9th Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria that texts are organized around a topic(s) or themes to build students’ knowledge and their ability to read and comprehend complex texts proficiently. Grade 9 materials are grouped around topics such as Unit 1’s focus on the changing dynamic of education in the United States, Unit 4’s focus on the role of music in our lives, and Unit 5’s focus on terrorism. This intense focus builds not only literacy skills but students’ content knowledge. Since the texts are appropriately complex, these texts help increase students’ ability to read and comprehend complex texts. Also, the instructional materials allow students to develop a range of reading and writing skills. Texts are set up to increase in complexity both in regards to the reading difficulty, as well as the writing tasks complexity.

Evidence that the materials meet the criteria include, but are not limited to:

• The overview for Unit 1 “Develops students’ abilities to read closely for textual details” and “lays out a process for approaching, questioning and analyzing texts that help readers focus on key textual characteristics and ideas.” The theme to engage students in the program and skills is “Education is the new currency”; it “presents students with a series of texts related to the changing dynamic of education in the United States.” Students are offered a variety of texts in this unit ranging from photographs to an excerpt of Helen Keller’s autobiography to a TED talk.

• The sole text for Unit 2 is Plato’s Apology. The entire unit focuses on the topic of Socrates’s Trial where he is charged with corrupting the youth and being impious toward the gods.

• The texts for Unit 3 are in the pursuit of making evidence-based claims (EBC’s) about literary technique and use Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.” Three key sets of questions are introduced in Part 1, Activity 1:
  1. What specific aspects of the author’s craft am I attending to? (Through what lenses will I focus my reading?)
  2. What choices do I notice the author making and what techniques do I see the author using? What textual details do I find as evidence of those choices and techniques?
  3. How do the author’s choices and techniques influence my reading of the work and the meaning that emerges for me? How can I ground my claims about meaning in specific textual evidence?

• The texts for Unit 4 all relate to the topic “Music: What Role Does It Play in Our Lives?” While most of the unit texts are in the form of online articles, the variety of perspectives and subtopics increases student engagement. Unit 4 texts include, but are not limited to:
  • “Imagine Life Without Music” - Video
  • “A Brief History of the Music Industry” - Article
  • “What is Online Piracy?” - Article
  • “Why Your Brain Craves Music” - Article
  • “25 Most Important Civil Rights Moments in Music History” - History
  • “Why I Pirate” - Article

• The topic area and texts for Unit 5 focus on the theme of terrorism and what is meant by terrorism. The Unit overview states, “the texts in this unit are offered in the form of texts sets, in which texts are grouped together for instructional and content purposes.” Part 1 of Unit 5 introduces students to the concept of evidence-based argumentation and students read and write about a variety of information texts to build an understanding of terrorism as a definition and concept. In Part 2, students analyze arguments through close-reading skills and terminology used in delineating argumentation. Students read and analyze arguments associated with terrorism, response to terrorism, and terrorism policy. Part 3 deepens students’ abilities to read and think about arguments.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet 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.

In the User Guide for the 9th grade instructional materials, the teacher’s edition states that “at the heart of the Odell education approach to teaching closer reading is an iterative process for questioning texts that frames students’ initial reading and then guides them as they dig deeper to analyze and make meaning. This questioning process differs from traditional text questioning in that its goal is not to “find the answer, but rather to focus student attention on the author’s ideas, supporting details, use of language, text structure, and perspective—to examine a text more closely and develop a deeper understanding” (xxii). The tools included in the Odell curriculum are the Reading Closely Guide, the Guiding Questions Handout, the Questioning Path Tool, the Approaching the Text Tool, the Analyzing Details Tool, and the Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool. Consistently throughout the Grade 9 instructional materials, higher order thinking questions are provided in the form of both text-dependent and text-specific questions. These questions are embedded into Questioning Path Tools that are used by students as guides when analyzing texts. These questions help students make meaning of what they are reading and build understanding of multiple, related texts as they prepare for each unit’s culminating task. The use of the plethora of tools, questions, and tasks not only provides evidence of student understanding of definitions and concepts, but also helps students make meaning and builds understanding of texts.

