11th Grade - Gateway 1

The HMH Collections reviewed for Grade 11 meets the criteria for anchor texts being of publishable quality and worthy of especially careful reading and consider a range of student interests. The materials contain anchor texts written by established and credible published authors or well-known sources. Many of these texts are well known and would appeal to a range of students' interests. Text are varied and include short stories, poems, memoirs, myths, dramas, speeches, arguments, science writings, historical writings, and media texts.

Anchor texts in the majority of the collections and across the yearlong curriculum are of publishable quality. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Collection 1 the anchor text is an historical account by William Bradford from Of Plymouth Plantation. This excerpt describes the Pilgrims’ journey on the Mayflower to New England.
• The main anchor texts in Collection 2 are The Declaration of Independence and The United States Constitution. These two foundational texts are also expected reading at this grade level according to the Common Core State Standards and are included in this first collection as a basis for understanding the formation of the country and to create a foundation for the rest of the literature in the textbook.
• In Collection 5 the anchor text is the short story, “To Build a Fire,” by Jack London. London is a well-known American author and has written many short stories and books, including Call of the Wild.

Anchor texts are well-crafted, content-rich, and include a range of student interests, engaging students at the grade level for which they are placed. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Collection 4 contains a wide variety of text types to engage students. There is a speech, a legal document, a video, and a public document. The content-rich texts focus on the struggle for both the freedom and civil rights of African-Americans and the rights of women.
  • “Second Inaugural Address” by Abraham Lincoln
  • “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” by Frederick Douglass
  • “Declaration of Sentiments” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
  • “Building the Transcontinental Railroad” by Iris Chang
  • The 54th Massachusetts by History
  • “Runagate Runagate” by Robert Hayden

Anchor texts do not require revision or supplements in order to ensure quality. The majority of the texts throughout the Grade 11 Collections are written by authors of known quality in their respective fields. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation in Collection 1. The narrative that he wrote of his journey to the colonies and his subsequent life in the new world. While never intending it to be published, he did intend it as instruction for the generations of his family to follow.
• A portion of Walt Whitman’s poem, “Song of Myself,” is present in Collection 3. The poem is known for breaking many of the conventions of poetry and creating new poetical ground.
• The anchor text for Collection 6 is The Crucible by Arthur Miller. This work is recognized as one of the foremost allegorical pieces of writing in the American Canon.

The texts in the instructional materials for Grade 11 are of publishable quality and worthy of especially careful reading. They are high-quality texts that will appeal to a wide variety of students, as well as introducing students to a variety of writing types that they will come in contact with as adult readers. Finally, the texts throughout the collection represent many cultures and ideas to provide a basis for evaluative thinking on the part of the students.

The HMH Collections reviewed for Grade 11 meets 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.

Examples of texts with appropriate text complexity include, but are not limited to:

• Collection 1, “Coming of Age in the Dawnland,” history writing by Charles Mann
  • Quantitative - 1290 Lexile
  • Qualitative - The “Levels of Meaning/Purpose” in this story is rated at the mid-high level. There are multiple purposes that are implied, subtle and difficult to determine. The “Structure” of the story is in the mid-high range because the organization of the main ideas and details is complex but mostly explicit. “Language Conventionality and Clarity” is in the mid-high level of the scale because there are some unfamiliar or domain-specific words. “Knowledge Demands” is mid-low because there are complex historical concepts.
  • Reader and Task - Suggestions are provided in order to assist students in accessing the text in the “Zoom In On” feature. Teachers explain the purpose behind reading this piece, “[Students] should read this account to understand the political, economic, and social organization of Native American society before the Europeans arrived (23C). The tasks include determine author’s purpose and determine the meaning of words and phrases.
• Collection 3, “The Minister’s Black Veil” Short Story by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • Quantitative - 1260 Lexile
  • Qualitative - The “Levels of Meaning/Purpose” in this story is rated at the mid-high level. There are multiple levels of meaning. The “Structure” of the story is in the mid-high range because there are somewhat complex story concepts. “Language Conventionality and Clarity” is in the high level of the scale because there is ambiguous language requiring inferences. “Knowledge Demands” is high because cultural and literary knowledge is essential to understanding.
  • Reader and Task - Suggestions are provided in order to assist students in accessing the text in the “Zoom In On” feature. The teacher reads aloud lines 1-10 to help students get used to the writer’s syntax. Then the students form pairs and read the same passage aloud to each other.
• Collection 5, from The Jungle Novel by Upton Sinclair
  • Quantitative - 1310 Lexile
  • Qualitative - The “Levels of Meaning/Purpose” in this story is rated at the mid-low level; more than one purpose is implied, but is easily identified from context. The “Structure” of the story is in the mid-low range; the organization of main ideas and details is complex, but is clearly stated and usually sequential. “Language Conventionality and Clarity” is in the high level of the scale, because there are many unfamiliar, high-academic, and complex domain-specific words. “Knowledge Demands” is mid-low because only some specialized knowledge is required.
  • Reader and Task - Suggestions are provided in order to assist students in accessing the text in the “Zoom In On” feature. For a pre reading activity, the teacher has the students discuss work injuries and food labels. This discussion is continued after reading.

