About This Report
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Report Overview
Summary of Alignment & Usability: MyPerspectives | ELA
ELA 6-8
MyPerspectives English Language Arts grades 6, 7, and 8 fully meet the expectations of alignment to EdReports.org's Gateways 1, 2, and 3 criteria. Texts with which students engage are appropriately rigorous and rich and are accompanied by cohesive writing and speaking questions and tasks. The materials provide practice and production opportunities for students to grow their literacy skills in multiple areas as they build knowledge as well. There are multiple opportunities for students to synthesize information by working with varied tasks and in growing research and critical thinking abilities. Materials are organized to support comprehensive vocabulary development, writing instruction in multiple modes, and independent reading of complex texts over the course of the year. The materials also include support for educators to implement, plan, and differentiate the standards-based materials, leveraging digital resources when appropriate.
6th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
7th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
8th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
ELA High School
MyPerspectives grades 9-12 fully meet the expectations of the criteria for all three gateways, including alignment and usability. The materials include texts in each grade that are high quality and build knowledge and are accompanied by tasks and questions so students practice building grade-level speaking, listening, writing, and reading skills. The materials consistently provide Across the series, the materials provide cohesive planning and access to vocabulary development and differentiation supports, including digital access.
9th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
10th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
11th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
12th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
Report for 11th Grade
Alignment Summary
MyPerspectives English Language Arts Grade 11 materials fully meet the expectations of alignment. The materials provide students cohesive support and practice as they grow their skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language. The materials include texts that reflect the appropriate demand and rigor required by the standards for the grade band.
11th Grade
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Usability (Gateway 3)
Overview of Gateway 1
Text Quality & Complexity and Alignment to Standards Components
The materials for Grade 11 meet the expectations for Gateway 1. The materials include texts that are high quality and engaging, and provide students opportunities to work with texts at the appropriate level of rigor and complexity. Questions and tasks students work with are consistently linked to texts and provide ongoing practice in grade level reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language.
Criterion 1.1: Text Complexity and Quality
Texts include a wide variety of subjects, themes, text types, and complexity levels appropriate for Grade 11 students. Materials support students' advancing toward independent reading. Texts are worthy of students' time and attention: texts are of high quality and are rigorous, meeting the text complexity criteria for each grade.
NOTE: Indicator 1b is non-scored and provides information about text types and genres in the program.
Indicator 1A
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria for anchor texts being of publishable quality, worthy of especially careful reading, and consider a range of student interests.
The materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria as the vast majority of anchor texts are widely read works that have been in the public eye for a length of time. The texts vary from seminal works to enduring classics that are worthy of especially careful reading. Additionally, the scope of texts—considering both theme and format—address a range of student interests. All of the anchor texts have been previously published and represent various cultures and histories. A few of the more modern anchor texts are of reputable publications. The qualities of the text, whether classic or modern, provide opportunity to study the careful and intentional use of language, impact on audience, purpose in the wider world, and development of ideas such that they are both timely and timeless.
Examples of publishable and worthy texts that meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
- The Declaration of Independence (foundational document) by Thomas Jefferson
- Preamble to the Constitution: Bill of Rights (foundational document) by Gouverneur Morris and James Madison
- “Speech in the Convention” (speech) by Benjamin Franklin
- From the preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass (essay) by Walt Whitman
- From “Song of Myself” (poem) by Walt Whitman
- “American” (poem) by Walt Whitman
- "The Soul selects her own Society” (poem) by Emily Dickinson
- From “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July” (speech) by Frederick Douglass
- “Second Inaugural Address” (speech) by Abraham Lincoln
- Excerpt from Life on the Mississippi (memoir) by Mark Twain
- "A White Heron” (short story) by Sarah Orne Jewett
- The Crucible (drama) by Arthur Miller
- “Everyday Use” (short story) by Alice walker
- “Everything Stuck to Him” (short story) by Raymond Carver
- “The Leap” (short story) by Louise Erdrich
Indicator 1B
*Indicator 1b is non-scored (in grades 9-12) and provides information about text types and genres in the program.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 reflect the distribution of text types and genres required by standards at each grade level. Source materials across the units include fiction and nonfiction literature, a broad variety of informational texts, digital resources such as audio recordings, and some visual stimulus. Assignments include writing in all of the modes indicated by the Common Core State Standards and media such as digital as well as traditional writing. Throughout the six units of study, students are exposed to a variety of texts that assist students with answering the unit’s Essential Question. This challenges the traditional use of text in specific grades and allows students to be exposed to a variety of subjects and themes. Genres include memoirs, blog posts, essays, short stories, novel excerpts, news articles, poems, and drama. Also, the publisher lists “Suggested Unit-Aligned Trade Books” which can be used as supplemental material.
Examples of the distribution of text types to meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
Unit 1
- From America’s Constitution: a Biography (expository nonfiction) by Akhil Reed Amar
- “Gettysburg Address” (speech) by Abraham Lincoln
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Unit 2
- From Up from Slavery (narrative) by Booker T. Washington
- From Nature (philosophical writing) by Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Suggested Unit-Aligned Trade Book: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Unit 3
- From What to the Slave is the Fourth of July (speech) by Frederick Douglass
- “The Story of an Hour” (short story) by Kate Chopin
- Suggested Unit-Aligned Trade Book: Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
Unit 4
- From Life on the Mississippi (memoir) by Mark Twain
- From Dust Tracks on a Road (autobiography) by Zora Neale Hurston
- Suggested Unit-Aligned Trade Book: Dubliners by James Joyce
Unit 5
- The Crucible, Acts I - IV (drama) by Arthur Miller
- “Antojos” (short story) by Julia Alvarez
- “Runagate Runagate” (poetry) by Robert Hayden
- Suggested Unit-Aligned Trade Book: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Unit 6
- “Everyday Use” (short story) by Alice Walker
- “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” (short story) by Katherine Anne Porter
- Suggested Unit-Aligned Trade Book: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Indicator 1C
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria for texts having the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and relationship to their associated student task.
Many units employ a tiered level of text presentation, ranging from high, middle, and low Lexile measures. Texts are accompanied by a qualitative analysis based on knowledge demands, structure, language, and levels of meaning/purpose. Most texts are selected according to the connection of complexity and instructional purpose and tasks associated with whole- or small-group learning and independent learning. For example, though it may seem that students read texts at a high Lexile level at the beginning of the year, the complexities of texts generally align to the instructional purpose. More complex texts are used for whole-group instruction and less complex texts are for small-group or independent learning tasks. Materials offer support for text complexity through sections such as “Making Meaning” and vocabulary acquisition. All texts are accompanied by performance tasks that consist of essay writing or speaking and listening tasks aligned to the purpose of the text.
Examples of the appropriate level of text complexity that meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
Unit 1: The Declaration of Independence
- In this unit, students are required to read and deconstruct U.S. foundational documents, such as The Declaration of Independence. Quantitatively, the Lexile measure is 1390, with a text length of 1,322 words. The Lexile level is above the recommended range of 940 to 1210; however, students are completing this analysis via Whole-class Learning. Student engagement with the complex text is supported based on in-depth analysis, leveled work through the “Making Meaning” section, as well as vocabulary acquisition through “Language Development” and “Effective Expression.” The text helps students answer the Essential Question (EQ): “What is the meaning of freedom?” The document explains reasons that the American colonists sought political freedom and asserts their right to personal freedoms including, "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." After reading and deconstructing the text and others, students complete an argumentative essay on this prompt: “Which statement do you find most compelling for Americans today: the Preamble to the Constitution or the first sentence of paragraph three of the Declaration of Independence?”
Unit 3: “The Story of an Hour”
- In Small-group Learning, students are required to read "The Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin. The Lexile measure for this specific short story falls at 960, with the text length being 1,007 words. While the text is considered on the “low end” of the recommended Lexile range, students are required to read this at the small-group reading level. The qualitative analysis in the materials describes the text as “a sequential short story with plot elements that are explained. Paragraphs are short, which makes structure easier to follow.” To increase complexity, students are presented with difficult concepts to overcome as a group: “The reader must infer meaning on multiple levels beyond the plot itself (author’s commentary on love, marriage, and independence of women); story has irony in both plot and message.” Students are required to complete a speaking and listening performance task by holding a panel discussion based on all of the texts read during Small-group Learning.
Unit 5: “What Are You So Afraid Of?”
- Through Independent Learning, students are required to read the essay, “What Are You So Afraid Of?” by Akiko Busch published by The New York Times. Quantitatively, the Lexile measure is 1280, with a total of 759 words. While the Lexile level is slightly higher than that of the recommended range it is also much shorter than most other passages throughout the textbook. To support their understanding of the text, students complete a “Making Meaning” section and analyze for “Effective Expression.” Materials state that students also will benefit from the “personal, [non]scientific or quantitative, approach to the origins of fear.” And, the text directly relates to the Essential Question, “How do we respond when challenged by fear?” by stating that “people often are fearful of things that are not real dangers. People’s fears instead are based on genetic-predisposition to things that were dangerous during our evolution.” During Independent Learning students compose an argumentative essay that ties in at least three texts read by the student and present a speech based on said argument.
Indicator 1D
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria for materials supporting students’ increasing literacy skills over the course of the school year. (Series of texts should be at a variety of complexity levels appropriate for the grade band.)
Within the grade 11 textbook, materials support students’ increasing literacy skills over the course of the school year, and series of texts are at a variety of complexity levels appropriate for the grade band. Within all units in the textbook, students are supported in their increasing literacy demands by engaging in reading and writing tasks in whole and small groups as well as independently during which they typically have a choice of texts. Students read, write, and discuss for a purpose, which is generally supported by the unit Essential Question, selected texts, performance tasks, and Performance-based Assessments. Within each unit, texts vary across a wide range of text complexities, based on quantitative and qualitative measures. To increase students’ literacy skills, the earlier texts tend to be at a higher complexity measure; but these are utilized in whole-group instruction with less complex tasks. By the end of the year, more texts fall at the lower end of the recommended Lexile range; however, students engage in these texts in Small-group and Independent Learning with the expectation that they carry more individual responsibility for reading and writing tasks.
