Why do Greek myths continue to be relevant and popular today? In this module, students meet figures from ancient Greek mythology who are placed in a contemporary setting and evaluate how stories from a different time and place continue to resonate.

Students begin Unit 1 by launching their reading of The Lightning Thief. Students analyze how the author develops the point of view of the narrator, and then strategize to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words and phrases, including figurative language. In the second half of Unit 1, students prepare for a Socratic Seminar discussion by analyzing how Percy, the main character, responds to challenges. They create discussion norms to have productive text-based discourse about the novel. Theme is also introduced in the second half of the unit in preparation for Unit 2.

In Unit 2, students continue to read The Lightning Thief, some parts in class and others for homework. They analyze the Greek myths highlighted in the novel and compare themes and topics in the Greek myths with those evident in The Lightning Thief. In the second half of the unit, students write a literary analysis essay using the Painted Essay® structure, comparing and contrasting the treatment of events in the movie The Lightning Thief with the same events in the novel.

In Unit 3, students reimagine a scene from The Lightning Thief, writing themselves into the action as a different demigod from Camp Half-Blood. They research a Greek god of their choosing (or another traditional figure for those who don’t feel comfortable imagining themselves as a child of a Greek god) and use their research to create a new character, the child of that figure. Students develop the attributes of that character and strategically insert the character into a scene from the novel, editing carefully so as not to change the outcome of the story. At the end of the module, students create a presentation outlining their choices and reasoning for the performance task.

In Unit 3, students write an informational essay organized using a problem-solution structure. They begin by reviewing a model, annotated using the Painted Essay® template. As they analyze the model, students, in pairs, co-construct a collaborative essay addressing the prompt “How did William use design thinking to solve a critical problem?”

Students then return to the research they completed in Unit 2 about the problem and solution of their choosing, taking time to review (and add to, as needed) their ideas in light of insights gleaned from the collaborative essay practice. Students prepare for the assessment by completing a writing planner as they did for their collaborative essay. For the Mid-Unit 3 Assessment, students independently write an essay about the problem and solution they researched in Unit 2, answering the question “How was design thinking used to solve a critical problem?”

Students begin preparing for the performance task by reassembling their research into an interactive and visual problem-solution display. They prepare for this Solution Symposium by rehearsing their answers to two prompts posed by their audience: (1) how was design thinking used to solve this problem? and (2) how were habits of character used to solve this problem? For the End of Unit 3 Assessment, students synthesize their learning about all of the different innovators researched to engage in an academic discussion around how habits of character help solve critical problems. Students are coached to discuss the topic collegially, using appropriate tone, volume, and eye contact. During the discussion, students are assessed on their ability to pose and respond to questions using the evidence they have gathered, analyze it in light of the habits of character, and elaborate on the contributions of their peers.

Design thinking makes clear the systematic process that allows innovators to learn and apply techniques to solve critical problems in a creative way. In Module 2, students read the true story of William Kamkwamba in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Young Readers edition) and how he used design thinking to confront the devastating effects of famine in his country, Malawi. In response to this seemingly insurmountable problem, William spent countless hours in the local library, reading science textbooks and searching for a possible solution. Through careful research, and after many rounds of trial and error, William used available materials and scraps from the local junkyard to construct a windmill that brought electricity to his community, allowing kids to study into the evening, adults to recharge their mobile phones, and water pumps to irrigate the fields and produce more abundant harvests. Propelled by unshakable perseverance, a keen awareness of his community’s needs, and compassion for those suffering around him, William models how innovative thinkers can leverage design thinking to address critical problems in their own communities. Inspired by this concept, students work towards a performance task in which they research and present another innovative solution designed to address a critical issue. For this Solution Symposium, students interact with their audience to explain how design thinking and habits of character led to the development of a successful solution.

In Unit 1, students read the first nine chapters of the anchor text, building background on William Kamkwamba and the problems William’s community faced in rural Malawi, in a village with limited resources and access to education. Through two Language Dives using key sentences in the anchor text and a close read of a supplemental text, students practice identifying the central idea, citing textual evidence, analyzing how individual sentences contribute to the development of a text’s central ideas, and determining the meaning of words and phrases in a text.

In Unit 2, students finish reading the text, and demonstrate their continued reading-skill development in the Mid-Unit 2 Assessment, which uses an excerpt from the text to assess students’ abilities to interpret the figurative and connotative meanings of unfamiliar words, analyze information portrayed in various media formats, and explain how a small portion of a text contributes to the central idea. By clearly delineating the many problems William faced, students see how each was addressed through science, research, and habits of character, like perseverance. With the support of explicit mini lessons on research skills, students then begin independent research on an innovator who, like William, designed a product to solve a critical problem. These research skills are assessed in the End of Unit 2 Assessment.

