7th Grade - Gateway 1

This instructional materials for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations for indicator 1c. The majority of texts are at a high level according to quantitative measures, but qualitatively the texts fall into different areas. Some examples representative of the program include the following:

"Remarks at the Dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center," given by John F. Kennedy, is at a higher than middle school grade level -1380L. Out of four points each, this text is at 2 points for levels of meaning/purpose (more than one implied purpose and easily identified from the text), structure (organization of main ideas and details are complex, but clearly stated and generally sequential), and language conventionality and clarity (with some unfamiliar, academic or domain-specific words). Scoring at 3 of 4 points is the knowledge demands (with a greater specialized knowledge required of students).

"A Poem for My Librarian, Mrs. Long," is a free verse poem that CCSS Appendix B states as being appropriate for middle school. With no Lexile level available, the levels of meaning/purpose (a single level of simple meaning-a single theme), or 1 out of 4, the structure at 3 of 4 (free verse, no particular patterns), the language conventionality and clarity at 2 of 4 (some figurative language), and the knowledge demands, at 2 of 4 (one or two references or allusions to other texts), seem accurate with the rigor needed for seventh graders.This collection partially meets the criteria for indicator 1c. Students need opportunities to stretch their reading abilities but also to experience the satisfaction and pleasure of easy, fluent reading within them, both of which the Standards allow for.

This instructional materials for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations for indicator 1d. Although most texts fall within the guidance for quantitative measures found in the CCSS for middle school texts, the range of complexity seems to be inconsistent over the entire breadth of texts and does not lend to students engaging with increasing literacy skills over the course of a school year.

Some examples representative of how the materials may not support students’ increasing literacy skills over the course of the school year are found in the following examples:

• Collection 1: “The Rogue Wave” is the first story and anchor text and has a Lexile of 980, which is on the low end of the 6-8 scale found in Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards, 955-1155. This is a short story written in third person about an adventure at sea. The story is high interest and follows two characters – Scoot and Sully, a sister and brother. The story shifts between Scoot battling to stay alive in the lower level, or galley, of the ship, and Sully not knowing if his sister was alive or dead. The main focus of the reading is understanding plot, conflict and setting. The conflicts are clearly shown with Scoot battling nature and Sully having an internal battle with his fear and doubt. This is an appropriate story with which to begin the year.
• Collection 2: “The People Could Fly” is the first tale and anchor text in this collection and has a Lexile of 430, which is far below the low end of the 6-8 scale. This is a folk tale, so it is written with dialect and conversational language: “One such who could was an old man, call him Toby. And standin’ tall, yet afraid, was a young woman who once had wings. Call her Sarah” (HMH 7th Grade, Collection 2, 64). The main focus of the reading is understanding the elements of folk tales and summarizing the text. These are lower level skills paired with a lower level Lexile. Most often, a lower Lexile text will be paired with high level skills. This way a teacher knows comprehension is high and, thus, the student can work on a high-order thinking skills, e.g. analysis.
• Collection 3: “from Mississippi Solo” is the first memoir and anchor text in this collection and has a Lexile of 830, which is below the low end of the 6-8 scale. This is memoir written in first person that describes a moment in the author’s life while he canoed by himself down the Mississippi River. The main focus of the reading is to understand what a memoir is and to analyze the meanings of words and phrases, specifically style, similes, metaphors and personification. These are higher level skills paired with an easier text, so this is fitting for a 7th grade student at the latter end of the first semester.
• Collection 4: “Remarks at the Dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center” is the first speech and anchor text in this collection and has a Lexile of 1380, which is above the 6-8 scale. This speech has advanced vocabulary and will also require some knowledge of the 1960’s and the United States’ relationship with the Soviet Union at that time. The main focus of the reading is to trace and evaluate an argument, specifically the claim, support, reasons, evidence, and counterarguments. The students also need to evaluate whether the argument makes sense. Identifying the parts of the argument is the easier of the two tasks. Having the students evaluate how good the argument is will be more difficult, as the students will have to fully comprehend the speech and also know some of the background.
• Collection 5: “from Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century” is the first informational and anchor text in this collection and has a Lexile of 1640, which is above the 6-8 scale. This is written in third-person and includes statistics, charts and information about television through the years. The main focus of the reading is to analyze the structure of a cause and effect text and look carefully at the graphic aids presented in the article. The students are to decipher what is the cause and the effects in this article. This is a medium level skill, but the text is very difficult, so students may struggle to comprehend, which will delay them being able to apply the skill.
• Collection 6: “from Flesh & Blood So Cheap: the Triangle Fire and Its Legacy” and “from The Story of the Triangle Factory Fire” are the first anchor texts in this collection and are both history writing. “Flesh & Blood” has a Lexile of 900, which is below the 6-8 scale. “Triangle Factory” has a Lexile of 1110, which is toward the high end of the 6-8 scale. Both texts are written in third person with occasional first-person quotes or memories. The main focus of the reading is to analyze chronological order and compare the anchor texts. The first task is relatively easy as the students need to recognize that the piece is written in the order it happens. The second task asks students to analyze how the information is presented by looking at author’s perspective, specifically tone, point of view, direct statements, emphasis and portrayals. This is a more difficult skill, with one easier text and one more difficult. However, at the end of the school year, this is appropriate for 7th graders.