The HMH Collections reviewed for Grade 11 meets the expectations for materials supporting students’ increasing literacy skills over the course of the school year. Anchor texts and paired selections typically fall within the grade band; if a text is above or below the grade band, the qualitative measurements or reader tasks support students’ growth in literacy skills. The scaffolding of the texts and the tasks required of students generally ensure students are supported to access and comprehend grade-level texts independently at the end of the year.

The following Lexile ranges are found in the six collections:

Collection 1: 920-1440
Collection 2: 1250-1580
Collection 3: 900-1260
Collection 4: 1160-1430
Collection 5: 970-1410
Collection 6: 1100 (This collection includes one text measureable by Lexile)

Examples of the complexity levels falling inside the grade band with sufficient scaffolding and appropriate tasks that support students in accessing grade-level texts independently at the end of the year include, but are not limited to:

• In Collection 3, students read a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” which has a Lexile of 1260. The qualitative measures rate this as mid-high for levels of meaning and structure and high for language and knowledge demands. The reader task aids students in their reading of this text by focusing on determining theme and interpreting symbols. Students are told at the beginning of the reading to “[p]ay careful attention to how the minister’s veil affects Mr. Hooper and the community as a whole” (235). After reading, students discuss how the veil changes “Mr. Hooper’s relationship with the villagers” (246).
• In Collection 4, students read history writing by Iris Chang, “Building the Transcontinental Railroad,” with a Lexile of 1310. The qualitative measures place this at mid-low for levels of meaning and language and mid-high for structure and knowledge demands. The sidebar questions in the teacher edition focus on analyzing sequence and determining the author’s purpose. The Performance Task after reading has the students work in collaborative groups to discuss and evaluate the effectiveness of “Chang’s account based on details and events she includes, her links among ideas, and her points of emphasis” (312). These questions and tasks will support students in analyzing and comprehending this text.

Examples of the complexity levels falling outside the grade band with sufficient scaffolding and appropriate tasks that support students in accessing grade-level texts independently at the end of the year include, but are not limited to:

• In Collection 2, students read an argument by James Madison, “The Federalist No. 10,” with a Lexile of 1390, which is just above the grade band. The qualitative measures put this at mid-high for levels of meaning, structure, language, and knowledge demands. The reader task focuses on supporting comprehension. Teachers are told to “divide the text into manageable chunks, and have students read the text in small groups. Help students paraphrase and summarize the most challenging sections” (129C). Although this text is difficult both quantitatively and qualitatively, the reader task will support students in comprehension.
• In Collection 3, there is an essay by Kesaya E. Noda, “Growing Up Asian in America,” with a Lexile of 900. The qualitative measures put this mid-low for structure, mid-high for levels of meaning and knowledge demands, and high for language. The reader task for this text focuses on determining author’s purpose and analyzing language, ideas, and events. The questions during reading found in the teacher’s edition have students infer, explain the effect of syntax choices, and determine which organizational pattern the author chose. Although this text is below the grade band, students are being asked to analyze more sophisticated elements.
• Collection 5 contains an essay by Jacob Riis, “Genesis of the Tenements,” with a Lexile of 1410. The qualitative measures put this at a mid-low for levels of meaning, mid-high for knowledge demands, and high for structure and language. The reader task for this text focuses on evaluating the information Riis uses within his essay. After reading, students write an informative essay about what life was like in the New York tenements. They use evidence from the essay, as well as photographs and a video paired with the essay. This text is above the Lexile band, but it occurs toward the end of the school year and averages a mid-high for qualitative measurements. Students are asked to do a more difficult task - synthesizing and applying their knowledge - which is appropriate at the end of Grade 11.

