9th Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for anchor texts being of publishable quality and worthy of especially careful reading and consider a range of student interests.

Texts are written by well-known writers/authors. The texts provide high interest, relevant, and current topics appropriate for the grade level that encompass multiple universal and multicultural themes relevant to the units’ topics. Examples include:

• In Unit 1, students read Killer of Enemies by Joseph Bruchac, a highly engaging dystopian plot in a graphic novel format accessible to many readers. The hero is from the Apache culture and is female, which provides a non-traditional rendering of a popular genre.
• In Unit 2, students read Up From Slavery, an autobiographical work by Booker T. Washington that recounts his experiences from a slave child during the Civil War to becoming one of the most prominent African American figures of his time.
• In Unit 2, students read The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois, a collection of essays on race, sociology, and African American literary history.
• In Unit 2, students read Fields of Fury: The American Civil War by James McPherson, a Pulitzer Prize award-winning historian. This story describes the events of the American Civil war and its effects on the country and a family.
• In Unit 3, students read Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas, an engaging, humorous, high interest memoir.
• In Unit 4, students read Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America by Sharon Robinson, an engaging story of a popular American hero, high interest for adolescent readers.
• In Unit 4, students read Sports and Society by Scott Witmer, written in a high interest case study format, covering a wide variety of sports which is appealing to many readers.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for texts having the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and relationship to their associated student task.

The materials are designed for schools to determine which units they want to teach at which point in the school year. ARC Core has its own readability system (Independent Reading Level Assessment - IRLA), and, when cross-referenced with Lexile scores, the majority of texts align with the recommended Lexile grade bands.

Core texts for Grade 9 students fall within the recommended measurement levels. Texts that fall below the recommended grade band serve as informational resources or mentor texts for the unit task; texts which are quantitatively lower are typically paired with more rigorous texts. Grade 9 materials utilize multiple primary source texts, as well as renowned texts that are appropriate quantitatively and qualitatively.

Examples of grade level texts that fall within the appropriate Lexile band include:

• The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois has a Lexile score of 1280L. This is a timeless text and primary source that serves as a critical reference for students to study the history and people of the Civil War. This text is paired with a below grade level text that helps support knowledge building of the topic.
• Sports and Society by Scott Witmer has a Lexile score of 1190L. Published by Heinemann and recommended for ages 12 and up, this informational text from the Ethics series engages students in examining the relationship of sports in society throughout history. The Lexile score is partly due to sports terminology and some political/social lingo.
  

Examples of texts that fall below the Lexile band, but are still appropriate include:

• Killer of Enemies by Joseph Bruchac has a Lexile score of 860L. This Young Adult book is recommended for ages 14-17, contains several genre types, and covers mature concepts for which background knowledge is needed. This text is appropriate as the text structures and content are more advanced.
• War, Terrible War: 1855-1865 by Joy Hakim has a Lexile score of 820L. Though below grade level, this text serves as a reference to build student knowledge as they deconstruct more complex texts and gather research on the Civil War. As a paired text, this complements the core text, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois, which is above grade level.
• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros has a Lexile score of 870L and is qualitatively rigorous. This novel serves as a core text, and it is paired with a grade level text to serve as a mentor text for writing memoirs. This widely renowned text is engaging and relatable for students, and, in pairing with a grade level text, is an appropriate mentor text for writing memoirs.
  

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for materials supporting students’ increasing literacy skills over the course of the school year. (Series of texts should be at a variety of complexity levels appropriate for the grade band.)

The materials provide a wide variety of texts that are both grade-band appropriate, as well as leveled ancillary texts that support the theme while helping students to continue to build their literacy skills. The materials direct the teacher to model a variety of literacy skills and methods while working with students to build knowledge, provides them the opportunity to practice those skills in a carefully scaffolded setting, and eventually moves them to demonstrating their skills independently.

The program uses the following structure:

• Unit 1 is a Literacy Lab where students are introduced to the program's structure. Students begin their year with core literary and informational texts referred to as “hook books”-- grade level texts that are high-interest and paired to build knowledge and engage students in topics that will provide a foundation for literary and informational text analysis conducted through both discussion and writing. During Unit 1, students undergo initial assessments with the IRLA to determine instructional supports that may be needed and to help determine appropriately-leveled books for daily reading in self-selected texts. Students set goals with their teacher based upon their reading skill level to demonstrate their ability to read increasingly more complex texts and to write with greater sophistication. In this unit, students work with the Core fiction text, the paired informational texts, and their self-selected independent reading texts to build core analytical reading skills of theme, literary elements, authors (and bias), genres, and world knowledge. The unit is divided into weeks beginning with Phase 1: Initiate Academic and Writing Community and Phase 2: Initial Assessment and Goal Setting, during which students analyze denotative vs. connotative language, patterns of world changes, and figures of speech. In Phase 3: Strategic Instruction/Building Expertise, students shift to analyze author’s purpose, evaluate literature and informational text, write a proficient literary essay, and revise, edit, and publish.

