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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 12th Grade
Alignment Summary
MyPerspectives English Language Arts Grade 12 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.
12th Grade
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Usability (Gateway 3)
Overview of Gateway 1
Text Quality & Complexity and Alignment to Standards Components
The materials for Grade 12 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 12 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 12 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 9 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.
Grade 12 anchor texts place emphasis on poetry and essays. Supporting texts within each unit provide a broad range of genres relating to the essential question for each unit. Study of anchor texts provides a common basis for study within a unit. Student interest, once piqued, can be supported with choice of suggested texts for selected study.
Examples of publishable and worthy texts that meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to:
- Excerpts from Beowulf (epic poem) Scandinavian Tradition
- Beowulf (graphic novel) by Gareth Hinds
- “Prologue” from The Canterbury Tales (poem) by Geoffrey Chaucer
- Macbeth (drama) by William Shakespeare
- “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” and “Holy Sonnet 10” by John Donne
- excerpts from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
- “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” and “The Prelude” by William Wordsworth
- “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats
- “Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
- excerpts from Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
- “Back to My Own Country” (essay) by Andrea Levy
- “Shooting an Elephant” (essay) by George Orwell
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 12 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 Beowulf translated by Burton Raffel
- “How Did Harry Patch Become an Unlikely WW I Hero? (interactive website) by BBC iWonder
- “The New Psychology of Leadership” (science article) by Stephen D. Reicher, Michael J. Platow, and S. Alexander Haslam
- Suggested Unit-Aligned Trade Book: Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Sojourner Truth
Unit 2
- “The Prologue” from The Canterbury Tales (poetry) by Geoffrey Chaucer translated by Nevill Coghill
- Passenger Manifest for the MV Empire Windrush (public document)
- From Candide (novel excerpt) by Voltaire
- Suggested Unit-Aligned Trade Book: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Unit 3
- The Tragedy of Macbeth, Act I (drama) by William Shakespeare
- “The Lagoon” (short story) by Joseph Conrad
- “What’s Your Time Perspective?” (science article) by Jane Collingwood
- Suggested Unit-Aligned Trade Book: Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Unit 4
- From Gulliver’s Travels (novel excerpt) by Jonathan Swift
- “The Explosion” (poetry) by Philip Larkin
- “Sleep” NOVA scienceNOW (transcript) hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Suggested Unit-Aligned Trade Book: Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoyevsky
Unit 5
- “Ode to a Nightingale” (poetry) by John Keats
- “The Most Forgetful Man in the World” from Moonwalking With Einstein (science journalism) by Joshua Foer
- Suggested Unit-Aligned Trade Book: 1984 by George Orwell
Unit 6
- “Back to my Own Country: An Essay” (essay) by Andrea Levy
- From The Buried Giant (novel excerpt) by Kazuo Ishiguro
- “My Old Home” (short story) by Lu Hsun
- Suggested Unit-Aligned Trade Book: Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
Indicator 1C
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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:
Units 1 and 2: Beowulf & The Canterbury Tales
- Students read Beowulf in Unit One and "The Prologue" from The Canterbury Tales in Unit Two. Students engage with these texts in Whole-class Learning as they are complex, iconic, canonical works of poetry but do not have quantitative Lexile measures. Though occurring in two separate units both texts have similarities that support the criteria for indicator 1c. Qualitatively, both texts have similar knowledge demands: “Students may need additional context about Anglo-Saxon [culture]...Background knowledge of the Middle Ages and the idea of a pilgrimage will help with context.” Beowulf relates to the Essential Question (EQ), “What makes a hero?” And the justification for the text in relation to the EQ is reinforced, “Beowulf, one of the oldest surviving literary works in Old English, makes a strong connection to the [EQ]. The poem provides examples of the characteristics exhibited by great mythic heroes: strength, courage, loyalty, honor, and leadership.”
- Also, the student analysis of "The Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales is reinforced by the following: “The Prologue from The Canterbury Tales connects to the Essential Question, “How do people come to have different views of society?” The descriptions of the pilgrims provide an insightful overview of the structure of medieval British society from nobility.” The student-associated task for "The Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales requires students to compose an explanatory essay that requires students to directly relate back to their analysis of Beowulf in Unit 1.
