8th Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that texts are organized around a topic/topics (or, for grades 6-8, topics and/or themes) to build students’ ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.

The StudySync materials provide texts that are in units which are connected by appropriate topics. The Grade 8 Core ELA Units allow students to experience literary and nonfiction texts that explore individuals facing crucial decisions, learning from their responses, and becoming a better version of themselves. The unit design provides students with opportunities to apply their learning across a wide range of texts that vary in complexity and genre. In the Grade 8 ELA Unit Overview, the unit topic/theme and Essential Question are provided for each unit. The materials also provide a logical sequence of texts that scaffold toward reading and comprehending grade level text proficiently.

For example, some examples include:

• In Unit 1, “Everyone Loves a Mystery,” Unit Overview, students examine the curiosity surrounding mystery and suspense. The Essential Question is: “What attracts us to the mysterious?” The fictional texts of this unit present the idea of the human’s fascination with suspense. Some of the selections included in this unit are “The Tell-Tale Heart,” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, and “The Monkey’s Paw,” by W.W. Jacobs.
• In Unit 2, “Past and Present,” Unit Overview, students examine the idea of looking at the world through a global lens and how that affects our viewpoint of ourselves. The Essential Question is: “What makes you, you?” Students “examine ideas related to identity and community” through the descriptive and figurative language used in the poems “Slam, Dunk, & Hook,” by Yusef Komunyakaa, “Theories of Time and Space,” by Natasha Trethewey, and “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost. Thanhhà Lai investigates questions of belonging in her novel Inside Out and Back Again. Both WNBA star Swin Cash and First Lady Michelle Obama “discuss the people and events who helped make them who they are” in their works “Curtain Call” and “Commencement Address to the Santa Fe Indian School.”
• In Unit 3, “No Risk, No Reward,” Unit Overview, students examine the idea of taking chances. The Essential Question is: “Why do we take chances?” Students focus on informational text in this unit and “explore risk-taking from a variety of viewpoints,” from Walter Lord’s historical approach to the topic in “A Night to Remember'' to Anya Groner’s contemporary look at risk-takers in “The Vanishing Island” and Thomas Ponce’s current risk-taking efforts to seek environmental justice in his essay “The Day I Saved a Life.” Students learn about “what happens when a big risk has a negative outcome” through the eyes of President Ronald Reagan in “Address to the Nation on the Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger'' and the risks Frederick Douglass took in learning to read and write in his memoir Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave.” Douglas’s memoir is paired with Langston Hughes’s poem “Mother to Son” and Ellen Watkins Harper’s poem “Learning to Read,” affording students “an opportunity to compare and contrast accounts of risks taken by African-Americans.”
• In Unit 4, “Hear Me Out,” Unit Overview, students examine the author's word choice in texts. The Essential Question is: “How do you choose the right words?” The genre focus is argumentative text. This unit begins with “HUG,” a graphic short story written by Ehud Lavski and illustrated by Yael Nathan that will introduce students to the theme of the unit. The unit also includes two texts selected for Comparison Within and Across Genres—“Denee Benton: Broadway Princess,” by Mekeisha Madden Toby and Tim Schafer’s “Cover Letter to Lucas Arts.” Students read Sojourner Truth’s “Speech to the Ohio Women’s Conference: Ain’t I a Woman?” and analyze argument writing. Next students read “To America,” by James Weldon Johnson, “Letters of a Civil War Nurse,” by Cornelia Hancock, and The Gettysburg Address, by Abraham Lincoln for Comparison Within and Across Genres. All three texts build knowledge of the Civil War and its consequences and also build students’ ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.
• In Unit 5, “Trying Times,” Unit Overview, students examine the idea of the effect of crisis on people. The Essential Question is: “Who are you in a crisis?” The texts in this unit, which focuses on drama, present the idea of how people respond in a crisis. Some selections from this unit are: The Diary of Anne Frank, A Play, by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat,” by Winston Churchill, and A Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela.
• In Unit 6, “Beyond Reality,” Unit Overview, students examine the idea behind how fantasy and science fiction can be relevant to our world. The Essential Question is: “What do other worlds teach us about our own?” Students read works such as the science fiction novel The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells, the short story “There Will Come Soft Rains,” by Ray Bradbury paired with the poem “There Will Come Soft Rains,” by Sara Teasdale, the novel The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper, the poem “Spaceships,” by Derrick Harriell, the fantasy story Manuel and the Magic Fox, by Ekaterina Sedia, the African fable “How Hare Drank Boiling Water and Married the Beautiful Princess,” retold by Raouf Mama, paired with an excerpt from the fantasy story Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi. The texts “challenge students to reconsider their understandings of the past, the future, and what makes us human.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts.

