The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 1g.

Materials provide frequent speaking and listening opportunities for students, with some opportunities for teacher modeling of academic vocabulary and syntax; however, materials lack evidence of speaking and listening protocols. The activities engage students in the entire year’s scope of instructional materials, such as Speaking and Listening, within the extended learning activities of Collaborative Learning, Critical Literacy, Lifelong Learning and Media Literacy. Throughout the year, students engage in a wide variety of speaking and listening tasks, such as Critical Thinking Discussions during reading and Extend Understanding options after reading. Extend Understanding tasks are optional and include Collaborative Learning, Critical Literacy, Lifelong Learning, and Media Literacy opportunities in which students may engage in small group discussions, paired discussions, and debates that are assessed using provided rubrics. At the end of each unit, students may participate in a Speaking and Listening Workshop. Although these Workshops include directions for each step of the speaking and listening task, as well as a rubric to assess Content, Delivery and Presentation, and listening skills, the Workshops do not include protocols to support students’ developing speaking and listening skills.

Materials provide frequent opportunities for speaking and listening; however, speaking and listening opportunities do not include protocols. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Materials do not provide varied protocols to support students’ developing speaking and listening skills across the whole year’s scope of instructional materials.

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read the short story, “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury, paired with the short story, “The Fun They Had” by Isaac Asimov. After reading both selections, students work in small groups to conduct research on experts’ predictions for the future during the Critical Literacy Extend Understanding option. Then, students hold a panel discussion in which two students serve as Bradbury and Asimov and present the authors’ views on the future. There is no evidence of a specific protocol used to support students’ developing speaking and listening skills.

  • In Unit 4, Testing Limits, students read a diagram, “Noise Levels,” and a magazine article, “Hearing Under Siege,” both by Bob Ludlow. After reading the paired selection, students work with a partner to discuss “reasons a person might gradually lose the ability to hear, see, taste, or smell.” Students refer back to the diagram to assist them in their discussions. There is no evidence of a specific protocol used to support students’ developing speaking and listening skills.

  • In Unit 6, Encountering Nature, students participate in a Speaking & Listening Workshop on narrative presentations. The workshop includes directions to guide students through each step of the project: Planning a Narrative, Evaluating a Narrative Presentation, and Delivering a Narrative Presentation. Although materials include directions for students to complete this workshop, there is no evidence of protocols for students to conduct the speaking and listening task and develop their speaking and listening skills. Instructions include: 

    • “Active listeners are as important as effective speakers. Pay attention to the speaker’s words and nonverbal cues, and react honestly to what the speaker says.”

    • “Work in small groups to rehearse your narrative presentation. After each person finishes speaking, the rest of the group should offer constructive feedback.” 

    • “Your facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language should tell as much of the story as your words. Vary your tone, pitch, and the volume of your voice to express different emotions.”

• Teacher guidance includes modeling of academic vocabulary and syntax during speaking and listening opportunities.

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read “The Circuit” by Francisco Jiménez. During reading, the teacher explains “that authors also use cultural details to develop the setting.” After asking students to identify the cultural details the author provides in the first three paragraphs of the short story and “what they can determine about the setting from these cultural details,” the teacher models a possible response: “Model a response by indicating some cultural details, such as the Spanish term, braceros, used to describe most of the workers. Explain that braceros are migrant workers from Mexico.”

  • In Unit 4, Testing Limits, students read the scientific article, “The Five ‘Wanderers’ of the Ancient Skies” by Dennis Brindell Fradin. During reading, the teacher reminds students “that they can use signal words and parallel construction to figure out text structure and organization.” The teacher then models using the following example: “For example, phrases such as ‘on the other hand,’ as well as sentences that begin in the same way (The stars...The planets…), signal compare-contrast organization.” Students then “decide how the first two pages of the text are organized and explain how they reached their conclusions.”

  • In Unit 8, Imagining the Fantastic, students read “The Twelve Labors of Hercules” by Walker Brents. During reading, the teacher reminds students “that the rising action of a plot leads to the climax, the highest point of excitement in the narrative.” The teacher continues, noting, “Although each labor of Hercules presents excitement and triumph, the story of Hercules’ life climaxes here.” Students then explain why his life climaxes here.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 1h.

Speaking and listening opportunities include teacher guidance for facilitating activities; however, materials do not include teacher guidance for monitoring student discussions. Occasionally, speaking and listening guidance includes possible questions the teacher may model for students; however, materials do not include instructional supports, such as prompts or sentence starters, to serve as entry points for students who may have difficulty starting or engaging in conversations.

Materials include ample speaking and listening opportunities. Teaching Notes often require students to generate questions to ask the author. Students also engage in discussions as they perform close reads of texts and respond to Analyze Literature prompts. Where appropriate, texts also include Speaking & Listening Skills activities for students to complete during close reads; however, the Close Read section may not occur during core instruction, as it is listed as one of many options from which the teacher may choose to enact. At the launch of each lesson, materials frame the Mirrors & Windows question that students will discuss at the end of each text. Each text also includes opportunities for students to make text-to-self connections as they reflect on and discuss Make Connections questions. Paired selections include a Text to Text Connection prompt for students to discuss. At times, the Extend Understanding section includes speaking and listening task options; however, because implementing these activities is left to teacher choice, these activities may not occur during core instruction. While materials also include a Speaking & Listening Workshop at the end of each unit, these workshops are not part of core instruction.

