9th Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria that texts are organized around a topic/topics or themes to build students’ knowledge and their ability to read and comprehend complex texts proficiently.

The materials for Grade 9 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 3: The Literature of the Civil Rights

• Essential Question: How can words inspire change?
• Whole-class Learning
  • “I Have a Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • “Letter From Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • “Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.” by Robert F. Kennedy
• Small-group Learning
  • “Remembering Civil Rights History, When ‘Words Meant Everything’” by Jeffrey Brown
  • Poetry Collection
  • “Lessons of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” by Cesar Chavez
  • Traveling by Grace Paley

Unit 6 World’s End

• Essential Question: Why do we try to imagine the future?
• Whole-class Learning
  • “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet
  • “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury
• Small-group Learning
  • “The Nuclear Tourist” by George Johnson
  • Poetry Collection 1
  • From “Radiolab: War of the Worlds”
  • “The Myth of the War of the Worlds Panic” by Jefferson Pooley and Michael J. Socolow
• Independent Learning
  • “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse” by Ali S. Khan
  • “The Secret Bunker Congress Never Used”
  • “The End of the World Might Just Look Like This” by Megan Gambino
  • Poetry Collection 2
  • “A Visit to the Doomsday Vault” by Scott Pelley

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced higher order thinking questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics.

The materials for Grade 9 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: Survival

Text: “The Seventh Man” by Haruki Murakami

• Analyze the Text
  • What does the wave symbolize, or represent, to the seventh man?
  • Paraphrase the seventh man’s comments about fear in the story’s final paragraph. Do you agree or disagree with the seventh man’s comments?
  • Although the seventh man did not die, did he truly escape the wave?
• Analyze Craft and Structure
  • At what points in “The Seventh Man” does the frame story begin and end? What aspects of the text change to indicate these shifts?
  • How does the use of third-person narration in the frame affect readers’ understanding of the seventh man?

Unit 6: World’s End

Text: “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet

• Analyze the Text
  • In paragraph 6, what word does John, one of the Hill People, use to describe the Forest People? What does this suggest about how the Hill People view the Forest People?
  • What does John compare his knowledge to in paragraph 26? How does this metaphor help you understand how John feels at this point in the story?
• Analyze Craft and Structure
  • How does the author introduce the narrative point of view? How might the narrative be different if told by a third-person narrator who is not a character in the story?
  • At what point in the story does John’s understanding catch up to the reader’s?

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent and text-specific questions and tasks that require students to build knowledge and integrate ideas across both individual and multiple texts.

The materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent and text-specific questions and tasks that require students to build knowledge and integrate ideas across both individual and multiple texts. 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: American Voices

Essential Question: What does it mean to be “American”?

• Analyze the Text: After reading “A Quilt of a Country,” students answer the following:
  • Generalize: Why is Quindlen reluctant to define “anything remotely resembling a national character?”
  • Connect: What qualities does she propose are essentially American?
• Performance Task: Writing Focus: Think about how the authors of “A Quilt of a Country,” “The Immigrant Contribution,” and “American History” explore American identity. Consider how the idea of American identity has changed over time. Use your own experience or that of someone you know or have studied to write a brief narrative that explores this question: How does your generation define what it means to be an American today?

Unit 3: The Literature of the Civil Rights

Essential Question: How can words inspire change?

• Analyze the Text:
  • Interpret: What does King mean when he refers to the African American as an “exile in his own land?”
  • Summarize: Explain the comparison King makes between the African American struggle for equality and the cashing of a check.
• Performance Task: Writing Focus: Think about how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy choose to address the question of civil rights in the United States, and how their listeners would have responded at the time.

Unit 6: World’s End

Essential Question: Why do we try to imagine the future?

• Analyze the Text: After students read “By The Waters of Babylon,” they answer a series of questions that include the following:
  • What does John compare his knowledge to in paragraph 26?
  • Interpret: How does this metaphor help you understand how John feels at this point in the story?
  • Summarize: In paragraph 51, what does John observe about the “dead god”?
  • Analyze: Why do these observations free John from fear?
• Performance Task: Writing Focus: Use your knowledge of “By the Waters of Babylon” and “There Will Come Soft Rains” as inspiration to write a narrative that answers this question: After the end of the world, how do we begin again?

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, and listening).

The materials reviewed for Grade 9 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: Survival

Essential Question: What does it take to survive?

