7th Grade - Gateway 2

The materials for Grade 7 partially meet the criteria for indicator 2b. Materials contain sets of questions and tasks, but they inconsistently require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in a coherent sequence related to the standards. Over the course of the year, instructional materials and identified elements stay consistent and do not grow in rigor from early in the year (considering smaller components) to being more embedded in student work at the end of the year. There are limited rubrics and scoring guides for students to work with the specifics of text components as they grow their understanding of topic and theme. Focus on academic vocabulary that grows knowledge beyond literary terms is inconsistently applied.

At the beginning of each text, there is a “Why this Text?” box which includes a lesson focus for that text. Underneath this box, is the “Key Learning Objective.” Each text has guided discussions in the margins of the teacher edition. These discussions focus around two or three key skills. Each text also has a set of analysis questions at the end where students typically answer five to eight questions, each with a specific target. Each set of analysis questions that accompany individual texts start with the global phrase "Cite Text Evidence – Support your responses with evidence from the text." Sections that refocus students include "Analyzing the Text Questions After Reading." Most of the analyzing the text questions deal with story elements, aligning with the key focus. Margin Discussions, employed throughout the materials, prompt students to analyze components and identify key details and structure and craft elements.

Over the course of the year instructional materials and identified elements are inconsistent and do not grow in rigor from early in the year to being more embedded in student work at the end of the year. There are few supports for teachers to identify and account for students' abilities in analyzing these elements.

There is an outline provided that indicates at what point students will practice analyzing different components of the texts. For example, according to these overviews, the following skills will be covered (examples include some but not all indicated components of study):

Collection 1 : The student will be able to:

• Identify, analyze, and make inferences about the elements of plot in a short story
• Analyze the elements of a myth and to determine two or more themes
• Understand how the elements of form and the use of alliteration emphasize ideas and meaning in a poem.
• Identify, analyze and draw conclusions about an author’s purpose for writing informational texts.

Collection 3: Students will be able to:

• Identify features of a memoir and analyze the author’s style.
• Identify elements of Shakespearean language, interpret meaning, and analyze a soliloquy.
• Determine the theme of a short story and to analyze word choice and style.
• Analyze poetic form and learn how poets use figurative language to express feelings and ideas.

Collection 4: The student will be able to:

• Identify tone and evaluate the reasoning used to support a claim
• Analyze the structure of an informational text and paraphrase central ideas and details
• Identify and analyze how imagery and extended metaphor can express a particular message or idea.

There are places in the materials where students encounter specific analysis questions that meet the expectation of this indicator, but they are not consistently placed across the year's worth of materials. Examples are similar to:

• From Collection 3: “Under the heading ‘Sunburned Rock,’ examine lines 119-130. What pattern of organization is evident in these paragraphs? What details help you to recognize it?” (page 166).
• From Collection 4: “What does the speaker mean when she says, ‘I battered the cordons around me’?” (page 214).

"Rogue Wave" by Theodore Taylor. Lesson Focus: Analyzing Story Elements; Key Learning Objective: "The student will be able to identify, analyze, and make inferences about the elements of plot in a short story."

Example Questions While Reading:

• "Reread lines 1-10. Why might the author include this information?"
• "What makes the setting a potentially dangerous place?"
• "Use textual evidence to support an inference about Sully's abilities as a sailor."
• "Use textual evidence to identify the external conflict."
• "Explain how these two settings now impact the plot."
• "Identify evidence in the text that suggests the added danger."

The support for the teacher to assess whether or not students understand the content and concepts being explored are minimal. Most of the analysis questions are noted for all-group discussions, which may prove challenging to support accountability in classrooms with large numbers of students.

Analysis of Materials for “Remarks at the Dedication of the Aerospace Medical health Center,” Speech by John F. Kennedy

The key learning objective of this speech is that students will be able to trace and evaluate an argument. The textbook gives the teacher the following to facilitate the learning and assess if the objective is understood by the students:

• Discussion questions during the reading include five focused on tracing an argument, one focused on author’s purpose, one focused on evaluating the argument
• Description of how to reteach the elements of an argument and compare and contrast listening to a speech versus reading it.
• Three short answer questions that focus on word choice and repetition, one that focuses on finding opposing viewpoints and counterarguments, one that looks at the shift in the argument, and one that evaluates whether the argument is convincing.
• A research report that identifies one space mission for medical research and describes it’s purpose and outcome and whether it fits with Kennedy’s views about space research.
• For this anchor text, much of the focus is on tracing the argument. In the whole class discussion questions while reading, the heading says, “Trace and Evaluate an Argument,” but the questions are asking students to identify or trace different parts of an argument, not evaluate its effectiveness.