Examples that materials support students’ increasing literacy skills across the year to meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to the following examples:
Unit 1: Writing Freedom
Whole-group Learning text: the Declaration of Independence
- Lexile: 1390
- Length: 1,322
- Qualitative Analysis:
- Knowledge Demands: 4/5
- Structure: 3/5
- Language Conventionality and Clarity: 5/5
- Levels of Meaning and Purpose: 3/5
- Performance Task: "Write a brief argumentative essay in which you address the following question: Which statement do you find most compelling for Americans today: the Preamble to the Constitution or the first sentence of paragraph three of the Declaration of Independence?"
Independent Learning text: from the Iroquois Constitution
- Lexile: 1510
- Word count: 907
- Qualitative Analysis:
- Knowledge Demands: 4/5
- Structure: 3/5
- Language Conventionality and Clarity: 4/5
- Levels of Meaning and Purpose: 4/5
- Text Questions:
- Infer: What does the council meeting opening ceremony suggest about the Iroquois people?
- Summarize: What qualities and conduct are required of council lords by the Iroquois Constitution?
- Connect: Do you think it would be a good idea to apply those requirements to modern government? Why or why not?
- Evaluate: Do you support the ideas presented in the Iroquois Constitution? Why or why not?
Unit Performance Based Assessment:
- Write an argumentative essay in which you respond to this question: What are the most effective tools for establishing and preserving freedom?
Unit 6: Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Tales
Whole-class Learning text: “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
- Lexile: 980
- Word count:4,146
- Qualitative Analysis
- Knowledge Demands: 4/5
- Structure: 4/5
- Language Conventionality and Clarity: 4/5
- Levels of Meaning and Purpose: 5/5
- Performance Task: "Write a fictional narrative addressing this question: How do stressful situations often reveal the best and worst in people?"
Independent Learning Text: “The Tale-Tell Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe
- Lexile: 1070
- Word count: 392
- Qualitative Analysis
- Knowledge Demands: 2/5
- Structure: 2/5
- Language Conventionality and Clarity: 2/5
- Levels of Meaning and Purpose: 2/5
- Text Questions
- Make Inferences: What does the narrator say in the first paragraph that might lead the reader to think he is insane?
- Make Inferences: Why was the narrator especially nice to the old man during the last week?
- Assess: Do you think that being especially nice to the old man accomplished what the narrator wanted? Why or why not?
- Analyze: How did the narrator’s overconfidence lead to his downfall?
- Evaluate: Do you think the narrator is insane? Why or why not?
Unit 6 Performance-based Assessment
- Write a short story in which you introduce and develop a protagonist and set up a problem or conflict the character must face. Use the third-person point of view. Before you write, think about your answer to this question: How does a fictional character or characters respond to life-changing news?
Indicator 1E
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria that anchor texts and series of texts connected to them are accompanied by a text complexity analysis and rationale for purpose and placement in the grade level.
In the teacher edition, a planning section is provided for the anchor texts and series of connected texts. The planning sections include a summary of the text, insight into why the text was chosen, connection to Essential Question, connection to performance tasks, an outline of lesson resources, and a text complexity rubric. The text complexity rubric includes quantitative measures and qualitative measures. Quantitative measures include Lexile score and word count. Qualitative measures are scored and discussed by category: knowledge demands, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and levels of meaning/purpose.
The following is an example of a text complexity analysis and rationale like those that accompany all the texts in the materials:
Unit 1: PLANNING: “Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
- Insight: Reading “The Fall of the House of Usher” will expose students to some of the classic elements of the Gothic tale: dreary weather, a depressing and oppressive setting, a mysterious illness, and a doppelganger. These elements work together to create a nightmarish confusion.
- Instructional Standards: RL.10, RL.5, RL.1, L.1, L.1.b, L.5, L.5.b
- Quantitative Measures:
- Lexile: 1410
- Text Length: 7,162 words
- Qualitative Measures:
- Knowledge Demands (4 out of 5): Life experience demands: Explores complex, sophisticated themes of mental illness and death that are not clearly explained and may be difficult for many readers
- Structure (2 out of 5): First person narrator, told mainly in straightforward fashion.
- Language Conventionality and Clarity (4 out of 5): Long and ornate sentence structure. Many above-level vocabulary words. Contains figurative language and complex descriptions.
- Levels of Meaning/Purpose (4 out of 5): Multiple levels of meaning and symbolism may be difficult to grasp. Concepts and meanings are not clearly explained.
Indicator 1F
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria that anchor and supporting texts provide opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of reading to achieve grade-level reading proficiency.
The materials for Grade 11 include anchor and supporting texts that provide students with multiple opportunities to engage with a wide range and volume of readings in achieving grade-level reading proficiency. The six units of study are thematically designed with multiple texts that assist students with answering the unit’s essential question. Across the year, students are exposed to texts in a variety of print and digital media. Each unit begins with anchor texts as the focus of whole-class learning, followed by selected texts for small-group learning, and independent learning choices of text. Volume of reading is achieved through the variety of texts genres and lengths presented and the pace at which students are expected to complete each unit. The cumulative total of texts assigned varies by unit but offers a voluminous amount of reading.
Examples of the range and volume of reading that meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
Unit 1: Writing Freedom
Anchor Texts (seminal documents):
- The Declaration of Independence
- US Constitution
- Benjamin Franklin’s speech in the Convention
Supporting Texts:
- Gettysburg Address
- Letter to John Adams from his wife
- The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation, a speech by Thurgood Marshall: Reflections on the Bicentennial of the United States, “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury, The Iroquois Constitution (a political document), and others.
Unit 2: The Individual and Society
Anchor texts
- Various essays and poetry by Walt Whitman
- A selection of poems by Emily Dickinson
Supporting texts
- “Young Goodman Brown” (short story) by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Literary criticism by Galway Kinnell
- Philosophical writings by Thoreau and Emerson
Unit 3: Power, Protest, and Change
Anchor texts
- “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” (speech) by Frederick Douglass
- Abraham Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address” (speech)
Supporting texts
- Cartoons and photographs from Lincoln’s era
- “Ain’t I a Woman?” (speech) Sojourner Truth
- “Giving Women the Vote” (podcast) Sandra Sleight-Brennan’s
- “The Story of an Hour” (short story) by Kate Chopin
- Brown v Board of Education: Opinion of the Court (legal document)
Unit 5: Facing Our Fears
Anchor text: The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Supporting texts
- Video interview with George Takei
- Various poetry
- magazine article
Unit 6: Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Tales
Anchor texts
- “Everyday Use” (short story) by Alice Walker
- “Everything Stuck to Him” (short story) by Raymond Carver
- “The Leap” (short story) by Louise Erdrich
Supporting texts
- “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (short story) by Ambrose Bierce
- “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” (short story) by Katherine Anne Porter
Criterion 1.2: Alignment to the Standards with Tasks and Questions Grounded in Evidence
Materials provide opportunities for students to engage with complex texts to build content knowledge, strong writing skills, and to engage in meaningful dialogue that supports the acquisition and mastery of academic vocabulary. The text-based questions and tasks set forth in the materials support students as they engage in a wide variety of writing experiences, including targeted instruction of grammar and conventions/language skills.
Indicator 1G
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria that most questions, tasks, and assignments are text dependent/specific, requiring students to engage with the text directly (drawing on textual evidence to support both what is explicit as well as valid inferences from the text; this may include work with mentor texts as well).
The materials provide a consistent format for students to engage with text-dependent questions and/or tasks. Questions, tasks, and assignments are evident in each of the unit’s three sections: Whole-class Learning, Small-group Learning, and Independent Learning. Within the units, each module begins with a First Read guide which provides general text-dependent questions. The module also includes, Comprehension Checks, Close Reads, and Analyze sections that provide more text-specific questions. Each unit is designed in this manner to provide a scaffold-approach to text-dependent and text-specific questioning. Students are required to provide support from the text in most of the work they complete within the unit.
Examples of questions, tasks, and assignments that meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, students view four political cartoons under the title, “The American Revolution: Visual Propaganda.” Each image is numbered and credited to an author. Under “Analyze Media,” students are asked to answer the following questions as they are directed to “[c]ite textual evidence to support your answers.”
- “In image 1, what does the snake represent? How does that meeting shed light on the meeting of image 4?”
- “From the colonial point of view, how do images 2 and 3 have similar slant?”
- In Unit 2, students deliver a group speech that “uses evidence from the texts in Small-group Learning” based on the following prompt: “When is it difficult to march to the beat of a 'different drummer' and stand on your own as an individual? What are the risks and rewards of nonconformity?” Based on this prompt, students are also encouraged to use evidence from their “own experiences and observations;" this incites valid inferencing. The directions further require students to specifically draw upon Emerson and Thoreau’s ideas regarding nonconformity and to “use precise language and quotations to support [said] ideas.”
- In Unit 3, students work in groups to “hold an informative panel discussion” that addresses these two questions: “What were the goals of these reformers?” and “Why did they want to achieve those goals?” To reinforce utilizing evidence from the text, students are instructed, “There are six texts in the chart...[H]ave each member choose one text as his or her area of expertise...Use the chart headings to formulate key ideas about your text.” Throughout, students are consistently required to utilize the text, based on the questions, to formulate educated claims and ideas.
Indicator 1H
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria for materials containing sets of high-quality sequences of text-dependent and text-specific questions with activities that build to a culminating task which integrates skills to demonstrate understanding.
The materials for Grade 11 contain text-dependent questions and tasks that build to a culminating task integrating a combination of writing skills with speaking and listening skills. Each unit is thematically organized to answer an Essential Questions throughout the distribution of texts and assignments in Whole-class Learning, Small-group Learning, and Independent Learning.
The text-dependent and text-specific questions are incorporated in activities that culminate in a performance-based writing assessment, backward mapped from all unit activities. These culminating writing tasks are different genres of writing such as argument essay, informative essay, explanatory essay, and nonfiction narrative. Examples of culminating tasks include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, students have a Performance Task (Speaking & Listening) that requires them to respond to the following prompt: “Do narratives provide strong evidence to support arguments about American freedoms?” Students are then required to “use examples from the texts in this section to support [their] positions.” This specific lesson builds students’ understanding(s) of the purpose of narratives, considering this lesson is dependent upon a very heavily text-dependent prompt.