• Unit 2 is an Informational Research Lab that focuses on the Civil War era using thematic inquiry. Throughout Unit 2, students work to build skills to read and deeply analyze informational text, including:
  • Identification of the central idea of the text
  • Analysis of how the author develops the central idea over the course of the text
  • Identification and linking of key details and supporting ideas to the central idea of the text
• Students work to develop their own piece of informational writing using mentor texts. Within their writing they learn to:
  • Develop a central idea with a focus on word choice (including an understanding of connotation vs. denotation)
  • Appropriately incorporate figurative language into their writing to add depth and texture to their writing
  • Work through the writing and revision process
  • Prepare visuals, edit, publish, and present their work

• Unit 3 is a genre study focusing on memoirs. Throughout the unit, students develop their literary analysis skills through:
  • Character-theme analysis, setting-theme analysis, and plot-theme analysis
  • Exploration of author’s purpose/theme
  • Examination of the personal transformation highlighted by the author, including the turning points and changes that occurred as a result of events in the author’s life
  • Consideration of alternative perspectives

Midway through the unit, they begin work on a comparative analysis writing of their own as well as a short story using the memoirs from the unit as mentor texts.

• Unit 4, an argument research lab, focuses the topic of sports and society. Argument writing and research are the primary focus as students read increasingly complex texts as they begin working through a series of six research questions that guide students as they prepare to compose their own argument piece. These questions guide the students as they read the unit’s texts, conduct research, and are designed to bring coherence to their writing. The research questions/tasks include:
  • Introduce your sport, including basic rules and objectives.
  • Where in the world is this sport most popular? Why? (geography)
  • What are the most important events in the history of this sport? (history)
  • Who are the 3 most influential people associated with this sport? Why? (role models)
  • How has this sport been related to issues of race, class, and gender? (social issues)
  • How do people make money from this sport? (economic issues)
  • How does this sport influence our society?

Throughout all units, students receive instruction that meets the needs for remediation, growth, and challenge and are monitored closely to assure growth in reading, writing, speaking/listening, and literacy skills.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the expectations for anchor and supporting texts providing opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of texts to achieve grade level reading.

Students are asked to read 100 books during the year and to participate in the 100 Book Challenge, which includes reading independently for 30 minutes a night. The instructional materials provide daily opportunities for students to read a variety of texts in and out of class in order to become better independent readers. Core and accompanying texts, as well as the leveled library texts, encompass a diversity of topics in history, culture, science, technology, politics, geography, and current social issues. Most core texts in each unit are within or slightly above the recommended grade level band; however, the independent reading libraries are leveled so that students can practice and build reading skills at their individual reading levels as indicated by the publisher’s IRLA leveling system.

The daily and weekly components of lesson plans contain high expectations for a range of reading tasks. Students read a substantial volume of literary and informational texts across each unit. Literacy blocks are designed around a variety of reading tasks such as reading and discussing, a Readers’ Workshop piece in which students apply reading strategies to text they’ve read, as well as allotted time for independent reading from self-selected texts. Each unit (pp. 56-57) includes a roster of lesson components with times allotted to each component, organized by 75-90-minute or 120-minute blocks. Each literacy block establishes a weekly goal of 5 hours of student reading. This includes “some time spent reading texts within the Thematic Unit and some time in complete free-choice.”

The Literacy Lab in Unit 1 is designed to develop student interest in reading and to build reading skills and habits. Teachers assess student reading levels in Unit 1, and Reading Log Sheets are provided in Units 2-4 to track student independent reading of fiction and nonfiction texts. The materials also offer a 100 Book Challenge for students to engage in a volume of independent reading. Students are offered a choice of texts, research subtopics, writing tasks, and positions to argue.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria that most questions, tasks, and assignments are text dependent, requiring students to engage with the text directly (drawing on textual evidence to support both what is explicit as well as valid inferences from the text; this may include work with mentor texts as well).

Materials for the literacy and research labs across all four modules provide an inquiry-based structure for students to engage with informational and literary texts directly. Teachers are provided discussion starters, key questions, writing prompts, graphic organizers, and instructional support tasks for students to collect and analyze textual evidence that builds toward a research topic or literary theme. The directions for teachers set the focus and purpose for reading, so students are prepared to discuss text-dependent questions. Students are asked to work in small groups or with partners first, then questions are discussed with the whole group.

