9th Grade - Gateway 2

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

The materials for Grade 9 are organized into four topic-based units of study. Each unit is centered around a topic or text genre, and students build knowledge through inquiry via a variety of literary genres and different types of informational text. Units are designed for students to utilize the texts to comprehend complex texts/topics. Activities within each unit develop students’ knowledge through structured learning activities that provide scaffolding of content leading students towards independent and proficient comprehension. Students also read independently and are required to complete tasks in response to their independent reading texts to build their knowledge about topics/themes within complex texts.

The opening page of each unit features a visual prompt and a quote aligned to the topic to initiate a classroom conversation. The first activity of each unit is a preview of the unit that includes Essential Questions linked to the topic of the unit. Additionally, the units contain connected sub-topics that build upon one another as the instructional year progresses. The design of the materials support students’ comprehension of complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently due to scaffolding, gradual release, and increasingly demanding texts and tasks as the units progress.

Some examples include:

• In Unit 1: Telling Details, students focus on how “small details work together to create meaning, convey the author or artist’s message, and affect the audience.” Lesson activities help students answer the three Essential Questions for the unit: “How do telling details work together to convey meaning? How are writing and reading connected? What tools do authors use to create meaning and affect their readers?” Students read short stories and literary essays with tasks that lead them to writing their own original short story. The learning targets for each short story focus on various functions of details in a story. For example, in Activity 1.7 “Telling Details of Transformation,” students read a short story, “The Red Fox Fur Coat” by Teolinda Gersão, and “analyze how its complex main character develops over the course of the story.” Toward the end of the unit in Activity 1.18, “Digging in Deep: Tone and Theme,” students read another short story called “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury with a focus on details through the analysis of symbolism, imagery, and figurative language to understand the story’s theme and tone. Students devise an alternative ending to the story with a focus on “telling details” and vivid imagery.
• In Unit 2: Pivotal Words and Phrases, instruction builds upon Unit 1 but focuses more specifically on analyzing and writing poetry and drama. Throughout the unit, students work to answer the following Essential Questions: “How do authors use words and phrases to move the emotions, thoughts, and actions of readers? Why do authors revise their work? How does the mode of communication change the meaning of what is being communicated?” Before reading excerpts from the central text Romeo and Juliet, students read an excerpt from “Lottery” by Rasma Haidir on poetry revisions. Then throughout the unit, students engage with a variety of poems including “The Fight” by John Montague and “Tamara’s Opus” by Joshua Bennett, “Some Like Poetry” by Wisława Szymborska, and “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death,” by W. B. Yeats. The students’ analyses of poetry builds their ability to analyze Romeo and Juliet as well. During the unit, students read multiple excerpts from the play and compare them to other adaptations to aid in presenting their own dramatic interpretation for Embedded Assessment 1. Students continue reading the play and other poetry before writing and presenting their own original poetry project.
• In Unit 3: Compelling Evidence, students shift to informational and argumentative texts with a focus on how authors use evidence to develop claims. Through a variety of texts such as news articles and opinion pieces, students build their knowledge about “the ways in which authors use anecdotes, facts, and data to develop their theses and support their claims” as they answer the unit’s four Essential Questions: “What makes an argument convincing? What makes a piece of evidence compelling? What is the value of work for teenagers? What is the value of a college education?” For example, in Activity 3.8, “Letting the Data do the Talking,” students “interpret graphs and use them to understand additional information learned from a featured text. In Activity 3.12, “Children are the Future: Using Rhetoric Appeals,” students analyze a speech by Barack Obama titled, “Remarks by the President in a National Address to America’s Schoolchildren.” After they “analyze the devices used in a speech to make it compelling,” students begin planning their own argument.
• In Unit 4: Powerful Openings, instruction builds on previous units as students compare multiple opening excerpts from novels. After analyzing the excerpts, Unit 4 takes students through a series of excerpts from To Kill a Mockingbird and finishes with informational texts that build students’ knowledge about the historical context of the novel. With a focus on the unit’s three Essential Questions—“What makes an opening powerful? What makes you want to keep reading a book? How can understanding a book’s context help you understand the book?”—students practice literary analysis including analyzing arguments from the courtroom in To Kill a Mockingbird. Students complete a literary analysis essay and a historical investigation presentation.