- In Unit 3, students are assigned a Panel Discussion asking them to work in groups to “hold an informative panel discussion” that addresses these two questions: “What were the goals of these reformers?” and “Why did they want to achieve those goals?” To reinforce utilizing evidence from the text students are instructed, “There are six texts in the chart...have each member choose one text as his or her area of expertise...Use the chart headings to formulate key ideas about your text.” Throughout, students are consistently required to utilize the text, based on the questions, to formulate educated claims and ideas.
- In Unit 4, the Performance-based Assessment is to write an explanatory essay in which students use examples from the texts in the unit and their own lives to answer the following question: “What makes certain places live on in our memory?” The second part of that assessment is for students employ Speaking and Listening skills where they use the essay as a foundation for a three-to-five minute oral presentation. To prepare for this Performance-based Assessment students do the following:
- Whole-class Learning: Students read an excerpt from a memoir and two short stories where the setting is essential to understanding the text. Their task is to write an explanatory essay answering “How do American authors use regional details to make the events and themes of the narrative come alive for the reader?” The instructional material takes them through the writing process, highlighting elements of an explanatory essay and writing with research.
- Small-group Learning: Students groups compare the unit’s readings to a quote by Barry Lopez in “A Literature of a Place.” He writes, “It is my belief that a human imagination is shaped early by the architectures it encounters at an early age.” Students are to create and deliver an oral presentation that explains their understanding of the sense of place demonstrated in each studied text.
- Independent Learning: Students review their Evidence Log and their Quick Write from the beginning of the unit to see if they have enough evidence to support a strong thesis for an explanatory essay answering the question, “What makes certain places live on in our memory?" If not, they have to make a plan to do more research, talk to classmates, reread a selection, and/or ask an expert.
Indicator 1I
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria for materials providing frequent opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions (small groups, peer-to-peer, whole-class) that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax.
The materials for Grade 11 provide frequent opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax. Each unit is organized to answer an Essential Question (EQ) as each text is read and dissected. All speaking and listening assignments are performance-based for language development and require students to directly reference the text so that all students participate in accountable academic talk. Within each of the learning modules, Whole-class Learning, Small-group Learning, and Independent Learning, students are given materials with assignments and tasks to expand skills in academic vocabulary and syntax. During their reading, students see key words highlighted and defined. In ensuing sections, students demonstrate a variety of strategies for learning and using academic vocabulary. Many individual tasks and lessons encourage and prompt peer-to-peer discussions. There are instructions for teachers that include questions to lead whole class discussions.
Examples of opportunities and protocols include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 2, The Individual and Society, during Whole-class Learning, the materials outline the strategies and actions that are suggested. These protocols support students as they have evidence-based discussions. For example, students are asked to listen actively and “record brief notes on main ideas and points of confusion,” clarify by asking questions and “ask follow up questions as needed,” “share [their] ideas and answer questions,” and “build on the ideas of others.” These prompts provide students with the directions necessary to initiate and sustain evidence-based discussions.
- In Unit 4, Grit and Grandeur, teachers are provided with rationale for the launch text. The materials state that the purpose of the launch text is to provide opportunities for discussion about “grit and grandeur.” Additionally, students are prompted to “note that the author uses the words first and second in the beginning of sentences describing key decisions” and then to “discuss the details that the author suggests could help make these key decisions”.
- In Unit 5, students are assigned to read “The Crucible.” In the Whole-class Learning, under Language Development, the term realism is introduced to students as a way to define Miller’s work. Students are tasked under Author’s Style to, “[r]eview the opening scene of Act IV. Identify and describe one example of each dramatic element presented in realistic way.”
- In the Unit 6 construct of Independent Learning, students first complete a “first read” and then a “close read” of the text. Students are then required to share out their independent learning, which is based solely on the the text, “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe: “What do stories reveal about the human condition?” This guiding question will push students to “continue to grow by sharing what [was] learned with others.” Students are required to “share [out] ideas about the text” that was explored first, independently, but then “jot down ideas that [students] learn from [others].”
Indicator 1J
The materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria for materials supporting students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading and researching (including presentation opportunities) with relevant follow-up questions and evidence as each unit is designed with several intentional, clearly labeled and supported speaking and listening activities, prompts, and presentations. In each unit, the Small-group Learning texts and tasks provide relevant follow-up questions and supports that direct students to speak with and listen to their peers. The Small-group Learning sections also provide a speaking- and listening-focused Performance Task. Additionally, speaking and listening is supported through Performance-based Assessments within each unit.
Examples of student opportunities for speaking and listening include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 3, students are required to work with a partner to identify “two passages from the excerpt that convey different tones” within a whole-class learning environment. Students are specifically referencing the passage excerpt from What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? by Frederick Douglass. Specific supports that students are given consist of examples of what students might come across in their deconstruction of the text; specifically, students are instructed to “look [together] for examples of passages in which Douglass emphasizes each of these ideas.” The supports consist of five bullet-pointed list items that peer-to-peer analysts must identify as the pair works together to identify two passages that convey different tones. Students must discuss with one another to achieve mastery in the standard and indicator. Relevant follow-up support includes an evaluation of the examples.
- In Unit 6, Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Tales, the “Speaking and Listening Focus” of the Small-group Learning Performance Task requires students to:
- Present a Narrative: Students will be producing a presentation that includes text, graphics, and sound.
- Plan With Your Group: Students are encouraged to look “for examples of stream of consciousness.” Additionally, teachers are provided with instruction and techniques on how students should “be prepared to field questions confidently and to defend their positions without being defensive.”
- Rehearse With Your Group: Student are prompted to “provide constructive feedback to group members.” Also, the teacher is prompted to “remind groups that being familiar with their lines will improve their presentation”.
- Present and Evaluate: Teachers are provided with reflection questions that will support students as they listen to their peers and evaluate their presentations.
Indicator 1K
The materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria for materials including a mix of on-demand and process writing as there is a variety of opportunities for on-demand and process writing throughout each unit in a variety of styles, formats, and lengths. Each unit contains several Performance Tasks that can be found at the end of each learning module (Whole-class Learning, Small-group Learning, and Independent Learning). The materials provide short and long on-demand writing assignments that prepare students for process writing projects.
Brief, on-demand writing assignments occur in relation to a single text or pair of texts and often lead to synthesis across assignments. Examples of on-demand assignments include evidence logs for information collection and journal logs for student reflection. Process writing in this series requires analysis and response to multiple texts and often occurs at the end of a unit as the Performance Task. Process writing assignments also support a presentation of the materials within the written assignment.
- In Unit 1, students compose an argumentative essay based on the following prompt: “Which statement do you find most compelling for Americans today: the Preamble to the Constitution or the first sentence in paragraph three of the Declaration of Independence?” This writing task requires students to reference very specific sections of the text to support their claim.
- In Unit 4, one of the Performance Tasks incorporates a Writing Focus. Students answer the following prompt: Write a five-paragraph explanatory essay in which you address this question: How do American authors use regional details to make the events and themes of a narrative come to life for readers?
- In Unit 5, students read an excerpt from Farewell to Manzanar and watch an interview with George Takei. Students are then required to choose one of three prompts listed and compose a compare-and-contrast essay. This on-demand writing task is facilitated through prewriting strategies in group discussion where students must record ideas during the group discussion based on an evidence organizer. Students are then led through a “Drafting” and “Review, Revise, and Edit” section that reinforces their ability to construct a solid response based on evidence from the text.
- In Unit 5, The culminating assessment for the unit is to write an argument responding to the question, "Is fear always a harmful emotion?" Students are prompted to review the argument writing rubric before beginning the assignment. They are also prompted to use the academic words introduced at the beginning of the unit and highlighted throughout the reading, and are prepared throughout the unit in brief writing assignments to better understand the concepts.
- In Unit 6, the Small-group Learning asks students to read “A Brief History of the Short Story.” They are tasked with conducting research and creating a research report within their groups. The student edition provides them with a chart to jot down their findings. This focused project serves as research for students to complete the Performance-based Assessment where they have to write a short story.
Indicator 1L
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the the criteria for materials providing opportunities for students to address different text types of writing (year long) that reflect the distribution required by the standards which may include “blended” styles.
The materials for Grade 11 provide opportunities for students to address different text types of writing that reflect the distribution required by the standards as each unit focuses on a different writing style and provides lesson-by-lesson support for teachers and students as they build towards a Performance-based Assessment. Within each unit, all writing tasks are directly related to the text and/or essential questions for the units. In addition to low-stakes, informal writing opportunities, students are provided with writing tasks through the Performance-based Assessments that are varied throughout the units and reflect the distribution required by the standards. Students engage in writing explanatory, nonfiction narrative, informative, and argumentative pieces across all units as demonstrated in the evidence below.
Examples of different writing types addressed to meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, students write an argument to respond to this question: “What are the most effective tools for establishing and preserving freedom?”
- In Unit 2, students write a personal narrative about a significant incident that helped the student recognize individual uniqueness.
- In Unit 3, students write an informative essay in which you explore this question: “What motivates people to struggle for change?”
- In Unit 4, students write a brief analysis for six images of American fine art. Each image consists of a blurb regarding the date and title as well as a short summary on the piece and author.
- In Unit 6, students write a fictional narrative that answers the following question: “How do stressful situations often reveal the best and worst in people?”
Indicator 1M
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria for materials including frequent opportunities for research-based and evidence-based writing to support analysis, argument, synthesis and/or evaluation of information, supports, claims.
The materials reviewed for Grade 11 include frequent opportunities for research-based and evidence-based writing to support careful analyses, arguments, synthesis and/or evaluation of information, supports, and claims. Each unit has multiple opportunities for students to practice research skills that allow them to synthesize and evaluate a wide range of materials in order to enhance the quality of their writing. In each unit, students are prompted to explore a topic to deepen their learning or answer a question to gather evidence all in preparation for a culminating assignment. Some texts are accompanied by tasks which require writing to sources. These may embed short research to enhance the evidence later used to support writing and presentations. In each writing assignment, students are directed to use information from a variety of sources, synthesizing information from reading, research, experience, and other texts.
