10th Grade - Gateway 3

The StudySync instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that the student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions, and explanation, and correct labeling of reference aids (e.g., visuals, maps, etc.).

StudySync materials provide students the opportunity to practice and apply the skills they have learned throughout each unit. Student models and opportunities to write constructed responses are available. Instructions and directions for students are clear, and reminders are available to students throughout extended projects. Additional guidance is available for teachers through lesson plans and prompts when necessary. Reference aids are correctly labeled when the materials include these throughout the unit.

The student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions and explanation, and correct labeling of reference aids (e.g., visuals, maps, etc.). Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In Unit 1, The Power of Community, students begin with a SyncStart titled The Refusal. Students work with a Blast, which introduces the concepts in the unit, followed by Skill lessons on annotation, context clues, and monitoring comprehension before beginning the first read of “The Refusal,” by Franz Kafka. Students engage in additional practice during Skill: Text Dependent Responses, Skill: Textual Evidence, and Skill: Character, before applying the skills learned to respond to discussion questions and complete a short written response in the close read of “The Refusal.” Finally, in this section, students complete the following lessons: Skill: Collaborative Conversations, Skill: Short Constructed Responses, and Skill: Peer reviews.
• In Unit 4, The Ties That Bind, students complete an Extended Oral Project. Students utilize the provided model as they prepare for their argumentative oral presentation. The model authored by a student named Dylan incorporates features of oral presentation that students can highlight and annotate. Images include text and video from the slide show, and source information is available when appropriate. For example, a quote appears relating to Evidence and Analysis #2 from the speech: “‘That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.’—Astronaut Neil Armstrong, NASA moon landing, July 20, 1969.”
• In Unit 6, Origin Stories, students read “Coming-of-Age Traditions from Around the World,” by Ursula Villarreal-Moura. Images include captions, such as: “A photograph of a young woman on her quinceanera day.” Directions for the discussion following the reading are clear: “Traditions are customs, stories, beliefs, rituals, and/or routines that are passed down in a family from one generation to another. Research has proven that traditions are part of healthy families, provide a foundation for shared identity, and help build strong bonds between generations. In your opinion, what positive effects can traditions have on individuals, families, and/or communities? Synthesize textual evidence from this text and at least one other text from the unit, as well as relevant personal anecdotes, to support your answer to this question. To prepare for the discussion, write down your thoughts about this question and explain your reasoning.” After the discussion, directions for students to write their reflection are clear: “Evaluate how well everyone followed the rules when making decisions affecting the group, evaluate the speakers’ points of view and use of evidence, evaluate your own participation in the discussion, including preparation, questions, and responses, reflect on and adjust your responses to the text if you find the evidence presented by others to be valid and convincing.” The Teacher Edition provides additional questions to ask students if they struggle to respond to Skills Focus Question #1.

The StudySync instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items.

StudySync materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items. Teacher-facing materials provide many opportunities for teachers to see connections to Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in daily lessons, assessments, and larger culminating tasks. The Scope and Sequence indicates which CCSS students practice during each text. In Teacher Resources: Lesson Plan, under the Learning Objective, standards for the specific lesson are listed at the top of the lesson plan. Standards are also represented in each component of the lesson, including questions, tasks, and assessments. Students can also view the connections to CCSS. In student-facing materials, standards are listed under student tasks. Think questions, short quizzes, Your Turn activities, and short response prompts all have standards visible at the bottom of the page.

Materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In Unit 1, The Power of Communication, students write a literary analysis for their Extended Writing Project. In the Planning portion of the assignment, students begin the essay by prewriting and brainstorming on purpose, audience, textual evidence, analysis, and claims. Standards correlated to the activity include W.9-10.1a, W.9-10.4, and W.9-10.5.
• In Unit 3, The Persistence of Memories, students independently read Santha Rama Rau’s memoir “By Any Other Name.” Several multiple choice questions reinforce Common Core Standards. The standards are listed under each quiz question. For example, students are asked, “Which of these inferences about the headmistress is best supported by the first four paragraphs of the essay?” The connecting standard is visible under the question: “CCRA.R.1- Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions.”
• In Unit 5, Chopped, Stirred, and Blended, students independently read Peggy Lantz’s nonfiction text Florida’s Edible Wild Plants: A Guide to Collecting and Cooking. After answering quiz questions, they complete a short response to the following prompt: “Analyze how the author of Florida's Edible Wild Plants: A Guide to Collecting and Cooking adapts her style, including the use of informal language, formal language, and technical terms, to explain wild plants to a variety of audiences.” The assignment reinforces RI.9-10.4 which states, “Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.”

The StudySync instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student edition and in the ancillary materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.

StudySync materials provide detailed lesson plans for the teacher that include answer keys, suggestions on presenting the information, and potential scaffolds for differentiation. Embedded technology includes tools for reading and analyzing, such as annotating, highlighting, audio recordings of texts, and numbering lines on paragraphs. Each unit also includes several multimedia components to aid student analysis; for example, StudySyncTV and SkillsTV are often used to start classroom discussions or to introduce student models that help deepen understanding. Each unit begins with a Blast, a feature that starts each unit and mimics social media in the classroom. Students read background information before constructing bite-sized responses. The Blasts go live in real-time, like social media, to generate student discussions that deepen understanding of the units’ concepts and questions.

Materials contain a teacher’s edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student edition and in the ancillary materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In Unit 2, Moving Forward, students read the epic poem Rámáyana, by the Hindu poet Válmíki. After having students do a close read, the Lesson Plan gives teachers the option of assigning a tech-embedded activity to develop background knowledge and cultural awareness. It states, “Have students work in small groups to search for images of Rámáyana-inspired art. Ask students to record ‘I notice…’ and ‘I wonder…’ statements. Select a few examples to project and discuss...What reactions surfaced as you looked at these images? How can you connect these images to ones you have seen in movies or popular culture? What do they suggest about the commonality, and differences, of certain experiences across time or cultures?”
• In Unit 4, The Ties That Bind, students read a scene from the film Hotel Rwanda. The Lesson Plan provides the following guidance to help teachers focus on Academic Vocabulary: “Draw attention to the academic vocabulary word tense. Call on students to share out the definition of the word in their own words. Remind students that the word tense means ‘in or of a state of physical or nervous tension.’ It can also mean ‘to become tense, nervous, or uneasy’ or ‘a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time.’ This word can be used in everyday as well as academic and workplace contexts.”
• In Unit 5, Chopped, Stirred, and Blended, a Grade 10 Unit 5 Pacing Guide is available for teachers. The document includes the theme, Essential Question, and genre focus of the unit at the top. The guide helps teachers plan their lessons in order to complete readings and address the standards. For example, the guide suggests teachers begin the poem “The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica,” written by Judith Ortiz Cofer on Day Six of the unit and to complete it by Day Nine. Teachers also get an at-a-glance view of what skills and standards the lessons address.

The StudySync instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition that contains full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced literacy concepts so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.

StudySync materials provide a Unit Overview that identifies Difficult Concepts in advance for educators to consider. Explanations are accessible for educators, and sample answers are available in the Lesson Plans, Teacher Edition tab available with each assignment, and the End-of-Unit Assessment when the teacher selects “View as: Teacher when grading.” Within the Integrated Reading and Writing section, a Lesson Plan is available for each task in the Instructional Path, providing options for teachers with instructional moves and guidance for Scaffolding & Differentiation. A grade-level ELA Overview is also available with guidance related to text complexity, including both quantitative and qualitative features, as well as additional information related to the instructional approach to writing using mentor texts.

