10th Grade - Gateway 2

The HMH Collections reviewed for Grade 10 partially meets the expectations that texts are organized around a topic and/or themes to build students' ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently. The Collections include texts that are organized around common themes; however the organization of the texts within the collections and across the textbook do not clearly guide students in developing their proficiency in reading comprehension and building knowledge.

Thematic organizations over the course of the school year focus on types of interactions among people and groups. While these are loosely connected, the selections are not necessarily tied together to grow understanding and knowledge around specific components. Collection themes are:

• Collection 1: “Ourselves and Others” includes selections about how people interact with others
• Collection 2: “The Natural World” includes selections about how people are intertwined with nature
• Collection 3: “Responses to Change” includes selections about change and how people respond to it
• Collection 4: “How We See Things” includes selections about how a person’s view of the world is affected by the senses and technology
• Collection 5: “Absolute Power” includes selections about how human ambition is timeless
• Collection 6: “Hard-Won Liberty” includes selections examining how people win their freedom from oppression

An example of how the texts within a collection are intended to connect to the theme is found in Collection 2: “The Natural World.” Sample texts include but are not limited to:

• “Called Out,” essay by Barbara Kingsolver
• “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” poem by Walt Whitman
• “from Hope for Animals and Their World,” argument by Jane Goodall
• “My Life as a Bat,” short story by Margaret Atwood
• “Carry,” poem by Linda Hogan

Another example of texts connected to a common theme is found in Collection 5, “Absolute Power.” Sample texts include, but are not limited to:

• “Why Read Shakespeare,” argument by Michael Mack
• The Tragedy of Macbeth, drama by Shakespeare
• from Macbeth on the Estate, film by Penny Woolcock
• “from Holinshed’s Chronicles,” history by Raphael Holinshed
• “The Macbeth Murder Mystery,” short story by James Thurber
• “5:00 p.m.,Tuesday, August 23, 2005,” poem by Patricia Smith

The organization of the texts within the collections and across the textbook do not clearly guide students in developing their ability to read and comprehend texts proficiently.

Students are frequently given a guiding question before their reading and comprehension questions after the reading, but during independent reading there is little guidance, questions, nor supports to connect concepts or highlight important elements to other texts or ideas.

The materials for Grade 10 partially meet the criteria that texts are organized around a theme to build students’ knowledge and their ability to read and comprehend complex texts proficiently. Although the collections are organized with texts that support and engage students in discussing a given theme, there are no structures in place within the student textbook to support students’ growth in reading and comprehending texts.

The HMH Collections reviewed for Grade 10 partially meets the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced higher order thinking questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics. Materials contain sets of questions and tasks, but they do not consistently require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts. Over the course of the year, instructional materials stay consistent and do not grow in rigor across the year.

Each collection includes sets of questions and tasks that require students analyze texts:

• In Collection 1, students will answer questions and complete task that require students to analyze items including, but not limited to point of view, purpose, tone, writer’s choices, and comparing tone in two texts.
• In Collection 2, students will answer questions and tasks that require students to analyze items including, but not limited to central idea, figurative, connotative and technical meanings of words and phrases, theme, claim, and writer’s choices.
• In Collection 3, students will answer questions and tasks that require students to analyze items including, but not limited to text evidence to support inferences, cause and effect relationships, theme, development of ideas, and representations in different mediums.
• In Collection 4, students will answer questions and tasks that require students to analyze items including, but not limited to development of ideas, parallel plots, tension, determining meaning, comparing poetic structure, and representations in different mediums.
• In Collection 5, students will answer questions and tasks that require students to analyze items including, but not limited to rhetoric, characters, theme, historical text, word choice, representations of a scene, and how an author draws on Shakespeare.
• In Collection 6, students will answer questions and tasks that require students to analyze items including, but not limited to argument, evidence and ideas in a functional document, rhetoric, interactions between character and theme, tone, and comparing accounts in different mediums.

There are questions and tasks that ask students to analyze the language, key details, craft, and structure of texts, but they do not go to the necessary depth nor increase in rigor over the course of the instructional year. Although questions are provided, skills are inconsistently scaffolded, so they only sometimes build students’ overall comprehension or understanding of topics. In addition, teachers will often be unable to tell from students’ work whether they mastered concepts of each component. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Theme is intentionally taught in Collections 2, 3, 5 and 6. Within, there are text-dependent questions and tasks during and after the reading that focus on theme; however, they do not increase in rigor from Collection 2 to Collection 6. The questions require the same depth of knowledge and are not scaffolded.
  • In Collections 2 and 3 students support inferences about theme.In Collections 2, students read a poem and are instructed to determine the theme by looking at images, descriptive details, symbols, and repetition. Students are shown a chart that lists types of figurative language to notice (e.g. metaphors), a line from the poem that illustrates that figurative language, an analysis of the line and then questions. In Collection 3, students read a poem and are told to look at imagery and symbols to determine the theme. These tasks are asking the students to perform the same skill in two different collections.
  • In Collections 5 and 6, students read the text and are told to determine the theme by looking at how the character changes, interacts with others, advances the plot and thinks. These tasks do not increase in rigor, so teachers will be unable to tell whether individual students have mastered the concepts. There are also no specific guidelines or rubrics provided, and much of the work is done in large or small groups or with partners.