Examples of research and evidence-based writing that meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, students write an argumentative essay in which they determine which is most compelling for Americans today, the Preamble to the Constitution or the first sentence of paragraph three of the Declaration of Independence. Students are directed to use specific details from the texts within the unit, other historical examples, and personal observations of society.
- In Unit 3, students write an informative essay to respond to the question “What motivates people to struggle for change?” Students use information from texts within the unit to support their response.
- In Unit 4, after reading “A White Heron” as one of the anchor texts in Whole-group Learning, students review the short story to write a critical analysis. Using support materials provided, they are instructed on the process of “breaking down a work and seeing how each of its components contributes to the whole.”
- In Unit 6, during Independent Learning, students are given the opportunity to choose from a list of texts to gain examples to assist with writing a nonfiction narrative. Students are instructed to “evaluate the strength” of their content. However, if they do not have enough information to guide them in the writing process, one suggestion is to “do research about short stories.” This would enhance their ability to write the nonfiction narrative.
Indicator 1N
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria for materials including instruction of the grammar and conventions/language standards for grade level as applied in increasingly sophisticated contexts, with opportunities for application context.
Within the Grade 11 textbook, most of the materials include instruction of the grammar and conventions/language standards for grade level as applied in increasingly sophisticated contexts, with opportunities for application. All texts within Whole-class Learning and Small-group Learning have a section labeled “Language Development.” The subsections within Language and Development vary based on the selection and may include, but are not limited to: “Concept Vocabulary,” “Word Study,” “Word Network,” “Conventions and Style,” and “Author’s Style.” Under “Conventions and Style,” materials provide instruction and opportunities for application of grammar and conventions/language skills. The holistic approach to grammar and language instruction follows this pattern throughout the textbook.
Examples of instruction of the grammar and conventions/language standards include, but are not limited to:
- Unit 1: “Writing Freedom," Anchor Text: Benjamin Franklin’s "Speech in the Convention" (public speech): After reading the speech, students are instructed on the usage of parallelism under “Conventions and Styles.” The following activities are assigned for practice: “Underline the parallel elements in these sentences”(from the text). and “Reread paragraph two of Franklin’s speech. Identify two examples of parallelism. Explain the ideas the parallel items expressed.”
- Unit 3: “Power, Protest, and Change,” Anchor Text: Abraham Lincoln’s "Second Inaugural Address" (public speech): During Whole-class Learning, students are given a lesson on prepositional phrases under the section, “Conventions and Styles.” Students complete the following activities: “Mark the prepositional phrases in each sentence. Then label each one as an adverb phrase or an adjective phrase.” and “Reread paragraph 3 of Lincoln’s speech. Mark and then label two adjective phrases and two adverb phrases. Explain how the use of prepositional phrases contributes to Lincoln’s style and helps clarify his ideas.”
- Unit 6: “Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Tales,” Anchor Text: “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce (short story): After reading the short story, students are given instruction on syntax with the introduction of asyndeton - the omission of a coordinating conjunction such as and or or where one would normally be. The assigned activities follow: “Read these examples of Bierce’s use of asyndeton in ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.’ In each sentence, mark where Bierce has chosen to omit a coordinating conjunction.” and “Reread paragraph 21 of ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,’ and identify the sentence in which Bierce employs asyndeton. Then, discuss with your group how the syntax of this sentence contributes to Bierce’s stream-of-consciousness narration.”
Overview of Gateway 2
Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and Tasks
The materials for Grade 11 fully meet the expectations of Gateway 2.
Gateway 2
v1.0
Criterion 2.1: Materials build knowledge through integrated reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language.
Indicator 2A
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria that texts are organized around a topic/topics to build students’ knowledge and their ability to read and comprehend complex texts proficiently.
The materials for Grade 11 are organized around topics or themes to build students’ knowledge and their ability to read and comprehend texts proficiently. Each of the six units has an Essential Question that provides a theme for the unit. All of the readings, including Whole-class Learning, Small-group Learning, and Independent Learning, are centered on that topic to assist students with answering the Essential Question. Within the Whole-Class Learning instruction, the anchor texts challenge students to think about the Essential Question. Supporting texts in the Small-Group Learning and the Independent Learning sections provide information relative to the essential topic and anchor texts. Many of the texts represent multiple and sometimes conflicting perspectives about the essential topic, and include a variety of styles, genres, and media. The lessons in each of these learning modalities include activities that further student comprehension of progressively difficult text. Students’ knowledge based on the specific topic/lens is deepened after every text is analyzed, based on supporting questions. Assigned to keep an evidence log along with multiple graphic organizers, students can chart their growth as independent readers. Additionally, students display their knowledge in the completion of Performance Tasks or Performance-based Assessments that usually consist of speaking and listening skills or writing tasks.
Examples of organization of texts by topic to build student knowledge to meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
Unit 1: Writing Freedom
- Essential Questions: What is the meaning of freedom?
- Whole-class Learning:
- The Declaration of Independence
- The Bill of Rights
- Benjamin Franklin’s Speech in the Convention
- Small-group Learning:
- The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano
- Letters between John and Abigail Adams
- "The Gettysburg Address" by Abraham Lincoln
- Independent Learning
- “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury
- Thurgood Marshall's speech “Reflections on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution”
Unit 6: Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Tales
- Essential Questions: What do stories reveal about the human condition?
- Whole-class Learning:
- “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker,
- “Everything Stuck to Him” by Raymond Carver
- “The Leap” by Louise Erdrich
- Small-group Learning:
- “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce
- “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter
- “A Brief History of the Short Story” by D.F. McCourt.
- Independent Learning
- “The Man to Send Rainclouds” by Leslie Marmon Silko
- “The Tell-tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe
- “Ambush” by Tim O’Brien
- “Housepainting” by Lan Samantha Chang
Indicator 2B
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced higher order thinking questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics.
The materials for Grade 11 primarily contain sets of coherently sequenced higher order thinking questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics. First-read materials direct students to notice, annotate, connect and respond. Close-read materials provide students with more annotation directions and tools, then direct them to question the text and draw conclusions. Students keep a digital notebook to collect their responses to the text. During Whole-class, Small-group, and Independent Learning, students engage in Making Meaning sections with each text which provides sequenced higher-order thinking questions and tasks for a range of purposes through various subsections. For example,
- Comprehension Check provides questions and tasks concerning the key ideas and details of the text.
- Jump Start: Close Read provides questions and tasks concerning the craft and structure of the text.
- Analyze the Text: provides questions and tasks concerning the key ideas and details
- Analyze Craft and Structure provides questions and tasks concerning the craft and structure of the text.
- Language Development section provides sequenced higher order thinking questions and tasks related specifically to language through the Concept Vocabulary, Word Study, Word Network, and Conventions subsections.
Examples of sets of coherently sequenced higher order thinking questions and tasks to meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
Unit 2: The Individual and Society
Text: an excerpt from the Preface of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Close Read
- Mark details that relate to death and other details that relate to new life or rebirth.
- Why does Whitman include these details? What is dying and what is being born?
- What impression of America do these references create?
Analyze the Text
- Interpret: In the Preface to Leaves of Grass what does Whitman mean when he calls America a “nation of nations”?
Unit 3: The Individual and Society
Text: “Second Inaugural Address” by Abraham Lincoln.
Comprehension Check
- To what event is Lincoln referring when he says, “On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago…”?
- What does Lincoln intend to do to heal the nation, after the war?
Analyze Craft and Structure
- What does the content of the speech tell you about Lincoln’s intended policy for his second term?
- What national issue does Lincoln discuss in paragraph 3?
- Explain what might have been the effect of the speech if Lincoln had developed it to discuss only this issue.
- How does Lincoln’s use of chronological structure contribute to the effectiveness of the speech?
Indicator 2C
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent and text-specific questions and tasks that require students to build knowledge and integrate ideas across both individual and multiple texts.
The materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent and text-specific questions and tasks that require students to build knowledge and integrate ideas across both individual and multiple texts. This structure begins with an essential question for each unit. Each text is accompanied by Whole-class, Small-group, and Independent Learning sections. Each of these learning constructs contains text-dependent and text-specific questions and tasks that guide students in building knowledge and integrating ideas across both individual and multiple texts. These sequences of text-dependent questions prepare students to complete the Performance Tasks, Unit Reflections, and Performance-based Assessments that require students to specifically integrate knowledge across multiple texts.
Examples of coherently sequenced, text-dependent questions that require students to build knowledge and integrate ideas to meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
Unit 1: Writing Freedom
Essential Question: What is the meaning of freedom?
- Analyze the Text: Declaration of Independence
- Why does Jefferson begin with points about human rights before discussing the colonists’ specific grievances?
- What does Jefferson mean by saying that people do not change governments for “light reasons”?
- Relative to the essential question, how does Jefferson connect the meaning of freedom to the main idea of human rights?
- Analyze the Text: Preamble to the Constitution
- How can you tell from the Preamble that the Constitution is meant to do more than merely resolve the country’s issues at the time?
- How does Amendment II of the Bill of Rights reinforce Amendment I?
- Why is “RESOLVED” used to begin the second paragraph of the Preamble?
- Performance Task: What statement do you find most compelling for American today: the Preamble to the Constitution or the first sentence of paragraph three of the Declaration of Independence?
Unit 3: Power, Protest, and Change
Essential Question: In what ways does the struggle for freedom change with history?
- Analyze the Text: Students read an excerpt from What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? by Frederick Douglass and answer a series of questions that include the following:
- How does Douglass’s opening reference to the Declaration of Independence reinforce his message?
- Douglass presented his speech to an anti-slavery society--an audience that was already on his side. Why, then, did Douglass speak as harshly as he did? Whom was he trying to reach?