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

Across the four instructional units, there is a common pattern to activities within and across lessons. The lessons are organized into recurrent sections that require students to draw on texts directly multiple times over the course of a lesson and unit: Making Observations, Focus on the Sentence, Returning to the Text, and Working from the Text. Students work from initial thoughts about key details in a text, to focusing on specific sentences in the text. Then, students answer a series of text-dependent/specific questions about the text. The majority of these tasks almost always include an analysis of the key ideas, structure, craft, and language, and require students to seek evidence from the text to support their thinking. The Teacher Edition also includes multiple text boxes per lesson titled Scaffolding the Text-dependent Questions which provide a sequence of questions teachers can ask during the reading.

For most texts, students are asked to analyze language and/or author’s word choice (according to grade-level standards). Some examples include:

• The materials contain coherently sequenced questions and tasks that address language and/or word choice.
• In Unit 2, Pivotal Words and Phrases, Activities 2.2–2.4, students compare and contrast different forms of poetry, construct a “found” poem, unpack the revision process for writing a poem, and examine the role of word choice within a poem. These tasks prepare students for Activity 2:5, during which students write a multi-paragraph response about how pivotal words and phrases illustrate the unpredictability of human impulse in the face of nature.

For most texts, students analyze key ideas and details, structure, and craft (according to grade-level standards). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The materials contain coherently sequenced questions and tasks that address key ideas and details.
• In Unit 2, Pivotal Words and Phrases, Activity 2.11, students begin with “Revisiting the Essential Questions” in light of what they learned in the first part of the unit. The “As you Read” section asks students to “place a star next to parts that are still unclear” and “circle unfamiliar words and phrases.” After reading the Prologue to Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the “Making Observations” section asks students to answer two questions: “What details stand out to you in the prologue? What questions does the text raise for you?”
• The materials contain coherently sequenced questions and tasks that address structure.
• In Unit 2, Pivotal Words and Phrases, Activity 2.22, students read the poem “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death” by W.B. Yeats. At the end of the lesson, the section Appreciating the Poet’s Craft prompts students to discuss this question: “What connections can you make between ‘Some Like Poetry’ and ‘An Irish Airman Foresees His Death’? How do the poets use poetic structure and prosody to convey their meaning? What TP-CASTT (Title, Paraphrase, Connotation, Attitude, Shifts, Theme, Title) elements are similar or different across the poems?”
• The materials contain coherently sequenced questions and tasks that address craft.
• In Unit 4, Powerful Openings, Activity 4.5, students read two novel excerpts: Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Students make text-specific observations about the narrators in both selections in the “Making Observations” section. Students answer more text-specific questions in the “Working From the Text” section about how point of view affects reader perceptions of characters. Students then complete a literary writing prompt where they rewrite a section of one of the texts from a different point of view Lastly, they answer a “Check Your Understanding” question that covers both texts: “How does shifting narrative perspective alter the reader's feelings toward each character?”

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

The materials provide sequences of texts and accompanying text-dependent tasks that promote the building of knowledge and integration of ideas within texts and across texts. The Shared Instructional Vision of the materials is rooted in four principles that are designed to promote this type of learning: close observation and analysis, evidence-based writing, higher-order questioning, and academic conversations. Each unit follows a similar pattern to build student knowledge through close attention to a series of texts that when synthesized help students address the unit Essential Questions.

Within each unit activity there are sequences of text-specific and text-dependent questions designed to continuously bring students back to a deeper engagement with the texts. The sequence of questions first appears in the Working from the Text section. Additional sections such as Returning to the Text, Focus on Sentences, Writing Prompt, and Check Your Understanding also include text-specific questions and writing prompts to deepen students’ understanding of individual texts and genres. Certain features of the text encourage the integration of knowledge within and across texts such as the Knowledge Quest section that requires students to read a collection of texts on a specific topic, build knowledge and vocabulary on the topic, and develop new understandings and considerations as they progress through the reading selections. Essential Questions at the beginning of each unit also provide students the opportunity to integrate and develop ideas across texts as they return to these questions throughout the unit and examine how their thinking has changed. Tasks throughout the unit require students to demonstrate this evolving understanding across texts. The tasks also prepare students for the two Embedded Assessments in each unit.

