10th Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that texts are organized around a theme to build students’ ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.

The instructional materials are organized around themes and build student’s reading comprehension of complex texts. The curriculum for Grade 10 is organized under a thematic umbrella focused on control and if we ever truly have it over our lives, and how we learn and benefit from our interactions with others. The themes of the four units are as follows: “Destiny,” Taking a Stand,” “Technical Difficulties,” and “The Human Connection.”

Each unit provides both fiction and nonfiction selections to build student content knowledge; students are required to read and comprehend the complex texts independently and proficiently. At the beginning of each unit, students consider the Big Idea or essential question of the unit, and when they read and analyze the texts in the unit, they face further questions and discussions about this essential question. The reading, writing, and discussion tasks ultimately lead to a culminating task that requires students to synthesize what they have learned about the texts as they relate to the overarching idea of the unit. Examples of texts centered around themes to build student’s ability to read and comprehend complex texts include but are not limited to:

• Unit 1 combines several selections to build student knowledge around the theme “Destiny.” Students explore the idea of fate versus free will as they read fiction, poems, a play, and informational text. Students read an excerpt from Outliers: The Story of Success, which looks at “innate talent versus hours of practice on musical achievement.” The poem “Invictus, which has the speaker stating he controls his fate. Act I, Scene III of Macbeth has Macbeth struggling with the witches’ predictions.

• Unit 2 studies the theme of “Taking a Stand.” Students explore the when breaking the rules is the “right” decision. Students read fiction, an epic poem, a graphic novel, a sonnet, novel excerpts and informational texts. The unit begins with the short story, “The Lady, or the Tiger,” which has the students considering the power held by both the king and the princess. Other selections share stories of leaders in history, including two seminal U.S. documents in the 9-10 complexity band, the epic poem The Odyssey, and informational texts about ancient Greece and Pericles. Throughout this unit, students explore how power can be used both positively and negatively.

• Unit 3 combines several selections to build student knowledge around the theme “Technical Difficulties.” Students review a variety of perspectives through various genres to understand the positive and negative effects of the technological progress that has been made throughout history. The Unit begins with fictional excerpts from “Prometheus: The Friend of Man” and Frankenstein to “frame the dilemma humans face when wielding the power of technology.” Students read numerous nonfiction and personal accounts to understand real-life scenarios within which individuals and communities have been impacted through the use of technology. Students will also engage in a study of the various debates that the rise and implementation of new technology has sparked throughout the world.

• Unit 4 combines several selections to build student knowledge around the theme “The Human Connection.” Students explore how their interactions with one another along with the larger community impact the world and their understanding of themselves. Students study texts of a variety of genres and lengths including excerpts from plays, autobiographies, poetry and nonfiction. The Unit begins with excerpts from Plutarch’s Lives, which provide “three separate accounts of Julius Caesar’s funeral in order to explore what two famous leaders’ interactions with citizens reveal about their characters.” Students also view the scope of human connection, both the possibility and the struggle, through texts such as The Book Thief, Night, and Catch the Moon. Each of these texts explore human nature and how the characters are impacted, and make an impact, through their interactions with one another.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced higher order thinking questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics.

The materials offer students several opportunities to use evidence pulled directly from the text as well as make inferences while reading in order to help make meaning of the of the texts provided. Most discussion questions and tasks cover comprehension, summarizing, clarifying, drawing conclusions, making inferences, evaluating, synthesizing ideas, and analyzing and identifying literary devices. Most questions are higher order and ask students to engage with the text directly. The materials do include a range of text dependent questions and tasks throughout each unit, and questions and tasks cover a wide continuum of standards and strategies. Each text in the unit has a sequence of reading opportunities- guiding students in how they should approach each reading of the text. Approaches to reading individual texts within each unit include, but are not limited to: First Read, Skill, Close Read. The First Read is a reading of the text with very little front loading and is more of a surface read of the text and might include tasks and questions that ask students to make inferences and predictions and/or summarize. The Skill reading focuses on a particular skill to think about while re-engaging with the text. Questions and tasks covered in the Skill sections vary and include, but are not limited to: figurative language, argumentation, rhetorical analyses, and technical language. The Close Read brings the student back to the text and often includes questions and tasks that require students to re-engage with the text deeply- citing textual evidence, synthesizing ideas, and/or analyzing author’s purpose/craft.