The questions and tasks help students to build comprehension and knowledge of topics. Within each unit, tasks such as literary analysis, Collaborative Conversations, and Reading Comprehension Quizzes are embedded within various strategies that spiral throughout the unit. During the First Read lessons and Skill lessons, students answer comprehension questions that mostly require analysis of language, key ideas, author’s craft and structure. During the Close Read, students hold Collaborative Conversations and respond in writing to a literary analysis prompt that focuses on text structure. By facilitating student work, the teacher monitors students’ understanding of the components identified in each unit. By the end of the year, items are embedded in student prompts rather than taught directly.

For most texts, students are asked to analyze language and/or author’s word choice (according to grade-level standards). For example, some examples are as follows:

• The materials contain coherently sequenced questions and tasks that address language and/or word choice.
• In Unit 1, “Everyone Loves a Mystery,” students read the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” by Edgar Allan Poe. In the Skill: Language, Style, and Audience lesson, students define terms related to the topic. The teacher models how to determine the author’s style and the impact word choice has on meaning and tone. To assess their understanding, students answer multiple-choice questions about the impact of word choice on meaning. Questions include the following: “Which phrase from the passage most clearly suggests the narrator’s disturbed mental state at the end of the story?”
• In Unit 3, “No Risk, No Reward,” in the Big Idea Skill: Academic Vocabulary Lesson, students review a vocabulary table with the term, form, meaning, and other meaning of academic vocabulary words. The teacher models how to use roots and affixes to help determine the meaning of unfamiliar academic vocabulary words. To assess their understanding, students complete a drag-and-drop activity about roots, answer multiple-choice questions to ask about roots and affixes, and write a sample sentence for each of the words learned in the lesson.
• In Unit 5, “Trying Times,” during the Skill: Word Meaning lesson for The Diary of Anne Frank: A Play, by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, students use context clues to understand unfamiliar words. The teacher models how to find out the meaning or pronunciation of an unfamiliar word. To assess their understanding, students complete multiple-choice questions, like “What does the word rubbish mean as used in the context of paragraph 18?” that ask them to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.
• In Unit 6, “Beyond Reality,” students read The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells. In the Skill: Greek and Latin Affixes and Roots lesson, students answer the following questions: “Based on its context and root, what is the most likely meaning of cylinder?”and “Based on its context and root, what is the most likely meaning of communication?” and “Based on its context and root, what is the most likely meaning of circumference?”

For most texts, students analyze key ideas and details, structure, and craft (according to grade-level standards). For example, some examples include the following:

• The materials contain coherently sequenced questions and tasks that address key ideas and details.
• In Unit 2, “Past and Present,” students read “Commencement Address to the Santa Fe Indian School,” by Michelle Obama. In the first read, students answer questions, such as “Which of the following best states a central message of Mrs. Obama’s speech?” and “Which statement from the text most strongly supports the answer to Question 5?”
• In Unit 4, “Hear Me Out,” students read “Point: Gaming Helps Develop Communication Skills,” by Joshua Vink. In the Skill: Reasons and Evidence lesson, students reread paragraphs 9 and 10. Then they answer multiple-choice questions such as: “Which claim is supported by Gee’s expert opinion?”
• The materials contain coherently sequenced questions and tasks that address structure.
• In Unit 1, “Everyone Loves a Mystery,” students read “The Monkey’s Paw,” by W.W. Jacobs. In the Close Read lesson, students compare and contrast, “‘The Monkey's Paw,’ a short story, The Conjure-Man Dies, an excerpt from a novel, and The Graveyard Book, a graphic novel excerpt, which all have different story structures. How do these different structures contribute to the meaning of the texts? How do they impact the development of the plot? Compare and contrast how structure helps reveal the meaning of “The Monkey's Paw” against The Conjure-Man Dies or The Graveyard Book. Remember to support your ideas with evidence from the texts.”
• In Unit 3, “No Risk, No Reward,” students read “Address to the Nation on the Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger,” by President Ronald Reagan. Students answer a series of questions including: “The primary text structure in paragraph 3 is—”, “The author develops this text structure by—”, and “This text structure helps develop the author’s thesis by—.”
• The materials contain coherently sequenced questions and tasks that address craft.
• In Unit 5, “Trying Times,” students read Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech. In the Close Read lesson, students write in response to the following prompt: “Which words chosen by the author to describe images, ideas, and events in Refugee do you think strongly convey what it is like to be challenged by living in the midst of a civil war? Cite textual evidence, including specific word choices that affected you in this way, and explain why they had this effect.”
• In Unit 6, “Beyond Reality,” students read “Manuel and the Magic Fox, by Ekaterina Sedia. In the Close Read, students write a literary analysis in response to the following prompt, “Describe Tomiko from “Manuel and the Magic Fox” and how the reactions and responses of this character develop a theme in the text. How does Tomiko behave? How do her interactions with other characters and events reveal a theme in the story? Be sure to include evidence from the text in your response.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 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.

Most sets of questions and tasks support students’ analysis of knowledge and ideas. Instructional units include Blasts, Skill Lessons, StudySync TV lessons, First Reads, Close Reads, Independent Reads, and writing tasks. Materials provide guidance to teachers in supporting students’ literacy skills. Teacher edition outlines skill introduction, Turn and Talk opportunities, questions, vocabulary instruction, Checks for Success, and modeling for annotation of the text and skill being taught. Each unit includes opportunities for students to analyze ideas within individual texts and there are paired selections of texts for analyzing across multiple texts. There are Model tabs for students, exemplar responses for teachers, Skill lessons, and StudySyncTV to support students in growing their literacy skills. By the end of the year, integrating knowledge and ideas is embedded in students’ work (via tasks and/or culminating tasks). Students use evidence from one or multiple texts in all discussions and written tasks such as Extended Writing Project and End-of-Unit Assessments.

Sets of questions and tasks provide opportunities to analyze across multiple texts as well as within single texts. For example, some examples are as follows:

• Sets of questions and tasks provide opportunities to analyze within single texts.
• In Unit 3, Integrated Reading and Writing, students read “The Vanishing Island,” by Anya Groner, as they explore the theme “No Risk, No Reward” and answer the Essential Question “Why do we take chances?” Students complete the following task: “Informative: Based on the information in the article, what makes people care so deeply about this “vanishing island” that nothing can induce them to leave? Why do people still continue to inhabit it and work so hard for its cultural survival? Use evidence from the text, including different media, to support your understanding of the reading.” In the Teacher Edition, the following guidance is provided for teachers: “Check for Success: If students are confused by the prompt, remind them: Media includes printed text as well as visuals, such as photographs, charts, and maps. In your discussion, focus on key details found in both the text and visuals in the article that help explain why people still live and work on the island.”
• In Unit 4, Integrated Reading and Writing, students read “Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech,” by Elie Wiesel while exploring the theme “Hear Me Out” and the Essential Question, “How do you choose the right words?” Students complete the following task: “Argumentative: How does Wiesel connect his personal story to the key concept of this speech? Are his reasons and evidence relevant and effective in developing the speech’s message? Support your writing with evidence from the text.”
• Sets of questions and tasks provide opportunities to analyze across multiple texts.
• In Unit 2, Extended Writing Project and Grammar, the theme is “Past and Present” and the Essential Question is “What makes you, you?” To conclude their learning, students complete the following culminating task: “Examine the texts from this unit and select three powerful metaphors that deepen our understanding of identity and belonging. Your analysis should explain each metaphor and make an argument about how the metaphor reveals something about each speaker, character, or author. Be sure your literary analysis includes the following: an introduction, a claim, coherent body paragraphs, reasons and relevant evidence, and a formal style.”
• In Unit 4, Integrating Reading and Writing, the theme is “Hear Me Out” and the Essential Question is “How do you choose the right words?” After reading “The Gettysburg Address,” by Abraham Lincoln and “To America” by James Weldon, students respond to an informational writing prompt: “Compare and Contrast: In the poem ‘To America,’ James Weldon Johnson proposes questions that reflect on the oppression African Americans have faced. In the letter from Nurse Cornelia Hancock to her mother, she discusses the personal costs of the Civil War from her perspective. President Lincoln’s address on the Gettysburg battlefield was a public speech prepared for the nation. In what ways do the authors of the poem, letter, and speech form opinions and make arguments and claims about America? How are their arguments alike or different? Cite evidence from each text in your response.”
• In Unit 6, Integrating Reading and Writing, students read Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi and “How Hare Drank Boiling Water and Married the Beautiful Princess,” by Raouf Mama as they explore the theme “Beyond Reality” and answer the Essential Question, “What do other worlds teach us about our own?” Students then write in response to the following prompt: “Compare and Contrast: Although ‘How Hare Drank Boiling Water and Married the Beautiful Princess’ and Children of Blood and Bone were both inspired by African culture, the points of view in the stories greatly differ. Compare and contrast the points of view of the narrators in the texts. How much do they know or reveal? Does this create suspense or humor? Cite evidence from each text in your response.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic (or, for grades 6-8, a theme) through integrated skills (e.g., combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).

Culminating tasks are engaging and provide students opportunity to demonstrate comprehension and knowledge of a topic or topics. Through the Skill lessons, Close Reads, and Independent Reads within the unit texts, students are prepared to complete the larger culminating tasks, Extended Writing Projects and/or Extended Oral Projects. Every unit title serves as a theme for the entire unit. The facilitation of the Checks for Success provided in the Lesson Plan of many tasks in the unit give the teacher usable information about the student's readiness to complete culminating tasks. Culminating tasks integrate reading, writing, speaking and listening and include but are not limited to the following types of writing: argument, narrative, and research.

Culminating tasks are provided and they are multifaceted, requiring students to demonstrate mastery of several different standards at the grade level. For example, some examples are as follows:

• In Unit 1, “Everyone Loves a Mystery,” students read texts about the scary and the mysterious. In the Extended Writing Project, students complete and present a suspenseful scene in the form of a group presentation. This culminating task integrates writing, and speaking and listening skills. To prepare for this task, students read “The Tell-Tale Heart,” by Edgar Allan Poe. Students reflect on how “The Tell-Tale Heart” connects to the unit’s Essential Question, “What attracts us to the mysterious?” by freewriting in their Writer’s Notebooks.
• In Unit 4, “Hear Me Out,” students read texts about the impact of well-chosen words. In the Extended Writing Project, students plan and present a personal statement in the form of an oral presentation. This culminating task integrates writing, and speaking and listening skills. To prepare for this task, students read “Gaming Communities,” by Joshua Vink. Students reflect on how “Gaming Communities” connects to the unit’s Essential Question, “How do you choose the right words?” by freewriting in their Writer’s Notebooks.
• In Unit 5, “Trying Times,” students read texts about how times of crises affect people. In the Extended Writing Project, students reflect on a crisis in their own lives as they plan and present a personal soliloquy. This culminating task integrates writing, and speaking and listening skills. To prepare for this task, students read Parallel Journeys, by Eleanor Ayer. Students reflect on how Parallel Journeys connects to the unit’s Essential Question, “Who are you in a crisis?” by freewriting in their Writer’s Notebooks.
• In Unit 6, “Beyond Reality,” students read texts about imagined futures and science fiction. In the Extended Writing Project, students plan and present a group research project about a science fiction or fantasy author. This culminating task integrates writing, and speaking and listening skills. To prepare for this task, students read The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells. Students reflect on how The War of the Worlds connects to the unit’s Essential Question, “What do other worlds teach us about our own?” by freewriting in their Writer’s Notebooks.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts.