Through writing a collaborative informational essay about William in the first half of Unit 3, students deepen their understanding of the design thinking process and explore how William Kamkwamba used this process to solve a problem. The unit builds towards the performance task, a Solution Symposium, at which students present and share interactive displays of their research on an innovative solution to a critical problem. The Solution Symposium engages audience members in a conversation in which the student shares his or her answers to the following questions: (1) how was design thinking used to solve this problem and (2) how were habits of character used to solve this problem? Following the symposium, as the End of Unit 3 Assessment, students will collaborate to discuss how habits of character help people like those featured in their research solve critical problems.

Students begin their deep dive into the topic of American Indian boarding schools by examining artifacts that they will encounter in the module in order to infer the topic. Students are then introduced to the anchor text, Two Roads by Joseph Bruchac, reading a few excerpts from the early chapters to draw inferences about the text’s key characters. Before diving deeper into the anchor text, students examine supplementary texts carefully selected to develop understanding of the topic’s historical context. A speech by Captain Pratt, the founder of Carlisle Indian boarding school, and the first-person account of this school by Zitkala-Sa, a member of the Yankton tribe, allows students to examine and reflect on multiple perspectives. Students also use these texts to practice explaining how an author’s point of view is conveyed and what impact connotative and figurative language has on meaning. Finally, students paraphrase the key ideas and demonstrate understanding of the perspective being conveyed in the Meriam Report, commissioned by the US government to uncover the terrible conditions of the boarding schools. Students then examine photographs of the scenarios described in the report and practice integrating the information from the excerpts with information from the photos to develop a more cohesive understanding of the topic as a whole. For the Mid-Unit 1 Assessment, students examine a different section of the same narrative from Zitkala-Sa, and answer selected response questions about vocabulary and figurative language in the text and about Zitkala-Sa’s point of view and how it is conveyed in the text. Students also answer a constructed response question asking them to integrate ideas from the text with their interpretations of two related photographs.

In the second half of Unit 1, students return to the anchor text at chapter 9. In-class tasks, including two Language Dives using sentences from the anchor text, invite students to examine the way that the author develops Cal’s point of view and advances the plot, as well as explore a key character’s code-switching among language varieties. These tasks support the development of skills that students independently apply in the End of Unit 1 Assessment. The assessment requires students to read the beginning of chapter 18 of Two Roads and answer selected response and short constructed response questions to analyze the structure of the text, interpret the use of intensive pronouns, examine how Bruchac develops Cal’s point of view, and describe the impact of using language varieties on the development of characters within the text.

Despite their painful and long-lasting impact, American Indian boarding schools are an often neglected topic of study. In Module 3, students are introduced to this topic, with the goal of amplifying long unheard voices and better understanding this critical time in North American history. Students read Two Roads, the story of a thoughtful and independent boy named Cal and his father “Pop,” who live as traveling “knights of the road” after losing their farm during the Great Depression. Cal faces a critical question of identity when he learns from Pop that, after a lifetime of identifying as white, he is, in fact, part Creek Indian. Cal’s father shares this revelation days before enrolling Cal at the Challagi Indian Industrial School while he travels to Washington, DC alone. Cal challenges the expectations of the school’s administration, develops close friendships with other students, and questions, explores, evaluates, and affirms his varying identities. To deepen their understanding of American Indian boarding schools beyond a literary context, students also read a variety of supplemental texts, including informational reports and first-person accounts of life at American Indian boarding schools. Together, these texts further contextualize the anchor text and illustrate a wider range of experiences.

In Unit 1, students read excerpts of the initial chapters of the anchor text, which serves as a “hook,” inciting student interest in the history of American Indian boarding schools. Students then develop their knowledge of the historical context of the topic by reading related informational and narrative supplemental texts. Students consider the purported objectives of American Indian boarding schools and compare these against the often far darker experiences reported by the students who attended these schools. Students then return to the anchor text at chapter 9, better equipped to contextualize the experiences of Cal, Pop, and Cal’s friends. Unit 1 assessments gauge students’ abilities to read critically and independently for the author’s point of view and for background information on the topic.

