8th Grade - Gateway 2

Materials reviewed for Grade 8 partially meet the expectations that materials contain sets of questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in a coherent sequence related to the standards. However, over the course of the year, instructional materials and identified elements stay consistent 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 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 is inconsistent, with more attention and time placed on literary terms and the functions of those words rather than building students' knowledge. The following are examples of questions and tasks that help students analyze key ideas and details:

• Close Reader: Students examine whether slavery was the “cause of the war” and what were the effects of slavery through providing evidence (page 44). Students are asked to underline what the narrator learns and what she could have done to prevent what happened to her grandmother (page 74). Students are asked to explain what Anne’s actions identified in stage directions reveal about her character (page 102).
• Collection 3: Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad: Ask students to reread lines 33-46 to summarize Tubman’s actions in “running off the slaves.” Have students tell what those actions show about her character.
• Collection 4: “Is 16 Too Young to Drive a Car?” and “Fatal Car Crashes Drop for 16-Year-Olds, Rise for Older Teens:” Ask students to reread lines 39-49 to find details that support the author’s statement that states have begun to restrict 16-year-old drivers.
• Collection 5: The Diary of Anne Frank: Have students reread lines 2040-2066 to contrast the ways Mr. Dussel and Mrs. Frank communicate with Anne.

The following are examples of questions and tasks that help students analyze craft and structure of the texts they are reading:

• Close Reader: Students are asked to examine how the structure of the drama changes in a specific passage. They are also asked to analyze the effect of this change in structure on the play (page 95).
• Collection 1: “Bonne Annee” Asks students to find and consider the meaning of a repeated phrase.
• Collection 2: “The Tell-Tale Heart” Reread lines 80-93 to identify four places where Poe repeats a word or phrase. What idea does the repetition of “to feel” emphasize? What impact does the repetition of the word “stealthily” have?
• Collection 3: Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad: Students are asked to consider an author’s use of fragments for effect. Students are asked to consider repeated grammatical constructions to create parallelism. Students evaluate the use of this within the text.
• Collection 5: The Diary of Anne Frank: How does the setting of Scene 5 complete the structure of the play (p. 351)?

Below are examples of questions and tasks that help students analyze language within the texts they are reading:

• Close Reader: Students are asked to identify phrases describing Frankenstein’s monster in the book and film. Then, they are asked to find one similarity in these descriptions (page 38). Students are asked to examine the denotation and connotation of the words “motherly” and “watchful and protective” (page 66).

The feature “Critical Vocabulary,” found in the Teacher Edition margins, asks students to consider the usage of certain words used within the text. The following is an example of this feature:

• Collection 2, page 90: “Vex” Ask students to tell what it was that vexed the narrator. Why wasn’t the narrator able to kill the old man as he had planned to do?

Further opportunities for students to use questions that build understanding occur after each text selection in the feature called “Analyzing the Text.” Questions here are identified by the addressed skill or focus. Below are the types of questions that follow the reading of The Diary of Anne Frank from Collection 5:

• Interpret
• Compare
• Cause/Effect
• Infer
• Analyze
• Evaluate

Smaller performance tasks following each reading within collections also provide opportunities to integrate knowledge and ideas from the texts they are reading. The following tasks are examples from Grade 6, Collection 5:

• Speaking Activity: Response to Literature
• Speaking Activity: Narrative
• Writing: Literary Analysis
• Speaking Activity: Discussion
• Writing: Analysis

Throughout the collection, there are ample opportunities for students to engage in questions and activities at different levels to support their knowledge and ideas about the topics and themes presented in these collections.

The instructional materials for Grade 8 partially meet the expectations that questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic (or, for grades 6-8, a theme) through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening). 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, and 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 minimal or no support within the student or teacher materials for students to successfully complete the Performance Task. There is limited support for teachers to discern if students are prepared to address these tasks. 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.

An example, representative of the program supporting students in demonstrating knowledge through an integrated culminating task, includes the following:

In Collection 2, Performance Task A requires students to determine if Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” a text within this collection, is appropriate reading for students at this grade level. Students also read “Scary Tales,” an essay that supports the reading of horror stories by adolescents, as well as "What Is the Horror Genre?," a literary criticism that offers reasons to explain why scary tales are acceptable texts for younger readers. Included with “The Tell-Tale Heart,” are text-dependent questions that students use to analyze suspense and the narrator’s point of view. The performance task instructions ask students to think about the impression the story made on themselves and the questions and tasks they experienced would support the students being able complete this performance task.

