11th Grade - Gateway 3

The materials reviewed for Grade 11 provide some strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.

The Program Guide includes, “Prior to starting each unit, teachers are encouraged to initiate a conversation with students, parents and guardians, explaining the unit’s particular aspects of diversity (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender and gender identity, and sexual orientation) and prime students to engage in brave conversations about topics that may be challenging.” While materials include a Remote Learning Guide that outlines several ways teachers can communicate and monitor students, the materials do not outline strategies that inform stakeholders how they can help support student progress and achievement.

Materials provide some strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Materials contain strategies for informing students, parents, or caregivers about the ELA program.

  • In the Program Guide, materials provide general ideas for informing students, parents, or caregivers: “Educators might also engage parents, counselors, and other respected community advisors in conversations about the texts and topics students are studying. Teachers are encouraged to create a kind, open, and safe environment for students to engage with multiple perspectives and grow as individuals.” Materials do not explicitly mention specific strategies for informing students, parents, or caregivers.

  • In the Remote Learning Guide, materials include various ways in which teachers can communicate with students. For example, the Remote Learning Guide includes that, “A major concern for educators in remote learning is how to diagnose, monitor, and evaluate student progress in reading, writing, and speaking. In synchronous learning sessions, this type of monitoring can be done in much the same way as in the brick-and-mortar classroom—via entry tasks, discussion check-ins, polling, group work, and exit tickets.” Materials do not include a thorough explanation of how instructional information is communicated with various stakeholders.

• Materials do not contain suggestions for how parents or caregivers can help support student progress and achievement.

• In the Program Guide, materials outline an end-of-year activity: “At the end of the year, each class’s learning community presents newfound knowledge about timely and relevant issues to a forum made up of students’ school, guardians, and local community.” Materials do not provide concrete actions for parents or caregivers to support student progress and achievement during this task.

• In the Application Unit, What Do I Want to Research?, Section 5, Lesson 1, students select one of three options to present their Culminating Task: in-class, school-wide, or community-based presentations. In Section 5, Lesson 6, the Teacher Edition provides a few different ways for students to share their research with the larger community. The following example is listed in the Teacher Edition: “Option 1 is a community celebration, where students’ families, friends and other teachers are invited, as well as their peers. This would be an opportunity for the students to celebrate their hard work on a sustained, independent research project in a broader, more interesting forum for their concluding question and answer session.” While this option provides an opportunity to involve stakeholders during the presentation of students’ work, neither the Teacher Edition Teaching Notes or the student-facing materials specifically mention how parents or caregivers can support student progress and achievement as students work to complete this task.

The materials reviewed for Grade 11 include assessments that offer accommodations that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills without changing the content of the assessment.Students can increase the font size of text within the digital materials by clicking on the delta arrows on the right side of the text box; however, materials do not provide guidance on the use of this provided accommodation.   

Assessments offer accommodations that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills without changing the content of the assessment. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Materials offer accommodations that ensure all students can access the assessment (e.g., text-to-speech, increased font size) without changing the content of the assessment. Materials do not include guidance for teachers on the use of provided accommodations.

  • In the Program Guide, Website Guidance, Activity Pages, the Student Directions section includes the following note, “This section provides student-facing directions, which can be expanded to increase the font size for better readability. For activities that contain more than one step, segmenting is used. Activity segments are indicated by horizontal bars across the top of the directions pane.” Materials do not explain how students can increase the font size.

The materials reviewed for Grade 11 provide varied approaches to learning tasks over time and variety in how students are expected to demonstrate their learning with opportunities for students to monitor their learning. 

The program design allows students to make choices about their learning and research. Approaches to presentation and demonstration of learning vary. Students work with partners, present with small groups, and complete individual tasks to demonstrate learning. Students share their thinking in various contexts, including multi-modal opportunities during which students investigate and problem-solve with peers. Materials leverage multiple formats for students to deepen their understanding and ability to explain and apply literacy ideas. Students and teachers can monitor student learning through formative and summative assessment opportunities, such as peer reviews and discussions, teacher feedback on Section Diagnostics, and reflection on the culminating tasks. The program offers students frequent opportunities for self-reflection, and they can self-evaluate their progress on their ability to successfully meet the learning goals.

Materials provide varied approaches to learning tasks over time and variety in how students are expected to demonstrate their learning with opportunities for students to monitor their learning. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Materials provide multi-modal opportunities for students to question, investigate, sense-make, and problem-solve using a variety of formats and methods. Materials leverage the use of a variety of formats and methods over time to deepen student understanding and ability to explain and apply literacy ideas.

  • In the Foundation Unit, What Does It Mean to Be an American?, Section 4, Lesson 1, students present their pathway findings around the Central Question, “What does it mean to be an American?”, to the class. Students choose from the following pathways—culture and American identity; democracy, civic engagement, and American identity; immigration and American identity; race, ethnicity, and American identity; religion and American identity; and war and American identity—and create a 5–7 minute presentation considering how their pathway topic enhanced their understanding of what it means to be an American.