Some examples include:

• In Unit 1, Telling Details, students read and analyze the story “Martha, Martha” by Zadie Smith during Activity 1.20 and Activity 1.21. After reading the first section of the story, students choose one character and write two evidence-based statements and questions about him or her. They then answer text-dependent questions: “The two main characters, Pam and Martha, are seemingly very different. What do the story’s telling details reveal about them? How does their relationship reflect a theme developing in the story? What text evidence supports the idea that Martha is trying to escape from something and start over in America? What inferences can you make based on this evidence?” Students then complete a chart where they analyze several aspects of two characters: the characters’ appearance, words, thoughts, actions, and what others say and think about the character. They also conduct on the spot research about the author and explore the author’s use of the literary device character foil in the story. Lastly, they respond to a Check Your Understanding prompt that ties into the topic of the unit: “In a few sentences, describe both Pam and Martha. What are they like, and what do you think is motivating them? Which telling details contribute to your understanding of the characters?”
• In Unit 2, Pivotal Words and Phrases, during Activity 2.12 students read and annotate Act 1 Scene 1 from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. In “Returning to the Text,” students respond to text-specific questions such as “How does the opening scene help set the stage for the play?” and “ How does Benvolio’s attitude shift at the end of the scene?” This is followed by the Working from the Text section where students work in a small group to visualize how the scene would be performed. Finally, the Writing Prompt section requires students to work in a group to write a paragraph explaining how they would stage the scene. Later in Activity 2.15, students analyze an excerpt from the script of West Side Story by Arthur Laurents based on the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. In the Returning to the Text section, students answer text-dependent questions like “What comparisons can be made between the relationships of Romeo and Juliet and Tony and Maria?” In Working from the Text, students complete a graphic organizer comparing the two scenes. The activity ends with Writing to Sources during which students write a review identifying their preference for one of the two balcony scenes.
• In Unit 4, Powerful Openings, students examine how authors choose to start both literary and informational texts. Activity 4.5 uses excerpts from two novels, Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Students read and discuss the opening paragraphs which are written from two different narrative points of view. In the Working from the Text section students answer “What is the narrative point of view in the excerpt and how does it affect the way you perceive and feel about the main character?” This is followed by a partner discussion on gaining perspectives to understand characters. For the Writing Prompt, students choose one of the openings to rewrite from a different point-of-view. Finally in Check Your Understanding students respond to the following question, “How does shifting narrative perspective alter the reader’s feelings toward each character?”

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

Each grade level contains four units of study that have two Embedded Assessments each. These assessments serve as culminating tasks for a skill set driving the unit instruction. They require students to demonstrate their learning through interpretation, synthesis of research, and various types of analysis. Students may be prompted to present their work through a variety of ways: dramatic interpretation, creative writing, analysis essays, arguments, media presentations, or debates. The unit tasks and texts build student knowledge and capacity to complete the assessments which include reading, writing, research, speaking, presenting, and listening over the course of the year. The assessments and daily tasks within the unit include collaborative group projects along with independent work. To prepare for the assessments, students answer constructive response questions, annotate texts, complete graphic organizers, and write both short and longer essay responses.

Within units, students also complete Knowledge Quests in which they read collections of texts to build their knowledge around a topic and its related vocabulary. Each Knowledge Quest begins with a central question and supporting questions that focus on student learning. After reading the collection of texts, students return to the knowledge question in order to synthesize what they learned through the readings and associated tasks, thus demonstrating their accumulated knowledge on the topic. This is accomplished through a writing prompt or academic discussion. Both the Embedded Assessments and the Knowledge Quests provide opportunities for students to demonstrate what they learned through reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Some examples include:

• In Unit 1, Telling Details, students read various short stories to practice writing analysis paragraphs as they work toward independently writing a literary analysis for Embedded Assessment 1. Along the way, students complete tasks such as Activity 1.19 which directs students to “Turn to a partner and discuss the following questions: What parts of the story are the most suspenseful? How does foreshadowing contribute to the suspense? How did the author structure this story? What does the author achieve by using this structure?” Embedded Assessment 1 requires students to use the same analysis skills from this activity and others like it. The Embedded Assessment prompt is as follows: “Your assignment is to write a literary analysis in which you analyze how Zadie Smith uses literary devices or other elements to express the theme of coping with emotional turmoil in the short story ‘Martha, Martha.’”
• In Unit 3, Compelling Evidence, across Activities 3.13 and 3.14, students complete a Knowledge Quest around the knowledge question “What is the purpose of going to college?” Students read three arguments about going to college: “Why College Isn’t (And Shouldn’t Have to Be) For Everyone” by Robert Reich, “The ‘not everyone should go to college’ argument is classist and wrong” by Libby Nelson, and “Even With Debt, College Still Pays Off” by Gillian B. White. As students read the selections, they consider their answer to the knowledge question and participate in a class discussion on text-dependent questions about the readings. Lastly, they discuss their thoughts on the knowledge question with a partner then complete a final task on the set of texts: “Use your knowledge of the four essays you have read to consider the various arguments about whether going to college is necessary. Write an explanatory essay that responds to the question: What do we learn from the four essays about the purpose of going to college?” Students are reminded to quote from a variety of sources to support their opinion. This quest along with additional writing tasks prepare students for Embedded Assessment 1: “Your assignment is to write an argumentative essay about the value of a college education. Your essay must be organized as an argument in which you assert a precise claim, support it with reasons and evidence, and acknowledge and refute counterarguments fairly.”
• In Unit 4, Powerful Openings, students complete a Knowledge Quest around the knowledge question “How can a fictional setting seem real?” during Activity 4.3. Students read the openings of two novels that use realistic details to hook readers: 1984 by George Orwell and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. As students read the selections, they consider their answer to the knowledge question and participate in a class discussion of text-dependent questions about the readings. Then students work with partners to discuss how their understanding of realistic novels has changed. Finally, students complete the Knowledge Quest culminating activity: “Think about the novel openings you have read. How do the writers create worlds that seem real? Write a few paragraphs to compare and contrast how the writers created realistic worlds in the openings of these novels.” As the unit continues, students continue to practice literary analysis as they read and analyze various excerpts from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Tasks like the Knowledge Quest prepare students for Embedded Assessment 1: “Your assignment is to write a passage analysis of a key coming-of-age scene from To Kill a Mockingbird. After annotating the text to analyze Harper Lee’s use of literary elements in your selected passage, write an essay explaining how the literary elements in this passage help develop a theme of the novel.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria that materials include a cohesive, consistent approach for students to regularly interact with word relationships and build academic vocabulary/language in context.

In the opening pages of the text, the publisher explains the year-long, embedded approach to vocabulary incorporated in all grade levels. It explains, “Students are given ample opportunities to read and hear new words, explore their meanings, origins, and connotations, and use them in written and oral responses.” Students practice their vocabulary learning throughout lessons, activities, and assessments across the school year. Students not only learn the meanings of new vocabulary, they learn origins and connotations, and they apply their new knowledge through written and oral applications. The materials call out literary and academic vocabulary in boxes, and difficult vocabulary terms found in reading selections are glossed. Word Connections boxes also provide information for a “word with multiple meanings and nuances, an interesting etymology, a telling root or affix, a helpful Spanish cognate, a relationship to another word, or a connection to another content area.” At the beginning of each unit, there is a list of the literary and academic vocabulary for students, and the Teacher Wrap includes detailed information about vocabulary development including the importance of learning new vocabulary, what types of vocabulary students will encounter, and suggestions and resources for instruction. The Resources section at the conclusion of each grade level also contains a few strategies for working with vocabulary—Guided Reading, Question Heard Teach (QHT), Cloze Reading, Cognate Bridge, and Visual Prompts—as well as Graphic Organizers for working with vocabulary—Definition and Reflection, Verbal & Visual Word Association, and Word Maps.

Attention is paid to vocabulary essential to understanding the text and to analyzing the purpose of word choices: Some examples include:

• In Unit 1, Telling Details, students read part two of the short story “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl during Activity 1.9. The Teacher Wrap includes a section called Vocabulary Development which suggests that the teacher “Point out the Word Connections box and have students locate the word spanner in paragraphs 102 and 103. Read aloud the information in the box and discuss it with students. Select a few other compelling words from the text and ask students about the author’s possible intent for using them.”
• In Unit 3, Compelling Evidence, students read the essay “The Work You Do, the Person You Are” by Toni Morrison during Activity 3.2. Afterward, in the Working from the Text section, students analyze an aspect of each paragraph. One of the tasks for Paragraph 8 requires students to reflect on a vocabulary term they leaned in Activity 1.7: “Vocabulary across texts question: In the short story ‘The Red Fox Fur Coat,’ you saw the word narrow used literally to describe how the protagonist’s eyes changed as she transformed into a fox: ‘her face disfigured, suddenly thinner, made up to look longer, her eyes narrow…’ How is Morrison using another meaning of the word narrow when she contrasts it with bighearted?”
• In Unit 4, Powerful Openings, students define and analyze a group of words to help build their background knowledge and make predictions about the opening paragraph of a novel during Activity 4.6. In this activity, students work in groups and sort words into categories based on the words’ meanings and relationships. It is recommended that students consult print or digital resources such as dictionaries and a thesaurus to help create the categories.

Opportunities are present for students to learn, practice, apply, and utilize vocabulary in multiple contexts. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 2, Pivotal Words and Phrases, students receive direct instruction on multiple meaning words during Activity 2.8. Next they use context clues to look at the multiple meanings of the word civil found within the reading. In Activity 2.9, the Teacher Wrap gives directions for developing vocabulary: “Review the meaning of the term stage directions with students. Have them work in pairs to define the term in their own words and think of both examples and non-examples.”
• In Unit 3, Compelling Evidence, the vocabulary box for Activity 3.20 explains the academic vocabulary terms credibility, bias, subjective, and objective. Students then apply these concepts while locating and examining sources for their research project. In Activity 3.21, students learn about the academic vocabulary word plagiarism. This correlates with direct instruction on citing sources and avoiding plagiarism in research. The academic vocabulary lesson for the word synthesize follows the same pattern.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet criteria that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan to support students’ increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students’ writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year.

The materials provide year-long comprehensive writing instruction throughout the four units of study via formative practice, frequent writing prompts, performance-based assessments, language checks, research tasks, and optional Writing Workshops. Writing tasks range from formal to informal, on-demand to multi-draft, and expressive to analytical. This includes short and full-length research tasks that require finding, analyzing, and synthesizing sources for evidence. Writing activities are incorporated daily for students to respond to texts for a variety of purposes such as making observations, analyzing content and author’s intent, and preparing for discussion or group work. Language and Writer’s Craft and Language Checkpoints give students practice in utilizing language and conventions in writing.

Each unit contains multiple writing prompts that build to the two Embedded Assessments in which students have the opportunity to write across multiple genres. Guided instruction, modeling, opportunities for practice, protocols, and rubrics help students build the skills necessary to complete tasks of increasing difficulty and for teachers and students alike to monitor growth. Supplemental materials include ten additional Writing Workshops that provide a closer look and additional practice of various writing genres. However, it is important to note that these are not a part of the core materials and will require additional time and teacher planning.

Some examples include:

• In Unit 1, Telling Details, students practice writing literary analysis paragraphs and an original narrative. In Activity 1.10, “students plan, draft, and revise a literary analysis paragraph by creating complete sentences, adding transition words and phrases, and adding context for direct quotations.” Supports include a single paragraph outline and directions to revise an unelaborated paragraph with a focus on “more specific details with quotations from the text, combining sentences, adding sentence variety, and incorporating a variety of transitions to improve the flow.” Activity 1.15 prompts students to write a literary analysis paragraph on the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. Students complete this paragraph using a scaffolded outline that supports students in crafting a topic sentence, finding evidence, and concluding the paragraph. For Embedded Assessment 1, students collaborate to create graphic organizers for a literary analysis paragraph and then demonstrate more independence by writing the piece individually. By practicing this analysis process for targeted literary elements, the second part of the unit prepares students for Embedded Assessment 2 in which they craft an original narrative using the elements they have studied.
• In Unit 2, Pivotal Words and Phrases, students analyze poetry and excerpts from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare to practice literary analysis and creative writing pieces. With a focus on how words and literary elements create meaning, the unit first directs students to dramatic interpretation and writing reviews. For example, in Activity 2.7, students develop and write a multi-paragraph review of Joshua Bennett’s performance of his poem “Tamara’s Opus.” Guidance prompts students to “address the subject matter of the piece and the language and performance choices made by the artist and relate them to the live audience's reactions” and then draft a multiple-paragraph outline in their Reader/Writer notebooks before composing the review. The unit writing tasks continue to develop their literary analysis and critique skills so that students write and present a dramatic interpretation scene and an original and published poetry presentation for the Embedded Assessments.
• In Unit 3, Compelling Evidence, students practice analyzing and building argumentative essays using rhetoric and evidence. Lessons expose students to exemplars of rhetorical strategies such as speeches and articles. For example, after students read and analyze three articles on the decline of teenagers taking summer jobs. Activity 3.10 prompts students to “choose ONE of these articles and write an essay in which you explain how the writer builds an argument to explain the causes of the decline in summer employment among American teens and asserts what Americans should do about it, if anything.” Activity 3.11 helps students follow the process of organizing and developing an analysis of an argument with a multiple-paragraph outline to plan and draft an explanatory essay. The unit contains additional tasks like this that prepare students to compose their own argumentative essay on the value of a college education for Embedded Assessment 1. The second part of Unit 3 leads students through research on a career choice, and they compose an explanatory essay using evidence from the sources they find.
• In Unit 4, Powerful Openings, students plan and draft a literary analysis essay about the first chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird during Activity 4.13. Students use a graphic organizer to collect information for their literary essays. The organizer features sections for specific quotes from the text, what the quotes reveal, and what the quotes say about Scout’s relationship. Students must also consider the structure of their essay by responding to the following question: “If you were writing a four or five paragraph essay, what would be the focus of the two or three body paragraphs?” Students complete tasks like these in the first half of the unit to prepare for Embedded Assessment 1 in which students complete a formal literary analysis of a coming-of-age scene in To Kill a Mockingbird with little assistance from the teacher.

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

The materials provide ample opportunities for students to practice evaluating sources, gathering relevant evidence, and citing and reporting findings accurately through shorter, focused, research tasks as well as more in-depth research projects. Throughout the year, students work collaboratively and independently to build their research skills. The Teacher Wrap provides suggestions for resources for teachers to bring to the classroom for students to explore and also provides students with choice in pursuing research avenues. Students analyze embedded selections and outside research brought to the classroom conversation. The units provide students shorter practice tasks that build their capacity to complete more extensive research projects generally through one or both of the Embedded Assessment.

Some examples include:

• In Unit 1, Telling Details, students “analyze a series of similarly-framed photographs of rooms to observe the details they contain and connect [their] observations to an understanding of the people who inhabited the rooms” during Activity 1.2. During the lesson, students conduct on-the-spot research: “Choose one of the photographs to reexamine. Do some research about the room’s owner, and use that information to help you decide which of the room’s details are particularly revealing about his or her identity. Write three or four sentences that connect those details to traits you learned about the room’s owner.”
• In Unit 3, Compelling Evidence, students read a variety of informational and argumentative texts on careers and college attendance. During the unit, students practice identifying claims, reasoning, evidence, and counterclaims to prepare for writing their own argumentative research essay. Students complete various graphic organizers and strategies for gleaning evidence from the texts. For example, in Activity 3.13, students read “The ‘not everyone should go to college’ argument is classist and wrong” by Libby Nelson and answer questions that include reading charts with statistics. Students discuss her rhetorical devices and then complete this task to build skill at identifying parts of an argument: “Conduct a second read of one of the essays. As you reread, use four different colored highlighters to identify the parts of the writer’s argument. Mark the writer’s claim with the first color, reasons with the second color, evidence with the third color, and treatment of counterarguments with the fourth color.” Tasks like these prepare students with information and the ability to determine additional evidence in their own selection for Embedded Assessment 2: “Your assignment is to conduct research into a career that interests you. Find at least four credible sources that offer information about the requirements of that career and synthesize the information into a 5-minute presentation that includes a visual or multimedia element.”
• In Unit 4: Powerful Openings, tasks within activities across the unit present students with opportunities to synthesize knowledge and understanding of the “historical, cultural, social, or geographical context in which the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was written.” Students also “investigate how individuals, organizations, and events contributed to change in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement” in order to “create an oral presentation” using multimedia support and guiding questions. To prepare for Embedded Assessment 2, Activity 4.26 prompts students to “form research project groups to investigate the real-life history behind the novel.” Activity 4.27 provides research materials as students “read, view, and analyze primary-source documents and photographs from the Jim Crow era and the Civil Rights Movement in order to understand the context of To Kill a Mockingbird.” Students complete a Civil Rights timeline, read and analyze informational texts such as “Jim Crow Laws” by Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site as well as photographs to analyze visual context. Over the next several activities, students gather more research materials from provided selections before studying how to rehearse and present an oral presentation in Activity 4.32. Students then prepare their drafts for Embedded Assessment 2: “Your assignment is to research the historical, cultural, social, or geographical context in which the novel To Kill a Mockingbird was written. You will investigate how individuals, organizations, and events contributed to change in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement. You will work collaboratively to create an oral presentation of your findings with multimedia support and guiding questions for your audience.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria that materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.