The materials for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations of indicator 1h. The culminating tasks are always Performance tasks which incorporate reading, writing and speaking. Students draw on their reading and analysis of the collection's selections as well as additional research and the close reading skills gathered while working through each collection. They also direct students back to elements of the read texts to expand upon. In each collection, the introduction page tells students what the end performance task(s) will be. The disconnect is in the amount of the culminating task asking students to use the writing process to complete the task. There is no support in the anthology for student writing. To complete a performance task, students draw on their reading and analysis of the collection's selections as well as additional research. However, the skills identified in the "analyzing the text" section after each piece support students' close reading skills, but do not fully support student the culminating performance task which is most often a writing project. Culminating tasks are not wholly related to coherent sequences of text-dependent questions and tasks.

Throughout 7th grade, the students will complete the following performance tasks:

• Write a short story
• Write and present an oral commentary
• Write an opinion essay
• Write two expository essays
• Write a memoir
• Write a poetry analysis
• Write and present a persuasive speech
• Create a multimedia presentation
• Write a personal essay

To complete a performance task, students draw on their reading and analysis of the Collection's selections as well as additional research. However, the skills identified in the "analyzing the text" section after each piece do not necessarily lead to the culminating performance task of a writing project.

Most of the performance tasks are tied to the elements and/or skills focused on during the reading of some of the pieces in the collections. For the most part, the text that students need to refer to is in the directions of the performance task. The one performance task that has no ties to any skills/elements in the collection is found in Collection 2. The Performance Task A is not related to the tasks or text-dependent questions. Culminating tasks are not wholly related to coherent sequences of text-dependent questions and tasks.

The following is a breakdown of how each collection connects the performance tasks to the texts:

Collection 1

• The first performance task is to write a short story “. . . in which a main character or characters take bold actions in the face of a seemingly overwhelming challenge” (page 53). The elements discussed during and after each fictional selection are plot, setting, making inferences, myth, and determining theme. Some of these support the first performance task as they are elements of a short story.
• The second performance task is to “draw from ‘The Flight of Icarus’ and other texts in the collection to prepare and present an oral commentary, or an expression of your opinion, about the rewards and risks associated with bold actions.” The elements discussed during the reading of the informational pieces are structure of a news report, editorials, fact vs. opinion, counterarguments, structure of a TV news interview, author’s purpose, citing evidence, and drawing conclusions. Some of these support the second performance task as they are elements of an opinion piece.

Collection 2

• The first performance task is an opinion essay that has the students to consider “the common saying ‘seeing is believing’ and its meaning . . . draw from ‘The People Could Fly’ and other texts in the collection to write an essay that states and support your opinion” (page, 127). The literary and informational elements studied in this collection are folk tales, dialect, sonnet form, text features, audience, message, character, symbol, and drama. None of these elements will assist the students in writing an opinion essay.
• The second performance task is an expository essay in which the students “. . . draw from Sorry, Wrong Number and ‘Another Place, Another Time’ to . . . explain how” a dramatic change in perception occurs” (page 131). The literary and informational elements studied in this collection are folk tales, dialect, sonnet form, text features, audience, message, character, symbol, and drama. The study of “character” and some of the discussion that occurs during the play will help students in completing this task, but most of the skills/elements taught in the collection do not lead to this performance task.