  • In the Application Unit, What Do I Want to Research?, students form research teams to explore an inquiry question they develop themselves. The Program Guide shares, “Students expand their learning community as they develop a presentation for the larger school community. The Application Unit includes independent and collaborative reading, writing, discussion, and presentation.” In Section 5, Lesson 6, students rehearse their presentations with the research team and receive peer feedback to refine their work. The student facing-materials include guidance such as, “As you listen to the other team’s presentation, use the Peer Review Culminating Task Checklist to guide your feedback to the team to help them refine their work after the rehearsal. If needed, refer to the Presentation Creation Process, Presentation Structure, and Presentation Written Components sections of the Application Unit Presentation Guide to inform your thinking and feedback.”

• Students have opportunities to share their thinking, to demonstrate changes in their thinking over time, and to apply their understanding in new contexts.

  • In the Development Unit, The Warmth of Other Suns, Section 3, Lesson 3, students work in jigsaw groups to share their thinking and apply the changes in their thinking before presenting to another group and revising their claims. Students discuss their learning with their home groups: “Each expert (A, B, and C) shares their learning about their assigned focus figures (Ida, George, and Robert) with their home groups, using the guiding questions on the Jigsaw Note-Taking Tool to guide the content shared.” Then, students apply their learning by revising their claims: “By revising claims, we will continue to synthesize our understanding of the push-and-pull factors influencing each focus figure’s decision to leave the South.”

  • In the Development Unit, The American Dream of Homeownership, Section 3, Lesson 5, students work in research teams to share their thinking and discuss how their thinking has changed over time in order to develop a strong argument for the Section 3 Diagnostic. Students reconsider their thoughts by completing activities such as the following explained in the student-facing materials: “Reconsider the reading and research you have previously done in light of the position statement you just drafted. Consider the following questions: Which texts and sources might contain information that you can use to develop and explain your position? Which arguments, if any, align with your position and might be used as models to build from? Which arguments, if any, oppose your position and might be countered?” Students then apply their thinking to different contexts while drafting their arguments and sharing them with their peer-review team: “To be successful on the Section 3 Diagnostic, in which they will present their plan to a peer-review team, students will need to have their arguments laid out, including a position statement and a series of supporting claims.”

• Materials provide for ongoing review, practice, self-reflection, and feedback. Materials provide a clear path for students to monitor and move their own learning.

  • In the Development Unit, The Great Gatsby, Section 2, Lesson 8, students reflect on their learning throughout the unit to prepare for the Culminating Task at the end of the unit. The teacher edition describes how students monitor their learning in this lesson: “As students become more aware of their own performance, they learn how to more accurately predict their future performance on a range of other tasks. By identifying and self-evaluating initial mastery levels, students can focus on the skills and knowledge they need to build.” Students answer the following reflection questions listed in the student-facing materials.

    • “What new knowledge do you have in relation to the Central Question?

    • What are you still curious about in relation to the Central Question?

    • What is the relationship between the question and the texts you have read so far? How do the texts shed light on the question? How does the question help you understand the texts?

    • How has your response to the question evolved, deepened, or changed?”

  • In the Development Unit, Friday Night Lights, Section 4, Lesson 8, students engage in a formal academic discussion to synthesize their understanding of the unit texts and the values in high school athletics. Students utilize a Discussion Tool as they work with their peers to take notes. Student-facing materials include the following guidance: “The tool provides space for you to note the claims other students make and the evidence they use to support their claims. There is also a space in which you can summarize the discussion, including the points of agreement and disagreement.”

  • In the Development Unit, Telling Stories with Film, Section 2, Lessons 9–10, students write essays comparing the levels of realism between Blackfish and a more fictionalized movie. Materials include opportunities for students to self-reflect on their work on the Diagnostic and assess their progress toward being able to successfully complete the Culminating Task. For example, students respond to questions in their Learning Logs, such as: “3. What did you struggle with during the completion of this task? How did you push through these struggles?” Students also review the Culminating Task Progress Tracker to evaluate their skills and knowledge to determine readiness for the Culminating Task.

The materials reviewed for Grade 11 provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.

Students have opportunities to work one-on-one with the instructor; in pairs, small groups, and research teams; and as a whole-group during various activities throughout the materials. The Teaching Notes of the Teacher Edition include a range of choices and details to assist teachers with implementation. Materials include guidance as to when teachers can change group activities, such as altering the implementation of jigsaw activities, opening up the activity to the whole group, and individualizing and designing groups as they see fit. Student-facing materials provide guidance and descriptions for student group interactions. Materials offer students guiding questions, norms, criteria for discussion, and other necessary information to complete the activities successfully.

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

• Materials provide grouping strategies for students. Materials provide for varied types of interaction among students.

  • In the Development Unit, The Warmth of Other Suns, Section 2, Lesson 1, students work with a partner to share their revisions and additions to their Notice and Wonder table, what they expect to be doing in the unit, and how this task supports their efforts in accomplishing the unit’s Culminating Task. In Lesson 3, students work with a partner to analyze the poem “The Lynching” by Claude McKay and answer a series of discussion questions such as, “What is the speaker’s perspective on the poem’s topic?” and “How does the speaker’s word choice develop the tone and convey his perspective?” Students then participate in a whole-class discussion based on their responses.

  • In the Development Unit, The American Dream of Homeownership, Section 3, Lesson 1, students join discussion teams to discuss subtopics identified in their Culminating Task Checklist that interest them before switching to new teams that chose other subtopics. In Lesson 4, students join research teams to write a one-paragraph overview of where they believe their questions may lead, as they continue their research projects. Students then share their findings with the class.