Evidence that supports this rationale includes, but is not limited to:

• The curriculum provides the Reading Closely: Guiding Questions Handout which serves as guidance when analyzing texts that do not have provided, text-specific Questioning Path Tools. The Reading Closely: Guiding Questions Handout divides questions into four categories: approaching, questioning, analyzing, and deepening. Questions are provided for each section to address language, ideas, perspective, and structure.
• In Unit 2, Part 3, Activity 2, the curriculum provides questions that require students to analyze language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of Plato’s Apology. Questions include:
  • "In paragraph 13, Socrates says he is 'convinced that I never deliberately harmed anyone.'... Socrates claims that his accusers have been found guilty of the truth. What does this language reveal about Socrates’s perspective of himself and his audience?
  • In paragraph 11, Socrates states that he will give his defense, 'not for my own sake...but for your sake.' What details does Socrates give to support this stance? How does Socrates arrive at such a conclusion?
  • In what ways are ideas, events, and claims linked together in the text"

• Unit 3 develops students’ abilities to make evidence-based claims (EBCs) about literary techniques through activities based on a close reading of Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.” It is emphasized in the introduction to the unit that students come to understand that in a great literary work…”all aspects are significant and have some bearing on the total significance of the work.” The close reading of the text is guided by these broad questions:
  • "What specific aspect(s) of the author’s craft am I attending to? (Through what lens(es) will I focus my reading?
  • What choices do I notice the author making, and what techniques do I see the author using? What textual details do I find as evidence of those choices and techniques?
  • How do the author’s choices and techniques influence my reading of the work and the meaning that emerges for me? How can I ground my claims about meaning in specific textual evidence?"

• In Unit 3, Part 3, Activity 4, students use text-specific questions to discuss a section of the text and produce a second EBC. Using both their Questioning Path Tool and the Forming EBC Tool, students reflect on how Hemingway’s use of techniques affects the reader’s experience of the story. In Unit 3, Part 5, Activity 4, students independently draft their final EBC essay which will be evaluated for their demonstration of three key expectations and criteria:
  • Demonstrate an accurate reading and insightful analysis of the text.
  • Develop a supported claim that is clearly connected to the content of the text.
  • Successfully accomplish the five key elements of a written EBC.

• Unit 4 focuses on student research. For this unit, the curriculum recommends that the Guiding Questions Handout be used in conjunction with the blank Questioning Path Tool. The Guiding Questions Handout provides questions that require students to analyze language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts so that they can make meaning of the texts. Questions include:
  • "What do the author’s words and phrases cause me to see, feel, or think?
  • How might I summarize the main ideas of the text and the key supporting details?
  • In what ways are ideas, events, and claims linked together in the text?
  • What do I notice about the structure of specific elements (paragraphs, sentences, stanzas, lines, or scenes)?"

• Unit 5’s focus, pedagogy and instructional sequence “are based on the idea that students (and citizens) must develop a mental model of what effective—and reasoned—argumentation entails.” The unit focuses on learning about and applying academic concepts related to argumentation: issue, perspective, position, premise, evidence, and reasoning. The topic area of the unit and the tests focus on terrorism. New tools are introduced to support students which are specific to argumentation: Evidence-Based Arguments Terms Handout; Delineating Arguments Tool; Model Arguments: and Evaluating Arguments Tool. In Unit 5, Part I, Activity 4’s Instructional Notes teachers are told to have students use questions from their Reading Closely for Textual Details and Researching to Deepen Understanding tools to frame their own, more focused questions about the issue and texts. They use these questions to “drive a deeper reading of the previous texts or of additional texts providing more background and perspectives on the topic.” Unit 5, Part II, Activity 5 presents students with different perspectives, positions, and arguments for them to read and analyze. “Students will use these texts to move from guided to independent practice of the close-reading skills associated with analyzing an argument” (485).

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet 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 curriculum provides both text-dependent and text-specific questions to support students analysis as they read texts. These questions are provided through Questioning Path Tools and the Guiding Questions Handout. These questions guide teachers as they support student growth in analyzing language, determining main ideas and supporting evidence, identifying author’s purpose and point of view, and analyzing structure of text.

Both the student work with individual and multiple texts and teacher materials provide support in growing analytical skills of students.Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Unit 2 develops students’ abilities to make evidence–based claims (EBCs) based on a close reading of Plato’s Apology of Socrates. Students use a question-based approach to read and analyze the text, building and applying learning in the Reading Closely unit.
  • In the Questioning Path Tool (Part I, Activity 2) over paragraphs 1-3, both text dependent (“What does Socrates’s use of the word slandered reveal about his position? How does Socrates make it clear he is innocent?”) and text-specific (“In paragraph 2, why does Socrates ask a question to himself as if the audience asked him? How does this paragraph related to the first and third paragraphs? Why would Socrates pretend the audience is asking him questions?) are included.
  • In Part 2, Activity 2, instructional notes guide teachers through the reading of paragraphs 4-10 of Plato’s piece. “Considering the question and the claim, students should search first for literal details about what the oracle says and how Socrates responds. The questions in the Analyzing and Deepening stages of the model Questioning Path Tool should then help them read and annotate the text looking for additional details, words, and images that further reveal Socrates’s understanding of the oracle’s claim."
  • The Instructional Notes in Part 4, Activity 2 invite teachers to model with a draft paragraph to help students work with reading a written draft of an EBC.

• Unit 4 focuses on student research. While the instructional materials do not provide a specific Questioning Path Tool for each recommended text, they do provide a blank Questioning Path Tool that students and/or teachers could design for each source; the materials recommend that the Guiding Questions Handout be used as a guide when using this blank tool (page 420 of the Teacher’s Edition); the Guiding Questions Handout provides sample text-dependent questions such as, “What do you think the text is mainly about - what is discussed in detail?” and “What evidence supports the claims in the text, and what is left uncertain or unsupported?”

• Unit 4 includes a common source set to help students explore the question/theme “Music: What Role Does it Play in Our Lives?” In Part I, Activity 2, while the teacher leads a class exploration of a topic, students independently explore the research topic. Using the Guiding Questions Handout, students reflect on the video “Imagine Life Without Music” by answering three questions: "What new ideas or information do I find in the text? What ideas stand out to me as significant or interesting? How do the text’s main ideas relate to what I already know, think, or have read?" As students are building their own source set in Part 2, Activity 4 asks them to assess the sources by considering three key factors:
  • Accessibility and interest: How readable and understandable is the source for the researcher and how interesting or useful does it seem to be?
  • Credibility: How trustworthy and believable is the source, based on what the research knows about its publisher, date of publication, author (and author’s perspective), and purpose?
  • Relevance and richness: How closely connected is the source to the topic, Area of Investigation, and Inquiry Path(s)? How extensive and valuable is the information in the source?

• Part 5 provides the opportunity to analyze across multiple texts by asking students to communicate an evidence-based perspective. Activity 2 asks students to write a reflective research narrative explaining how they came to their understanding of the topic, the steps they took to reach that understanding, and what they have learned about the inquiry process.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria that the questions and tasks 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). The overall curriculum, as well as each unit within, systematically builds on reading, writing, listening and speaking skills to support students in achieving the tasks included. Questions and tasks, specifically designed to lead up to the culminating task for each unit, support students in building towards independence in their work and demonstrating knowledge of a topic. While reading and writing tend to be the focus of these tasks, speaking and listening are incorporated into not only the culminating tasks but also the activities leading up to them. Students are provided multiple tools, such as the Approaching Texts Tool and the Organizing Evidence-based Claims Tool, that provide guidance for students as they read texts and begin writing about those texts. These tools serve as formative assessments that help teachers determine whether or not students have the skills necessary to complete the culminating tasks.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Unit 1’s culminating task asks students to become text experts, write a text-based explanation, and lead/participate in a text-centered discussion. In the first part of the culminating task, students are required to “become an expert about one of three final texts in the unit”; in this section, students build and demonstrate their knowledge through reading. In the second part of the culminating task, students are required “to plan and draft a multi-paragraph explanation” of something they came to understand by reading and examining their texts; this section focuses on using writing to demonstrate their understanding of the topic. The final part of the culminating task requires students to “prepare for and participate in a final discussion;” this section allows students to demonstrate comprehension and knowledge through speaking and listening. The instructional materials also provide questions and tasks throughout the unit that serve as formative assessment opportunities. For Unit 1, Part 2, the instructional materials suggest that the Approaching Texts Tools for Texts 2 and 5 be used as formative assessments to gauge students’ use of questioning to focus reading, ability to annotate effectively, and ability to select details.

• Unit 2’s activities focus on a close reading of Plato’s Apology of Socrates. The teacher’s edition describes the sequence of learning activities as supporting “the progressive development of the critical reading and thinking skills involved in making evidence-based claims (EBCs).” Parts 1 and 2 focus on close reading and forming and supporting EBCs as readers, using Questioning Path Tools for additional support in this work. In Part 2, Activities 3-5, students work in pairs, as well as have class discussions, a process the teacher’s edition describes as helping to “develop a class culture of supporting all claims, including oral critiques, with evidence” (153). Part 3 focuses on preparing to express written EBCs by organizing evidence and thinking. Finally, Parts 4 and 5 task students with communicating EBCs in paragraphs and essays. This process begins with modeling of an EBC in Part 4, Activities 1 and 2, with students continuing this work in Activities 3-8 in pairs, class discussion and peer feedback. In Part 5, students work more independently to craft their EBC essays and work through a two-stage collaborative review and revision process.

• Unit 3’s culminating task asks students to read the final section of text independently, develop an EBC, and draft a multi-paragraph essay. This final task’s main focus is reading and writing. In the first part of the final assignment, students read and annotate the final section of Hemingway’s short story and then compare notes with other students. With the aid of the Forming EBC Tool and the Organizing EBC Tool, students then write a one- or two-paragraph draft of their claim using the Writing EBC Handout. These tools are used as guides for students during the process; they also allow teachers to gauge student readiness and provide assistance if students are not “on track” before they begin drafting their multi-paragraph essays. In the second part of this final assignment, students write a multi-paragraph essay about the cumulative effects of a literary technique that Hemingway uses. Students then use a Forming EBC Tool and an Organizing EBC Tool to begin organizing ideas and evidence. These Tools can also be used as formative assessments to ensure that students are ready to begin their final essays. After drafting the essays, students review and improve their drafts through a collaborative process.

• Unit 4 “develops explorative proficiency: researching to deepen understanding.” Using the question/theme “Music: What Role Does it Play in Our Lives?”, students collaboratively explore a topic, reading to gain background knowledge and choose an area of investigation. From there in Part 2, they focus on the “essential skills for assessing annotating, and making notes on sources to answer inquiry questions." In Part 3, students make an EBC and analyze key sources. In Part 4 they review and evaluate their materials and analysis, and in Part 5 they organize their research and synthesize their analysis to create a research-based product.

• Students can choose to write a reflective research narrative or do a multimedia presentation. Students keep a research portfolio along the way and “these products can be used as evidence for the development of the full range of targeted Literacy Skills and Academic Habits” (401).

• Unit 5’s culminating task asks students to read a collection of informational texts, develop a supported position on an issue, and write a multi-paragraph essay making a case for that position. Like Unit 3, Unit 5’s culminating task’s main focus is reading and writing. Students are asked to review previously read texts and the claims they formed earlier in the unit along with evidence to support those claims. Students then use a Delineating Arguments Tool to plan their essays. This tool serves as a formative assessment and can be reviewed by the teacher to determine if students are ready to move on to drafting their argumentative essay. Before final publication, students are encouraged to “use a collaborative process with other students to review and improve” their drafts."

The materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria that materials contain a yearlong, cohesive plan of writing instruction and tasks which support students in building and communicating substantive understanding of topics and texts.

Within every unit, students practice writing and speaking from sources. The mode of writing they practice, the process they use, and the independence they are given varies based on the focus of the unit and where the unit is placed in the year. Students use graphic organizers to develop short sentences and paragraphs that communicate their thinking as they read texts. Students write formal paragraphs and short expository essays. Students then break claims into component premises and develop arguments. By the end of the year, students plan, write, and publish thesis-driven academic arguments, making the case for a position related to texts and their content.

The collaboration workshop is a question-based approach for developing writing. Students work through a process that is collaborative, question-based, and criteria-driven. Students are taught to think of essays as a process rather than a product and that conversation, contemplation, consideration, and revision are part of the process.

The following learning principles are used to facilitate student writing development:

• Independence: Students are encouraged to be reflective and develop their own writing process rather than following the writing process in a rote and mechanical way.
• Collaboration: Students are encouraged to seek and use constructive feedback from others.
• Clear Criteria: Criteria is provided to describe the essential characteristics of a desired writing product.
• Guiding Questions: Students are expected to use guiding and text-based questions to promote close reading and the development of their drafts.
• Evidence: Students use and integrate evidence through references, quotations, or paraphrasing.

Each writing activity includes a teacher demonstration lesson and class time is dedicated for students to free write, experiment, draft, revise, and edit their writings. Students engage in discussions surrounding their writings and ask and answer questions about their writing. Students are also provided multiple opportunities to read aloud and share their writings throughout the process to receive feedback. The writing process moves through an increasingly focused sequence of activities, such as getting started, thinking, organization, evidence, connecting ideas, expression, final editing, and publication.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria that materials include a progression of focused, shared research, and writing projects to encourage students to synthesize knowledge and understanding of a topic using texts and other source materials. Grade 9 provides research opportunities throughout the year’s instructional materials. Research skills are built into several contexts and culminating tasks, representing both short and long projects. In preparation for these final tasks, students read and write about texts and participate as both speakers and listeners in class discussions. Units 1, 4, and 5 provide multiple texts that give students access to a variety of sources about a topic. Many resources are available for students and teachers to learn, practice, apply, and transfer skills as they gain proficiency of the skills necessary for research.

Each unit ends with a culminating writing task. Unit 1 asks students to write a text-based explanation. In Units 2 and 3, students write global evidence-based claims (EBC) essays. In Unit 4, students write a reflective research narrative. In Unit 5, students write an evidence-based argumentative essay. These writing assignments, all requiring evidence from text, increase in difficulty as the year progresses. The expectations for student independence also increase as the school year progresses. Specific details of writing tasks include:

• Throughout Unit 1, students read a variety of texts centered around the topic of the Education in the United States. For example, in Unit 1, Part 1, Activity 4, students analyze the TED Talk “Changing Education Paradigms.” This video helps students view education from a different perspective than they are used to. They learn about education reform and the barriers of traditional education. During this activity, student are conducting mini-research as they watch the video, write about the video in small groups, and analyze the video during a class discussion. This text and the work they accomplished will serve as a resource for the culminating writing task.
• Unit 2 is centered on research skills such as making EBCs and close reading “not simply to report information expected by their teachers” but instead learning to approach texts “with their own authority and the confidence to support their analysis” (126). The primary CCSS for Unit 2 is RI.1 and W.9b—“cite evidence to support analysis of explicit and inferential textual meaning”—both crucial to research. The Learning Progression of Unit 2 supports the progressive development of critical reading and thinking skills in making EBCs and culminates in an Evidence Based Writing. In Part 5, Activity 1, students return to the end of Socrates’s speech and do a closer rereading of these lines from the end of the text:“When my sons grow up, punish them by getting in their face as I’ve gotten in yours. If you think they care more about money or anything else than they do about virtue; and if they take themselves to be very important when they aren’t rebuke them for, the way I’ve rebuked you, for not paying attention to what they should and for thinking they’re important when they’re worthless.” From there they consider these lines within the context of the theme “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Activities 2-6 move from framing global EBCs to a class discussion of final EBC essays.
• Unit 3 is focused on the text, “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.” The unit’s activities are designed to prepare students for the culminating writing task which is a global evidence-based essay on literary technique. For example in Unit 3, Part 2, Activity 1, “students independently read paragraphs 18 through 106 and use the Supporting EBC Tool to look for evidence to support a claim…” Teachers are provided lesson guidance through the Instructional Notes and are encouraged to model the use of the tools students will use throughout the instructional materials as they conduct research. Students are already beginning to organize the evidence for their writing as they use the Supporting EBC Tool and the Forming EBC Tool. These tools help students find and record evidence that will be used later in the unit’s final writing. This activity is followed by a read aloud and class discussion of the text.
• Unit 4 is completely grounded in research and is based on four components: choosing a topical area of interest to research, conducting a research process, compiling a research portfolio, and communicating a researched perspective. The Parts of Unit 4 are sequenced to facilitate a progression of research skills. Part 1 initiates Inquiry with an introductory discussion of research using the question/focus, “Music: What Role Does it Play in Our Lives?” Part 2 is focused on gathering information and teaches students to conduct searches and assess and annotate sources. Resources available to students in Part 2 include the Research Frame Tool and the Taking Notes Tool. Part 3 focuses on deepening understanding, helping students draw personal conclusions about their Area of Investigation. The tools available for student in the Student Edition are the Forming Evidence-Based Claims Research Tool, the Analyzing Details Tool and the Research Frame Tool. Finally Part 4 focuses on “Finalizing Inquiry” where students evaluate research and, in Activity 3, “review and discuss their Research Frames and researched materials to determine relevance, coherence, and sufficiency” (383).
• Unit 5 is a research-based unit where students learn about terrorism. The instructional materials are designed so that students learn that terrorism is “a complex topic with many perspectives and positions - not a simple pro and con arena for debate - which enables the teacher and students to approach and study the issue from many possible angles” (443). Unit 5 consists of five parts that serve as short research-based assignments that build toward the final evidence-based argumentative essay. In Unit 5, Part 2, Activity 3, students, in teams, read and describe arguments and write EBCs. Questioning Path Tools serve as support for students, and Text Notes are provided to support the teacher as he/she helps students become more independent during the research process (481-483).