7th Grade - Gateway 3

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation that materials are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing.

The materials for each grade level contain five “Guidebooks” or units of study. Units include Written in Bone, Christmas Carol, The Giver, Memoir, and Behind the Scenes. These units are designed around a collection of texts that support a common idea. Each unit is divided into sections that contain lessons. Lessons follow a predictable backward design model and have a suggested pacing of 50 minutes per lesson and also includes a plan for 90 minute block classes. There is a Roadmap document provided for teachers to complete and share with students that helps teachers and students understand the purposeful layout of the lessons. Each lesson launches with a “Let’s Review” section, so students can reflect on what they learned leading up to that lesson, and a “Let’s Prepare” section so they know the learning outcomes of the lesson, what materials they will need for the lesson, and how they will demonstrate their understanding at the end of the lesson. After teachers launch the lesson, they guide students through a series of tasks that build their understanding of the targeted skills. These tasks are focused on reading (“Let’s Read!”), vocabulary and language (“Let’s Work with Words!”), speaking and listening (“Let’s Discuss!”), and writing (“Let’s Practice!). Each lesson concludes with a “Let’s Express Our Understanding!” section which is a formative assessment of what the students learned during the lesson. Finally, the “Let’s Close!” section at the end of the lesson reminds the students what they accomplished during the lesson.

• In "The Giver" Unit, Lesson 4, the teacher launches the lesson by reminding students that they recently “paraphrased the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, compared values between our society and Jonas’, and began to consider unit essential questions.” The teacher then shares the activities for the lesson: begin reading Chapter 2 of The Giver and make inferences about Jonas’ community (the text’s setting) based on character interactions. The teacher also points out what materials the students will need for the lesson. The students then perform a series of tasks which include reading, listening, speaking and writing.  
• In the “Memoir” Unit, Lesson 13, the teacher launches the lesson by reminding students that they recently “began to analyze how our independent reading memoirs follow advice for memoir writers.” The teacher then shares the activities for the lesson: read “Eleven” from Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories by Sandra Cisneros and identify external and internal conflicts. The teacher also points out what materials the students will need for the lesson. The students then perform a series of tasks which involve reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills.  
• In the "Written in Bone" Unit, in all lessons, the teacher is given suggested pacing for each part of a lesson. For example, in Lesson 1 the suggested pacing for the “Let’s Review!” section is two minutes. Later in the lesson the students participate in a journal task and seven minutes is the suggested time. In the “Let’s Discuss!” section, seven minutes is the suggested time for a discussion on forensic anthropology and the title of the book.
• In the "Christmas Carol" Unit, Lessons 26-31, students participate in six lessons so “Students continue engaging in the writing process to answer the prompt for the Culminating Writing task: "What does Dickens want us to understand about the 'business' of being human?”
• In the "Behind the Scenes" Unit,  there are 43 lessons and five quizzes designed in a sequential order.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation that the teacher and student can reasonably complete the content within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.  

All information regarding pacing and content can be found within the “What’s in the Curriculum?” and “How do I prepare to teach Guidebooks?” Guidebooks. Also, instructors are presented further pacing overviews through the “Assessment Overview” in every unit. This allows instructors to see the backwards design implemented within every unit. Each lesson equates to roughly 50 minutes, and a full academic year contains four units; however, there are five units included that can be used, depending on individual instructor pacing. The units included are as follows: Written in Bone, Christmas Carol, The Giver, Memoir, Behind the Scenes.

• Within “What’s in the Curriculum?” Guidebook, Suggested Pacing provides the following information regarding “how long a slide might take; however, this is a suggestion, not a mandate. The pacing for each lesson totals no more than 50 minutes, but teachers will likely find they need to spend more time on some lessons depending on the needs of their students. Thus, teachers can adjust the lesson timing as needed given their school schedule and students’ needs. When adjusting the pacing, consider the ratio of time. Pacing is a meaningful signal about where the focus of a lesson is--the biggest chunk of time often signals the most important part of the lesson and where teachers should think first about what scaffolding needs to be in place to ensure productive struggle. A full academic year includes four Guidebook units.”
• In the “How do I prepare to teach Guidebooks?” Guidebook, the following design is indicated: “The units use a backwards design model, which means the lessons and sections build students’ knowledge and skill in preparation for the unit assessments. The unit assessments are aligned to end-of-year expectations and grade-level standards.” The Guidebook gives the following two examples: 1). “In a section, students might read the same text multiple times across several lessons or students might read several texts to extract evidence and ideas to complete a task, such as writing an essay, delivering a formal presentation, or engaging in a Socratic seminar.” 2). “In a lesson, students engage with one or more unit texts to build the knowledge and skills they will need for the unit assessments.”
• Within the “Memoir” Unit, in the “Assessment Overview,” students are presented with the following major tasks that will be completed throughout the unit: Daily Formative Assessments, Section Quizzes, Culminating Writing task, Extension task, Cold Read task.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation that the student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions, and explanation, and correct labeling of reference aids (e.g., visuals, maps, etc.).  