Unit 4: “Araby”
- Students read the short story, “Araby,” by James Joyce during Small Group Learning. Quantitatively, this text has a Lexile level of 940, with a text length of 2,335 words. While the complexity measure of this selected text is slightly below recommended reading level, the fact that the text is read in a small group increases the demand on students’ comprehension abilities. The publisher indicates the value of the text based on qualitative measures and the connection to the Essential Question, “Why are both vision and disillusion necessary?” For example, the short story “provides a clear-cut connection to the Essential Question...The narrator’s belief that he can win the girl’s affection with a gift drives his behavior, but it turns out to be a disillusion, a disappointment that he finally realizes at the story’s end.” The Student Performance Task based on this text is a response to a writing prompt: “Complete the following sentence about a speaker, narrator, or character from this unit: _____’s world changed forever when…”
Unit 6: from The Buried Giant
- During Independent Learning, students read the novel excerpt by Kazuo Ishiguro, from The Buried Giant. The quantitative measure for this text is 1266 Lexile level, with a text length of 2,672 words. Though this text falls above the recommended 12th grade reading level, materials provide supports and meaningful connections that students can make with the text. This text directly addresses the Performance Based Assessment that students are required to complete, which is an informative essay that questions “[I]n what ways is home both a place and a state of mind?” The text reinforces this connection: “Despite the harsh living conditions that the writer describes, the characters in [the text] seem to have a home and relationship.”
Indicator 1D
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 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: Forging a Hero
Whole-group Learning text: Beowulf
- Lexile: NP
- Length: 6,804
- Qualitative Analysis:
- Knowledge Demands: 4/5
- Structure: 4/5
- Language Conventionality and Clarity: 5/5
- Levels of Meaning and Purpose: 4/5
- Performance Task: "Write a brief argumentative essay in which you address this question: Which counts more--taking a stand or winning?"
Independent Learning text: “The New Psychology of Leadership” by Reicher, Platow, and Haslam
- Lexile: 1360
- Word Count: 3,059
- Qualitative Analysis:
- Knowledge Demands: 4/5
- Structure: 3/5
- Language Conventionality and Clarity: 4/5
- Levels of Meaning and Purpose: 4/5
- Text Questions:
- Hypothesize: How do historical circumstances change whether people believe in contingency based on the “inborn talents” model of leadership?
- Interpret: Why do people care more about whether their leader fits the group than about “leadership traits?”
- Compare and Contrast: How is the “inborn talents” model similar to and different from the “new pictures?"
- Hypothesize: Consider what would happen to a leader whose followers no longer identified with him or her. What might the leader do to remain in power?
Unit Performance Based Assessment:
- Write an argument in which you offer a response to this question: Which contributes more to heroism--sacrifice or success?
Unit 6: Finding a Home
Whole-class Learning text: “Back to My Own Country: An Essay” by Andrea Levy
- Lexile: 900
- Word count: 3,954
- Qualitative Analysis
- Knowledge Demands: 3/5
- Structure: 3/5
- Language Conventionality and Clarity: 2/5
- Levels of Meaning and Purpose: 3/5
- Performance Task: "Think about how Andrea Levy and George Orwell both define and wrestle with their relationships to Britain. Conduct research to write an informative essay in response to this question: How did British colonialism complicate the idea of home?"
Independent Learning Text: excerpt from The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
- Lexile: 1266
- Word count: 2,672
- 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: Based on the description in the text, when is the action of the novel taking place? Is it the distant past, the immediate past, or the future?
- Identify: Why are the people not especially astonished by the ogres?
- Explain: What seems to be bothering Axl the night he rises from bed and goes to sit outside?
- Critique: Are the author’s descriptions of the setting effective? Do they provide a clever idea about when and where the action is taking place?
Unit 6 Performance-based Assessment
- Write an informative essay in which you explain different perspectives on the concept of home. In your essay, explore this question: In what ways is home both a place and a state of mind?
Indicator 1E
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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: from Beowulf (epic poem)
- Insight: Most of the events described in Beowulf had been part of the Anglo-Saxon poetic storytelling tradition for centuries before the poem was written down. Many of the characters in the poem--notably members of the royal Swedish and Danish families--are historical people. Despite being written in Old English, Beowulf has its roots in Scandinavian culture.
- Instructional Standards: RL.10, RL.3, RL.5, RL.1, L.3a, L.4.b, L.4c, W.2, W.5, SL.2, SL.5
- Quantitative Measures:
- Lexile: NP
- Text Length: 6,804 words
- Qualitative Measures:
- Knowledge Demands (4 out of 5): Selection provides some historical background information, but students may need additional context about Anglo-Saxon history. Selection contain several biblical references.
- Structure (4 out of 5): The selection is an epic poem told in third person prose. The plot is simple but the narrator uses flashbacks to explain some historical aspects.