Collection 3

• In Collection 3, Performance Task B, students write a poetry analysis essay. To prepare for the culminating task, student read two poems and are guided by the teacher to compare the two. After reading the poems, the students work in pairs to reread the first two lines of each poem and discuss each speaker's relationship to nature. There are guiding questions that ask the students to compare the poems. After rereading lines from each poem students are asked, "What similarities do you observe in the poets' use of language?" and "How do the images of light differ in these two poems?” Students are asked to write a poetry analysis essay on the two poems read in class; however, they have not written a literary analysis essay before this and the directions for this assignment do not direct them to any models of literary analysis essays. The knowledge need to complete this task has not been built during the collection and this Performance Task cannot be completed without extensive building of support by the teacher.

Collection 4

• This collection has one performance task – give a persuasive speech. This performance task asks students to “draw from Kennedy’s speech and other texts in the collection to prepare and give a persuasive speech . . . to persuade others whether major exploration is worth the risk” (page 215). The literary and informational elements studied in this collection are author’s purpose, trace and evaluate an argument, sound reasoning, tone, cause and effect, paraphrasing, and extended metaphor. Many of these elements/skills will help students in their completion of a persuasive speech as they deal with opinion writing.

Collection 5

• This collection has one performance task: create a multimedia presentation. Students are asked to research a topic related to consumerism and “draw from Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century, other texts in the collection and [their] own research findings to write an informative essay about the topic you chose. Then you will prepare and give a multimedia presentation on that topic” (page 259). The literary and informational elements studied in this collection are cause and effect, citing evidence, word choice (diction, tone and voice), inferences, poetry form, theme, science fiction and theme. The only elements that directly relate to this task are citing evidence. Not much else in this collection will help students succeed in completing this task.

Collection 6

• The first performance task is to write an expository essay in which students “will do additional research about a topic or person related to the [Triangle Factory Fire]. [They] will draw from the texts in the collection and [their] research findings to write an expository essay about the topic or person [they] chose” (page 337). The literary and informational elements studied in this collection are central idea, chronological order, history writing, author’s perspective, point of view, historical fiction, personal essay, documentary, free verse, theme, character development, and flashback. None of these skills will help students with the structure of the expository essay; however, many of the elements/skills taught in this collection will help students with the research they need to complete
• The second performance task is to write a personal essay in which students write “. . . about a cause that is important to [them]” (page 341). The literary and informational elements studied in this collection are central idea, chronological order, history writing, author’s perspective, point of view, historical fiction, personal essay, documentary, free verse, theme, character development, and flashback. Some of the elements and skills taught in this collection will support the students in writing their personal essay - specifically the section in which students learn about the personal essay.

The instructional materials for Grade 7 partially meet the requirements of indicator i. The materials provide some opportunities for evidence-based discussions and some use of modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax, although implementation in the classroom is not explicitly supported with guidance for misunderstandings nor with accountability. Students are reminded to apply vocabulary and think about syntax, but there is little follow through to ensure learning and growth in this area.

The materials support the use and practice with some academic vocabulary, providing frequent and repeated exposure to a limited list of 7th grade appropriate words (five words per collection); there is encouraged use of these words in each of the Collaborative Discussions and performance tasks (a sidebar next to the “Plan” section) throughout each collection. The teacher is prompted to pronounce each word aloud so students can hear the correct pronunciation. Practice with these words in context is limited. Protocols to engage students in developing their speaking and listening are minimally provided to support this work. There is minimal support for students who misunderstand the use of vocabulary and syntax.

The seventh page of each Collection's introduction lists Vocabulary Strategies that assist students, over the course of the year, in ways such as Latin suffixes, a Greek prefix (neuro-), reference aids, using context clues, prefixes, Greek roots, Latin roots, analogies, multiple meanings, and using a dictionary. These resources are not connected explicitly to students' speaking and listening tasks.

