10th Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 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 Ethical Debates: Privacy and Surveillance by Cath Senker. Published in 2011 by Rosen Central, the text explores real life stories of privacy issues at home, work, and media since 9/11.
• In Unit 1, students read The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer, National Book Award Winner for Young People's Literature, Newbery Honor Book, Printz Honor Book.
• In Unit 2, students read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, a classic novel by the Nigerian author who won the Man Booker International Prize for literature for his body of fiction.This first of the core texts for the unit is worthy of reading for 10th grade with challenging themes and concepts. Cultural conflicts between the individual and society are thought-provoking and of interest to teenagers.
• In Unit 2, students read A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. Nominated for the Quill Award in 2007, the novelist shares a first-hand account of being a child soldier in Sierra Leone. The topic is worthy of reading, relevant to teenagers, thought-provoking, and of high interest. The powerful images present American born teenagers with a life unlike their own.
• In Unit 3, students read The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien. Considered one of the best books about the Vietnam War, the novel is thought-provoking with challenging soldier-specific vocabulary, concepts and themes for teenagers. The novel was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award when it was published in 1990. It was credited as the inspiration for a National Veterans Art Museum exhibit of the same name in Chicago.
• In Unit 3, students read Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad. The themes and concepts of racism and barbaric versus civilized societies are thought-provoking and of interest to students. The novel is often listed as one of the top 100 of twentieth century literature.
• In Unit 4, students read The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell. This text is interesting for students and requires close reading because of the vocabulary and concepts.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 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 10 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 10 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:

• It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired, Get Going! with a Lexile score of 1270L provides informational texts that are interesting for students and connects well to the topic and culminating task.
• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, with a Lexile score of 1160L provides informational texts that are interesting for students and connects well to the topic and culminating task.

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

• Things Fall Apart, with a Lexile score of 890L, is considered a modern classic and is used as a core text for a unit on Africa.
• A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, with a Lexile score of 920L, is a paired text for a unit on Africa. The ideas connect well to the topic and can be used to support the culminating task.
• The Things They Carried, with a Lexile score of 880L, is a modern classic considered the foremost text on Vietnam. As a core text, the content is sophisticated for teenagers.
• The Kite Runner, with a Lexile score of 840L, is a paired text on a unit for war and is a modern fiction text about the Middle East.
• The House of the Scorpion, with a Lexile score of 660L, is the first novel of the year and is engaging science fiction for readers. As a National Book Award Winner for Young People's Literature, Newbery Honor Book, and Printz Honor Book, it contains many literary devices that require careful reading to comprehend and analyze deeper themes.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 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. Students develop increasingly sophisticated writing skills over the course of the year as they use the texts from the unit as mentor texts for their culminating project. The materials' inquiry through apprenticeship process moves students through a gradual release model where the teacher models a variety of literacy skills and methods while working with students to build knowledge, practice skills in a carefully scaffolded setting, and eventually demonstrate their skills independently.

The program follows a pattern for all grade levels:

• 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 also 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 phases by weeks:
  • Phase 1: Initiate Academic Community and Phase 2: Initial Assessment and Goal Setting during which students analyze “What did the author say? Why?” through the specific learning targets: “Generate hypotheses on an author’s theme(s), determine the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies, analyze how an author’s word choices shape a text, and analyze the impact of specific word choice (figures of speech) on meaning, tone, and theme.”
  • In Phase 3: Strategic Instruction/Building Expertise, students shift to analyze author’s craft and the learning target: Evaluate and critique authors. Students practice evaluating author’s purpose in both literary and informational texts and write a literary essay.

• Unit 2 is an informational research lab that focuses on the continent of Africa as students work entirely with informational texts to progress through two phases of research: Phase 1: Develop Expertise in Research Topics & Central Idea/Key Details and Phase 2: Research-Based Informational Writing. Phase 1 covers four weeks during which students “build knowledge in order to determine appropriate research topics” by analyzing different aspects of determining a central idea when reading informational text. All in-class reading comes from the Core informational text and the Research Lab books. 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 also work to develop their own piece of historical fiction 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 world historical fiction. 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 characters and their interaction with one another
  • Identification of elements of plot, including the central conflict, resolution, rising action, falling action, and the subplot

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

• Unit 4 is an argument research lab that focuses the topic of contemporary issues. Argument writing and research are the primary focus as students read increasingly complex texts as they begin working through a series of seven research tasks/questions that guide students as they prepare to compose their own argument piece. These tasks/questions guide the students as they read the unit’s texts, conduct research, and are designed to bring coherence to their writing. The research tasks/questions include:
  • Create a timeline of at least 10 milestones in the history of this issue. Discuss the significance of each.
  • Describe the most important national effects of this issue. How is it being handled in our country?
  • Describe the most important global effects of this issue. How is it being handled internationally?
  • What organizations are involved with this issue?
  • Who are the influential people involved with this issue?
  • How can people become informed about this issue?
  • Take and support a position on how we, as a world, should solve this issue.

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 10 meet the expectations that anchor and supporting texts provide 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 texts they’ve read, as well as allotted time for independent reading from self-selected texts. Each unit 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.”

Students read daily from either literary, nonfiction, or informational texts. While all but two of the Core texts are below the 9-10 Lexile grade band, the quantitative measures for those texts makes them appropriate for the grade level and tasks that they accompany. In Phase 1 and/or 2 of each unit, a typical day includes in-class read alouds and independent reading time. The same pattern and structure of daily lessons occurs from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. A specific example from a unit includes:

• In Unit 2, students read the core text, an informational book about Africa, supplemented by additional readings from the Research Lab to support daily research about the topic. Every day for four weeks of the nine-week unit, students read teacher-chosen pieces from the Core text. A typical daily reading time begins with 10-30 minutes of Read Complex Text which is broken into: Establish Learning Goal, Model, Guided Practice, Wrap-up. During the 20-40 minute Reader’s Work, students read independently-selected books from the Research Library followed by a brief Accountable Talk discussion with a small group. Each week, students become increasingly independent as they work towards proficiency and mastery of the week’s objective. On Day 1 one of each week, teacher work is more model and guided practice, but by the end of the week, teachers introduce the work for the day and students work more independently toward their Research Question.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 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 partners first, then questions are discussed with the whole group.

The questions are not 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, Week 1, Day 5, students engage with a partner in discussing their background knowledge. Working in pairs, students prepare to answer each question with their partners and be ready for a cold call. Students respond to questions including: "What other real-world topics has the text referenced? What do you or your partner currently know about this topic? Is that enough for this topic in this book right now? If not, how will you learn what you need to know? Based on what you know, why do you believe the author mentioned this topic? What does it have to do with his/her text? Theme(s)?" After each question, teachers are instructed to “use student responses to determine your next move” (p. 111).
• In Unit 2, Informational Research Lab: Africa, student are asked: "What did we just read? Summarize/retell the most important details. Why do you think the author wrote this part this way? What might s/he be suggesting/inferring here? Determine the author’s central idea. What KEY key detail best supports this central idea? Analyze how the author uses content, structure, and word choice to develop and refine central ideas over the course of the text. Which structure is the writer using in this text? Why does it matter that the author used this structure? Did you notice any examples of bias in this text?"
• In Unit 3, Week 1, students are reading Complex Text, the Central Text/Core Novel and are asked: "What generalizations can you make about settings in this genre? How might settings be important to this genre as a whole?" (p. 50). In Week 3, students are tasked to focus on the social setting of their independent reading novel. Some guiding questions to answer include: "What is the most important part of the social setting in your novel? Why do you think it matters? What quote best illustrates that? How is the social setting important to the character? How does the author use the social setting to communicate a theme?" (p. 147).
• In Unit 4, Week 3, Day 1, while researching a contemporary issue, students complete an independent reading from one of the Research Lab books. After the 15-30 minute reading time, students share with a partner using the following protocol: “Claim: The most important thing I learned about today’s Research Question was ___. Evidence. Reasoning.” Next, the class shares as a group to the following questions: “Who learned something really important about this Research Question (or our Unit)? Who found something related to an issue/ controversy we’ve discussed? Another issue/controversy?” The partner discussion is based on text-dependent questions, but in the whole class share, the teacher may need to ask follow-up questions if a student is not providing specific answers.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 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 about 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.

In Unit 1, students read their paired core texts The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer and Ethical Debates: Privacy and Surveillance by Cath Senker and select independent texts for study 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 (p. 52). Each week builds student skill in analyzing informational and literary texts. Instructional materials provide models of sequenced questions for students to use across multiple texts. An example of sequenced text-dependent questions in this unit is:

• Recommended Model for unit Culminating Task, Critiquing the Core Text (Week 6, Days 1-2): Compose own review of the Core Informational Text: 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? 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, students continue building reading and text analysis skills as they study the continent of Africa and a country of their choice through informational texts. The introductory materials outline the unit framework and the sequence of student study which is guided by seven sequenced research questions that help students study the ecosystems, politics, and economy of a country in Africa. Though these questions are not text-dependent, the daily student tasks require students to engage in multiple texts to answer the research questions. Each week builds student skills in analyzing informational texts and practicing informative writing based on models and peer collaboration. Examples include:

• 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. 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, Week 1: Day 2, students begin constructing their understanding of the “levels and dimensions” of setting in historical fiction. This activity, which is in preparation for the culminating comparative writing task, is based on self-selected novels and uses a graphic organizer to help students arrange and share information. After completing the organizer, students engage in both writing about and discussing their findings using guiding, text-specific question sequences including physical (place, locality, country, political situation); temporal (era, duration); and culture/society. In Day 3, students respond to a series of text-specific questions around their self-selected novels. The questions relate to the culminating writing task in that students reflect on aspects of characterization. Questions include: "Who are the characters in this story so far? Have we been introduced to a protagonist and an antagonist? What other character types have we met so far? What is each of these characters like? What can you learn about each of these characters through his/her thoughts? Actions? Body language? Reactions to other characters? How does the author use events and/or dialogue to tell you about this character? How/why do you think these characters will matter to the story? What evidence from the text best supports your answer?"

In Unit 4, Week 1, Day 1, students are introduced the concept of making a judgment claim, a key skill in drafting their culminating writing project, a final argumentative essay. Students are required to identify, elaborate, and defend a specific judgment claim. The activity includes teacher modeling and contains a sharing opportunity in which students make and share a claim. Instructional materials direct students to “Model making a Judgment claim and supporting your claim with reasons and text evidence, e.g., The most interesting thing I learned about ___ was... It was the most interesting because…”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 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 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. 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 re-read 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 English language learners at all levels of language proficiency.

Most activities are either partner talks followed by whole class share out or, during the modeling phase, the materials suggest the teacher cold call students. Overall, there are relatively few support structures for small group, whole class discussion, presentation activities, or other opportunities for larger group discussion (e.g.,debate, Socratic Seminar).

The Unit 1 Scope and Sequence document of the ARC Core Overview outlines Speaking and Listening task across all 4 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.

Specific examples include:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Day 1, teacher instructions for Constructed Response Practice direct instructors to “[t]each your students to begin all of their answers by including the key words from the question” (p. 88). Day 2: Accountable Talk Partner/Group Share instructs students to “[s]hare your objective summary and your hypothesis on what might be your author’s theme(s). Invite a few students to share out with the whole group” (p. 104). As a formative assessment, teachers listen to decide if/what to clarify or re-teach, on the spot. On Day 3 during the Accountable Talk Partner Share, instructions direct students to “[t]ell your partner what you learned about an author in our library. Then share your objective summary of the author’s book and your hypothesis on what might be his/her theme(s)” (p. 114). On Days 4-5 as students Read/Discuss Complex Text, students are tasked to “[p]ractice noticing new vocabulary, categorizing it by Tier, and discussing what each word might mean based on evidence from the text" (p. 179).
• In Unit 3, Week 7, Day 3, students complete a peer review with provided sentence starters to support peer discussion, including: "What I like about this scene is ___; What I am struggling with is ___." Student responses are supported with sentence structures, including: "What I like about your scene is ___; One thing that might improve it/question I have is ___." This activity and framework promotes critical thinking as students are required to listen and to respond thoughtfully.
• In Unit 4, Week 3, Day 1, students read independently to learn about a topic related to their research question. After reading, students conduct Partner Share following the Accountable Talk protocol to provide claim and evidence. Student directions call for each partner to take 1 minute to share: "The most important thing I learned about today’s Research Question was ___ because ____." This is a frequently used partner share that requires evidence.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 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 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 support 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 discussions, conferences, peer reviews, and whole class discussions. Throughout the debate process, students use the Toulmin’s Argument Framework to ensure that they provide both evidence and reasoning to support their claims.

Examples from specific units include:

• In Unit 2, Week 2, Day 4, students work in pairs to complete a chart called a “Thinking Map” while analyzing the central idea of a text. Students are instructed to share their maps with another pair of students, who grade them on a 4-point scale. Then the teacher does a group share asking for a great example of a 4-point response. This activity promotes speaking and listening as students discuss the text to complete the chart.
• In Unit 3, Week 6, Day 5, lesson plans provide a roster of presentation options as students complete the final stages of the writing process. As part of the peer review process, students are instructed to “read each other’s essays, sign their names to a list of readers, and make one or two positive comments about each essay.” As part of student evaluation and reflection, students “reflect on their own writing and score it using the W.1 Rubric” and “think about their goals for the next project.” In an oral presentation to a small group, “[e]ach student plans and delivers an oral presentation on his/her topic.” Other student opportunities include a classroom swap in which each student has an opportunity to “read his/her essay to a student from the new classroom,” and a gallery in which students “plan displays and/or dress in costume and invite other students and/or families in for a visit.” Final Projects can be on display or presented in small groups.
• In Unit 4, Week 3, Day 1, students read independently to learn about a topic related to their research question. After reading, students conduct Partner Share following the Accountable Talk protocol, Student instructions state that “[e]ach partner takes 1 minute to share. Claim: The most important thing I learned about today’s Research Question was ___. Evidence. Reasoning.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 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, amd 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 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. Examples include:

• In Unit 1, Week 2, Days 4-5, the teacher overview states that the writing goal for a 2-week period is for students to “write on a variety of prompts while they practice using the new vocabulary they are learning in their writing. Each day, choose 1-3 prompts that relate to the reading work in some interesting way (see Writing Prompts Suggestions after this lesson).” Unit 1, Week 5, Days 3-5 contains evidence of process writing. Students begin the initial phase of the writing process to create a final literary critique piece by engaging with the following prompt: “As we’ve worked to develop a critical lens, we’ve analyzed what an author says, why we think she says it, and how she uses literacy techniques to do it. Now we are going to move beyond analysis to evaluation: does the author accomplish his/her purpose? Is the book worth reading? Why?”
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 2 Students work in pairs to edit their papers. Students focus on editing for quotation marks, indicate direct quotations, and correctly cited sources. The focus of Unit 2, Week 6 is the drafting stage of the writing process, in which students are encouraged to examine the writing they have completed and begin conceptualizing a final project such as an illustrated dictionary, a visual encyclopedia, or a collection of quotes.
• In Unit 3: Genre Study World Historical Fiction, students study and write to multiple literary genres to write a model narrative in that genre. Though the focus is on narrative writing, students will write literary analysis responses to the texts they are reading. In the introductory materials, teachers are provided a daily framework for lessons which include 15-30 minutes for writing to texts. Daily writing tasks for students include, but are not limited to:

• Week 1, Day 2: “What about the setting will be most important to this book? Why? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.”
• Week 3, Day 1, Collaborative Writing: “What generalizations can you make about the factual basis of texts in this genre? What makes you think that? How is research important to our genre as a whole?”
• Week 3, Day 5, Constructed Response: “What is a central theme in our Core Novel? How does the author use literary elements to develop this theme?”
• Week 5, Day 1, Quick Write: “Over the next two weeks, you will each write an essay in which you make a claim based on a connection you’ve discovered between our Central Text and one of the texts in the genre you read independently. Today, we practice comparing texts in order to prepare to write this essay. By the end of the day, you will have:
  • Used the R.9 Thinking Map to analyze two texts and generate a theme statement that works for both.
  • Determined which texts you will use and a focus for your comparative essay."
• In Unit 4, students write an argumentative essay on a researched contemporary issue. Before the unit, students complete a writing pre-assessment for teachers to gauge student capacity with argumentative writing. The prompt for this pre-assessment is teacher created and based on a text students have read. The instructional materials direct teachers to “Ask students to write an argument related to the text they have just read. Eg. Should school administrators be able to go into students’ lockers without students’ permission? Take a position and provide 3 good pieces of evidence in support of that position.”

To prepare for their argumentative essay on a contemporary issue during the unit, students engage in frequent writing tasks such as:

• Week 1, Day 5: “Take a position. Write a short argument where you state your claim and support it with evidence and reasoning.”
• Week 2, Day 2, Collaborative Writing: “Students 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.”
• Week 4, Day 2, Writing Prompt: “What is the author’s purpose? What in the text supports your answer? What types of appeals does s/he use? Cite examples. What can you infer about the relationship between an author’s purpose and his/her choices in rhetoric?”
• Week 6, Day 4, Modeling: “Think aloud as you reread your draft and then write a rebuttal.
  • Generate potential counterargument.
  • Fairly present that argument.
  • Argue why it is incorrect, point by point.”

By the end of Week 9 in the unit, students will have practiced writing and revising as well as debating about their chosen topic to complete the full writing process to craft an argumentative essay on a contemporary issue they studied in the unit.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 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 both 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 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 supports.