• Performance Task: Writing Focus: Use your knowledge of “The Seventh Man,” “The Moral Logic of Survivor Guilt,” and “The Key to Disaster Survival…” to take and defend a position on the topic… Should the narrator of “The Seventh Man” forgive himself for his failure to save K.?
  • Peer review: Exchange papers with a classmate. Use the checklist to evaluate your classmate’s argument and provide supportive feedback.
• Performance-based Assessment: Write a brief argument in which you state and defend a claim responding to the following question: Should people in life-or-death situations be held accountable for their actions? After completing the final draft of your argument, use it as the foundation for a three- to five-minute oral presentation.

Unit 4: Star-Crossed Romances

Essential Question: Do we determine our own destinies?

• Performance Task: Writing Focus: Use your knowledge of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and “Pyramus and Thisbe” to choose and defend a position on the topic of destiny. Based on these two texts, write an argument in the form of literary criticism in response to this question: What had a greater impact on the characters in these texts: destiny or personal choice?
• Performance-based Assessment: Write an argument in the form of a short piece of literary criticism that explores how the selections in this unit address the following question: Should the opinions of others affect our own choices or destinies? After completing the final draft of your literary criticism essay, use it as the foundation for a three- to five-minute multimedia presentation.

Unit 6: World’s End

Essential Question: Why do we try to imagine the future?

• Performance Task: Writing Focus: Use your knowledge of “By the Waters of Babylon” and “There Will Come Soft Rains” as inspiration to write a narrative that answers this question: After the end of the world, how do we begin again?
• Performance-based Assessment: Write a short story in which you develop a theme related to the following question: Which matters more—the present or the future? After completing the final draft of your narrative, record a dramatic reading of your narrative to present to the class.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 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 9 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 1: American Voices

Text: “A Quit of a Country” by Anna Quindlen

Language Development

• Concept Vocabulary:
  • Vocabulary: disparate, discordant, pluralistic, interwoven, diversity, coalescing
  • Which concept vocabulary words contribute to the idea of unity, and which contribute to the idea of fragmentation?
  • What other words in the selection connect to the concepts of unity and fragmentation?
• Word Study
  • Write another word you know that begins with the prefix dis-. Explain how the prefix helps you understand the meaning of the word.
  • Reread paragraph 5 of “A Quilt of a Country.” Mark a word (other than disparate) that begins with the prefix dis-. Write a definition for the word.
• Word Network
  • Add interesting words related to American identity from the text to your Word Network.
    • Possible words: community, folk-art, tolerance, brotherhood, custom
• Author’s Style
  • Fiction writers and poets are not the only ones who choose words carefully. Nonfiction writers like Anna Quindlen also use vivid language, or strong, precise words, to bring ideas to life and communicate them forcefully. Strong verbs and precise adjectives make informational writing more interesting and convincing.
    • Ordinary adjective: We sailed through the rough water.
    • Precise adjective: We sailed through the churning water.
    • Ordinary verb: I fell into the hole.
    • Strong verb: I tumbled into the hole.
  • Read the passages from “A Quilt of a Country” and identify the precise adjectives and strong verbs in each one. Then, rewrite each passage, changing the vivid word choices to ordinary ones. Explain how Quindlen’s original word choices contribute to the accuracy and liveliness of her writing.
• Evidence Log
  • Before moving on to a new selection, go to your evidence log and record what you learned from “A Quilt of a Country.”
• Selection Test
  • Sample Question: Which is the best example of diversity in a town?
    • The town is run by a mayor and a city council.
    • The town has gas stations, markets, and office buildings.
    • The town has residents from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
    • The town has elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 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 9 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: American Voices

• Performance Task
  • Writing to Sources: The essays by Quindlen and Kennedy share a topic but are very difference in diction and tone. Write an essay in which you consider how diction and tone reflect each author’s purpose, audience, and message.
• Performance Task
  • Think about how the authors of “A Quilt of a Country,” “The Immigrant Contribution,” and “American History” explore American identity. Consider how the idea of American identity has changed over time. Then, use your own experience, or that of someone you know or have studied, to write a brief narrative that explores this question: How does your generation define what it means to be an American today?
• Performance-based Assessment
  • Write a nonfiction narrative on the following topic: How is an “American” identity created?

Unit 3: The Literature of the Civil Rights

• Performance Task
  • Think about how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy choose to address the question of civil rights in the United States, and how their listeners would have responded at the time. Conduct research to write an informative essay on this question: How did the selections in this section affect those who first heard them or read them?
• Performance-based Assessment
  • Writing to Sources: Informative Essay: In this unit, you read about various characters, both real and fictional, who are part of the struggle for civil rights. Some used words to inspire others and share their own experiences, while others used words as a call to action.
  • Assignment: Write an informative essay on the following: Explain how words have the power to provoke, calm, or inspire. Use evidence from at least three of the selections you read and researched in this unit to express and support your thesis. If time permits, do outside research, using credible sources, to support your ideas with examples, facts, and quotations. Ensure that your ideas are fully supported, that you use a formal, objective tone, and that your organization is logical and coherent.