Materials contain a teacher’s edition that contains full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced literacy concepts so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In Unit 2, Moving Forward, in the Independent Read of the memoir Night, by Elie Wiesel, the Access Complex Text section provides aspects of sentence structure within the text that may be challenging for students and what the teacher can do to support students. For example: in Purpose/Genre, the Lesson Plan explains that “The text is personal and historical.” Teacher guidance continues, “Ask students how the purpose of the text is shaped by both of these contexts,” and concludes with a clarifying explanation: “Night is historical in that it documents arriving at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. It is also a memoir, a nonfiction account of the author’s personal experience.”
• In Unit 4, The Ties that Bind, after the First Read of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the Lesson Plan includes a section labeled “Entry Point,” which provides teachers with tools to provide contextual information for students. The section includes information such as “Shakespeare’s 1606 play Macbeth is a tragedy about the Scottish lord Macbeth. Three witches predict Macbeth will become king, which awakens an ambition Macbeth struggles to understand.”
• In Unit 5, Chopped, Stirred, and Blended, the End-of-Unit Assessment provides additional guidance for teachers when grading, including an exemplary sample response for a multi-paragraph essay and explanations detailing why specific answers are correct or incorrect for multiple-choice questions. For example, “Incorrect. This revision does not function as a transition from paragraph 2, and it does not introduce the topic of paragraph 3 (the connection between work and salvation, not simply predestination).”

The StudySync instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition that explains the role of the specific ELA/literacy standards in the context of the overall curriculum.

StudySync materials provide lesson plans that denote the specific standards and skills that are addressed daily. The Pacing Guide breaks down standards alignment in an easy-to-use chart that lists the standards associated with each text and points within the unit for readdressing standards. The Scope and Sequence includes a chart that lists each text, shows the standards that are associated with it, and denotes which standards are taught with direct instruction and reinforced with practice and which are solely practiced.

Materials contain a teacher’s edition that explains the role of the specific ELA/literacy standards in the context of the overall curriculum. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• The Grade Level Overview states the following: “Skill lessons on Organizing an Oral Presentation and Evaluating Sources teach concepts specifically called out in the Common Core English Language Arts standards.” The Pacing Guide shows that the first text read, “The Refusal,” by Franz Kafka, covers several standards, including RL.9-10.4, L.9-10.4.A, RL.9-10.10, and SL.9-10.1.B, among others. Lastly, the Scope and Sequence clearly shows that Reading: Informational, Reading: Literature, Language, Writing, and Speaking and Listening standards are addressed throughout the year.
• Each unit’s ELA Pacing Guide provides teachers with a suggested pacing for the texts included in the unit along with standards aligned to practice and skills. Students begin Grade 10 Unit 1 with a SyncStart lesson on “The Refusal,” by Franz Kafka. The digital Teacher Edition provides twelve lessons on this text. The Pacing Guide suggests six days for completion and informs the teacher of the skills that will be addressed in conjunction with the standards that will be practiced and implemented. According to the Pacing Guide, students practice RL.9-10.1 during the Skill: Annotation lesson.

The StudySync instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials contain explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research based strategies.

StudySync materials provide an Additional Resource for educators “Research-Base Alignments: A Summary of Research in Secondary School (Grades 6-12) English Language Arts” to provide a summary of key points in Reading, Writing, Language, Speaking and Listening, and Media and Technology. The research in the documents includes “reports, experimental and quasi-experimental research designs, reviews of research, and opinion pieces written by those considered experts within the field of literacy.” StudySync uses research-based strategies to show that content-specific knowledge is highly correlated with vocabulary, and both contribute to reading comprehension and inferencing skills. The curriculum uses strategies such as repeated reading for fluency, using grammar in context to enhance basic skills, and encouraging readers to engage with a text by activating their schema.