- Language Conventionality and Clarity (5 out of 5): Selection contains formal language, figurative language, including metaphorical descriptions (kennings, i.e, ring giver = king), alliterative language.
- Levels of Meaning/Purpose (4 out of 5): Multiple levels of meaning; complex ideas developed through use of symbolism.
Indicator 1F
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 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: Forging a Hero
Anchor Text: Beowulf (epic poem)
Supporting Texts
- “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (poetry) by Alfred Lord Tennyson
- “The Song of the Mud” (poetry) by Mary Borden
- Queen Elizabeth I’s speech before the troops at Tilbury
- “The New Psychology of Leadership” (science journal)
Unit 3: Facing the Future, Confronting the Past
Anchor Text: MacBeth
Supporting Texts
- Excerpt from a graphic novel of Macbeth
- Excerpt from Oedipus Rex (play)
- “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
- “Man’s Short Life and Foolish Ambition” (poetry) by Margaret Cavendish
- “What’s Your Time Perspective?” (scientific article) by Jane Collingwood
Unit 4: Seeing Things New
Anchor Texts
- Poetry by John Donne
- An excerpt from Gulliver’s Travels (satirical prose) by Jonathan Swift
Supporting Text
- Silent film adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels
- Cover art from a variety of covers of the Gulliver’s Travels
- “To His Coy Mistress” (poetry) by Andrew Marvell
- “The Explosion” (poetry) by Philip Larkin.
Unit 6: Finding a Home
Anchors Texts:
- “Back to My Own Country” (essays) by Andrea Levy
- “Shooting an Elephant” (essays) by George Orwell.
Supporting Texts:
- “History of Jamaica” from the Encyclopaedia Britannica website
- Various poetry including poems by Rudyard Kipling
- An essay by Isabel Allende
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 12 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 read multiple poems and an informational article regarding heroes of wartime, based on the Essential Question, “What makes a hero?” Students then complete a Performance-based Assessment regarding the prompt, “What heroic traits does the traditional war hero exhibit?” In groups, students will create a slideshow that must reference “specific details from the texts to support [their] claims.”
- In Unit 2, students read three news articles, “Occupy LSX May Be Gone, but the Movement Won’t Be Forgotten,” “Today’s Pygmy Protesters Are No Heirs To Martin Luther King,” and “Inequality and the Crisis: Still Pre-Occupied.” Using the texts, students are given a series of questions to answer and tasks to complete under Comprehension Check.
- “What two movements in other countries does Fraser cite as inspirations for Occupy LSX?”
- “In 'Inequality and the Crisis: Still Pre-Occupied,' who does the author cite as sources that supported Haldane’s statements?”
- “Confirm your understanding of the texts by writing a two- or three-sentence summary of each one.”
- In Unit 4, students read an excerpt from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Under Concept Vocabulary, students answer a series of questions where they must use the text to employ context clues to understand the meanings of the highlighted vocabulary words. One question asks, “In what does use of the concept vocabulary enable Swift to create the setting and context of his story?”
Indicator 1H
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 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 2, the Performance Task is an explanatory essay that asks students to answer the following prompt after having read The Canterbury Tales, specifically "The Prologue:" “How does Chaucer find humor in the difference between the ideal and the real in the characters that populate The Canterbury Tales?” Students are then required to specifically focus upon the sections of the Prologue that “deal with the Doctor, the Monk, and one other social type.” Students are supported throughout the lesson by suggestions of how to begin the brief explanatory essay: “One way to begin your essay would be with a direct reference to Chaucer’s text.” This example, on page 50, acts as one of many lessons built within Unit Two that help build students up to the culminating task of writing a major explanatory essay that acts as the Performance-based Assessment below:
- Explanatory Essay: On page seventy-five, students are responsible for composing a larger, overarching essay answering the question, “What factors lead people to criticize their society rather than simply accept it?” The above Performance Task, paired with the Essential Question, "How do people come to have different views of society?" provide students with adequate support in their attempts to answer this question/prompt that pushes students back to the text, “in which [students] select three examples from literary and social history; in the actual construction of the essay assignment, students must reference a third example of someone that 'wrote or was mentioned in a text from this unit.'”