• In Unit 1, students analyze the poem, “If” by Rudyard Kipling. During the Close Read they need to display their knowledge and understanding of different poetic elements, including imagery, meter and form, by answering the following question: “Do you feel that Kipling’s choice of poetic elements effectively conveys the poem’s theme about what it takes to become a fully realized person? Reread the poem and write about how the poetic elements - imagery, meter, and form - contribute to the theme. If you don’t feel that these elements successfully portray Kipling’s theme, what poetic elements might you have chosen instead? In either instance, support your ideas with evidence from the text. Use at least one or two vocabulary words to show that you understand their meaning in the context of the poem.”
• In Unit 2, “Taking a Stand,” one of the texts is “Introduction to Antigone,” an excerpt from Bernard Knox’s introduction to the play. The following text dependent tasks/questions can be found in the “First Read: Discuss.” In this part of the lesson, students are put into small groups or pairs to discuss questions they identified while reading. The following questions are included in the teacher’s edition to help facilitate discussions:
  
  • “What has happened to Antigone's brothers?”
  • “What is the difference between Creon's treatments of the brothers?”
  • “What is the effect of this on Antigone?”

After students discuss the text in small groups or pairs, they move onto the “First Read: Think,” in which they answer short answer questions like the following:

• “According to Knox, what is the difference between Creon’s beliefs and Antigone’s beliefs regarding the burial of Polynices’ corpse? How does this difference help set up the action of the play? Explain how ancient Greeks would have regarded the conflict, as opposed to modern theatergoers. Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.”
• “Briefly summarize Antigone’s argument that as Plynices’ sister, she has a right to demand that he be buried. Cite evidence from the text to support your answer

In the Skill portion of this lesson, students learn the skill Informational Text Structure. Within this section, a skill is defined; a model of how a text is analyzed for that skill is shown; and, finally, students answer text dependent questions that illustrate their understanding of the skill. Students are taught in the Identification and Application section how to identify informational text structure: looking at the form in which the information is presented; looking for key details that explain the author’s ideas or claims; asking how the ideas and claims are developed; and looking for how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced. Then they are asked to read and annotate the Model text by highlighting key points, asking questions, and identifying the places where the Model is applying the strategies laid out in the “Identification and Application” section. After reading the Model text, teachers lead a whole-group discussion using the following questions:

• “What’s the first step this Model uses to begin identifying the passage’s organizational structure?”
• “Which strategy from the Identification and Application section of this Skill lesson does the Model uses to determine the organization structure that the author uses?”
• “In paragraphs 3-5, what type of evidence does Knox use to support the idea that Creon was somewhat justified in decreeing that Polynices’ body should not be buried?”
• “What type of evidence does Knox offer to support Antigone's position that she has the sacred duty and the right to bury her brother Polynices' body?”

At the end of the discussion, students are told to answer a multiple choice question which will assess their understanding of the skill. A section of the text is written on the left side of the screen, and the following questions are on the right:

• “Part A: In comparing and contrasting the views of Antigone and Creon, what claim is the author making in this paragraph?”
• “Part B: Which sentence or phrase from the passage best supports your answer?”

During the Close Read portion of the lesson, students are given the opportunity to focus on how an author develops key ideas and provides details to support them. Students begin by working with vocabulary found in the text. Then, the teacher models how to close read the text using annotation strategies provided. After modeling, the teacher reads over the Skills Focus question, so the students understand what they should pay close attention to while reading. Then students read and annotate the rest of the text; discuss the Skills Focus question in a large group; and, finally, answer a writing prompt. The Skills Focus questions from this lesson, “Close Read: Introduction to Antigone,” include:

• “According to Knox, what is the cause of Antigone’s anger toward Creon? What are the possible effects of this on herself and those around her? Highlight textual evidence in the excerpt to support your ideas. Write annotations to explain your choices.”
• “How does compare-and-contrast text structure of the essay help readers understand the different points of view in the play Antigone? Highlight evidence in the text and write annotations to explain your choices.”
• “What connections does Knox draw between Antigone’s personality, her beliefs, and her actions? How does he develop his claims? Highlight textual evidence and write annotations to explain your idea.”
• “Knox states that Antigone believes that Creon’s decision not to let Polynices be buried is aimed at her and her sister personally. How does his analysis support his ideas? Highlight your evidence and make annotations that support your understanding.”
• “Based on the ways Knox compares and contrasts the points of view in the play Antigone in this excerpt, does he think that Antigone has the right to challenge the rule of law set down by Creon? Highlight textual evidence in the paragraph and use the annotation tool to support your answer.”

The text-dependent writing prompt for this lesson is:

• “Use your understanding of key ideas, organizational structure, and point of view to explain how Knox’s “Introduction to Antigone” might enhance your reading of the library excerpt from the play, Antigone. How does Bernard Knox’s analysis of the play and explanation of cultural history help you understand the central conflict of Antigone, as well as the characters? Cite textual evidence to support your response.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts.

The materials provided students multiple opportunities, through questions and tasks, to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts. Each unit contains texts that are represented in more than one format, several texts that explore/represent one theme, and several argumentative prompts that give students the opportunity to state and claim and use evidence from the various texts to support their claim.

The reading, writing, research, and discussion tasks throughout the four units of study require students to complete a thorough, detailed examination of every reading selection. The culminating task for each unit is an Extended Writing Project; the prompts for the informational, argument, and literary analysis writing tasks demand that students cite evidence from multiple texts in the unit. Each unit contains a Research Project that requires that the students put the skills of reading and analyzing texts that they learned throughout the unit into practice. Each unit also contains a Full Text Study which comes with companion texts. This text set becomes the resource for the final activity for the Full Text Study, where students are asked to complete sustained writing tasks in response to prompts that require them to compare and contrast two or more of the texts in the set. Examples of coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 3, there is the full text study of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. After reading Chapter 22, students read an excerpt from the biography American Prometheus by J. Robert Oppenheimer. After reading, students write an essay that analyzes ”how the authors of each work draw on and transform the mythical figure of Prometheus. What does it mean to apply this label in a manner as conspicuous as the title of a book? Can you think of any other historical or literary figures that could be labeled as promethean?”
• In Unit 4, students read “Those Winter Sundays,” a poem by Robert Hayden. The writing prompt in the Close Read lesson refers them back to the essential question of the unit: “The Essential Question for this unit is, “How do our interactions define us?” In 300 words, describe how the narrator’s interactions with his father, both as a youth and as an adult, define him. What important lessons did his upbringing ultimately teach him? Identify the poem’s theme. Include details about how the tone of the poem helps to reinforce the theme.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a theme through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).

The materials provide questions and tasks that support students’ ability to complete each unit’s Extended Writing Project in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic or theme through a combination of skills; this culminating activity is designed to deepen content knowledge as students return to texts they have already analyzed. The materials achieve this goal by tying the questions that are asked in the Extended Writing Project to the essential questions and theme of the unit. Each unit provides questions that prompt thinking, speaking and writing that focus on the central ideas and key details of the text. Reading and writing (and speaking and listening) are taught as integrated skills. Students are required to read, annotate, argue, discuss, write about, and share their thoughts about each of these texts in multiple ways. Examples of questions and task that support student’s ability to complete culminating tasks include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, students read informational text, poetry, and drama that feature different human experiences that explore the essential question: how much of what happens in our lives do we actually control? The unit’s Extended Writing Project requires students to write an argumentative essay that makes a claim about which text from the unit “most convincingly answers the unit’s essential question.” The questions and tasks for each of the texts in the unit support this ultimate goal. As stated in the ELA Grade Level Overview for Grade 10 “Short constructed responses that accompany all Close Read lessons in the unit help students demonstrate understanding of the specific reading and language skills developed in conjunction with the texts. These include an evaluation of the speaker’s final assertion in the poem ‘Invictus’ . . . as well as the ideas about fate, power, and human nature that Shakespeare explores in Macbeth, and how point of view in The Iraq War Blog helps to express the author’s particular attitude toward the role of fate in the events she describes.” The prompts also get the students thinking about which of the texts in the unit best answers the essential question.