The questions are not all text-specific, but are text-dependent. The publisher is transparent about the philosophy to build students’ “habits of mind” by providing a framework of inquiry; instead, the reading/writing questions (Research Questions), graphic organizers. and instructional tasks follow a general format that is designed to be used across multiple thematic units and across grade levels. Each of the four units per grade level provides a uniform set of text-dependent questions for the Core Text for that unit. Questions require students to read closely and to make inferences drawing on textual evidence. Teachers and students have reading choices within the four units, and text-dependent questions may be universally applied to texts throughout the school year. The materials specify that teachers decide when and how to use text-dependent questions. Moreover, the materials provide example questions to support the process and prompt teachers to create text-specific questions, as well.

In Unit 1, Lesson 1, Week 1, Day 1: Read Like a Literary Critic…For Theme & Beyond, teachers are instructed to “[s]et the standards that students will use text evidence to support all conclusions.” Students are asked a set of questions that cover basic comprehension; purpose, agenda, and theme; prediction; craft; and reader response. Question examples include:

• What did the author say? Why did they say it?
• Based on what you’ve read so far, what issues might the author want to explore in the this book? What supports your hypothesis?
• Any hypothesis on what his/her theme will be on this issue? How did they say it?
• Which parts of the book so far drew your interests? Why?
• Which parts weren’t interesting? Why?

As part of the Read/Discuss Complex Text component of the lesson for Unit 1, Week 5, Days 1-2, students analyze author’s purpose in informational and fictional texts by responding to questions, including:

• Why do you think the author wrote this book? How do you know?
• What connections can you draw between this purpose and the content of the text (a character, event, problem, etc.)?
• What connections can you draw between this purpose and the style of the text (language, tone, format, etc.)?

In Unit 2: Informational Research Lab-The Civil War Era, Week 1, Day 2, students reread an informational text to identify bias. Teachers are provided a series of questions about the author, including:

• Who is the author? How is s/he qualified to write about the text?
• The facts in text _____ is presented as a fact/the truth. Is it completely true/factual? How do we know? Who else thinks it’s true/factual besides the author?
• What words do you notice that explicitly signal an opinion (e.g., I believe, They think)?
• What words do you notice that implicitly signal an opinion/ judgment (e.g., dirty, best?)
• What is missing from the text? Based on what you know, what information is missing?
• Whose perspectives are missing? Do you think these exclusions were intentional or unintentional?

These questions require students to refer back to the text and can show student growth in understanding of informational text.

Other questions in Unit 2 include: "Why do you think the author wrote this this part this way? What might the author be suggesting here? How does this relate to the Research question?"

In Unit 3: Week 4, Day 2: Conflict Resolution, the lesson places students in small discussion groups to analyze the role of conflict in the Core Novel. Students are tasked to discuss: "Which conflict is MOST important to this novel (the central conflict)? Why?" Students are also instructed to: "Justify your argument with evidence from the text. Why does the author include other conflicts? What role does each play in the text?" (p. 180).

In Unit 4: Argument Research Lab-Sports and Society, students are asked questions such as: "What is the author saying about...? How do you know? How does this relate to what other authors have written about …? Where does the author use strong opinion words when describing the topic? Why do you think s/he uses these words?" In addition, teachers are instructed to use "a short section from the Central Text (or other content relevant text), [to] model how you use clues in the text to help you determine the author’s perspective/point of view: What does s/he believe about this topic? Why?” (p. 99). Teachers offer students a range of comprehension strategies to support their analysis of author perspective including: explicit, implicit, word choice, repetition, structure, images, and author’s argument. (p. 99).

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria that materials contain sets of high-quality sequences of text-dependent and text-specific questions with activities that build to a culminating task which integrates skills to demonstrate understanding.

Daily, students read, write, and discuss texts guided by questions and tasks that are organized for students to gather details or to practice skills needed for the culminating task. Culminating tasks, which are generally smaller weekly tasks as well as significant writing pieces or presentations, provide opportunities for students to demonstrate knowledge and ability of what they have learned. Generally, tasks require students to gather details or information using research questions and graphic organizers to craft an essay, report, debate, narrative, or dramatic interpretation. Tasks are supported with coherent sequences of text-dependent questions and tasks.