- In Unit 5, the Performance-based Assessment is to write a personal narrative in which students take examples from the unit’s readings to answer the following question: “What types of experiences allow us to discover who we really are?” The second part of that assessment is for students to employ speaking and listening skills where they use the essay as a foundation for a two-minute elevator introduction. To prepare for this Performance-based Assessment students do the following:
- Whole-class Learning: Students read two poems and excerpts from the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley where nature or world events lead to a shifting sense of one’s self. Their task is to write a personal narrative answering, “How does the world around us contribute to our sense of self?” The instructional material takes students through the writing process, highlighting elements of a personal narrative, and the use of conventions.
- Small-group Learning: Student groups compare the unit’s readings, including novel excerpts, poems, an excerpt from a science journalism text, and a radio broadcast. Students create and deliver a narrative based on one of the characters of the text they have read.
- 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 a personal narrative answering the question, “What types of experiences allow us to discover who we really are?” 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 12 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 12 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 1, students are required to complete a “Launch Activity.” This launch activity requires students to draft a focus statement based on the following question: “Which character traits do I admire in my personal heroes?” The focus statements that students create will be designed on sticky notes, wherein students must record one adjective to help complete the statement. The whole class will then review the sticky notes together where students must “[w]ork together to reduce the number of notes by identifying and eliminating those that are synonyms or represent the same basic ideas.” Students must then “vote on the words.” This activity prompts students to “discuss whether the three words that receive the most votes create a strong statement. If not, vote again.” The directions reinforce that failure is an option and relates back to the launch text, “A World of Heroes.”
- In Unit 3, Literary Criticism, materials provide a tip for group discussion. “When discussing literary criticism, be sure to distinguish between the critic’s analysis and the original text the critic is discussing.”
- In Unit 4, Seeing Things Now, the following is one of the Unit Introduction Activities: In the “Discuss It” section, students are prompted with the question, “How is it possible for a favorite book to transform you?” Additionally, protocols are in place for students, instructing them to “write [their] response before sharing.”
- In Unit 5, students are assigned to read “Ode to a Nightingale” and “Ode to the West Wind” by poets Shelley and Keats. In Language Development, under Convention and Style, students are tasked with identifying symbolism. They are then given a chart where they must gather details that suggest symbolic meaning in both poems.
Indicator 1J
The materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 1, for the Performance-based Assessment preparation, students are directed to evaluate evidence and make a plan to supplement if insufficient. One option is to “do some research.”
- In Unit 2, “Reflecting on Society,” during the Independent Learning time, students utilize the text excerpt from The Rape of the Lock, to complete a “Making Meaning: Effective Expression” task through these steps:
- Prepare to Share: Students are expected to share what they have learned with their peers. They are prompted with the question, “How do people come to have different views of society?”
- Learn from Your Classmates: Teachers are prompted to encourage students to “take particular note of how their classmates’ chosen selections align with their current position on the Performance-based Assessment question.”
- Author's Perspective: Teachers are provided with information about how to “support students as they learn and develop the skills of participating in small-group discussions,” specifically focusing on active listening and learning.
- In Unit 6, students are asked to present a panel discussion for the “Performance Task: Speaking and Listening Focus.” Students are directed to work with their groups “to hold an informative panel discussion on this question: What makes a place important enough to write about?” Students are then required to capture their “discussion on video to share with others.” This Performance Task is twofold: students are participating in discussion to present and evaluate and to further discuss. Students organize their discussion based on close analysis of three texts, They are instructed to “choose three texts from this section and analyze how each writer conveys a strong sense of place. What key characteristics of each place do the writers communicate?”
Indicator 1K
The materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 write a compare and contrast essay examining the character of Beowulf to a modern hero. While this first culminating assignment suggests an on-demand essay, the journaling includes reflection on various aspects of the essay.
- In Unit 2, students are expected to compose a brief explanatory essay to answer the following prompt after having read excerpts of The Canterbury Tales, “How does Chaucer find humor in the difference between the ideal and the real in the characters that populate The Canterbury Tales?” Students are then required to specifically focus upon the sections of the Prologue that “deal with the Doctor, the Monk, and one other social type.”
- In Unit 4, the Whole-class Learning asks students to compare and analyze “artistic interpretations of Swift’s satire.” This assignment is based on Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and an excerpt from a silent film adaptation of the novel as well as a gallery of Gulliver’s Travels book covers. Students, within the whole-class construct, are required to complete a “Prewriting,” “Drafting,” and “Review, Revise, and Edit” section of their comparison/analysis.
- In Unit 6, the Independent Learning asks students to read different texts. Additionally, it requires that students share what they have learned with classmates from notes taken in their Evidence Log. This activity allows students to gain information from other classmates who read different works, and it gives them more resources to complete their Performance-based Assessment, in which students write an informative essay explaining different perspectives of home.