Throughout the school year, students have access to texts at a variety of complexity levels. The materials support students’ increasing literacy skills by including texts that balance quantitative and qualitative levels with the reader task.

The HMH Collections reviewed for Grade 11 meets the criteria that anchor texts and series of texts connected to them are accompanied by a text complexity analysis and rationale for purpose and placement in the grade level.

The Teacher’s Edition contains Plan pages before each text which includes both the text complexity analysis and rationale for educational purpose and placement in the grade level.

• “Why This Text?” is provided for each anchor text. This gives the rationale for educational purpose and placement as well as key learning objectives. For example, in Collection 2 for the text pair The Declaration of Independence and The United States Constitution, the “Why This Text?” states: “Students must be able to analyze the documents produced by our nation’s founders in order to develop informed opinions on contemporary political issues. The Declaration of Independence states the unique guiding principles of the new nation. Students will analyze the themes and rhetorical devices ” (111A).
• The Text Complexity Rubric explains the text complexity attributes of each whole class text, the Lexile, and the places within the lesson that will help the teacher determine if the text is appropriate in terms of reader and task. An example of how this is prepared for teachers is found in Collection 3 on pages 221A-221C, “Against Nature” an argument by Joyce Carol Oates. The Text Complexity Rubric gives the quantitative, qualitative, and reader and task measures.
  • Quantitative - 1000 Lexile
  • Qualitative - includes a high, high, high, and high scale for each of the following measurements. Under the heading are two columns: on the right states the objective and on the left is a “Zoom In On” feature which gives teachers an activity to complete the objective:
    • Levels of Meaning/Purpose - scored “high” on the scale
      • Objective - “Help students analyze an author’s purpose. Help students paraphrase to understand complex writing.”
      • Zoom In On - Teachers are instructed to “tell students that concluding an argument, authors typically refer to ideas expressed in the introduction.” The teacher is then instructed to guide students through a specific process using lines from the reading.
    • Structure - scored “high” on the scale
      • Objective - To help students analyze and evaluate the structure of a text and to analyze how an author’s purpose influences form. Also to guide students in using text structure to write a report.
      • Zoom In On - The teacher is told to remind students of the three basic structures the author uses and then have students work in small groups to discuss specific prompts/questions.
    • Language Conventionality and Clarity - scored “high” on the scale
      • Objective - To teach; unfamiliar vocabulary in context, help students analyze complex sentences, guide students to analyze a writer’s tone, support students in recognizing patterns of word changes, and guide students to analyze how authors use quotations.”
      • Zoom in On - The teacher is provided with a strategy for students to use the guide on page 232 about parts of speech to do an activity to find parts of speech in the text.
    • Knowledge Demands - scored “high” on the scale
      • Objective - “Support English Learners in understanding the writer’s background.”
      • Zoom In On - The teacher is advised to use the background information provided in both the teacher and student edition to help students understand the background of the author through a series of questions.
  • Suggested Reader and Task Considerations:
    • On the right side of the page are things the teacher should consider before reading: “Do students have the comprehension strategies they will need to understand the text? Will students have enough prior experience with the vocabulary used throughout the text?”
    • Zoom In On is again on the left - This labels the goal, “Supporting Comprehension,” and then shares an activity students can complete to reach the goal. In this case, one activity is to “guide students to paraphrase parts of the text in order to understand complex sentences” and then it suggests the teacher model with specific lines and have the students do the same.

The HMH Collections reviewed for Grade 11 meets the criteria that most questions, tasks, and assignments are text dependent/specific, 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).

The majority of the questions within the textbook require students to support their interpretations and build their knowledge from the literal to the inferential. The materials also provide teachers with support for planning and implementation by including instructions on when to ask the question, how to introduce it, and possible student answers. Within each Collection, each text contains questions to be read during the reading and questions that will be completed after the reading. During the reading, each question has a bold heading that states the purpose, the question, and an example student answer. Examples of questions a teacher asks while reading include, but are not limited to:

• “Have a volunteer read aloud lines 76-80. Have students identify the lines that function as a transition to the flashback and the sentence that begins the flashback. Ask students to cite the past-tense verbs that signal that this scene is a flashback” (79).
• “Analyze Structure: Realism and Naturalism: Ask students to explain how the plot twist in these lines exemplifies naturalism” (339).
• “Support Inferences (Lines 473-474) Ask students to infer what Dexter is disillusioned with and what he still has illusions about” (425).