Each lesson ends with “Let’s Express Our Understanding!” which is a formative assessment that allows students and teachers to monitor learning progressions. Digital quizzes at the end of sections provide progress check-ins and practice for standardized testing. Unit assessments gauge the students’ ability to apply what they are learning over the course of the unit by reading, understanding, and expressing their knowledge of a complex grade-level text. Within the lesson plan structure, activities are scaffolded and structured in such a way that students have ample opportunities to practice skills. There are a clear step-by-step directions and explanations for both teachers and students for every phase of the teaching and learning process. Supplemental materials are provided for each lesson and are well-labeled and organized. Each lesson also references the standards addressed and the goal.

• In all Units, clear directions and explanations are included in each lesson design.  Each lesson launches with “Let’s Review!” and “Let’s Prepare!” and ends with an assessment of student learning through “Let’s Express Our Understanding!” and “Let’s Close!” Each lesson includes at least one or more tasks focused on reading (“Let’s Read!”), vocabulary and language (“Let’s Work With Words!”), speaking and listening (“Let’s Discuss!”), or writing (“Let’s Practice!”). In the “Let’s Close!”, students are provided a summary of the lesson they just completed.
• In the “Memoir” Unit, Lesson 10, students prepare for a literature circle discussion. At the end of the lesson, after analyzing different aspects of their independent reading memoirs, and preparing to participate in a literature circle discussion, they express their understanding of the lesson by filling out a handout on their assigned literature circle role.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation that materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items.

Within every unit, instructors are presented with a scope and sequence that indicates all standards listed within the CCSS for ELA: Reading literature (RL), reading informational (RI), writing (W), speaking & listening (SL), and language (L). When viewing individual lessons standards appear under the title of the lesson, and when accessing lessons, the standards still appear in list format at the top of the lesson, above the slides; however, when instructors hover over the standard a detailed description from CCSS is provided.

• In each unit,  a Scope and Sequence document is included which identifies which Common Core Standards are addressed in each section of the unit. For example, in Section 1 of the "Written in Bone" Unit, the  informational reading standards covered are  RI 7.1, RI 7.2, RI 7.4, RI 7.5, RI 7.6, RI 7.7, RI 7.8, and RI 7.10. There are no literature standards covered in this section, as the text is only informational.
• For each Cold Read task, the answer key provides the Common Core Standards for each questions. For example, in "The Giver" Unit, the first question of the Cold Read task measures mastery of CCSS: RL.7.1, RL.7.4, RL.7.10.
• In each lesson the standards addressed in that particular lesson are listed on every page of the Lesson Plan. For example, in the "Behind the Scenes" Unit, Lesson 14 covers these standards RI.7.1, RI.7.10, RI.7.2, RI.7.4, SL.7.1, W.7.10, W.7.3. An activity that incorporates standard RL 7.1 is “Write a summary of the section of the text assigned to your group. Include the details you believe will most interest a student in another group who has not read your section.”  Also in this lesson, SL 7.1 is implemented in the activity, “Tell students that their summaries will be read by students in the other groups. If students finish early, suggest they share their summary with another student in their group, compare the contents, and add to their summary events they may have omitted in their first draft.”
• In the “Memoir” Unit, there are section quizzes with the standards listed for each question in the Teacher’s Notes section. For example, in the Section 3 quiz,  the first question measures Standards RL.7.3: “How do Rachel’s thoughts influence the plot of the text?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation that materials contain a teacher’s edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student edition and in the ancillary materials.

The materials provide detailed lesson plans for every step of the instructional process. The lessons are designed as slideshows, and as the students view each slide (“card”), the Teacher’s Edition lists detailed directions for explaining the content of the card and the instruction that goes along with it. Along with directions (“Teaching Notes”), the materials list “student look-fors,” “supports for differentiation,” “guiding questions and prompts,” and “additional notes.” The “Teaching Notes” also include links to numerous instructional strategies that can be used in the lesson. In the additional resources section for each unit, teachers have access to “Let’s Set the Context” videos that can be used “for students who need extra support with the content and texts in advance of the unit.”

