7th Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that texts are organized around topics and/or themes to build students’ ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.

Grade 7 materials are grouped around topics such as Unit 1’s focus on polar exploration, Unit 3’s focus on the value of water, and Unit 4’s focus on the use of steroids and human growth hormone; this intense focus builds not only literacy skills but students’ content knowledge. 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.

• Unit 1 Reading Closely for Textual Details “We reckoned now that we were at the Pole” presents students with “a series of texts related to the polar exploration, more specifically the 1911 race to the South Pole between British explorer, Robert Falcon Scott, and Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen.” Students are offered a variety of texts that give them the opportunity to build literacy skills and content knowledge including narrative journals, photos, videos, excerpts from novels, and websites.

• Unit 2 asks students to make evidence-based claims through activities based on a close reading of the three related speeches: Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1968 “Mountaintop” speech in support of the Memphis sanitation workers; Cesar Chavez’s 1984 California Commonwealth club speech about the importance of the United Farm Workers (UFW) union; and La Raza president Janet Murguia’s 2008 “Single Garment of Destiny” speech presented at the Dr. Martin Luther King Unity Breakfast in Birmingham, Alabama. As the unit progresses, students are expected to read and analyze the speeches with peers and then independently.

• Unit 3 focuses on conducting research to deepen understanding and is centered on the topic, “Water: Why is it so valuable? The instructional materials provide a common text that can be used to build background information for teacher modeling and as the focus for skill development lessons. The sources have been chosen because they are relevant to one of the possible Areas of Investigation that students may be exploring. Unit 3 texts include, but are not limited to:
  • Water in the Solar System: “The Solar System and Beyond is Awash in Water”--National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
  • Water-Stressed Countries: “Why Water”--Blue Planet Network
  • Sustainable Use of Water:”Water Footprint of an American”--The Nature Conservancy

• Unit 4 asks student to write evidence-based arguments centered on the topic, “Doping can be that last 2 percent.” Students are offered a variety of sources including articles, timelines, videos, and political cartoons which offer multiple perspectives on the use of steroids and human growth hormone. Students will use these texts to move from guided to independent practice for the close reading skills associated with analyzing an argument.

The materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 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. Consistently throughout the Grade 7 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.

• In Unit 1, students read a variety of texts centered around the topic “We Reckoned now that we were at the Pole”. Students analyze these texts via Questioning Path Tools which provides questions that require students to analyze language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure. For example:

• Text 6 “To Build a Fire”
  • In the first paragraph, what does the dog know that the man doesn’t? How does London use this difference and related details to compare the character of a dog to the character of the man?
  • How is what happens to the man an example of irony, especially given what the dog thinks in the first paragraph and what the man thinks in paragraph 6?

• Text 9 Scott’s Last Expedition
  • In his final entries, Scott’s writing becomes very different from the writing in his earlier entries (compare these to Text 2). How are the writing and its presentation of details different? What does this change in his writing style suggest about how his perspective on his experiences has changed in his final days?
  • What details recorded in Scott’s journal suggest how desperate his party’s situation was during the last weeks?

• In Unit 2, students read a three speeches centered around the topic “We organized”. Students analyze these texts via Questioning Path Tools which provides questions that require students to analyze language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure. For example:

• Dr. King’s Memphis Speech, Excerpt 2, Paragraphs 10-20
  • At the start of paragraph 18 Dr. King tells his audience:”Now the other thing we”ll have to do is this: Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal. ”What do the phrases”external direct action” and “external economic withdrawal” mean in this statement?
  • What evidence does Dr. King then provide to explain why there is potential “power” for the nonwhite poor of America in ‘withdrawing economic support” from businesses that do not stand up for “fair treatment”?

• In Unit 3, students read a variety of texts on the topic “Water: Why is it so valuable?”. The Guiding Questions Handout is used to analyze sources for perspective and includes text dependent questions that require students to analyze language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure such as “What details or words suggest the author’s perspective?”

• In Unit 4, students read a variety of texts on the topic “Energy Crossroads”. Students analyze these texts via Questioning Path Tools which provides questions that require students to analyze language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure. For example:

• Text 1.2 Historical Time Line: History of Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports
  • What do I notice about how the text is organized or sequenced?
  • What unfamiliar words do I need to study or define to better understand the text

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that materials contain text-dependent and text-specific questions and tasks that require students to build knowledge and integrate ideas across 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. Evidence follows:

• In Unit 1, Part 2, Activity 2, the Questioning Path Tools provides text-dependent questions such as, “In the first paragraph, what keywords and phrases does Peary use to describe the dangers of the 'leads' that Arctic travelers are likely to encounter?” These questions help student analyze texts as they build content knowledge about polar exploration.