By the end of the year, students will have written a substantial composition 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. Examples include:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, as students write daily, teachers use student writing as evidence and feedback loop for assessing success of literacy block instruction. In Unit 1, Week 5, the materials pose the following question to teachers and students, “If the State Test Were Today, Who Would Pass?” (p. 308). Teachers go through a series of questioning to meet the needs of their students, such as, “Which students respond accurately to the prompt in terms of both Reading content and Writing structure in this mode? Which students respond accurately to the prompt in terms of Reading content but were missing key elements of proficient writing in this mode?” Subsequently, the materials provide suggestions as to what should be done if students are not doing well, including:
  
  • Continue to coach students to be proficient in all ELA Standards.
  • Coach on improving writing in this mode/Writing Standards.
• In Unit 2, student work to incorporate figurative language into writing foci on how such language is used differently according to text type. Instructional materials acknowledge that “Authors use figurative language to clarify difficult concepts and make their writing more interesting. In a science text, for example, we might find, 'The human body has its own electricity, plumbing system, central heating, and power plants.'"
• In Unit 4: Argument Lab-Contemporary Issues, Week 1, Day 2, students are introduced to their final argumentative essay for the unit. Instructional materials prompt teachers to tell students: “By the end of this Unit, each of you will write a well-reasoned, well-researched argument essay on your research topic. We will use this Argument Framework to help us practice and improve our argument skills over the course of the unit. By the end of today, you will be able to identify the basic elements of an argument: claim, evidence, reasoning.” Students research a current contemporary issue by choosing texts from the book basket, reading and writing to those texts, and preparing an argument about that issue. By the end of Week 9 in the unit, students will have practiced writing responses to texts, short argument claims, constructions responses, and peer reviews. After drafting and revising as well as debating about their chosen topic in economics to complete the full writing process to craft an argumentative essay on a contemporary issue they studied in the unit.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 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 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 helps 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 informative 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 writing like the authors they read. Students will take at least 2 pieces of writing through to publication (one narrative and one argumentative).

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.

By the end of Unit 3, students write four very short essays (constructed responses) and one longer literary essay analyzing multiple texts in the genre study. Students write and publish a short story/picture book 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 also write and publish a short story/picture book in the genre of study (Grade 10 - contemporary issues). Other examples include:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Day 4, a collaborative writing assignment has students analyze different genres they have read. Students write about what they have learned and make book recommendations to peers. Student prompts include, “What have you learned about the genres that you and your classmates like? Based on what you’ve learned, what book recommendations can you make?” The writing task for Unit 1, Week 3, Days 1-3 requires students to analyze an author’s use of vocabulary using textual evidence. Students are instructed to “Pick the three most important words used by the author and explain what role they played in shaping the text (Meaning? Tone? Theme?). Use evidence to support your answer.” Students are supported by a teacher-written exemplar and read the piece to a partner while receiving focused feedback.
• In Unit 2, Week 1, students read about their research topics. During Day 2, students first discuss what they have read, then they will write for 10-30 minutes using the 5-point response in which they are expected to introduce the text/topic: (I read___ by ___), give an objective summary (It is about... ), provide an opinion (The most interesting thing... ), and provide evidence about the text in regards to their opinion (Use text evidence to prove the truth/accuracy of your statement), and then provide a citation (title, author, page number). In Week 5: Day 5, students write independently for 20-40 minutes to create an opinion piece. The written work is modeled upon an exemplar with an emphasis on writing “like the author of (today’s complex text).” Students use the prompt: “Today we read (today’s complex text) and agreed that we really liked the section where the author…”
• In Unit 3, Week 4, Day 5, students apply skills they have practiced to complete Constructed Response #4, which is to write a short essay that answers the prompt: "What is a central theme in our Core Novel? How does the author use literary elements to develop this theme?" Students are provided a handout titled “CCSS RL.2/3 Thinking Map” that helps them make and support a precise claim to answer the question. In Week 5, students draft a comparative essay that requires them to apply all the skills from the previous four weeks to make a literary analysis claim about theme that is supported with evidence from two different texts. The writing process and supports help students write the essay with evidence-based claims.
• In Unit 4: Argument Research Lab-Contemporary Issues, students spend 9 weeks reading, writing, and arguing about big ideas. Each student is expected to select a topic on which to become an expert demonstrated by writing a research-based argument essay. In Week 3, Day 2, students are instructed to “Outline two conflicting viewpoints on the issue of _____. Use evidence from our Central Text and at least one other text to support your answer.”