An example, representative of the need for more support in this area, includes but is not limited to the following:

In Collection 3, Performance Task A provides an opportunity for students to participate in a collaborative discussion. This task requires students to make a generalization about the ways people responded to the Civil War, gather evidence for this generalization, and write an outline. After this, students orally practice presenting this information and evaluate themselves using the provided rubric. Speaking tasks within this collection ask students to prepare a speech as to why Harriet Tubman should be considered a hero and to perform a dramatic choral reading of a Whitman poem. Tasks do not require students to consider how the people they read about within these texts might have felt about or responded to the war. Additionally, the task of making a generalization has not appeared until this performance task. Students may lack understanding of this skill, and therefore, may make a random generalization. The task is labeled as a collaborative discussion; however, students are asked to determine a speaking schedule to present their findings for a certain amount of time, leaving time for questions. This is considered more of a panel discussion as students are not working collaboratively within this task to create greater meaning of these texts. Additionally, supports for this are significantly lacking.

Teacher supports for tracking student progress are not provided in the Teacher’s Edition. Teachers would need to develop a system of data collection to effectively and authentically track student performance and understanding to support students’ progress.

The instructional materials for Grade 8 partially meet the criterion that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts. 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. Each collection introduces five “Academic Vocabulary” terms at the beginning of the collection. Instructions ask the students to “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.”

While each collection targets academic vocabulary, the plan for building students’ use of academic terms is general, and specific words for each collection appear to lack intentionality. The program provides general reminders to “do” activities with the five identified words or “use” these terms during the pre-prepared sections such as Applying Academic Vocabulary and end of collection Performance Tasks.

An example of the generality and lack of intentionality is provided as follows:

• In Collection 6, the targeted terms are “commentary," “minors," “occupation," “option," and “style”. Performance Task B requires students to write an argument that justifies views about teenagers gaining work experience during their school years. In the margin of the assignment is a reminder for students to be sure to use these words as they plan and write their argument. However, there is no specificity about the way students should use these words, nor is there any way to ensure that students are applying these words. The “Review Your Draft” feature that asks students to review drafts does not ask students to check for use of academic vocabulary. The Performance Task Rubric does not evaluate for the use of these academic vocabulary terms (pages 441-444).

In addition to each collection’s five targeted words, the series highlight five “Critical Vocabulary” for each text selection. In the student edition, critical vocabulary words are “glossed” (an explanation is provided), and a longer definition and prompt for discussion is provided in the teacher’s edition. Below is a sample of the glossed definition, the extended definition and prompt for the text, “Marigolds” from Collection 4 targeting the critical vocabulary word, “ostensible”:

• Glossed: “If something is ostensible, it is apparent or supposed.”
• Teacher Definition and Prompt: “The narrator is explaining why the group stops when they are close to Miss Lottie’s house. Ask students why the children need an ostensible reason to stop before continuing to Miss Lottie’s house.” (page 216)

Critical Vocabulary is reviewed at the end of each text in a featured section by the same name. Students are directed to use their understanding of the vocabulary words to answer each question. Students demonstrate their understanding of “ostensible” in the following example:

• What might be the ostensible reason for telling about degradation?

This is an ambitious request as students have had only one exposure and opportunity to consider the meaning of ostensible. Also included are the following words: “poignant," “perverse," “degradation," “bravado," “squalor," “retribution," “impotent," “stoicism," and “exuberance”.

The aforementioned words are difficult and would need to be repeated within more contexts to ensure that students could acquire these words. One exposure with one opportunity to apply meaning is a cursory treatment of challenging academic vocabulary.

Close readings include critical vocabulary and include a place for students to write the meaning; however, it is nebulous how they are to determine the meaning. An example from the short story, “The Whistle” from Collection 4 is included as follows:

• The teacher notes ask the students to explain the meaning of paternal as Estevis uses it here: My paternal grandmother Carmen was a tiny woman, not even five feet tall.

It is unclear how students will explain the meaning if they don’t know the word “paternal.” The context is minimal and students may think “paternal” is connected to the physical size of the grandmother.

While the materials ask teachers to encourage students to practice vocabulary, support that allows a teacher to evaluate and monitor students’ acquisition of the words is missing. Therefore, the program does not clearly demonstrate students’ growth.

The materials for Grade 8 partially meet the expectations that materials support students’ increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students’ writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year. Materials do include writing instruction aligned to the grade-level standards, and sufficient writing assignments span the whole year. However, materials do not provide a strategic plan to support the development of students’ skills over the entire year. Teacher materials do not provide protocols, implementation plans, student mastery tracking to support instruction, differentiation, and student self-monitoring.

The Grade 8 Performance Assessment booklet does provide a break down using the writing process for three writing tasks: Argumentative Essay, Informative Essay, and Literary Analysis. It also provides a full unit of instruction including support for close reading, extraction of information, and the full experience of the writing process for each mode of writing. However, no guidance is given on how to utilize this resource, nor is it clear that this booklet comes with the textbook. Assurance that this would be provided and be available for teachers year after year would need to be confirmed.