Treatment of academic vocabulary is patterned the same in each Collection. Following are some examples that represent how the program partially meets the expectation of this indicator over the year's worth of materials:

Collection 3

• pg.148 – In small groups, students deliver a dramatic reading of the soliloquy. The directions tell the students to “discuss and analyze the Shakespearean vocabulary and sentence structure.” Then they will “use [their] analysis to rewrite Prospero’s soliloquy in [their] own words.” Guidance for the analysis of words or syntax is not provided. Finally, the group will “deliver [their] version of the soliloquy to the class.” No protocols for speaking and listening are provided.
• pg. 152 - In a small groups, students discuss the author’s use of the word green. No protocols for speaking and listening are provided.
• pg. 172 – In partners, students compare images in two poems and what they represent. Incorporating academic vocabulary in tandem with the task of identifying "imagery" is not included. No protocols for speaking and listening are provided.

Collection 5:

• The first text in Collection 5, "from Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century" highlights two academic vocabulary words: technology and purchase.
• "Critical Vocabulary" in this collection include: proliferation, municipal, taper, and precipitous.
• Another text, "Always Wanting More," applies three academic vocabulary words: attitude, consume, and goal in the text. This shows how the words listed early in the collection are employed. However, when students are preparing to engage in speaking and listening with the texts, the modeling of academic vocabulary and practicing syntax has minimal support.
• The directions for the culminating Performance Task for Collection 5, include a side bar notation in the Plan section stating, "As you plan and present, be sure to use the academic vocabulary words.

The instructional materials for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations for indicator 1j. Speaking and listening work assigned requires students to marshal evidence from texts and sources, but there are few directions and minimal support for implementation in the classroom. Few speaking opportunities are included in small group and class projects. The sections and lessons supporting speaking and language standards are present, but lacking directions and support for implementation in the classroom.

The materials do incorporate structured time in materials for speaking and listening. For example, each Collection begins with a "Connecting Word and Image" discussion which helps set the theme of the activities in which students will be involved.

Some speaking and listening components within assignments provided in the student and teacher edition include the following representative examples. In some cases, instruction on classroom implementation is minimal or absent, and in others, there is minimal connection to the texts being studied.

Collection 1

• On page 42, the Performance Task is for students to create an oral response to the poem “Icarus’s Flight.” The directions given to the students for the presentation are to “make sure your points are clear and convincing. Use verbal and nonverbal techniques to enhance your points.” There is no rubric provided for this task to identify use of the texts nor the presentation/speaking techniques.
• On page 57, Performance Task B is students presenting an oral commentary. There are three pages of instructions and a rubric to support the delivery of the oral commentary. Explicit connection to the texts being studied is less robust.

Collection 2

• On page 69, after “The People Could Fly,” the Performance Task is for students in small groups to perform a dramatic reading using the text of the folk tale as a script. There is no rubric for this task to support students' connecting the task to the texts, nor for growing their speaking and presentation skills.
• On page 92, after “Pavement Chalk Art,” the Performance Task is to create a poster. Part of the directions says to “present your completed flyer or poster to the other groups, explaining what you intend to communicate with it and how you accomplish that goal.” There is no rubric provided for this task.

Collection 3

• On page 148, after “from The Tempest,” the Performance Task is to do a dramatic reading of the soliloquy in a small group. There is no rubric provided for this task, only directions to complete it.
• On page 206, the Performance Task B is to write a narrative. Students are asked to present it and can choose to do it as an “author’s reading,” post it as a blog, or “dramatize [it] in a one-person show.” There are minimal supports for students to create these speaking and presenting opportunities.

Collection 4

• On page 198, after “Why Exploring the Ocean is Mankind’s Next Giant Leap,” the Performance Task is to do an informal debate. There are four bullets of directions given; for example, “Listen well to any opponent’s points to help you prepare your responses.” Students are in a small groups and divide into two teams. There is no rubric provided with this task for either explicit connections to the text nor for the task itself.