  • In the Development Unit, Friday Night Lights, Section 3, Lesson 3, students work in pairs to determine the central claim of a text. The student-facing materials include the following guidance: “We will work in small groups to determine the central claim of ‘Women and Men in Sports: Separate is Not Equal.’ We will complete a copy of the Evaluating Ideas Tool, identifying evidence the author uses to support that claim…With your group, discuss the following guiding question: ‘What is the authors’ claim about the role of gender in athletics?’”

  • In the Application Unit, What Do I Want to Research?, Section 5, Lesson 4, students work in research teams to prepare for their presentations. The student-facing materials include the following guidance: “We will meet with our teams to review all of the written components of our presentations and confirm next steps before we continue to draft our other written components. Our teacher will conference with us, answering questions and advising us as we work… Once all team members have reviewed and provided feedback on each of the components, discuss the following questions as a team to help create a task list for the necessary revisions and additional research.”

• Materials provide guidance for the teacher on grouping students in a variety of grouping formats.

  • In the Foundation Unit, What Does It Mean to Be an American?, Section 2, Lesson 1, students begin working in their research teams to determine the best ways to work as a group. The Teacher Edition provides the following guidance for grouping students: “There are several ways to have students select their research teams. You could assign students heterogeneously, based on their demonstrated reading, writing, and presenting skills. You could have each student write down their top two choices on index cards and assign groups from their choices, or you could have students select their own groups.”

  • In the Development Unit, The Great Gatsby, Section 1, Lesson 1, students have the option to work in pairs or small groups to answer a series of questions, such as, “What is the meaning of the word perception? What influences how people perceive things? In what ways do people’s perceptions influence their lives?”, from Question Set 1.1. If students work in groups, guidance in the Teaching Notes directs teachers to assign different questions to each group. The Teaching Notes also note: “Some groups might need support in unpacking the Culminating Task prompt and the evaluation criteria. You might check on students individually to probe their understanding of what is being asked of them.” Teacher guidance continues, explaining that bringing the class back to a whole-group discussion can help provide a clear understanding for the task.

  • In the Development Unit, The Warmth of Other Suns, Section 2, Lesson 6, students participate in a group discussion during the Section Diagnostic. As they work in their home groups, the Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition includes the following guidance:

    • “As students work, you can check on students individually to ensure that they understand the tool and its use and to provide support and challenge.

    • You can reconvene the whole group at the end of the activity to check for understanding about the coming Section Diagnostic and to allow for questions that might impede the coming discussion.”

  • In the Development Unit, Telling Stories with Film, Section 2, Lesson 8, students work in small groups to review the information they have gathered on the Understanding a Movie Tool. The student-facing materials describe the format for the group: “In groups of four, spend 5 minutes each describing the movie you chose for independent viewing. Your teacher will announce it when five minutes are up. Refer to the evidence, ideas, and claims from your Understanding a Movie Tool, including the excerpts of reviews you included.” The Teacher Edition includes additional guidance for teachers: “Depending on your class size and time constraints, consider adjusting the size of the small groups or the time allotted for each informal mini-presentation. If your class is very small, have each student present the information from their Understanding a Movie Tools to the whole class.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 11 provide a balance of images or information about people, representing various demographic and physical characteristics.

Students have several opportunities to read and view materials and assessments that depict individuals of different genders, races, ethnicities, and other physical characteristics. Materials offer a wide variety of texts and topics that balance information of different demographics. Materials work to maintain a balance of positive portrayals in representation to prevent the prevalence of negative stereotypes harmful to students. Because materials include a multitude of voices and perspectives, students have the opportunity to see themselves succeed based on the representation of characters in the text they read throughout the units.  

Materials provide a balance of images or information about people, representing various demographic and physical characteristics. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Materials and assessments depict different individuals of different genders, races, ethnicities, and other physical characteristics.

• In the Foundation Unit, What Does It Mean to Be An American?, students read a variety of texts, representing different perspectives and various demographics, on what it means to be American. Selections include “The 14th Amendment’s Tortuous Relationship with American Indians” by Scott Bomboy, “President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address” by Barack Obama, and “What Does it Mean to be an American?” by Amy Pearl & Jennifer Hsu. Materials provide perspectives from the Indian, Asian, and African American communities on the issues surrounding the question, “What does it mean to be an American?”  

• In the Development Unit, The Warmth of Other Suns, Section 1, Lesson 4, students analyze three characters from The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. Each character represents varying characteristics, including gender and background. The student-facing materials include the following guidance outlining how students will look closely at these characters: “We will continue working in our expert groups to engage in our first jigsaw reading about the three central figures in Wilkerson’s text: Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, George Swanson Starling, and Robert Joseph Pershing Foster.”

• Materials and assessments balance positive portrayals of demographics or physical characteristics. Materials avoid stereotypes or language that might be offensive to a particular group.

  • In the Development Unit, The Great Gatsby, Section 2, Lesson 6, materials balance the representation of the American Dream discussed in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald with the perspective of African Americans from Langston Hughes’ poem “I, Too.” The poem avoids stereotypes and focuses on the humanity, hope, and patriotism of African Americans: “In light of our examination of the American Dream and character as they relate to The Great Gatsby, we will examine how the novel depicts people from other racial or ethnic backgrounds than those of the main characters and Fitzgerald himself. We will then read and analyze an opposed view of race in America written by African American poet Langston Hughes.”

  • In the Development Unit, Friday Night Lights, students examine the central question, “How do high school athletics reflect American society?” Materials balance positive and stereotypical representations as students examine fandom, race, gender, and values in J.D. Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights. For example, in Section 2, Lessons 2 and 5, students explore the issue of race in Friday Night Lights in tandem with “Unchecked, Unchallenged and Unabashed: Is Racism in High School Sports Being Tolerated?” by Ivey DeJesus and “The White Flight from Football” by Alana Semuels. The materials balance the representations in Friday Night Lights with the critical lens found in the accompanying readings by posing questions for students to consider:

    • “The author states, ‘Under the proverbial Friday night lights that shape so much of a young person’s high school experience, racism seems to be courting a foothold on the field and court—unchecked, unchallenged and unabashed: Is Racism in High School Sports Being Tolerated?’ This seems to be the author’s main claim, or her thesis statement. How does this statement relate to what we have read in Friday Night Lights?”

Rather than avoid stereotypes, materials acknowledge them and create critical discourse for students to discuss and analyze these representations. 

• Materials provide representations that show students that they can succeed in the subject, going beyond just showing photos of diverse students not engaged in work related to the context of the learning.

  • In the Development Unit, Telling Stories with Film, students create their own pitch for a film as the unit’s Culminating Task. Students take on the role of a director as they explore various representations of film. In Section 5, Lesson 6, the Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition guide students in using their momentum to extend their learning: “This includes problems within the sea-park industry and man's relationship to nature (Blackfish), police shootings of unarmed Black men and race relations in America (The Hate U Give), and countless other topics explored through the films chosen by students.” The work of George Tillman and The Hate U Give provide a diverse representation of a director, which can show students that they can succeed in filmmaking. 

  • In the Development Unit, The American Dream of Homeownership, students read several texts on the unit topic the American Dream of Homeownership and  examine homeownership rates among ethnic groups throughout the years. Many of the texts discuss homeownership as relatively elusive for most people of color, especially African Americans. For example, in Section 2, Lesson 1, the student-facing materials include the following introduction regarding homeownership: “We will continue to study the mythology of homeownership in America, recognizing that the American Dream, while compelling, has not been equally accessible to all Americans—a fact that Langston Hughes has referred to as a ‘dream deferred.’ We will examine the imagery in the Hughes poem and read an excerpt from a Smithsonian article by Isabel Wilkerson that overviews the Great Migration, with a focus on the discriminatory housing practices that Black Americans faced when they arrived in northern cities like Chicago. Through our work examining and comparing these texts, we will develop claims that investigate the following question: Why has homeownership been a ‘dream deferred’ for many Americans?” Throughout the unit, texts seem to focus on the challenges people from diverse backgrounds faced.

The materials reviewed for Grade 11 provide insufficient guidance to encourage teachers to draw upon student home language to facilitate learning.

The instructional materials include Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition that occasionally encourage teachers to draw upon student home language to facilitate learning. The Program Guide emphasizes a generalized, asset-based approach to learning across Grades 9–12 for students with diverse learning needs: “All students’ language, literacy, cultural knowledge, communities, and diversity are assets that should be leveraged as they develop and express their understanding in English language arts.” Although materials specify assets that should be leveraged, materials do not provide sufficient opportunities for teachers to draw upon student home language or for students to develop home language literacy.

Materials provide insufficient guidance to encourage teachers to draw upon student home language to facilitate learning. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Materials provide few suggestions and strategies to use the home language to support students in learning ELA. Teacher materials include minimal guidance on how to garner information that will aid in learning, including the family’s preferred language of communication, schooling experiences in other languages, literacy abilities in other languages, and previous exposure to academic or everyday English.

  • In the Development Unit, Telling Stories With Film, Section 3, Lesson 1, Activity 6, students review a list of the best high school movies, read a short synopsis of those movies, and decide which movies they would like to view independently. The teacher-facing materials offer several resources for students to use to curate their list of films and also add a support and differentiation piece that includes the following: “You might encourage English learners to research films in their home language.”

• Materials rarely present multilingualism as an asset in reading. Students are rarely explicitly encouraged to develop home language literacy and to use their home language strategically for learning how to negotiate texts in the target language.

  • In the Development Unit, Friday Night Lights, Section 4, Lesson 1, Activity 1, students explore the central question, “How do high school athletics reflect American society?” Students engage in a peer-to-peer discussion and complete a Quick Write in response to the following question: “5. If you were to provide an answer to the Central Question today, what would it be?”

    • The Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition provide ideas for support and differentiation using an asset-based lens: “Students are encouraged to bring the knowledge, insight, and curiosity they already have to enhance their experience in the unit. English learners in particular benefit from making connections to their cultural and social backgrounds.”

  • In the Development Unit, The American Dream of Homeownership, Section 1, Lesson 5, students discuss their learning on how the dream of homeownership manifested itself in America following World War II. The Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition include the following guidance: “Offer English learners the option to discuss the topic in their home languages and report their discussion in English.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 11 provide insufficient guidance to encourage teachers to draw upon student cultural and social backgrounds to facilitate learning.

Materials miss opportunities to capitalize on the diverse cultural and social backgrounds of students. Learning goals and instructional activities do not consistently leverage students’ cultural and social backgrounds. Opportunities for students to feel acknowledged during tasks based on customs of other cultures or sections of the materials provided in multiple languages are lacking.

Materials provide guidance to encourage teachers to draw upon student cultural and social backgrounds to facilitate learning. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Materials rarely make connections to the linguistic, cultural, and conventions used in learning ELA. Materials rarely make connections to the linguistic and cultural diversity to facilitate learning.

  • In the Development Unit, Friday Night Lights, Section 1, Lesson 1, Activity 7, students use the Vocabulary in Context Tool. Students engage in a word study of the following words: salvation, pandemonium, euphoria, exhortation, and vicarious. The Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition include the following guidance for supporting English learners: “Additionally, if a word under study is a cognate—a word that shares similar spelling, meaning, and pronunciation with a word in another language—in the student’s home language, you might make connections between the cognate and the new vocabulary word. A cognate provides a bridge to the English language for English learners.”

• Materials rarely include teacher guidance on how to engage culturally diverse students in the learning of ELA.

  • In the Foundation Unit, What Does It Mean to Be American?, Section 1, Lesson 1, students begin thinking about what it means to be an American by participating in anticipatory activities, such as an anticipation guide and a four-corners activity in which students reflect on their thinking. The Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition include the following guidance: “Note that this topic and related topics of citizenship and identity can be an emotionally charged topic for students from immigrant or refugee families, as well as students from families who were born in America. Be sure to create a classroom where respectful disagreements and appropriate discussion protocols are in place.”

  • In the Development Unit, The Warmth of Other Suns, Section 2, Lesson 1, students engage in a whole-class discussion on The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson and accompanying texts. Students address a series of discussion questions, such as “How is the information in the maps related to The Warmth of Other Suns?” and “What conclusions can we draw about the Great Migration?” The Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition include the following guidance: “Offer English learners the option to discuss the topic in their home languages and report their discussion in English.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 11 integrate technology such as interactive tools, virtual manipulatives/objects, and/or dynamic software in ways that engage students in the grade-level/series standards, when applicable.

Materials include a Remote Learning Guide with details to assist educators, including but not limited to: monitoring student learning, establishing a remote classroom culture, and technology solutions to facilitate virtual instruction. Unit Readers, as well as digital texts, are available for teacher and student use. The Remote Learning Guide notes that “Students and educators can find the digital texts by using the bibliographic information provided for each text on the Text tabs at the section, lesson, and activity levels in the program.” Students can annotate texts and work collaboratively in a remote setting. Editable tools are available as downloadable Google Docs. Customization at the local level can include consideration of text types and strategies when working asynchronously and synchronously.

Materials integrate technology such as interactive tools, virtual manipulatives/objects, and/or dynamic software in ways that engage students in the grade-level/series standards, when applicable. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Digital technology and interactive tools, such as data collection tools, simulations, and/or modeling tools are available to students.

  • In the Foundation Unit, What Does It Mean to Be an American?, Section 2, Lesson 5, students participate in a Socratic Seminar about the Central Question, “What does it mean to be an American?” Socratic Seminar and Philosophical Chairs Discussion can occur asynchronously or synchronously to engage students in their learning and ensure all students have equity of voice. The Remote Learning Guide includes guidance to support providing these learning opportunities utilizing digital tools. For example, materials suggest the use of Parlay Live Round Table, “an interactive discussion tool that allows educators to set up a Socratic Seminar. It allows tracking of participation and other tools to encourage students.” Materials include additional guidance to support the use of a Conference App and set expectations, protocols, and note-taking in a structured environment.

• Digital tools support student engagement in ELA.

  • In the Foundation Unit, What Does It Mean to Be an American?, Section 1, Lesson 2, students use the Video Note-Taking Tool when watching the video from the Dallas Morning News: “What Does It Mean to Be an American.” The Teaching Notes in the teaching edition state, “It also allows students to code the details they identify and analyze based on what type they are.” Teachers can model the coding of details for students before they continue independently. The Tools also offer opportunities for modeling in asynchronous and synchronous environments. The Remote Learning Guide includes suggestions for modeling and additional guidance to collect evidence when working synchronously: “Share a model of the Google Doc version of the tool via screen share. Model your thinking as you move through the tool, reflecting on the prompts within the tool and the resulting textual analysis.”

  • In the Development Unit, The American Dream of Homeownership, Section 2, Lesson 4, students read, analyze, and delineate the argument about the failure to fully implement the 1968 Fair Housing Act in a recent op-ed essay “The Civil Rights Law We Ignored” by Walter Mondale. Students utilize the Delineating Arguments Tool to record their thinking while working with a reading team: “As a team, develop a claim about the essay based on your delineation of its argument.” The Remote Learning Guide includes suggestions for modeling and additional guidance to collect evidence when working synchronously:

    • “Share a model of the Google Doc version of the tool via screen share.

    • Model your thinking as you move through the tool, reflecting on the prompts within the tool and the resulting textual analysis.”

  • When collecting evidence, teachers can prompt students to submit Google Docs or if they are using PDFs, they can “send a picture or scan of their completed tool via email or the LMS.”

  • In the Development Unit, The Great Gatsby, Section 2, Lesson 1, students examine a mentor sentence from Chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and analyze how its structure and use of literary devices contribute to the meaning of the novel. The Teaching Notes in the teacher edition include the following guidance: “Remind students to keep a collection of mentor sentences in their Mentor Sentence Journal, so they have a robust writer’s toolbox to consult for their responses on their Section Diagnostic and Culminating Tasks.” The Remote Learning Guide includes teacher guidance to support utilizing digital tools during learning opportunities. For example, when modeling in an asynchronous environment, teachers can “[l]ink or embed a short screencast video modeling how to think through the tool or journal.”

  • In the Development Unit, The Warmth of Other Suns, Section 1, Lesson 1, students review the Unit Text List to familiarize themselves with the texts they will analyze and discuss throughout the unit. The student-facing materials provide text locations with details for tradebooks, digital access, unit readers, and CD/DVD. For example, “Digital Access: You can find these texts online. Use the information provided in the Unit Text List or on the Materials tab for the activity to conduct a web search for the resource. Digital Access resources include online articles, videos, podcasts, and other web sources.”

• Digital materials can be customized for local use (i.e., student and/or community interests).

  • The Remote Learning Guide includes guidance for asynchronous and synchronous learning opportunities. When working asynchronously, such as utilizing a video-sharing website and interactive videos, guidance includes, “If the LMS allows, add guiding questions directly to video, or use a third-party app (e.g., EdPuzzle) to insert questions into the video.” Teachers can also use an embed code if the LMS allows: “This will alleviate students from leaving the online classroom and entering another less secure site.”

  • In the Development Unit, Telling Stories with Film, teachers can use the Remote Learning Guide to support synchronous learning opportunities that use screen share for lessons, including videos, and make digital annotations. The Remote Learning Guide suggests utilizing screen sharing during synchronous learning, which allows the use of digital resources. During asynchronous learning, the Remote Learning Guide includes the following guidance: “Annotate the text with the class, sharing their metacognition or thinking aloud while also writing their thinking directly on the shared document, a whiteboard model, or a PowerPoint slide.” Additional guidance includes, “If permissible, create a Google Docs or Word version of the text. Individual copies will need to be created (the LMS might have an automatic feature for this). Students can use the comment, highlight, and underline features to annotate the text. Consider using a third-party technology resource for annotation (e.g., Hypothesis, NowComment).”

The materials reviewed for Grade 11 include or reference digital technology that provides opportunities for teachers and/or students to collaborate with each other, when applicable.

Students work collaboratively throughout the units. Both the Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition and student-facing materials include guidance when teachers and students collaborate using digital tools. One main feature of the materials is the use of Google Docs, which offer opportunities to share drafts and comment directly on student work. This feature provides teachers with continuous opportunities to make individual and group projects collaborative through Google’s sharing capabilities. Materials, particularly the Remote Learning Guide, also reference digital technology, such as Zoom, Padlet, and FlipGrid, that offers opportunities for collaboration and help facilitate discussions.

Materials include or reference digital technology that provides opportunities for teachers and/or students to collaborate with each other, when applicable. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Materials include or reference digital technology that provides opportunities for teachers and/or students to collaborate with each other.

  • In the Foundation Unit, What Does It Mean to Be an American?, Section 2, Lesson 2, research teams determine their note-taking systems as they plan for the unit’s Culminating Task. One suggestion offered by the materials is a Google Doc. The Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition includes the following guidance: “In order to give adequate feedback early on in the research process, be aware of each team’s individual note-taking system so that you can catch any misconceptions, leave constructive criticism, and provide positive reinforcement.”

  • In the Development Unit, The Great Gatsby, Section 1, Lesson 2, students work with a reading partner to reread pages 3–5 to learn additional information about Nick Caraway. To support collaboration, the materials direct students to use the Character Note-Taking Tool, which is a Google Doc in the unit materials. Student-facing materials include the following guidance: “Share with your reading partner what you have written down in your tool. Add new details found by your partner to your tool. Discuss how your first impressions of Nick are developing based on what you have noticed through your close reading.”

  • In the Development Unit, Friday Night Lights, Section 1, Lesson 1, the Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition provide teachers with guidance on tools they can use in the unit to facilitate remote or virtual learning:

    • “If you are using this unit in a remote- or virtual-learning context, you might consult two resources: the general Odell Education Remote Learning Guide and the unit-specific Friday Night Lights Remote Learning Guide. The Odell Education Remote Learning Guide provides general guidance for strategies and structures that can be used for synchronous and asynchronous learning, flipped classrooms, and blended learning. The Friday Night Lights Remote Learning Guide provides remote learning suggestions for each lesson.”

  • The Remote Learning Guide includes examples of how to facilitate collaboration through “discussion boards and collaboration tools” such as the LMS (Learning Management System), Parlay, or Flipgrid.

  • In the Development Unit, The Warmth of Other Suns, Section 3, Lesson 2, students work on a collaborative activity in jigsaw groups. The student-facing materials note the need for students to use the Jigsaw Note-Taking Tool, which is a Google Doc, during their collaboration: “We will participate in our third jigsaw reading, working in our expert groups and using the Jigsaw Note-Taking Tool to learn about our assigned focus figures in Part 3 of Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns.”

  • In the Development Unit, The American Dream of Homeownership, Section 5, Lesson 2, students work with a partner to read, edit, and discuss their drafts for the argumentative essay they are writing during the Culminating Task. The student-facing materials instruct students to use the Culminating Task Checklist, which is a Google Doc, to guide the collaboration between students in this peer-review process. The Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition include the following guidance: “Students will now move from drafting to reviewing and revising their supporting paragraphs. You can determine what you want them to use as a reference point for their peer reviews and revisions. The expectations on the Culminating Task Checklist provide a list of goals students should strive to achieve.”

  • In the Application Unit, What Do I Want to Research?, Section 2, Lesson 1, students work in research teams to complete their initial research frames using the Research Frame Tool. The Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition state, “Students can also make revisions to their Research Frame Tool using an electronic copy of the tool in their Google Drive.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 11 include a visual design (whether in print or digital) that supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject, and is neither distracting nor chaotic.

The visual design of the materials is not distracting and should support student learning and engagement. The layout of the materials is consistent across units and grade levels. When appropriate, materials include guidance on locating texts in the student-facing materials and provide reminders for accessing other Tools and Guides to support learning. The student-facing materials and Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition clearly communicate information. The Teaching Notes consistently include headings that signal when support is available for a specific purpose, such as the following sections: About the Author, Concept, Text, Topic; Teaching Strategies and Decisions; and Student Support and Differentiation. The Tools and Guides support student understanding of topics, texts, and concepts. Materials are typically free of errors.

The visual design (whether in print or digital) supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject, and is neither distracting nor chaotic. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Images, graphics, and models support student learning and engagement without being visually distracting. 

  • Materials balance the use of blank space on home and landing pages, as well as in the various Tools and Guides. The landing page design utilizes an abstract art theme. In each grade level, the Unit Homepage contains an abstract art icon for each Foundation, Development, and Application Unit. Program Resources icons also utilize abstract art similar to that of the landing page.

  • Materials consistently use the same icons throughout each grade and unit. Appendix G of the Program Guide contains the key for iconography used throughout the materials. Icons include: Unit Reader Texts, Digital Access Texts, Tradebook, and Multimedia Text. Additional icons, such as an image of a piece of paper with a pencil indicating students can “Download PDF'' and an image of a sheet of paper with the Google Drive symbol in the center indicating students can “Download GDOC,” appear as needed during instructional activities.

• Teacher and student materials are consistent in layout and structure across lessons/modules/units. Images, graphics, and models clearly communicate information or support student understanding of topics, texts, or concepts.

  • The Program Guide includes guidance on the layout and structure of the materials: “Each grade’s homepage organizes the available units by type—Foundation, Development, or Application—and provides each unit’s title. Also found on each grade homepage are the following program resources:

    • Reference Guides: a downloadable PDF consisting of all of the program’s reference guides

    • Program Guide: this program guide, available as a PDF Purchase 

    • Unit Readers: a link to an external site where users can purchase unit readers and student materials

    • Course-at-a-Glance: an overview of the units available for the grade level.”

  • Each Unit Homepage contains the following tabs: 

    • Unit Overview: The Unit Overview describes the unit and provides links to the sections of the unit.

    • Culminating Task: The Culminating Task provides the unit’s Culminating Task prompt. The Culminating Task Checklist and Evaluation Plan for the unit are available as downloadable PDFs.

    • Text Overview: The Text Overview tab contains the unit’s Text Overview (PDF), which identifies the texts used in the unit and includes recommendations for independent choice reading texts.

    • Materials: The Materials tab houses documents specific to the unit, including the Evaluation Plan, Text Overview (teacher-facing), Unit Text List (student-facing), Culminating Task Checklist, and any other relevant documents.

  • The Program Guide explains the organization of instructional units: “HSLP units are broken down into sections. The navigation bar at the top of the page permits users to easily navigate between sections.”Each Section Page contains the following tabs:

    • Section Overview: This tab provides a brief description of the knowledge, skills, and habits addressed in the section, as well as which major texts are used. Links to the lessons included in the section are also available here. Each lesson link includes the lesson’s overview and is labeled as Core, Optional, Section Diagnostic, or Independent Reading to facilitate navigation and planning.

    • Learning Goals: This tab houses the section’s learning goals, which are derived from the evaluation criteria.

    • Section Diagnostic: This tab provides the Section Diagnostic prompt. It also includes the Culminating Task Connections, which explains what students will do and demonstrate in the formative task, and how it will help prepare them for success on the unit’s Culminating Task. In the case of the teacher version, a description of how the Section Diagnostic helps prepare students for success on the Culminating Task is provided. 

    • Texts: This tab lists the texts for the section, which are divided into core and optional. Each listing includes the text’s title, author, publisher, and date of publication.

    • Materials: This tab lists the materials used in the section, and divides them as tools, question sets, or reference guides.

  • Each section is then broken down into lessons, which users can navigate among using the navigation bar at the top of the page. Each Lesson Page contains the following tabs:

    • Lesson Overview: This tab contains a description of the lesson and links to its activities. The links include four sources of information: the activity number, the foci of the activity (Read, Write, Listen, View, Present, Discuss), whether the activity is core or optional, and a brief summary of the activity.

    • Learning Goals: This tab provides the lesson learning goals, which are expressed as student-facing “Can I…?” questions that reflect the knowledge or skills goals of the lesson.

    • Texts and Materials: This tab follows the same organizational features as the section pages, providing only texts and materials pertinent to the respective lessons.

• Organizational features (Table of Contents, glossary, index, internal references, table headers, captions, etc.) in the materials are clear, accurate, and error-free.

Materials are typically free of errors; however, materials contain some labeling and typographical errors. In the Development Unit, Telling Stories with Film, Section 4, Lesson 6, the Text Unit List and Text Overview lists an article “Want to Measure a Film’s Diversity? Try ‘The DuVernay Test.’” by Victoria Massey as Optional. The reading and related activities take place in a lesson listed Optional. However, the article is listed as Core in the Texts list under the Section 4 Texts tab within the student-facing materials, and the Optional text is listed as Half the Picture by Amy Adrion. A minor typo appears in the Development Unit, The Great Gatsby, under the Materials section for the Text Overview and Unit Text List. Under Independent Reading Options, the materials list “Lorraine Hansbury [sic]” as the author of the play Raisin in the Sun. An additional error appears in the Development Unit, Friday Night Lights, Section 2, Lesson 1, Activity 2, in the student-facing materials: “These examples will be wrote [sic] down on chart paper so we can reference them as we read Friday Night Lights.” In the Application Unit, Section 2, Lesson 3, Activity 1, in the Teaching Notes of the Teacher Edition, the heading Student Support and Differentiation is listed, but there is no text underneath with notes to support the teacher.

The materials reviewed for Grade 11 provide teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning, when applicable. 

The Teacher Edition provides guidance on the use of technology to support and enhance student learning. In many cases, the Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition include ideas for extending student learning with technology, such as using specific digitals tools. In other cases, the Teaching Notes provide guidance to support student learning, such as with specific digital tools to help clarify students’ understanding.

Materials provide teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning, when applicable. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Materials provide guidance for using embedded technology to support and enhance student learning, where applicable.

  • In the Program Guide, materials explain how texts within the units can be accessed digitally. Students can use the Unit Text List for digital access: “These texts can be found online. The information provided in the Unit Text List or on the Materials tab for the activity can be used to conduct a web search for the resource. Digital Access resources include online articles, videos, podcasts, and other web sources.”

  • In the Remote Learning Guide, materials include a table of instructional strategies with technology solutions. For example, materials suggest teachers use Pear Deck and EdPuzzle for “interactive tools for videos or slides,” Snagit, Screencastify, Quicktime, and Loom for “modeling and screencasting,” and Hypothesis, NowComment, highlighting and commenting features on Google Docs. or Word for “digital annotating of text.”

  • In the Remote Learning Guide, materials explain the technology used to facilitate digital annotations:

    • “If permissible, create a Google Docs or Word version of the text. Individual copies will need to be created (the LMS might have an automatic feature for this).

    • Students can use the comment, highlight, and underline features to annotate the text.

    • Consider using a third-party technology resource for annotation (e.g., Hypothesis, NowComment).”

  • In the Foundation Unit, What Does It Mean to Be an American?, Section 1, Lesson 2, students continue reading about the Declaration of Independence to gain an overall understanding of the document. Materials provide guidance for the use of technology to support student learning in the Teaching Notes: “The Declaration of Independence can be a difficult text for students. If students are still struggling with comprehending the Declaration of Independence, you might want to have them access this text online: ‘What the Declaration of Independence Really Means.’”

  • In the Development Unit, Friday Night Lights, Section 3, Lesson 2, students watch a video to deepen their understanding of the impact of gender roles on sports. The Teacher Edition explains why the video was selected for the lesson and suggests allowing students to use the Video Note-Taking Tool from the digital Literacy Toolbox: “Consider having students use the Video Note-Taking Tool for this activity. The Video Note-Taking Tool is a two-column note-taking tool. It is used specifically when watching a video, film, or documentary to write down and analyze important details presented in video format. The tool includes a timeline to indicate where in the video the detail is presented, a column for writing down key details, and a column for analyzing or commenting on those details. It also allows students to code the details they identify and analyze based on what type they are.”

  • In the Development Unit, The Warmth of Other Suns, Section 2, Lesson 1, students use the Visual Analysis Tool, which is accessible as a Google Doc. The Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition guide the teacher in explaining the significance of the tool to illustrate understanding of a text through text-based observations: “You might model the use of this tool by engaging in a think-aloud as you add information to the tool about the first map. Students might then practice their skills in performing this process with the second and third maps.”

  • In the Development Unit, Telling Stories with Film, Section 1, Lesson 2, students begin learning about the visual and sound techniques used in films. The Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition recommend using a digital article to deepen student knowledge: “If your students are especially interested in how sound and music are used within movies, and if you have decided to listen to parts of the soundtrack, you might have them access and read a supplemental article about Pharrell Williams from the New York Times: ‘Pharrell Williams, Making Noise for “Hidden Figures” Everywhere’ by Dave Itzkoff (2017).”

  • In the Development Unit, The American Dream of Homeownership, Section 1, Lesson 1, the Teaching Notes in the Teacher Edition provide guidance on materials available for virtual or remote learners: “If you are using this unit in a remote- or virtual-learning context, you might consult two resources: the general Odell Education Remote Learning Guide and the unit-specific Homeownership Remote Learning Guide. The Odell Education Remote Learning Guide provides general guidance for strategies and structures that can be used for synchronous and asynchronous learning, flipped classrooms, and blended learning. The Homeownership Remote Learning Guide provides remote learning suggestions for each lesson.” The Remote Learning Guide includes guidance on the use of technology, such as interactive tools like Pear Deck and EdPuzzle, and references other learning management software like Canvas, Google Classroom, D2L, and Schoology.