12th Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 is includes British and American literature so students make connections between British and American history, literature and culture. The themes of the four units are as follows: “Epic Heroes,” “The Human Condition,” “An Exchange of Ideas,” and “Emotional Currents.”

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 topic “Epic Heroes.” Students explore the characteristics of epic heroes as they read epic poetry, excerpts from novels, nonfiction, poems, and historical texts. Students read about the heroes in Beowulf, The Once and Future King, Le Morte d’Arthur and Lord of the Rings. Texts of different cultures are paired so “students not only better understand the Anglo-Saxon Period and the Middle Ages but also trace the continuity of ideas regarding national heroes and legends from the earliest English literature to the present time” (StudySync ELA Grade Level Overview Grade 12).

• Unit 2 studies the topic of “The Human Condition” and how we express being human. Many of the texts are works from the English Renaissance, so historical information is shared to help students comprehend the more difficult texts, like Hamlet, in the unit. The unit begins with Sonnet 29 by Shakespeare, which shows how a person can have a positive impact on a person’s life and self-worth. Other selections include “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot, two poems by Queen Elizabeth I, “The Passionate Shepherd to his Love” by Christopher Marlow and “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd by Sir Walter Raleigh.

• Unit 3 combines several selections to build student knowledge around the theme “An Exchange of Ideas.” Students “read literary works primarily from 17th and 18th century England and America, representing Puritanism and the Enlightenment, in order to learn about the political and philosophical ideas that led to the creation of the United States” (StudySync ELA Grade Level Overview Grade 12 29). Texts include, “A Model of Christian Charity” by John Winthrop, an excerpt from American Jezebel by Eve LaPlante, “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet, and excerpts from the Second Treatise of Government by John Locke.

• Unit 4’s theme is “Emotional Current.” Students “read literary works primarily from 19th and 20th century England and America, representing Romanticism, the Victorian Age, and the Modern Age, in order to learn about various literary movements and how they have affected our view of the world” (StudySync ELA Grade Level Overview Grade 12 43). The unit begins with Dark Romanticism and then moves into texts about marriage and society. Included in these are “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Tayler Coleridge, “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Masque of the Red Death” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and excerpts from Pride and Prejudice, The Glass Menagerie and Wuthering Heights.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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.

A detailed example from Unit 4, Emotional Currents, is shared below:

In Unit 4, “Emotional Currents” one of the texts is “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 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 to discuss questions they identified while reading. The following questions are included in the teacher’s edition to help facilitate discussions:

• “What is the reason for Young Goodman Brown's journey to the wooded area? Why might the devil be dressed in "decent attire" when he meets Brown?”
• “If you stop reading three paragraphs before the end of the story, what information can help you predict how the night in the woods will change Young Goodman Brown?”

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:

• “How does Goodman Brown change after his night in the woods? Support your answer with textual evidence.”
• “Remembering that the prefix ir- is a variant of the Latin prefix in-, meaning “not,” and the Latin adjective suffix -ible means “capable of,” use the context clues provided in the passage to determine the meaning of irrepressible. Write your definition of “irrepressible” here and tell how you got it.”

In the Skill portion of this lesson, students learn how to understand setting. 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. In this lesson, students are taught in the “Identification and Application” section how the setting may be described explicitly or implicitly; that they need to look at key details of the story to determine the setting; and that the setting affects the mood and characters in the story. Then they are asked to read and annotate the Model text by highlighting key points, asking questions, identifying the places where the Model is applying the strategies laid out in the “Identification and Application” section, and commenting on the effect the setting has on the text’s meaning. After reading the Model text, teachers lead a whole-group discussion using the following questions:

• “How does the Model analyze the impact of the setting on the mood of the story?”
• “Aside from the mood of the story, what else does the Model say may be affected by the sinister setting?”
• “In the second part of the Model, what type of imagery is discussed as it relates to the description of the setting?”
• “Based on the points made in the Model, what can you infer is an unusual element of the setting in ‘Young Goodman Brown’?”

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: What conclusion does Goodman Brown likely draw based on details of the setting in this section?”
• “Part B: Which excerpt from the section supports the correct answer to Part A?”

During the Close Read portion of the lesson, students are given the opportunity to analyze the setting of a story. 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: Young Goodman Brown", include:

• “Identify those aspects of the setting that Young Goodman Brown perceives to be realistic and those aspects that he perceives to be magical or otherwise peculiar. Why do you think the two are intermixed in the same story? How do they relate to the plot? Highlight evidence from the text and make annotations to explain your answers.”
• “Analyze the role of trees as part of the setting of the story. Consider how Hawthorne describes them in various paragraphs. What might the trees represent, and what might the forest as a whole stand for? Support your answer with textual evidence and make annotations to explain your answer choices.”
• “Compare and contrast Goodman Brown’s attitude and behavior when he is in Salem village at the start of the story with his attitude and behavior in the forest in the paragraphs that follow. Highlight evidence from the text and make annotations to explain your response.”
• “Discuss how the setting in “Young Goodman Brown” helps to create the mood of the story and how the setting affects the protagonist. Support your answer with textual evidence and make annotations to explain your answer choices.”
• “Recall the unit’s Essential Question: How have the literary movements of the last two centuries affected us? In what kinds of contemporary stories do we typically see a struggle between good and evil, similar to the one in “Young Goodman Brown”? How does the setting help develop this struggle, in both “Young Goodman Brown” and these contemporary stories? Highlight similar elements in Hawthorne’s story and these contemporary books or movies.”

The text-dependent writing prompt for this lesson is:

• “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.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 1, in the Close Read lesson of Le Morte d’Arthur, students write a constructive response analyzing the character of King Arthur. Within their answer they need to explain how “his actions reflect heroes from other stories,” and then “make a claim as to which traits make Arthur an archetypal hero.”
• In Unit 2, towards the middle of the unit students encounter the poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” and the coordinating poem “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd.” In these two poems, students are asked to analyze each poem separately and then apply that understanding to a question that relates to both poems: “Analyze how Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh created different interpretations of the same story in each of their poems. How does Raleigh’s poem challenge the meaning and tone of Marlowe’s poem? Evaluate which poem is a more effective interpretation. Support your writing with textual evidence from both poems.”
• In Unit 3, students study the poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet. While completing their Close Read, students are told to “Recall the Essential Question: How did a diversity of views transform American society? From reading Bradstreet’s poem, what can you infer about Puritan colonial women’s views of marriage and God? What do you think Bradstreet’s fellow (or sister) colonists may have gained from reading her poems? Support your answer.”
• In Unit 4, students read “D-Day Prayer,” a speech by President Franklin Roosevelt. During the Close Read lesson, students read and annotate the speech. One of the questions asks them to explain how the “‘D-Day Prayer’ [is] a rejection of the ideals of modernism?"

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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, 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. In preparation for the culminating writing activity, students practice skills necessary for narrative writing. For example, in the Skill: Narrative Techniques lesson, students read the definition and then have a small group or whole class discussion about narrative techniques. Questions, such as “Why would an author adjust the pacing of a story? How do authors achieve pacing and what effect can it have?” are included in the teacher edition to activate thinking. After reading the model, students are instructed to write a short scene that shows the point of rising action in their narrative.

• In Unit 2, students study classic works of literature and informational texts as they think about how we express the complexities of being human. The culminating task asks students to write a literary analysis essay that requires them to analyze two to three texts from this unit and examine how the “author uses figurative language and figures of speech to help readers understand a speaker’s or character’s feelings and actions.” The lesson plan for the Extended Writing provides structured supports to help the students complete this writing. Discussion questions like the following are offered: “Is there an example text that will help you write your essay?” These questions will provide the teacher with information needed to determine the students’ readiness to complete the assignment.

• In Unit 3, students read informational text, poetry, and drama that feature different human experiences that explore the essential question: how did people redefine the word ‘American’ during the 20th century? The unit’s Extended Writing Project requires students to choose two texts and then write an argumentative essay that makes a claim about how a diversity of views transforms American society. 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 12 “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 analyzing the text structure and the metaphor ‘a city on a hill’ in John Winthrop’s sermon ‘A Model of Christian Charity’ and evaluating Benjamin Franklin’s argument in ‘Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America.’ The prompts also enable students to develop their thinking about American ideals in preparation for their argumentative essays.” The Unit Blasts also support this writing assignment by looking at topics such as “what does it mean to be a feminist today?”

• In Unit 4, the Extended Writing Project requires students to write an informative/explanatory essay that has students write a formal research paper on one author from the unit. The paper needs to “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 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 12 “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 analyzing how Hawthorne uses descriptions of setting to create an increasingly frightening mood in ‘Young Goodman Brown’ or formulating an argument about whether the Bergson boys should stay on the prairie or leave for Chicago in O Pioneers! The prompts also enable students to develop their understanding and appreciation of the literary selections before they select an author to research.” The unit Blasts also support this research paper by looking at topics such as “what mistakes from previous generations are we still paying the price for today?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 of the Grade 12 Vocabulary Workbook, there are three lessons: Lesson 44: Word Usage, Lesson 45: Prefixes that Show Quantity or Size, Lesson 46: Words from Technology. The words in Lesson 44 “will help [students] gain a perspective on modern life, with all its excitement, opportunity, and uncertainty”; in Lesson 45, all words contain the prefixes macro-, pan-, omni-, oli-, ambi-, and poly-”; in Lesson 46, the words are “technological words that everyone needs to know and understand” (110-114).

• On the Unit 1 Overview Page, the Academic Vocabulary heading has two links: Academic Vocabulary Lesson 61 and Lesson 62. Lesson 61 contains ten words that will “help [students] describe time relationships,” like forthcoming, cease and suspend. Students read the definitions on the Define page, such as “forthcoming, adj, of the relatively near future; adj: at ease in talking to others.” Then they read the words in example sentences on the Model page - “They asked for patience and said the wait wouldn’t be long since the release of the documents was forthcoming.” 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 an example and a non-example of each vocabulary word.”

• In the Unit 2 First Read lesson of “Sonnet 29,” 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 “beweep” by thinking aloud and asking questions - “I know the word "weep"means "to cry," so "weep"may mean something similar.” Students then predict the rest of the words on their own, with a partner or in small groups.

• The Skill Lesson for “United States v. the Amistad” in Unit 3 includes a Concept Definition video that defines reasons and evidence. After the video, there is a small group or whole class discussion about the terms with questions like, “What are some words and phrases that relate to reasons?” Students then watch a SkillsTV video that has teens discussing the domain specific vocabulary. While watching, the teacher stops periodically and asks discussion questions like, “Katie notes the power of Adams's reasoning. Describe the type of reasoning discussed here in your own words.” Students are then taken to the model and asked to identify where the Model applies the strategies of reasons and evidence. After an individual analysis, the teacher leads a whole group discussion that helps students understand how to analyze and evaluate reasons and evidence with questions like, “The Model notes Adams's use of deductive reasoning. How does this type of reasoning make an argument "hit home"? Finally, students are asked a comprehension question to assess their understanding of the domain specific vocabulary - “What reasoning leads Justice Story to the conclusion that the Africans should be freed?”

• The Unit 4 Close Read of an excerpt from Mrs. Dalloway 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 12 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 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 1, students are asked to consider the following: “Where does history end and legend begin?” 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 selection from Le Morte d’Arthur and then they are asked to do the following in the First Read: “At the end of the selection, the author says that King Arthur gets on a barge and goes ‘into the Vale of Avalon.’ What is really happening in this scene? How do you know?” This question leads the students through the process of analyzing a complex text in order to explain what is happening in the text. Students are also reminded to use strong textual evidence to support their answer. This is the first prompt in a series of short answer prompts that support them in developing a more thorough understanding. At the end of the text in the Close Read, students are asked to analyze the character of King Arthur. “What words and phrases does the author use to describe his words and actions? In what way do his actions reflect heroes from other stories? Then make a claim as to which traits make Arthur an archetypal hero. Use your understanding of story elements to build your analysis.” This supports the students in developing, through writing, a stronger understanding of the hero, and continue to explore history and legends. At the end of the unit, students are asked to write a narrative about a hero modeled on the style of Le Morte d’Arthur or Beowulf, which builds on the student’s previous work and study in the unit.

• 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 seven features of literary analysis writing (clear thesis, logical organizational structure, supporting details/textual evidence, cohesive relationships between ideas that build an argument, rhetorical devices to support assertions, citations and sources, and a conclusion), 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, introductions, body paragraphs and transitions, conclusions, and sources and citations.

• In Unit 3, 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 eight features of argumentative writing (logical organization, clear thesis, relevant supporting details, transitions, rhetorical devices that support assertions, formal style, citations of sources, and a conclusion), and to think about how they can apply these ideas to their own writing. Direct instruction is provided on writing thesis statements, supporting details, organization, introductions, body paragraphs and transitions, conclusions, and sources and citations.

• In Unit 4, the Extended Writing Project is an informative piece. It provides a Student Model that contains the essential features of the informative/explanatory form 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 essay, to identify and label the nine features of informative writing (clear thesis, credible sources with formal citations, relevant facts, analysis of the details, logical organization, precise language and domain-specific vocabulary, formal and objective style, conclusion, and a works cited page), and to think about how they can apply these ideas to their own writing. Direct instruction is provided on research and note-taking, thesis statements, organization, supporting details, introductions and conclusions, body paragraphs and transitions, and sources and citations.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 12 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, “Where does history end and legend begin?” Included in this are research links that have the students explore different the impact of myths, including the clips “Joseph Campbell on the Importance of Mythology” and “George Lucas on Mentors and Faith, and the text “The Use of Myth in U.S. History.”

• An example of Build Background can be found in the Unit 4 First Read of “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe. The students work in pairs or small groups to “research different aspects of the plagues that affected medieval Europe.” Each group or pair is assigned a topic from the following: The Black Death of the 1300s, Italy in the 1300s, Medieval medical practices, Depictions of the plague in literature.

• The Research Project in Unit 3 has students research “How did we get to where we are today? What do you think was the most significant factor in the path we’ve taken? Choose one event, person, or idea and argue why it had the most significant impact on making American society what it is today.” 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 an argumentative essay that argues why a particular text in the unit is the best embodiment of one of the “key ideals of the United States today, such as equality, self-sufficiency, individuality, and so on.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 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 1, the StudySync Library includes several additional texts related to the theme Epic Heroes. Additional texts include The Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome: Theseus, by E.M. Berens, The Odyssey, by Homer, Ulysses, by Alfred Lord Tennyson, Epic of Gilgamesh, Ozymandias, by Percy Bysshe Shelley, Idylls of the King, by Alfred Lord Tennyson, Self-Made Men, by Frederick Douglass, Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, Richard III, by William Shakespeare For each of these texts, there is a mini unit that includes an Overview, an Introduction to the text, Vocabulary found in the text, an excerpt to Read, Think questions to aid comprehension, and Write prompts that require deeper analysis and practice with skills taught in the unit.

• In Unit 2, the pacing guide offers outside reading selections related to the theme, The The Human Condition and Hamlet. “The Young Adult novel Falling for Hamlet presents Ophelia’s perspective in an updated telling of her involvement with Hamlet and the royal family. Meanwhile, the nonfiction book Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, emblemizes [sic] Hamlet’s tragic heroine in an analysis of the social pressures faced by young women in a post-feminist age. Tom Stoppard’s absurdist 1966 play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, sees the events of Hamlet from the ill-informed perspective of two of the more minor characters in Shakespeare’s tragedy. To further delve into the world inhabited by Hamlet’s deceased father, students will find an intriguing and engaging viewpoint in the full text of Liz Winter’s For the Love of Spirit: A Medium Memoir” (15). These independently read comparative texts are specifically referenced in the Teacher’s Reading Guide for the full text study of he Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which is divided into sections covering different chapters of the novel. At the end of the reading guide are two writing prompts that revisit The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and reference the comparative texts.

• In Unit 3, the theme is Modern Times. 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 Don Quixote by Cervantes, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis, The Lost Horizon by James Hilton, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

• In Unit 4, students are encouraged to read texts on the theme of Seeking Romance during independent reading. 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.