• In Unit 3, the Extended Writing Project requires students to write an informative/explanatory essay that has students choose two texts from the unit to answer the following questions: “What responsibility do people have when developing new technology?” The questions and tasks for each of the texts in the unit support this ultimate goal. As stated in the ELA Grade Level Overview for Grade 10 “Short constructed responses that accompany all Close Read lessons in the unit help students demonstrate understanding of the specific reading and language skills developed in conjunction with the texts, such as the use of textual evidence to analyze Louis Pasteur’s point of view in ‘Worship the Spirit of Criticism’ or assessing the arguments, claims and evidence presented in ‘Shading the Earth’ to determine whether geoengineering is a good solution to the problem of climate change.” The unit Blasts also support this writing assignment by looking at topics such as “the pros and cons of pesticides and how new technologies change our language.”

• In Unit 4, the Extended Writing Project focuses on the narrative form. Students write a narrative about an unusual interaction between a character and something or someone else. In preparation for the culminating writing activity, students practice skills necessary for narrative writing. For example, in the Skill: Writing Dialogue lesson, students take notes on the elements of dialogue. In small or whole group, students read the model and identify the different components of the introduction. Questions, such as “What qualities can indirect dialogue add to a narrative?” are included in the teacher edition to activate thinking. After reading the model, students are instructed to write a passage for their narrative that includes direct and indirect dialogue.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic and domain-specific vocabulary words in and across texts.

Language instruction in the StudySync core program provides systematic vocabulary instruction, as well as repeated opportunities for practice and application in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Students will encounter vocabulary-building opportunities in the Vocabulary Workbook, the Academic Vocabulary link on the Unit Overview page, and across all three lesson types: First Reads, Skill lessons, and Close Reads.

Students are also provided with a Vocabulary Workbook. This gives “students additional opportunities to build and expand their vocabulary” (Study Sync Core Program Guide: Grades 6-12 60). There are twelve units; each unit contains three to four lessons; each lesson consists of ten words related by a concept or theme. The lessons are on topics such as using context clues, prefixes, word families, synonyms, Latin roots, suffixes, Greek Roots, reference skills like using a thesaurus, and reading skills like word parts. Lesson structure, practice activities and assessments are included for each unit.

On the Unit Overview page of each unit, there are a list of readings, key skills and Common Core standards which the unit covers. Within this list, is the heading Academic Vocabulary, which contains links to two to three academic vocabulary lessons. Each lesson contains ten words that are related topically. The lesson is separated into three sections: Define, Model, Your Turn. Define lists the words, their form, their meaning and other meanings in a chart. The Model lesson gives students a sample context and then uses the words in sentences. Your Turn has the students complete an assessment that is self-assessed.

In the First Reads, students are exposed to the challenging vocabulary in the text. They are given opportunities to use context clues and analyze word parts in order to understand the meaning of the words, and teachers are encouraged to model these types of strategies. The materials focus on language development by having students use context clues, word placement, and common Greek and Latin affixes and roots to figure out the meaning of words.

The Skill Lessons focus on domain-specific vocabulary, and students are exposed to these vocabulary words through a variety of media. The vocabulary words are explained by other teens through a video, and there is a written explanation and examples for each term below the video.

The Close Read lesson has students look at the precise meaning of the academic vocabulary and compare it with their initial predictions from the First Read. Misunderstood words are reviewed and students discuss why the context clues or other tools did not help them define the word. Students are then to complete the vocabulary worksheet associated with the lesson.

Examples of opportunities for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 4 of the Grade 10 Vocabulary Workbook, there are four lessons: Lesson 13: Using Context Clues, Lesson 14: Using Multiple-Meaning Words, Lesson 15: Prefixes Meaning “For” and “Against,” Lesson 16: Using Reading Skills - Learning from Context: Examples. The words in Lesson 13 are all related to the question “what does it take to meet life’s challenges?” ; in Lesson 14, all are related to helping students “to understand and express [their] feelings about changes in [their] life”; in Lesson 15, all words contain the prefixes couter-, contra- or con-, anti-, and ob- or op-; in Lesson 16 students use the technique of looking for examples of the unknown word that will give a hint to its meaning (41-47).