Some speaking and listening opportunities do provide instruction and support (rubrics and extra guidance) for students to practice skills, although the connections to evidence in text is not consistently emphasized. Some examples of this include the following:

• On page 215, the performance task is a persuasive speech. The textbook includes 1-1/2 pages of instruction on how to plan it (choose your position, gather information, do further research, organize your ideas, and consider your purpose and audience). The producing, revising, and presenting of the speech is the next page and a half (draft your speech, prepare visuals, practice your speech, evaluate your speech, and deliver your speech). There is a rubric provided with this task to support students' persuasive speaking.

• On page 259, the Performance Task is to create a multimedia presentation. Students are given three pages of directions for this task. The directions for the presentation are to “finalize your multimedia presentation. Then choose a way to share it with your audience. Consider these options: Use your presentation to give a news report about your topic; Create and share a video recording of your presentation.” There is a rubric provided with this task.

The instructional materials for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations for indicator 1k. Materials include a mix of both on-demand and process writing; however, there is not enough to cover a year’s worth of instruction. The on-demand writing is only found in the Performance Assessment booklet. Although the longer writing pieces contain the instruction to have students revise and/or edit, the shorter writing pieces do not. The longer writing pieces contain rubrics, but the shorter pieces do not.

On-Demand

Productive writing is found in the “Performance Assessment” booklet, which is consumable. The tasks in this book are step by step culminating projects where students read multiple sources on the same topics, review models and respond by writing one of each over the span of the year.

The on-demand portion of the book is found in Unit 4: Mixed Practice. These are research simulations. Students write an argumentative, informative and literary analysis essay in a timed situation. The directions before each say, “There are two parts to most formal writing tests. Both parts of the tests are timed, so it’s important to use your limited time wisely” (HMH Collections Performance Assessment 7th).On-demand writing is assigned but not explicitly taught with instructional practice and frameworks for teachers to support students' growth.

Process Writing

Process writing occurs in both the textbook and the Performance Assessment booklet. The shorter writing pieces are found after each text in the main textbook in the “Performance Task” box. The longer writing pieces are found at the end of each collection in the textbook and in the Performance Assessment booklet.

The shorter writing pieces have very little direction for the students and/or teacher. There are few rubrics, graphic organizers or other supplemental material to help the teacher guide the student through the multiple processes of writing in the year long materials.

Below is an example of directions for a small process writing activity from Collection 5 on page 230:

• Find out about a new development in TV technology and write about it in a brief informational essay.

1. Use digital or print sources about consumer electronics to research your topic.
2. Take notes as you try to answer questions like: Who invented this technology and when? How does it work? How could it change how people watch TVs? Why would consumers want to purchase it?
3. Use your notes to create an outline of your ideas.
4. Share your completed essay with a partner or group that has written about other new feature of TVs. Discuss the different features and consumers’ attitudes toward them.

Extended writing pieces occur at the end of the collection and have about four pages of directions for the student, one of which is the rubric. The directions for writing are broken down into four steps: plan, produce, revise and present. Each step takes up approximately half of a page of the student edition; the plan step is the exception as those directions usually cover an entire page. The teacher’s edition has a small paragraph for each step that has the teacher remind or explain something to the student about that step in the process. Below is an example from Collection 2, page 127-129:

Assignment - Write an opinion essay in which you state whether or not you believe the saying, “seeing is believing” is true.

• Plan:
  • Form an Opinion – Revisit the texts in the collection. Consider your answers to the following questions as you form your opinion: How do the characters or people perceive the things that happen? Why do the characters or people perceive things the way they do?
  • How does this information relate to the meaning of the saying “seeing is believing”

• Gather Information – Focus on the selection(s) that have information you can cite to support your opinion.
• Organize Your Ideas - Think about how you will organize your ideas. A graphic organizer, such as a hierarchy chart, can help you to present your ideas logically. [underneath this in the book is an example of a chart]
• Consider Your Purpose and Audience - Think about who will read or listen to your essay. What do you want them to understand? What ideas, reasons, or evidence will be most convincing to them? Keep these questions and your answers in mind as you prepare to write.

