7th Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials for Grade 7 fully meet the expectations of anchor texts organized around appropriate topic(s), and more commonly theme, to build students’ ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently at grade level. Students read different kinds of texts focused on the same themes and topics, building content knowledge of that topic/theme by the end of each respective unit.

• Module 1: The theme is Identity, and the Topic is The Middle Ages. In this module, students explore questions of identity in society by taking students on a literary expedition across a famously inflexible social setting: Medieval Europe. This medieval exploration illustrates the influence of societal forces on identity formation—an influence that remains undeniable in seventh graders’ modern setting.

Samples from the text selections include:

• Castle Diary, by Richard Platt. This is an historical fiction narrative from the perspective of a curious young page, Students observe the medieval social hierarchy’s power in action, meeting nobles, servants, knights, and poachers whose fates are tied to the rigid societal structure in which they live.
• Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer and retold by: Geraldine McCaughrean. This captivating classic anthology describes a pilgrimage on the road to Canterbury in which characters from disparate social classes swap stories and bond, revealing the power of narrative to transcend both social divisions and time.
• The Midwife’s Apprentice, by Karen Kushman, is a novel that focuses on an orphaned girl emerging to make her way in the world. Her inspiring fight to carve a place for herself within medieval society illuminates the complexity and rewards of any quest to transform one’s life despite injustice, deepening students’ thinking about the relationship between society and self.
• Module 3: The Theme is Identity, and the Topic is Language and Power. This module cultivates students’ abilities to analyze the logic and validity of arguments: to consider the perspectives of differing sources, to hold thoughtful, respectful discussions with others holding conflicting points of view, and to recognize language’s potential for both inspiration and manipulation. Ultimately, students build an understanding of the need to develop the critical reading and thinking skills that will enable them to recognize when others attempt to persuade or manipulate them with language.

Samples of text include:

• Animal Farm, by George Orwell. In this novel, Orwell creates a dictatorial society among animals. Students can learn that with all the information that is available today they must test the validity of this information, ask questions that will help them differentiate truth from falsehood, and stand up for their carefully considered beliefs.
• I Have a Dream, by Martin Luther King, Jr. In this speech, King uses the power of language through repetition to express his desire for freedom for all people.

All modules develop student knowledge through structured learning activities that provide effective scaffolding of content leading to students comprehending texts independently and proficiently.

The instructional materials for Grade 7 fully meet the expectations of materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks requiring students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts. Questions are organized into three categories: Focusing Questions, Content Framing Questions, and Craft Questions. Within the Content Framing and Craft Questions, there are additional categories of questions.

Examples include:

Module 1:

• Lesson 1: Build knowledge about the concept of identity. Experiment with figurative language. Interpret similes, metaphors, and imagery in context, and apply them to a poem.
• Lesson 4: Use figurative language to express key aspects of Tobias’s life and identity.
• Lesson 5: Distinguish among the connotations of target vocabulary synonyms and rank them to better understand the words and their context.
• Lesson 9: Analyze how the author’s use of descriptive details supports characterization.
• Lesson 11: Determine central ideas that Bruchac develops in chapter 10.
• Lesson 12: Analyze how the setting and plot, specifically school experiences, shape the identity of the protagonist, Ned Begay, in Code Talker.
• Lesson 17: Evaluate Bruchac’s content, style, and structure in chapters 24–26 in order to gain a deeper understanding of how authors engage audiences and communicate central ideas.

A representative example of how the program also addresses this indicator comes from Module 2,
Focusing Question #4: How did World War II affect individuals?

Content Framing Questions:

1. Know: How does the model build my knowledge of informative essay elements?
2. Know: How do the core texts build my knowledge of World War II?

Craft Questions:

1. Why are certain elements important in writing a successful informative essay?
2. Experiment: How do conclusions work?
3. Execute: How can I use evidence to support my ideas in an organized informative essay plan?
4. Execute: How can I use the elements of strong informative writing in my own informative essay?
5. Excel: How do I improve my informative essay?
6. Excel: How do I improve my writing to show command of English grammar, language conventions, and vocabulary?

Additional questions from Module 3 include:

• Lesson 18: Describe key character details and developments in Chapter II, identifying words, phrases, and actions Orwell uses to develop each character.
• Lesson 22: Apply understanding of literary allusions to interpret the word scapegoat in context as it is used to describe Snowball.
• Lesson 28: Describe a theme revealed in the final chapter of Animal Farm.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectations for materials containing 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. There are limited questions used to assess reading comprehension and connect the reader to the text in a deeper way. Questions are employed to build students' knowledge.

