts themselves.

Students read to analyze a variety of texts to understand storytelling. Through close reading and analyzing narrative elements skilled writers use to develop text, students learn to write real and imagined narratives. Students analyze components organizational structures, and language of narrative text. Students closely read several short stories, analyzing plot development, figurative language, and theme. Students will have practice creating new forms, but opportunities to uncover and understand the core themes, content, and characterization in texts may not be fully supported. Work across texts is focused on surface-level components rather than deeper meanings that may be analyzed through closer work.

An example occurs in Activity 2.8, "Questions and Discussions."

The learning targets identified:

• Analyze the text of the novel Walk Two Moons by posing questions at the literal, interpretive, and universal levels.
• Identify and implement effective discussion techniques.

Students review different typed of questions, and then write three levels of questions (literal, interpretive, and universal) based on what they've read so far in the novel. The students then work with their questions in discussion groups, sorting question types and the discussion group protocols.

Another example occurs in Activity 4.15, "One Text, Two Perspectives: in which students compare a film version and the play The Taming of the Shrew. Students take notes in a graphic organizer (included) which has a T-chart for setting, characters, conflict/plot, and theme. The direction states, "As you view scenes from the play, compare and contrast Shakespeare’s play with the 1967 film version. Take notes in the graphic organizer below." Guiding questions to support students' understanding of the similar and dissimilar elements-- and why they might be important-- are not present. Rather, the focus is on the basic structures of comparison.

The instructional materials for Grade 6 partially meet the expectations for indicator 2d, with questions and tasks supporting students' ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills (e.g., combination of reading, writing, speaking, and listening). This integration appears in different parts of each unit. Each unit contains two "Embedded Assessments" that act as culminating activities. They include the following activities: writing a personal narrative, writing a short story, responding to literature, writing an expository essay, researching and debating a controversy, writing an argumentative letter, researching and presenting Shakespeare, and performing Shakespeare. Text-dependent questions and lessons throughout each unit build towards these embedded assessments. However, the culminating tasks do not necessarily promote the building of students’ knowledge of the theme/topic, instead focusing solely on the skills in the end products themselves.

Tasks emphasize the completion and synthesis of more than one skill learned and practiced, usually inclusive of a writing skill. Over the course of the unit, students practice short writing by responding to prompts. Students read texts and are prompted to write and work in speaking and listening tasks prior to working with the culminating task. The teacher support is present but does not often account for possible misunderstandings or provide support for deeper understanding and thinking about texts.

In the forward of each unit in Teacher's Edition, in Planning the Unit section, there is a comprehensive Instructional Activity and Pacing Guide that outlines expectations of Culminating Tasks and maps students' sequence of instructional expectations toward mastery of skills needed. This structure and focus does support students' development in writing to prompts and preparing materials while accessing reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language skills in concert. Following are some examples to illustrate how the program provides these integrated culminating tasks for students:

Unit 2 Activities

• Culminating(embedded) Assessment 2.1 Write an expository response to literature that addresses a given prompt. This task is supported by the following activities:
  • 2.2-2.3 Students practice writing paragraph responses to writing prompts.
  • 2.4-2.7 Use double entry journal to make meaning from text. Respond to expository writing prompt comparing and contrasting 2 main characters of selected classroom novel study.
  • 2.8-2.11 Close reading strategies and collaborative discussions about literature. Literature Circle roles are defined and applied. Expository writing prompts ask students to explain correlations of class novel examples of setting, plot and characters to self-selected independent reading text.
  • 2.12-2.13 Collaborative discussion leading to synthesis of ideas. Respond to expository writing prompt.
• Culminating (embedded) Assessment 2.2 Write a multi-paragraph expository essay that addresses a given prompt. This task is supported by the following activities:
  • 2.14-2.15 Compare and contrast elements of literary text to elements of expository essay.
  • 2.18-2.19 Analyze genre of literary non-fiction.
  • 2.20-2.21 Close reading of autobiographical text and biographical film on assigned topic. Respond to writing prompt using details from both sources.

Unit 4 Activities

• Culminating (embedded) Assessment 4.1 Research and Present Shakespeare. This task is supported by following activities:
  • 4.1-4.2 Read an article to create and support argument about teaching Shakespeare in school. Engage in a debate to support claim (protocols and procedures for debate are not found).
  • 4.3-4.4 Analyze information about Shakespeare and his society.
  • 4.5-4.6 Synthesize research and work collaboratively to create multimedia presentation about Shakespeare and his society. Analyze quotes from various Shakespeare plays, explaining language through writing and collaborative discussion.

As identified in the above examples, students do engage in skills-integrated culminating tasks. However, the focus is consistently on the task itself, rather than building knowledge or thinking deeply about the texts in service of transferring critical thinking skills to other texts and concepts.

The instructional materials for Grade 6 partially meet the expectations of indicator 2e. Although there is a list at beginning of each unit with academic and literary terms that are tied to instruction of the unit, there is little support to transfer knowledge beyond each individual unit, and the words that are of focus are not consistently used to build knowledge for further application. The majority of words studied are centered on literary terms, rather than providing students a broad array of academic terms and vocabulary that can be leveraged into further critical reading and study.

Students are given a list of academic and literary terms at beginning of each unit, but these words do not consistently appear across multiple units. Students engage with vocabulary instruction in context of reading and writing, but the demands of each unit are different. Although vocabulary instruction is embedded, there is little attention given to struggling student's needs outside of differentiated instruction tips for ELL students and minimal support for advanced learners. Vocabulary is repeated in contexts but not always across multiple texts.

Each unit provides a list of academic vocabulary and literary terms for the teacher to focus on. SpringBoard provides graphic organizers (word maps), specific questions requiring the students to apply knowledge and understanding of newly learned literary terms (activity 1.4, 1.6 are examples), and embedded assessments which require the students to utilize and apply knowledge of literary terms and vocabulary (write a story using dialogue, vivid verbs, and figurative language that captures a real or imagined experience and includes characters, conflict, and a plot with exposition, climax, and resolution). SpringBoard provides "Learning Strategy" boxes. Some of the vocabulary learning strategies suggested include QHT, close reading, paraphrasing, and graphic organizers.

Academic vocabulary and Literary terms are introduced before texts, in-texts, and during student activities. Students use their Reader/Writer notebook to record new words and their meanings. Graphic organizers for word study are found in resources at the end of the TE. In the electronic version of the textbook, there is audio support for the pronunciation of the terms as well as a Spanish translation.

As noted, these strategies and structures are embedded throughout the year, but do not focus students' time and energy on high-value words such as those found in the CCSS Appendix B to grow knowledge beyond literary terms.