Unit 1 builds student interest and stamina in reading and utilizes more text-to-self questions than other modules. Unit 1 also offers a list of writing prompts teachers can use; however, some of these prompts are not text-dependent or text-specific. In Unit 3 (Memoirs) students write a constructed response at the end of each week for Weeks 1-4. The constructed response for Week 1 focuses on the genre study. Weeks 2-4 focus on the central theme of the text and how the author uses the literary elements to develop the theme. The culminating task in Week 5 & 6 is writing a comparative essay. Weeks 7-9 is writing and presenting a short story based on the genre focus. In Unit 4, the students engage in Argument Labs. Students’ culminating task at the end of each week in Weeks 1-4 is a debate. These are smaller debates that will lead to a more formal debate at the end of the unit. The culminating task for Weeks 5-7 is to draft, revise, and edit an argument based on their research in Weeks 1-4. The culminating task for Weeks 8-9 is to publish and present the debate (argument) formally. Other examples from specific units include:

In Unit 1, students read the paired core texts, Killer Enemies by Joseph Bruchac and Political Systems (Ethics of Politics) by Scott Witmer, and select independent texts to build their stamina for reading and text analysis skills to “read and write like an expert.” The introductory materials outline the unit framework and the sequence of student study. Each week builds student skill in analyzing informational and literary texts, and the instructional materials provide models of sequenced questions for students to use across multiple texts. Examples of sequenced text-dependent questions in this unit are:

• Recommended Model for Culminating Task: Critiquing the Core Text (Week 6, Days 1-2): What do you believe to be this author’s purpose for writing this text? How effective do you think s/he is in accomplishing that purpose? Is this book worth reading? Why or why not? What details, events, or analyses does the author include to accomplish his/her purpose? Which, if any, are ineffective? What word choice/language, figures of speech, and/or structures does the author use effectively to accomplish his/her purpose? Which, if any, were ineffective?
• Point of View & Bias: To what is the author blind? What matters to her? How does this effect [sic] her writing? How does she use rhetoric to advance her point of view/purpose? Refer to the Identifying Bias chart and Aristotle’s Rhetorical Devices chart. Does the author give sufficient, relevant evidence and logical reasons to support his/her claims? Why or why not? How might any gaps/fallacies relate to his/her point of view or purpose? Should people read this book? Is it relevant to issues that society grapples with today? Or is there another book in the same genre/on similar themes that does a better job?

In Unit 2, the introductory information states that students “build Speaking, Listening, and Language facility as they collaborate, analyze, and debate across each day” and that the Research Labs integrate “Content & Language Arts Learning into One Seamless System” where the culminating task “requires proficiency in BOTH Reading (RI.2/5) and Writing (W.2) Standards” Building to the culminating tasks occurs through reading class and independent texts. Students are asked text-dependent questions: "What is the author’s main idea in this text? How does the author support this main idea with key details?" Students write about these types of questions first and then share their thinking with a partner or small group. Students spend five weeks using readings and their own research to write about and discuss research questions/topics that build to the culminating research-based informational book. Other examples of sequenced text-dependent questions in this unit are:

• Practice in Identifying Structure to Write to Text (Week 3, Day 4): "Which structure is the writer using in this text? How do you know? Map out the supporting ideas/key details on the appropriate graphic organizer. Is this organizing structure typical for this mode/discipline? If there are multiple structures, combine/modify the organizer as necessary. Consider having students create their own structure map for a given text. How does the structure of the text relate to the author’s central idea? Why do you think that? Why did the author put ____ first? How does the choice of leaving ___ to the end shape the reader’s understanding of the central idea? How do the text features clarify or confuse the organizing structure? Why does it matter that the author used this structure? Is this choice appropriate to the central idea of this text? Is this the most appropriate structure for the content? Why or why not? Does the author use this structure effectively? Why or why not? If you could change one thing about the structure of this text to make it more clear or to better support its central idea, what would you change and why?"

In Unit 3, the lesson plan for Week 1, Day 1 establishes the foundational skills of having deep understanding of the distinctive characteristics of literary and informational genres. Students are invited to become “experts” with a self-selected genre and respond to a series of text-dependent questions: "What is ____ (genre)? What novels in this genre have you read? Why do you think people read books in this genre? Who are leading authors?" Students also engage in a review activity of the key terms (setting, character, plot, theme, language) associated with literary genres, using a chart, which will be applied to the Unit 3 culminating task of writing a personal memoir. Later, students use literary elements as the guiding framework to discuss a series of text-dependent questions related to the core novel: "What did you notice about the literary elements of this novel? How might this be important to understanding this genre? Why? Are there any generalizations you can draw (based on this book and others you’ve read) about ____ (setting) in this genre?"

In Unit 4, Week 3, students read for research focusing on Conflicting Viewpoints. As students read, they are asked to think about the author of the book: "What is his/her point of view on this topic? What conflicting viewpoints does s/he address and respond to? Are there other viewpoints s/he should have addressed?" Students are also instructed to flag sentences/passages where an author addresses conflicting viewpoint(s). These questions and activities support the culminating task of debating.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for materials providing frequent opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions (small groups, peer-to-peer, whole class) that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax.