Materials contain explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research-based strategies. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• StudySync uses the research theory, by Shen, in English Language Teaching that suggests there is a reciprocal relationship between knowledge, vocabulary, and reading and writing achievement. Readers engage with a text by activating background knowledge. “Schema is the technical term used by cognitive scientists to describe how people process, organize, and store information in their heads” (Shen, 2008, p. 104).
• Handbook of Writing Research (2015) synthesizes current knowledge on writing development and instruction at all grade levels. Timothy Shanahan provides information relating to relationships between reading and writing development. StudySync incorporates this key point into writing instruction: “Research has long found many connections and correlations between reading and writing” (Shanahan, 2015).
• “Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices” (2008) is a practice guide that presents specific and coherent evidence-based recommendations that educators can use to improve literacy levels among adolescents in upper elementary, middle, and high schools. StudySync includes a key point in Research Recommendations for Vocabulary: “The What Works Clearinghouse Improving Adolescent Literacy guide (Kamil et al., 2008) considers the level of evidence “strong” in their recommendation for explicit vocabulary instruction in the upper elementary, middle, and high school grades.”
• StudySync references the article “Is fluent, expressive reading important for high school readers?” (2012) from the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy and utilizes research recommendations for instructional fluency methods, such as repeated readings. The article recommends these methods “at the secondary level, especially with students who struggle with fluency and reading comprehension” (Paige, Rasinski, & Magpuri-Lavell, 2012, p. 72).
• “Surface, Deep, and Transfer? Considering the Role of Content Literacy Instructional Strategies” (2017), an article by Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and John Hattie published in the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, provides information relating to content literacy instructional practices. StudySync includes a key point in comprehending literary and informational text: “Because each discipline has its own purpose and structure, it necessarily requires different literacy skills and abilities to create, communicate, and evaluate knowledge, and students may require different strategies to deepen their understanding of text as they gain more knowledge about a topic” (Frey, Fisher, Hattie, 2017).
• “When is a verb? Using functional grammar to teach writing” (2007), an article by Fearn and Farnan in the Journal of Basic Writing, focuses on the argument against Identification, Description, Definition (IDD) by arguing that there can be a positive interaction between grammar instruction and writing performance if the grammar is functional and used for writing purposes. “Teaching basic skills, such as grammar within the context of writing—instead of teaching them in isolation—has been shown to enhance writing performance” (Fearn & Farnan, 2007).

The StudySync instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress.

StudySync materials provide assessment opportunities to measure student progress, such as a Readiness Screener, Reading Comprehension Diagnostic, and Benchmarks for each grade level; ACT, SAT, and State Test Preparations; and EL End-of-Unit assessments that teachers can assign as Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced, and Advanced High. Summative assessments, such as the Extended Writing and Oral Projects at the end of each unit, provide opportunities for students to demonstrate proficiency in skills they practice during instruction. Formative assessments, such as the text questions, quick Checks for Success, and turn-and-talk activities, allow teachers to monitor student progress and provide timely feedback.

Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In Unit 3, The Persistence of Memories, students complete a Timed Writing: Tradition and Healthcare lesson. During this lesson, students plan and write a response in a timed writing situation. The lesson allows time for peer review following the timed writing, which includes providing substantive feedback to two peers and students reflecting on the feedback they receive. Peer Review instructions include but are not limited to the following: “How well does the writer analyze the author’s argument? What elements of argumentative writing does the writer analyze? How effectively does the writer analyze the use of those elements in the passage?”
• In Unit 5, Chopped, Stirred, and Blended, students complete a summative End-of-Unit Assessment to demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, and language skills they practiced during the unit. For example, the final question asks students to write an essay to the following prompt: “Modern technology has made our world smaller than it has ever been. With the click of a mouse, a person in Lake City, Florida, can browse recipes curated by an amateur cook in Paris, France, or watch a live video of a parade in Mumbai, India. However, just having access to information about other cultures does not ensure understanding. Write an essay in which you state an opinion on the elements that truly connect people from different cultures. Include at least two examples from the texts as well as a counterargument that you address.” Teachers provide a score with feedback, and the materials include an exemplar response in the Teacher Edition.

The StudySync instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.

The StudySync Student and Teacher Edition include standards listed under tasks within the assessment that, when clicked, provide details about the standard addressed in each task of the formative and summative assessments. StudySync also includes an assess component where teachers can find all the assessments and view the correlated standards assessed. Formative assessments include First Reads, Close Reads, Blasts, and lesson tasks. Summative assessments include Extended Writing Projects, Extended Oral Projects, and End-of-Unit Assessments.