Materials support students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading and researching (including presentation opportunities); however, materials lack relevant follow-up questions and supports. Because there is no core instructional path, students may not have access to all of the opportunities provided in the materials. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Speaking and listening instruction includes some facilitation, monitoring, and instructional support for teachers. 

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read “The Goodness of Matt Kaizer” by Avi. During a Teaching Note activity, students pretend Avi “is writing another short story to explain what happens to Matt after he realizes he is “good” and students work in pairs to generate questions for the author “about Matt’s new life, activities, and friendships.” The teacher models a possible question: “How does Matt’s relationship with his father change, if at all?” Students pass their questions to a different group, and the peer group pretends to be the author and answer the questions. Materials do not include teacher guidance on monitoring student discussions, or instructional support for students who may be having difficulty starting or engaging in conversations. 

  • In Unit 2, Meeting Challenges, students read the historical nonfiction, “Pompeii,” by Robert Silverberg. The Teaching Note instructs teachers to assign students to pairs and have them generate questions while reading their assigned section. Materials include a model question for teacher use. After pair work concludes, the teacher and class “go back through the reading section by section and discuss the questions.” Materials do not include teacher guidance on monitoring student discussions, or instructional support for students who may be having difficulty starting or engaging in conversations.

  • In Unit 5, Expressing Yourself, students read the lyric poem, “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me,” by Maya Angelou. The Teaching Note for this text includes a read aloud activity. To frame the activity, the teacher points out that students will notice different things when they read the poem aloud in comparison to reading the poem silently to themselves. The teacher explains how meaning can be expressed in poetry. Students choose a partner and “take turns reading alternating stanzas of the poem out loud,” while listening to the sounds of words, rhymes, rhythms, and repetitions and noting places where abrupt rhythm changes affect the meaning of the poem. After reading the poem out loud, students “discuss what they noticed during their readings and what new insights they have gained into the poem’s meaning.” Materials do not include teacher guidance on monitoring student discussions, or instructional support for students who may be having difficulty starting or engaging in conversations.

  • In Unit 7, Discovering Other Worlds, students read Milton Geiger’s screenplay, In the Fog. During the Film the Screenplay Speaking & Listening Skills activity, the teacher has someone from the audiovisual department, or a student familiar with using a video camera demonstrate its use, including how to create a fade-in or fade-out and how to pan in and pan out. The teacher divides the class into groups and assigns each group a scene from Geiger’s screenplay. Group members “select and perform different functions, such as acting, directing, filming, constructing sets, making costumes, and creating special effects,” as they spend several days filming their assigned scenes. The teacher shows each scene to the class. Students “listen and watch actively and jot down notes about the strengths and weaknesses of each scene.” The teacher also encourages students to provide their peers with polite feedback. Materials do not include teacher guidance on monitoring student discussions, or instructional support for students who may be having difficulty starting or engaging in conversations. Additionally, this Speaking & Listening Skills activity may not occur during core instruction, as it is a supplemental activity embedded within the Close Read portion of the materials.

• Students have multiple opportunities over the school year to demonstrate what they are reading through varied speaking and listening opportunities.

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read “Lob’s Girl” by Joan Aiken. During the Close Read of a portion of the text, students discuss two Make Connections prompts. The first prompt is as follows: “Have you ever been reunited with a friend or pet after a long separation? How did you feel?” During the second prompt, students describe experiences when they felt “so anxious that it seemed as if they were experiencing actual physical pain.”  

  • In Unit 2, Meeting Challenges, students read the narrative poem, “In Response to Executive Order 9066: All Americans of Japanese Descent Must Report to Relocation Centers,” by Dwight Okita. During the Make Connections section, teacher guidance frames a student discussion on “how fair or unfair it seems to them that one of these girls could be accused of giving secrets to the enemy.” The teacher models a possible sentence starter for responses: “According to the speaker, the only difference between the two girls is… Therefore, I think…”  

  • In Unit 5, Expressing Yourself, students complete a task in the Extend Understanding section after reading “Steps,” a narrative poem written by Naomi Shihab Nye. The teacher notes, “There are many vivid images in this poem.” Students work with a partner to “decide which image you will hold the longest in your mind. Why do you think it is the powerful image in the poem? What do you think the author wanted to say or make you feel through the use of this image?” Students share their ideas with other pairs. The Extend Understanding section of the materials includes options from which the teacher selects, as a result, all students may not engage in this activity.

  • In Unit 8, Imagining the Fantastic, students respond to a Text to Text Connection question after reading “The Cow of No Color,” a Ghanaian folk tale retold by Nina Jaffe and Steve Zeitlin ,and “Ewe Proverbs “(author not cited). Students identify an important lesson from “The Cow of No Color” and “compare and contrast this lesson with one or two of the proverbs.” Students discuss the following question: “How could you apply both the folk tale and the proverbs to real life situations?”  

• Speaking and listening work requires students to utilize, apply, and incorporate  evidence from texts and/or sources.