• In Unit 2, students read three speeches centered around the topic, “We Organized!” Students work through each text in chunks to make evidence-based claims. Throughout the unit, students encounter several opportunities to respond to text-dependent questions and tasks that require them to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across these texts. For example, in Unit 2, Part 1, Activity 2, students answer text-dependent questions such as, “In the final section of the speech, King tells a story from his own recent experience of being attacked and then receiving a letter of support from an unlikely source. What are the key details of this story, and why are they important?” The text-specific questions “help students...move from literal comprehension of key details to analysis of King’s message in the story he tells from his life and the subsequent review of his accomplishments.”

• In Unit 3, students read a variety of texts and use information from these sources to organize a body of research and write a reflective research narrative that communicates their evidence-based perspective on their area of investigation, which can also be expressed in an optional multimedia presentation. In the Researching to Deepen Understanding Common Source Set section, the instructional materials provide text-dependent questions to help process sources as they build knowledge. Questions include, “What does the website suggest about the topic area: 'Water: Why is it so valuable?' What questions or directions for research does it suggest to you?”

• In Unit 4, students read a variety of texts and use information from these sources to write an argumentative essay. The instructional materials provided text-specific questions, via Questioning Path Tools, to help students analyze some of these common sources. For example, in Unit 4, Part 1, Activity 2, students answer questions such as, "What does the article say about the dangers of using steroids?” Questions like this one, help students see topic of the use of performance-enhancing drugs from different perspectives.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a theme through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).

Grade 7 materials include sets of questions and tasks to support students to complete culminating tasks in which they are demonstrating knowledge of topics and/or themes. Each module has several Questioning Path Tools that scaffold the material to encourage the successful completion of culminating tasks. The materials contain sets of high-quality sequences of text-dependent questions and activities that build to each culminating task. Tasks engage students in speaking, listening, reading, and writing which provide learning through integrated skills. Culminating tasks showcase students' demonstration of topics and themes through a combination of skills, print, and nonprint texts.

• In Unit 1, the culminating task asks students to write a text-based explanation about one of three final texts, including The South Pole, Ch. XII, Scott’s Last Expedition January 1912, Scott’s Last Expedition March 1912. In preparation for this writing, students read and discuss the texts and then analyze the texts independently. Because the focus on this unit is for student to read closely for textual details, the instructional materials integrate the development of explanatory communication skills into the close-reading process and provide Questioning Path Tools to guide students. For example, in Unit 1, Part 3, Activity 2, students participate in structured text-centered discussions in which they examine their first impressions of the texts.

• In Unit 2, Part 5, Activity 4, students write an evidence-based essay using claims they created based on “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” by Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez’s California Commonwealth Club Address, and “A Single Garment of Destiny” by Janet Murguia as a way to demonstrate their mastery of the unit’s objectives. In preparation for this writing, students have previously read and analyzed each text with text-specific Questioning Path Tools as guidance. In Unit 2, Part 5, Activity 5, “the class discusses final evidence-based claims essays...and reflects on the Literacy Skills and Academic Habits involved in making and communicating evidence-based claims.” This activity asks students to speak about “the process through which they arrived at their claim - how it emerged from their reading of the text and how they honed it.” They also listen as other students share their experience.

• Unit 3 asks students to write a reflective research narrative that communicates their evidence-based perspective on their area of investigation centered around the topic, “Water: Why is it so valuable?” To prepare for this final task, students explore topics, collaborate with peers, pose and refine questions, and organize information. Questions and tasks are designed to help students analyze connections that “aid in comprehension, deepen understanding, and prepare students to express their evolving perspective.” For example, students build their listening and speaking in Unit 3, Part 1 when they are initiating inquiry. Students initially explore a topic and build background knowledge through reading and text-centered discussion, then initiate inquiry by generating questions collaboratively that can frame and direct their research.