Indicator 1L
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet 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 12 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, literary criticism, narrative, 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 in which they offer a response to this question: “Which contributes more to heroism—sacrifice or success?”
- In Unit 2, students write an explanatory essay in which they select three examples from literary and social history to answer this question: “What factors lead people to criticize their society rather than simply accept it?”
- In Unit 3, students write a brief response to literature to address this question: “In what ways does Macbeth attempt to control the future and to bury the past?”
- In Unit 4, students are directed to write a reflective narrative based on personal experience and supported by evidence from at least three different texts in the unit.
- In Unit 6, students conduct research to write an informative essay in response to the following question: “How did British colonialism complicate the idea of home?”
Indicator 1M
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 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, after reading an excerpt from Beowulf, students write to sources by crafting a compare and contrast essay about Beowulf and a modern hero. Students must use quotations from the text and specific relevant examples from the modern selection.
- In Unit 2, while studying the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, students are directed to choose a related subtopic to research for a better understanding of the text. They might explore religions that preceded Christianity in Great Britain, the history of Christianity in Great Britain, corruption in the medieval English church, and more.
- In Unit 3, after reading The Tragedy of Macbeth, Act II, students are directed to write a psychological report of one of the main characters. They must use excerpts from the text to support their analysis. After reading Act V of The Tragedy of Macbeth, students listen to an audio presentation, then they formulate a research question.
- In Unit 5, after reading an excerpt from Frankenstein, students are assigned research that asks them to find and read a copy of the Declaration of Independence, then consider the similarities and differences between the ideas of the monster and the ideas of the authors of the Declaration.
- In Unit 6, in this unit entitled, "Finding a Home," students write to sources with a formal analysis. Students read selections of poems in the text and then choose others to read from the Harlem Renaissance, Robert Burns, or Sir Walter Scott. They then write to analyze the works of the poets of the era.
Indicator 1N
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 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: “Forging a Hero,” Anchor Text: “To Lucasta, On Going to the Wars” and other poems by Richard Lovelace: After reading the poetry of Richard Lovelace, students are given instruction on coordinating conjunctions. The assignments in “Conventions and Style” are: “In each example from the poem, identify the coordinating conjunction and the words that it connects.” and “Reread lines 35-38 in “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” Identify any coordinating conjunctions, and explain how they help increase the dramatic impact of the poem.”
- Unit 3: “Facing the Future, Confronting the Past,” Anchor Text: Macbeth by William Shakespeare (play/drama): While reading Act IV of Macbeth, students are given a chart under the “Conventions and Style” section that asks them to examine the use of exclamation points in the text. For the assigned lines, they must complete the chart and give the reason for using the exclamation point.
- Unit 6: “Finding a Home,” Anchor Text: “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell (short story): After reading the short story, students are given instruction on formal and informal language under “Conventions and Style.” The activities are as follows: “Reread paragraphs 2 and 3 of “Shooting an Elephant.” Identify examples of formal and informal language.” and “Reread paragraphs 4 of “Shooting an Elephant.” Identify examples of formal and informal language. What effect does the change from formal to informal language have?”
Overview of Gateway 2
Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and Tasks
The materials for Grade 12 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 12 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 12 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: Forging a Hero
- Essential Question: What makes a hero?
- Whole-class Learning:
- Beowulf translated by Burton Raffel
- Beowulf a graphic novel by Gareth Hinds
- Small-group Learning
- Poetry by Richard Lovelace and Alfred Lord Tennyson
- Poetry by Mary Borden and Wilfred Owen
- “How did Harry Patch become an Unlikely WWI Hero?” an interactive site by BBC iWonder
- Independent Learning
- “Accidental Hero” by Zadie Smith
- "The New Psychology of Leadership” by Stephen D Reicher, Michael J Platow, and S. Alexander Haslam
- “Speech Before Her Troops” by Queen Elizabeth I
Unit 3: Facing the Future, Confronting the Past
- Essential Question: How do our attitudes toward the past and future shape our actions?
- Whole-class Learning:
- The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare
- Audio performances by L.A. Theater Works
- Small-group Learning:
- Various poetry by William Shakespeare, Mary Wroth, and Edmund Spenser
- “The Naked Babe and the Cloak of Manliness” from The Well Wrought Urn by Cleanth Brooks and Frank Kermode
- Independent Learning
- Excerpt from Oedipus Rex by Sophocles (translated by David Grene)
- Various poetry by Percy Bysshe Shelley, Paul Muldoon, and Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle
- Macbeth: A Graphic Novel illustrated by John Haward, script by John McDonald
- “The Lagoon” by Joseph Conrad
Indicator 2B
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 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 1: Forging a Hero
Text: an excerpt from a graphic novel of the epic poem Beowulf
Comprehension Check
- How does Beowulf’s physical stature compared to that of his men?