• In the "Written in Bone" Unit, Lesson 5, Card 3, the “Teaching Notes” list these directions for the teacher: “Read the slide. Briefly explain how this lesson prepares students for another lesson and/or the end-of-unit assessments. Throughout the lesson, compare students’ responses and work to the student look-fors. Determine the students who need additional support with reading, understanding, or expressing their understanding of complex, grade-level texts. During this lesson or before the next lesson, support those students individually or in a small group using the Additional Supports for Diverse Learners.”
• In the “Memoir” Unit, Lesson 13, Card 6, the “Teaching Notes” list these directions and supports for the teacher: “Direct students to reread ‘Eleven’ and complete the plot chart handout by listing the events that happen in the classroom and what happens in the narrator’s mind. Guiding Questions and Prompts: If students need support with the vocabulary of the text, give students access to a visual dictionary for ‘Eleven.’ As needed, before students reread the text, model how to complete the plot chart handout. Explicit directions are given for the teacher to model the plot chart handout in the “Teaching Notes” and the answers to the plot chart are included in the “Additional Materials.”
• In the Guidebook ,“What’s in the Curriculum” section, the program states that “Support is central to the design of LearnZillion Guidebooks. Each LearnZillion Guidebooks unit comes with approximately 40 classroom-ready daily lessons. Because the lessons include everything you need to teach, teachers can focus on adjusting the lesson supports so all students meet the lesson and unit assessment goals, instead of spending time creating whole-class lessons to teach. Each lesson follows a common structure, which creates consistency across all grades and lessons. This helps both students and teachers stay on track.”
• In the “Christmas Carol” Unit, there are three additional videos found in the “Section Resource” in the “Christmas Carol: Let's Set the Context Videos.” Teacher can watch or assign to support struggling student: “These instructional videos are for students who need extra support with the content and texts in advance of the unit. Assign one or more videos to those selected students to watch on their own on any device.”
• In "The Giver" Unit, Lesson 7, students are given this task, “With a partner, discuss and answer question numbers 7-8 on your split-page notes handout.“ The teacher is given detailed directions in the “Teaching Notes” to complete this seven minute task including detailed steps for the directions for the student task, support for differentiation and student look-fors as the students complete the task.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation that materials contain a teacher’s edition that contains full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced literacy concepts so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.

Instructors are presented with a  large body of supporting materials to improve knowledge of the subject including all LearnZillion “Understanding the Curriculum” Guidebook supports. Teachers are also presented with extensive “Teaching Notes” that accompany every lesson included within the unit; this includes prompting, explanations, and tips. Within the “Teaching Notes,” teachers are provided with how-to guides, research, examples for certain reading /discussion strategies. Within each lesson, instructors are also given student exemplar responses, especially for larger, writing projects so that instructors understand the task presented to students and the level at which students should perform.