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, after reading “Harvesting Hope: The Story of César Chávez,” by Kathleen Krull, students may present a report during the Lifelong Learning option of the Extend Understanding section. While pretending to work for a union of farm workers, students “research a fruit or vegetable, discover how it is farmed in the United States today, and present [their] findings in a formal presentation.” Directions state students may use sources such as “an encyclopedia, feature news article, or reliable websites.” Students take notes on and summarize their peers’ presentations. The Extend Understanding section of the materials includes options from which the teacher selects, as a result, all students may not engage in this activity.  

  • In Unit 6, Encountering Nature, students read “Limericks,” humorous poems by Edward Lear. During the Lifelong Learning option in the Extend Understanding section, students role-play an interview. Students explore “Lear’s philosophy of life, his books, and his work as a painter” to learn more about why he was considered “unusual for his time.” Students work in pairs to share what they learned and use their learning to “plan a staged interview with one [student] asking as the interviewer and the other as Edward Lear.” Students must use the interview to communicate the facts they researched about Lear’s life to the class. The Extend Understanding section of the materials includes options determined by teacher selection, as a result, all students may not engage in this activity.

  • In Unit 7, Discovering Other Worlds, students learn how to give and actively listen to informative presentations during the Speaking & Listening Workshop. After choosing a topic and identifying their audience, students conduct research to gather information. Students use note cards to write words and phrases to introduce their person and separate note cards for each example they “will use to demonstrate the person’s character.” Students work in small groups to practice their presentation and peers offer constructive feedback using questions, such as “What did you like about the presentation? What questions did you have? What more would you like to know?” As students deliver their presentations, peers use the provided speaking and listening rubrics to evaluate each presentation. Speaking & Listening Workshops do not appear to be a part of core instruction but may be used to extend students’ speaking and listening skills. 

The materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 1i.

Materials include on-demand writing tasks during differentiated reading lessons, extension lessons, and writing skills. On-demand writing opportunities also occur in the Extend Understanding section at the end of each text or paired selection. The Extend Understanding section includes two writing options: a creative option and/or an informative, descriptive, or argumentative option. Although the Program Planning Guide includes lesson plans for each text, materials state that the teacher must “[identify] the resources that are best suited to your particular situation.” The Lesson Plan directs teachers to “[c]hoose from the following materials” or “[c]hoose from the following resources.” As a result, there is no explicit core instructional path. Materials embed additional writing practice in the margins of the Teach the Model section of texts within each unit and there is also a wealth of ancillary materials, such as Writing and Grammar and Language Arts Handbook  to support core writing instruction. Materials utilize digital resources, such as an eBook and eReaders, where appropriate.

Materials include a mix of on-demand and process writing that covers a year’s worth of instruction; however, since there is no explicit core path, students may not have access to every opportunity provided in the materials. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Materials include on-demand writing opportunities that cover a year’s worth of instruction.

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read “The Sand Castle,” a short story written by Alma Luz Villanueva. In Extend Understanding: Writing Options at the end of the selection, students write in response to the following prompt: “Imagine that you are one of Masha’s grandchildren and you are able to travel back to the time Masha is recalling. Write a postcard to your siblings or friends in the future. What would you tell them about life before global warming?” Although this writing opportunity occurs at the end of the text selection, the activity may not occur during core instruction, as it is one of four activities from which the teacher may choose.

  • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, students read “Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima” by Walter Dean Myers. Students write a persuasive letter to the family in the story by telling the family “what action they want them to take.” Students must also support the request with details they have learned about the family from the story. This Writing Skills task occurs during the Close Read portion of the lesson plan and may not occur during core instruction.

  •  In Unit 4, Testing Limits, students participate in an on-demand, timed writing assessment in the Test Practice Workshop at the end of the unit. Students respond to a writing prompt based on the selection, “Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima,” a biography by Walter Dean Myers from the previous unit. Directions for the task are as follows: “Plan and write several paragraphs for an informative essay in which you state and support a thesis about events that shaped the life of Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima.” and “Include evidence from the story, including direct quotations, to support your thesis.” The Assess section of the Lesson Plan does not list the Test Practice Workshop as an option for this text; as a result, this activity may not occur during core instruction.

  • In Unit 8, Seeking Wisdom, after reading “The Orb Weaver” by Robert Francis, students write a narrative paragraph about a time they engaged in a competition. Directions include: “Describe who you were competing against, what happened, and how you felt during the competition. What was the outcome?” Students then share their work with the class. This writing task is one of the Writing Options in the Extend Understanding section and may not occur during core instruction.

• Materials include process writing opportunities that cover a year’s worth of instruction. Opportunities for students to revise and edit are provided.

  • In Unit 2, Meeting Challenges, students write a short story during the Writing Workshop at the end of the unit. Students choose topics and decide a purpose before organizing their ideas into a draft. During revision and editing, students reread their writing, paying careful attention to their use of precise language and sensory details, and ask themselves if their work is entertaining. Students also “add details such as suspense or more conflicts as needed, revising to improve word choice and style.” Students peer edit and make revisions using a checklist that contains the following questions: “Are the characters and setting introduced at the beginning of the story? Does the story have a conflict?  Does the author use precise language and sensory details?” Students proofread their work before publishing and presenting.