• On the Unit 3 Overview Page, the “Academic Vocabulary” heading has three links: Academic Vocabulary Lesson 46, Lesson 47and Lesson 48. Lesson 47 contains ten words that will “help you think about and discuss rules,” like conform, guideline and reinforce. Students read the definitions on the “Define” page, such as “reinforce, verb, to strengthen and support with rewards; verb: to make stronger.” Then they read the words in example sentences on the “Model” page - “The town will take additional measures to reinforce the law.” Finally, they complete three questions in the “Your Turn” section that can show immediate feedback, like question one that asks students to “drag and drop the the word that correctly completes the sentence.”

• In the Unit 1 First Read lesson of “Invictus,” students are told to make predictions about the five vocabulary words found in the text based on context clues. The teacher models this skill with the word “fell” by thinking aloud and asking questions - “Look at the structure of the sentence that contains the word "fell" and that incorporates the first two lines of the stanza. What part of speech is the word "fell" in this sentence?” Students then predict the rest of the words on their own, with a partner or in small groups.

• The Skill Lesson for “The Ballad of Birmingham” in Unit 2 includes a Concept Definition video that defines connotation and denotation. After the video, there is a small group or whole class discussion about the words with questions like, “When describing your favorite foods, what words might you use to give the description a positive connotation?” Students are then taken to the model and asked to look for the following on their own - “comment on the effect the poet's choice of words with strong connotations has on the poem's meaning.” After an individual analysis, the teacher leads a whole group discussion that helps “students understand how to analyze connotation and denotation.” Finally, students are asked a comprehension questions to assess their understanding of connotation and denotation - “Which of the following statements best describes an important effect achieved by words with powerful connotations in these two stanzas?”

• The Unit 4 Close Read of “Catch the Moon” has the teacher “project the vocabulary words and definitions onto the board or provide students with a handout so they can copy the vocabulary into their notebooks . . . [have] students compare the precise meaning of a specific word with their vocabulary predictions from the First Read. Review words defined incorrectly to understand why students were unable to use context clues or other tools to develop usable definitions.” Once this exercise is completed, the student complete the vocabulary worksheet attached to the lesson.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials 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 supports students’ growth in writing skills over the course of the school year. To achieve this goal, instructional materials include well-designed lesson plans, models, and protocols for teachers to implement and monitor students’ writing development. Direct instruction on the writing process builds as the year progresses. Within the unit, students write in response to driving questions in Blasts, comprehension questions in First Reads, and discussion questions in Close Reads. These informal writing opportunities prepare students to write more formally as part of each unit’s Extended Writing Project and Research assignments. For Research, students discuss, plan, research, write, and deliver presentations. In the Extended Writing Project, students complete a writing project in one of the three primary modes of writing with the help of a student model, graphic organizers, rubrics, and extensive scaffolding of writing skills. The students engage in all phases of the writing process. Examples of materials supporting students’ increasing writing skills over the school year include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, the Extended Writing Project focuses on argumentative writing, and instruction focuses on an introduction to this form. The Extended Writing Project provides a Student Model that contains the essential features of the argumentative essay and offers an example of a structured academic grade-level response to the prompt. The Student Model is used to help students better understand how the elements work together to create an effective argument, to identify and label the six features of argumentative writing (clear thesis, clear organization structure, supporting details/valid reasoning/textual evidence, effective transitions, formal style and objective tone, and a concluding statement), and to think about how they can apply these ideas to their own writing. Direct instruction is provided on writing thesis statements, organization, supporting details, introduction, body paragraphs and transitions, and conclusions.

• In Unit 2, the Extended Writing Project focuses on a literary analysis argumentative writing, and instruction focuses on an introduction to this form. The Extended Writing Project provides a Student Model that contains the essential features of the literary analysis essay and offers an example of a structured academic grade-level response to the prompt. The Student Model is used to help students better understand how the elements work together to create an effective literary analysis, to identify and label the six features of literary analysis writing (clear thesis, clear organizational structure, supporting details/textual evidence, effective transitions, formal style and objective tone, and a concluding statement), and to think about how they can apply these ideas to their own writing. Direct instruction is provided on writing thesis statements, organization, supporting details, introduction, body paragraphs and transitions, conclusions, and sources and citations.