Materials offer ongoing formative and summative assessments. Assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In Unit 1, The Power of Communication, teachers and students can see which standards are associated with the questions in the materials. For example, students read Ursula K. Le Guin’s short story “She Unnames Them.” After a First Read, students answer short Think questions, such as “What is the narrator’s intention for “unnaming” the animals? Refer to paragraphs 6 and 7 and use evidence from the text to support your answer.” and “What can you infer about Adam and Eve’s relationship? Use evidence from the last three paragraphs of the story to defend your answer.” The materials indicate that these questions align to RL.9-10.1.
• In Unit 3, The Persistence of Memories, students independently read an excerpt from Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. After answering quiz questions, students an explanatory writing prompt. Student and teacher materials note the assessment’s alignment to RI.9-10.1 and RI.9-10.5.
• In Unit 5, Chopped, Stirred, and Blended, students independently read Audre Lorde’s poem “Ethiopia.” A short quiz follows the reading, and students answer questions, such as “Which of the following sentences best summarizes lines 1-3?” and “Which of the following sentences most closely explains the metaphor in lines 6-9?” The questions allow students to demonstrate mastery of the standards CCRA.R.2 and CCRA.R.4, which are denoted in both student and teacher materials.

The StudySync instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that assessments provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow up.

StudySync materials provide data tracking tools in StudySync that allow teachers to use information from formative assessments throughout the units. Data-tracking tools like the Gradebook display more than just raw scores for students. They also breakdown student scores against standards and skills. The tool is color-coded so teachers can easily spot student needs according to standards. Green denotes that a student is on track for grade-level mastery or beyond. A yellow box denotes that a student may require scaffolded instruction to get back on track toward grade-level performance. Finally, the color red indicates that an instructor should use diagnostic assessments to determine whether the student requires foundational skill intervention. Teachers may filter assessments in the Assess section where they can also utilize Screening, and Diagnostic and Benchmark Assessments. The materials include teacher guidance on student mastery of standards for assessments such as quizzes, skills mastery checks, and Extended Writing Projects. The Grade Level Pacing Guide includes time for review and reteaching, which allows teachers to reteach those concepts that students struggled with earlier in the unit. StudySync provides teachers with Spotlight Skill lessons to reteach and remediate. Every unit culminates with the End-Of-Unit Assessment that provides teachers with the student's current understanding of unit standards and provides reports for students and teachers highlighting skill strengths, skill deficiencies, standard, and skill proficiency levels and across unit growth.

Materials offer ongoing formative and summative assessments. Assessments provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow-up. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In Unit 2, Moving Forward, students take the Grade 10 Unit 2 End-of-Unit Assessment. Before taking the assessment, teachers guide students in completing one or more of the Spotlight Skill lessons, focusing on skills with which they struggled throughout the unit. Students’ performance on the assessment informs teachers about skills and standards for reteaching and helps teachers with future student groupings. Reports inform teachers, students, and parents about skill strength, skill deficiencies, standard and skill proficiency levels, and student growth in unit standards.
• In Unit 4, The Ties That Bind, students end the unit with an Extended Oral Project. Teachers provide guidance in the Revise step of the process. There are four Skill lessons that provide scaffolding in communicating ideas, preparing reasons and evidence, using source materials and citations ethically, and engaging in student-led conversations. Each of these Skill lessons includes a Your Turn activity with feedback to teachers and students about their understanding of each Skill lesson. The Skill lessons provide students the practice and feedback needed to present their final oral presentation in the edit and present step of the process.

The StudySync instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials should include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress.

StudySync materials include a variety of opportunities, such as a Readiness Screener and End-of-Unit assessments, to monitor student progress. Beginning of the year assessments include the Reading Comprehension Diagnostic and the Maze Fluency Assessment. The Benchmark Assessment monitors students' progress in standards mastery throughout the school year. The materials include data tracking tools with day-to-day student performance on all standards, which teachers may use to guide instructional decisions.