  • In Unit 5, Expressing Yourself, students write a personal narrative during the End-of-Unit Writing Workshop. After choosing a topic, students fill in a story map to try out their ideas. As students work on their drafts, they focus on bringing their story events to life using dialogue and description. During the Revise phase, students engage in peer editing and use a Revising Checklist to check their work. Students focus their editing and proofreading work on sentence variety, making edits to the types of sentences used as well as the length of their sentences. Students also focus on choosing the correct adjectival forms before proofing their work for spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar errors. Students publish and present their final draft.

  • In Unit 7, Discovering Other Worlds, students write a compare-and-contrast essay. During the Prewrite stage, students choose their topic, use a Venn diagram or chart to gather details, and craft their thesis statement. In the Draft stage, students decide on an organizational pattern for their essay, subject-by-subject or point-by-point, using the details they gathered as a guide. Students draft the introduction, body, and conclusion of their essay, remembering to “insert transitions that help [the] reader follow [their] main points and understand the comparisons and contrasts [they] present.” During the Revise phase, students peer- and self-edit their work, suggesting improvements and using the provided Revision Checklist respectively. As students edit and proofread their work, they focus on using effective coordination and subordination and apostrophes in possessives. Students proofread their work, correcting grammar, usage, capitalization, and spelling errors. Students then publish and present their final draft.

• Materials include digital resources where appropriate. 

  • In Unit 6, Encountering Nature, students read “in Just,” a lyric poem by E.E. Cummings in the Multiplatform Student ebook. Within this eReader selection, students have the opportunity to use digital resources when accessing the Passport Tools in the audio and media libraries. Students use the digital interactive graphic organizer to monitor comprehension as they read the text.

  • In Unit 6, Encountering Nature, students read the narrative poem, “The Wreck of the Hesperus,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Students use “print and online resources to look up information about famous shipwrecks.” Students make a chart to identify various aspects of the wreck, including “where the wreck happened, what caused it, and what the outcome was.”  Students use their notes to write a summary on an index card that they trade with other students.

  • In Unit 8, Imagining the Fantastic, students participate in a Writing Workshop during which they conduct a research report. During writing, students use the internet to choose a topic and to find primary and secondary sources to utilize during their writing.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 1j.

Materials provide some opportunities for students to learn, practice, and apply different writing modes during on-demand and longer process writing tasks across the school year. End-of-Unit Writing Workshops are the sole source of explicit argumentative, informative, and narrative writing instruction and process writing tasks. Materials include writing practice opportunities during the embedded Writing Skills lessons found within each unit; however, these lessons are a part of the Close Read lesson, one of the activities from which teachers may select. As a result, these lessons may not occur during core instruction. Materials include some on-demand writing opportunities during select after-reading Analyze Literature and Extend Understanding tasks; however, there are four Extend Understanding tasks from which the teacher may choose. As a result, writing tasks may not occur during core instruction. Although Test Practice Workshops also serve as on-demand writing opportunities, these workshops are not a part of core instruction.

Materials provide some opportunities for students to address different text types of writing that reflect the distribution required by the standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:  

• Materials provide some opportunities across the school year for students to learn, practice, and apply different genres/modes/types of writing that reflect the distribution required by the standards. 

  • Materials include the following Writing Workshops— four informative, one argumentative, one descriptive, two narrative—resulting in an uneven distribution of explicit instruction on the writing modes required by the standards.

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students learn how to respond to a short story during the End-of-Unit Informative Writing Workshop. Guidance prompts teachers to “model the process of determining which story to write about” during prewriting. Explicit instruction supports students with ensuring their essays include “an introduction” that “includes a clear thesis,” “body paragraphs that support and explain” the thesis, “evidence from the story to support each idea” in the body paragraphs, and “a conclusion that sums up” the response. Materials provide three more opportunities for students to learn, practice, and apply informative writing—when crafting a cause-and-effect essay during the Unit 4 Writing Workshop, when writing an informative essay during the Unit 7 Writing Workshop, and when writing a research report during the Unit 8 Writing Workshop.  

  • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, students focus on argumentative writing during the end-of-unit Writing Workshop. Students learn how to choose a topic, decide their position, and gather information during the Prewrite stage. As students develop their drafts, they learn about several organizational patterns, distinguishing between organizing their entire argumentative essay and organizing their paragraphs. Students also learn about persuasive techniques to use in their writing. During the Revise stage, students use a Revising Checklist to evaluate their work, checking for elements such as a clearly stated thesis in the introduction; a thesis supported with reasons, facts, details, and examples; and a counterargument addressed in the essay. As students edit and proofread their work, they focus on using transitions and active voice and “check for the correct use of commas after transition words, apostrophes, and other marks of punctuation.” Students submit a final copy of their work during the Publish and Present stage. Although  materials do not provide further opportunities for students to learn and apply argumentative writing, students do have opportunities to practice argumentative writing during optional activities, such as on-demand Extend Understanding writing tasks and End-of-Unit Test Practice Workshops. 

  • In Unit 5, Expressing Yourself, students engage in writing a personal narrative in the narrative Writing Workshop. Explicit instruction supports students by ensuring their writing includes “an introduction that creates interest, a series of events in chronological order, descriptive details, and a conclusion that presents a lesson learned, change, or another memorable ending.” Materials provide one more opportunity for students to learn, practice, and apply narrative writing—when writing a short story during the Unit 2 Writing Workshop.