The HMH Collections for Grade 10 does contain sets of questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning of texts and topic. However, these questions and tasks are not scaffolded in a such a way that builds knowledge throughout the year. Also, the rigor does not increase and it is unclear how a teacher will assess whether or not a student has mastered a concept.

The HMH Collections reviewed for Grade 10 partially meets the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent and text-specific questions and tasks that require students to build knowledge and integrate ideas across both individual and multiple texts.The collections are organized around themes. Most of the large performance tasks at the end of each collection require students to integrate ideas across both individual and multiple texts; however, there are some that do so at a minimal level. 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; however, the materials do not provide consistent, clear guidance for teachers in supporting students’ skills. Additionally, many of the questions and tasks are at the explicit level.

Below are representative examples of how 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; however, they do not provide consistent, clear guidance for teachers in supporting students’ skills and do not prepare students to demonstrate mastery of integrating knowledge and ideas as an embedded part of their regular work by the end of the year.

• Within each lesson, text-dependent questions appear in the student edition in the “Analyzing the Text” section found after the text, and during the reading of the teacher’s edition. There are typically four to six questions in the “Analyzing the Text” section after each selection. Most questions and tasks are not accompanied by enough instruction for the students to be successful in answering the questions.
  • For example, in Collection 2, after “Carry” the prompt is “Review the descriptions of water in the poem. What does the water symbolize?” (82). Earlier in the reading, the teacher’s edition asks two questions about the way water is described in the poem. This instruction is found only in the teacher’s edition and is given verbally, so, when students present their knowledge of this at the end of the text, they have no access to the instruction.
• The materials do contain text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to integrate their knowledge and ideas across multiple texts.
  • One example is found in Collection 1 when students compare tone in two different texts, a court opinion and an editorial. Instruction for students on how to compare tone is described in a small section. First, tone is defined and then students are told to “compare the language the two writers use, consider the cumulative impact of their word choices” (21). This is the only instruction for the students on how to compare the texts.

Representative examples of how many of the questions and tasks are at the lower end of Depth of Knowledge include, but are not limited to:

• Many pages have a “cite textual evidence” label; however, the sample answers often do not specifically cite the evidence and are at the explicit level.
  • For example, in Collection 3, after “Magic Island,” students are asked to infer: “Use your observations about the poem to summarize its meaning, or theme." The sample answer provided is: “The theme is that, while living in a new country may bring happiness, it is not without its challenges” (139) Textual evidence is not cited in this answer.
  • In Collection 5, after Macbeth, students are asked to compare the following: “In what way does this speech reveal a change in Macbeth’s attitude from how he has felt in the past about his deeds?” The sample answer provided is: “Macbeth realizes he has done horrible things. He feels trapped because he is in too deep” (260). Textual evidence is not cited.

The HMH Collections reviewed for Grade 10 partially meets the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent and text-specific questions and tasks that require students to build knowledge and integrate ideas across both individual and multiple texts. As shown, much of the support and guidance for students is found only in the teacher’s edition. Students do not have access to the instruction or questions to initiate thinking when performing the tasks. This will make it difficult for students to complete the task and show proficiency.

The HMH Collections for Grade 10 partially meets expectations for providing questions and tasks that support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic or theme through integrated skills. Each unit typically provides a writing performance task as a culminating project that partially contains the necessary skills for reading, writing, speaking and listening. In some instances, the writing performance task requires components of research and the writing process. Speaking and listening skills are also required in some instances. To complete the performance tasks, students draw on their reading and analysis of the anchor selections, and they are also told they can conduct additional research. However, support for students to grow knowledge via these culminating tasks is not comprehensive, and teachers will need to supplement the work presented.

Students complete one to 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, such as speeches, essays, and discussions. The questions and tasks preceding the task sometimes align and support students' understandings and abilities to complete the assignments, but direct connections from the text-dependent questions to the culminating tasks are not always clear, so it does not give the teacher usable knowledge of whether students are prepared for the culminating tasks. Interactive lessons are available to help students understand the procedures and processes for writing, speaking, creating media presentations and conducting research; however, they are not modeled or directly taught in relationship to the performance tasks. Overall, there is limited support for teachers to discern if students are prepared to proficiently and independently demonstrate their knowledge of a topic or theme through the culminating task.