Materials should include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In Unit 1, The Power of Community, after reading Francis La Fleche’s “The Story of a Vision,” students write a short response in which they demonstrate their understanding of how the theme is shaped by details of character and setting. The Lesson Plan includes checks for understanding, such as Peer Review and Reflect, Writer's Notebook, and an optional pre-write with a graphic organizer designed to make sure the students have the knowledge to complete the objective of the lesson. For example: “Peer Review and Reflect—Students should submit substantive feedback to two peers. After they complete their peer reviews, have them reflect on the feedback they received.”
• In Unit 2, Moving Forward, teachers can chart outcomes toward key learning standards when students complete an Extended Writing Project. Students follow a consistent Instructional Path with each unit, including Plan, Draft, Revise, and Edit and Publish. Teachers can track student growth toward proficiency of grade level reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language standards throughout the informative writing process.
• In Unit 4, The Ties That Bind, students read Cherokee Family Reunion, by Larissa FastHorse independently. The Teacher Edition offers a Check for Success with guidance, including but not limited to the following: “Ask small groups to provide examples of what they visualize and the details they used to create mental images. Project exemplar visualizations as a model for students as they continue reading.”

The StudySync instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners, so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding the grade-level standards.

StudySync materials provide teachers with the opportunity to differentiate within each lesson, and guidance is available for teachers for scaffolding, including offering options for instructional routines and questions to prompt thinking. There are instructional options for English learners: Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced, Advanced-High. There are also proficiency levels for Below Level: Approaching and Above Level: Beyond. Teachers can customize lessons when assigning, such as increasing the length limit for Blast responses from 140 characters to 280 characters. Teachers can add and remove standards associated with the Blast assignment, add additional instructions/teacher’s note, show scaffolds to students who need them, and select a Lexile to change the background.

Materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so that they demonstrate independent ability with grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In Unit 1, The Power of Communication, students complete a First Read of “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King, Jr. Afterwards, students analyze an argument and evaluate the elements that make the argument effective and memorable. When teachers assign the lesson, they can customize it. Options include but are not limited to: Audio On to allow a voiceover for the text intro and the text, Summary On to see the English language reading summary, Scaffolds On to show scaffolds to students who need them, and Concept Web.
• In Unit 3, The Persistence of Memories, students complete a Close Read of Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi. The Lesson Plan provides suggestions for grouping students as well as scaffolding and differentiation during vocabulary instruction, reading, and writing. A Check for Success provides teachers with scaffolded questions, such as “How does that compare with how family and memory are connected in the other two texts?”, to use as prompts students if students struggle to begin a Collaborative Conversation.
• In Unit 6, Origin Stories, as students prepare to read “The Nose,” by Major Kovalev, the teacher discusses an entry point with students, sharing information with them to provide context, a tool used to support students with special needs. Examples of information include: “By many accounts, Gogol had a preoccupation with his own nose, which he mentioned in letters to friends. Since its publication, many artists have adapted “The Nose” for theater, film, and music, often to serve as political critique. For example, Shostakovich’s 1930 opera, The Nose, was intended to criticize Russian bureaucracy under Joseph Stalin.”

The StudySync instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level, or in a language other than English, with extensive opportunities to work with grade level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards.

StudySync materials provide teachers the opportunity to differentiate instruction for all learners. Each lesson can be modified to support four levels of English Language Learners—Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced, and Advanced-High. When instructors change the proficiency level of the lessons, the readings, assignments, and scaffolds adjust accordingly. Additionally, all Lesson Plans include suggestions for scaffolding each activity to meet the needs of English Language Learners and Approaching students.

Scaffolds include visual glossaries, text synopses, Spanish cognates, speaking frames, sentence frames, word banks, and differentiated questions. Each unit includes a folder of 20 ELL Resources lessons. These lessons are more targeted and aimed at helping students develop their language skills. The lessons can be taught alongside the core ELA program, allowing students to practice language skills and strategies while also working on grade-level standards.