- Write a brief summary to confirm your understanding of this excerpt from this graphic novel.
Language Development
- Identify a scene from the graphic novel in which, in your opinion, the composition is particularly effective. What aspects of the composition make it effective?
- (a) Where does Hinds use close-up, middle-distance, and long-distance perspectives in telling the story? (b) Do you think he effectively combines these different perspectives? Explain.
Effective Expression
- How effective is the graphic novel excerpt as an adaptation of "The Last Battle?”
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the graphic novel medium?
Unit 5: Discovering the Self
Text: an except from “Time and Free Will” by Henri Bergson, translated by F.L. Pogson
First Read:
- Connect ideas within the selection to other knowledge and the selections you have read.
- Respond by writing a brief summary of the selection.
Close Read
- Revisit sections of the text you marked during your first read. Read these sections closely and annotate what you notice.
- Pick a paragraph from the text that grabbed your interest. Explain the power of this passage.
Indicator 2C
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 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 Forging a Hero
Essential Question: What Makes a Hero?
- Comprehension Check: Students read Beowulf and answer a series of questions including:
- Who is Hrothgar, and who is Grendel? Write a summary of the excerpt from Beowulf to confirm your understanding of the epic.”
- Close Read:
- Why might an author choose to repeat a word in such rapid succession?
- What does the repetition here reveal about Grendel?
- What do these details suggest about the threats the Danes face and the personal qualities they value?
- What do Beowulf’s dying wishes tell you about him?
- Performance Task: Write a brief argumentative essay in which you address this question: Which counts more--taking a stand or winning? In your essay, take a clear position on the question. Incorporate your analysis of the Beowulf texts to support your ideas.
Unit 4 Seeing Things New
Essential Question: Why are both vision and disillusion necessary?
- First Read: Students read an excerpt from The Pilgrim’s Progress and follow a series of tasks to engage with the text independently, such as:
- Specific supports that relate directly to the indicator stand as graphic organizers to assist with comprehension. There are four sections a student must complete: “Notice,” “Annotate,” “Connect,” and “Respond” for the first read.
- Close Read:
- 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.
- “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.
- Pick a paragraph from the text that grabbed your interest. Explain the power of this passage.
Unit 6 Finding a Home
Essential Question: What does it mean to call a place home?
- Research: Students read "Back to My Own Country: An Essay” by Andrea Levy, and to help understand the text they work through the following:
- Conduct research on an aspect of the text you find interesting. For example, you might want to learn more about Andrea Levy’s life in Britain and her literary achievements. Think about how your research findings enhance your understanding of the text.
- Analyze the Text:
- What incident does the author describe at the beginning of the essay?
- What role does this opening incident play in the essay?
- How did the author’s family try to assimilate into the white culture?
- What does this assimilation suggestion about the family’s beliefs about the culture?
- Performance Task: How did British colonialism complicate the idea of home? You have read two essays that discuss what it is like to live in a place where you are not accepted. In "Back to My Own Country: An Essay,"..."Shooting an Elephant,"....Now use your knowledge of the topic to write an informative essay about perceptions of home.
Indicator 2D
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 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 1: Forging a Hero
Essential Question: What makes a hero?
- Performance Task: You have just read two variations on an ancient epic. In “The Coming of Beowulf,” the hero muses to Hrothgar on his reasons for standing up to Grendel, saying, "Fate will unwind as it must!" He does not know whether his mission will succeed or fail, but he is willing to try...Write a brief argumentative essay in which you address this question: Which counts more--taking a stand or winning?
- Performance-based Assessment: Students will show proof of knowledge built via an Argumentative Writing Task: “In this unit, you have read an epic, a graphic novel, poems, and a website, all dealing with some aspect of heroism. Depending on their authors and the times in which they were composed, the selections reveal a variety of attitudes about heroism and leadership...Which contributes more to heroism--sacrifice or success?...After completing the final draft of your argument, prepare to read it as a speech. You will deliver your speech as if you were speaking to one of these audiences: Cadets at West Point, Graduating High School Seniors, A Political Convention, [and] Peace Corps Volunteers."