- Analyze the Text: Students read the "Second Inaugural Address" by Abraham Lincoln and answer a series of questions that include the following:
- Think about the irony in paragraph 3. In what way does Lincoln see irony in the abolition of slavery in the United States? Interpret what Lincoln finds ironic about the prayers of both sides.
- What does Lincoln say about the nature of the speech he made when he first took office four years earlier? How does he contrast that information with the speech that he is making in the present, at his second inauguration?
- Performance Task: Did the nation achieve the goals that Douglass and Lincoln desired?
Unit 5: Facing Our Fears
Essential Question: How do we respond when challenged by fear? Teacher edition, page 181
- Analyze the Text: Students read The Crucible, Act 1 and answer questions that include the following:
- Who is Reverend Hale? Do you think he is fair and impartial in his actions so far? Explain.
- What evidence suggests that sharp divisions exist among the people of Salem? Name two other characters who may be accused of witchcraft by the end of the play. Explain your choices.
- Students read The Crucible, Act III and answer:
- What term does Danforth use to describe Abigail and the girls? What does his use of this term show about his views of the accusers?
- Identify two examples of direct characterization of Giles Corey in state directions. Identify two examples of indirect characterization-in dialogue-that amplify the examples of direct characterization. Explain your choices.
- Performance task: Could any of the characters in The Crucible have done more to end the hysteria in Salem?
Indicator 2D
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, and listening).
The materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrated their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills, including a combination of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Each unit is focused on a topic that is driven by an essential question. Each unit is divided into three learning modalities: Whole-class Learning, Small-group Learning, and Independent Learning. Students engage with multiple texts and tasks during each learning modality. As they progress through the unit, students have the opportunity to practice reading, writing, speaking, and listening independently; but the performance tasks for each modality generally require a combination of these skills as students compose synthesis essays, share their own work, hold structures discussions, and perform peer reviews. The Performance-based Assessments for each unit also require that students integrate multiple skills and give oral presentations of their work.
Examples of integrated skills in questions and tasks to meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
Unit 2: The Individual and Society
Essential Question: What role does individualism play in American society?
- Whole-class Performance Task: Write a personal narrative. Address this question: how has my personal experience shaped my view of individualism? Do I see it as a guiding principle, something to be avoided, or a combination of both?
- Small-group Performance Task: Plan and deliver a group speech that responds to the following prompt: When is it difficult to march to the beat of a “different drummer” and stand on your own as an individual? What are the risks and rewards of nonconformity?
- Performance-based Assessment: Write a personal narrative that answers the question “What significant incident helped me realize that I am a unique individual?” Use the personal narrative as the basis for an oral storytelling session.
Unit 4: Grit and Grandeur
Essential Question: What is the relationship between literature and place?
- Whole-class Performance Task: Write an explanatory essay that addresses the prompt: How do American authors use regional details to make the events and themes of a narrative come to life for readers?
- Small-group Performance Task: Give an explanatory talk that explains an understanding of the sense of place demonstrated in each of the texts in this section.
- Performance-based Assessment: Write an essay explaining what makes certain places live on in our memory? Use the final draft of the explanation to present an oral presentation.
Unit 6: Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Tales
Essential Question: What do stories reveal about the human condition?
- Whole-class Performance Task: Write a fictional narrative that addresses the question: How do stressful situations often reveal the best and worst in people?
- Small-group Performance Task: In the group, plan, present, and video-record a stream-of-consciousness narrative that responds to this statement: The day felt as if it would never end.
- Performance-based Assessment: Write a short story using third-person point of view to show a fictional character or characters responding to life-changing news. Deliver the story extemporaneously in a storytelling session. Use digital audio components to add interest and enhance the mood.
Indicator 2E
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts. Materials include a consistent approach for students to regularly interact with word relationships and build academic and figurative language in context.
The materials for Grade 11 include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts. Most materials include a consistent approach for students to regularly interact with word relationships and build academic vocabulary and figurative language in context. Each text within the Whole-group and Small-group Learning sections include a “Language Development” section with: “Concept Vocabulary,” “Word Study,” “Word Network,” “Conventions and Style,” “Text Features,” etc. All units follow the same expectation that students are interacting and building academic vocabulary per individual text. To complete the Performance-based Assessment at the end of the unit, students demonstrate “Academic Vocabulary” by incorporating their culminating “Word Network” per individual unit. Students are regularly interacting with words and building relationships with the language of the multiple texts as each unit is modeled exactly the same. By the time students have completed all units, students will have mastered formative language in context for individual texts and across texts multiple times. Additionally, the materials include text-specific evidence logs and selection tests that support and assess students as they interact with academic and figurative language in context.
Examples of building key academic vocabulary words in and across texts to meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
Unit 3: Power, Protest, and Change
Text: excerpt from "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" By Frederick Douglass
Language Development
- Concept Vocabulary:
- Vocabulary: obdurate, stolid, disparity, denounce, equivocate, conceded
- How does the concept vocabulary sharpen the reader’s understanding of the debate over slavery?
- What other words in the selection connect to this concept?
- How would you expect obdurate people to respond to advertisements?
- Word Study
- The Latin prefix ob- often means “against.” It combines with the root dur-, which means “hard,” to form obdurate, which means “hardened against.” The word suggests a lack of sympathy toward someone else’s difficulty or need and is a good synonym for hard-hearted.
- Word Network
- Add words related to struggle from the text to your Word Network.
- Evidence Log
- Before moving on to a new selection, go to your evidence log and record what you learned from “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
- Writing from Sources
- In this speech, Douglass mentions Southern laws that made it a criminal offense to teach a slave to read and write. Briefly research how some slaves, including Douglass himself, learned to read. Then write an informative paragraph in which you draw connections between your research and Douglass’s speech.
- Consider using several of the concept vocabulary words in your informative essay.
- In this speech, Douglass mentions Southern laws that made it a criminal offense to teach a slave to read and write. Briefly research how some slaves, including Douglass himself, learned to read. Then write an informative paragraph in which you draw connections between your research and Douglass’s speech.
Indicator 2F
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria that materials contain a year-long, cohesive plan of writing instruction and tasks which support students in building and communicating substantive understanding of topics and texts.
The materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria as they provide a year-long, cohesive plan of writing instruction and tasks. In each unit, writing instruction and tasks are aligned to specific texts. The texts are often used as models for future writing tasks so that students are writing with mentor texts in mind. Writing instruction takes a scaffolded approach to process writing providing students with the opportunity to practice and prepare before writing for performance-tasks or performance-based assessments. This instruction across the six units includes development of various grade-level- appropriate modes of writing to explore and reflect learning relative to the essential question in each unit. The cohesiveness of the writing instruction is also aligned to language standards which support development of increasingly complex writing skills. Text sets in each unit of study provide model/mentor texts such that students can analyze author’s craft demonstrating the language goal relative to writing instruction prior to attempting to demonstrate achievement in a writing task. Across the year, students keep a digital notebook which provides a snapshot of coherence as well as a record of growth across the various tasks.
Examples of a cohesive plan of writing instruction and tasks to meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
Unit 1: Writing Freedom
- Performance Tasks:
- Write an editorial for a local school or newspaper in which you argue your side of an issue that affects your school or community. Use modern syntax and usage, but apply some of Jefferson's persuasive techniques.
- Write an extended definition of a key word or concept presented in one amendment (of your choosing) from the Bill of Rights. Your extended definition should explain both the dictionary meaning of the word or concept and any shades of meaning reflected in the amendment. Use at least two techniques to clarify information and engage readers.
- Performance-based Assessment
- Write an argumentative essay in which you respond to this question: What are the most effective tools for establishing and preserving freedom? Use the anchor texts to identify some of the most successful tools that the Founders established. Use other texts from the unit to demonstrate how well those tools have stood the test of time. Supplement your ideas with examples from your own research that confirm your argument.
Unit 4: Grit and Grandeur
- Performance Tasks
- Write an explanatory essay in which you explore whether Twain follows his own rules for telling a funny story in Life on the Mississippi and “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Consider similarities and differences in the humor displayed in the two narratives.
- Write a critical analysis of the poem. Analyze ways in which Jewett structures events and uses dialogue and description to keep readers uncertain about Sylvia’s intentions until the end of the story.
- Write an explanatory essay to address the question, “How do American authors use regional details to make the events and themes of a narrative come to life for readers?” Use examples for each text [in the set] to explain how authors use setting to create a desired impact on readers.
- Performance-based Assessment
- Write an explanatory essay using examples from texts in the unit to explain what makes certain places live on in our memory. Analyze at least three texts to show how their authors address the question. Determine how and why a setting becomes essential rather than trivial to the meaning of a literary work. Then, integrate one or more anecdotes from your own life into the essay.
Unit 6: Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Tales
- Performance Tasks
- Write a short narrative in which you retell an event from “Everyday Use” from the perspective of a character other than Mama. Make sure your narrative is consistent with the characters and setting created by Walker.
- Write a realistic narrative scene that shows how the boy and the girl in the story might have reacted if they had known what colic is and whether or not their baby had it.
- “The Leap” Write a short, entertaining anecdote about an event in your or your family’s past. Tell about a time when a parent, teacher, or coach intervened in a situation in a way that made you feel grateful. Include an opinion that highlights an important lesson. Conclude your anecdote with a paragraph that explains how your experience compares to that of the narrator in “The Leap.”
- Performance-based Assessment
- Write a short story from the third-person point of view that shows how a fictional character or characters respond to life-changing news. Bring your character’s story to a resolution or epiphany that demonstrates a truth about the human condition.
Indicator 2G
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria that materials include a progression of focused, shared research and writing projects to encourage students to synthesize knowledge and understanding of a topic using texts and other source materials.
For the Grade 10 textbook, most materials include a progression of focused, shared research and writing projects to encourage students to synthesize knowledge and understanding of a topic using texts and other source materials. Each unit includes a research goal that students will conduct research projects of various lengths to explore a topic and clarify meaning. Most of these research projects are brief, and students are given an option to explore topics of their own choosing. An included resource toolkit includes a section on research which addresses topics like narrowing a topic, consulting sources, and avoiding plagiarism. While the research directions in the student text are always the same, the teacher edition offers varied suggestions for specific topics in case some students don’t develop one of their own. This instructional approach provides student an opportunity to practice their research skills through mini-inquiry projects. Many questions can be answered by consulting a single source beyond the assigned sources and sharing either the process of finding information or synthesizing with other students.