• Within the LearnZillion “Understanding the Curriculum,” instructors are presented with the following Guidebook supports: “What’s in the curriculum?” “How are the materials designed for the classroom?” “How do the materials support all learners?” “How do I prepare to teach Guidebooks?” and “How do I customize the curriculum to meet my districts unique needs?” All Guidebooks present instructors with teaching strategies and research-based approaches on how to deliver content to students. Instructors are also presented with a “Unit at-a-glance” for every unit, and within this section of the unit, instructors are presented with the following supports: Unit goal, scope and sequence, assessment overview, text access, and text complexity and vocabulary analysis.
• In each individual lesson, instructors are presented with “Teaching Notes” on the right hand side; the “Teaching Notes" are formatted in a bullet point list. For example, within "The Giver" Unit, Lesson 15, the Teaching Notes are as follows for slide four: “Assign students independent reading novels for the extension task. (Note: This should have been determined prior to the start of the lesson, and based on student preferences from the book preview during the previous lesson). Share expectations for students’ independent reading and reading journal according to an established classroom routine (e.g., students read every night for 20 minutes, students map out the number of pages they will read each week, etc.). Say: ‘Your purpose in reading your text is to get a feel for the novel that you will be reading.’”
• In the "Written in Bone" Unit, Lesson 10, on Slide 5, in the “Teaching Notes,” teachers are given supplemental information on the instructional strategy, Paired/Partner Reading. The strategy is hyperlinked to an external website which offers an explanation, implementation steps, research to support the strategy, and a video to demonstrate the strategy in a classroom. This information would be helpful if teachers are not familiar with the strategies.
• In each lesson, there are tabs above the presentation: “Lesson Plan,” “Additional materials,” and “About this lesson.” In the “Additional materials” tab, instructors are often presented with complete, exemplar student examples so that instructors are able to evaluate student performance as students complete assignments. This is referenced in the “Teaching Notes” to the right hand side of the presentation in "The Giver" Unit, Lesson 15: “Throughout the lesson, compare students’ responses and work to the student look-fors to determine the students who need additional support with reading, understanding, or expressing their understanding of complex, grade-level texts. During this lesson or before the next lesson, support those students individually or in a small group using the Additional Supports for Diverse Learners.”
• In the "Christmas Carol" Unit, Lesson 11, on the right side of each card, “Teaching Notes” are included: Directions for the teacher to teach the lesson, a suggested pacing guide, supports for diverse students and students look-fors. There are even scripted questions and statements that the teacher may follow: "Say: You will read 'The History of Christmas' independently. Direct students to read 'The History of Christmas.' Direct students to write a 3-5 sentence summary of the text on their analyze structure handout when they have finished reading."
• In "The Giver" Unit, Lesson 2, on the right side each card, “Teaching Notes” are included. Directions for the teacher to teach the lesson, a suggested pacing guide, supports for diverse students, and students look-fors. There are even scripted questions and statements that the teacher may follow: "Ask: Why did this particular event/thing stand out to you? If you had to name the most important thing that happens in these chapters, what would you say and why? What does this reveal about Jonas and/or his community?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 meet the expectation that materials contain a teacher’s edition that explains the role of the specific ELA/literacy standards in the context of the overall curriculum.

The materials state that “The goal for the LearnZillion Guidebook units is to ensure that all students read, understand, and express their understanding of complex, grade-level texts…[and] for all instruction to meet the standards in reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language.” The materials provide extensive supports for teachers in the “Understanding LearnZillion Guidebooks” section. These support materials include “What is in the curriculum?” which details the unit and lesson designs; ‘How are the materials designed for the classroom?” which outlines the instructional framework, including approaches to whole-class instruction, small-group instruction, and independent reading; “How do the materials support all learners?” which offers guiding principles for diverse learners and identifies supports for reading, writing and language, and speaking and listening for all students during whole-class instruction and small group instruction; “How do I prepare to teach Guidebooks?” which provides step-by-step instructions, a roadmap template for instruction, and a resource library; and “How do I customize the curriculum to meet my district’s unique needs?” which explains how to modify the content of the materials to suit one’s needs.

The Scope and Sequence document for each unit lists each of the Common Core State Standards for the appropriate grade span and indicates each section that each of the standards is included. Each lesson includes a list of standards included in the lesson. The standards are listed by code, but the teacher can hover his/her cursor over each code to reveal the wording of the entire standard.

• The materials state in the “Unit Design” section: “Each text collection has a shared idea, such as the American Revolution, and includes a diversity of materials: podcasts, interviews, song lyrics, films, and authentic fiction and non-fiction texts, as well as novels commonly celebrated by teachers and students.”
• The materials state in the “Unit Design” section: “LearnZillion Guidebooks embeds the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Specifically, the curriculum was designed to support learners through (1) multiple means of engagement (the 'why' of learning), (2) multiple means of representation (the 'what' of learning), and (3) multiple means of action and expression (the 'how' of learning).”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation that materials contain explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research based strategies.

In the “Understanding the Curriculum” section, instructors are presented with the following Guidebook supports: “What’s in the curriculum?” “How are the materials designed for the classroom?” “How do the materials support all learners?” “How do I prepare to teach Guidebooks?” and “How do I customize the curriculum to meet my districts unique needs?” All of these resources include explicit explanations of the instructional approaches of the program. Research-based strategies are listed and cited throughout the program. All units utilize a backwards design approach and teach to CCSS. Explanations include research-based strategies of whole class, small group, and independent reading. Also, supplemental texts and anchor texts are provided with “Text Access” that includes a Reading Guide paired with works cited and a “Text Complexity and Vocabulary Analysis” per anchor text. Within the Teaching Notes of each lesson, research-based instructional strategies are included in which they are hyperlinked for easy access for the teacher with explanations, implementation steps, research, and videos of the strategy being used.

• At the end of the “What’s in the curriculum?” section," instructors are presented with a list of writing and reading resources to represent how this Guidebook was created to support the strategies listed within the Guidebook. For example, one of the reading resources is as follows: “Beers, K., & Probst, R. (2012). Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading. Heinemann.”
• In the “What’s in the curriculum” section, in the “Unit Design” section, the rereading strategy is presented and explained in the following statement: “In a section, students might read the same text multiple times across several lessons or students might read several texts to extract evidence and ideas to complete a task, such as writing an essay, delivering a formal presentation, or engaging in a Socratic seminar.”
• The “How do the materials support all learners?” section lists the research that supports that all learners must “regularly engage with rich, authentic grade-appropriate complex texts” and that “Instructional supports should not supplant or compromise rigor or content.”
• In the "Written in Bone" Unit, Lesson 10, on Slide 5, in the Teaching Notes, teachers are given supplemental information on the instructional strategy presented, Paired/Partner Reading. The strategy is hyperlinked to an external website which offers an explanation, implementation steps, research to support the strategy, and a video to show the strategy being used in a classroom. This information would be helpful if teachers are not familiar with the strategies being used.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation that materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress.

Each of the five units is divided into sections and lessons, and assessments are included at each level. Each lesson ends in a formative assessment called, “Let’s Express Our Understanding,” and teachers can use the outcomes from these written tasks, handouts, or discussions to inform their instruction moving forward. Digital quizzes at the end of sections assess the knowledge that students have accumulated, and the format of the quizzes provide practice for the students on the structure of standardized tests. At the end of each unit, students complete three assessments: a Culminating Writing task, a Cold Read task, and an Extension task. For the Culminating Writing task, “students synthesize the topics, themes, and ideas of the unit into a written product such as an essay, narrative, or article.” The Cold Read task requires that “students read a new text or two related to the unit topic and answer multiple-choice questions as well as respond to a writing prompt.” For the Extension task, “students extend what they have learned in the unit to make connections between their learning and their lives through a narrative or personal essay or between their learning and the world through research about a related topic.”

• In the “Christmas Carol” Unit, Lesson 10, students take a quiz after having completed sections two and three of instruction. This quiz covers Stave I and Stave II of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Students answer multiple choice questions and sequence events in the text to practice the skills they learned. After Lesson 34, students complete Part I of the Cold Read task. After reading “The Eighth Tuesday We Talk About Money” from Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, students answer multiple choice questions on the reading.
• In "The Giver" Unit, after lesson 27, the students take a Section 6 quiz. The quiz “assesses students’ retention of knowledge based on what was taught and read in this section of the Guidebook unit. The quiz is designed to look backwards at the end of a section, so it is up to the teacher to give students access to the text(s) or not when administering the assessment. Similarly, the teacher can decide whether or not students may use their filled in graphic organizers from this section."

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation that assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.

The following assessments are included throughout all units: daily formative assessments, section quizzes, culminating writing tasks, extension tasks, and cold read tasks. Within every unit, an assessment overview is included that details the purpose of all types of assessments including writing rubrics with CCSS language dictating the scoring categories. Also, when clicking on the drop down menu for each section of lessons under each individual lesson, a list specifies which standards are learned and utilized. When clicking on each individual lesson, hovering over the standards offers the full CCSS description for instructors. This is standard for all lessons; however, this also occurs for lessons that include assessments--including larger assessments that span over the course of entire sections (e.g. culminating writing task, extension task, etc.).

• In "The Giver" Unit, Sections 1 and 2 quiz, every question is connected with a particular standard. The Standard(s) are denoted in the Teacher Notes section on each slide. Card 3 of 8 is Question 1 and the question addresses standard RL.7.3.
• In “Memoir” Unit, Lesson 30, in the Culminating Writing task, “Students begin the writing process to answer the question: Does the memoir you read support or contradict Zinsser’s advice for writing a memoir in ‘How to Write a Memoir’?” The standards are as follows: RI.7.1, RI.7.10, RI.7.2, RI.7.3, RI.7.4, RI.7.5, RI.7.6, RI.7.9, RL.7.1, RL.7.10, W.7.10, W.7.2a, W.7.2b, W.7.2c, W.7.2d, W.7.2e, W.7.2f, W.7.4, W.7.5
• In the "Written in Bone" Unit, Lesson 29, students begin a Culminating Writing task in which students “write an essay with logical reasoning and relevant evidence. Be sure to use proper grammar, conventions, spelling, and grade-appropriate words and phrases. Cite several pieces of textual evidence, including direct quotations, and parenthetical citations.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation that materials should include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress.

The LearnZillion Guidebooks provide teachers with guidance and opportunities to monitor student progress. Each unit provides daily formative assessments, as well as section quizzes, Cold Read tasks, Culminating Writing tasks, and Extension tasks. When considered as a whole unit, students are assessed in a variety of methods including, multiple choice, short answer, extended response, essay writing, and performance task. Rubrics and student exemplars are often included in the teacher and student materials. The online quizzes upload to a teacher report that can be used to monitor student progress. Daily lessons have “student look-fors” in the “Teaching Notes” for teachers to monitor daily instruction and provide extra scaffolding if needed.

• Each lesson can be assigned to a student or many students by clicking on the “Quick Assign” button in the Learnzillion Teacher’s Guidebook. Once students have completed an assessment, the teacher can view the results. The results are color-coded to indicate proficiency.
• In "The Giver" Unit, the “Teacher’s Notes” student look-fors instruct the teacher to “compare students’ responses and work to the student look-fors. Determine the students who need additional support with reading, understanding, or expressing their understanding of complex, grade-level texts. During this lesson or before the next lesson, support those students individually or in a small group using the Additional Supports for Diverse Learners."
• In the “Memoir” Unit, every section ends with a type of assessment. This creates a variety of assessments for the unit’s CCSS. Sections 1, 3, 4, and 7 end with a section quiz. Sections 2, 5, 6, and 9 end with a task. Sections 10 end with a Cold Read task.
• In the "Written in Bone" Unit, Lesson 7, students complete the rest of the graphic organizer after seeing a model, and working with a partner: “Say: Now you will complete columns three, four, and five of your handout. Please use the first row of your handout as a model.”
• In the "Behind the Scenes" Unit, an Extension task and Culminating Writing task are provided. Also, an exemplar for the writing and presentation is included, as well as a multimedia rubric.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 (meet, partially meet, do not meet) the criteria that materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding the grade-level standards.

Each unit includes “Let’s Set the Context!” videos that are designed to support students who need help understanding the content and texts before beginning a unit. Each video is paired with a handout that students use to record their understanding of the video. The “Teaching Notes” for lessons often provide “Supports for Differentiation” that guide teachers in knowing how to respond when students are not “providing answers similar to the Student Look-Fors.” Units also include a page titled “Additional Supports for Diverse Learners” which contains information on how to support learners before reading the text with foundational skills, reading fluency, and knowledge demands; during reading the text with support for language, engaging in academic discussions, expressing understanding in writing, and developing language proficiency.

• In the "Written in Bone" Unit, Lesson 7, students learn how to determine the central idea of a text and how the author develops the central idea. During the lesson, the teacher models how she thinks through the central idea of Written in Bone, and the students record the model on a handout. In the Teaching Notes, there is a section labeled “Supports for Differentiation (ELL, SPED, etc.)” that reads, “As needed, prior to modeling how to locate the central idea, discuss the meaning of the phrase 'central idea' and how an author may develop a central idea.”
• In "The Giver" Unit, in the “More resources for this unit” section, there are three videos that are designed to help students who need additional support understand the context of the unit’s anchor text. Each of the videos is paired with a handout for students to record their understanding at key points in the video. The topics for the unit include “Values and Rights in a Constitution,” "How Do Communities Develop Common Knowledge and Shared Memories,” and “Utopian and Dystopian Societies.”
• For those students needing more support outside the grade-level lesson, LearnZillion recommends a small-group structure in addition to the main lesson: “This may be intervention for students below grade level and/or additional time and supports for diverse learners. Groups should be flexible and change size and composition often based on students’ needs.” Suggestions for the small groups include, but are not limited to engaging in independent reading on their instructional level or language, engaging in targeted reading or writing foundational skills, or participating in additional instruction.
• In each lesson there are suggestions for the teacher to further support struggling or ELL learners. For example in the "Written in Bone" Unit, Lesson 18, there is a "Supports for Differentiation (ELL, SPED, etc.) section that gives additional instructions when the students move to group work: "During the read aloud, provide a synonym or student-friendly definition for difficult words. To keep students actively involved during the read aloud and to practice their reading fluency, engage students in choral reading or echo reading. When explaining the focus for the reading, provide examples of how points of view can be different. If students are not able to identify characters who have distinct points of view about Native Americans, focus them by asking,  What is Samuel’s point of view about Native Americans ? What is Reverend Hunt’s point of view about Native Americans?”
• Additional Resources are provided for teachers to work with students that need more support. An audio of many of the texts are provided. In every unit, Text Complexity and Vocabulary Analysis is provided with information on where the complexity lies in the text and possible vocabulary to instruct. Every unit includes a “Let’s set the Context!” section with videos to provide additional background knowledge for students who need that type of support. There are “Section Supports” within the units that provide foundational support for students. There are also additional writing and grammar instruction available in the “ELA Instructional Videos: WriteAlong and more.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation that materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level, or in a language other than English, with extensive opportunities to work with grade level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards.

• Teachers are presented with the “How do the materials support all learners?” Guidebook, which provides many big picture approaches to how instructors can support diverse learners in whole class instruction and small group instruction with reading, writing, language, and speaking and listening. Once instructors begin teaching lessons from respective sections, “Section Supports” include language and fluency supports that require students to read texts already read in class or that represent the same ideas as the Unit Goal. Within all lessons, instructors are presented with “Teaching Notes.” This section includes additional assistance and direction for diverse learners under the section titled “Supports for Differentiation (ELL, SPED, etc).” Also, “Let’s Set the Context Videos" are provided for students who need "extra support with the content and texts in advance of the unit. Teachers may assign one or more videos to those selected students to watch on their own on any device. Students encounter stop signs in the video when they pause and complete part of a handout. Students need a printed handout for each video.”
• In the "Christmas Carol" Unit, Lesson 6, students must “analyze how setting shapes Scrooge’s characterization.” The following is presented on the slide: "Follow along as I read part of Stave 1 aloud. Start at: ‘This lunatic, in letting Scrooge’s nephew out, had let two other people in.’ As I read, consider: How does Scrooge respond to the men? How does his response support what we know about his character?” Within the “Teaching Notes,” the following support is listed under the section titled “Supports for Differentiation (ELL, SPED, etc.)”: “To keep students actively involved during the read aloud and to practice their reading fluency, engage students in choral reading or echo reading." 
• In "The Giver" Unit, Section 7, the instructor is presented with “Section Supports.” In “Section Supports,” the following supports are outlined and detailed: “Before the Section,” which includes support for foundational skills and support for reading fluency. “During the Section” Support for Meaning: See the "Additional Materials" section of specific lessons Support for Engaging in Academic Discussions: Use related supports from the Supports Flow Chart. Support for Expressing Understanding in Writing: Use related supports from the Supports Flow Chart. Support for Developing Language Proficiency: Use related supports from the Supports Flow Chart.
• In the "Behind the Scenes" Unit, Lesson 15, students must “identify main idea, tone, and purpose of selections from the anchor text.” On one slide, students are presented with the following instructions: “Share your summary with others in your group. Decide which summary is best to share with the class.” The following support is listed under the section titled “Supports for Differentiation (ELL, SPED, etc.)”: "If students are not providing answers similar to the Student Look-Fors, Ask: Which summary does the best job of covering all of the important parts of our section? Which summary is most interesting to read? Which summary is clearest?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation that materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies. Within both Guidebooks, “How are the materials designed for the classroom?” and “How do the materials support all learners?”, grouping strategies are presented to instructors including small group, whole group, pairs, and individual settings. Within every lesson, instructors are presented with “Teaching Notes” that include specific grouping strategies and reference helpful documentation, such as the conversation stems learning tool.

• In the "Written in Bone" Unit, Lesson 18, students practice “analyzing how an author develops contrasting points of view in a literary text.” On the slide, students are presented with the following directions: “With a partner discuss Samuel’s an Reverend Hunt’s points of view about Native Americans. Find text evidence to support this point of view. Complete the chart.”
• In the “Memoir” Unit, Lesson 9, students work to determine the meaning of unknown words in a text. Students spend 20 minutes reading their independent reading memoirs and record their progress in their independent reading logs. Afterward, they work with a partner to create a semantic map for an unknown word in each of the partner’s texts.
• In the "Behind the Scenes" Unit, Lesson 14, students read and summarize a portion of Chapter 5, 6, or 7 of Behind the Scenes in small groups.