The instructional materials set the expectation that students will talk daily with peers about what they are reading. In each lesson, students discuss text-dependent questions. In addition, the instructional materials provide protocols and steps for partner, small group, and large group discussions in which students communicate with peers around shared texts and independent reading selections. CCSS Speaking and Listening standards are highlighted within instructional materials, including the use of Accountable Talk methods, sentence stems, and rubrics for reflecting on discussion. Lessons prompt teachers to model patterns for daily practices that establish student discussion routines. Teachers are given strategies and tips on how to address struggling students’ needs.

Instructional materials and supports provide grade level appropriate opportunities for student discussions that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax. While addressing key concepts of the embedded research questions, students are frequently prompted to reread texts to identify technical vocabulary and to share definitions and examples with a partner. The materials prompt teachers to have students highlight high-leverage vocabulary during group share and provide lesson call outs that highlight how lessons are designed intentionally to support and to enhance the oracy and literacy skills of all students, including language learners at all levels of language proficiency.

The Unit 1 Scope and Sequence document of the ARC Core Overview outlines Speaking and Listening task across all four units, specifically:

• Speaking & Listening #4: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• Speaking & Listening #5: Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.
• Speaking & Listening #6: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

There are opportunities for partner sharing in each unit; each lesson contains embedded instructions for the teacher as well as student discussion protocols. Examples include:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Day 3, students participate in a collaborative writing partner share in which they share their favorite word, phrase, or sentence with a partner then with the class. In Unit 1, Week 2, Days 4 and 5, teachers are instructed to “[m]odel the partner share routine you expect students to participate in every day. Spend extra time establishing this now. No matter how old your students are, explicit direction on how to share appropriately (e.g., turn to face your partner, one person speaks at a time, active listening, etc.) is important for making this run smoothly” (p. 88). Students are instructed to “work with a partner (sitting next to you). Decide who is going to go first (e.g., person with the next birthday, person closest to the door, etc.). Partner #1 will have 60 seconds to talk about which books hooked them and which didn’t and why, citing text evidence. Then, we’ll switch and Partner #2 will have 60 seconds” (p. 88).
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 1, the introduction phase of the unit sets the expectation for student talk. The teacher instructions provide direction and prompts for how to arrange the classroom for effective small group discussion: “Arrange desks in pairs (or tables). Ensure every student has an assigned partner with whom to work.” In step two of the lesson, Assessing Background Knowledge, students are to “write, map out, or at least share orally everything they already know about this Unit with a partner.” Different options are suggested to the teacher, speaking and listening being one option.
• In Unit 3, Week 5, Day 1, students read, write, and discuss complex text. Teacher directions prompt instructors to monitor engagement and to ensure all students are on task, highlighting an upcoming formative assessment #5 of Day 1, Week 5. Students share their writing with their partners, and partners adjust their claims until each person answers the question, “So what?” The group weighs each individual claim and decides on one to share with the whole group. This activity demonstrates evidence of listening in Unit 3. Additionally, there is an Accountable Talk Partner Share at the end of the Day 1, Week 5 lesson. In pairs, each student partner takes one minute to share 1) evidence usable in his/ her comparison essay and 2) how s/he may refine her/his claim. Then, anyone in the group who is not yet satisfied with her/his claim shares important literary elements of the story, or gives a plot synopsis so that the group can help her/him to think about other potential theme statements/claims that may work with this text and the Central Text.
• In Unit 4, Week 1, Day 2, teachers are prompted to have students discuss informational texts by selecting one of the following instructional tasks: "Each partner takes 1 minute to share what s/he thinks was the most interesting thing AND the most important thing s/he learned, and justify the difference; Who learned something really interesting? What reasoning and piece of text evidence supports your opinion?; Who learned something really important? What makes it important? What reasoning and piece of text evidence supports your opinion?; and, Who found an example of an author stating an opinion/making a claim? Did the author provide evidence or reasoning to support this claim?" These questions ask students to provide evidence when making a claim, and after the partner share, students share with the entire class.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for materials supporting students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading (or read aloud) and researching (shared projects) with relevant follow-up questions and supports.

The instructional materials provide opportunities for students to talk and to question peers and teachers about ideas, texts, research, analytical strategies, and writing throughout the year. Materials across all Labs present discussion as a daily expectation, and at times a rubric is provided to evaluate or to structure discussion. Speaking and listening instruction that supports student growth over the course of the school year is applied frequently and includes facilitation, monitoring, and instructional supports (such as clear directions for implementation) for teachers. Most unit lesson structures provide opportunities for teachers to pose questions, model, and guide class discussion as well as opportunities for students to share with peers. Speaking and Listening activities that demonstrate student comprehension of the texts associated with daily lessons are linked to the readings and to larger projects. Speaking and listening work requires students to marshal evidence from texts and sources. Students are encouraged to work both independently and together in the creation of various artistic, spoken, written, and digital representations of information. Student discussions are often based on text-dependent questions where they must use textual evidence to support their answers. At the end of each unit, students are asked to present their compositions or learning products through speaking and listening. In addition, the Teacher’s Edition of the Argument Research Lab, Unit 4, provides teacher guidelines to engage students in a debate that demonstrates student end-of-year proficiency in analyzing author’s argument and use of literary elements. Moreover, Accountable Talk structures are embedded within the materials as students employ academic talk through partner share, small group discussion, conferences, peer reviews, and whole class discussion. Throughout the debate process, students use the Toulmin’s Argument Framework to ensure that they provide both evidence and reasoning to support their claims.