Extended process writing is also found in the Performance Assessment booklet in Units 1, 2, and 3. Directions for the writing in this booklet walks the students through a close reading of two texts. After reading, step one has the students answer multiple choice questions that will help them in writing the essay. In step two, students answer “Prose Constructed-Response” questions to get them thinking about the topic. Step three includes a graphic organizer to help the students finalize their plan for their essay. Step four is a bulleted list for students to think about while they draft their essay. Step five is a revision checklist so students can self-evaluate their writing. Step six is a revision checklist for a peer to edit their paper. The last step is for students to turn in the final draft of their essay.

The instructional materials for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations of indicator 1n. Materials include some explicit instruction of grammar and convention standards, but grammar and convention instruction is not provided in a sequence of increasingly sophisticated contexts over the course of the year. There are opportunities for students to demonstrate some application of skills in context, but they are infrequent. While there are pages dedicated to the grammar standards for this grade level, and definitions/examples are provided along with practice sentences, the Student Edition does not provide explicit instruction on how to execute the skill. After each piece in the Collection, there is a “Critical Vocabulary, Vocabulary Strategy, and Language Conventions” section. The skills practiced go along with the piece that students just read. While these sections use sentences from the selection as examples, this language practice is still done out of context.

The following are the list of language and style skills covered in all of the collections:

• Collection 1: Sentence Structure; Commas and Coordinate Adjectives; Subordinate Clauses
• Collection 2: Adverb Clauses; Spell Correctly
• Collection 3: Precise Language; Sentence Structure; Prepositional Phrases
• Collection 4: Capitalization; Adjective Clauses; Verbal Phrases
• Collection 5: Eliminate Redundancy; Noun Clauses; Spelling
• Collection 6: Capitalization; Phrases; Dangling Modifiers; Combining Sentences and Phrases; Misplaced Modifiers

These skills match the skills listed in the Common Core State Standards for Language Grade 7 under L1, L2, and L3. Below is more in-depth look at the grammar covered in anchor texts of different Collections. These examples are representative of the year-long program's treatment of these skills and concepts:

Collection 1 - pg.38 – “Language Conventions: Commas and Coordinate Adjectives” paired with “The Flight of Icarus” -

• A definition of what students are working on is included - “Writers use adjectives to modify, or describe nouns. Often a writer will use more than one adjective to modify the same noun, such as in this phrase from ‘The Flight of Icarus’: one clear, wind-swept morning. Notice that the adjectives clear and wind-swept are separated by a comma. These are called coordinate adjectives, adjectives of equal effect that modify the same noun.”
• Then another example from the story is included along with six examples showing when a comma is needed and when it is not.
• After some more explanation, students are given a paragraph in the Practice and Apply section: “Find the nouns sun, wings, hair, eyes, and bird in this sentence from ‘The Flight of Icarus.’ Write two coordinate adjectives to describe each noun, using commas where needed. Consult resources such as a print or online dictionary for words that are unfamiliar to you.”
  • Icarus, standing in the bright sun, the shining wings dropping gracefully from his shoulders, his golden hair wet with spray, and his eyes bright and dark with excitement, looked like a lovely bird.

• Collection 4 - pg. 212 - “Language Conventions: Verbal Phrases” paired with “from Living in the Dark”
  • A definition of what students are working on is included - “A verbal is a verb form that is used as a noun, and adjective, or an adverb. An infinitive is a verbal that begins with to and has the base form of a verb.”
  • Then there are three example sentences with explanation: “Our plan is to sail. (The infinitive acts like a noun and tells what our plan is.)”
  • Then a verbal phrase is defined: “A verbal phrase is made of a verbal and any other words that complete its meaning. The infinitive phrase is underlined in each of these sentences.” There are three more examples: “Our plan is to sale tomorrow.”
  • After a few more sentences of explanation, five practice sentences in the Practice and Apply section are included. These sentences are not from the anchor text: “Add an infinitive phrase to answer the question and complete a sentence using the words. Refer to the excerpt from ‘Living in the Dark’ for ideas to include.”
    • deep-sea scientists want (What do they want?)
    • fish of the deep sea have extra-large eyes (Why do they have such eyes?)
    • crabs and shrimp come to the ocean floor (Why do they come?)
    • scientists need equipment (What kind of equipment?)
    • the goal of a deep-sea expedition (What is the goal?)