9th Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2a. Texts and text sets are organized around a topic/topics to build students’ knowledge and their ability to read and comprehend complex texts proficiently.

Grade 9 units and corresponding text sets are developed around “‘coming-of-age’ as the thematic focus of the year.” Although only Units 1, 3, and 5 bear the words “coming-of-age” in their unit titles, the texts of Unit 2 and Unit 4 explore the coming-of-age theme; however, the questions and tasks to Unit 2 and Unit 4 tend to focus on author’s craft and style rather than the year’s coming-of-age focus.

• In Unit 1, Coming of Age, students explore the theme of coming of age and examine how writers use stylistic choices in a variety of texts to create the voices of characters who are going through life-changing experiences.

• In Unit 2, Defining Style, students study how authors and a filmmaker develop their style using specific techniques through a series of texts, several depicting the challenges of a main character traveling through the trials of life. However, Unit 2 does not make use of questions or tasks establishing the connection between the year’s thematic focus and unit texts. The theme of “The Stolen Party,” one of the unit texts, is established in the Second Read questions as “the undeniable gap between the rich and the poor.” Further questions presented in Second Read develop stylistic choices such as point of view, irony, and foreshadowing. Likewise, the study of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, easily an example of the coming-of-age theme, centers on stylistic choices made by the novel’s author and the film director and do not connect the text to the author’s use of literary and dramatic elements to develop the coming-of-age theme.

• In Unit 3, Coming of Age in Changing Times, students examine how social, cultural, geographical, and historical context can affect both the writer’s construction of a text and a reader’s response to the text.

• In Unit 4, Exploring Poetic Voices, students develop the skills and knowledge to analyze and craft poetry, including analyzing the function and effects of figurative language while reading poems often framing the challenges of moving into adulthood.

• In Unit 5, Coming of Age on the Stage, students analyze the representation of key scenes in text, film, and other mediums by planning and performing a collaborative interpretation of a scene from Romeo and Juliet, the ultimate coming-of-age drama, and conducting research to support an argument about the relevance of Shakespeare in today’s world.

The sequence of texts and lesson scaffolds are designed to support students as they read to comprehend complex texts. Students read text independently, in small groups, and as whole group read alouds. In addition, students are asked to actively monitor their reading comprehension through the guiding questions of the Setting a Purpose for Reading and Second Read sections. Unit texts are distributed at varying levels within the quantitative and qualitative measures appropriate to the grade band. Finally, in each Activity, students are provided with text-dependent questions to engage them actively and provide scaffolding for students in need.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2b. Grade 9 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.

Within most activities of each unit students work independently, in small groups, and as a whole group responding to questions and completing tasks that require analysis of individual texts. The sequence of texts and tasks are designed to support students as they build knowledge and skills through progressively more complex text-based interactions.

Each unit activity introducing a new text follows a common pattern. An activity feature, Preview, explains the what and why of the lesson/activity followed by Setting a Purpose, an activity feature fostering self-monitoring through “while-reading” task engagement with the text. For example, in Unit 4 Activity 12, Preview tells students what they will be reading, “a free-verse coming of age poem,” and the why, “[to] conduct a close analysis of style and theme,” an essential skill for the successful completion of the unit’s Embedded Assessment 2. Setting a Purpose asks students to circle “unknown words and phrases. Try to determine the meaning of the words by using context clues, word parts, or a dictionary” and underline “examples of imagery” as they read the poem, “Young” by Anne Sexton. Following the first reading, Second Read asks students a series of increasingly rich, text-dependent questions, each classified as a question related to better understanding Key Ideas and Details or Craft and Structure. In some question sets, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas is also included within this portion of the lesson.

Following Second Read, students become engaged in Working from the Text, a frequently collaborative activity typically engaging students in a directed but more personally responsive work, e.g., working with a graphic organizer, preparing a summary, classifying text ideas, comparing and contrasting concepts and approaches, etc. In Unit 4, Activity 12, students are given instruction on an analytic process, TP-CASTT, and provided a corresponding graphic organizer. The Working from Text instructions ask them to “Complete the TP-CASTT note-taking organizer on the following page with your small group.” After students work through the activity text in various ways, Check Your Understanding asks them to respond briefly to a guiding question, typically in writing but sometimes through discussion. For example, in Unit 4, Activity 12, students are asked to “Write a thematic statement about the poem, ‘Young.’ Consider Sexton’s diction and the structure of the poem. How does the lack of punctuation contribute to the coming-of-age theme?” The unit activities and texts work progressively, leading students to toward the first of two Embedded Assessments appearing midway through the unit and again at the unit end. Unit 4, Embedded Assessment 2 asks students to “analyze a collection of work from a poet and write a style-analysis essay,” a performance task that has been practiced through the various activities of Unit 4, Activities 4.10 through 4.16.