Each unit begins with a Planning the Unit section for teachers that includes a text list called Suggestions for Independent Reading which relate to topics, themes, and genres featured in the unit. The lists include a list for literary and nonfiction/informational texts, each with author, title, and Lexile level where applicable. Spanish selections are also provided. These lists can also be found in the Resources section along with a student independent reading log. Throughout the year, materials include frequent opportunities for students to engage in independent reading through lessons and self-selected materials. The beginning of each unit features a preview of the unit’s focus and guiding questions connected to the topic to support students in selecting the most appropriate independent reading texts and developing a reading plan. Twice per unit, the materials include Independent Reading Checkpoints that require students to complete an informal discussion or writing assignment. Students also respond to Independent Reading Links that require them to articulate connections between their independent reading and the skills/concepts they are learning about in the classroom, which also holds them accountable for completing their independent reading books and required reading logs. The Teacher Wrap also includes additional guidance for teachers to foster independence for all readers. When students read and analyze longer texts across the Activities, the materials suggest scaffolding strategies to support students along the way, gradually leading to their reading independence across the year. Additional readings can be found in the digital resource Zinc Reading Labs.

Some examples include:

• In Unit 1,Telling Details, the Previewing the Unit section of Activity 1.1 invites students to explore the big ideas and tasks of the unit and make plans for independent reading. The materials provide guiding questions to support students in selecting the most appropriate texts, based on the unit’s big ideas. Some of the guiding questions include “What have you enjoyed reading in the past? What is your favorite book or favorite type of book?” “Who is your favorite author? When you select a potential book, preview it. What do you notice about the front cover design? What type of visual is shown?” Some suggestions for independent reading include Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Kindred by Octavia Butler, and Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy (fiction); Once Upon a Quinceanera: Coming of Age in America by Julia Alvarez, The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Farm Child by Francisco Jiminez, and Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley (nonfiction).
• In Unit 2, Pivotal Words and Phrases, students use an outline to develop and write a multiple-paragraph response about how pivotal words and phrases illustrate the unpredictability of human impulse in the face of nature during Activity 2.5. At the end of the activity, students complete an Independent Reading Link that requires them to respond to some of the following questions, based on their independent reading book: “Think about the text you are reading independently and how it is impacted by the author's use of language. Are there particular words and phrases that stand out to you?” “Why do they stand out and how do they affect your understanding of the text's theme, subject, or main idea?”
• In Unit 3, Compelling Evidence, students explore the big ideas and tasks of the unit and make plans for their independent reading during Activity 3.1. In the Teacher Wrap, the materials prompt teachers to “Check that students have created Independent Reading Plans that include reasonable goals and texts appropriate for their reading levels.” Guidance also recommends that teachers individually meet with students if they are struggling with selecting a text and gauge their interest based on the independent text they read during Units 1 and 2.
• In Unit 4, Powerful Openings, during Activity 4.14, students set up a double-entry journal to write notes as they continue reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and familiarize themselves with Embedded Assessment 1. Students set up the double-entry journal with a focus on making connections between their independent reading book and To Kill a Mockingbird. The task requires students to “set up a double-entry journal for their independent reading and use it to keep track of their reactions, connections, memorable quotes, predictions, and conclusions. Student guidance explains that this task “will help develop note-taking skills.” Additionally, students must “make a goal of writing at least one entry for every three pages they read.”