Examples of focused, shared research and writing projects to meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
Unit 1: Writing Freedom
- Text: excerpt from Common Sense by Thomas Paine
- Research to Clarify: Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the text. Briefly research that detail. In what way does the information you learned shed light on an aspect of the text?
- Research to Explore: Choose something from the text that interests you and formulate a research question.
Unit 3: Power, Protest, and Change
- Text: “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin
- Research to Explore: This story may spark your curiosity to learn more. Briefly research a relevant topic that interests you. You may want to share what you discover with your group.
- Research to Clarify: Ask students to research and read more of Kate Chopin’s writing about women in the late nineteenth century and their changing roles and relationships as mothers and wives. Ask them to write a short essay detailing what they have learned.
Unit 5: Facing our Fears
- Text: “Antohos” by Julia Alvarez
- Research to Clarify: Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the text. Briefly research that detail. In In what way does the information you learned shed light on an aspect of the text?
- Research to Explore: Conduct research on an aspect of the text you find interesting. For example, you may want to learn about the history and culture of the Dominican Republic.
Indicator 2H
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 11 meet the criteria that materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.
Each of the six units within Grade 11 is organized into Whole-class Learning, Small-group Learning, and Independent learning segments. In the Independent Learning section, students are given a list of works to select from as their personal reading. The section begins with Independent Learning Strategies that require students to be accountable for their work. The section states, “Throughout your life, in school, in your community, and in your career, you will need to rely on yourself to learn and work on your own.” Highlighting the purpose behind independent reading while providing guidelines for accountability (create a schedule, practice what you learned, and take notes) allows regular engagement for independent learning in each chapter. There is a student video for them to watch and learn more about what they must do during their Independent Learning days, which are typically Days 27 and 28 of each unit pacing plan.
Accountability for independent reading includes a selection test for each independent title which consists of selected response items addressing comprehension, vocabulary, and analysis. There are clear directions and consistent expectations for recording entries in the student’s digital notebook to connect and extend analysis of the text as well. Students are also consistently expected to share what they learned independently with their group/class.
Another opportunity to increase volume of reading and support or encourage independent reading is with the information for teachers to use trade books in each unit. Titles in each unit provide opportunities for teachers to swap titles within a unit, supplement with additional reading, or direct students for further reading on their own. While the possibility of independent reading in the form of reading and completing a task outside of a group does exist in each unit, accountability within each unit does not require a volume of independent reading.
Below is an example from a single unit of how students regularly engage in a volume of independent reading to meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
Unit 1: Writing Freedom
- Teaching with trade books:
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
- The Federalist Papers by James Madison
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories by Washington Irving
- Independent Learning texts:
- From “Democracy is not a Spectator Sport” by Arthur Blaustein with Helen Matatov - essay
- "Reflections on the Bicentennial of the Unit State Constitution" by Thurgood Marshall - speech
- Poetry by Gwendolyn Brooks and Elizabeth Bishop
- “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury - short story
- Excerpt from the Iroquois Constitution - political document
- Excerpt from “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine - essay
Unit 1: Sample Independent Reading Tasks
- First Read: Students complete the First Read Guide (graphic organizer). They complete the following information:
- Notice: Who the story is about, what happens, when and where it happens, and why those involved react the way they do.
- Annotate: Mark vocabulary and key passages you want to revisit.
- Connect: Connect ideas within the selection to what you already know and what you already have read.
- Respond: Complete the Comprehension Check and by writing a brief summary of the selection.
- Comprehension Check
- Students answer the following questions:
- What activity does Leonard Mead engage in during the evening?
- What do the other people in the city do during the evening?
- What is unusual about the police car that stops Mead?
- Where does the voice say that the police car will be taking Mead?
- Confirm your understanding of the selection by writing a three-sentence summary of the text.
- Students answer the following questions:
- Share Your Independent Learning: Students are asked to share their learning with their classmates. An example from the student textbook:
- Prepare to Share: What is the meaning of freedom? Reflect on the text you explored independently and write notes about its connection to the unit. In your notes, consider why this text belongs in the unit.
Overview of Gateway 3
Usability
The materials in My Perspectives: English Language Arts - Grade 11 are well-designed and employ effective lesson structure and pacing so that students can master the content by the end of the course. Alignment to the standards is clearly outlined for each unit. The materials offer teachers resources and tools to collect ongoing, standards-aligned data about student progress to inform placement, remediation and enrichment needs, and achievement, including rubrics and student self-assessments. Strategies and supports for students who need differentiated instruction are included (above and below grade level). Additionally, the materials support effective use of technology to enhance student learning. Digital materials are web-based, compatible with multiple Internet browsers, “platform neutral,” follow universal programming style, and allow the use of tablets and mobile devices. The materials can be easily customized for local use.
Criterion 3.1: Use & Design
The materials in My Perspectives: English Language Arts - Grade 11 are well-designed and employ effective lesson structure and pacing so that students can master the content by the end of the course. The student resources include clear directions, a predictable and intentional layout for each unit, and many high- and low-tech review and practice resources. Students and teachers are supported with clear directions and appropriate, well-designed graphics. Alignment to the standards is clearly outlined for each unit.
Indicator 3A
The materials for Grade 11 are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing. Each unit is organized into the following sections: Unit Introduction, Whole-class Learning, Small-group Learning, Independent Learning, Performance-based Assessment, and Unit Reflection. Teachers and students are also directed to additional materials such as digital resources, including media selections, modeling videos, and audio recordings.
The curriculum is composed of six, six-week units. Each unit follows the same sequence of instruction focused on the unit essential question.
- Unit Introduction – 1 day
- Whole-class Learning – 12 days followed by 2 days for performance task
- Small-group Learning – 9 days followed by 2 days for performance task
- Independent Learning – 2 days followed by 2 days for performance based assessment
Each section begins with an overview followed by the lesson plan for the text. Each lesson plan includes:
- Summary of text
- Insight into the text itself
- Connection to the essential question
- Connection to the performance task
- Lesson resources including:
- Instructional standards for the lesson
- Student resources found online
- Teacher resources found online in the Interactive Teacher’s Edition
- Selection resources
- Reteach/Practice resources
- Assessment
- Text Complexity Rubric
- Support for ELLs, struggling learners, and gifted
- Teaching and Learning Cycle: Decide and Plan → Teach → Analyze → Revise and Identify Needs → Decide and Plan
Indicator 3B
For Grade 11, the teacher and student can reasonably complete the content within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding. The pacing is such that students can master the content by the end of the course. The pacing guide appears in the TE on the first page of each unit, on the Whole-class Learning overview page, on the Small-group Learning overview page, and on the Independent Learning overview page of each unit.
With 6 units, the curriculum could be covered in a 36 week academic year. Teachers may choose to deliver Whole-class Learning, assign students to groups for Small-group Learning, or assign the independent learning lessons to individual students.
Support for block scheduling of the course content for individual lessons in each unit is available. For example, each day in the pacing plan represents a 40-50 minute class period. Teachers are advised to combine days to reflect their class schedule and they are given guidance on revising the pacing for differentiation (integrating lesson components and resources as necessary for students).
Indicator 3C
The student resources for Grade 11 include ample review and practice resources, clear directions and explanation, and correct labeling of reference aids. Materials include: evidence log; word network; learning strategies for Whole-class, Small-group and Independent Learning; genre-specific first and close read guides; text-dependent questions; App for scanning multi-media; model text for writing; support charts; concept vocabulary; essay rubrics; organization chart for small-group work; choice in many assignments; selection audio; presentation rubrics; and sentence stems.
Student directions are clearly written, and units and assignments follow the same predictable sequence, making it easy for students to complete activities. By beginning the Unit with a Launch Text written in the type of writing students will be practicing throughout the unit, and by having students address the essential question in response to the Launch Text throughout the unit and again in the culminating performance assessment, students continue to interact with the theme through reading, writing, and speaking.
The First-Read Guide is divided into quadrants titled: Notice, Annotate, Connect, and Respond.
- Notice new information or ideas you learn about the topic as you first read this text.
- Annotate by marking vocabulary and key passages you want to revisit.
- Connect ideas within the selection to other knowledge and the selections you have read.
- Respond by writing a brief summary of the selection.
The Close-Read Guide is divided into three sections:
- Close read the text – Revisit sections of the text you marked during your first read. Read these sections closely and annotate what you notice. Ask yourself questions about the text. What can you conclude? Write down your ideas.
- Analyze the text – Think about the author’s choices of patterns, structure, techniques, and ideas included in the text. Select one and record your thoughts about what this choice conveys.
- Quick Write – Pick a paragraph from the text that grabbed your interest. Explain the power of this passage.
Ample review and practice resources are available:
- Evaluating Your Draft checklist:
- Purpose and Organization
- Provides an introduction that establishes a clear context and introduces the characters.
- Presents a clear chronological sequence of events that are linked by a variety of transitions.
- Provides a conclusion that follows from the events and experiences in the narrative.
- Evidence and Elaboration
- Effectively uses narrative techniques such as dialogue, pacing, and description.
- Uses descriptive details, sensory language, and precise words and phrases.
- Establishes the writer’s voice through word choice, sentence structure, and tone.
- Conventions
- Attends to the norms and conventions of the discipline.
- Purpose and Organization
Directions and explanations are clear and reference materials are correctly labeled:
- Peer Review - Exchange papers with a classmate. Use the checklist to evaluate your classmate’s nonfiction narrative and provide supportive feedback.
Indicator 3D
Materials for Grade 11 include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items. Alignment to the standards is found repeatedly throughout the series.
On pages T48-T59 of the Teacher Edition (TE), the Standards Correlation indicates, by standard, the name of the text or assignment and page number on which it appears. In Lesson Resources prior to each text in the TE, the standards appear in the chart broken down by Reading, Language, Writing, and Speaking and Listening.