Unit 5: Journeys of Transformation

• Performance Task
  • Use your knowledge of the Odyssey, the graphic novel, and the application for a mariner’s license to inform readers about journeys at sea and explain what they would need to know in order to survive. Write a brief explanatory essay in which you refer to the ideas from the texts and answer this question: How are personal strengths and weaknesses magnified during the course of a journey at sea?
• Performance-based Assessment
  • Write an explanatory essay in which you examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, procedures, and information related to the following question: When does the journey matter more than the destination? Use relevant evidence from at least three of the selections you read and researched in this unit to elucidate your ideas. Ensure that you introduce your topic, develop the topic with sufficient facts, details, and quotes, and use appropriate and varied transitions.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria that materials include a progression of focused, shared research and writing projects to encourage students to synthesize knowledge and understanding of a topic using texts and other source materials.

For the Grade 9 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: American Voices

• Text: "The Immigrant Contribution” from A Nation of Immigrants by John F. Kennedy

• • Research to Clarify: Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the text. Briefly research the detail. In what way does the information you learned shed light on an aspect of the essay?
  • Research to Explore: Choose one of the immigrant industrialists, scientists, or inventors that Kennedy mentions. Conduct research to learn more about this figure.

Unit 3: The Literature of Civil Rights

• Text: “Lessons of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” by Cesar Chavez

• Research Assignment: Write a team report on one of the following topics:
  • A strategy analysis that addresses the following questions: Was Chavez’s strategy for asking consumers to boycott grapes morally responsible? Were Chavez and the UFW able to make the plight of farm workers clear and compelling? How likely was it that some consumers feel manipulated or resentful at being told what they could and could not buy? Given what happened in the boycotts, was Chavez’s strategy likely to be successful?
  • A public opinion report that addresses the following questions: How did the general public view Chavez’s work during the era of the grape boycott? Did workers in general support Chavez and the UFW? How does the public view Chavez’s legacy today?
  • A status report that addresses the following questions: How are farm workers in California and other places treated today? Do they have full rights? Are their wages comparable to workers in other industries? Have working conditions improved since Chavez’s time? Have the problems presented by pesticides been solved?

Unit 5: Journeys of Transformation

• Text: excerpt from the Odyssey, Part 1: The Adventures of Odysseus

• • Research to Clarify: Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the text. Briefly research the detail. In what way does the information you learned shed light on an aspect of the epic?
  • Research to Explore: This epic poem may spark your curiosity to learn more. Briefly research one of the locations mentioned in the poem. You may want to share what you discover with the class.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 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 9 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 2: Survival

• Teaching with Trade Books
  • The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  • The Call of the Wild by Jack London
  • Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• Independent Learning texts
  • “To Build a Fire” by Jack London
  • “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell
  • From Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
  • “Seven Steps to Surviving a Disaster” by Jim Y. Kim
  • “Titanic vs. Lusitania: How People Behave in a Disaster” by Jeffrey Kluger
  • “Survival Is Your Own Responsibility” by Daryl R. Miller

Unit 2: Sample Independent Reading Tasks

• “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, Making Meaning
  • First Read: Students should perform the steps of the first read independently:
    • Notice: Students should focus on the basic elements of the text to ensure they understand what is happening.
    • Annotate: Students should mark any passages they wish to revisit during their close read.
    • Connect: Students should increase their understanding by connecting what they’ve read to other texts or personal experiences.
    • Respond: Students will write a summary to demonstrate their understanding.
  • Comprehension Check
    • What danger threatens the man and his dog?
    • What happens during the man’s first attempt to build a fire? How does his second attempt fare in comparison?
    • What happens to the man at the end of the story, and why?
    • How does the dog’s behavior differ from the man’s behavior, and what is the end result for the dog?
    • To confirm your understanding, write a summary of “To Build a Fire.”
  • Research
    • 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 story?
    • Research to Explore: Choose something from the text that interests you and formulate a research question.
  • Analyze the Text
    • Analyze Cause and Effect: List at least two of the actions taken by the man that lead to later difficulties for him. Which of these actions is most responsible for his death?
    • Deduce: What do you think the man could have done differently to ensure his survival?
    • Assess: Did having the dog as his companion on the trip help or hinder the man on his journey to the camp?
    • Interpret: In paragraph 3, the man is described in terms of his lack of imagination. Describe what you think the author means by “lack of imagination” and what it says about the man and his misfortune.