• Different genres/modes/types of writing are distributed throughout the school year; however, there is no core instructional path. Writing opportunities may not occur during core instruction. 

  • Students have opportunities to engage in argumentative writing. 

    • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read “The Circuit,” a short story by Francisco Jiménez. After reading, students ``[w]rite an editorial for a newspaper arguing for special school programs for children of migrant workers, based around the farming seasons.” This Extend Understanding task is one of four options from which the teacher may choose and, as a result, may not occur during core instruction. 

    • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, students read an excerpt from “The Fan Club” by Rona Maynard and write an argumentative essay during the Test Practice Workshop. The assignment directions are as follows: “Write an argumentative essay in which you state and support a thesis about the effects of peer pressure on young people and how it should be handled. Include evidence from the passage and your own experience to support your thesis.” This timed writing task is optional and may not occur during core instruction.

    • In Unit 8, Imagining the Fantastic, students write a persuasive speech after reading “The Twelve Labors of Hercules,” a Greek myth retold by Walker Brents: The materials state,  “Write a speech for Hercules to give before dying, addressing his actions and choices. Is he remorseful or proud? Include a thesis statement and support from the text.” This Extend Understanding task is one of four options from which the teacher may choose and, as a result, may not occur during core instruction.

  • Students have opportunities to engage in informative/explanatory writing.

    • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read “The Goodness of Matt Kaizer,” a short story by Avi. Afterwards, students “[w]rite a short informative essay analyzing cause and effect in this story,” during an on-demand writing task. This Extend Understanding task is one of four options from which the teacher may choose and, as a result, may not occur during core instruction..

    • In Unit 5, Expressing Yourself, after reading the lyric poem, “Arithmetic,” by Carl Sandburg, students are asked to  “write a brief literary analysis for your classmates in which you tell how the speaker feels about arithmetic” during an on-demand writing activity. The guidance directs students  to include a thesis statement, as well as “details, examples, and quotations from the poem as evidence to support your thesis.” This Extend Understanding task is one of four options from which the teacher may choose and, as a result, may not occur during core instruction.

    • In Unit 7, Discovering Other Worlds, students read a paired selection containing The Fairies’ Lullaby, an excerpt from a play by William Shakespeare and “The Stolen Child,'' a lyric poem by William Butler Yeats. After reading both pieces, students ``[w]rite an informative essay comparing and contrasting how Shakespeare and Yeats used repetition in the selections.” This Extend Understanding task is one of four options from which the teacher may choose and, as a result,may not occur during core instruction

  • Students have opportunities to engage in narrative writing.

    • In Unit 2, Meeting Challenges, students read “The Bracelet,” a short story by Yoshiko Uchida. During an on-demand writing task, students imagine they are Ruri and “[w]rite a letter to Lauri telling her about your new home.” Materials state that students must “[u]se sensory details to describe your surroundings” and include “your thoughts on the situation and some of your feelings about what has happened to you.” This Extend Understanding task is one of four options from which the teacher may choose and,as a result, may not occur during core instruction.

    • In Unit 5, Expressing Yourself, students read “Ode to La Tortilla,” a narrative poem by Gary Soto. Afterwards, students may rewrite the poem’s sequence of events as a narrative paragraph, retelling the poem “in the first-person point of view of what happens in time order.” Students must include the speaker’s and sparrow’s actions and use transitional words that show time order. This Extend Understanding task is one of four options from which the teacher may choose and, as a result, may not occur during core instruction.

    • In Unit 6, Encountering Nature, after reading “Limericks,'' humorous poems by Edward Lear, students may select a character from one of the two limericks read and “[u]se him as the subject of a character sketch written for a younger child.” This Extend Understanding task is one of four options from which the teacher may choose and, as a result, may not occur during core instruction.

• Where appropriate, writing opportunities are connected to texts and/or text sets (either as prompts, models, anchors, or supports).

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read the short story ,“The Circuit,” by Francisco Jimenez. Students reread a paragraph from the text “and note Panchito’s feelings and reactions to his first day in school.”  Then, students think about a memorable day in school and write a descriptive paragraph about their experiences. 

  • In Unit 6, Encountering Nature, students read “Spring is Like a Perhaps Hand” by E. E. Cummings. After reading, students write a critical analysis about how well the poem “depicts the arrival of spring.” Students must include details from the text in their writing.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 1k.

Materials provide practice and application opportunities for evidence-based writing but lack explicit evidence-based writing instruction with the exception of some Writing Workshop tasks. The Making Meaning, Analyze Literature, and After Reading sections provide students with some opportunities to carefully analyze closely read texts. Materials include End-of-Unit Writing Workshops and Test Practice pieces that sometimes require students to support their analyses and defend their claims, but these opportunities do not occur consistently. Throughout daily material, students do not engage in evidence-based writing. Students work on activities with sensory descriptions or continuity in point-of-view, for example, but these exercises do not require students to cite evidence from texts they read nor are they required core instructional activities. Students may complete a timed writing task, during which they read a short selection and then write in response to a prompt that requires them to utilize evidence from the text. While materials provide opportunities such as timed writing tasks and Test Practice Workshops, these are not required activities within the curriculum as noted in the Program Planning Guide: “To help you meet the diverse needs of your students, the Mirrors and Windows  program offers a wealth of materials-much more than you can teach in one school year. As a result, one challenge you will face is identifying the resources that are best suited to your particular situation.” The Lesson Plan directs teachers to “[c]hoose from the following materials” or “[c]hoose from the following resources.” As a result, there is no explicit core instructional path.