In the Student Edition (SE), the standards are found on pp. xx-xxix and noted in the margins throughout each text selection, with the activities and questions following the text, with the performance tasks, and with the culminating Performance-based Assessment.
There is alignment between questions, tasks and assessment items. Examples like the one below can be found throughout the textbook:
- Question
- What was the author’s dream at age 12?
- Task
- Using this chart, cite three of the author’s influences and explain how each influence affected the central idea of the text. Share your responses with your group.
- Assessment Item
- You have read about imaginary characters and settings. Work with your group to develop, plan, and perform a fictional narrative for your class in which you address this question: What might Alice and the Jabberwock discuss if they had met and had a conversation?
Indicator 3E
The visual design for Grade 11 (whether in print or digital) is not distracting or chaotic but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
The visual design is engaging. The colors chosen are not distracting. Also, color coding is used appropriately to allow teachers and students to locate sections of the textbook.
The layout of the text is consistent throughout, with each unit following the same format. Color-coded sections within each unit make them easy to locate quickly. For example, in the TE all lesson sections labeled “Teaching” appear with a green background color, while sections labeled for “Teaching Performance Tasks" appear with an orange background color.
Charts and graphics are easily recognizable from one unit to the next and are free from distraction. Texts are flanked by wide margins to allow for first- and close-reading notes. The font, size, margins, and spacing are consistent and readable.
Selections and their accompanying questions and tasks appear consistently throughout the text, making it easy for students to recognize and follow the order in which the materials are presented.
Criterion 3.2: Teacher Planning
The materials in My Perspectives: English Language Arts - Grade 11 are well-organized to support teachers in their instruction and in refreshing/acquisition of their own learning of more advanced literacy skills. Clear alignments to the standards are listed throughout the teacher materials. The materials contain explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research-based strategies that are incorporated throughout. Teachers are supported within each text selection to choose and employ research-based strategies to meet the needs of their students. Suggestions for communicating with students and their families to support student learning goals are also located throughout the units.
Indicator 3F
The instructional materials, My Perspectives: English Language Arts - Grade 11, include a Teacher’s Edition with ample and useful annotation and suggestions on how to present the content in the Student Edition and in the ancillary materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.
The series includes an overview for each of the six units that includes a pacing plan with suggested days for unit introduction, Whole-class Learning, Small-group Learning, and Independent Learning. After each type of learning there are performance tasks that lead to the performance-based assessment at the end of each unit. To further assist teachers, there is a connection to standards, other lessons, trade books, skills, and vocabulary. The units include notes for cross-curricular perspectives and differentiation of instruction.
Throughout the unit, teacher guidance is provided in the margins on every page. For example, during Close Read the narrative guides teachers through this process by reminding students of what to look for, Annotate gives modeling language, Question models questioning and has the teacher talk through what they are wondering following the narrative, and finally, Conclude is where the teacher makes a conclusion based on the modeled think aloud.
Pearson Realize has online resources supplementing the Teacher Edition (TE) and Student Edition (SE). Digital Perspectives in the TE shows what digital resources are available for each lesson, such as audio, video, document, annotation highlights, EL highlights, and online assessments. Students have an online Evidence Log that is used to record evidence from all selections in a unit to aid in writing the culminating task of the Performance-based Assessment.
Indicator 3G
The instructional materials in My Perspectives: English Language Arts - Grade 11 contain a teacher’s edition with 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.
The series begins with “Getting Started with My Perspectives” that offers a program overview, teacher “how-to” information, teacher resources with scope and sequence, student resources, ELD support, and author background information.
Each unit in this series includes labels (Unit Introduction with Goals, Pacing Plan, Current Perspectives, Home Connections, and Unit Reflection) that give teachers an explanation of how to teach the texts and skills. The Personalize for Learning offers English Language Support, as well as Challenges for advanced students. This and other resources are available as a link within the online teacher edition. Additionally, the teacher’s edition allows for a direct link to the student’s edition within the unit for activities and assignments.
Pages are also color-coded: Whole-class Learning is lime green, Performance Tasks and Performance-based Assessments are color-coded in orange, Small-group Learning is turquoise, and Independent Learning is blue. The teacher is given instruction on what to say for each point of the lesson. Both Whole-class Learning and Small-group Learning have Learning Strategies to guide teachers with an outline to execute instruction.
Each selection in the Whole-class Learning and the Small-group Learning contains a “Planning” section that offers teachers the following:
- Summary
- Insight
- Connection to Essential Question
- Connection to Performance Tasks
- Lesson Resources with standards listed
- Student Resources
- Teacher Resources
- Reteach/Practice Suggestions
- Assessment
Background and Author information is given for each section as a means to provide teachers with needed guidance through each reading selection. Within the teacher’s edition most selections have an audio-adapted version and a written version of the text.
Indicator 3H
The instructional materials in My Perspectives: English Language Arts- Grade 11 contain a teacher’s edition that explains the role of the specific ELA/literacy standards in the context of the overall curriculum.
Teachers are provided with a Pacing Plan for each unit that includes the Unit Introduction, Whole-class Learning, Small-group Learning, Independent Learning, Performance-based Assessment, and Unit Reflection. Within each section, there is a recommended number of days allocated for each reading selection and activities, including Performance Tasks and Performance-based Assessment. This gives a great overview of the unit and what to expect, for ease in planning.
Standards are given for each section as a means to provide teachers with needed guidance through each reading selection.
Indicator 3I
The instructional materials contain explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research-based strategies.
At the beginning of the Teacher’s Edition, there is a section entitled, “Getting Started with My Perspectives.” In "What is My Perspectives" the publisher explains, “My Perspectives is a print and digitally blended program that promotes students’ ownership of the learning through goal setting, student choice and reflection. Students encounter authors’ perspectives as they read literature from across time periods and cultures. They engage in meaningful activities that inspire thoughtful conversations, discussions, and debates. ”
Pages are also color-coded: Whole-class Learning is lime green, Performance Tasks and Performance-based Assessments are color coded in orange, Small-group Learning is turquoise, and Independent Learning is blue. The teacher is given instruction on what to say for each point of the lesson. Both Whole-class Learning and Small-group Learning have Learning Strategies to guide teachers with an outline to execute instruction.
There is also a Planning section before each text selection showing the Lesson Resources, both student and teacher resources organized by Making Meaning, Language Development, and Effective Expression. Next, is a Personalize For Learning: Reading Support that gives the Text Complexity rubric for that reading selection and a Decide and Plan section which gives teachers additional information for English Language Support, Strategic Support, and Challenge support as well as a Read and Respond teaching scaffold. Decide and Plan also includes CCSS Instructional Standards for the selection with a catching-up suggestion and a looking-forward selection for the various standards covered in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language.
Indicator 3J
The instructional materials contain strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the ELA/literacy program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
There a section called “Home Connection” that instructs teachers to send home a letter explaining to parents what students will be learning and how they will be assessed. This can be downloaded in English and Spanish from the digital teacher’s edition.
Prior to each unit, students are given an outline page that lists the Essential Question with all the readings from in the Whole-class Learning, Small-group Learning, and Independent Learning. Additionally, the Performance Tasks that follow the three types of learning are listed for students to view. Finally, the Performance-based Assessment is listed with the prompt so students are made aware of what will be expected of them before they start the unit of study.
At the beginning of each unit, there are “Unit Goals” in the Student Edition. The goals are as follows: Reading Goals, Writing and Research Goals, Language Goals, and Speaking and Listening Goals. Students are asked to “Rate how well you meet these goals right now.” Introductory directions say, “These goals will help you succeed on the Unit Performance-based Assessment.” Later in the unit, students are given the opportunity to revisit their rankings as they reflect on individual growth.
Criterion 3.3: Assessment
The materials in My Perspectives: English Language Arts - Grade 11 offer teachers resources and tools to collect ongoing, standards-aligned data about student progress to inform placement, remediation and enrichment needs, and achievement. Rubrics are included for the Performance-based Assessments that accompany each unit. There is also an opportunity for students to complete a self-assessment, rating themselves on how they meet the unit goals.
Students are systematically held accountable for independent reading and are provided with a number of tools to support them and track their reading.
Indicator 3K
Materials for Grade 11 regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress. The series provides for year-long assessments in the form of a Beginning-of-Year Test on all standards taught in the academic year for planning standards focus, a Mid-Year Test for mastery of standards taught the first half of the year and providing opportunities to remediate, and an End-of-Year Test to determine mastery of standards, future class placement, and to capture final assessment data.
Unit-level Assessments include:
- Selection activities formatively used to assess students’ grasp of critical concepts such as analyzing text, analyzing craft and structure, concept vocabulary, word study, and author’s style.
- Notes in the Teacher Edition that offer suggestions for re-teaching.
- Selection tests tracking student progress toward mastering standards taught with the selection.
- Performance tasks including both a writing and a speaking and listening performance task preparing students for success on the end-of-unit Performance-based Assessment.
- Unit tests requiring students to apply standards taught in the unit with new text, providing an opportunity for teachers to remediate.
- Performance-based Assessments where students use their notes, knowledge, and skills learned to complete a project on their own.
Indicator 3L
Indicator 3L.i
Assessments for Grade 11 clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.
In the Teacher Edition (TE), there is a Standards Correlation that notes by standard and title of the text or assignment and the page number on which it appears. In Lesson Resources prior to each text in the TE, the standards appear in the chart by activity and assessment, broken down by Reading, Language, Writing, and Speaking and Listening.
In the Student Edition (SE), standards are noted in the margin next to each text, activity, assessment and performance task.
Indicator 3L.ii
Assessments for Grade 11 provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow-up.
When assessing taught standards, Mid-Year Tests and Unit Tests can be administered online, and remediation is assigned automatically. If not administered online, an interpretation guide can be used to assign remediation resources.
The writing portion of each Performance-based Assessment includes a genre-specific rubric in both the Teacher Edition and Student Edition. The second part of the Performance-based Assessment, speaking and listening, includes a rubric specific to the type of presentation. The wording in these rubrics is taken directly from the standards.