Each module has a section entitled, “Major Assessments” for the teacher at the beginning of the module that displays all the “Focusing Question Tasks”, the standards involved, and the elements needed to be successful on the “End-of-Module (EOM)” culminating task. Also, each module contains a section entitled “Module Map” that discusses the “Focusing Question Tasks, Central Texts, Content Framing Questions, Craft Questions, and learning goals.” Many questions and tasks do not require students to demonstrate understanding of the text on multiple levels. Many of the questions do prepare students for an upcoming culminating writing task (EOM). In each module, students are presented with opportunities to work across texts.

Some questions/tasks that represent how this program meets this expectation include the following:

Module 3:

• Compose an argument with a claim, reasons, evidence, and elaboration, and acknowledge an alternate or opposing claim.
• In the following assignment: Write a paragraph about why I Have a Dream is inspiring, explaining both the contribution of King’s written words in the transcript and the contribution of his vocal delivery and image details in the video.
• Read Maya Angelou’s Caged Bird and view its video performance. Use a graphic organizer to analyze how two techniques in the video affect the poem, and respond to multiple-choice questions.
• Demonstrate understanding of the elements of a strong argument. In the following assignment: Read the Animal Farm review and complete the multiple-choice questions. Then trace and evaluate the review’s argument using the graphic organizer.

The instructional materials for Grade 7 fully meet the expectations that questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a theme (or, for grades 3-5. a topic) through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, and listening). The sets of questions and tasks students are asked to work with and complete support their ability to complete culminating tasks in which they are demonstrating knowledge of topics and/or themes.

Each module has several Focusing Question Tasks that scaffold the material to aid in the successful completing of the EOM task. The materials contain sets of high-quality sequences of text-dependent questions and activities that build to each culminating task. Many tasks are focused on pieces of writing; however, students engage in speaking and listening as well as reading and writing to prepare for tasks, providing learning through integrated skills.

Some examples of culminating tasks that showcase students' demonstration of topics and themes through a combination of skills and print and nonprint texts include the following examples:

Module 1:

• The culminating task (End of Module-EOM) in Module 1 is as follows: "Write an 'exploded moment' narrative that demonstrates how medieval society supports or limits the protagonist’s identity.” Students apply historical fiction elements learned throughout their study—historical details supplied by Castle Diary, narrative techniques modeled by The Canterbury Tales, and writing experimentation supported by The Midwife’s Apprentice—to demonstrate how society can support and limit the development of identity.
• This first module activates interest in writing with a focus on narrative. In preparation for the EOM, students write creatively, examining and experimenting with craft techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, sensory language, and description. Through their experimentation with narrative techniques, students not only prepare to effectively blend content and craft when they complete their historical fiction EOM Tasks for Module 1. Some of the writing assignments that scaffold students to the EOM are as follows: (1) List four narrative elements or techniques that exemplify what The Canterbury Tales can teach readers about storytelling. Provide textual evidence that illustrates how The Canterbury Tales models each element or technique. (2) Use descriptive details to slow down the pacing and 'explode' a moment in the life of Alyce, The Midwife’s Apprentice’s protagonist. Students also develop skills they can use to enliven their informational and argument writing in upcoming modules.
• Students have ample opportunity to develop their speaking and listening skills in this module’s four Socratic Seminars. To begin, students learn how to set speaking and listening goals, and they track their progress throughout each Seminar. This understanding of discussion goal setting will serve students as they work to improve their speaking and listening skills throughout the year. Some of the Socratic Seminar tasks are as follows: (1) Analyze which big ideas are most important to Chapter 7 of The Midwife’s Apprentice: sin, justice, good and evil, judgment, and punishment. (2) Explain how medieval society supports and limits Alyce’s identity in The Midwife’s Apprentice.
• Students are also presented with a plethora of print and nonprint texts to assist in successfully completing the EOM task. These texts include but not limited to: a novel: Castle Diary, by Richard Platt, a musical selection: Lamento de Tristano, by: Anonymous, and a painting: Joachim Among the Shepherds, by Giotto di Bondone.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectations that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts. Vocabulary is taught both implicitly and explicitly, using words in the core and supplementary texts. As texts are read multiple times, students gain new vocabulary. Explicit vocabulary instruction focuses on Content Specific Vocabulary, Academic Vocabulary, and Text Critical Vocabulary. Materials focus on elements of vocabulary, such as abstract or multiple meanings, connotation, relationships among words, and morphology.