The StudySync instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials regularly include extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.

StudySync materials provide advanced opportunities for students during Blasts. Each Blast can be customized. Teachers may select the highest Lexile of the three options to change the background. With regard to quantitative text complexity measures, this option ensures students are in the appropriate stretch Lexile band. Lesson Plans include suggestions for differentiation for Beyond-grade-level students, and the Teacher Edition tab within each Assignment includes a column specific for differentiation with the Beyond suggestions and questions. The activities offered for Beyond-grade-level students are designed to take them further into the content of a lesson should they complete the activity before other students. The Beyond supports challenge students to stretch their thinking and add more opportunities for collaborative, creative engagement.

Materials regularly include extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In Unit 1, The Power of Community, students read and annotate “Heart of Darkness,” by Joseph Conrad; students preparing for advanced courses reread the last paragraph of the text and select quotes that exemplify the stream of consciousness narrative style. Teachers then ask the following questions: “How do your selected quotes exemplify the stream of consciousness narrative style? How does the syntax help to develop the stream of consciousness narrative voice? Why might Conrad have employed the stream of consciousness narrative style in this text? How does it characterize the narrator, Marlow? How does it convey the text’s central message?”
• In Unit 4, The Ties That Bind, students complete a close reading of Macbeth (Act I, Scene iii), by William Shakespeare. The Teacher Edition provides suggestions for differentiation with Beyond-grade-level readers. For example, teachers may ask students to complete a word study using “electronic and traditional resources for students to explore the origins of the vocabulary words by studying their etymologies.” Additional guidance is available for teachers: “Using the roots of the words have students explain what the words mean. Encourage students to apply new learning to what they already knew and explain the word origins to other students.”
• In Unit 6, Origin Stories, students independently read an excerpt from the memoir Looking for Palestine: Growing Up Confused in an American-Arab Family, by Najla Said. The Lesson Plan offers suggestions for differentiation with Beyond-grade-level readers. One suggestion includes a Text Talk: “Ask each Beyond-grade-level student to write one additional discussion question. Then, have one or two students facilitate a discussion, using their questions to guide the conversation.”

The StudySync instructional materials reviewed for Grade 10 meet the criteria that materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.

StudySync materials provide opportunities for individual, partner, small group, and whole class work. Each teacher lesson includes suggestions for grouping, providing instructional opportunities in a variety of settings. Suggestions for grouping along with available scaffolds for each group are listed next to each activity. Scaffolds include speaking frames, discussion guides, and probing questions.

Materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In Unit 2, Moving Forward, students read the epic poem “Rámáyana,” by Válmíki. After the First Read, students answer Think Questions independently. The Lesson Plan guides teachers to group students who are Approaching grade level together. Guidance includes, “Have students discuss the questions in a small group before submitting their responses” Approaching students may also use a text-dependent question guide as a scaffold.
• In Unit 3, The Persistence of Memories, after closely reading the informational text “Seeing at the Speed of Sound” written by Rachel Kolb, students have two opportunities to work together to complete a Skills Focus lesson and engage in collaborative discussion. The Skills Focus task requires students to work in small groups to discuss, read, and annotate a prompt. During the Write component of the lesson, students engage in a Collaborative Conversation using the StudySyncTV as a model in order to pull apart and make sense of the Close Read prompt.
• In Unit 5, Chopped, Stirred, and Blended, at the end of this unit, students engage in a self-selected Blast that contains twelve activities with three suggested groupings—whole group, pairs, or small groups, and on their own. Five of the activities are whole group; two are pairs or small groups; and six are activities students can complete independently. Of the two small group suggestions, one requires students to work together to establish a purpose for reading. Students practice the strategy in small groups using the text Ishi, The Last of His Tribe, by Theodora Kroeber. According to a note in the Teacher Edition, if students struggle applying this strategy, grouping can change to whole group.