A representative example of how this works in the materials is found in Collection 1, Performance Task A:

• Students are asked to make generalizations about how relationships define who we really are in a speech that incorporates media elements. To complete this task, students need to have a clear thesis and provide evidence from texts, and incorporate information from "images, music, and other media to enhance meaning and maintain audience interest. Students are to "Use clear language, emphasis, volume, and gestures." The tasks leading up to this include a response to literature, an argument, and a narrative; however, in none of these activities is a rubric, detailed guidelines, or support included. To ensure that the students will be able to complete this task in service of growing knowledge and skills, the teacher will need to supplement with extra assessment and support.

The HMH Collecctions for Grade 10 partially meets the criteria that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts. Materials include a consistent approach for students to regularly interact with word relationships and build academic and figurative language in context.

The instructional materials target key academic vocabulary words and provide some opportunities for students to practice the words within the contexts of readings, primarily in speaking activities during which students talk about the words. However, writing tasks may or may not require the use of the words or be structured in a manner that would require students to use them. Additionally, there is no cohesive plan for the development of academic vocabulary. There are a lot of critical words targeted within the Collection, but there is not enough practice for students to acquire a solid understanding. Additionally, groupings of the academic vocabulary words are complex and numerous for one group. Vocabulary at this grade level lacks a coherent pattern, and there is no means for teachers to track a student’s usage or acquisition of vocabulary.

Each Collection starts with an Academic Vocabulary section in the Plan pages. Within this section of the teacher’s edition, teachers are given general instructions on when to have students use these words. Each text within the collections also contains a “Critical Vocabulary” section. This includes vocabulary found in the reading.

Although the collections contain both academic and critical vocabulary, the opportunities for students to learn, practice, apply, and transfer those words into familiar and new contexts are limited. The support for students to accelerate their learning of the vocabulary with reading, speaking, and writing tasks is generic and unclear. The materials do not provide a way for the teacher to assess whether or not students have reached standard in their academic vocabulary growth.

Academic vocabulary is addressed in the following areas of the textbook:

• The Plan pages define the words for the students and tell the teacher that the academic vocabulary can be used during the different discussions, exercises, and writing tasks found in the collection. However, usage of these words during the discussions, exercises and writing tasks is not mentioned in the directions of the task. Also, none of the rubrics for the written Performance Tasks assess the understanding and usage of the words.
• The “Applying Academic Vocabulary” includes one to two of the academic vocabulary words found in the Plan pages at the beginning of the collection, and gives the teacher general instructions on how to incorporate some of the collection’s academic vocabulary. There is no included method to assess students’ understanding of these words or to monitor their usage.
• The student resources, "Glossary of Academic Vocabulary"
• After reading individual selections, there is a “Critical Vocabulary” practice and apply section. Here students complete a vocabulary exercise using the vocabulary from the text. For example, “Choose which of the two situations best fits the word’s meaning." These assessments may give the teacher some information regarding students’ understanding of the words, but it will not tell teachers if students can apply it in familiar and/or new contexts.

The HMH Collections for Grade 10 partially meets the expectations that materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class. The only support for Independent Reading is a page at the end of each collection in the teacher’s edition; however, the guidance for teachers is general with minimal support.

The independent reading program described on these pages develops slowly over the course of the six collections. Since the program is not fully defined until after Collection 6, it is unclear how students will regularly engage in reading outside of the class.

• In Collection 1 builds the library and the class creates the rules.
• Collection 2 has the students choosing a book.
• Collection 3 discusses how and when students will complete the reading.
• Collection 4 describes how students can record their reading.
• Collection 5 explains one-on-one conferencing so teachers can assess students’ comprehension.
• Collection 6 describes how students can share their books with classmates.

The Independent Reading page includes digital resources to support independent reading. The following are offered for each collection:

• An FYI site that offers online articles from magazines and newspapers. It directs teachers to help students choose a few articles to explore the topic that was explored in the collection.
• Additional Texts Collections suggests other readings.
• Novelwise helps students find longer works. This resource includes introductory materials, worksheets, graphic organizers, and discussion guides
• Nonfiction Connections suggest that teachers encourage students to read speeches, diaries, true-life accounts, newspaper articles, and political cartoons. No other guidance is given.

There is also a feature called Creating an Independent Reading Program. The following are areas of focus for this section across the six collections: Build a Classroom Library and Create Library Rules and Strategies for Selecting a Book, Students Choose Their Own Books, Daily Scheduled Time and Clear Expectations, Parent and Family Communication and Recording Books and Texts Read, Teacher Guidance and Feedback Regarding Text Selection and Progress and Student-Teacher Conferencing, and Opportunities for Social Interaction and Writing In Response to Books Read.