• In Unit 3, the Blasts, comprehension questions in First Reads and writing prompts in the Close Reads scaffold throughout the texts as students are asked to complete more advanced understanding of the topics and texts throughout their writing. The unit begins with a Blast that introduces students to the ideas of the unit. In the case of Unit 3, students are asked to consider the following: “What responsibility do we have for what we create?” Students are asked to discuss, investigate through some research, and then respond to the question in a Blast post of their own using 140 characters or fewer. Mid-way through the unit, students are asked to read a poem, “Counter-Attack,” that is about the horrors of World War I, or the Great War, and then they are asked to do the following in the First Read: “Refer to one or more details from the text to support your understanding of who the speaker of the poem is and what the speaker describes in the first six lines of the poem. Base your answers on evidence that is directly stated or that you have inferred from clues in the text.” This question leads the students through the process of analyzing the start of a complex text in order to explain what is happening in the text. This is the first prompt in a series of short answer prompts that support them in developing a more thorough understanding. After the Close Read of the text, students are asked to consider the theme of the the poem, which is not provided, and then use their skills in analyzing the text to explain that theme. This is an example of explanatory writing, which is the focus of writing for this unit, and it is building on the skills they have been learning throughout by not supplying the theme, but in giving the students some hints through the content of the text, to figure out how to find it. An example of this is: “How the poetic structure and the tone help to convey the theme (or message) of the poem and the poet’s attitude toward the war.” They are told to include in their conclusion the answer to the following question: “Can a poem about a century-old war have the same impact today as it did when it was written?” In unit three, students have multiple opportunities to write in all of the modes and to have written multiple full essays. This is a helpful scaffold for supporting students in learning how to write thorough and thoughtful concluding paragraphs and especially concluding statements, a skill students struggle with consistently.

• In Unit 4, the Extended Writing Project focuses on narrative writing. Analysis of point of view, character, tone, and figurative language are key task demands. Since this is the last unit of the school year, these skills are more advanced than simply identifying elements of a narrative, but they build on the knowledge students have gained about narrative writing through the earlier units. For example, lessons focus on theme or central idea in the study of the Unit 1 text Macbeth, but advance to tone and figurative language in the study of Unit 2’s Fahrenheit 451. This illustrates the ample scaffolding as the analysis becomes more sophisticated across the units. The recommended Unit 4 model text for this project, an excerpt from The Book Thief, which is also one of this unit’s Common Core Appendix B exemplar texts, emphasizes the analysis of point of view and character. By the time students have reached the final literary selections in the unit, they will be prepared to address the more complex ideas of theme, tone, word choice and complex characters and begin to incorporate these elements into their own writing.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials include a 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.

Each of the four units in the Grade 10 materials include multiple opportunities for students to engage in research activities and present their findings. Each unit begins with a Big Idea Blast that gives students their first opportunity to draft a response to the driving question of the unit. The Blast includes multi-media research links that are related to the theme, and as students interact with the research links in the Blasts throughout the unit, they formulate a broader understanding of the theme, the texts in the unit, and the issues that surround them. The First Read of many selections in the unit includes a Build Background activity that asks students to work collaboratively on a small scale research inquiry that complements the text they are reading.

Each unit also includes an extensive, multi-step Research Project that is related to the unit’s theme and is a culmination of the skills that the students have practiced over the course of the unit and the knowledge they have gained. After sharing and discussing the results of individual members’ research findings, each group plans and then delivers a formal presentation in either the narrative, argumentative, or informative mode using multimedia elements such as videos, graphics, photos, and recordings to reinforce its main ideas.