Vocabulary Routines can be found in the Resources section of the Implementation Guide and include routines and instructional examples such as the Frayer Model, Morpheme Matrix, Outside-In, Relationship Mapping, and Word Line. Teachers utilize Word Walls and Vocabulary Journals for students to record newly-acquired words and vocabulary strategies.

Appendix B includes vocabulary support that explains the implicit and explicit vocabulary instruction. For example, Core lessons, 75-min. daily: vocabulary study that is essential to understanding the text at hand. Instructional strategies are explicitly introduced and practiced during vocabulary instruction and put into practice during a reading of the text. Vocabulary Deep Dives: vocabulary instruction and practice that advances students’ knowledge of high-value words and word-solving strategies, focusing on aspects such as abstract or multiple meanings, connotation, relationships across words, and morphology. The appendix also includes a Module Word List and a list of words that would pose a challenge to student comprehension.

Examples include:

Module 2

• Lesson 8 - Content Vocabulary - The Suffix “ism”
• Students apply different meanings of the suffix -ism to content vocabulary, and create sentences to demonstrate understanding.
• Lesson 19 - Content Vocabulary - Pulverized
• End of lesson task: Students respond to the following Exit Ticket: “Explain why you think that Bruchac used pulverized rather than one of its synonyms.”
• Lesson 14: Handout 14A Word Exploration

Read the words and definitions below. On a separate piece of paper, show what the words mean in an alternative way—either by a picture, a sentence using the word in context, a comparison or analogy, or by breaking the word down into its parts. When possible, show how the word is used in Code Talker, with a related picture, sentence, or comparison.

Module 3

• Lesson 11 - Academic Vocabulary: Alternate Claim, Opposing Claim
• Learning Goal -Use predicted and dictionary definitions of words and word relationships to understand alternate claims and opposing claims, developing basic argumentation skills.
• End of Lesson Task: Students respond to the following in their Vocabulary Journals: “How could knowing if someone else’s claim is an alternate or opposing claim help you better address it in an argument?”
• Lesson 12 - Content Vocabulary: Persuade, Persuasive
• Learning Goal: Deepen understanding of the meanings of the words persuade and persuasive by comparing and contrasting their meaning with those of related words.
• End of Lesson Task: Do a Whip Around in response to this question: “Why are ads an example of persuasion and not an example of an argument?
• Lesson 13: Vocabulary Deep Dive (Content Vocabulary: manipulative, deceptive)
• Lesson 32: Vocabulary Deep Dive (Academic Vocabulary: The Morphemes lit, literal)

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectation for materials supporting 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. Students are supported through the writing process with focusing question tasks in each module that help scaffold the writing process for the final End of Module (EOM) product. Students receive feedback from peers, the teacher, and self-evaluations to ensure that students' writing skills are increasing throughout the year. The following are examples of how materials are building students writing skills across multiple modules.

Through explicit learning-to-write instruction, teachers gradually release responsibility for a specific writing strategy through a series of lessons. One or more of the following Craft Stages shapes each lesson. (Implementation Guide)

• Examine: Students analyze how an exemplar models one or more writing strategies. The exemplar can come from authentic texts, class collaborative writing, or a module resource.
• Experiment: Students practice applying a target strategy. Scaffolded tasks provide significant support by limiting the volume of writing, providing parts of a writing piece, or focusing on a relatively simple topic.
• Execute: Students plan or draft a full writing piece, paying particular attention to applying the target strategy to support the purpose of the task.
• Excel: Students revise, edit, and respond to feedback on the pieces they drafted in the Execute stage, focusing on the target strategy. They reflect on their use of the strategy to refine their thinking about its use in current and future writing.

Students write an average of twenty or more minutes of writing pers lesson and are given explicit instruction of writing strategies. Students write both on-demand and process writing while accessing complex texts. There are a variety of writing performance tasks and Craft Lessons address 5 features; Structure, Development, Style, Conventions and process.

Students study Mentor texts and get feedback from the teacher, a peer, and themselves as well as being provided with writing checklist and rubrics to ensure that writing skills are grown throughout the year.