Formative assessment tips and suggestions are included with each activity. A section entitled "Personalize for Learning," located in the bottom margin of the TE throughout each unit, provides support for ELLs, Strategic Support, and Challenge.
Indicator 3M
Materials for Grade 11 include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress.
Prior to the introductory Launch Text, students complete a self-assessment, rating themselves on how they meet the unit goals.
The first activity students complete at the end of each text during Whole-group and Small-group Learning is a Comprehension Check, in which students respond to several open-ended questions following the first read of the text and then write a summary of the text. During Small-group Learning, students respond individually, then review and clarify details with group members.
Formative assessment tips and suggestions are included in the Teacher Edition (TE) in the margins with each of the activities students are to complete following a text. If students fail to cite evidence, teachers are instructed to remind them to support their ideas with specific information.
In the lesson plan for each text, found in the Interactive TE or Unit Resources, teachers are provided a list of resources to go with that text lesson. The list includes Reteach/Practice documents and Assessment for the text, if available.
Indicator 3N
Materials for Grade 11 indicate how students are accountable for independent reading based on student choice and interest to build stamina, confidence, and motivation.
- All texts are read independently for the first and close reads.
- Students are provided graphic organizers to record notes for both reads.
- Students keep an evidence guide throughout the unit to collect evidence supporting their understanding of the unit essential question.
- An Independent Learning Strategies video is included in the Teacher Edition (TE) that can be viewed with students prior to the two days of Independent Learning.
- Students are to then complete the Independent Learning Strategy chart with the strategy and action plan they will follow. Strategies include: Create a schedule; Practice what you’ve learned; and Take Notes.
- To help students choose the independent text, they are to:
- Look Back – think about the selections they have already read and decide what more they want to know about the topic.
- Look Ahead – preview the selection by reading the provided descriptions and decide which one is most appealing and interesting.
- Look Inside – scan the text and make another selection if this text they chose doesn’t meet their needs.
- Students complete the First-Read Guide and Close-Read Guide on the independent text.
- There are text questions teachers can assign from the TE.
- Students present to the class what they learned from the independent reading that helped them further understand the unit essential question.
- A trade book alignment is included with each unit for suggestions for integrating longer works within the unit and lesson plans for each title are available.
Criterion 3.4: Differentiation
The materials in My Perspectives: English Language Arts - Grade 11 provide teachers with strategies to reach all learners, including those whose skills may be above or below grade level, or whose English proficiencies may provide additional challenges as they engage with the content. All students have extensive opportunities to read, write, speak, and listen to grade level text and meet or exceed grade level standards. Lessons provide Whole-class, Small-group, and Independent Learning opportunities throughout the school year.
Indicator 3O
Materials for Grade 11 provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners, so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding the grade-level standards.
Each unit begins with a Launch Text that is a lower Lexile, so that students can read independently and complete the assigned homework. There is also an audio summary for students to build additional background before reading.
There is a Personalize For Learning: Reading Support section that gives the Text Complexity rubric for that reading selection and a Decide and Plan section which gives teachers additional information for:
- English Language Support with suggestions for Knowledge Demands and Language
- Strategic Support with suggestions for Knowledge Demands and Language/Clarity
- Challenge Support with suggestions for Text Analysis and Written Response
As part of supporting the standards throughout the unit’s teaching and learning cycle, under Decide and Plan is the standard being taught.
- Next to the standard under Catching Up, selection scaffolds are provided before the lesson is assigned in the Student Edition (SE) to scaffold learning for students who are below grade level or students who need English Language Support.
- The Looking Forward section provides activities to practice mastered skills in depth for those students exceeding grade level standards.
There are also notes in the Teacher Edition (TE) under the heading Personalize For Learning to provide extra support. There is a Vocabulary Development section that focuses on multiple-meaning words and gives examples for several meanings of a selected word.
Under Lesson Resources in the TE there are Reteach/Practice materials available online for students who may need extra teaching and practice with author’s craft, word study, conventions and writing/discussion. Each selection has the option to listen to the audio online as well as the Word Network graphic organizer and the Evidence Log.
Author’s Perspective gives teachers pertinent information to assist with providing differentiated instruction.
Indicator 3P
Materials for Grade 11 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.
All students have extensive opportunities to read, write, speak, and listen to grade-level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards. The students read the same grade-level texts throughout each unit, with the teacher modeling and scaffolding instruction during Whole-group Learning and facilitating during Small-group Learning. The students do have a choice of 4-6 selections during Independent Learning. These selections vary in genre and Lexile, but all are tied to the unit’s Essential Question and have a similar lesson plan and expectations.
There are supports built into the series to help make students who are not at grade level and students who speak a language other than English successful with the grade-level text and grade-level standards. For example, when introducing a unit, there is an Introduction Video as well as a Launch Text that is always a model of the type of writing students will be expected to write at the end of the unit. Audio Summaries are also available in both English and Spanish to help build background knowledge before reading.
Indicator 3Q
Materials for Grade 11 regularly include extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.
All students have extensive opportunities to read, write, speak, and listen to grade level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards. The students read the same grade-level texts throughout each unit, with the teacher modeling and scaffolding instruction during Whole-group Learning and facilitating during Small-group Learning.
Under Personalize For Learning: Reading Support the Decide and Plan section gives teachers additional information for Challenge Support with suggestions for Text Analysis and Written Response.
Under Standards Support Through Teaching and Learning Cycle, the Looking Forward section provides activities to practice mastered skills in depth for those students exceeding grade-level standards. Within the Teacher’s Edition (TE), there is a chart that has the CCSS grade-level standard listed that includes a column called “Looking Forward.” This gives advanced opportunities for students who have mastered the standard to go deeper into the standard.
The Teacher’s Edition has tips for the teacher throughout the unit under the heading of Personalize For Learning, and one category is Challenge. Suggestions are located here to extend the learning for students who are exceeding grade-level standards. The format is similar for each unit and each grade level.
Indicator 3R
Materials for Grade 11 provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.
Unit 2: The Individual and Society
Whole-class Learning: After reading selected poems by Walt Whitman, students write a description of their classroom, school, or community in free verse. Students share their poems with the class then compare these with an expository paragraph on the same topics.
Small-group Learning: While reading “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” students identify passages that are most important to develop details that reflect alienation and isolation then share them in their group.
Independent Learning: Group students according to the selection they have chosen. Then have students meet to discuss the selection in depth. Their discussions should be guided by their insights and questions.
Unit 5: Facing our Fears
Whole-class Learning: Students read Arthur Miller’s The Crucible aloud and discuss key elements of the text.
Small-group Learning: Students work independently to answer questions about Farewell to Manzanar then share their responses with the group.
- 1. Why do the other Japanese Americans in the camp view Papa as a traitor?
- 2. How do their opinions affect Houston’s perceptions of her father?
Independent Learning: After choosing a text from the selections offered as independent readings for this unit, students are asked to share what they have learned with classmates (pairing or small groups). The task is as follows: “Reflect on the text you explored independently and write notes about its connection to the unit. In your notes, consider why this text belongs in the unit.” Under “Learn From Your Classmates,” students are asked to “Share your ideas about the text you explored on your own. As you talk with others in your class, jot down a few ideas that you learned from them.”
Criterion 3.5: Technology Use
The materials in My Perspectives: English Language Arts - Grade 11 support effective use of technology to enhance student learning. Digital materials are accessible and available in multiple platforms.
Digital materials are web-based, compatible with multiple Internet browsers, “platform neutral,” follow universal programming style, and allow the use of tablets and mobile devices.
Effective use of technology to enhance student learning, drawing attention to evidence and texts as appropriate is supported. There are multiple opportunities for teachers to differentiate instructional materials for multiple student needs, including supports for before, during, and after each selection.
The materials can be easily customized for local use. Digital Perspectives identifies online resources for each lesson.
Indicator 3S
Digital materials for Grade 11 are web-based, compatible with multiple Internet browsers, “platform neutral,” follow universal programming style, and allow the use of tablets and mobile devices.
Students can use the BouncePage app wherever they see “Scan for Multimedia” to access. Additionally, they can access multimedia resources directly from print by using their mobile or tablet device.
Additional digital resources can be found in the Interactive Student Edition and myPerspectives website. Digital resources, including editable worksheets, can be found in the myPerspectives website.
Assessments can be administered in print and/or online. Pearson Realize provides powerful data reporting.
Indicator 3T
Materials for Grade 11 support effective use of technology to enhance student learning, drawing attention to evidence and texts as appropriate.
The Student Edition gives instructions for downloading Pearson’s BouncePages App from the Apple App or Google Play Store. When a student aims their camera at the Student Edition, they can tap the screen to scan the page. When they press “Play,” a video or audio can be listened to of that particular text. Also, students can access digital novels, interactive lessons, and games using this app.
Audio Summaries: Audio summaries are available online in both English and Spanish in the interactive Teacher’s Edition or Unit Resources. Assigning these summaries prior to reading the selection may help students build additional background knowledge and set a context for their first read.
Indicator 3U
Indicator 3U.i
The instructional materials for Grade 11 include digital materials that give opportunities for teachers to personalize learning for all students, using adaptive technological innovations.
There are multiple opportunities for teachers to differentiate instructional materials for multiple student needs, including supports for before, during, and after each selection. Digital Perspectives offers suggestions for using digital resources to strengthen concepts being taught. Pearson Realize gives teachers access to manage and customize units by rearranging content, uploading their own content, adding links to online media, and editing resources and assessments.
Indicator 3U.ii
The instructional materials can be easily customized for local use. Differentiation and extension opportunities available throughout the instructional materials allow many opportunities to personalize learning as appropriate for students. Teachers are also able to add notes to the materials.
Indicator 3V
The instructional materials include technology that provides opportunities for teachers and/or students to collaborate with each other.
Digital Perspectives identifies online resources for each lesson. The Student Edition is Interactive with access to online annotations tools for reading selections. Students also have access to embedded, interactive graphic organizers and activities that allow for interaction when students are working with a particular text. Additionally, the Integrated Student Notebook gives students opportunities to share their work.