Although some unit activities culminate in Check Your Understanding, another feature, Writing to Sources, is a more extensive writing assignment that culminates other unit activities. Often, Language and Writer’s Craft appears prior to Writing to Sources to bolster student knowledge and practice in completing the Writing to Sources feature. For example, in Unit 5, Activity 17, after moving through the standard activity features, the lesson continues with Language and Writer’s Craft: Using and Citing Sources. The section provides tips and three examples on how to integrate quoted or paraphrased text into one’s original writing. Students are asked to practice the technique with their own writing. Writing to Sources follows the Language and Writer’s Craft practice, extending the concepts taught by asking students to draft “a paragraph to support the claim that Shakespeare has a significant global influence.” Students are reminded to use a topic sentence stating their claim; use parenthetical or in-text citations for at least one quotation from each text; and integrate evidence with commentary to explain how their evidence supports their claim.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2c. Grade 9 material contains 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. Within most activities of each unit, the sequence of questions, texts, and tasks are designed to build student knowledge and strengthen student skills. Teaching and learning materials provide explicit instruction in research-based reading strategies and text annotation, analytic discussion, and academic writing.

Reading closely is a central activity of every unit: “During the first read, students are encouraged to engage with the text and annotate it with questions and thoughts. When they return to the text for a second read, students search for answers and evidence in response to thoughtful text-dependent questions found after each passage. The questions have been written to tap into the complexity of the text: thematic complexity, structural or linguistic complexity, or content knowledge demands.” Overall, these questions are text-specific and/or text-dependent and are not framed across texts; however, some Second Read questions reference generalities related to themes, literary elements, literary devices, or conventions, further supporting the acquisition of knowledge within and across texts.

In addition to discussions fueled by text-dependent questions, a mix of argumentative, explanatory, and narrative writing prompts provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding and analysis of texts through written expression. Performance tasks allow students to integrate the knowledge and skills they have acquired to demonstrate proficiencies in reading and language standards through writing. Most embedded assessments ask students to expand on unit texts by conducting independent research to integrate knowledge acquired on their own with knowledge gained in the classroom.

Unit activities are typically threaded together through a thematic focus connecting one day’s lesson to the next day’s lesson and therefore, the text of study in one activity to the text of study in the following activities. Additionally, Embedded Assessments occur twice in each unit; they ask students to use knowledge and skills gained through previous lessons to demonstrate proficiencies and growth. Each unit follows a similar pattern in developing student ability to successfully build knowledge from single texts and synthesizing knowledge among texts. Day one of each unit begins with Preview, an overview of the unit’s first Embedded Assessment; thereafter, most activities or lessons build to develop student skills and knowledge in the performance of that assessment. After the completion of the first Embedded Assessment the second half of the unit begins, this time with a preview of the second Embedded Assessment which culminates the unit study. Thereafter, most ensuing activities progress to build student proficiencies to complete the second assessment. Through this reiterative process, students gain knowledge and skills to the immediate text under study while simultaneously considering how to integrate their learning into the upcoming performance task.

For example, in Unit 3 students read the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird; however, they do not begin reading the novel until midway through the unit. The first half of Unit 3, Activity 1 through Activity 8 builds context for students to better understand the concepts and conflicts explored through the novel set nearly 80 years before these readers’ time. This exploration becomes the basis for Embedded Assessment 1 as students “research the historical, cultural, social, and/or geographical context of the novel and investigate how individuals, organizations, and events contributed to change in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement.” Embedded Assessment 2, a literary analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird, is previewed in Activity 9 and completed after students have read the novel following Activity 23.

Day 1 of Unit 3, Activity 1 begins with a preview of Embedded Assessment; Activity 3.2 introduces students to the academic word, “context,” and begins to build a pictorial history of segregation and desegregation in the United between the 1930s and the 1960s through a series of visual texts. The first alphabetic text is introduced in Activity 3.3 and follows the program’s protocol when introducing a new text: Preview, Setting a Purpose, Second Read, Working from the Text, and Check Your Understanding. Writing to Sources, a more extensive writing feature frequently follows Check Your Understanding. In Activity 3.3, students read two informational texts providing contextualization of the civil rights movement: “Jim Crow: Shorthand for Separation” and “Jim Crow Laws - Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site.” Preview indicates the students will be reading two texts. Typically, unit activities feature a single text. Setting a Purpose offers students a task to complete while engaged in the first reading of a text; in the case of “Jim Crow: Shorthand for Separation,” Setting a Purpose tells students to underline words that “define the term Jim Crow” and “circle unknown words and phrases.” This activity is meant to build student knowledge of the term Jim Crow, knowledge that will be essential to understanding the second text selection, a compilation of Jim Crow laws, and moreover, essential to understanding the historic and cultural context of To Kill a Mockingbird. Second Read engages students in a closer reading of the text, prompting students to consider questions that are both text-based and text-dependent. For example, students are asked the explicit text based question, “Why were Jim Crow laws put in place?” and the slightly more inferential text-dependent question, “Why did opponents want to overturn the laws?”

After reading and rereading “Jim Crow: Shorthand for Separation,” the second text, “Jim Crow Laws,” a primary source, is introduced. The instructional protocol again proceeds with Setting a Purpose, a while- reading activity. Students are instructed to use “metacognitive markers to respond to the text” using a question mark to signal confusion, an asterisk to signal an interesting concept or mark something the reader already knows, and an exclamation mark for concepts that are surprising or help with predictions. Following the first reading, Second Read asks students a series of increasingly rich text-dependent questions. This series of questions requires students to draw on both current knowledge as well as new knowledge gained in light of both activity texts, e.g., “Why is it significant that many Jim Crow laws reference gender as well as race?” or “Why did Mississippi likely make it illegal to promote racial equality?” In Working from the Text, students are asked to work collaboratively to sort the primary source Jim Crow laws into categories and write a brief summary of their group’s thinking. This activity or lesson culminates in Writing to Sources: Explanatory Text. Students are asked to cite “three examples of Jim Crow laws that would have presented financial hardships to a local government or institution” and further, “infer from the fact that these laws went unchallenged for many years?” Students are reminded to use and cite direct quotations, provide specific text examples, use prepositional phrases, and maintain an appropriate voice in their writing. Additionally, an Independent Reading Link sidebar asks students to consider the informational or nonfiction texts they have chosen for independent reading (related to the themes of the unit) and reflect on “recurring themes and issues” among that text, “Jim Crow: Shorthand for Separation” and the “Jim Crow Laws” primary source. The sidebar also asks students to consider how reading about Jim Crow laws may help them better understand To Kill a Mockingbird.

This activity or lesson is followed by a series of activities following the same instructional protocols to build background knowledge not only through a single text but also through the synthesis of understanding brought about through broad reading. Unit 3, Activity 4 introduces a PBS source, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow; Unit 3, Activity 5 introduces King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” and Unit 3, Activity 6 further builds historical context through a Civil Rights timeline running from 1863-1968. Each isolated text joins the library of texts built across the unit’s study and through the students’ independent reading in preparation for Embedded Assessment 1, “to research the historical, cultural, social, or geographical context of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird and investigate how individuals, organizations, and events contributed to change in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2d. The Grade 9 questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills (e.g. a combination of reading, writing, speaking, and listening).

During each unit, students complete two Embedded Assessments, one midpoint in the unit and the second at the unit’s end; the Embedded Assessments ask students to work collaboratively as well as independently. Each one is a unique performance task that allows students to show knowledge proficiency with texts, concepts, and skills representative of multiple grade-level standards and taught through previous lesson sets. The Embedded Assessments require students to deepen learning through analysis and synthesis, presenting their findings through a variety of products: essays, multimedia presentations, speeches, dramatic interpretations, and anthologies. Each unit strategically builds towards the culminating assessment and provides teachers with usable information about student readiness. Skills needed to complete the performance tasks, e.g., writing processes, technology fluency, and speaking and listening skills, are modeled and directly taught as well as practiced in relationship to the performance task. Further supports exist within the student and teacher materials to ensure students are able to complete the performance task. Additionally, many of the text-dependent questions related to Second Read as well as the questions and activities in Check Your Understanding align to the culminating tasks.

In Unit 1, Embedded Assessment 1 asks students to "interview a person who has attended a postsecondary institution (i.e., a two- or four-year college, a training or vocational school, the military) and to write an interview narrative that effectively portrays the voice of the interviewee while revealing how the experience contributed to his or her coming-of-age.” In preparation for this assessment, students have read and studied a variety of texts including novels, short stories, poems, memoirs, and nonfiction focusing on voice: how the author develops voice and what effect voice has on the reader. To complete this embedded assignment, students create an interview protocol and conduct an interview (SL.9-10.1c). Following the interview, students are to transcribe the interview into a cohesive narrative that relates the coming-of-age experience in the voice of the interviewee (RI.9-10.1, RI.9-10.2, and W.9 –10.3a). To support students in the task, a series of guided questions help students through planning, prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing, e.g., “Are you satisfied with the list of questions you might ask? How will you set up the interview as a conversation rather than an interrogation?” “Have you carefully transformed your questions and answers into a narrative?” Each embedded assessment is accompanied with a Scoring Guide outlining student expectations. Supports also exist in the Teacher’s Edition to help teachers identify that students are prepared to address these tasks. Teachers are encouraged to have students “review and evaluate their research, their proposal, and their levels of questions [from previous activities in the unit]. If they need to do additional research or make changes, have them address those concerns now.” Other supports include making certain that each group has a plan for dividing the responsibilities fairly, reminding students to keep their audience analysis in mind as they make choices and decisions, setting a minimum and maximum time for presentations, having presenters distribute or post their guiding questions unless they have been incorporated into their chosen media, and instructing listeners to take notes during the presentations.