Students create a final research project in which they share findings in a peer-to-peer platform. The lesson in Unit 1, Week 1, Day 1 outlines relevant follow-up questions and supports related to the culminating project, including student directions to “Sell the Big Picture.” To ensure that students meet the writing demands of college, students are instructed to “create at least ___ short writing pieces and ___ longer (_ page) papers.” Teachers are directed to “[o]utline the final writing projects expected of students this year.” Writing instructions include: "Let’s look at some of the amazing work of past student authors; What is a theme of your life so far? Why? Use Toulmin’s Argument Framework to structure your response; Share an example of what you have written in response to the writing prompt; Write for 10-20 minutes; Share writing with a partner.”

In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 2, an instructional support for teachers, “Conversational Moves,” offers sentence starters to students. In addition, a teacher sidebar quotes Fisher and Frey’s book, Close Reading and Writing From Sources: “Oral Rehearsal: Evidence Based Discussion In Preparation for Evidence Based Writing. The relationship between oral language, reading, and writing has been described by many researchers over the decades, but we especially like a phrase introduced by Bereiter and Scardamalia (1982), which reminds us that as teachers we should always be moving students from conversation to composition. Students need to read about and discuss at length complex texts that can be mined for ideas and information, provoke reflection, and persuade through reasoning and logic. The practice of using evidence in writing begins with learning how to use textual evidence in discussion” (p. 1). These philosophical and practical reminders help teachers to make the connections for students to read, research, and speak in the academic setting.

In Unit 4: Argument Research Lab-Sports and Society, the Research reading protocol includes a section for Discussion in pairs and whole group. Students are instructed to “Partner Share: Each partner takes 1 minute to share what s/he thinks was the most interesting thing AND the most important thing s/he learned, and justify the difference.” Additional student prompts include, “Who learned something really interesting? What reasoning and piece of text evidence supports your opinion? Who learned something really important? What makes it important? What reasoning and piece of text evidence supports your opinion? Who found an example of an author stating an opinion/making a claim? Did the author provide evidence or reasoning to support this claim? Who found an issue/controversy related to our Unit?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for materials, including a mix of on-demand and process writing (e.g. multiple drafts, revisions over time) and short, focused projects, incorporating digital resources where appropriate.

The ARC Core framework sets the expectation that students will write daily and includes rubrics, guidelines, lesson structures, and prompts for writing. Each unit of the materials embeds a variety of writing types and genres to allow students to engage in a mix of both on-demand and process writing as well as to participate in individual teacher conferences about their writing. Students often have choices on what to write in response to their reading, such “Opinions about the Text (Opinion/Argument), Personal Connections to the Text (Personal/Nonfiction Narrative), and/or Creative Writing Inspired by the Text (Fiction Narrative).” Writing is done independently and collaboratively with frequent opportunities for students to share and review writing with peers.

Teachers are encouraged to use exemplar texts as models for students or model the writing type for students. Daily writing practice and quick writes on constructed responses typically build to a constructed response or weekly writing task that prepares students for a final writing project in each unit that requires students go through the phases of the writing process (drafting, revising, editing, and publishing). The ARC Core framework does not include digital resources as a tool for teachers and students to use when writing. However, it does use digital resources as a platform for publishing student work, such as Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon, etc.

The Literacy Lab Routines Teacher Checklist for Unit 1, Week 1 states, “Students write daily. Teacher uses student writing as evidence and feedback loop for assessing success of literacy block instruction.” On Day 1, teachers are instructed to inform students of the volume of writing they will complete over the course of the unit: “You will create at least ___ short writing pieces and ___ longer (_ page) papers." Outline the final writing projects expected of students this year. In Week 1, students write an About (Myself) the Author Biography Page. The prompt directs students to create their own short biography to preface the pieces they will write and publish throughout the year. This is an example of a short, 15-20 minute writing piece that builds to the culminating writing piece at the end of the unit.