Module 1:

• Students will list four specific narrative elements or techniques and offer evidence from The Canterbury Tales that clearly illustrates each element or technique.

Module 2:

• Students will use an evidence guide to identify important aspects of Ned Begay’s Navajo identity in Code Talker.
• Students write a paragraph that analyzes how a particular aspect of Navajo culture supports Ned Begay over the course of Code Talker.
• End of Module task: Students write an informative essay that analyzes World War II’s effect on either Ned Begay or Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. They will revise the essay based on peer feedback.

Module 3:

• Students will write a paragraph about why “I Have a Dream” is inspiring, explaining both the contribution of King’s written words in the transcript and the contribution of his vocal delivery and image details in the video.
• Students write an argument paragraph about the most important theme about the power of language that Orwell develops in Animal Farm.
• End of Module task: Students will write an argument essay about whether language is more powerful when it is used to uplift or whether it is more powerful when used to control. Develop your argument with evidence from Animal Farm and at least one other text.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectations 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. Modules are divided into Focus Questions that build knowledge of a topic using multiple texts. The focus questions all build to the End-of-Module Task that encompasses a module’s worth of texts and source materials. Students also complete shorter research projects throughout the modules. Teachers are also encouraged to use pausing points to complete student-led research projects. In every grade, at least one EOM Task focuses on a sustained research project. In addition, students conduct a variety of short research projects throughout the year.

Examples include:

• Module 2: Through the fictional account of Ned Begay, a Navajo teenager called to war and the memoir of Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, a former internee of Manzanar camp, students explore this world conflict by entering the lives of those who lived through it. In Code Talker, by Joseph Bruchac, the protagonist experiences assimilation and battlefield combat, yet his Navajo culture provides him strength, self-awareness, and language—all of which create a remarkable opportunity to serve his country. In Farewell to Manzanar, young Jeannie struggles to understand and come to terms with the effects of her family’s wartime internment. From these unforgettable stories, students gain insight into the World War II era. The End-of-Module Task is an informative/explanatory essay. In it, students detail how one individual encountered adversity and/or opportunity as a result of the war, and how he or she formed identity in a time marked by challenge on both a national and human scale.
• Module 3: At the core of the module, Animal Farm, Orwell’s classic indictment of tyranny and corruption, provides a foundation for the lessons. Supplementary texts help students examine language and power. By the time students encounter the End-of-Module (EOM) Task, students weigh evidence from the array of texts and craft their own argument in response.
• Module 4: In An American Plague, Jim Murphy develops content knowledge through a detailed factual account of the epidemic. Students are immersed in eighteenth-century Philadelphia. They learn about medical practices that increased death rates, the young government’s panicked decision to adjourn, and the heroism of individuals like the Free African Society volunteers. Laurie Halse Anderson’s Fever 1793 has students experience the epidemic through the point of view of Mattie, a fourteen-year-old girl whose motivation must shift from avoiding chores to survival. The study of these texts cultivates meaningful understanding of the ways individuals can alleviate and exacerbate a crisis’s effects and of how writers of history and historical fiction use research to imbue their works with depth and truth. By the time students encounter the End-of-Module Task research essay, they are prepared to analyze and evaluate the ways Philadelphians responded to the epidemic, deepening their exploration of how times of crisis can affect citizens and society.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 7 meet the expectations for materials providing a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class. The majority of lessons require some independent readings of text followed by text-specific questions and tasks that reflect student accountability. Students are asked to annotate texts. Additionally, most homework assignments include independent readings and tasks that require students to produce evidence of reading and to keep an independent reading log.

Module 1:

• Lesson 4: Students skim chapters 1–5, rereading sections where Bud demonstrates his ability to survive. Students should annotate or take notes to help them with the Focusing Question Task in the next lesson.
• Lesson 15: Students reread chapters 18–19, annotating with a “T” the places that show Bud’s transformation.

Module 2:

• Lesson 8: Students read Chapter 7, completing a T-Chart to list what they notice and wonder as they read. Students note any vocabulary words related to the military that they encounter during their reading, try to predict their meaning using context clues, and be ready to discuss them in class during the next lesson. (Optional) Distribute Handout 8C to any struggling readers who might benefit from additional fluency practice. Tell students that they should keep this handout for the next four days, and can practice the passage for homework.
• Lesson 22: Students read Chapter 2 up to the break on page 15, ending on “scattered blue and white fragments across the wooden floor.” Students add questions and observations to their T-Charts.