The questions below are from the Teacher Edition:

• “Ask students to reread lines 31-42 and cite the lines in which Kennedy states his claim. Ask students to restate that claim in their own words” (page 186)
• “Ask students to reread lines 43-55, identify the first reason Kennedy uses to prove his claim, and cite the evidence he provides for support” (page 186)
• “Ask students to reread lines 56-72 and explain how the second reason differs from the first reason” (page 187)
• “Have students reread lines 79-88 and cite evidence of a counterargument” (page 187)
• "Have students reread lines 89-96 and cite evidence of Kennedy’s second claim. Then, ask students to determine the reason and evidence Kennedy offers to support this claim” (page 188).

All of these questions have the students trace, but not evaluate. The one discussion question that asks the students to evaluate is under “Collaborative Discussion” which has students pair up and discuss the validity of Kennedy’s points. (page 188).

Much of the directions in the teacher edition are for whole class discussions. This does not support teachers in assessing all students in the room. The short answer questions mainly assess the students’ understanding of Kennedy’s word choice, with one question for the following: counterarguments, shifts and evaluating his argument. The longer performance task asks students to look at another space mission and how it fits with Kennedy’s views, but this doesn’t support the key learning objective of tracing and evaluating an argument. The assessment components in this text may not give teachers sufficient insight into students' understanding of the content nor the concept being explored.

Materials reviewed for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations of indicator 2c. The materials do contain some sets of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts, but instructional direction for teachers to support students' engaging in this work is not consistent nor clear. The majority of analysis questions and tasks apply to single texts, although there are occasional cross-text tasks and questions. Students may not be prepared to demonstrate mastery of integrating knowledge and ideas as an embedded part of their regular work by the end of the year, and in this case the teacher will need to create or identify resources outside the materials to support their building knowledge and demonstrating skill in this area. The questions and tasks to support students’ analysis of knowledge and ideas is somewhat inconsistent as not all questions fully support the identified targeted skill.

Within each collection, text-specific questions appear in the “Analyzing the Text” section. There is typically a range of 5-8 questions following each selection. Overall, general support is given to the students. The questions have the skill that is being assessed in bold before the question. The directions at the top of the questions say, “Cite Text evidence,” which is italicized and highlighted. Many of the questions have specific lines referenced – “Review lines 17-31….”

Following are some examples from the materials to illustrate how they partially meet indicator 2c:

Although questions have the skill being assessed before each question, at times the question does not utilize the skill listed. In Collection 2 on page 86, students are asked to synthesize: "Reread lines 110-123. Why do the authors want neuroscientists to use 'tools of magic'?" Another example is in Collection 6, page 304, students are again asked to synthesize: "How is dialogue in this historical novel different from the quotations in the nonfiction excerpt from The Story of the Triangle Factory Fire?" There are multiple questions throughout the program that ask this, but there is no instructional explanation for the student nor teacher to connect the skill of synthesizing to the question.

The teacher's edition does include direction to stop and analyze different aspects of each piece while reading; however, there are no additional organizers, handouts, etc., to support learners in their understanding of the objectives. These will have to be created by the teacher.

Opportunities for students to analyze knowledge and ideas across texts is limited. If pieces are paired within the Collection, there are questions that directly compare and or ask students to look at both before answering a question. This occurs in Collection 2, which includes three related pieces comparing a scene from "A Christmas Carol," by Charles Dickens with a drama by Israel Horovitz ("A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley") and a graphic story, "A Christmas Carol," by Marvel Comics. After studying the main character and his interactions with the Ghost of Christmas Future students are asked to write about which piece is most believable in terms of the change in Scrooge's character.

