12th Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for anchor texts being of publishable quality and worthy of especially careful reading and consider a range of student interests.

Texts consider a range of topics that are high-interest and age-appropriate for Grade 12. Topics include the epic heroes, the English Renaissance, Puritanism and the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Many of the core texts are CCSS exemplar texts, written by award-winning authors, and contain rich vocabulary, both academic and content-specific. Texts are worthy of careful reading. Examples of these texts include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 1, students read the following texts that are worthy of especially careful reading:
  • Students read The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, a CCSS exemplar text. This text was one of the first major works written in English.
  • Students read Beowulf, an epic poem and heroic narrative. This is the oldest English poem from the Anglo-Saxon period and gives students a look into the foundation of British Literature.
  • Students read “The Once and Future King” by T.H. White, a famous retelling of the legend of King Arthur and the Round Table, with which students may have familiarity.

• In Unit 2, students read the following texts that are worthy of especially careful reading:
  • Students read Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a CCSS exemplar text. Students gain insight into the many modern-day references to characters, plotlines and quotes, as this text is one of Shakespeare’s most familiar plays and has numerous interpretations through film and other genres.
  • Students read “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe. This pastoral style of British poetry includes rich, descriptive language.
  • Students read an excerpt from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. This dystopian novel highlights prescient topics and themes, such as the dangers of technology controlling society and the dangers of totalitarianism.

• In Unit 3, students read the following texts that are worthy of especially careful reading:
  • Students read “A Model of Christian Charity,” a sermon by John Winthrop. Students note the ideals of Puritan society within this text, along with how modern society reflects these ideals.
  • Students read Second Treatise of Government by John Locke. Students are exposed to writing by an English philosopher who is referred to as the “Father of Liberalism.”
  • Students read Democracy in America by Alexis de. Tocqueville, a detailed study of how democracy was implemented in the United States.

• In Unit 4, students read the following texts that are worthy of especially careful reading:
  • Students read “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The theme of crime and punishment and the frequent allusions to the “albatross” make this a worthy text.
  • Students read The Glass Menagerie, a drama by the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tennessee Williams. This play is one of Williams's most famous plays and led him to become one of the most well-known and respected American playwrights.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for texts having the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and relationship to their associated student task.

The instructional materials for Grade 12 meet the criteria for texts having the appropriate level of complexity for the grade. Most texts fall within either the Current Lexile Band or the Stretch Lexile Band for grades 11-12. Texts range from 720L to 1740L; most texts are appropriate for Grade 11 according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and relationship to their associated student task. Some texts do exceed these bands but the tasks are designed to make them accessible. Examples of texts that have the appropriate level of complexity for Grade 12 include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, many of the texts are below the grade level band; however, the qualitative elements make them appropriate. For example, The Once and Future King has a Lexile of 870, which is in the 6-8 grade grand. This text is paired with texts from different cultures that discuss the legend of King Arthur. Students are comparing and contrasting, not only the texts, but also the ideas of national heroes across multiple cultures.
• In Unit 2, students read Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, Lexile 1740, which is above the recommended grade band. The lesson plan for the Utopia tells teachers to scaffold the reading and instruction of this text by looking at purpose, organization, and specific vocabulary. In regard to “Purpose,” teachers tell students that More’s purpose can be inferred through his tone. “He subtly makes fun of Utopian customs that seem perfectly logical when explained, such as the comparison of inspecting a potential spouse to buying a horse . . . .” “Organization” has the teacher explain the different structures, like cause and effect, comparison, and problem and solution, to help students make sense of the argument. There is also an “Annotation Guide” on the Access handout that guides students through their reading, with directions like, “Highlight at least one passage that connects with something you already know and use the annotation tool to explain the connection.” For “Specific Vocabulary,” teachers encourage students to paraphrase when necessary. Teachers model how to use context clues to understand difficult vocabulary with the five bold vocabulary words chosen for further study. Students are also given a “Text Glossary” in the Access handouts on which are listed unfamiliar words or idioms and their definitions as well as additional blanks so students may add more. . In addition to that, students are given sentence frames to aid them in answering the Think Questions.
• In Unit 3, there are three texts slightly above the grade band - Second Treatise of Government, 1430L, The Declaration of Independence, 1470L, and A Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1440L. These texts are necessary as students “learn about the political and philosophical ideas that led to the creation of the United States.” Students are also given substantial background information in the lesson, “British Literature & History: Puritans to the Enlightenment (1640-1780), to prepare them for the difficult texts.
• In Unit 4, three of the texts are below the grade band. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, 770L, Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bronte, 780L, and Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, 880L. Pride and Prejudice is a CCSS text exemplar for 11th and 12th grade. The others are classic pieces of literature that give students a view into the 19th and 20th century woman’s view of marriage and society.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for supporting students’ increasing literacy skills over the course of the school year. (Series of texts should be at a variety of complexity levels appropriate for the grade band.)

The instructional materials provide a variety of texts appropriate for the grade band. These texts increase in complexity as the units progress, and while some texts fall at the high end of the grade level, students are also provided more reachable texts as they learn how to analyze texts. Along with increasing text complexity, the students’ writing also increases in complexity.

In order to increase students’ literacy skills, each text has students complete a First Read lesson, Skill lesson(s), a Close Read lesson which includes a constructed response for each text.

• The First Read has specific protocols for students to follow in order to develop the reading skills necessary to read that type of text as well as to gain a basic understanding of what the text states and how it is conveying that information.
• The Skill lessons contain specific skills activities that will help students read deeper into the text. These lessons include videos that allow students to see models of other students practicing that skill. The students are then led through the process of applying that skill to the reading selection through both a model and a practice session. The Skill lessons that students are exposed to throughout the year get increasingly more in-depth as appropriate to the literature. Students may practice the same skill multiple times; however, they are practicing those skills with different reading materials and the skills change slightly according to the material and the skill level of the students. This also offers students the opportunity to go back to previous skill videos to see how they used the skill in the past compared to how they are being asked to use it in the current unit. There may be only one skill per lesson or there may be several depending on the complexity of the text and what skills that the text specifically offers practice in for the students.
• The Close Read lessons provide students with an opportunity and the structure to read the selection for a second time. There are guided reading practices for the teacher to walk the students through and specific questions for the students to answer in order to increase their reading skills. Students are expected to go deeper into the text during these readings to look at what the reading means and what that reading causes students to think. The questions and activities accompanying these close reads support students in doing this. After the close read, students complete a constructed response which “asks students to synthesize their work in First Read, Skill, and Close Read lessons by providing textual evidence to support analysis of the text.”

To ensure student success and support literacy growth, each type of lesson contains four Access Paths in which teachers can find resources scaffolded for English Language Learners as well as differentiated for different levels of learners. Access 1 are the emerging learners; Access 2 are the immediate learners; Access 3 are the advanced learners, and Access 4 are the approaching learners. These Access Paths provide handouts that offer support for handling text complexity in the areas of purpose, genre, organization, connection of ideas, sentence structure, specific vocabulary, and prior knowledge. The lower level Access Paths also supply Sentence Frames for the Think Questions in the First Read, Guided Reading prompts for the Skill lessons, and a detailed planning outline for the constructed response after the Close Read.

There are multiple assessment opportunities throughout the year for teachers to assess student learning and performance in order to adjust instructional strategies as needed. Teachers use the Placement and Diagnostic Assessments at the beginning of the year. According to the StudySync Core Program Guide, “The placement and diagnostic assessments associated with the program help you decide on an appropriate instructional level for the student; help determine a student’s knowledge of a skill and/or a literacy level.” In addition, there are summative assessments that will help teachers track students' progress. “The expectation is for students to score 75% or higher on each summative assessment, with the same benchmark expected for the skill focus areas - Comprehension, Vocabulary, and so on. For students who are below these benchmark levels, refer to Modifying Instruction IF/THEN charts that are part of the Assessment documents specific to each grade level.” The formative assessments vary “in type and duration . . . [and] help teachers adjust instructional strategies, measuring individual student progress at strategic points over regular intervals.”

Each unit focuses on the use of textual evidence to support student analysis. This literacy skill helps students evaluate information within texts, organize ideas, make inferences, create claims, and use evidence within their own writing. By the end of the year, students are using textual evidence in independent writing assignments such as argumentative essays.

Examples of increasing literacy skills over the course of the school year include but are not limited to:

• The First Read lessons focus on comprehension and vocabulary. In the First Read lesson for “Young Goodman Brown” in Unit 4, students begin by accessing their prior knowledge of colonial Massachusetts or the Puritans. The Access Path offers more direction as students create a concept map about colonial Massachusetts, including the Salem Witch trials, and discuss challenges community members may face. The Access Path has students paired with more proficient readers and has them do additional practice with each vocabulary word and provides a Text Glossary chart on the handout that allows students to note the definition of the bold words as well as any other unfamiliar words or idioms they find in the text. Before students read the text, they are taught a comprehension strategy. In this particular lesson, students learn “making, revising, and confirming predictions,” which can help students set a purpose for reading and make inferences. Teachers model this strategy with a Think Aloud of the first three paragraphs by saying such things as, “When I read the first two paragraphs, I learn that a young man is setting off on a journey, and he is leaving his wife at home in Salem village. What kind of journey will he be making?” After modeling, students read independently and annotate the excerpt. Core students are given general instructions like, “ask questions about passages of the text that may be unclear or unresolved.” Access Path students are provided more support. They listen to the audio of the text and follow the detailed Annotation Guide on the Access handout, which contains instructions like, “Highlight at least two sentences or passages that you have questions about. Enter your questions as annotations.” After reading, students talk in a small group or in a partner discussion about their questions, their answers and the text evidence they found to support their answers. Finally, students answer the Think questions. Core students answer the questions and use a rubric to complete two peer reviews. Access Path students are given Sentence Frames on the handouts, “Young Goodman Brown is a married man who lives in ____. When he walks into the woods for an ‘evil purpose,’ he meets a___ who is carrying a ___and seems to look like ____.” Approaching students on the Access Path are provided a Find the Evidence chart that gives them specific tips for how to answer the Think questions, “Look for details in paragraph 1 that tell about Young Goodman Brown. Then look for details in paragraphs 8–10 that describe his journey into the woods. What is his purpose of his journey? Whom does he meet on the road?”
• The Skill lessons in the Grade 12 curriculum get increasingly more in depth. Informational text elements is a skill learned and practiced in Units 1 and 3. In Unit 1, the lesson objectives are that students will learn the definition of informational text elements - details, events, people and ideas - and use strategies for analyzing these elements. First, students define informational text elements and discuss which are easiest or hardest to identify, how elements support an author’s purpose, and what order they feel is most helpful. After reading the Model text, students are asked what the Model looked at first, what the author of the Model learned from the title, what the Model identified in the first paragraph, why the Model thought Coifi’s evidence was most convincing, and what inference the Model made about the author and how he/she supported it. This lesson requires students to describe the development of the elements and how this affected the central idea of the text. The Unit 3 lesson objectives are to learn the definition of informational text elements - details, events, people, and ideas - and use strategies for analyzing these elements. This lesson requires students to think more deeply about the elements as they think about how a text’s purpose affects the elements used in the text and how a complex set of ideas or sequence of events develops, interacts and affects people. This lesson requires students to analyze the interconnectedness of these elements.
• The Close Read lessons have students looking deeper into the text at what it means and makes the reader think as well as synthesize their learning from the First Read and Skill lessons. In the Close Read lesson for “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” in Unit 2 students begin by comparing their prediction of the bold vocabulary words with the precise meaning. Then, the teacher models a close reading of the first stanza by modeling annotation strategies that ties the text to the focus skill and shows students what they looking for while they read. Students are then to read and annotate the rest of the text after reading the Skills Focus questions, which ask the students to not only find the skill focus but also explain it. For example, “The title tells a reader that this poem is a “love song.” What is the role of women in the poem? What seems to be Prufrock’s relationship to them? How does the author use figures of speech to describe women, and how do those choices imply a theme? Highlight evidence to support your ideas and write annotations to explain your responses.” Access Path students are given a Complete the Sentences exercise on the handout to aid them in this process. For example, “In lines 21-28, Prufrock compares the fog to a ____. In lines 29-31 Prufrock responds to an accusation that he is stalling by saying ____.” After reading and annotating, teachers lead a whole class discussion about the Skills Focus questions. Access Path students work in small groups or pairs to share and discuss their annotations. The final element to the Close Read lesson is the constructed response, which has students synthesize their learning from the First Read, Skill: Theme and Skill: Figurative Language lessons. For “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, students answer the following: “Determine two or more themes in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and analyze how they are developed over the course of the text. How does T. S. Eliot use figures of speech–including hyperbole, understatement, metaphors, and allusions–to develop theme in the poem? How do the themes interact with or support each other? Support your response with textual evidence.” Students brainstorm about figures of speech and theme in the poem as a whole class or in small groups, and then begin planning their essays. Access Path students complete the prewriting activity on the handout that helps them shape the response with sentence starters and labels to make sure all requirements are met. After planning, students read through the rubric and write their final response.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria that anchor texts and series of texts connected to them are accompanied by a text complexity analysis and rationale for purpose and placement in the grade level.

Most texts include instructional notes and text notes. These are all found in the ELA Grade Level Overview booklet. At the beginning of each unit, there is an overall explanation of the unit. This includes the balance of literary to informational texts, the essential question, and an analysis of the text complexity of particular texts. In response to texts that are above the recommended Lexile band, the publisher provides scaffolds to assist all students in accessing the text. After this report, each text in the unit gets detailed instructional notes that include information on the author, qualitative features, quantitative features, and reader and tasks. The Author section includes the name, gender, nationality and, if needed, translator. The Qualitative Features component contains the publication date, genre, Scaffold Instruction to Access Complex Text (ACT), which is a short summary of the text, and ACT features, which is broken down into three subjects that vary depending on the text, but includes such things as organization, prior knowledge, specific vocabulary, sentence structure and purpose. The Quantitative Features provides the Excerpt Lexile, Full-text Lexile, and Word Count. The Reader and Tasks lists the skill lessons for that text, the close read prompt and the writing form.

Examples of texts being accompanied by text complexity analysis and rationale for purpose and placement include but are not limited to:

• The text complexity analysis for Unit 2 contains the following rationale for the literary works of the Renaissance, such as Hamlet by Shakespeare and “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning by John Donne. “The unit contains substantial background information to help students better understand and appreciate the ideas and the literary works of the Renaissance. For instance, students will read a Literary History about the development of the sonnet form before beginning their study of Shakespeare by reading “Sonnet 29.” The will also read a Literary History on the metaphysical poets before analyzing John Donne’s “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning” and a Literary History on the cavalier poets before Richard Lovelace’s “To Lucasta, Going to the Wars.”
• Students read the sermon, “A Model of Christian Charity” by John Winthrop with a Lexile of 1210 in Unit 3. Within the ACT Features field, teachers are given information on purpose, sentence structure, and specific vocabulary. For Purpose, teachers are told, “The tone of this sermon is formal, serious, and somber. Students need to know that Winthrop was determined to achieve the goal of building a new community to be an example to the world, ‘a city upon a hill,’ in which the colonists led exemplary lives.” Information in Sentence Structure points out the “The sermon was written in 1630 in a style typical of the period. Students may need support with the long, complex sentence structures. Remind them that breaking the sentences into smaller parts will make the meaning easier to understand. Point out that the commas and semicolons are clues to pauses in thought, and attending to the punctuation will help in understanding the text.” Specific Vocabulary points out that reading this may be challenging, because “Winthrop’s writing is filled with words and phrases no long in common use such as ‘abridge ourselves of our superfluities.’ Encourage students to use context, word parts,k and a dictionary when they come to unfamiliar words they need to know to understand Winthrop’s ideas.“

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the expectations for the anchor and supporting texts to provide opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of texts to achieve grade level reading.

Each unit exposes students to high-quality texts that cover a variety of genres, time periods, and cultures with a balance of literary and informational texts. Reading is done independently, as a whole class, aloud, and silently. All of the anchor texts and supporting materials revolve around a central theme and essential question for each unit. Reading materials increase in complexity as the year progresses, and teacher supports are gradually released in order to enable the students to achieve grade-level reading independently.

In 12th grade, students read a variety of genres and authors from the classics to modern texts. Students read fiction (short stories and novels), poetry, and non-fiction (essays, articles, autobiographical excerpts, speeches). The 12th grade includes classic texts of British Literature, spanning from the Anglo-Saxon Period to the Modern Age. Paired with the British classics are canonical pieces of American Literature. Diverse authors are included within materials.

Examples of students engaging in reading a range of texts include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, students begin the first week’s first lesson by reading the Blast background and materials included in several research links. The next day the students read background information about the Anglo-Saxon Period and Middle Ages on which the read and annotate, complete Think questions, and answer a prompt with a constructed response. Day three students learn about the epic, epic hero and the development of English. Here they read and annotate, complete Think questions, and answer a prompt with a constructed response. Day four is the First Read of Beowulf, in which they read and annotate the text. On the final day, students complete a skill lesson on story elements.

• In Unit 2, over the course of five weeks, students complete a full-text study of Hamlet and read nine other partial texts, seven of which are informational. The texts are all related to the unit title of “The Human Condition.” Informational texts include For the Love of Spirit: A Medium Memoir, “Of Studies,” “Hamlet and His Problems,” Ten Days in a Mad-House, “Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences,” Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, and “Final Letter of Mary, Queen of Scots.” Fiction texts Falling for Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Students have opportunities to interact with these texts through whole class read-alouds, individual silent reading, First Reads, and Close Reads.

• In Unit 3, students complete a First Read and a Close Read of American Jezebel by Eve LaPlante. Students also complete one skill lesson on informational text elements, and then complete a Close Read of the excerpt to practice the skills. Students also complete a Blast in which they read about religious freedom. In Unit 3, there is one full text study, Gulliver’s Travels. Throughout Unit 3, students read additional texts including “A Model of Christian Charity,” “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” Second Treatise of Government, “To His Excellency, General Washington,” “Liberty Tree,” The Declaration of Independence, The United States v. the Amistad, Democracy in America, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, and “Remarks Concerning the savages of North America.”

• In Unit 4, students complete a First Read and a Close Read of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Students also complete one skill lesson on tone, and then complete a Close Read of the poem to practice the skills. Students also complete a Blast in which they read about how human behavior has impacted the stratosphere. In Unit 4, there is one full text study, Pride and Prejudice. Throughout Unit 4, students read additional texts including “Young Goodman Brown,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” The Glass Menagerie, Wuthering Heights, The House of MIrth, O Pioneers!, Mrs. Dalloway, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “Be Ye Men of Valour,” and “D-Day Prayer.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria that most questions, tasks, and assignments are text dependent/specific, requiring students to engage with the text directly (drawing on textual evidence to support both what is explicit as well as valid inferences from the text; this may include work with mentor texts as well).

The materials provide a consistent format for students to engage with text-dependent questions and/or tasks. Questions, tasks, and assignments are evident in each of the unit’s three sections: First Read, Skill, and Close Read. Within the units, each text begins with a First Read in which the teacher is modeling reading and thinking aloud using comprehension text-dependent questions. Then students do the first read using text dependent provided either individually or in a small group. Then the teacher completes the Skill lesson using text-dependent questions. Finally, during the Close Read, the teacher models how to do a close read of the text using text-dependent questions that are focused on the skills taught and require students to analyze the text at a deeper level. Some of the text-dependent questions are to be completed verbally and some are intended to be answered in the student’s journal. Each unit is designed in this manner to provide a scaffold-approach to text-dependent and text-specific questioning. Students are required to provide support from the text in most of the work they complete within the unit.

Examples of questions, tasks, and assignments that meet the criteria for this indicator include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 1 during the first read of Beowulf, the following text-dependent questions are found in the teacher lesson plan:
  • “Note in chronological order the two acts of revenge that Hrothgar describes in section XX. For each act, explain who killed whom and why they did it, and supply the textual evidence from Hrothgar's speech that confirms the event.”
  • “Supply three examples of imagery from section XX that support the inference that the region where Grendel and his mother live is a sinister place.”
  • “Explain what Beowulf is preparing to do at the beginning of section XXI, and describe what values underlie his decision to do so. Cite textual evidence in your response.”

• In Unit 2 during the Skill lesson of “On Monsieur's Departure, the focus is on “Figurative Language.” Students encounter practice questions such as the following:
  • Part A - Which of the following states a role of the paradox in the third stanza?
    • The speaker wants Love to either kill her or wants to find a new love, rather than living the double life she is now.
    • The speaker wants to continue to live a double life so her pain can die and she can live.
    • The speaker is weak and knows that she will never be able to reveal her true self to the rest of the world.
    • The speaker will one day find a new Love, but then will die and it will all have been pointless.
  • Part B - Which line or lines from the poem support your answer?
    • Since from myself another self I turned.
    • No means I find to rid him from my breast, / Till by the end of things it be supprest.
    • Some gentler passion slide into my mind, / For I am soft, and made of melting snow;
    • Or let me live with some more sweet content, / Or die, and so forget what love e’er meant.
      

• “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot in Unit 2 includes the following questions in the Close Read section of the teacher lesson plan:
  • “What is the role of the ocean imagery in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"? How does it relate to other figures of speech in the poem? Highlight examples of ocean imagery and annotate to explain your ideas and how this imagery might contribute to theme.”
  • “What is the speaker's tone in the first four stanzas of the poem? What kinds of words and phrases does the speaker use, and what connotations do those words have? What effect does the tone have on the reader? Highlight textual evidence and write annotations to explain your ideas.”
  • “Choose one allusion in the poem and explain its meaning. What is the role of the allusion in the poem? What inferences about theme can be made from the allusion? Highlight textual evidence to support your answer.
• During the close read of “The Declaration of Independence” in Unit 3, students answer the following text-dependent questions:
  • “Analyze the structure of the three sections of the Declaration of Independence. What is the purpose of each section, and how do these purposes represent the logical sequence of an argument? Annotate where one section ends and another begins.”
  • “After the introductory section of the Declaration, Jefferson presents a long list of complaints against Great Britain. The first six of these complaints involve the British king's actions toward American legislatures. Why might Jefferson have chosen to place so much emphasis on this aspect of Britain's relations with its American colonies? Highlight evidence from the text and make annotations to support your explanation.”
  • “When the Declaration of Independence was read aloud in American cities, people responded enthusiastically. Jefferson used literary elements such as hyperbole to make his manifesto more engaging. Highlight examples of hyperbole, and explain its role in persuading readers to take action.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for having sets of high-quality sequences of text-dependent/specific questions and tasks build to a culminating task that integrates skills (may be writing, speaking, or a combination).

Materials include both text-dependent and text-specific questions and tasks that help prepare students for each unit’s Extended Writing Task. These culminating tasks integrate writing, speaking, or both. There are questions that prompt thinking, speaking, and writing tasks that focus on the central ideas and key details of the text. Reading and writing (and speaking and listening) are taught as integrated skills. The Extended Writing Tasks ask students to explore the theme and essential question of the unit in more depth as they reconsider what they have learned through analyzing texts, conducting research, and contemplating their own life experiences. Each unit has a different mode of writing so that over the course of the year, students demonstrate proficiency in constructing long-form argumentative, argumentative literary analysis, informative/explanatory, and narrative works. Once submitted, these writing assignments can be adapted and delivered as oral presentations. Examples of text-dependent/specific questions and tasks that build to a culminating task include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, the Extended Writing Project focuses on the narrative form. Students write a narrative about “a hero (or heroine) modeled on the style of Le Morte d’Arthur or Beowulf. [They] can write about a real, heroic person [they] know, or [they] can write about a fictional character.” In the Extended Writing Project skill lesson, Introductions, students, either individually or as a class, read the Define section of the lesson. In small groups or as a class, they use these questions to spark discussion with classmates about narrative techniques. One example of a question provided is to compare and contrast the three introduction examples and identify the different techniques used. This will assist students in writing their own narratives for the culminating task. During the Close Read of Le Morte d’Arthur, students write a constructed response that makes a claim about which traits make Arthur an archetypal hero. They are told to use their “understanding of story elements to build your analysis.” Before students have to write their own narrative about a hero, they are analyzing the traits of the archetype and how different story elements affect it.

• In Unit 3, the Extended Writing Project focuses on the argumentative form of writing. Students make a claim about how one text from the unit best embodies one of the key ideas of the United States today, like self-sufficiency and individuality. They will use evidence from the texts in the unit as well as from credible outside sources. Within this unit, students study the skills of argumentative writing with different texts. For example, the skill lesson for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman has students learning about different types of rhetoric and identifying them within the text. The Close Read lesson of that text has the following question, “What is Wollstonecraft’s view of marriage? How does it differ from the view of marriage suggested by Anne Bradstreet’s poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband”? What do these differing viewpoints suggest about how attitudes about marriage changed from the mid-17th century to the late 18th century? Highlight textual evidence and make annotations to explain your ideas.” This is directly related to the Extended Writing Project prompt as students begin thinking about American ideas and how they change over time.

• In Unit 4, the Extended Writing Project focuses focuses on informational writing. Students are asked to write a formal research paper about one author from the unit. They need to include biographical information, explain the literary movement with which the author is associated, and explain how the author’s writing is representative of that movement. The first lesson of the unit “provides historical, social, and cultural background information for the study of British and American Literature written between 1750 and 1837.” Within this lesson, they learn the central ideas of Romanticism. In the Close Read of “The Masque of the Red Death,” students are told to Recall that romantics focused on nature, extreme emotions, the exotic, the monstrous, and the influence of folklore and medieval history. How well does “The Masque of the Red Death” fit into this category? Why might readers today still be drawn to stories like this one? Highlight elements of the story related to romanticism and explain why you found them particularly captivating.” This question clearly has students thinking about the how this Poe’s writing is representative of the movement and will help them gather evidence for their informative research paper. Other lessons include historical, social and cultural background information about The Victorian Age and The Modern Age. Each movement has four to five texts included to enable students to identify and evaluate the characteristics of each movement.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for materials providing frequent opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions (small groups, peer-to-peer, whole class) that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax.

Each unit provides frequent and varied opportunities for students to engage in whole class, small group, and peer-to-peer discussion that reference the text under study and incorporate the understanding and use of academic vocabulary and syntax. A Speaking and Listening Handbook provides teachers with explicit instructions on teaching and modeling collegial discussions, and strategies and handouts to guide students as they practice and assess evidence-based discussions. Checklists and graphic organizers are offered to students to use in preparation for the discussions and rubrics are provided for peers and teachers to assess the academic conversations. Examples of how materials meet the criteria of this indicator include but are not limited to:

• Teachers are provided with language, structures, protocols, graphic organizers, and clear connections to the CCSS in The Speaking and Listening Handbook. This is found as a link that appears on each grade level under the heading Additional Resources. The handbook provides aid for teachers as they support students’ speaking and listening skills. The tool provides videos of model discussions and opportunities for students to practice different discussion skills.
  • In Unit 1, during the study of Beowulf, the students will watch the SyncTV video on Beowulf in a whole group setting. “Distribute the Collaborative Discussion Strategies handout. With the class, view the SyncTV discussion of Beowulf. Stop the video at the times given below to ask questions about how the students in the video demonstrate collaborative discussion strategies. Ask your students to explain their reason for selecting each strategy: ‘01:57 01:57 Rebecca then challenges Liam’s assertion that Beowulf’s code of conduct is ridiculous and primitive. After Liam attempts to justify his judgment, Jessica and Rebecca try to change his mind by referring to the historical context. What two strategies does this mainly demonstrate?”
  • There is also a tool within this resource that illustrates how teachers can support students in learning about Formality of Speech. Teachers are directed to give the students the Formality of Speech handout. This resources explains that the type of language students use depends on their audience and purpose. Some will require formal language while others will require informal language. The directions then have students practice by doing the following: “Tell students to imagine that one of their good friends (audience) has asked for their opinion (purpose) about something, such as the latest movie they watched. What would they say to their friend? Have them turn to a partner and briefly give their opinion in casual conversation. Then change the audience and the purpose of the speaking situation. Tell students to imagine a teacher asking them to give the class (audience) a brief summary (purpose) of the movie. What would they say to the class? Have students turn to a partner and briefly provide a summary of the movie in more formal language appropriate for the classroom. Then ask them to reflect on the differences in the formality of their use of language in each scenario.”
  • One of the many documents that teachers are provided with is the Handout: Discussion Evaluation in which students are provided with questions that they can ask themselves as they reflect on the discussion in which they just participated. An example of this is under “Goals and Deadlines”: “Did my discussion group achieve the goal of the discussion? What did we accomplish in relation to the goal? If we need to meet again, what more do we need to accomplish?”

• The First Read lesson in each unit provides teachers with opportunities for students to conduct numerous discussions either in small groups, as a whole group, or with a partner. This happens continuously through the process of preparing to read through the first read. Students are given numerous opportunities to explore the ideas and the texts through speaking and listening with their peers and the model discussions provided. An example of this can be found in Unit 3, The United States vs The Amistad: “In small groups or pairs, have students discuss the questions and inferences they made while reading. To help facilitate discussions, refer to Collaborative Discussions in the Speaking & Listening Handbook.” An example of the questions from this lesson is “Why does John Quincy Adams mention Thomas Hobbes in his oral argument?”

• Throughout the skill sections of each lesson, students are provided with at least two or more opportunities to discuss how the skills they are learning can be applied to the text. They either apply it to a discussion around the skill itself or they apply it to a discussion of how the skill is applied to the model text. In Unit 4 during the Skill: Theme lesson of Wuthering Heights, students apply their understanding of the skill with reasons and evidence in small or whole group discussion: “After watching the Concept Definition Video, have students read the definition of theme. Either in small groups or as a whole class, use these questions to engage students in a discussion about theme.” An example of students applying an understanding of the skill to the model text is: “After students read the Model text, use these questions to facilitate a whole group discussion that helps students understand how to determine and analyze the theme of the passage: How does the Model for this passage start to go about finding the theme?”

• During the Close Read lesson in each unit and text, students are asked to write in response to the text. This provides another opportunity for students to use collaborative discussion strategies, and also encourages and models academic vocabulary. “Project these instructions for the peer review onto the board and review them with your class, so they know what they are looking for when they begin to provide their classmates with feedback. [1] Has the writer clearly expressed his or her central claim or argument in the opening sentences? [2] How well did the writer’s choice of figurative language support his or her main idea? [3] Did you agree with the writer’s interpretation of the figurative language? Why or why not? [4] Were you convinced or persuaded by the writer’s argument by the end of the response? Why or why not? [5] What additional suggestions can you offer that would help strengthen the writer’s response to the prompt?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for materials supporting students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading and researching (including presentation opportunities) with relevant follow-up questions and supports.

Students are given frequent and varied opportunities to engage in speaking, listening, and presenting activities surrounding their study of texts and the associated reading, writing, and research tasks. The opportunities for speaking, listening, and presenting can be found throughout the unit in the Blasts, First Reads, Skills, and Close Reads.

In addition to those, the Extended Writing Project at the end of each unit contains various opportunities for whole group, small group and/or peer to peer discussions throughout the different lessons: Extended Writing Project, lessons that cover the writing process (prewrite, plan, draft, revise, edit, proofread and publish); Skill/Skills, lessons that incorporate elements students will need to include within their project; and Blasts, lessons that have a driving question focused on a technique.

Examples of speaking and listening tasks, relevant follow-up questions, and supports include but are not not limited to:

• The First Read lesson for each text contains an introduction to the text prior to the First Read. Students are asked to participate in different types of discussion, sometimes small group, sometimes whole group, sometimes peer to peer, in order to help them activate prior knowledge that will best support them in accessing the text being read and analyzed in that particular set of lessons. This changes throughout but always includes a discussion element. An example of this is found in Unit 4, “The Masque of the Red Death." The teacher is directed to separate students into small groups or pairs to research different facets of the plagues that affected medieval Europe and assigns or has them self-select a topic like the following: “The Black Death of the 1300s” or “Italy in the 1300s.”

• Students then engage in a Close Read of the text being studied. The text offers extensive support for the teacher to model how to apply the skill to the text being read and follow up questions are provided in the lesson plans. Students are offered the opportunity to work in different types of collaborative situations in order to discuss their close read of the text and to delve deeper into their findings. This is seen in the Unit 1 Close Read for The Canterbury Tales. Teachers are told to use the sample responses to the Skills Focus questions at the bottom of the lesson to discuss the reading and the process of analyzing figurative language with questions like: “One theme of the Wife of Bath’s tale involves true love. What can you infer about her attitude toward true love?” and “In the Wife of Bath's tale, what can you infer about the Wife’s attitude toward the connection between people’s social rank and how well they behave and how wise they are?”

• The Blasts lessons contain short informational passages, research links to deepen content knowledge and a driving question that students respond to in one hundred and forty characters or less. Students discuss the driving question and context in different collaborative situations: large group, small group and/or peer to peer. An example of this is found in Unit 2, Hamlet. Teachers are instructed to lead a whole class discussion about the title and the driving question for the Blast, “What impact have Shakespeare’s plays had on the English language?” After students draft their initial responses to the driving question, they are separated into pairs and given questions like the following to discuss: “Are you surprised to learn that Shakespeare didn’t attend college? Does it matter?” and “Do the words and phrases listed in the Background sound like words you think of when you think about Shakespeare? Why or why not?”. Then students look at the Number Crunch section of the Blast. The teacher breaks them into pairs and has them make predictions about “what they think the number is related to.” After they click on the number, the students discuss in a large group “if they are surprised by the revealed information.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria that materials include a mix of on-demand and process writing and short, focused projects. Each unit of study asks student to engage in both on-demand writing and process writing in a variety of forms, including full-length essays, short constructed responses, peer reviews and Blasts.

Students engage in on-demand writing via Blasts, constructed response questions that accompany the Close Read lesson of each text, as well as in the ELA Assessment PDF that is part of each grade level. The Blasts are 140 character writing responses to modern media connections to the literature and themes students are studying. The constructed response questions demonstrate students’ understanding of the reading and language skills and additional experience with the featured mode of writing. Within the ELA Assessment PDF, teachers are provided with multiple on demand writing opportunities that students can complete in correlation with each unit in the year. These assessments include all three modes of writing (explanatory, narrative and argumentative) in a format that mimics the on-demand writing expectations of the state required tests.

Process writing is found in the Extended Writing Project at the end of each unit. Each of the four units covers one of these essential writing forms: narrative, informative/explanatory, literary analysis, and argumentative writing. These Extended Writing Projects take students through the writing process including the following: prewriting, planning, drafting, revising, and editing/proofreading/publishing. Students explore different aspects of the writing process and are given a variety of writing practice opportunities to hone their skills and enhance their understanding of each unit’s particular writing form.

Examples of on-demand and process writing include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, during the study of Hamlet, students complete an on-demand writing task via Blast: Word Whiz. Students are given some information in regards to the blast to think about and discuss as a class or in small groups; then they are asked to use that discussion information to draft their initial response to the driving question, “What impact have Shakespeare’s plays had on the English language?”. After further research and discussion, students are to write their own blast using the draft they wrote in their notebook. They will revise or rewrite it based on the research and discussion that has happened throughout the lesson.The Blast is 140 characters or less linking it to modern media.

• In Unit 4, during the close read of “Young Goodman Brown,” students engage in a multi-step constructed response to the following prompt: “Discuss how Hawthorne uses descriptions of the setting to create an increasingly frightening mood in ‘Young Goodman Brown,’ up until the last three paragraphs of the story. Support your writing with at least five pieces of evidence from the text?” Students brainstorm about the setting as a whole-class. Next, the students write using a rubric to guide the process, and once finished, they participate in two peer reviews of each other’s writing.

• In Unit 1 of the ELA Assessment PDF, students complete an Narrative Performance Task: “In your world history class, you are reading about how European explorers interacted with the indigenous peoples who lived in the lands the explorers visited on their travels. Your teacher tells you that some of these explorers, such as Marco Polo, maintained a respectful attitude as they observed new cultures. Others, such as the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, sought to spread their own values and religious beliefs to the New World. Your teacher has assigned you to write a fictional historical narrative in which you imagine what might have happened if Marco Polo had visited an Aztec civilization that Hernán Cortés describes in a letter to his patron, King Charles V. For this task, you will be writing a fictional narrative based on details about these explorers and their personal experiences. Before you write your narrative, you will read sources from Marco Polo and Hernán Cortés that provide autobiographical accounts of their experiences. After you review these sources, you will answer some questions about them. Briefly scan the sources and the three questions that follow. Then, go back and read the sources carefully to gain the information you will need to answer the questions and write a narrative.”

• In Unit 3, the Extended Writing Project focuses on argumentative writing. Students probe the unit’s essential question, “How did a diversity of views transform American society?”, as they write an argumentative essay proving why a specific text from the unit is the best representation of a key ideal of the United States today. Other lessons on the Extended Writing Prompt include skills lessons on thesis statements, supporting details, organization of argumentative writing, introductions, body paragraphs and transitions, conclusions, and sources and citations. 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 discussing the arguments in the Declaration of Independence, evaluating the effectiveness of the structure of Democracy in America, and explaining how Mary Wollstonecraft used rhetoric to develop her central idea in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for materials providing opportunities for students to address different text types of writing that reflect the distribution required by the standards.

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria that materials provide opportunities for students to address different text types of writing. The materials provide for a variety of writing tasks across the school year that vary in length and depth, tie to classroom texts and “Big Ideas,” and represent equally narrative, informative/explanatory, literary analysis, and argumentative writing.

Students engage in writing activities throughout each unit. Students write short constructed responses as part of each Close Read lesson for each text in the unit. This informal writing allows students to demonstrate understanding of the specific text while practicing the featured type of writing. Students engage in informal writing through the annotations that students create as they closely read the various units in the text.

In addition to these shorter, less formal writing opportunities, each of the four units of study contains an Extended Writing Task that takes place at the end of the unit. These writing prompts are linked to the unit texts; throughout the units, students are given opportunities across the school year to learn, practice, and apply writing types addressed in the standards. StudySync also provides guidance and support from peers and adults to develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. Students are given opportunities to use digital sources for research and presentation. Examples of opportunities to address different text types include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 2, the Extended Writing Project focuses on literary analysis, a form of argumentative writing. Students write an essay that “. . . probe[s] the unit’s central question—How do we express the complexities of being human?— as they write a literary analysis that focuses on the use of figurative language to reveal the feelings and actions of a speaker or character in a literary work. In response to the EWP prompt, students will examine closely how the unit selections reveal different aspects of the unit’s theme—The Human Condition—and reflect on life’s complexities. As students work through the Extended Writing Project, they are helped to understand what a literary analysis is, and why it is an important writing form. The unit’s selections provide an opportunity for students to analyze poetry, drama, novels, and nonfiction that treat comparable topics, themes, and characters. In writing a literary analysis, students must closely examine these texts to frame an argument about the works and their relationship to one another as well as their ongoing significance in the modern world.”

• In Unit 3, in the Extended Writing Project, students write an argumentative essay that “...builds on what students previously learned about the writing form when they crafted a literary analysis in Unit 2. Students probe this unit’s central question—How did a diversity of views transform American society?—as they write an argumentative essay about a key ideal of the United States and the text from the unit that in the writer’s opinion best embodies that ideal. In responding to the EWP prompt, students examine closely how the unit selections provide information about the unit theme—An Exchange of Ideas—and reflect on ideals generally thought to be representative of American society. The unit’s fiction and nonfiction selections provide context for students as they begin their argumentative essays."

• In Unit 4, the Extended Writing Project focuses on informative/explanatory writing. Students write a research paper that requires them to “...probe the unit’s theme and central question—Emotional Currents: How have the literary movements of the last two centuries affected us?—as they write a research paper about an author from the unit, providing information about the author’s life, work, and times. In their research papers, students will explain how the author’s text."

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for materials including frequent opportunities for evidence-based writing to support careful analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information appropriate for the grade level.

The materials provide students with writing activities that vary in length and purpose in response to a variety of texts. The First Read lesson for each text requires students to complete short answer questions that are text-dependent. The Close Read lessons at the end of each text include an extended writing prompt that requires students to synthesize all of the close reading and skills work that they have done with the text. At the conclusion of each Full-Text Unit, there are two opportunities for long-form writing responses that are connected to an anchor text. One of these is always analytical in nature and requires an argumentative or informative/explanatory response to the whole text. Lastly, the Extended Writing Project requires students to return to the texts they have read over the course of a thematic unit in order to draw evidence from and analyze these mentor texts. Examples of evidence-based writing to support careful, well-defended analyses include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, in the First Read of The Canterbury Tales, students are asked a short answer question that will require them to access the text in order to answer the question: “Why might the time of year that the pilgrims are traveling, as identified in the Prologue, be meaningful? Use textual evidence to support your answer.” The question requires them to go back into specific areas of the text, use details to answer a basic comprehension question, and then apply that information to an analysis question that cannot be directly found in the text, but which builds on discussions had throughout the first read of the text.

• In Unit 2, in the Close Read of “On Monsieur’s Departure,” students are asked to think about the views of the speaker: “What can you infer about the speaker based on what is not said in the poem? How do the figures of speech shape your view of the speaker? What do the emotions of the speaker tell you about the human condition? Support your writing with textual evidence.”

• In Unit 3, in the Full Text Study of Gulliver’s Travels, at the conclusion of reading the text, the students are to watch one or both of the movie adaptations. They then complete an essay in response to the prompt: “Write an essay discussing some of the challenges of adapting Swift’s epic novel to the screen, using evidence from one or both of the adaptations you watched. Which elements of Gulliver’s Travels are more difficult to translate to a visual medium? Which parts or sections of the novel do film and/or TV adaptations draw from more heavily? Why do you think this is so? Your essay should reference the film(s) as well as the text.”

• In Unit 4, in the Close Read of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” students respond to a prompt asking them to examine the mariner’s motivation. The prompt states, “Write at least 300 words explaining why the mariner is compelled to repeat his story. What is he trying to release by retelling it? Will he succeed? In your answer, cite examples of tone that support your explanation. Also touch on the role of the wedding guest.”

• The Extended Writing Project in Unit 4 requires students to access the texts within the unit by having students write an informative essay. “Choose one author from this unit whom you’d like to know more about. Conduct a research project and write a formal research paper in which you provide information about the author’s life or the time period in which he or she lived, and the literary movement with which he or she is associated. Then explain how the author’s text from the unit is representative of the time period and literary movement as a whole.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for materials including explicit instruction of the grammar and conventions standards for grade level as applied in increasingly sophisticated contexts, with opportunities for application both in and out of context.

The materials include a student edition and an annotated teacher edition of the Grammar, Language, and Composition Guide. The guide is separated into two parts: Grammar and Language Workbook and the Grammar and Composition Handbook. The Grammar and Language Workbook offers lessons to provide additional instruction and practice of specific grammar or language needs and can be used by the teacher for whole class, small group, or individual practice depending upon students’ needs. The lessons can be used for pre-teaching or reteaching. The Grammar and Composition Handbook focuses specifically on grammar and usage, with each chapter focusing on a specific grammar or usage skill. The lessons provide instructions, practice, and review, and the lessons and tasks build in complexity.

Grammar and usage instruction and practice is also embedded in each of the units of study. Under the Overview tab, there is a section called Key Grammar Skills which lists all of the in-context grammar lessons contained in each text in the unit and where they can be found. Not only can students practice specific grammar/language convention skills, they have opportunities to apply them in context in both reading (First Read) and in writing (Extended Writing Project).

The teaching of grammar, usage, and mechanics happens throughout the Core Program and is designed to help students develop a complex understanding of language that they can use to enhance their comprehension of texts. The grammar strand is structured around instruction, practice exercises, and student application. After receiving direct instruction and completing a practice handout on the lesson’s grammar, usage, or mechanics concept, students are prompted to analyze the use of this concept in a given text and answer questions about the purpose and effect of the concept. They may also be prompted to practice the skill through short revision tasks. Core concepts are revisited with opportunities for application throughout a grade level. Language instruction is also provided strategically throughout a unit’s Extended Writing Project, which gives students the immediate opportunity to apply grammar, usage, and mechanics concepts to their own writing, by revising their drafts to incorporate the concept and editing their drafts to apply it correctly. Examples of explicit instruction of the grammar and conventions standards include but are not limited to:

• The Grade 12 StudySync Grammar and Language Workbook is divided into five parts: grammar, usage, mechanics, vocabulary and spelling and composition. Each part has units that cover specific skills. For example, in Part 1 Grammar, Unit 3 focuses on phrases and includes lessons that cover learning about prepositional, participial, absolute, gerund, appositive, and infinitive phrases. Part 5, Composition, “contains lessons on basic writing skills such as writing effective sentences, building paragraphs, and paragraph ordering, areas some students may benefit from additional instruction as they develop their writing.”

• The Grade 12 StudySync Grammar and Composition Handbook is divided into four parts: ready reference, grammar, usage and mechanics, composition, and resources. Each part has chapters that are “targeted to a specific grammar or usage skill. The chapter begins with a pretest, is followed by instruction and practice, then ends with a post test.”. For example, in Part 2, Grammar, Usage and Mechanics, Chapter 9 focuses on “Diagramming Sentences” and contains lessons that cover different parts and types of sentences, including subjects and verbs, compound subjects and verbs, and direct and indirect objects. Students are given a pretest and told to “diagram each sentence.” Then the students go through the lessons practicing each type of diagram. After the lessons, students take the posttest that has them again “diagram sentences” with 20 new sentences.

• The “Key Grammar Skills” under the Overview tab for Unit 3 shows that grammar lessons appear in the First Read lessons of Second Treatise of Government, Declaration of Independence, and Gulliver’s Travels and in the Extended Writing Project lessons Draft, Revise and Publish. The First Read of Second Treatise of Government by Helen Fisher has students complete a lesson on complex and compound-complex sentences and then has them “apply what they have learned by analyzing Locke’s syntax and sentence structure in the first paragraph Second Treatise of Government.” The Revise lesson in the Extended Writing Project focuses on syntax. Students learn about them and complete exercises. Then, students reread their own essays “and note any paragraphs or sections in which they use the same sentence structure or beginning words repeatedly. In the margin next to that section, have students write what effect that repetition has.”