If students are working on a topic that is informative, they present evidence to develop the subject matter. If students are working on a topic that involves presenting an argument in support of a claim, they use evidence that both supports their opinion and answers opposing viewpoints, or counter arguments. The Speaking & Listening Handbook is provided during this phase of the Research project both for speakers and for listeners, who are required to respond critically and constructively to the work of their peers. Each unit provides suggested topics for each research project. Examples of focused research projects to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area include but are not limited to:

• The Big Idea Blast in Unit 1 has students considering the unit’s essential question, “To what extent do we determine our own success or failure?” Included in this are research links to texts that have the students explore the concept of civilization like “Enthusiastic Praise,” “Peace On Earth,” “Good Will Toward Men,” and “Revenge!” and “Good Manners.” This research has students think about how and why we react to different situations and people.

• An example of Build Background can be found in the Unit 3 First Read of “Worship the Spirit of Criticism: Address at the Pasteur Institute” by Louis Pasteur. The students work in pairs or small groups to “investigate Louis Pasteur’s most significant achievements.” Each group or pair is assigned a topic from the following: germ theory of disease, pasteurization, rabies vaccine, and anthrax vaccine.

• The Research Project in Unit 2 has students researching “an event from history in which one group or individual rose up against authority.” There is a suggested list of topics for the small-group research project and provided links are found in the Blasts throughout the unit. This is a multi-step project that includes reviewing and discussing the topic, conducting the research, presenting the research and responding to the presentations.This research can be used as a resource for the Extended Writing Project, which is a literary analysis essay about when it is appropriate to challenge the rules.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 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.

The Core Program Overview includes a structured guide titled “Building an Independent Reading Program.” This section provides an overview of why independent reading is important, and it gives details on how to set up such a program in the classroom. Teachers are also given a five step plan to implement an independent reading program that provides choice for students to select texts and read independently at home and at school. This includes referring students to the StudySync Library where they can explore other titles in the library that share the same themes as addressed by the units.

Suggestions for accountability include reading logs, notebooks, online reflections, and informal conversations; having students do end-of reading activities such as filling out a Google Form, pitching books, producing movie trailers, writing reviews on GoodReads, designing movie posters, and participating in a book club style chat. Examples of opportunities for students to regularly engage in a volume of independent while being held accountable include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, the pacing guide offers outside reading selections related to the theme, Taking a Stand and full text study Animal Farm. “The Founding Documents of the United States of America provide students with a glimpse at the rationale behind the revolution, and the creation of a set of core values to guide the formation of a new government. The Communist Manifesto, written in 1848 by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, outlines the history behind and the principles of the Communist League, promoting the rights of the working class over the power and wealth of the middle class. Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti illustrates what life was like for children under Nazi rule and describes the Nazis’ use of schools to further their goals. George Orwell’s essay “Why I Write” explores his development as a writer and his need to take a strong political stance in his writing. Students that prefer fiction may appreciate “The Internationale” by Eugene Pottier, a poem composed by a French worker in 1871, which was later set to music and adopted in 1918 as the anthem of the Soviet Union” (15). These independently read comparative texts are specifically referenced in the Teacher’s Reading Guide for the full text study of Animal Farm, which is divided into sections covering chapters of the novel. At the end of the reading guide are two writing prompts that revisit The Lord of the Flies and reference the comparative texts.

• In Unit 3, the theme is Technical Difficulties. Students are expected to read independently both in school and at home. The Core Program Guide states, “In addition to the time you spend reading in class, it’s important to set clear expectations for independent reading outside of the classroom. Students should read outside of class for a set amount of time each day. As students become stronger readers, the time spent reading outside of class should also increase.” Teachers are encouraged to request parent signatures on a reading log or ask students to keep an ongoing log of their reading in their notebooks or online where they reflect on their reading each week. Questions should be provided to direct student reflections. The Core Program Guide stresses that it is important for a teachers to decide on an amount of time appropriate for independent home reading for their student population, then communicate that expectation clearly to both students and parents.

• In Unit 4, students are encouraged to read texts on the theme of The Human Connection during independent reading. The Core Program Guide states, “Your independent reading program should be ongoing, so it’s important to set up a system for recording what students are reading. This can be easily done using a Google Form to create an online reading log. As students finish each book, they should complete a form providing basic information about their book, a rating and a written review.” The pacing guide gives suggestions for further and independent reading including texts such as The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig, Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki, Girls at War by Chinua Achebe, and A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah.