6th Grade - Gateway 1

My Perspectives: English Language Arts Grade 6 contains anchor texts that are of publishable quality and worthy of reading for a variety of student interests. The publisher includes texts that are relevant for a variety of purposes. Authors of the anchor texts are noted in their various fields as accomplished writers. As illustrated below the selections are content rich and range in topic from childhood to technology and exploration. The texts also cover multiple genres. Each anchor text relates directly to the theme of the unit and following works support students as they seek to answer the unit’s essential question.

Examples of texts that represent how this program meets the requirement of quality text include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Excerpt from Brown Girl Dreaming (Memoir in Verse - Poetry) by Jacqueline Woodson
• Excerpt from “My Life with the Chimpanzees” (Memoir) by Jane Goodall
• “Teens and Technology Share a Future” (Blog Post) by Stefan Etienne
• “The Phantom Tollbooth” Acts 1 and 2 (Drama) by Susan Nanus
• Excerpt from “The Long Way Home” (Memoir) by Saroo Brierley

The instructional materials for My Perspectives Grade 6 meet the expectations for reflecting the distribution of text types and genres required by the standards. Throughout the five (5) units of study, the texts selected are a balanced mixture of informational and literary reading selections. The variety of genres and text types include memoirs, blog posts, essays, short stories, novel excerpts, news articles, poems, and drama. Adding additional genres to the already diverse selections within the textbook, there are suggested trade books which can be used as supplemental material.

Students in Grade 6 are exposed to this text balance across the units, as noted by the representative examples below:

Unit 1: Childhood
“Brown Girl” (memoir)
“Calvin and Hobbes” (comic strip)
“Declaration of the Rights of the Child” (public document)

Unit 2: Animal Allies
“My Life with the Chimpanzees” (personal narrative with audio)
“A Blessing” (poetry)
“Black Cowboy, Wild Horses” (short story)

Unit 3: Modern Technology
“Teens and Technology Share a Future” (nonfiction)
“The Internet of Things” (video from IBM as text)
"The Fun They Had” (short story)

Unit 4: Imagination
“The Phantom Tollbooth” (drama)
from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (novel excerpt)

Unit 5: Exploration
“Animation All about Exploration” (media - video)
“Mission Twinpossible” (news article)
from Lewis & Clark (graphic novel)

My Perspectives: English Language Arts Grade 6 has the appropriate level of complexity according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and relationship to their associated student task. While the quantitative is the Lexile score and length of pages for the readings, the qualitative criteria is based on Knowledge Demands, Structure, Language Conventionality and Clarity, and Levels of Meaning/Purpose. The publisher’s “Text Complexity Rubric” assesses each reading on a 5-point scale (with 5 being the highest level) for each criteria.

When looking at quantitative analysis, most texts are within the lexile band for grades 6-8 (730-1410). The provided qualitative analyses of the texts in Grade 6 reveal most texts fall in the 3 and 4 range ("moderate" to "somewhat challenging"). Below is evidence from the Grade 6 series illustrating various types of texts as annotated in the Teacher’s Edition. Additionally, the relationship between the level of complexity and the relationship to student tasks is appropriate for the grade level.

Unit 1: Childhood

“Calvin and Hobbes” (comic strip) page 27
Format and Length: Three comic strips with speech bubble, titles; lower quantitative measure due to fewer words to measure
Knowledge Demands - 2
Structure - 1 “Traditional and familiar comic format…”
Language Conventionality and Clarity - 1 “Speech bubbles have very simple conversational language…”
Levels of Meaning/Purpose - 3 “The cartoons use ironic humor, subtle meaning, and meaning that must be inferred from knowledge of the characters…”

Unit 3: Modern Technology, includes “Feathered Friend” (first-person narrative) p195
Lexile: 1100 Text Length: 1,281 words
Knowledge Demands - 3 “The experiences that are portrayed in story (life in space station) are uncommon to the readers, but are explained.”
Structure - 3 “The story is told chronologically, but the situation is not fully revealed right away…”
Language Conventionality and Clarity - 3 “The language is clear and concrete. Some sentences are very long, with complex structure and multiple clauses…”
Levels of Meaning/Purpose - 3 “The situations and meaning of the story are not revealed until the end, but once they are revealed, they are explicit and easy to understand.”

The materials for My Perspectives: English Language Arts for Grade 6 support students’ increasing literacy skills over the course of the school year. The distribution of texts meets both the quantitative and qualitative measures for text complexity for the sixth grade level. Teacher’s editions divide texts for each unit into color-coded levels of Whole Class Learning (green), Small Group Learning (turquoise), and Independent Learning (purple). Not only do the texts build with the challenges of what students are being asked to do to read complex texts, especially with language and meaning, but also the writing builds throughout each unit and throughout the year.

The series of texts in each unit vary in text complexity but build in complexity throughout the year. The publisher adds a rubric for each reading that assesses the quantitative and qualitative value for each reading. The qualitative demands increase throughout the year and are mostly in the moderate and complex range by unit 5 at the end of the year. Each unit contains selected tasks that can be used to assess students’ grasp of concepts such as a performance tasks that includes both a writing and a speaking/listening component. The materials also contain formative assessments with suggestions for reteaching and selection of test items for tracking student mastery of literacy standards across the year.

Readings vary in text complexity over the entire school year to build students literacy skills. The materials support a spectrum of qualitative and knowledge demands to provide students opportunity to engage with texts that are rigorous in a variety of ways. The following text example is but one to illustrate how the placement of texts supports students' increasing challenges over the year:

Unit 1: Childhood
“I Was a Skinny Tomboy” (poem)
Lexile: N/A Text Length: N/A
Knowledge Demands - 3
Structure - 4
Language Conventionality and Clarity - 3
Levels of Meaning/Purpose - 3

Unit 4: Imagination
From The Shah of Blah (novel)
Lexile: 1060L Text Length: 3,356 words
Knowledge Demands - 4
Structure - 4
Language Conventionality and Clarity - 3
Levels of Meaning/Purpose - 4

In this example, the Unit 1 text is a poem that students engage with to build skills; the placement of the longer, more quantitatively difficult text later in the suggested scope allows time for students to build stamina and skills.

The Teacher’s Editions for My Perspectives: English Language Arts Grade 6 includes a text complexity analysis and rationale for purpose and placement of anchor texts and series of texts in Grade 6. The publisher includes a “Planning” section before the anchor texts and series of texts that lists the Lesson Resources with a “Text Complexity Rubric.”The Planning section gives a summary and insight for the anchor texts, as well as an explanation for connections between the Essential Question, Performance Tasks, and the reading selections. A rationale is included for the scores given on the rubric. The text complexity rubric includes Lexile level, text length, and qualitative measures such as Knowledge Demands, Structure, Language Conventionality and Clarity, and Levels of Meaning/Purpose

The Planning section for each unit include the following sections to support teachers as they work with students to build literacy:

• Summary of the text
• Insight into the rationale for the text selection
• Connection to the essential question
• Connection to performance tasks

The materials for My Perspectives: English Language Arts Grade 6 fully meet the requirements for this indicator. The anchor text(s), including support materials, provide opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of reading to achieve grade level reading.

For each of the five units, there are multiple selections lined to a central theme and essential question. In each unit students are given the opportunity to engage in a large volume of reading following a similar format beginning with whole group learning, then small group learning, and finally independent learning ending in a culminating Performance Based Assessment. There is a variety of genres found in each unit and all units are organized by the gradual release of responsibility model to provide students with supports throughout the unit which includes close reading and multiple-reads.

Text examples used within Grade 6 are as follows:

Unit 1: Childhood
Anchor Text: from Brown Girl Dreaming (Memoir in Verse - Poetry) by Jacqueline Woodson p 12
Range and Volume: Memoir from larger work - 7 poems to analyze
Growth toward Grade Level: Scores of 4 on Qualitative- Language and Purpose

Unit 4: Imagination
Anchor Text: “The Phantom Tollbooth” Acts 1 and 2 (Drama) by Susan Nanus p 282 and p 312
Range and Volume: Drama - two acts paired with Media - Video
Amount of Time Spent: 13 days on Pacing Plan p 272 in TE
Growth toward Grade Level: Scores of 4 on Qualitative- Structure and Language

The instructional materials reviewed for My Perspectives: English Language Arts Grade 6 meet expectations that most of the questions, tasks, and assignments are text dependent and require students to engage with the text directly. Students are required to provide evidence from the text to support their responses in almost all questions and the Teacher’s Edition provides formative assessment suggestions that remind students to cite evidence from the text.Combined Evidence:

The materials provide a consistent format for students to engage with text-dependent questions and/or tasks. Each anchor and small group text asks students to answer analyze craft and structure questions. Also, each text selection is followed by a section to analyze the text in which students are asked to interpret, draw conclusions, and speculate using text evidence to support their answers. The last question directs students to the unit’s essential question using text evidence to support their thinking. During small group instruction, students work through a comprehension check which begins with literal text-dependent questions and then moves to more analytical “why” questions and a written summary. After reading in their small groups, students discuss answers to these questions and clarify details from the text.

Examples of questions and tasks that require text-based evidence include, but are not limited to, the following:

After reading “Teens and Technology Share a Future” in Unit 3, students are confronted with the task, Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the text. Briefly research that detail. In what way does the information you learned shed light on an aspect of the blog post. Students then use the Evidence Log for Exploration: After summarizing a text and quick writing about what they have read, students formulate their point of view in one succinct sentence and then record textual evidence to support their point of view.

Samples of text-dependent questions which accompany reading selections include questions such as:

After reading Jacqueline Woodson’s memoir Brown Girl Dreaming in Unit 1, students are asked What can you tell about Woodson from these lines? What can you tell about her sister? List three details from the poems that connect to as aspect of Woodson’s personality. What do these details suggest about Woodson as a child? Identify one example of a private thought or feeling Woodson shares in her memoir. Explain how the use of first-person point of view allows her to share this detail.

After reading Leena Khan’s “The Black Hole of Technology” in Unit 3, students are asked Why does Leena Khan feel the urge to check her cell phone for a signal when she is walking toward a temple in Cambodia? Why does she draw a connection between listening to the guide and accessing data on her cellphone?

After reading Saroo Brierley’s A Long Way Home in Unit 5, Why does Brierley provide so much detail about his thought process? What can you conclude about Brierley and his mission from these details? Why might the author have used a simile to describe what he was viewing on his computer screen? How does Brierley emphasize the importance of his search method and process throughout the excerpt?

The instructional materials reviewed for My Perspectives: English Language Arts Grade 7 meet expectations that the text-dependent questions and tasks build to culminating tasks that integrates skills (writing, speaking or a combination) which provide teachers information about what students know and are able to do.

Each unit has the same format of teacher led, small group, and independent student learning which culminates in a performance-based writing assessment. Not only do the texts build with the challenges of what students are being asked to do to read the complex texts, but also the writing builds throughout each unit and throughout the year. All units end with a writing task and a speaking and listening performance task focused on the unit essential question and backward mapped from all unit activities. These culminating writing tasks are different genres of writing such as argument and explanatory essays and narratives.

Both text-dependent questions and writing tasks build throughout each unit to support students in the culminating writing task. A few examples that are representative of this include:

Unit 2: Animal Allies. Students complete a culminating task in which they present an explanatory essay for this prompt: What effects do the animals have on the characters from the selections? Use images to illustrate your presentation” (the format is a multimedia slideshow). Working in groups, students plan, rehearse, present, evaluate texts, provide evidence, and select media examples. They organize their ideas and practice delivering the presentation. Students apply presentation techniques and evaluate their work using a checklist. This allows for an integration of writing with speaking.

After whole group learning students are asked to do a performance task with a writing focus. Selections provide an audio summary to help students build additional background knowledge before the first read and have a connection to the unit’s essential question as well as connection to the whole-class learning performance task and the unit performance task (Unit 2 TE p.126A).

The Unit 5 culminating writing task is an argument answering the question, “Should kids today be encouraged to become explorers?” In Unit 5, using their knowledge from reading A Long Way Home and viewing "Animation All About Exploration,”students complete a Performance Task asking them to write an argument in which they state and support their position on the following questions: “Is exploration a courageous act that requires a unique sense of adventure? Or, is exploration so natural to human beings that anyone can be an explorer?”

Students begin the unit by answering this same question in a quick write after reading the launch text, viewing the unit introductory video, and participating in class discussion. While analyzing the anchor text, “A Long Way Home,” students respond to the question, “What has this text revealed about what drives people to explore?” The culminating activity for the anchor texts requires students to write an argument stating a claim in response to the question, “Is Saroo Brierly an explorer? Why or why not?” which helps prepare them for the culminating writing task.

My Perspectives: English Language Arts Grade 6 meets the expectations for Indicator 1i. For each series the units are divided into Whole-Learning, Small-Group Learning, and Independent Learning. Students are given multiple opportunities to work with partners and groups to learn and model academic vocabulary and syntax. Throughout the series there are sections like “Making Meaning” and “Language Development” that are solely devoted to academic vocabulary and syntax. Throughout the texts in both the teacher’s edition and student’s edition, academic terms are highlighted in each unit. Graphic organizers are used repeatedly throughout the series to give students words that will be useful as they analyze, discuss, and write about the texts.

Examples of how the program meets the expectations of the indicator include, but are not limited to, the following:

Learning strategies and actions are found at the beginning of each of the three sections in each unit: Whole-Class Learning, Small-Group, and Independent Learning. Strategies for Whole-Class Learning include: listen actively, clarify by asking questions, monitor understanding, interact and share ideas. Strategies for Small-Group Learning include: prepare, participate fully, support others, and clarify. Strategies for Independent Learning include: create a schedule, practice what you’ve learned, and take notes. There are also videos teachers could show on learning strategies available online in the Professional Development Center.

Prior to the Small-Group Learning, the teacher edition provides support for instructing students in being effective members of a small group. Students are provided the 5 steps for working as a team:
1. Take a Position
2. List Your Rules
3. Apply the Rules
4. Name Your Group
5. Create a Communication Plan

The materials also include support for teachers to instruct in Accountable Talk with sentence stems:

Remember to…

• Ask clarifying questions.

Which sounds like…

• Can you please repeat what you said?
• Would you give me an example?
• I think you said ________. Did I understand you?

Remember to…

Explain your thinking.

Which sounds like…

• I believe __________ is true because ________.
• I feel that ____________ because ___________.

Remember to…

• Build on the ideas of others.

Which sounds like….

• When_____________ said _____________, it made me think of ____________.

The instructional materials, My Perspectives Grade 6, support students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading and researching with relevant follow-up questions and supports. There are several opportunities within this series for students to discuss topics with classmates and teachers. In all five units of study, there is a section dedicated to “Speaking and Listening.” Some examples of how the materials support this indicator include (but are not limited to):

Unit 2

Small-Group Learning: Students present in their small group passages from the text they found especially important, discussing what they noticed, what questions they asked, and what conclusions they reached.

Speaking and Listening: Dr. Goodall describes several chimpanzee behaviors that are similar to human behaviors. Participate in a whole-group discussion in which you analyze these behaviors.

In Unit 4, under small-group learning: Students create and deliver an oral presentation based on the poem “Jabberwocky”. It can be either a dramatic poetry reading or a multimedia presentation. A Performance task in this unit: Students write and perform a fictional narrative with their group based on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

The instructional materials reviewed for My Perspectives Grade 6 meet the expectations of indicator 1k. The materials include a mix of on-demand and process writing and short, focused projects, incorporating digital resources where appropriate.

Each of the five units begins with a launch text modeling the type of writing students will be completing in their performance assessment at the end of the unit. Immediately following the launch text, students write a summary of the launch text and a quick write responding to a prompt focused on the essential question and preparing them for the culminating unit performance task. Additionally, each unit contains a writing activity at the end of the whole-class learning and at least one of the small-group text includes a writing activity. Each unit ends with a culminating writing performance assessment.

Examples of how the program includes on-demand and process writing include, but are not limited to the following examples:

Unit 1 includes a focused writing task: Students write a brief nonfiction narrative in verse in which they emulate the poetic style of Jacqueline Woodson in her memoir-poem “Brown Girl Dreaming.”

In Unit 3, during whole-class learning, students read the short story, “Feathered Friend” and write a brief argumentative essay in which they take a position on the question: Is it risky to become too dependent on technology? Additionally, Students read two blog posts, “Teens and Technology Share a Future” and “The Black Hole of Technology.” They write an argumentative essay in which they compare and contrast the two and decide which one is more convincing.

In Unit 4, after reading the launch text, students are asked to write a summary of “The Great Universal Undo.” A QuickWrite is done to the prompt, “How can imagination lead you somewhere unexpected?”

Students write a narrative retelling by rewriting a scene from The Phantom Tollbooth from another character’s point of view.

The instructional materials, My Perspectives Grade 6, meet the criteria for Indicator 1l. Materials provide opportunities for students to address different text types of writing that reflect the distribution required by the standards. Within each unit, all writing tasks are directly related to the text and/or essential questions for the units. Students engage in writing narrative, informational, and argumentative pieces across all units as demonstrated in the evidence below.

Unit 2

• Narrative: Students write a short story about a trip in space with any kind of animal. Students are to include information of what the animal did and how its presence in space affected the animal or people.
• Informational: Students write a brief explanatory essay describing the process Jane Goodall used to gain chimpanzee’s friendship.

Unit 4

• Narrative: Performance Task: Writing Focus - Write a Fictional Narrative

Unit 5

• Argumentative: Performance Task: Writing Focus - Write a brief argument

• Narrative/Informational: Students imagine that they are astronauts each with a twin (as in the text “Mission Twinpossible”). Students choose if they would rather be on the ground or in the space station for the experimental year. They compose a paragraph in the voice of that astronaut, describing feelings about going into space or being on the ground, why they prefer the choice taken, and what other plans they would have for the year.

The instructional materials reviewed for My Perspectives Grade 6 meet the expectations for indicator 1m because they include frequent opportunities for evidence-based writing to support careful analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information. Frequent opportunities exist across the school year for students to acquire and practice skills that they can use in various assignments and performance-based assessments. Students also write multiple argumentative compositions in which they must clarify and defend claims using evidence from texts and/or sources.

In Unit 2, students engage in a Challenge (Writing): Write a one-page counterclaim in which you argue the opposing point of view from that you took in the assignment (i.e., writing to sources for the selection “Feathered Friend”). Include logic, reasoning, and support that is used, or would likely be used, to back up that claim.

In Unit 3, students write an argument in the form of an editorial stating their position on the question: Do electronic devices and online access really improve our lives? They are given direction on what an editorial is with a listing of elements of effective editorials, pp 228-233.

• A precise claim or position
• Clear reasons and evidence that support the claim
• Logical organization making clear connections among claims, reasons, and evidence
• Concluding statement that logically completes the argument
• Formal and objective language
• Use of transitions to show relationships between ideas
• A model is provided in the form of the Launch Text.
• Chart is provided supporting students initial writing of the claim and planning their argument.

In Unit 5, students work in the Writing to Sources section. Definition of an argument given to students, and the assignment is to write an argument in which you state a claim in response to a question. In the writing to sources section, students write a short explanatory essay in which they draw conclusions about the role of humor in the instructional video. Students also do a How-to Essay...explain the steps in the process- Students will conduct research, organize information, cite sources

My Perspectives Grade 6 meets the expectations for indicator 1n. Materials include explicit instruction of the grammar and conventions standards for grade level as applied in increasingly sophisticated contexts, with opportunities for application both in and out of context. Included in each unit are frequent opportunities for students to demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage through writing or speaking. Some grammar, mechanics and conventions are taught explicitly while others are integrated with the reading and writing instruction. Each unit has a Planning section for the teacher. Under the heading “Lesson Resources,” the activities for a text are laid out clearly for the teacher. It is divided into 3 sections: Making Meaning, Language Development, and Effective Expression.

Examples of how the program meets the expectation of indicator 1n, include (but are not limited to) the following:

In Unit 2, after reading “The Phantom Tollbooth, Act II”, students are given a list of conventions with definitions: Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences. Additional definitions are given for independent clause and dependent clause. Examples are provided for Simple Sentence, Compound Sentence, and Complex Sentence. Then, students are asked to mark the “independent and dependent clauses” with examples from the text. Then, students are asked to revise a simple sentence into a compound or complex sentence.

In Unit 4, the teacher reviews with students the use of pronouns and antecedents, using the chart provided in the SE. Students then identify pronoun/antecedent pairs in sentences and correct if they do not agree. They are provided two additional sentences and are to correct the pronoun-antecedent agreement.

In Unit 5, students write an argumentative essay (p 439) for a whole class performance task. Instructions include editing for conventions and proofreading for accuracy. Students are reminded to reread and correct errors in grammar and word usage, making sure they have used words that accurately reflect their meaning. They are to look for errors in spelling and punctuation, making sure they have not confused words that sound the same. Teachers are instructed to suggest students edit each other’s essays for conventions and accuracy, explaining that when writers spend a lot of time developing an essay, they can often miss their own errors.