Materials provide teacher guidance outlining a plan that builds students’ academic vocabulary that supports building knowledge. The Program Guide outlines the strategies and protocols for teaching vocabulary. Vocabulary is separated into three components—Selection Vocabulary, Skill Vocabulary, and Academic Vocabulary. The Big Idea section at the beginning of each unit contains a Skill: Academic Vocabulary lesson that introduces students to the 10 academic vocabulary words for the unit. The academic vocabulary words are sporadically revisited in the Close Read lessons for multiple texts and appear in some writing prompts and rubrics. Students are also prompted to use these words in their discussions and written responses. Each unit ends with a Vocabulary Review lesson on the unit’s vocabulary. The lesson includes practice opportunities for students to use the words within the context of their writing.

Materials provide teacher guidance outlining a cohesive year long development component that builds students’ academic vocabulary that supports building knowledge. For example, some examples are as follows:

• Vocabulary is repeated in contexts (before texts, in texts, etc.).
• In Unit 5, “Trying Times,” the Big Idea Skill: Academic Vocabulary lesson introduces students to 10 vocabulary words including the word despite. Students study the part of speech and the definition of the word. In the Your Turn section, students choose the sentence in which despite is used correctly. The teacher also brings attention to the word during the Close Read portion of the Academic Vocabulary Focus lesson as the class engages in a discussion of the excerpt of the text Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela. The teacher then encourages students to use this vocabulary word in their Collaborative Conversation and written response. In the Write section, despite is included in the prompt: “COMPARE AND CONTRAST: McKay, Gandhi, and Mandela all had a strong sense of purpose that served as motivation not only in their lives, but in their writing as well. In the autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, what is Nelson Mandela’s purpose? How does Mandela communicate his point of view about strength despite living in times of crisis? Cite evidence from the selection to explain.”
• In Unit 6, “Beyond Reality,” the Big Idea Skill: Academic Vocabulary lesson introduces students to 10 words, including the word undertake. They learn the definitions and parts of speech for the words and use the words in a discussion with peers. During the Close Read of the text The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells, students participate in an Academic Vocabulary Focus discussion. The teacher brings attention to the word undertake and encourages students to use this vocabulary word in their written response. In the Write section, undertake is used in the writing prompt: “LITERARY ANALYSIS: When authors undertake the task of writing a story in the science fiction genre, they can use their imaginations to create almost anything. Think about some specific words and phrases used by the first-person narrator of The War of the Worlds. How do the figurative and connotative meanings of some of these words help to produce a certain tone of both fear and suspense? Use evidence from the text to support your ideas.”
• Vocabulary is repeated across multiple texts.
• In Unit 1, “Everyone Loves a Mystery,” students learn about the word emerged in the Big Idea Skill Academic Vocabulary lesson. In Unit 6, “Beyond Reality,” students complete a drag and drop activity with vocabulary words, including emerge, and definitions and create a sample sentence with each word, during the Close Read of “There Will Come Soft Rains,” by Sara Teasdale. Students repeat the same drag and drop activity in Unit 6 during the Close Read of the text Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi. The word emerge is included in the vocabulary word list. Afterwards, students read and annotate the text using context clues to determine the meaning of the word emerges.
• In Unit 2, “Past and Present,” students study the vocabulary word obligation across texts. In the Close Read of “Abuela Invents the Zero,” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, students complete a drag and drop activity with the vocabulary words and definitions and create a sample sentence with each word. In Unit 5, “Trying Times,” during the Close Read of the excerpt of the autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela, students read and annotate the text using context clues to determine the meaning of the word obligations.

Students are supported to accelerate vocabulary learning with vocabulary in their reading, speaking, and writing tasks. For example, some examples include:

• In Unit 3, “No Risk, No Reward,” in the Vocabulary Review, Skill: Vocabulary Review lesson, students review the words they learned throughout the unit. In the Your Turn section, they sort the words based on whether they related to a beginning or an emotion. In the Write section, students respond to the following prompt using the vocabulary from the chapter: “Discussion: In this unit, you have studied why people and characters take chances. Think of a modern story, movie, or show in which a character takes a risk. What risk does the character take? Why does he or she take that risk? Do you think that this risk is worth taking? Use as many Big Idea and Academic Vocabulary words in your discussion as you can.”
• In Unit 4, “Hear Me Out,” in the Big Idea Skill: Academic Vocabulary lesson, students receive a list of 10 vocabulary words, including the word recommendation. Students study a model of the word meaning and sample sentences before practicing in the Your Turn section. Practice includes dragging and dropping roots and affixes and devising ways to remember the meanings of the words. In the Close Read of the point/counterpoint texts “Gaming Communities,” by Joshua Vink and “Gaming Does Not Promote Positive Communication,” by Caroline Rodgers, the word recommendation is used in the prompt included in the Write section of the lesson: “Argumentative: Suppose these two essays appeared in a published journal or magazine. Write a letter to the publisher in which you express your opinions of both pieces by analyzing the argument of each text. In your letter, be sure to use evidence from each text that demonstrates your command of the information and the reasons for your opinion. You may also offer a recommendation of your own.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 meet the criteria that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan to 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.

Materials include writing instruction aligned to the standards for the grade level, and writing instruction spans the whole school year. Throughout all the units of study, students engage in a variety of writing activities in response to the reading of texts, including creating short constructed responses and completing Extended Writing Projects. The short constructed responses include Blasts, Think questions, and Prompt responses. Within each unit, students write in response to four Blasts which connect the students to the Essential Question, synthesize information from a variety of online sources, compose a clear response in 140 characters or less, and share their responses with a digital community. The First Reads writing tasks involve answering Think questions that require students to cite evidence. The Close Read Prompt responses connect to the type of featured writing in the unit and prepare the students for the Extended Writing Project or Research assignments. In the Extended Writing Project, materials prepare students to transition through the writing process using supports, such as a Student Model, graphic organizers, checklists, rubrics, and extensive scaffolding of writing skills. For Research, students discuss, plan, research, write, and deliver presentations. Materials include consistent scaffolding and strategies in place to support students through the process to achieve proficiency at the end of the year.

• In Unit 1, “Everyone Loves a Mystery,” students read the short story “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson. In the Close Read, students respond to the following prompt: “In Shirley Jackson's ‘The Lottery,’ things aren't exactly as they appear. What is one theme or message that you think the author develops in the story? How does she use the setting to surprise readers and build on the theme? How do allusions deepen your understanding of the text and its theme? Monitor details from the story to show how Shirley Jackson develops the theme through the setting and allusions.” Students engage in Collaborative Conversations about the prompt to help them compose the literary analysis. The Lesson Plan includes scaffolding, such as speaking frames and a prompt guide, based upon proficiency. The Lesson Plan also provides Check for Success questions that the teacher may ask to support students. Materials provide graphic organizers and annotation guides for students to use as they compose responses.
• In Unit 2, “Past and Present,” students read an excerpt from The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros. In the First Read, students respond to Think questions such as: “How is the family’s dream house different from their real house on Mango Street? Cite evidence from the selection to support your answer.” and “How does Esperanza’s encounter with the nun affect her? Explain how she feels after this brief encounter. Cite evidence from the text.” In the Lesson Plan, scaffolds include sentence frames and text-dependent question guides.
• In Unit 3, “No Risk, No Reward,” Extended Writing Project, students write an informative essay in response to the prompt, “What happens when we take risks? Choose three informational texts from this unit, including research links in the Blasts, and explain how the authors inform readers about their risk-taking subjects. Identify the risks individuals take and the outcomes of those risks. Include a clear main idea or thesis statement, and cite evidence from each text to explain your conclusions.” Students draft their essay, keeping questions like this in mind: “Have I developed my thesis statement by using supporting details that help explain key ideas and are closely related to my topic?” Materials include rubrics for every step of the writing process.
• In Unit 4, “Hear Me Out,” Extended Writing Project, students write an argumentative piece. As students read and study the Student Model, they highlight the seven characteristics of argumentative writing: introduction, claim, thesis statement, textual evidence, transitions, formal style, and conclusion. Students use the Student Model to guide them as they compose their own argumentative essay.
• In Unit 5, “No Risk, No Reward,” after reading background information on Nelson Mandela, students respond to the Blast prompt “How would you defend freedom?” in 140 characters or less. Students also respond to a QuikPoll and a Number Crunch task.
• In Unit 6, “Beyond Reality,” Extended Writing Project, students write a research paper. After analyzing a Student Model, students identify the eight characteristics of research writing: an introduction with a clear thesis statement; relevant facts, supporting details, and quotations from credible sources; analysis of the details to explain how they support the thesis; a clear and logical text structure; a formal style; a conclusion that wraps up your ideas; a works cited page; and print features, graphic features, and multimedia. Teachers utilize Skill lessons to provide direct instruction on planning research, evaluating sources, research and note-taking, critiquing research, sources and citations, and print and graphic features. Materials include rubrics for each step of the writing process.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 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.

Research projects are sequenced across a school year to include a progression of research skills appropriate for the grade level. Each of the six units include multiple opportunities for students to engage in research activities and present their findings. Materials support teachers in employing projects that develop students’ knowledge on a topic via provided resources. Teachers support the development of students’ knowledge via high-quality texts, text-dependent questioning, and Blast lessons. Blast lessons include multi-media research links related to the theme. As students utilize the included research links, they develop a broader understanding of the theme and texts within the unit. The materials provide many opportunities for students to apply reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language skills to synthesize and analyze information during their grade-level readings. Research activities provide opportunities for students to show their learning in different ways, including presenting their findings to the class, writing about their research, and creating multimedia displays. Each unit includes an extensive, multi-step Extended Writing Project related to the unit’s theme. In Unit 6, students complete a research project showing their learning across the year. This project entails a full-length essay that includes multimedia components, parenthetical citations, and a Works Cited page.

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. For example, some examples are as follows:

• Students have opportunities to engage in “short” projects across grades and grade bands.
• In Unit 1, “Everyone Loves a Mystery,” Grade Level Overview, “The Lottery,” students work in small groups to research traditions in a part of the world that fascinates them. Groups share their findings with the class.
• In Unit 2, “Past and Present,” in the Blast lesson students explore the Essential Question, “What makes you, you?” During the Blast lesson, students read, annotate, and highlight information that builds knowledge centered around this question. Students respond to prompts connected to the Essential Question. There is a jigsaw research activity, during which students research and discuss information from the Blast lesson.
• In Unit 3, “No Risk, No Reward,” Grade Level Overview, “The Day I Saved a Life,” students research what it means to be vegan and present their research to the class. They have the option of also giving their opinion about veganism.
• Students have opportunities to engage in “long” projects across grades and grade bands.
• In Unit 4, “Hear Me Out,” during the end-of-unit Extended Writing Project, students compose an argumentative essay in response to the Essential Question, “How do you choose the right words?” Throughout the unit, students read texts and respond to questions to prepare them for the Extended Writing Project. Students read texts, such as an excerpt from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, “HUG” a graphic fantasy story written by Ehud Lavski and illustrated by Yael Nathan, and the article “Cover Letter to LucasArts,” by Tim Schafer, to help them explore using words to show expression.
• In Unit 5, “Trying Times,” the Essential Question for the research project is “Who are you in a crisis?” Students read stories of people in crisis and how they dealt with these times. Novels and real life accounts are used to teach lessons. Texts in this unit include Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank, Parallel Journeys, by Eleanor Ayer, and speeches from Winston Churchill and Elie Wiesel. This knowledge allows students to explore the unit’s topic—crisis shaping people. The research project is an argumentative oral presentation and is completed during the Extended Oral Project at the unit’s close.
• In Unit 6, “Beyond Reality,” during the end-of-unit Extended Writing Project, students compose a research paper in response to the Essential Question, “What do other worlds teach us about our own?” Throughout the unit, students read texts and respond to questions to help them plan and prepare to write their research paper. Students read texts, such as the science fiction novel The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells, the fantasy story “Manuel and the Magic Fox,” by Ekaterina Sedia, and the poem “There Will Come Soft Rains,” by Sara Teasdale, to help them explore the idea of other worlds.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 8 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.

Most texts In the StudySync materials are organized with built-in supports and/or scaffolds to foster independence. Within the Core ELA Units, there are Integrated Reading and Writing lessons that support students throughout the reading of the texts. These lessons consist of First Reads, Skills focus lessons, Close Reads, Blasts, and Independent Reads. Each unit ends with Self-Selected Reading Lessons; however, procedures for independent reading included in the units are unclear. The Teacher Edition provides teacher guidance to foster all students’ reading independence. Within each Lesson Plan, the Teacher Edition Differentiation tab includes supports for differentiation. Scaffolding is also provided in this section for beginning, intermediate, and advanced ELLs. The proposed schedule for the Independent Read lessons is included in the Pacing Guide. Core ELA Units pair Independent Read lessons with a core text at least two times within each unit. Each unit concludes with five self-selected reading selections, and the Pacing Guide has been updated to include the Self-Selected Reading Selections. The updated Program Guide also includes a section titled Building an Outside Independent Reading Program. A tracking system is provided through the Bookshelf and Reading Quizzes. Student reading materials span a wide volume of texts at grade levels and at various Lexile levels within the grade. There are a variety of informational and fiction texts for students to read, including articles, essays, poems, novels, short stories, and drama, and the texts range in Lexiles from 520L to 1130L.

For example, some examples are as follows:

• In Unit 2, “Past and Present,” three Independent Read lessons are paired with core texts. For example, the first Independent Read lesson, “Curtain Call,” by Swin Cash, is paired with the core text “So where are you from?” by Naomi Sepiso. After engaging in a First Read, Skill: Visualizing lesson, a Skill: Central or Main Idea lesson, a Close Read, and a Blast of the core text, students complete a compare and contrast writing task, citing evidence from the two texts. According to the Pacing Guide, this lesson takes place on Days 7–10 of the unit.
• In Unit 3, “No Risk, No Reward,” Integrated Reading and Writing, students read a paired reading selection that consists of an excerpt from Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember and Ronald Reagan’s “Address to Nation on the Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger.” During the lesson, students independently read and annotate A Night to Remember. The teacher guides students through a First Read, two Skill lessons, and a Close Read as students read Reagan’s speech. The Close Read, Teacher Edition, Differentiation Tab includes the following scaffolds for the Collaborative Conversation activity: “Approaching Grade Level—Discussion Guide; Beginning and Intermediate ELLs—Discussion Guide and Speaking Frames; Advanced and Advanced-High ELLs—Discussion Guide and Speaking Frames. According to the Pacing Guide, these lessons are completed on Days 6–10.
• In Unit 6, “Beyond Reality,” Integrated Reading and Writing, Self-Selected Reading, Blast, students “explore background information about new texts in the library in order to self-select a text, establish a purpose for reading, and read independently for a sustained period of time.” The five self-selected reading texts for the unit are as follows: Dragonwings, by Laurence Yep, The Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld, Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell, Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling, and Dragonsong, by Anne McCaffrey. After selecting and reading one of the provided options, students complete the “Write: Self-Selected Response” in which they complete a critical review for their self-selected reading text. The Pacing Guide does not allocate time for the actual reading of the self-selected text.