8th Grade - Gateway 3

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing.

Each lesson is designed for a fifty-minute period. The year-long instruction is broken into four units. Each unit is broken into forty-five lessons, totalling 180 days of instruction. Each unit follows a similar structure, and a Full Text Study is provided for each unit. Most lessons begin with a First Read, then a Skill lesson, followed by a Close Reading activity. Each lesson includes detailed lesson plans for the teacher, as well as online materials for the students. Each lesson plan has clear guidelines for a core path as well as an access path that may include categories for beginner, intermediate, advanced, and approaching. Units 1 and 3 contain an alternative pacing guide that incorporates core instructional units with English language development lessons.

Each unit also includes a Pacing Guide that helps teachers utilize the resources offered in each StudySync Core ELA and English Learner unit. The pacing guide weaves lessons from every segment of this Core ELA unit: the Instructional Path, Extended Writing Project, Research Project, and Full-Text Study. An additional column helps the teacher align Core ELA unit content with lessons from its companion English Learner unit.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that the teacher and student can reasonably complete the content within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.

The pacing guide for each unit divides the unit into forty-five days in order to be able to complete the curriculum in an 180-day school year. Instructional days often contain more than a single task. Pacing is based on fifty-minute instructional days, but teachers may need to modify the suggested pacing to fit their scheduling needs. This can easily be accomplished through selection of the ten to twelve available texts in each unit. Examples of pacing allowing for maximum student understanding and the ability to complete the content within a regular school year include but are not limited to:

• In order to meet the needs of individual schools, the Pacing Guide provides a Shortcuts section, which highlights areas where teachers can trim the unit to ensure that they are covering the most important sections.

• Suggestions for for shortening a unit include the following: “replacing the Research Project with a Crowdsourcing Activity: Instead of a 12 day research project, you can make the research component of this unit an informal exploration using a crowdsourcing activity, and eliminate Repeated Author’s Purpose and Point of View Skill Lessons: Each unit focuses on developing specific skills. Some of these skills are repeated throughout the unit to ensure students have plenty of practice with those skills. If you are in a rush and looking to cut some of the content in a unit, you can eliminate one or two of these skill lessons and feel confident your students will still be exposed to the information they need about author’s purpose and point of view.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that the student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions, and explanation, and correct labeling of reference aids (eg. visuals, maps, etc.)

The materials, through their integrated approach that combines reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and presenting, along with instructional routines that are predictable and easily understandable, provide students with activities and opportunities to practice what they are learning.

The unit components offer clear explanations and directions, teacher and student models, and a variety of instructional routines and opportunities to practice and apply skills. Student writing and text annotations are saved to an electronic binder where students can receive peer and teacher feedback. With more than 40 short, constructed responses over the course of a grade level, the materials provide frequent opportunities for on-demand writing practice.

The teacher’s lesson instructions are clear, and the lessons are detailed. For example , in Unit 1, students study the skill of Author’s Purpose and Author's Point of View while reading “Let ‘Em Play God.” As an introduction to the skill, students are provided with a definition of the skill, both in written form and through an informational video. Next, students dive deeper by observing the application of the skill through further explanation and a model. During this model section, students have the option of using an annotation tool and/or listening to the audio version of the text. As a last step, students have the opportunity to practice what they learned through the “Your Turn” section. In this section, students read a short passage, analyze the text, and answer two multiple-choice questions.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items.

The materials offer resources that connect the Common Core State Standards to the elements of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The Scope and Sequence document provides a grid that shows where all of the informational and literature standards are covered within each unit - specifically where they are introduced as practice/application only or instruction along with practice and application. Every assignment that the students complete has information at the bottom of the page that connects the task to the Common Core Standard being addressed. Every lesson comes with a detailed lesson plan that outlines the objectives and lists the Common Core Standards that are covered in the lesson. Every step of the lesson plan is provided in detail and mentions the relevant connections to the CCSS.

All of the sections and handouts in the Speaking and Listening Handbook contain references to the Common Core State Standards being addressed, as well. For example, in Unit 2, in the First Read of “Miss Breed,” students answer Think questions that are aligned to Common Core State Standards. For example, students answer the following question: “Describe the conditions at the Poston Relocation Center. What made living there so difficult? Use specific details from Dear Miss Breed in your answer.” This question aligns to CCSS.RI.8.1. In the Close Read of “Miss Breed,” students answer the following writing prompt: “Louise Ogawa, Babe Karasawa, Don Elberson, Chiyoko Morita, and Jack Watanabe all provide first-hand accounts of the relocation camp in Poston. What makes first-hand accounts of historical events more interesting and exciting than descriptions by people who weren’t present at the scene? How do first-hand accounts help you visualize places and events in the past in a way that second-hand accounts do not? Support your writing with evidence from the text.” This prompt aligns to RI.8.1, RI.8.7, W.8.10, W.8.4, W.8.5, and W.8.6.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student edition and in the ancillary materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.

Detailed lesson plans are provided for each text within each unit. Access Paths, Blasts, First Reads, Close Reads, and Skill Lessons are provided along with detailed instructions, activities, and answer keys for each task suggested in the lesson plans. Embedded technology includes Tech Infusions, which are extension activities that incorporate technology such as Padlet, Diigo, PollEverywhere, etc. Another technological feature is Blast activities. This feature allows students to participate in a classroom version of social media, beginning with a driving question and a shared reading of background on a topic. This is followed by responding to the driving question in a public forum, participating in a poll, and reviewing live research links to learn more about the Blast’s topic. Blast responses go live in real time, allowing students to give each other feedback, select favorite responses, and reflect on the driving question again in light of the words of their peers. Examples include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, in the Close Read of Sorry, Wrong Number, the teacher is provided with the following instructions and guiding questions for a class discussion: “In small, heterogeneous groups or pairs, ask students to share and discuss their annotations with a focus on the point of view presented in the selection. You can provide students with these questions to guide their discussion: Besides the dialogue, what else gives us information as we read this text? What Mrs. Stevenson's mood before she overhears the two men talking? How does her mood change by the end of the excerpt? What causes the change?”

• In Unit 2, in the First Read of “Dear Miss Breed,” the teacher is provided with the following instructions to lead a class discussion: “In small groups or pairs, have students discuss the questions and inferences they made while reading. Which details help you develop a mental picture of the living conditions Japanese-American families find at Poston? How do Louise Ogawa's descriptions of the scenery through which she traveled serve to create a sense of irony? How do you think Babe Karasawa and his brothers felt about living in the barracks apartment he describes? Which details in Babe's description help you visualize what that first day was like for them?”

• In Unit 3, in the Close Read of “Ode to Thanks,” the teacher is provided with the following embedded technology activity: “Students can create concept maps online using Bubbl.us. Google drawing can also be used to design a concept map.”

• In Unit 4, in the Close Read of Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, the teacher is provided with the following embedded technology activity: “Have students create their own crossword puzzles using words from the text. Students can create their crosswords on paper or using an online tool, like Puzzle Maker. Then students can post the puzzles and solve them.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition that contains full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced literacy concepts so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.

In each lesson plan, teachers are provided with full explanations and examples of the more advanced literary concepts in the following sections of the Teacher’s Edition section entitled, “Instructional Path.” The Access to Complex Text section provides teachers with information to access the complex text by providing the actual literary concepts and examples found in the featured text. The Overview section provides teacher with a summary of the text identifying the literary concepts included in the featured text. Answer Keys are provided with all activities in each lesson plan of each text along with Access to Complex Text features for each text to assist the teacher is scaffolding instruction for the students, so that they all can access the complex text. This text includes a Teacher’s Glossary in each unit which includes linguistic, grammatical, comprehension, and literary terms that may be helpful in understanding reading instruction. Examples of explanations and examples include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, in Grade 8 ELA Overview for “Let em Play God,” the teacher is provided with the following information: “To help students understand Hitchcock’s theory, use the following ideas to provide scaffolded instruction for an initial reading of the more complex features of this text. Although Hitchcock discusses abstract ideas such as suspense and letting an audience ‘play God,’ he provides concrete examples to explain this thinking. However, because students are likely to be unfamiliar with the example of Rope, it may be difficult for them to understand.”

• In Unit 2, in the First Read of “Blood, Toils, Tears and Sweat,” the teacher is provided with the following background information about vocabulary so that the teacher can provide scaffolded instruction: “The British system of government may confuse some students. At this time, Britain was a monarchy led by King George VI. (You may wish to point out that George VI's daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, is the current monarch.) Point out that the phrase “His Majesty" is in reference to the king. Explain that Parliament is a two-chamber system comprised of the House of Lords, whose members inherit their seats, and the House of Commons, who members are democratically elected.The Parliament is presided over by a Prime Minister who, in consultation with the king, leads the nation. Students will most likely be unfamiliar with Churchill's references to the political parties that comprised the British government at that time. Point out that Labour, Opposition, and Liberals refer to various parties of differing viewpoints among themselves as well as with Churchill's Conservative Party.”

• In Unit 3, in the Grade 8 ELA Overview for “Home,” the teacher is provided with the following background information about vocabulary so that the teacher can provide scaffolded instruction: “Some difficult vocabulary may present a challenge to readers. Terms such as headmaster, governess, and other terms that pertain to upper-class Russian life may need to be defined...The thirteenth paragraph contains a sentence in French that is not translated for students. Explain that the governess is telling Seryozha that his father is calling him, and he should move quickly. You may wish to point out that this phrase in French is textual evidence allowing students to infer that, even at age 7, Seryozha is receiving lessons in foreign language.”

• In Unit 4, in the Skill Lesson: Connotation and Denotation” for “Paul Revere’s Ride,” the teacher is provided with the following information to aid in class discussion: “To help these students participate in the discussion, prompt them with questions that can be answered with a few words, such as: What type of meaning do words have beyond dictionary definitions? What does the denotation of a word refer to? What does the connotation of a word refer to? What do writers use denotative meanings for? What do writers use connotation for?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition that explains the role of the specific ELA/literacy standards in the context of the overall curriculum.

StudySync’s Program Overview states, “The core program was built from the ground up to fully align with the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. The program’s instruction targets requirements of these standards.” The program offers a variety of high-quality texts. The selections presented in each unit and grade offer a balance of literary and informational texts. These texts offer complex themes and ideas as well as compelling characters and language.The alignment is evident in the Scope and Sequence. In this chart, texts are listed in order by unit. For each text, the materials identify which standards are being practiced and which ones are being taught and practiced. This is indicated by an “o” and an “x” respectively. At a glance, teachers can tell which Reading Literature, Reading Informational Text, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language standards are being addressed by each text.

The materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials contain a explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research based strategies.

The materials provide a document in the Core Program Guide entitled, “Research-Based Alignments”. In this document, the publisher provides an overview of the research upon which the instruction in StudySync was built. The document provides a summary of key research findings and recommendations for best practices of instruction in English Language Arts, focused on Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language, and Media and Technology. The document summarizes key research findings and research-based recommendations related to effective reading instruction from several key sources. Some of the key sources are as follows:

• Reading Next-A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy: A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York 2nd Edition (Biancarosa & Snow, 2006). Written in conjunction with staff from the Alliance for Excellent Education, this document describes 15 key elements of effective adolescent literacy programs. Designed to improve adolescent achievement in middle and high schools, the elements are subdivided into instructional improvements and infrastructural improvements.

• Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices: A Practice Guide (Kamil, Borman, Dole, Kral, Salinger, & Torgesen, 2008). This report provides clear and evidence-based recommendations for enhancing literacy skills in the upper elementary, middle, and secondary levels. An analysis of the quality of the evidence supporting each claim is provided.

• Reading for Understanding: Toward an R&D Program in Reading Comprehension (2002). This review of the research on reading comprehension instruction was conducted by the Reading Study Group for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Education Research and Improvement.

• Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading. A Report from the Carnegie Corporation of New York (Graham & Herbert, 2010). This document provides a meta-analysis of research on the effects of specific types of writing interventions found to enhance students’ reading skills.

• Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools. A Report from the Carnegie Corporation of New York (Graham & Perin, 2007). This report provides a review of research-based techniques designed to enhance the writing skills of 4th to 12th grade students. Additionally, specific findings have been incorporated from other recent, reputable research related.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress.

The materials contain both formative and summative assessments that can be used to measure student progress. There is a placement test that can be given at the beginning of the unit. Each unit has a summative assessment that tests comprehension, skills, vocabulary, and writing. Teachers use the responses in the First Read, the Skills lessons, Close Reads, Blasts, and Extended Writing Projects to conduct ongoing formative assessments. These formative assessments contain a variety of assessment types including multiple choice, short answer, discussion, and extended response. Formative assessments are found throughout the unit, and the End of Unit summative assessments are found in the Core ELA Assessment materials.

The materials provide Placement and Diagnostic Assessments, which are typically given at the beginning of the school year. These assessments focus on fluency and spelling, including an upper-level spelling inventory. The materials also provide oral reading and maze fluency assessments.

In the final portion of a Skills lesson, students respond to two short questions about a different passage of text from the First Read. These assessments provide teachers with immediate feedback on student performance, and the program contains guidance to teachers on how to alter instruction based on that performance.

Throughout each unit, students are assessed on their understanding of key instructional content along with their ability to write to sources. The results of these summative assessments provide teachers with data to track year-long progress and inform instructional decisions.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.

Formative assessments are built into each unit through Blasts, First Reads, Close Reads, and Skills Activities. Each formative assessment includes notations of the standards that are being addressed. The Teacher Introduction portion of the Core ELA Assessments document describes the assessments’ key areas of focus. The answer key at the end of each downloadable paper copy of the assessments provides item-specific information such as content focus/skill, Common Core State Standard, and Depth of Knowledge (DOK) level. The online version of the assessments offers the same metadata for each item along with tech-enhanced item functionality.

For example, in Unit 1, in the Skill lesson on Theme for “The Monkey’s Paw,” students define theme, participate in a whole group discussion that helps them understand how to identify theme in a work of fiction, and independently answer the following questions in the Your Turn section of the lesson: “Which of the following states an important idea that may be the theme of the selection? Which sentences or phrases from the passage best supports your answer?” These questions serve as a summative assessment and support teachers to identify mastery of Common Core State Standards RL.8.1 and RL.8.2.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that assessments provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow up.

At the culmination of each unit, students are assessed on key instructional concepts and their ability to write to prompts. The information that these assessments reveal informs future instruction, leveling and grouping, and the need for remediation and/or reteaching. These end-of-unit assessments also generate reports for students and parents on skill strengths, skill deficiencies, standard and skill proficiency levels, and across-unit growth. Students take end-of-year assessments that indicate their readiness for state testing.

At the end of the final assessment for Unit 3, the materials guide the teacher in how to modify instruction based on outcomes such as, “Students score less than 7 on the Performance Task full write for unit assessment...then reteach the following skill lessons from the Extended Writing Project as needed, using the Access 4 Handout and the Approaching instructional scaffolds in the Access Path: Thesis Statement, Organize Argumentative Writing, Supporting Details, Introductions, Transitions, Conclusions, Style, Sources and Citations.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials should include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress.

The StudySync materials provide for ongoing review, practice, and feedback. The Core Program Guide explains that assessments available in StudySync ELA allow for monitoring student progress, diagnosing possible issues, and measuring student achievement in relation to their understanding of previously-taught skills. The assessments included within the program help teachers gather data to address students’ instructional needs, and they measure the critical components of reading. The assessment options are grounded in research. Each unit has a Research and an Extended Writing Project, which include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress in writing. Routines and guidance include but are not limited to:

• Teachers are provided with placement and diagnostic assessments that support their decision-making regarding appropriate instructional levels for students. These assessments serve as a baseline and help teachers to monitor student progress throughout the school year.
• Each Unit provides teachers with lesson plans that “point teachers toward minute-to-minute formative assessment opportunities.” First Reads, Skills, Close Reads, and Extended Writing Projects offer “medium cycle assessment opportunities for students and teachers to chart progress toward key learning outcomes. End of unit assessments and performance tasks test key skills and measure progress summatively.”
• Each chapter of the Language and Composition Handbook focuses on a specific grammar or usage skill. Each chapter begins with a pretest, followed by instruction and practice, and ends with a post test.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding the grade-level standards.

Throughout each instructional Unit, differentiated lessons are provided for the teacher to use. This Access Path provides differentiated lessons that are classified as emerging, intermediate, advanced, and approaching. The lesson plans provide a column to offer suggestions for the teacher to use in order to adequately differentiate the lesson. Student grouping is suggested in many lessons. Differentiated worksheets are provided. ELL students may be provided with more sentence frames while receiving access to the same materials.

Each lesson includes a full complement of Access Handouts. Access Handouts are differentiated through the use of sentence frames, graphic organizers, glossaries, and many other activities. Access handouts provide students with support to complete core assignments alongside their on-grade level classmates.

Teachers can create multiple online classes and custom learning groups. This allows teachers to assign texts and weekly Blast based on Lexile levels. Teacher can customize the directions and requirements for entire classes, smaller groups, or individual students. Teachers can “modify prompts, turn on audio readings, and extend due dates” to help students meet learning goals.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level, or in a language other than English, with extensive opportunities to work with grade level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards.

Students read grade-level texts through the support of teacher modeling and scaffolded instruction. Students work as individuals, in small groups, and as a whole class. Student Models of interactions with texts are provided via multimedia introductions. Reading skills are supported by explicit grammar and vocabulary instruction. The instructional materials provide guidance on how to adapt instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners.

For each Unit, teachers can choose the Core unit or EL Unit. The EL Unit contains materials and assessments for beginner, intermediate, and advanced learners. All lessons contain a Core Path and an Access Path for teachers along with Access handouts for students to support the instruction in the Access Path. The program provides instructional materials that can be used for pre-teaching, reteaching, remediation, and small group instruction. Documents include the following: Grammar, Language, and Composition Workbook, Vocabulary Workbook, Spelling Workbook, Standard English Learners Handbook, and Foundational Skills.

The materials provide access supports for the reading of texts such as Audio Options, Audio Text Highlight Tool, Audio Speed controls, Video Content with Closed Captioning, Text Enlargement, and Keyboarding. The materials provide supports for students who are full English language learners, and they provide supports for students who are learning Standard English, such as Contrastive Analysis Drills, Translative Drills, and Discrimination Drills.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials regularly include extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.

There are activities in the Access path in each of the four units that are offered for beyond grade-level students. These activities are designed to take above grade level students further into the core path content should they complete the activity before other students. Along with the scaffolds that differentiate instruction for English learners in the access path, teachers locate differentiation suggestions for beyond grade-level learners that stretch their thinking, adding more opportunities for collaborative and creative engagement. While core path questions may exercise reading comprehension strategies as well as inference techniques and the application of textual evidence, the beyond activity asks students to brainstorm how two characters might talk their way out of trouble.Technology can be leveraged to support these students.

For example, in Unit 2, in the First Read of The Diary of Anne Frank: A Play, the Access Path provides advanced students with an opportunity to summarize. Students “complete the Summarize activity on the Access 3 handout to summarize the first two paragraphs of the excerpt.” Students then exchange their work with a partner to review each other's answers. Teachers check for understanding after the activity is complete.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.

Throughout each instructional unit, students are encouraged to learn in groups. Students participate in collaborative conversations about texts, watch StudySyncTV group discussions which serve as models, and receive instruction in whole group, small group, and one-on-one settings.

Throughout every instructional unit, the lesson plans provide a column to offer suggestions for the teacher in order to adequately differentiate the lesson. Student grouping suggestions are provided in many lesson plans. Differentiated worksheets are provided. ELL students may be provided with more sentence frames while still receiving access to the same materials. For example:

• In the Close Reads for each text, students express their ideas in collaborative conversation groups before planning and writing a short constructed response.

• The Access Path guides teachers to leverage technology tools, such as Closed Captioning and Audio Text Highlight to engage and instruct learners. Additionally, the Access Path guides provide suggestions for alternating between whole group, small group, and one-on-one instruction.

• At each grade level, the Speaking and Listening handbook is divided into four sections: Collaborative Discussions, Critical Listening, Research Using Various Media, and Presentation Skills. Each section is comprised of a comprehension lesson plan, including student handouts, checklists, and rubrics. Each section contains formative assessments that can be used and repeated for the following activities: engaging in small or large-group discussions, listening critically and responding to information and ideas shared by others, conducting research and assembling findings, and presenting in the narrative, informative, and argumentative modes using multimedia elements.