In Unit 3, Embedded Assessment 1 asks students to work collaboratively to create an oral presentation of research regarding “the historical, cultural, social, or geographical context of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird.” The task asks students to investigate “how individuals, organizations, and events contributed to change in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement.” The students present their findings with multimedia support and provide guiding questions for their audience. In preparation for this assessment, unit activities engage students in an examination of numerous texts including images and photographs, informational, essays, a timeline, and online research with a focus on context: historical, cultural, social, and geographical. In the completion of the task, students demonstrate a number of standards-based, grade-level skills applying to grade-level standards, including reading, writing, speaking and listening. The task requires students conduct research and “integrate information from authoritative sources” to use in the communication of “a thoughtful, well-organized analysis of the topic.” Additionally, students are to format citations properly in a complete, annotated bibliography, incorporate visual displays and multimedia to enhance ideas and engage audience, and provide well-organized, high-quality questions in the audience guide to focus the audience’s attention. Through previous unit activities, students participate in activities to support the expectations of the embedded assessment. For example, in Unit 3, Activity 4 students practice presentation skills by sharing information garnered through “investigation” of a website, presenting their findings while “display[ing] the appropriate webpage as a visual” to a small group or the audience. The practice activity suggests students use index cards to ensure opportunities to maintain eye contact rather than reading from the computer screen. As students listen to peer presentations, they are instructed to “evaluate how well each presenter summarizes the information on the webpage in a clear and concise manner, faces the audience, and uses eye contact.” As students gather information and evaluate one another, the teacher is instructed in the Teacher Wrap how to assess this component of the activity, noting this activity previews the embedded assessment to follow. During the completion of the embedded assessment, students are provided a series of guided questions for each phase of the task: planning, creating and rehearsing, presenting, and listening stages. Guiding questions range from “What research questions will help you explore the subject and investigate your subject’s contribution to change?” to “How will you divide the speaking responsibilities and make smooth transitions between speakers?” and “How will you use notes for your talking points so you can maintain eye contact with your listeners?” Supports also exist in the Teacher’s Edition to help teachers identify that students are prepared to address these tasks. Teachers are encouraged to have students “review and evaluate their research, their proposal, and their levels of questions [from previous activities in the unit]. If they need to do additional research or make changes, have them address those concerns now.” Other supports include making certain that each group has a plan for dividing the responsibilities fairly, reminding students to keep their audience analysis in mind as they make choices and decisions, setting a minimum and maximum time for presentations, having presenters distribute or post their guiding questions unless they have been incorporated into their chosen media, and instructing listeners to take notes during the presentations. Each embedded assessment is accompanied with a Scoring Guide outlining student expectations.

In Unit 5, Embedded Assessment 1 asks students to work collaboratively within an acting company scenario to “interpret, rehearse, and perform a scene from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.” In preparation for this assessment, students have explored a variety of texts including the play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, a monologue from As You Like It also by Shakespeare, images and artwork from Shakespeare plays, and film interpretations of Romeo and Juliet. Throughout, students have been building knowledge of theatrical elements and analyzing their effects, practicing delivery of substantive lines, and analyzing the interaction of language, plot, and characters. To complete this embedded assessment, students create a staging notebook providing textual evidence and commentary on the planned interpretation, (RL.9-10.1, RL.9-10.2, and RL.9-10.3) and integrate theatrical elements such as vocal and visual delivery, blocking, props, costumes, lighting, music, sound, and set design into the final performance (SL.9-10.2). Following the performance, students are to write a reflective essay evaluating their work (W.9-10.2). To support students in completing this task, a series of guided questions help students to think through the planning, rehearsing, performing, and evaluating chunks of the task, e.g., “As an actor, how will you learn your lines and prepare for delivery? How could you use a video recording...to improve the quality of your performance? What were the strengths of your performances? What challenges did you face? Each embedded assessment is accompanied with a Scoring Guide outlining student expectations. Supports also exist in the Teacher’s Edition to help teachers identify that students are prepared to address these tasks. Teachers are encouraged to remind students to review “the requirements for each staging notebook that are outlined in Activity 5.7.” Other supports include integrating rehearsal time with the reading of the play and the scaffolding activities after Activity 5.7, setting a date for performances and scheduling a makeup day for absentees, using copies of the performance evaluation rubric that the class created in Activity 5.10, and using the performance section of the Scoring Guide to help students evaluate each other’s performances.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2e. Grade 9 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.

Opportunities to build vocabulary are found throughout the instructional materials. A cohesive, year-long description of vocabulary instruction is found in the Language Development section of The Front Matter, Teacher’s Edition found in the listings under the Teacher Resource tab on the program’s landing page. The Front Matter describes the program’s approach to language skills and knowledge as “part of an integrated approach to reading, writing, speaking, and listening with instruction that focuses on language as a flexible tool that can be adapted for specific contexts.” The section goes on to specifically outline four instructional features embedded within each unit: Academic Vocabulary featuring Tier Two terms and concepts; Literary Terms equipping students with Tier Three language from the ELA domain; Word Connections featuring roots and affixes etymology, cognates, word relationships, and multiple-meaning words; and Academic Vocabulary in Context featuring glossed terms at the point of use for words with insufficient context clues to aid in comprehension. Additionally, Language and Writer’s Craft activities along with Grammar and Usage sidebars provide language instruction and grammar support in the context of reading and writing within the unit. Language Checkpoint activities offer optional practice opportunities for students to develop or refresh their knowledge of standard English conventions.

Other unit features support teacher instruction and student use of vocabulary in various contexts. The Unit Overview, a feature page of each unit, presents a sidebar listing of Academic Vocabulary and Literary Terms introduced, taught, and studied in each unit. Within the activities or lessons, the Setting a Purpose for Reading feature frequently asks students to identify “unknown words or phrases” and determine their meaning using “context clues, word parts, or a dictionary.” Additionally, Planning the Unit offers two features, Supporting Students’ Language Development and Digital Resource: English Language Development Activities, offering additional supports in scaffolded language instruction to ensure students have opportunities to learn, practice, apply, and transfer the language needed to “develop the content knowledge, skills, and academic language needed to perform well on the Embedded Assessments.” The application of words across texts or in ways that support accelerated vocabulary learning in reading, speaking, and writing tasks is most strongly supported through Tier 3 study of language related to literature, rhetoric, and other studies of the ELA domain and reiteratively applied in analysis and communicated through speaking and writing.

The Unit 3, Unit Overview lists Academic Vocabulary and Literary Terms for study across the next 23 activities or lessons. Academic terms listed are: context, primary source, secondary source, plagiarism parenthetical citation, valid, rhetoric, bibliography, annotated bibliography, evaluate, censor, and censorship; literary terms listed are: symbol, motif, plot, subplot, flat/static character, andround/ dynamic character. Over the course of the unit, students frequently interact with these words in the context of texts, activities, and tasks. An essential term for the unit, context, is called out in Activity 3.2: Picturing the Past: “When reading a text, you may find words that you do not know. You can use the context —the words around the text—to infer meaning. In the same way, the context of a novel or a situation refers to the circumstances or conditions in which the thing exists or takes place. Knowing context helps you understand the novel or situation better.” Featured sidebars defining academic vocabulary such as this provide rich, multidimensional definition of the word linked to strategies on how readers and writers use context to make meaning. The word “context” is repeated and applied in various ways across the unit, more than one-hundred times, allowing students to learn, apply, and transfer their understanding of the term in reading, speaking, and writing. All terms listed in the sidebars receive similar treatment, fully defined and contextualized; thereafter, the terms are repeated many times through the unit’s study in both receptive and expressive modes. This type of activity is foundational as students build academic vocabulary, read diverse literary texts, research among primary and secondary sources, and prepare to become college and career ready.

The Unit 5, Unit Overview lists nine Academic Vocabulary and ten Literary Terms for study across the next 20 activities or lessons. The unit feature, Supporting Students’ Language Development Section notes that numerous “resources are available in this unit to help teachers differentiate instruction for English language learners or other students who need extra support in English language development.” The associated ELL Support Document found on the listings under the Teacher Resource tab on the program’s landing page indicates teachers should “consistently apply and practice strategic vocabulary development support for Academic Vocabulary with tools such as interactive word walls, diffusing, vocabulary graphic organizers, and QHT work.” The Digital Resources feature indicates where ELD-focused activities for three texts within the unit can be found, i.e.: Academic and Social Language Preview, Interpreting the Text Using Close Reading, and Collaborative Academic Discussion. Each of these activities use an excerpt from the text under study to support language learning essential to understanding the isolated text, the concepts under study, and the larger goals of the unit. Typically, Academic and Social Language Preview First provides a chart listing selected words for study and their contextual reference. Students are asked to “work with a partner to see if you can determine the word’s meaning using context clues or your knowledge of word parts.” Then they complete a Language Practice exercise; Activity 5.1a asks students to circle a synonym for the word. The activity wraps up with Practice Steps; Activity 5.1a concludes with these instructions: “Many English words come from words in other languages such as Greek and Latin. Look at the origin of the following words. Write what you think each word’s definition is today. Then, write a sentence that shows you understand the meaning of the word.” Collaborative Academic Discussion activities engage students in small group or paired discussions around academic language and literary concerns. For example, Activity 5.1c asks students to discuss “[h]ow does the author foreshadow the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt?” and then provides a sentence frame for student response: “The author foreshadows Mercutio’s death when _____. The author foreshadows Tybalt’s death when _____.” The activity ends with the feature, Asking Questions. Students are provided with an explanation of the text’s content or message and then asked to write a response. For example, in Activity 5.1c, students are asked about the deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio and then asked to write a response to the prompt: “Could this tragic fate or result have been avoided? On the first set of lines below, explain what Romeo could have done to avoid the conflict. On the second set of lines, write what you think Romeo would say to Mercutio and Tybalt if he could. Then, on the last set of lines, write any questions or thoughts you have about why these events happened.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2f. Grade 9 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.

Opportunities to build and communicate learning of topics and texts through written expression are found throughout the instructional materials. The Front Matter of the Teacher’s Edition indicates that “SpringBoard provides multiple opportunities for authentic, task-based writing and writing to sources,” (page xiv), and there are many writing prompts that require students to seek evidence. Also, “[s]tructured opportunities are provided that require short and extended student research in order to practice evaluating sources, gathering relevant evidence, and citing and reporting findings accurately” (page xiv), and students are asked to find evidence, to weigh credibility, and to cite in a variety of formats and styles.

As students are learning to write, they learn to consider task, audience, and purpose in structuring and organizing their writing. Direct instruction in writing in different modes—narrative, argumentative, and explanatory—is a primary focus of unit instruction.” The section goes on to delineate five areas integrated within unit activities and additional resources available through the Teacher Resource tab: guided instruction in the major modes of writing; direct instruction emphasizing incorporation of details, reasons, and textual evidence; short and extended research writing focused on evaluating sources, gathering relevant evidence, and citing and reporting findings accurately; integration of research-based strategies supporting the writing process; and formative writing prompts, performance-based embedded assessments and optional mode-specific writing workshops.

Several unit features also support student growth in writing skills. Language and Writer’s Craft and Language Checkpoints features “build students’ knowledge of grammar and conventions, making them more proficient, confident, and creative writers and more effective self- and peer-editors.” Explain How an Author Builds an Argument, another frequent unit feature, presents formative writing prompts encouraging the use of academic vocabulary in various contexts. Additionally, each unit presents two performance-based embedded assessments and a corresponding rubric outlining performance expectations. Instruction is progressive, incorporating strategies and protocols to support students' writing independence as they work towards mastery. Finally, a portfolio of student work is cultivated over the course of the year and acts a final assessment of student writing development.

Unit 1, Activity 5 asks students to write an essay explaining how the author uses diction, imagery, and other literary devices such as juxtaposition and flashback to create the narrator’s voice and present a distinct point-of-view. In preparation for this writing assignment, Activity 1.3 introduces students to the double-entry journal as a note-taking strategy while reading, and Activity 1.4 presents a lesson on parallelism and practice with rewriting sentences to avoid faulty parallelism. In Activity 1.5, before writing the essay, students are introduced to the terms juxtaposition and flashback. Second Read poses questions to students regarding juxtaposition and flashback as well as questions on foreshadowing and imagery. After reading, students complete a graphic organizer to collect textual evidence related to the author’s use of diction and imagery at various and specific points in the short story. The Teacher Wrap urges teachers to be “sure students make inferences about Lizabeth’s attitudes and realizations” as they complete the organizers and suggests teachers might “add another column to the graphic organizer as a place to record their inferences.” The Teacher Wrap also provides Leveled Differentiated Instruction for students who “may need support writing an explanatory essay that studies diction, syntax, and imagery.” The differentiated instruction offers three levels of student support ranging from student collaboration and the use of sentence starters to identifying textual evidence and labeling the required components of the final response: a clear thesis for your position, multiple direct quotations correctly punctuated, effective transitions and a concluding statement. An aspect not specifically required in the writing assignment is the inclusion of a sentence or sentences demonstrating parallel structure, an opportunity that would reinforce the lesson from Activity 1.4.

Unit 3, Activity 6 asks students to explain how Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” relates to a Civil Rights Timeline provided in the program materials. Student are to specifically consider “which past events from the timeline does King reference and how did his letter influence subsequent events.” In preparation for the writing activity, Working from the Text and Check Your Understanding, asks students to consider quotations by past American presidents and interpret how the quotations reflect “what is happening on the timeline?” Students are also asked to make inferences about the American Civil Rights Movement from the timeline. These activities provide students an opportunity to practice the skills needed for the subsequent writing prompt. The Teacher Wrap provides Leveled Differentiated Instruction for students who “may need support, brainstorming cause-and-effect ideas that explain how the ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail’ influenced later historical events.” This formative writing assignment along with other formative assignments prepare students for Embedded Assessment 1, a research writing task asking students “to investigate how individuals, organizations, and events contributed to change in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement.”

Unit 5, Embedded Assessment 2 asks students to write a synthesis essay arguing for or against the inclusion of Shakespeare in the Grade 9 English curriculum. To complete this task, students must “evaluate research and gather evidence from a variety of sources about Shakespeare’s relevance and influence in today’s world” and “synthesize and cite your evidence in an argumentative essay that maintains a formal style and tone appropriate to your audience and purpose, uses rhetorical appeals including logical reasoning, and includes all the organizational elements of an argument.” While the content for this assignment comes directly from Unit 5 as a culminating task, this paper requires students to demonstrate all writing skills practiced throughout the year. Guiding questions help students to frame their thinking on the writing process: planning, drafting and revising, and editing and publishing. The Scoring Guide outlines student expectations. After completing the assignment, students are prompted to write a reflection that asks them to think about “how you went about accomplishing this task, and respond to the following question: Which articles from this unit did you select to support your argument, and why? What made a source useful for your purpose?”

Throughout the year, students have the option to add formative and summative writing to a writing portfolio. Teachers are encouraged to determine how they wish to conduct an end-of-year portfolio assessment; some suggestions are provided, e.g., conduct individual or small group conferences; ask students to share portfolios with someone outside of the classroom; ask students to self-assess their writing and their writing growth through a series of questions requiring metacognitive reflection; prepare a digital portfolio, webpage or blog with links to work from throughout the year. The goal of the portfolio assessment is “to have students engage in metacognitive reflection by explaining and evaluating their own growth as a learner throughout the school year.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2g. Grade 9 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.

Opportunities to build skill in research as well as synthesize knowledge and understanding across classroom activities and research-based projects are found throughout the SpringBoard materials. The Front Matter of the Teacher’s Edition indicates that “SpringBoard provides multiple opportunities for authentic, task-based writing and writing to sources” with many writing tasks requiring students seek evidence beyond those texts provided as part of the curriculum. Additionally, students are engaged in short-term tasks and longer-term projects wherein they practice and demonstrate proficiencies in “evaluating sources, gathering relevant evidence, and citing and reporting findings accurately.” Specifically, the Grade 9 materials include a steady “progression of focused research projects to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area by confronting and analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials.” Students begin with basic research skills, which build in complexity and are applied in diverse ways throughout the year, both collaboratively and independently. The Teacher Wrap provides teachers with support in “employing projects that develop students’ knowledge of different aspects of a topic,” as well as “resources for student research.” Students are given opportunities to complete short projects as they develop the foundational skills necessary to move on and complete long projects typically encompassed in the embedded assessments.

Unit 1, Embedded Assessment 2 asks students “to write an essay of argumentation about the value of a college education,” and to “assert a precise claim, support it with reasons and evidence, and acknowledge and refute counterclaims fairly.” According to the Planning the Unit Section, among the skills and knowledge to complete this assessment is: “Integrate credible source material into the text (with accurate citations) smoothly.” Thus, while not a research paper per se, the task introduces students to the concept of using research-based evidence to support an argument. These skills are developed in activities leading up to the completion of the embedded assessment. In Activity 1.16, students collaboratively complete a graphic organizer providing representative examples from unit texts for the various types of evidence, e.g., facts and statistics, personal experience/anecdote, illustrative example, expert/personal testimony, and hypothetical case. As part of the graphic organizer, students also explain the how and why of the evidence appeal, i.e., logos, pathos, and ethos. In Activity 1.17, students sort through two position essays, identifying the claims and counterclaims in each as well as the evidence that supports them both. The activity concludes with a task questioning which of the two writers presents the more convincing argument and why. These activities, using in-text sources combined with the independent reading of the unit’s second half--a selection of articles and essays about the topic for the embedded assessment, offer students the foundation for developing independent research-based arguments as well as laying the foundation for longer, more independent research projects in the future. The materials offer support through Teacher Wrap, providing teachers with step-by-step instructions for helping students understand the importance of the audience in developing an effective argument and the necessity of evidence in supporting claims and counterclaims, all of which is necessary in constructing the argument for the embedded assessment.

Unit 3, Embedded Assessment 1 offers a more complex example of a research-based project. Students are asked to research “the historical, cultural, social, and/or geographical context of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird and investigate how individuals, organizations, and events contributed to change in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement.” Independent reading is essential to this project: “For independent reading, choose informational texts about the United States between the 1930s and the 1960s. Once you have selected texts, discuss one or more of your selections with peers, explaining a few facts you learned about the time period.” While this assessment does involve collaboration, the assignment itself is more complex than the research-based argument in Unit 1, requiring students to “Integrate information from authoritative sources and format citations properly in a complete annotated bibliography,” as well as “Incorporate visual displays and multimedia to enhance ideas and engage audience.” The activities in the first half of the unit aid students in developing the skills necessary to complete the embedded assessment and to develop their research skills. For example, in Unit 3, Activity 4, Language and Writer’s Craft introduces students to citation formats and the relevance of parenthetical citation. The Explanatory Writing Prompt feature asks students to explain “how Jim Crow laws and practices deprived American citizens of their civil rights.” The activity asks students to use information from a website provided in the Teacher Wrap as well as information from two informational texts read in the previous activity. Students are reminded to avoid “plagiarism by using precise citations.” The Teacher Wrap for this activity gives teachers step-by-step guidance in helping students develop the skills necessary to complete this assignment as well as the Embedded Assessment. For example, in the sequence of Teach instructions, Step 3 suggests that creating “a note card and presenting the information helps prepare students for the Embedded Assessment in two ways: It gives them practice in a common research method and in presenting research material with visuals.” The teaching instruction also urges teachers to model “for students how they can use a note card to present a webpage while facing the audience (rather than looking at the screen). Ask students to explain why this is important in a presentation.” After assessing students based on their note card and their response to the writing prompt, teachers are given suggestions for adapting the lesson if necessary: “If students need additional practice with the skills taught in this activity, have them apply the skills to a different website related to the context of To Kill a Mockingbird’s publication, such as http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement.”

In Unit 5, Embedded Assessment 2 represents the culmination of skills developed throughout the year by asking students to "compose an argument for or against the inclusion of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in the ninth-grade curriculum.” The task requires students to “evaluate research and gather evidence from a variety of sources,” and to synthesize and cite evidence while maintaining formal style and appropriate tone. Additionally, students are to use rhetorical appeals and follow the organizational style of an argumentative essay. In completing this task students demonstrate synthesis skills in bringing together “evidence from a variety of sources to strongly support a claim.” Students also “summarize and refute counterclaims with relevant reasoning and clear evidence...and show excellent command of standard English conventions, including embedding and correctly citing textual evidence from multiple sources.” Activities leading up to the Embedded Assessment support students and provide them with resources. For example, in Activity 5.15, students work collaboratively to “explore an online debate website to gather reasons and evidence for one side of an issue related to Shakespeare and/or Romeo and Juliet.” Through the process, they are instructed to record the website address and take notes in a two-columned organizer: one column for the “pro” evidence and the second column for the “con” evidence. The Teacher Wrap provides the databases to be used for this activity as well as guidance for effective ways of conducting a debate. Activity 5.17 continues to prepare students for the Embedded Assessment by having them analyze an argument and evaluate its effectiveness as means of “[giving] students practice in developing and revising ideas and in applying Language and Writer’s Craft lessons on using rhetorical questions as appeals and using and citing sources.” Thus, by the time students arrive at the Embedded Assessment they are prepared for completing the task independently.

The materials reviewed for Grade 9 meet the criteria for Indicator 2h. Grade 9 materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.

Grade 9 materials provide students with numerous opportunities for independent reading both in and outside of classroom. Each unit incorporates two independent reading assignments connected to an aspect of the unit study or theme and sometimes directly related to the embedded assessments. Six close reading workshops of various genres or modes are found in the Teacher Resources tab and provide opportunities for enrichment or accelerated learning. Each workshop provides three texts, each with explicit instruction advancing students' independent reading skills. Each text moves through four activities: a guided activity, a collaborative activity, an independent activity, and assessment opportunities for the entire workshop. Additionally, literature studied by the whole class, e.g., novels and plays, sometimes require independent reading beyond the classroom. Accountability is maintained through double-entry journals, reader/writer notebooks, independent reading links, independent reading checkpoints, and in-class discussions for which students must be prepared. Teachers, meanwhile, are provided with guidance for the inclusion of independent reading within the text and with ideas and suggestions for fostering reading independence through the Planning the Unit guide and the Teacher Wrap.

Unit 1 exemplifies how independent reading is established throughout the year. Each unit requires the students to read two texts independently, one during the first half of the unit and the second during the latter half of the unit. Independent reading suggestions for each unit are found in Planning the Unit page and “have been chosen based on complexity and interest.” While typically related to the unit’s theme, students have a variety of fiction and nonfiction texts from which to choose. Texts are equally varied by Lexile measures. For example, in Unit 1, suggested selections range from Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar (560L), Eragon by Christopher Paolini (710L), All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (940L), Jim Thorpe, Original All-American by Joseph Brucac (950L), The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1080L), and Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby (1340L). Teachers are urged to “encourage students to do their own research and select titles that intrigue them.”

In the first days of each unit, students create their Independent Reading Plan and share their plan with a partner: “Discuss your independent reading plan with a partner by responding to these questions: How do you go about choosing what to read independently? Where can you find advice on which books or articles to read? What genre of texts do you most enjoy reading outside of class? How can you make time in your schedule to read independently? How do you think literary theory might change your perspective of the texts you read independently?” Additionally, students are given guidance in their reading selection on the Independent Reading Link sidebar that appears throughout the unit indicating how their reading may apply to the unit’s theme. For example, in Unit 1 students are told, “you may want to include biographies or autobiographies about people who interest you. Look for life-changing experiences they had as young adults. Note these experiences in your Reader/Writer Notebook.”

The Teacher Wrap gives teachers guidance in setting up the Independent Reading as well: “Review expectations as noted in the Independent Reading Link. Include a deadline by which selections should be made and reading should begin.” Additionally, the Teacher Wrap suggests differentiated approaches to support those who struggle gain independence as readers: “As students develop their independent reading plans, consider giving students who are at an early stage of English language development the option of reading a text in their home language. These students can build on native language literacy as they begin to develop academic English.”

As students proceed through the unit, connections are drawn between their independent reading and in-class readings through the Independent Reading Links found as sidebars throughout the teaching materials. For example, in Activity 1.3 the sidebar notes, “As you study the first part of this unit, apply the strategies and information you learn to your independent reading. For example, be aware of your reactions to what you read. Then use a double-entry journal strategy to cite the text and note your thoughts, such as a personal experience, a question, or a prediction.” Teachers, likewise, are guided to engage students in their independent reading throughout the unit. For example, in Activity 1.3 in the Teacher Wrap, teachers are encouraged to conduct “brief book talks for the books you recommend for independent reading. Your summaries and a shared reading of an interesting passage can engage students in selecting texts. Students will encounter multiple activities in this unit that refer to their independent reading. Be sure that they select appropriate texts.”