Exploring MS ELA Curricular Resources by EKC

Background:

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Grades 3-12 (there is K-2 but need to explore G5+ is still being finalized?)
Core instruction for reading comprehension + writing
Built-in partnership with The Writing Revolution
Texts chosen because they're considered "authentic and complex, exposing students to layers of meaning and diverse perspectives appropriate for the grade level. "

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Overview Document

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In-Depth Curriculum Guide

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Components

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Lessons are 60-90 minutes in length
Can be taught over the course of one or two class periods, depending on:
- students’ needs
- class schedules
- selected activities

In a lesson, students engage with one or more unit texts to build the knowledge and skills they will need for the unit assessments.

Example Lesson

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Example of Year 6 Units

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Background:

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Only Grades 5-8
Units are modular so schools choose 5-6 within each grade level and choose the order in which they're taught.
Rich texts at the center and support the “encoding” of critical knowledge into students’ long-term memory through frequent, fast, and energetic retrieval exercises that enable students to better engage in knowledge-rich discussions and literary analyses throughout the six-week unit
Goal is equal access to these texts and their learning--text-focused instead of skills-focused
Vocabulary study
Intentional fluency practice with FASE

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Listen (Podcast):

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Read (Book):

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Read (Book):

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Watch (Presentation):

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Read (Article):

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Read (Blog Post):

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Really interesting blog post by author Christopher Such

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For the sake of assessment, teachers have been incentivised to see reading comprehension as a generic skill, or, more precisely, a small set of generic skills.

Research tells us that the following ingredients are crucial in students’ ability and intrinsic desire to read well:

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Coherently building knowledge of words and the world.
Teaching students to read through systematic foundational skills instruction until word recognition is automatic and students are fully fluent.
Affording every student access to focused, close communal reading of content-rich complex texts.

It's AND/BOTH when it comes to Knowledge+Strategies

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"Scientific research evidence doesn’t say don’t teach comprehension skills and strategies explicitly; it says don’t only teach comprehension skills and strategies explicitly."

My favorite quote:
“[K]nowledge & skills are a false dichotomy. Ingredients and cakes are also a false dichotomy! You can’t be pro-cake and anti-ingredient!! If we accept that knowledge and skills are a false dichotomy, then we should also accept that knowledge and skills are NOT on a pendulum. The pendulum is the wrong metaphor. The right metaphor is a pathway, a ladder or a journey.”

New review tool!

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Evaluating Current Practice

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Review pgs 14-23 especially

Core Knowledge Sequence

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"Nearly all of our most important goals for education—greater reading comprehension, the ability to think critically
and solve problems, even higher test scores—are a function of the depth and breadth of our knowledge. Although current events and technology are constantly changing, there is a body of lasting knowledge and skills that form the core of a strong Preschool through Grade 8 curriculum. Explicit identification of what children should learn at each grade level ensures a coherent approach to building knowledge across all grade levels, making efficient and effective use of instructional time. Every child should learn the fundamentals of science, basic principles of government, important events in history, essential elements of mathematics, widely acknowledged masterpieces of art and music from around the world, and stories and poems passed down from generation to generation."

Background:

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K-8 includes knowledge building + word recognition + writing
Centered around engaging with complex, grade level trade books
free, available on Open Up Resources (also where Bookworms is accessed)

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Background:

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K-12, knowledge building/comprehension + writing ONLY--need a separate word recognition and morphology program, includes writing
free, originally created for a group of charter schools and then they created a non-for-profit to give access to all
Better version, Fishtank Plus has a fee

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Components:

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1 60 minute lesson per day for comprehension + writing + vocabulary

EL 6-8 Curriculum Plan

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Grade 7, Module 1 Example

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Grade 6, Unit 2 Example

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Background:

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Grades K-12, including AP
Resources for multiple content areas
MS Language Arts & Literacy components
Includes instructional model

Instructional Model

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Grammar & Language

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Morphology

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