In addition to the questions during the reading, there is a section after the text labeled, “Analyzing the Text.” This section contains the same general instructions in all Collections that say, “Cite Text Evidence: Support your responses with evidence from the selection.” There are three to six questions in this segment. Each question is preceded by a skill in bold followed by the question; possible students answers are found on the left-hand side of the teacher’s edition. Examples of questions at the end of the text from the “Analyzing the Text” Section include but are not limited to:

• “Analyze: How would you describe Prosperos’ relationship with Miranda based on the language that he uses and on his use of magic?” (70).
• “Infer: Many people escaped from slavery by following the Underground Railroad, a network of hiding places and routes leading north. What words and phrases does Hayden include as allusions to the Underground Railroad?” (322).
• “Analyze: Justices Fortas and Black both cite previous Court rulings to support their argument. Choose one such example from each section, and trace how the justice uses that ruling and the legal reasoning behind it to strengthen his argument” (566).

The HMH Collections also comes with a consumable workbook called The Close Reader. This contains directions before the reading and a short response question at the end. Each question during the reading has the heading “REREAD” that is preceded by instructions labeled with the “READ” heading. The “READ” label gives the students instructions for what to look for while reading. The “REREAD” section asks students to answer a short answer question based on what they focused on during “READ.” Examples of questions from the Close Reader DURING Reading include, but are not limited to:

• In Collection 2, students read an article by Woody Holtman, "Abilgail Adams' Last Act of Defiance."
  • In the READ feature students are asked to read lines 1-19 and begin to cite and collect text evidence by doing the following:
    • “Underlining references to dates and events that orient the reader and provide historical context” (150c).
    • “Circle the main ideas in lines 1-9 and in lines 10-19” (150c).
    • “In the margin, summarize the situation that concerns Adams” (150c).
  • REREAD asks students to “Reread lines 10-19. In what way did the laws for single women and married women differ? Support your answer with explicit textual evidence” (150d).
• In Collection 3, students read two poems by Walt Whitman, “I Hear America Singing” and “A Noiseless Patient Spider."
  • “I Hear America Singing” asks students to READ read lines 1-11 and begin to collect and cite textual evidence by:
    • “Underline the different kinds of workers the poem catalogs”
    • “Circle the word that refers to the collective group of singers”
    • “In the margin, note the type of people the speaker ‘hears’” (186d).
  • REREAD asks students to “Reread lines 10-11. What attitude does the speaker express toward the young men? Cite evidence from the text in your response" (186d)
  • “A Noiseless Patient Spider” asks students to READ lines 1-10 and begin to collect and cite text evidence by:
    • “Underline the two subjects the speaker observes.”
    • “Circle references to web-making.”
    • “In the margin, explain what surrounds the ‘noiseless patient spider’ and ‘you O my soul’” (186e).
  • REREAD asks students to “Reread lines 1-10. With a small group, discuss the use of parallelism in lines 5 and 8. What do these parallel elements suggest about the relationship between the spider and the speaker?” (186e).
• In Collection 5, students read a short story by Edith Wharton, “The Journey."
  • In the READ feature students are asked to read lines 1-23 and begin to cite and collect text evidence by doing the following:
    • “Underline the images the wife see from her berth in lines 1-6, and in the margin, note what mood they suggest.”
    • “Circle text describing changes in the husband in lines 7-23.”
    • “In the margin of the next page, explain the simile Wharton uses in lines 11-23” (400c).
  • REREAD asks students to “Reread lines 7-23. What do the contrasting descriptions of health and sickness suggest about the wife’s relation with her husband? How does she describe her own reactions to her husband’s health? Support your answer with textual evidence” (400c).

There are short answer questions at the end of the reading under the heading, “SHORT RESPONSE” and the instructions “Cite Text Evidence.” Examples of questions from the Close Reader AFTER Reading include, but are not limited to:

• In Collection 1, SHORT RESPONSE: “What do you think is the theme of ‘Indian Boy Love Song #2?' What is the central idea about life or human nature that Alexie wants to communicate to his readers? Cite textual evidence in your response” (102d).
• In Collection 2, SHORT RESPONSE: “What problem did Adams confront and what was her solution? Review your reading notes, and be sure to cite text evidence in your response” (29-33).
• In Collection 5, SHORT RESPONSE: "What do you think is the themes of 'The Journey?' How does Wharton’s use of irony hint at a deeper message about life that the author wants to convey? Support your response with explicit textual evidence" (85-92).