Unit 4: Seeing Things New
Essential Question: Why are both vision and disillusion necessary?
- Performance Task: After students read various poetry and an excerpt from Gulliver's Travels, students write a brief, reflective narrative in which they address this question: When do we need a new vision of things?
- Performance-based Assessment:
- Part I: In this unit, you read a variety of texts in which writers responded to the world around them by seeing things in new ways...Write a reflective narrative in which you respond to this question: When can the way we look at things lead to growth--and when can it hold us back? (Students are also required to incorporate ideas from at least three of of the texts in the unit.)
- Part II: After completing a final draft of your narrative, prepare a dramatic reading of your text.
Unit 5: Discovering the Self
Essential Question: How do we define ourselves?
- Whole-group Performance Task: You have just read several poems and two excerpts from the novel Frankenstein. In the poems, the speakers relate experiences in which nature or world events contribute to their shifting senses of self. In the excerpts from Frankenstein, the Creature gains a sense of self but then grapples with that new understanding in the face of harsh rejection. Use your knowledge of the poems and Frankenstein to explore your ideas about the self as an individual, in nature, or in society. Write a brief personal narrative that addresses this question: How does the world around us contribute to our sense of self?
- Performance-based Assessment:
- Part I: You have read a variety of texts that explore the development of a person’s sense of self. Whether you experience an hour in the life of a character, as in Mrs. Dalloway, or watch as a speaker reveals deep feelings about nature and memory, as in "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey," you come away from the texts in this unit with a deeper understanding of what constitutes the ‘self’.” Write a personal narrative in which you answer the following question: What types of experiences allow us to discover who we really are?”
- Part II: After completing a final draft of your narrative, condense the main ideas into a two-minute elevator introduction.
Indicator 2E
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 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: Forging a Hero
Text: "Beowulf"
- Concept Vocabulary
- Vocabulary; lair, gorge, writing, stalked, gruesome, loathsome
- How does the concept vocabulary sharpen the reader’s understanding of the foes and challenges Beowulf faces?
- How would you describe the behavior of a person or creature that tends to gorge when eating?
- Word Study
- Write definitions of gruesome and loathsome that demonstrate how the suffix -some contributes to their meanings.
- Using a college-level dictionary, identify the word origins and write the meanings of these words featuring the suffix -some: burdensome, cumbersome, meddlesome, noisome.
- Word Network
- Add interesting words related to heroism from the text to your Word Network.
- Writing to Sources
- Write a comparison-and-contrast essay in which you compare and contrast the character of Beowulf with that of a modern hero in a television show, video game, or other medium. In your comparison, consider the type of monster or threat each hero faces, as well as each hero’s characteristics. In your comparison-and-contrast essay, consider including several concept vocabulary words.
- Evidence Log
- Before moving on to a new selection, go to your Evidence Log and record what you learned from "Beowulf."
- Performance Task
- Write a brief argumentative essay in which you address this question: Which counts more-taking a stand or winning?
Indicator 2F
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 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 2: Reflecting on Society
- Performance Tasks:
- Use your knowledge of the Prologue from The Canterbury Tales to consider the relationship between social ideals and realities. Write a brief explanatory essay in which you discuss this question: How does Chaucer find humor in the difference between the ideal and the real in the characters that populate The Canterbury Tales?
- Arguments are often based on examples--sometimes called paradigms--and on chains of logical reasoning...With your group, fill in details about how William Shakespeare’s life, as described by Woolf, differed from that of his imaginary sister. Then, state Woolf’s conclusion, inferring her position from the details she presents. Cite textual evidence to support your answers.
- Performance-based Assessment:
- Write an explanatory essay in which [they] select three examples from literary and social history to answer this question: What factors lead people to criticize their society rather than simply accept it?
Unit 4: Seeing Things New
- Performance Task:
- You have read two poems that offer new perspectives on love and death. You have also read an excerpt from a novel that presents a satirical view of religion and politics, and you have viewed media selections that were inspired by the novel. Now you will use your understanding of those selections to create a narrative that explores a new way of looking at things. Write a brief reflective narrative in which [the following question is addressed]: When do we need a new vision of things?
- Performance-based Assessment
- Write a reflective narrative in which you respond to this question: When can the way we look at things lead to growth--and when can it hold us back? Incorporate ideas from at least three of the texts in this unit.
Unit 5: Discovering the Self
- Performance Task
- Use your knowledge of the poems and Frankenstein to explore your ideas about the self as an individual, in nature, or in society. Write a brief personal narrative that addresses the following question: How does the world around us contribute to our sense of self?