In Unit 2, Week 1 students write daily for 10-15 minutes. Teachers model how to write a five point answer using the rubric included. Teachers model how to use textual evidence in their responses using the “Show me the evidence” chart as well as model MLA citation to accompany the evidence. During this time, teachers establish the expectation that students will write every day for at least 10–15 minutes. In Unit 2, Week 1 Day 2, students write for 10-30 minutes in response to a prompt to write two paragraphs about the same set of facts from your research today: 1) An objective paragraph to inform readers of “only the facts” and, 2) A persuasive paragraph that includes your opinion to convince your readers to do something related to the facts.

In Unit 3, students read and model exemplary memoirs or personal stories. Students engage in an extended writing process to compose an essay in which they make a claim based on a the unit Core Text and one of the memoir texts read independently that addresses a similar issue or theme. Students then will write their own memoirs. Some routine lesson expectations for writing as indicated on the Read/Write/Discuss Complex Text guide for teachers include:

"Writing Task

• Test Prep: Ask and answer the Key Question (or part of it) for the shared or a self-selected text.
• Writing that Builds Authors: Write for more engaging/meaningful reasons connected to the Focus/Concepts.

Model/Mentor

• Text Shared Text, pre-written teacher example, or live demonstration modeled by the teacher.

Collaborative Writing Focus

• Will students revise today? For what? Why? How does it relate to students’ needs as demonstrated in their work? Grammar and spelling improve fastest when students inquire into how language works at the moment of need, when they care about how a piece that matters to them will look/read.”

In Unit 4, the organization of the writing in the unit progresses from the student of Research Questions that include short and on-demand writing tasks connected to the research and writing required of the final projects, specifically an argumentative essay and debate. In Unit 4, Week 3, Day 2, a Write to Text Writing Prompt asks students to “deepen or clarify their learning about today’s Research Question” and relates to the idea of point of view/conflicting viewpoints. The materials offer possible writing prompts: “Improve upon a passage you read by adding and responding to an additional conflicting viewpoint. Outline two conflicting viewpoints on the issue of _____. Use evidence from our Central Text and at least one other text to support your answer.” This is an example of an on-demand write since the Write to Text tasks are a suggested 15-30 minute time frame.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for materials providing opportunities for students to address different text types of writing (year long) that reflect the distribution required by the standards. May include “blended” styles.

In the four units (Literacy Lab, Research Lab, Genre Study, Research Lab), students have multiple opportunities across the school year to focus on a variety of different types of writing, to learn from models, and to practice. Each unit at each grade level contains opportunities for students to read, discuss, and write texts from different genres. Students write in a variety of modes using mentor texts. The final writing projects for each unit provide students with options for publishing. During these writing experiences (formal writing, quick writes, constructed responses) students learn, practice, and apply different genres/modes of writing that reflect the distribution required by the standards.

Throughout the ARC framework, the teacher serves as a Writing Coach during student writing time, checking for understanding, observing students writing, and making sure students are making adequate progress. Teachers are provided monitoring prompts and activities for their PLC time with their colleagues, which guide them to monitor the progress of students' writing. Students are provided with rubrics and collaborative structures which provide them the opportunities to monitor their own progress. Writing prompts are connected to texts as prompts, models, anchors, and support.

By the end of the year, students will have written substantial compositions across the three main writing types: informative, argumentative, and narrative in tasks that include literary analysis, debates, personal narratives, research reports, peer reviews, reader’s response journals, and more.

The “Big Idea” overview for Unit 1: Week 1, Day 4 establishes a focus on different types of genres. Students will “Compare two or three texts (TV shows, movies, video games, etc.) of the same genre (e.g., sci-fi, horror, etc.)” and respond to the following: “What are the issues/ characters/settings/conflicts/themes like? What generalizations about the genre can you make? Justify your generalizations using evidence from texts in the genre.” Teachers are instructed to emphasize the commonalities among literary elements of different genres including “structures, and/or craft (e.g., language choices). These “rules”/consistencies/generalizations, provide the author a structure in which to develop his/her theme(s).”

In the introduction of Unit 2, there is a rubric for how to write a proficient informational text and a guideline for teachers, including:

• Write About/Write Like Writing, Task Test Prep: Ask and answer the Key Question (or part of it) for the shared or a self-selected text.
• Writing that Builds Authors: Write for more engaging/meaningful reasons connected to the Focus/Concepts. (e.g., What is the theme of your life so far? or What body part is the MOST important for classifying a bug?)
• Model/Mentor Text Shared Text: Pre-written teacher example, or live demo?
• Collaborative Writing Focus: Will students revise today? For what? Why? How does it relate to students’ needs as demonstrated in their work? Grammar and spelling improve fastest when students inquire into how language works at the moment of need, when they care about how a piece that matters to them will look/read.

In Unit 3, the types of process writing include a comparative essay and a short story to fulfill the writing standard for this grade level and to support both teachers and students in monitoring progress. In Unit 3, Week 5, Day 1, students are beginning to draft a comparative essay. The writing instruction for the day is related to drafting a comparative theme statement. Teachers monitor students progress in writing this statement with Teacher Work monitoring as seen throughout the units and group discussion as student progress monitor.

In Unit 4, the types of process writing include an argumentative essay that is presented as a debate. In Unit 4, Week 2, Day 2, during the Research Writing part of the lesson, teachers are directed to set a focus and model to whole class, small group, or individual students as needed for the 15-30 minute independent writing writing portion of the lesson. As the Writing Coach, teacher are instructed to “Check for Understanding: Observe students as they write. Make sure students are making adequate progress. Share Good Examples: As you locate great examples in students’ work, point them out to the class” (p. 154). This is an example of specific monitoring the teacher does while students work independently. Following the independent writing time, students have a Collaborative Writing task where they “review the written answers of all group members and then either nominate an individual answer or work together to combine their work into a new answer. The goal is to provide best possible answer to the prompt; better than the answer of the other groups and is an example of students monitor the progress of their own writing."

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for materials including frequent opportunities for research-based and evidence-based writing to support analysis, argument, synthesis and/or evaluation of information, supports, claims.

The instructional materials meet the expectations for frequent writing opportunities across every unit. Each unit prompts teachers to use the daily instructional model which includes generally 20-40 minutes of writing. Each day students identify text evidence to support various research questions across the year. Each inquiry-based unit is organized around a series of research questions that help students become knowledgeable about a specific topic through reading a variety of texts on that topic. The program addresses research-based and evidence-based writing through whole class and independent tasks across every unit.

The materials require students to demonstrate sophisticated analysis, argumentation, and synthesis of text in a number of written tasks at each grade level and across units. Students receive comprehensive supports as they use textual evidence to craft arguments such as the use of exemplars, writing workshops, and teacher feedback as they move through the writing process. The supports are designed to engage students in careful analysis of text using clearly articulated arguments.

Throughout all units, students practice narrative, argumentative, and informational writing based on using evidence from texts. Unit 4, the argument research lab, specifically teaches students the Toulmin Argument Framework for supporting claims and rebuttals. Various graphic organizers and rubrics are provided to help students organize their writing.

During Unit 1, students write daily and teachers collect writing as baseline samples. By the end of Unit 1, students will have practiced writing in a variety of genres, both in response to text and trying to write like the authors they read. They will take at least 2 pieces of writing through to publication (one narrative and one argument). By the end of Unit 2, students publish a well-researched informational text for a meaningful audience that demonstrates their expertise on a given topic (Grade 9 - The Civil War). By the end of Unit 3, students write four short essays (constructed responses) and one longer literary essay analyzing multiple texts in the genre study (Grade 9 - Memoir). Students write and publish a short story/picture book in the genre of study. Students will publish their own piece in the genre of study. By the end of Unit 4, students write four short essays (constructed responses) and one longer literary essay analyzing multiple texts in this genre. Students write and publish a short story/picture book in the genre of study (Grade 9 - Sports and Society). Specific examples from each unit include:

• In Unit 1, Week 2, Days 4-5, students use a matrix of writing prompt suggestions including, “Opinions about the Text” in which students formulate and write about their own opinions using supporting textual evidence, for example, “I agree/disagree with the author’s theme in ___ because…” The Unit 1, Week 4 Framework is focused on author’s use of figurative language. Students analyze text and craft opinions supported by textual evidence to evaluate its effectiveness. For example, “The author’s use of _(specific example of figurative language)_ was effective/ ineffective because…”
• In Unit 2, Week 3, Day 4, students complete a “Write to Text” activity in which they work independently or in pairs to analyze an author’s organizational structure. Students respond to the prompt “What is the central idea of the text? How does the author develop this central idea over the course of the text?” and may use a Thinking Map to scaffold their writing.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Day 2, students practice using evidence to answer a question in the Writing Prompt: “What about the setting will be most important to this book? Why? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.” The teacher models how to answer a question that is connected to a text by making a claim, choosing text evidence, and explaining the reasons for taking that position. A graduated grading tool with points, Rubric for a Proficient Answer, is provided. Teachers are directed to remind students about the usage and structure of mechanics: “Direct Quotations: When you want to copy a phrase, a sentence, or an entire passage that someone else wrote, you must use quotation marks and you must cite your source, including page number.” While students practice answering the question, teachers remind that “the goal this week is for students’ writing to earn three points for: claim, evidence, reasoning” (p. 94).
• In Unit 4, students complete a culminating research-based essay. In the prefatory materials, students are introduced to Toulmin’s Argument Framework (p. 78-79), which includes how to use evidence to support research-based claims. This essay requires students to synthesize multiple sources, ideas, and evidence to support their ideas.