The instructional materials include questions, tasks, and assignments that are text-dependent/specific and consistently support students’ literacy growth over the course of the school year. The teacher materials provide complete support for planning and implementation of text-dependent questions, tasks, and assignments by including information to share before the question and possible student answers.

The HMH Collections reviewed for Grade 11 meets the criteria for materials containing 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.

The materials contain varied culminating tasks of quality across a year’s worth of material, for students to demonstrate what they know and are able to do in speaking and/or writing. Students present a persuasive speech and reflective narrative, debate an issue, and write one informative, narrative, analytical, and two argumentative essays throughout the six collections. There are text-dependent questions and tasks throughout the unit that connect to the culminating tasks.

The culminating tasks are found at the end of each collection. These tasks are rich and require students to demonstrate what they know in speaking and/or writing. Below is a representative list of the performance tasks found in 11th grade:

Collection 1 - Write an Argument
Collection 2 - Write an Informative Essay
Collection 3 - Write a Narrative, Debate an Issue
Collection 4 - Present a Persuasive Speech
Collection 5 - Write an Analytical Essay
Collection 6 - Write an Argument, Deliver a Reflective Narrative

An example of a performance task that uses the unit’s text-dependent and text-specific questions to build to a culminating task which integrates skills to demonstrate understanding can be found in Collection 3: The Individual and Society.

• The performance task states, “This collection focuses on individualism, imagination, society, and nature. The anchor text, “Against Nature,” presents a critique of the way many writers have interpreted the natural world, including Henry David Thoreau in Walden. Do you agree or disagree with Joyce Carol Oates's critical assessment of nature writing? Synthesize your ideas by writing a brief argument and then debating the issue with your classmates. (HMH Collections, Grade 11, Collection 3, 271). The steps that follow appear in the materials to assist students in the performance task:
  • "Argue for or against Oates’s assessment of nature writing
  • Draw upon evidence from “Against Nature” and at least one other text from the collection
  • Follow an orderly format in which speakers from each team take turns presenting their claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence
  • Encourage a thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange of ideas in which participants respond to diverse perspectives, build on each other’s ideas, and evaluate the reasoning of other speakers"(271).

Questions throughout the text selections are written to help students gather information that will help them build their case in their argument and their debate.

• For example, one of the support questions from the teacher's edition in “Against Nature” states, “ask students to identify what claim Oates makes in lines 117-124 and how it furthers her claims about nature” connect her ideas in the previous paragraph” (225).

• Another example is from Walden: “Have students read.... Ask them to find one example each of personification and simile and tell what inferences they can draw from them about Thoreau’s purpose for writing” (208).

Another example of a Collection’s performance task utilizing text questions to build to the culminating task is in Collection 6: The Modern World.

• Performance Task A: “This collection focuses in part on the transformation of America into a modern society in which people strive for wealth, power, or immortality. Look back at the collection texts, including the anchor text ‘Winter Dreams,’ and consider what it means to be a modern person in our society. What challenges and opportunities of modern society are presented in the selections? Synthesize your ideas in an argument”(HMH Collections, Grade 11, Collection 6 601).

Questions throughout the text selections are written to support students in developing ideas about injustice and collecting evidence to support those ideas for the discussion.

• In the anchor text, “Winter Dreams," the author is still establishing the main character and the text directs students to “draw students’ attention to lines 162-167 and have them cite the two significant events that Fitzgerald compares. Ask students to infer Dexter’s goals both as a caddy and business owner.” The text then points to the correct inference of “Dexter strove to be the best in both circumstances" (417).This builds the connection to the ideas of the performance task in regards to people striving to build something.
• Later in "Winter Dreams toward the end of the story, the text directs teachers to “ask students what Judy offers Dexter in lines 657-659, and what this would mean to Dexter. . .Then ask students what she promises him, and how this relates to what they know about his dreams." The text indicates that Judy promises to be beautiful for him. As the narrator notes on page 417, Dexter wants ‘the glittering things themselves,’ and marrying her would be the fulfillment of his dreams” (430).
• In The Crucible, teacher instructions direct “then ask students to explain how Proctor’s confession might change the outcome of the plot.” The answer to this question, It might lead the judges to believe that Abigail only accuses Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft because she was out for revenge and that Abigail has been faking all along” (519) shows the power struggles that occur throughout this play, and that directly link to the ideas of modernity expressed in the task.