- Performance-based Assessment
- Write a personal narrative in which you answer the following question: What types of experiences allow us to discover who we really are?
Indicator 2G
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 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 2: Reflecting on Society
Text: “On Seeing England for the First Time” by Jamaica Kincaid
- Research to Clarify: Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from one of the texts. Briefly research that detail. In what way does the information you learned shed light on an aspect of the text?
- Research to Explore: Conduct research to find out about either the history of British rule in Antigua or the Brixton riots of April in 1981. Share what you discover with your group.
- Performance-based Assessment: At the close of Unit 2, students must compose an explanatory essay based on this prompt: What factors led people to criticize their society rather than simply accept it? Students are prompted to do several research tasks during the writing process:
- Look at the list of kinds of people below. Choose two, and find a real-life example for each...Begin by doing research on the people you have chosen.
- Conduct research on the real-life examples you chose. Then, in the body of the essay, explain how each of your three examples illustrates the factors that lead some people to criticize rather than accept their society.
Unit 3: Facing the Future, Confronting the Past
Text: The Tragedy of Macbeth, Act I - V, by William Shakespeare
- Research to Clarify: Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the text. Briefly research that detail. In what way does the information you learn shed light on an aspect of the play?
- Research to Explore: Conduct research to find representations of Macbeth or Lady Macbeth in a work of visual art.
- Research to Clarify: Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the text. Briefly research that detail. In what way does the information you learn shed light on an aspect of the play?
- Research to Explore: Choose something from the text that interested you and formulate a research question.
Unit 5: Discovering the Self
Text: Poetry Collection 1: “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” and from The Prelude by William Wordsworth
- Research to Clarify: Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from one of the poems. Briefly research that detail. In what way does the information you learned shed light on an aspect of the poem?
- Research to Explore: Choose something that interested you from the poems, and formulate a research question.
Indicator 2H
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 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 3: Facing the Future, Confronting the Past
- Teaching with Trade Books:
- Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
- King Lear by William Shakespeare
- Independent Reading Texts:
- From "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles
- Poetry Collection 2
- From Macbeth: The Graphic Novel by John McDonald, Jon Howard, Nigel Dobbyn, and Gary Erskine
- “The Lagoon” by Joseph Conrad
- Science Articles by Jane Collingwood and Peter Dizikes
Unit 3: Sample Independent Reading Tasks
- Text: From Macbeth: The Graphic Novel
- 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 write a brief summary of the selection.
- First Read: Students complete the First Read Guide (graphic organizer). They complete the following information:
- Close Read
- 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.
- 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.
- Pick a paragraph from the text that grabbed your interest. Explain the power of this passage.
- Share Your Independent Learning: Students must prepare to share based on the essential question: How do our attitudes toward the past and future shape our actions?
- Based on the student discussion, students must jot down ideas learned from others.
- And lastly, students must reflect: “Review your notes, and mark the most important insight you gained from these writing and discussion activities. Explain how this idea adds to your understanding of what makes a hero.”
- Evidence Log: Students must respond to “Connection to the Prompt,” “Text Evidence/Details,” “Additional Notes/Ideas,” and finally, a review that asks, “How does this text change or add to my thinking?”
Overview of Gateway 3
Usability
The materials in My Perspectives: English Language Arts - Grade 12 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 12 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 12 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 12, 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 12 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 12 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 12 (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, My Perspectives: English Language Arts - Grade 12, 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 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 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.
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 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 12 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 12 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 12 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 12 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 12 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 12 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 12 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 12 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 12 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 12 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 12 provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.
Unit 2: Reflecting on Society
Whole-class Learning: While reading the "Prologue" from the Canterbury Tales, students work with partners to read the description of the Knight. Students write a list of traits that describe the Knight and then write a few sentences about why they think he is the first person described in the poem.
Small-group Learning: Students work in their groups to share details about what they noticed, questioned, and determined as a result while reading Jamaica Kincaid’s “On Seeing England for the First Time.”
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: Discovering the Self
Whole-class Learning: While reading an excerpt from Frankenstein, students write a two- or three- paragraph essay describing what the creature is reacting to in the excerpt. Students share their insights with the class to discuss how knowing the story of Werther helps them better understand the creature.
Small-group Learning: Students work in small groups to identify and learn about a memory disorder that has great impact on an individual and those around them, then the groups focus on those who suffer from HSAM and refer to their notes from the Close Review of the selected readings.
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 12 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 12 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 12 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 12 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.