Materials include frequent opportunities for evidence-based writing to support careful analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Materials provide limited opportunities across the school year for students to learn, practice, and apply writing using evidence.

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, in the Reading Skills section, students practice distinguishing between major and minor details while reading the short story, “The All-American Slurp,” by Lensey Namioka. Teacher guidance states, “Explain to students that distinguishing between major and minor details is an important skill that will help them to grasp the main idea of a passage or selection.” Materials do not include explicit instruction explaining how to distinguish between the two types of details. Students then identify major and minor details and state the main idea of a passage about early influences on Namioka’s fiction. Students apply their work with major and minor details during the End-of-Unit Writing Workshop as they write a response to a short story they have read.  

  • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, students work on making predictions using Walter Dean Myers’ biography, “Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima.” After the teacher reminds students “that effective readers take time to survey reading material and make some predictions before reading,” students use display quotes within the text, as well as the Build Background section of Apply the Model, to make predictions about what they will read. The teacher suggests students “predict details related to who, what, when, where, and why.”  Students justify their reasons for their predictions. Materials do not include explicit instruction on making predictions during this activity. 

  • In Unit 4, Testing Limits, students learn how to write a cause-and-effect essay during the End-of-Unit Writing Workshop. As students transition through the writing process, the teacher suggests students use a graphic organizer to gather information. The teacher reviews “the differences among facts, details, and examples” with students. The teacher then uses two sentences to “help students recognize the three types of support.” While this Workshop includes practice, it does not include explicit instruction on standards-aligned, evidence-based writing.

  • In Unit 8, Seeking Wisdom, students read “Why Monkeys Live in Trees,” a West African folk tale retold by Julius Lester, and work on making predictions. The teacher and students work together to complete a prediction chart. The prediction chart includes the following columns: Guesses, Reasons, Evidence. After completing the chart together, students copy the chart, leaving space to “change their predictions and make new ones as they read.” It is unclear how this aligns to evidence-based writing standards and explicit instruction is lacking.  

• Writing opportunities are focused around students’ analyses and claims developed from reading closely and working with texts and sources to provide supporting evidence.

  • In Unit 2, Meeting Challenges, students complete a Literary Response essay in the Test Practice Workshop. This essay asks students to consider the story they read, “Ta-Na-E-Ka” by Mary Whitebird, and use evidence from the story, including direct quotes, to support their opinion of whether or not traditions and rituals of culture are important and should be adhered to. The Assess section of the Lesson Plan does not list the Test Practice Workshop as an option for this text. 

  • In Unit 5, Expressing Yourself, students read the lyric poem ,“Arithmetic,” by Carl Sandburg. In the Analyze Literature section, students analyze the tone by creating a cluster map to collect evidence from the text to support what they think the tone is. In Extend Understanding, students use the cluster map to “write a brief literary analysis for your classmates in which you tell how the speaker feels about arithmetic.” Students must include “details, examples, and quotations from the poem as evidence to support” their thesis. Although this writing opportunity occurs at the end of the text selection, the activity may not occur during core instruction, as it is one of four activities from which the teacher may choose.  

  • In Unit 7, Discovering Other Worlds, students read “The Stolen Child” by William Butler Yeats. Students use evidence from the text to answer the question, “Besides the fact they are stealing a child, what other evidence can you find that these fairies may be harmful?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 1l.

Materials include limited explicit instruction of grade-level grammar and usage. Materials miss opportunities to address many standards or address standards that are included in a subsequent grade level. There are limited opportunities for students to apply grammar and usage standards in context, such as student writing. Practice opportunities are oftentimes absent in the grade under review, but are sometimes provided in subsequent grades.

Materials include limited explicit instruction of the grade-level grammar and usage standards, with opportunities for authentic application in context. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Students have opportunities to ensure that pronouns are in the proper case (subjective, objective, possessive).

  • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, students read the biography ,“Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima,” by Walter Dean Myers. After reading the text, students receive explicit instruction in pronoun-antecedent agreement. Students practice the skill by identifying the pronouns and their antecedents in a passage from the text, by “supplying a pronoun that agrees with the underlined antecedent” from sentences in the text. Materials provide additional practice in the Teaching Notes during an activity where students use a pronoun to complete each sentence. Students apply this skill during a writing task, during which they write a paragraph describing a recent trip or event. Then rewrite the paragraph without using pronouns. How does the sound of the paragraph change?” The Writing and Grammar workbook provides Teaching Notes for additional guidance.

• Students have opportunities to use intensive pronouns.

  • In Unit  3, Defining Freedom, students read the memoir,The Flight of Read Bird: the Life of Zitkala-Sa by Zitkala-Sa and Doreen Rappaport. Students receive explicit instruction in using reflexive and intensive pronouns. Students practice identifying reflexive and intensive pronouns in sentences from the text by underlining each reflexive pronoun once and underlining each intensive pronoun twice. Next, they practice using reflexive and intensive pronouns by completing sentences with the correct form of the pronoun. Students can also receive extra practice using activities from the Teaching Notes and by using the Writing and Grammar workbook. Although materials provide explicit instruction, there is not an opportunity for students to apply this skill in context.

• Students have opportunities to recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in pronoun number and person.

  • No evidence found

• Students have opportunities to recognize and correct vague pronouns (i.e., ones with unclear or ambiguous antecedents).

  • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, students receive explicit instruction on pronoun-antecedent agreement during a Grammar & Style lesson. Students identify pronouns and their antecedents in a short excerpt from “Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima” by Walter Dean Myers. Then students complete a set of five sentences by “supplying a pronoun that agrees with the underlined antecedent.” Although materials provide explicit instruction, there is not an opportunity for students to apply this skill in context. Grammar & Style lessons are listed as an option from which teachers select in the Teach the Workshop(s) section of the Lesson Plan. As a result, this lesson may not occur during core instruction.  

• Students have opportunities to recognize variations from standard English in their own and others’ writing and speaking, and identify and use strategies to improve expression in conventional language. 

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students engage in a Speaking & Listening Workshop. Students receive explicit instruction on giving and listening to an informative presentation. Guidance reminds students to use the active voice when speaking and to rehearse their presentations with partners. Students provide feedback on the content of the speech, as well as the presentation itself. Materials note that Speaking & Listening Workshops may be used to extend students’ speaking and listening skills. As a result, this activity may not occur during core instruction. 

  • In Unit 2, Meeting Challenges, students learn about sensory details during a Speaking & Listening Workshop. Students craft and deliver a literary interpretation of a story of their choosing. Guidance encourages students to read using sensory details while using word choice to create tone and mood. Materials note that Speaking & Listening Workshops may be used to extend students’ speaking and listening skills. As a result, this activity may not occur during core instruction. 

• Students have opportunities to use punctuation (commas, parentheses, dashes) to set off nonrestrictive/parenthetical elements.

  • In Unit 2, Meeting Challenges, within the Grammar and Style Language Conventions section, students learn when to use compound sentences and commas in a series. Students practice these skills by choosing the sentence  with the correct revision. Although students receive explicit instruction, there is not an opportunity to apply this skill in context.

  • In Unit 5, Expressing Yourself, students read the lyric poem, “Arithmetic,” by Carl Sandburg. Students receive explicit instruction in using dashes and end punctuation. Students practice this skill by rewriting sentences and “placing dashes in the correct positions.” Although students receive explicit instruction, there is not an opportunity to apply this skill in context.  

• Students have opportunities to spell correctly.

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read the short story, “The Goodness of Matt Kaizer, by Avi. Students receive instruction via a mini-lesson on Frequently Misspelled Words. Students locate misspelled words in sentences and spell them correctly and apply this skill during the Writing Workshop. During the proofreading step, students find and fix errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.  

• Students have opportunities to vary sentence patterns for meaning, reader/listener interest, and style.

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read the short story, “The All-American Slurp,” by Lensey Namioka. Students receive direct instruction on varying sentence beginnings during a mini-lesson. Students “add some variety to sentence beginnings, start some sentences with a one-word modifier, a prepositional phrase, or a subordinate clause.”  Students rewrite a sentence from the story applying varied sentence beginnings. Although students receive explicit instruction, there is not an opportunity for application of the skill in context.

• Students have opportunities to maintain consistency in style and tone.

  • In Unit  3, Defining Freedom, students write an argumentative essay during the End-of-Unit Writing Workshop. During the edit and proofread steps, students receive instruction on using active voice in their writing. Guidance states, “[C]hoose the active voice because it emphasizes the doer of the action.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 6 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 1m.

Although the Teacher Edition outlines the program’s vocabulary components, neither the Teacher Edition nor the Program Guide outline the program’s plan for vocabulary development or provide teacher guidance to support students’ vocabulary development. At the start of each unit, materials include a Building Vocabulary list, which contains the following categories of vocabulary terms: Preview Vocabulary, Selection Words, Academic Vocabulary, and Key Terms. Words listed as Preview Vocabulary are taken from sentences within selections and are defined in the side margin or at the bottom of the pages where they appear. Words listed as Selection Words are additional words from the reading that may be challenging, but are not central to the selection. These are Tier One words that can easily be understood by using context clues. Words listed as Academic Vocabulary are words that are used in the directions about the lessons. These are Tier Two words that explain what students should focus on, help establish context, clarify meaning of literary terms, and define goals or instructional purpose. Words that are listed as Key Terms are domain-specific Tier Three words. The repetition of these words throughout the program helps to ensure student mastery. While vocabulary words repeat in contexts and across texts, materials miss opportunities to build students’ vocabulary development of Tier One and Tier Two words.

Materials include opportunities for students to interact with key academic vocabulary words in and across texts; however, the year-long vocabulary plan lacks cohesion. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Materials do not provide teacher guidance outlining a cohesive year-long vocabulary development component.