In Collection 3, students explain how each of three poets presents nature, and in Collection 5 students compare forms in two poems. In Collection 6, Performance Task A asks students to review the three pieces on the Triangle Factory Fire to brainstorm topics or people to research for their expository essay. These examples do build knowledge as they ask students to work across texts, but they are limited examples and do not provide support for this practice over the school year.

The instructional materials for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations of indicator 2d. Materials contain some questions and tasks that support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills (e.g., combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening). Culminating tasks include a range of reading, writing, speaking and listening opportunities. Students complete two Performance Tasks at the end of each collection. The Performance Tasks require students to further analyze the selections that have been read in the collection and to synthesize ideas. Students then present their findings in a variety of products; most often as a written piece. However, there is little to no support within the student or teacher materials for students to successfully complete the Performance Task. The writing process is not modeled or directly taught in relationship to the performance tasks, and direct connections from the text-dependent questions to the culminating tasks are not always clear.

For some culminating tasks, the questions and tasks preceding do align and support students' understandings and abilities to complete the assignments. In others, the teacher will need to create or obtain other supports to ensure students have the knowledge and tools to complete the tasks. The teacher will need to attend to this varying degree of support over the course of the year.

Examples representative of the program supporting students in demonstrating knowledge through an integrated culminating task include (but are not limited to) the following:

In Collection 3, Performance Task A, students write a memoir, which corresponds with the first anchor text: "from Mississippi Solo," by Eddy Harris. The skills assessed in the performance task are taught through the close reading in class and the Close Reader. The key objective of the anchor text is, "The student will be able to identify features of a memoir and analyze the author's style." This objective supports the student's ability to complete the performance task as they are writing a memoir. Students use the collections anchor text as a model for their writing. For example, "In Mississippi Solo, Eddy Harris uses descriptive words to create vivid images that appeal to all five senses. Think about the images of your experience" (page 176). The questions and tasks of this collection support this task. Students have had the opportunity to build knowledge about memoirs and share the new knowledge through completion of this task.

*For Collection 4, a single performance task is provided. The task has students give a persuasive speech. The culminating task includes writing the persuasive speech and then presenting it to the class. The anchor text for this unit is a speech by John F. Kennedy given at the dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center. The side bars on three of the four pages of the speech, together with a complete page of instruction on tracing and evaluating an argument (page 189), provide students with steps and practice applying what the unit performance task requires.

Examples representative of the need for more support in this area include (but are not limited to) the following:

In Collection 1, students read a collection of short stories and myths and focus on analyzing story elements. The performance task at the end of Collection 1 is to write a short narrative story. Performance Task A is directly tied to the anchor text, "Rogue Wave," and the Close Reader, "Big Things Come in Small Packages." The textbook has the students read and analyze these stories for story elements. The performance task does align with key learning objective of the short story anchor text, which is "The student will be able to identify, analyze and make inferences about the elements of plot in a short story. The directions included say, "In the following activity, you can use 'Rogue Wave' and other texts in the collection as models for writing your own short story in which a main character or characters take bold actions in the face of a seemingly overwhelming challenge" (page 53). Students are using the collection texts simply as models for writing style and form and are not required to analyze or demonstrate comprehension of the texts to complete the culminating task.


* In Collection 5, students create a multimedia presentation after writing an informative essay. The anchor text for this collection is “from Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century,” by Jeanne E. Arnold. In this text, students analyze the structure of the informational text. This is followed by the students completing the Close Reader exercise in which they analyze a magazine article. The performance task is modeled after the instruction the students receive in the anchor text and connected close reader piece. However, the teacher will have to make the connections between that instruction and what is being asked of the students in the performance task as there are no specific directions connecting the two.

The instructional materials for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations of indicator 2e. There are academic vocabulary assignments and lessons present, but the materials do not include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts. Words and phrases chosen as the focus for the academic vocabulary sections do not always promote the building of knowledge.

Each collection has a box for “Academic Vocabulary” at the beginning stating, “Study the words and their definitions in the chart below. You will use these words as you discuss and write about the texts in this collection.” There are generally five words in this box. As teachers interact with students in text discussions, students have the opportunity to learn, practice, apply, and transfer these academic vocabulary words into familiar and new contexts. Additionally, critical vocabulary is introduced throughout each text. Students are reminded of critical vocabulary as they plan and execute Performance Tasks. However, there is minimal accountability and support to identify if key language has been employed or if students need more help.