The HMH Collections reviewed for Grade 11 meets 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 materials provide a mix of both on-demand and process writing, and shorter and longer tasks and projects.

Representative examples of the writing tasks and projects are below. These represent both shorter and longer works as well as on-demand and process that are aligned to the writing standards.

• In Collection 1, after reading The Tempest, the Performance ask tells students to write an essay that compares and contrasts Prospero’s relationships with his servants, Ariel and Caliban. There are multiple steps students are to follow:
  • Identify passages that reveal Ariel’s and Caliban’s character
  • Identify passages that reveal Prospero’s relationship with his servants
  • Make inferences for why these relationships differ
  • Use a compare and contrast structure for the essay
• In Collection 5, the Performance Task has students write an analytical essay answering the following prompt: “What particular themes or central ideas does each writer want readers to recognize about reality, and why? What stylistic choices does each author make to reveal a specific version of reality?” (405). This task is an example of a longer process writing as students analyze texts they read in this collection for evidence, organize their evidence and details into an outline, draft, review with partners, revise, and create a finished copy of their writing. In this task, students must do the following:
  • Include a clear thesis
  • Present ideas and evidence in logically ordered paragraphs
  • Link sections and ideas using transitions
  • Write a conclusion that synthesizes central ideas
• Each Collection also contains smaller writing tasks like letters and journal entries. Examples include, but are not limited to:
  • In Collection 1, after reading “Of Plymouth Plantation,” students write a journal entry or letter “in the character of one of the other English participants” or “one of the Pilgrims who survived the first year” (20).
  • In Collection 6 after reading “The Universe as Primal Scream,” students “write a one-page summary of [their] analysis of the poem’s sound imagery (600).
• The Performance Assessment Practice booklet contains four units of on-demand writing - argumentative, informative, literary analysis, and mixed practice. Within each unit, students complete the following:
  • Analyze the Model - students read two texts and analyze a student model essay.
  • Practice the Task - students read two to four texts, complete prewriting activities and write the essay.
  • Perform the Task - students read two to four texts, complete prewriting activities and write the essay.

The HMH Collections reviewed for Grade 11 meets the criteria for materials providing opportunities for students to address different text types of writing that reflect the distribution required by the standards. Materials provide multiple opportunities across the school year for students to write in different genres that reflect the distribution required by the standards. The students write arguments, informative texts, and narratives. Writing opportunities occur within collections in which students write shorter process pieces following each text, and a larger process piece in the performance tasks at the end of each collection. The Performance Assessment Practice booklet adds formally to this by providing students with multiple opportunities to both observe students samples and write their own examples of two of the three modes of writing, argument and informative. There is ample opportunity for practice over the course of the year and all the writing is clearly connected to text(s), even within the Performance Assessment Practice booklet.

Examples of different writing opportunities in the materials include, but are not limited to:

• Arguments
• Analytical Essays
• Analyses
• Comparison Essays
• Reflections
• Editorials
• Research Essays
• Letters
• Journals
• Narratives

While the program does provide opportunities for the students to write to the requirements of the standards, the only support for teachers or students to monitor their progress is if teachers use the myWriteSource digital resource. Within the textbook, neither teachers nor students are provided with rubrics, checklists, exemplars, or model texts for the smaller performance tasks at the end of each text. The culminating Performance Tasks offer a little more support by adding a brief excerpt of a mentor text from the collection, a student checklist, and a rubric. However, the only way to truly monitor progress in writing skills is using the myWriteSource resource. With writing assignments in this database, students can ask questions with the “Raise Hand" feature at any time. They can also request that their teacher look over their work before the final submission. Teachers can send items back with comments to be revised if they did not meet the expectations.

The instructional materials do give students ample opportunity to practice writing in multiple genres. The support materials in the textbook are lacking, but, if the digital myWriteSource is used, teachers can support and monitor students through the writing process.