  • The Teacher Edition outlines the Integrated Literacy and Language Resources provided: “Vocabulary & Spelling: Comprehensive developmental Vocabulary and Spelling lessons build word study skills. In-depth instruction is modeled using words from the selections in each unit.” The Teacher Edition also includes specific explanations of the Vocabulary & Spelling Workshop: “Word Knowledge: Concise vocabulary and spelling lessons are integrated with two of the literature selections in each unit. The lessons incorporate vocabulary words from the preceding selection. Each lesson contains instruction, followed by practice exercises.” While materials provide explanations of the program’s vocabulary development component, materials do not include teacher guidance for enacting students’ vocabulary development.  

• Vocabulary is repeated in contexts (before texts, in texts) and across multiple texts; however, it is unclear how materials build students’ vocabulary development of Tier One and Tier Two words during core instruction.

  • In Unit 1, Finding a Place in the World, students read the short story, “The Scribe,” by Kristin Hunter. The Preview Vocabulary list contains the Tier One word dignified. The word dignified also appears in Unit 3 on the Selection Words list for the memoir, The Flight of Red Birds: The Life of Zitkala-Sa by Zitkala-Sa and Doreen Rappaport. Materials identify and define the word dignified in “The Scribe” but do not identify or define the word in The Flight of Red Birds: The Life of Zitkala-Sa. Materials do not include teacher guidance to build students’ vocabulary development of the word dignified in or across either text.  

  • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, at the start of the unit, students read the Introduction to Nonfiction pages to frame their learning. The Academic Vocabulary list contains the word accurate. This Tier Two word also appears in Unit 5 on the Academic Vocabulary list for the lyric poem, “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me,” by Maya Angelou. Materials do not identify or define the word accurate in either text selection. Accurate does not appear in Angelou’s poem; rather, the term appears in the directions for the Media Literacy Extend Understanding option. Materials do not include teacher guidance to build students’ vocabulary development of the word accurate in or across either text.

  • In Unit 7, Discovering Other Worlds, the Build Vocabulary list includes the Key Term characterization. The term is used in the directions for the Media Literacy Extend Understanding option for the play, Do You Think I’m Crabby?, by Clark Gesner. This Tier Three word is first introduced and defined during the preview page for the Unit 1 text, “The Goodness of Matt Kaizer,” by Avi. The word characterization appears throughout several other units, including, but not limited to, the following: the directions for the Informative Writing Extend Understanding option for the Unit 2 text, “Tuesday of the Other June,” by Norma Fox Mazer; and the preview page for the Unit 8 text, “The Twelve Labors of Hercules,” retold by Walker Brents. 

• Attention is paid to vocabulary essential to understanding the text and to high-value academic words (e.g., words that might appear in other contexts/content areas). 

  • At the start of each unit, materials contain a Building Vocabulary page: “The lists below identify the Words in use, Academic Vocabulary, and Key Terms within this unit. These words are listed at the bottom of the Teacher’s Edition pages at the beginning of each lesson. Vocabulary development activities are provided in the Unit Selection Resources unit book and in the Vocabulary & Spelling resource.” Materials do not include teacher guidance on how to use the Building Vocabulary words to build students’ vocabulary development. Words from the Building Vocabulary list are not consistently addressed in the embedded Vocabulary & Spelling Workshop.

  • The Building Vocabulary page contains the following word categories: 

    • Preview Vocabulary: “words taken from the sentences within each selection. These words are defined in the side margin or at the bottom of the pages on which they appear. The Preview Vocabulary section introduces these words in the Before Reading page preceding each selection (Tier One Words).”

    • Selection Words: “additional words from the reading that may be challenging, but are not central to the selection and are not identified in the pre reading section. These words can easily be learned using the story context, and they provide excellent practice for using content clues to find meaning without explicit instruction (Tier One Words).” 

    • Academic Vocabulary: “words that are used in the directions about the lessons. Academic vocabulary words explain to students what to focus on within the selection, help establish the story context, clarify the meaning of literary terms, and define the goals or instructional purpose (Tier Two Words).”

    • Key Terms: “commonly referred to as domain-specific words. These terms appear in the instructional material to teach the terminology that students need to acquire to understand literature. The repetition of the terms throughout the program ensures student mastery and provides a solid foundation for the continuing study of literature and language arts (Tier Three Words).”

• Materials provide limited support for students to accelerate vocabulary learning with vocabulary in their reading, speaking, and writing tasks.

  • In Unit 3, Defining Freedom, students read paired texts: a speech, “There is No Salvation for India,” by Mohandas Gandhi and an article, “An Old Language Lives,” by Rachel L. Swarns. Materials preview and define vocabulary terms using student-friendly definitions at the beginning of the selection, as well as throughout the selection. This paired selection precedes the Vocabulary and Spelling Workshop, which focuses on syllabic spelling. Materials list, bold, and define Key Terms, such as the word syllable, at the bottom of the page. Academic Vocabulary words connected to the texts include vernacular and amongst. Additional vocabulary words used throughout the unit repeat during the Revising and Editing Skills section of the Test Practice Workshop. 

  • In Unit 7, Discovering Other Worlds, students read “The Stolen Child” by William Butler Yeats. In the embedded Vocabulary Skills: Multiple Meanings section, the teacher reminds students that words can have multiple meanings. Students use a dictionary to identify several meanings for the following list of words from the reading selection: wake, wild, hand, can, light, till, drop, and round.