The materials for Grade 8 do include opportunities for students to write in all modes required by the CCSS writing standards for the grade (argumentative, narrative, and informative). Below are examples of performance task writing assignments included at Grade 8:

• Collection 1: Informative essay/personal narrative
• Collection 2: Literary analysis
• Collection 3: Literary Analysis
• Collection 4: Literary Analysis
• Collection 5: Research and Write an Informative Essay
• Collection 6: Write an Argument

The materials require that students complete shorter writing tasks using evidence from multiple sources within the collection as well as research students gather from outside sources. These shorter writing tasks have minimal support. Models, graphic organizers, and rubrics are not included. Teachers would need to create their own system for including these elements. Below is an example of a writing task that demonstrates the insufficiency of support:

• The Performance Task after the reading of the “Tell-Tale Heart” in Collection 2 requires the students to write a narrative. Instructions ask the teacher to briefly describe the point of view and to have the students use the guiding questions in their edition to write their narrative. The narrative should provide an introduction that gives general information with additional paragraphs building on that. There is no instructional support for implementation, differentiation, assessing, re-teaching or remediation. Furthermore, there is no rubric, outline procedure, or graphic organizer to facilitate planning, reflecting, revising, or reviewing for either the teacher or the student.

The instructional materials for Grade 8 partially meet the criterion that materials include a progression of focused research projects to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area by confronting and analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials. While students are asked consistently to analyze and respond to different texts and topics using multiple texts and research materials, the materials do not include a progression of focused research projects. Research skills are inconsistently assigned through the various Performance Tasks and shorter writings that occur after individual texts within the collections. The following is an example of inconsistent skills within research activities:

• Performance Task A in Collection 2 asks students to present an argument. Within this task, students must do more research on their topic and use additional print and digital sources to find solid, credible evidence for their argument. Students must also search for facts, quotations, and statistics about the horror genre to support their claim. Finally, students must anticipate arguments against their claim and develop counterclaims to refute them. While the task requires students to apply research skills, instruction to help them do this effectively is missing. No support is provided to help students learn how to evaluate the strength or credibility of information found through their research efforts. Additionally, no support is provided regarding how students should integrate their research findings into their argumentative presentation. No guidance is offered relating to citing sources of information or with regards to the appropriate academic language that would be used to identify sources.

The research skills required of Grade 8 students based on the standards are as follows: gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, use 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 standard format for citation. The following is an example of a research task that would not provide the teacher or student enough information to assess, remediate, differentiate, nor re-teach these standards.

• Collection 1, page 70a: Students begin learning about credible sources. In the “Teach” section there are four bullet points describing how to identify credible sources. In the “Practice and Apply” section students are directed to develop a short checklist to use in order to evaluate sources. There is no criteria, rubric, or platform for the development of this list. There is an icon indicating an “Interactive Lesson”; however, teachers may not have access to these online resources. This is the extent of the instruction for this activity for both teacher and student.

The materials found in Collections Grade 8 edition are not complete enough to teach students all of these skills. Teachers will have to add many support materials, graphic organizers, and additional instruction regarding how to research for required standards. The following are examples of research tasks demonstrating the limitations of support:

• Performance Task A from Collection 1 requires students to write an informative essay. This task asks students to research and write an informative essay on the best ways for people from other countries to adjust to living in the United States. Students are asked to determine their topic and formulate questions to guide their research. They are asked to use print and digital research to find additional definitions, information and quotations from experts using search engines, government immigration websites, and real life examples, then copy information about the sources used so that they may be given credit in the essay. However, students have not received instruction within this collection to support their ability to meet these requirements. Only one section within the “Extend and Reteach” feature on page 70a addresses credible sources. Since this is not an integral piece taught within other assignments, but rather an extension or reteaching, the “Extend and Reteach” can be regarded as optional or overlooked by the teacher. Additionally, this feature provides no real examples of credible sources. Notably, no instruction has been included for using “keywords” to research, and no “works cited” instruction has been provided. Performance Task A from Collection 1 is a rigorous assignment with minimal support to help students complete it successfully.

• The Performance Task from Collection 5 asks students to research and write an informative essay. Within this task, students research and write a piece comparing Anne Frank’s experience to others during the Holocaust. Students are asked to formulate questions about Anne Frank’s experience which will guide their research about other people who were in a similar situation. In the research, they are required to locate facts, quotes, or examples which support or contradict what they learned in the reading. Students are directed to use library books and search engines within their research. There is minimal scaffolding to teach students the skills necessary to meet the requirements. No instruction relating to citations or works from cited pages is provided. There is no length requirement for this assignment. The Performance Task from Collection 5 is a complex research and writing task without evidence of the necessary skills taught prior to assigning the Performance Task. Students were expected to research and write an informative essay in a prior collection, but there was no skill building or scaffolding present to validate the expectations put forth in the assignment.