• The final goal of Unit 4 is for students to be able to write an evidence-based argument centered around the topic, “Doping can be that last 2 percent.” In Unit 4, Part 5, Activity 1, “students learn about the collaborative, question-based approach to developing and improving writing...in the context of talking out a first draft.” This is part of the four components of the Collaborative Workshop. Through this collaborative process, students read each other’s papers and write and edit their own papers. This process is driven through peer editing that asks students to both speak and listen about their own writing and the writing of others.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that materials support students’ increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students’ writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year.

Grade 7 materials support students through the writing process in well-designed lessons, models, and protocols for teachers to monitor writing development. Feedback is provided by peers, the teacher, and self-evaluations to ensure that students' writing skills are increasing throughout the year. Students apply their learned knowledge to their writing and continue to build on it to make it strong and meet grade-level expectations following rubrics and standards.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Part 2, Activity 5, “students write a short paragraph explaining their analysis of the text and reference (or list) supporting textual details.” In Part 3, Activity 3, “student groups consider a comparative question and individually write an explanatory paragraph using their question.” The writing assignments in Unit 1 lead, guide, and instruct students to the final project, which requires students to independently write a text-based explanation by including paragraphs that are drawn from their notes from one of the three final texts they have read.
• In Unit 2, Part 4, Activity 3, students work in pairs to write “a paragraph that communicates an evidence-based claim using one of their claims” from previous assignments. In Part 5, Activity 4, students independently draft an evidence-based essay. The writing assignments in Unit 2 lead, guide, and instruct students to the final project which requires students to write a one to two paragraph evidence-based claim.
• In Unit 3, Part 2, Activity 5, the teacher models how to take notes related to a specific topic through research. In Part 3, Activity 4, “students develop evidence-based summaries and evaluations of relevant sources using their notes and annotations.” The writing assignments in Unit 3 lead, guide, and instruct students to the final project which requires students to write a reflective research narrative.
• In Unit 4, Part 1, Activity 5, “students develop and write a multi-part evidence-based claim about the nature of the issue.” In Part 2, Activity 7, “students write short essays analyzing an argument.” The writing assignments in Unit 4 lead, guide, and instruct students to the final project which requires students to write an evidence-based argument.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the criteria that materials include a progression of focused research projects to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area by confronting and analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials.

Grade 7 materials include a progression of projects found in each unit. Units 1 and 2 build skills, such as reading closely for textual details and making evidence-based claims, that will be needed to conduct the research projects outlined in Units 3 and 4. Units 3 and 4 encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area by confronting and analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and sources. Students engage in research projects that require them to analyze different aspects of the topic using multiple texts and source materials.

• In Unit 1, Part 1, Activity 5, students use Guiding Questions to independently explore UNESCO World Wonders Project’s “Scott’s Hut and the Explorers’ Heritage of Antarctica.” This activity asks students to “apply close-reading skills in the context of Internet research but also enrich their understanding of the topic and other texts they will encounter in the unit.” This activity also asks students to share information they acquired through the Internet research with their small groups.

• In Unit 2, Part 2, Activity 1, “students independently read part of the text...to look for evidence to support a claim made by the teachers.” For this activity, students read and analyze paragraphs 29-52 of Dr. King’s Memphis speech. This activity also helps prepare students for later research by asking them to find supporting evidence from a nonfiction text to support a claim.

• In Unit 3, students conduct research centered on the topic, “Water: Why is it so valuable?” Students choose an area to investigate and gather information to deepen their knowledge on the topic using multiple texts and sources. There is a learning progression in this unit to help guide students through the research process. For example, in Unit 3, Part 2, Activity 5, students “annotate sources and record key information, personal impressions, and ideas for further exploration.” In Part 4, Activity 2, students organize evidence and evidence-based claims in preparation for the culminating writing task.

• In Unit 4, students conduct research centered on the topic, “Doping can be that last 2 percent” and write argumentative essays; students choose an area to investigate and gather information to deepen their knowledge on the topic using multiple texts and sources. There is a learning progression in this unit to help guide students through the research process. For example, in Unit 4, Part 2, Activity 3, “student teams read and delineate arguments and write an evidence-based claim about one position on the issue.” This activity prepares students for the culminating task by asking them to analyze the text, "Congressman Elijah E. Cummings Urges the National Basketball Association to Adopt a Zero-Tolerance Drug Policy," “an accessible, foundational argument related to the unit’s issue.”