Students are encouraged to practice using these vocabulary words for the following areas within the collection: Collaborative Discussion at the end of each selection, Analyzing the Text questions for each selection, brief performance tasks, and the End-of-Collection Performance Tasks. Once into those sections, there is no explicit instruction for teacher guidance. The teacher and students must remember to include the use of the words in these areas. There is no evidence of an actual scope and sequence of skills or a "year-long plan." There is little explicit vertical articulation of vocabulary skills or use of academic vocabulary across collections within a grade level throughout the year.

There are suggested lists and resources to draw attention to useful academic vocabulary, but they are mostly out of context from the texts:

• Students' texts include several reference pages on vocabulary and spelling (pages R55-R63), as well as a glossary of the academic vocabulary (page R79) and a glossary of the critical vocabulary (pages R80-R82).
• In Collection 1, the strategy of "Latin Roots" on page 17 is not connected to other texts or vocabulary practice pages.

In some instances, students are invited to discuss vocabulary as it relates to the text and/or topic and theme being studied. Support for these conversations and tasks is minimal:

• For the culminating Performance Task for Collection 5, there is a side bar in the Plan section stating "As you plan and present, be sure to use the academic vocabulary words."

The materials for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations of indicator 2f. Materials include writing instruction aligned to the standards for the grade level, and writing instruction spans the whole year. However, materials do not support students' increase of skills over the course of the school year or provide a scope and sequence for where the Performance Assessment booklet should be integrated to support the written assignments within the anthology. Materials within the anthology include prompts but do not include year-long plans, models nor protocols to support students' writing. The Performance Assessment booklet contains three individual units and one comprehensive unit. Since each of the six Collections throughout the year contain multiple types of writing experiences, in order to receive the full instruction on the writing process for each mode of writing, the entire Performance Assessment booklet would need to be taught prior to end-of-collection performance tasks found within the anthology.

The materials for Grade 7 do include opportunities for students to write in all modes required by the CCSS writing standards for the grade ( argumentative, narrative, and informative). It also has students do short research projects and gather evidence from multiple sources. Although it does all of these things, it does not do them in a complete manner. Teachers will sometimes need to add supplementary materials for certain tasks– rubrics, graphic organizers, etc. The anthology provides a simple outline to provide support for the specific performance task topic, but no support for the full writing process.

The separate Performance Assessments provided in the consumable workbook follow an appropriate sequenced pattern; however, some of tasks are not modeled for readings within the anthology. For example, Unit 1 sequence builds students toward writing a Newspaper Editorial, a text type they have not even read within the Anthology selections.

The instructional materials for Grade 7 partially meet the expectations of indicator 2g. While students do consistently confront and analyze different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials, the materials do not include a progression of focused research projects. Research skills are inconsistently assigned through the various Performance Tasks. The research skills required of Grade 7 students based on the standards are as follows: “Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standards format for citation.” The material found in Collections Grade 7 edition is not complete enough to teach students all of these skills. Teachers will have to add many support materials/graphic organizers and additional instruction to teach the students how to research for required standards.

Overall:

When looking at the Student Resources Index of Skills in the Teachers Edition, page R88, there are nine different categories listed under research:

• For debates, page R14
• Drafts of project for, page R9
• For multimedia presentation, page 260
• Online, page 88a
• For oral commentary, page 57
• For persuasive speeches, page 216
• Source for, page R8
• Strategies for, page R8
• Research report, page 190.

An example representative of how the Grade 7 materials partially meet this indicator's expectations follows:

Many of the pages listed in the Index of Skills are found in the Student Resource section. Pages R8-R11 are a reference guide for some of the performance tasks. In the guide, it gives explanations for how to “Focus Your Research and Formulate a Question,” “Locate and Evaluate Sources” and “Incorporate and Cite Source Material.” The descriptions for each section are about two paragraphs long. There are no organizers or additional support materials for teachers to give students. On page R14, there is one paragraph titled “Research and Prepare Notes.” This is in relation to a debate and simply states that students search for evidence in print and online. There are no instructions for how to do this and no supplemental materials for teachers to give students.