The HMH Collections reviewed for Grade 11 meets 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 reviewed for Grade 11 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. Throughout the collections there are a number of opportunities for students to write requiring them to either go back into the text to pull evidence or to conduct research to find evidence to support their analysis, claim, or other points within their writing, including referencing text as a basis for narrative writing.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• The Close Reader selections require students to go back into the text numerous times to respond to the questions and they all end with a short writing response, one to two paragraphs asking students to cite text evidence to support their answer.
  • In Collection 5 in response to “A Journey” by Edith Wharton, students are asked: “What do you think is the theme of “A Journey”? How does Wharton’s use of irony hint at a deeper message about life that the author wants to convey? Support your response with explicit textual evidence” (400j).
• Performance tasks found at the end of Collections ask students to go back into the text and to specifically use the anchor text and at least two other texts in the collection to answer the prompt provided.
  • In Collection 2 the performance task has students write an analytical essay. “Choose three texts in this collection, including the anchor texts, The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, and identify how each author, character, or founder finds a balance between preserving individual rights and forming a strong, long-lasting union. Write an informative essay in which you cite evidence from all three texts” (169).
• The performance tasks at the end of the selections within each collection require students to either go back into the selection itself or to do some outside research for the writing assignment.
  • In Collection 4, the performance task at the end of “The 54th Massachusetts” students are asked to using information in the video to create a position and do research to support that position. They were then asked to take notes and write a brief summary of the views expressed throughout the debate (316).
  • In Collection 2, the performance task at the end of “Thomas Jefferson: The Best of Enemies” asks students to “write an essay that provides a point-by-point comparison of these two visions, using Chernow’s article as a model for the structure and a source of content” (148).

The materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria for materials including frequent opportunities for research-based and evidence-based writing. The writing requires students to mine evidence from the texts in the book to support a claim, and it meets the grade level demands of the Common Core State Standards.

The HMH Collections reviewed for Grade 11 meets the criterion that materials include instruction of the grammar and conventions/language standards for grade level as applied in increasingly sophisticated contexts, with opportunities for application context.

Conventions and grammar are taught in two places: before the readings on the Plan pages under the “Language Conventionality and Clarity” section in the qualitative text complexity rubric, and after the readings in a feature called Language Conventions. The Plan pages, “Language Conventionality and Clarity,” define the grammatical term and then states a group of lines from the text in which it is found within the reading. The “Language and Style” section after the text again defines the grammatical term and references specific lines from the text that illustrate the term. Within this feature, there is a brief opportunity for students to learn and practice the function of language defined by the grammatical term under the “Practice and Apply” heading. Here students either look back at the performance task they wrote for the text to find examples of the function of language in their own writing, or they need to revise their writing to include the function of language. Occasionally in this section, students have to write a new paragraph in which they use the function of language.

Below are examples of targeted grammar and conventions from each collection:

• Collection 1: active and passive voice, dependent clauses, using colons effectively, syntax in poetry
• Collection 2: parallel structure, formal and informal style, transitions, hyphenation, point of view
• Collection 3: parallel structure, varying sentence structure, rhetorical questions, quotations, semicolons
• Collection 4: balanced sentences, rhetorical devices, avoiding misplaced modifiers
• Collection 5: consistent tone, dashes, anaphora, and parallelism
• Collection 6: craft effective sentences, informal style, dialogue

Below are representative examples of grammar instruction in the “Language Conventionality and Clarity” and “Language and Style” sections:

• In Collection 5 for the short story, “The Story of an Hour,” the “Language Conventionality and Clarity” section focuses on identifying word collocations. The teacher tells students that “common groupings, such as heart trouble, sudden stop or breath of fresh air are known as word collocations" (395c). Then the teacher shows a sentence from the text and works with the students to identify other word collocations. After doing this together, the teacher has the students work in partners to do the same strategy for three more excerpts from the text.
• In Collection 2, after the text “Thomas Jefferson: The Best Enemies,” the “Language and Style” section focuses on hyphenation. The first section explains that hyphens join words “into compounds so their meaning is clear.” An example of a hyphenated word from the text are then shared. Other examples from the text are shared in a chart with the purpose of the hyphens on the left and the example on the right. After the chart, students are expected to complete the “Practice and Apply,” which states: “Look back at the essay you wrote in response to this selection’s Performance Task comparing Hamilton’s and Jefferson’s visions of the future. Review your writing to see if you have used hyphenation conventions correctly. See if you can add one or two hyphenated words to streamline your writing or make your meaning clearer” (150).

The instructional materials for 11th grade include instruction of grammar and conventions in context throughout all six collections. All conventions and language standards required by the Common Core are covered, and students apply them to the texts and their own writing.