In Unit 2, students finish reading the anchor text. They demonstrate continued development of reading skills, tracking character growth and central ideas and themes in the Mid-Unit 2 Assessment using a new excerpt from the text. An additional supplemental text is included in Unit 2 to support connections across the anchor text and the historical context. At the end of the novel, Cal faces the decision of returning to Challagi school or staying with his father in Washington, DC. Students convey Cal’s vacillating perspective toward this challenging question through a narrative letter to Possum, focusing on just one of the possible outcomes. This narrative assignment, which has the option of being assessed for its appropriate and accurate use of pronouns and sentence variety (a second assessment targeting these skills is also available), helps prepare students for the argument essay of Unit 3. Some of the evidence and reasoning incorporated into these student narratives will be repurposed and strengthened in an argument essay for the Mid-Unit 3 Assessment.

In Unit 3, students revisit the Painted Essay® structure as they construct their own argument essays. In those essays, they grapple with the question of whether Cal should return to the boarding school or remain with his father, whom he has run away to find. Students first collaboratively produce an argument piece using a similar prompt to further prepare for their independent argument essays. Module 3’s performance task presents the culmination of students’ learning about and reflections on the American Indian boarding schools through the production of an audio museum exhibit. Students select an excerpt from a text written by a survivor of American Indian boarding schools; they then write a preface to situate their text within a historical context and a reflection to convey the personal impact felt by their chosen text. Students record their preface, text, and reflection independently, and then use an audio recording application program to produce a product that will be featured at a listening station as part of the audio museum and can be widely shared to uplift the voices of American Indian boarding schools.

This module is designed to highlight the many contributors to the advancements in space science—those who most often receive recognition and those who are often overlooked. To set up this juxtaposition for students, Unit 1 is designed to provide background information about the Space Race of the 1960s, featuring popular accounts of this historic course of events. Students generate excitement about the topic by watching videos, viewing images, and reading primary sources about the Space Race, a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to be the first country to land an astronaut on the moon. Students learn how the Space Race supported advancements in math and science and notice which figures are highlighted in these sources.

As students build their background knowledge, they practice citing text evidence, identifying central idea(s), and determining the points of view expressed in the different texts. Critical to their understanding of this time period is the exposure to varying perspectives, including those who believed the funds used to send humans to the moon could be better spent improving the lives of the destitute and depressed at home. Students learn to trace the arguments in these claims by identifying the evidence and reasoning that supports these views. Once students begin their reading of the anchor text, Hidden Figures (Young Readers’ Edition) by Margot Lee Shetterly, in Unit 2, they will have the necessary background to better appreciate the contributions of the black women of NASA and how they impacted scientific and social progress in the face of both racial and gender discrimination.

In Unit 1, students built background knowledge about the historical context of the Space Race and the Apollo 11 mission featured in the anchor text. As students segue into Unit 2, they begin to recognize that many others contributed to the success of the missions beyond those most commonly recognized in history. This is made clear by reading selections from the anchor text, Hidden Figures (Young Readers’ Edition).

In the first half of Unit 2, students read the first nine chapters of Hidden Figures, which provide context for the contributions of the West Computers, the segregated pool of female African American mathematicians, and highlight the specific story of one hidden figure, Dorothy Vaughan. The Mid-Unit 2 Assessment, focused on passages from chapter 9, will evaluate students’ abilities to effectively determine the central idea(s) and the author’s point of view and purpose in a text, as well as discern figurative, connotative, and technical meanings of words as they are used in a text.

In the second half of Unit 2, students switch to a Jigsaw protocol, for which the chapters about hidden figure Mary Jackson are divided between Groups A and B. This protocol makes reading the text more manageable and allows students to co-construct knowledge about the topic by sharing what they have learned about Mary Jackson from their assigned chapters and listen to the knowledge shared by their peers studying the other chapters. Building on students’ learning from reading multiple texts and text types on the same topic, the End of Unit 2 Assessment will evaluate students’ ability to compare and contrast portrayals of the same individuals and events across texts.

In Unit 2, students selected and began conducting research about their focus figures: other important individuals in space science whose contributions have gone unrecognized. In Unit 3, they continue this research and prepare to write argument essays. First, they revisit the Painted Essay® to develop a deeper understanding of argument essay structure. As in previous modules, students deconstruct a model argument essay (about Dorothy Vaughan) and then complete a collaborative essay (about Mary Jackson or Katherine Johnson) that addresses a similar prompt. In each lesson, students examine aspects of the argument essay model and practice using it in their own writing. Using textual evidence about their focus figure (W.6.9), students generate sound argument essays (W.6.1, W.6.10) to answer the prompt: Why are my focus figure’s accomplishments remarkable?

After writing their independent essays for the mid-unit assessment, students move toward the culmination of the module: the development of a class picture book that highlights the key achievements of students’ chosen focus figures. In triads with their “crewmates,” students use narrative nonfiction writing techniques to produce three pages about their focus figures, complete with creative illustrations. Students then develop and deliver presentations, which serve as Part 1 of the End of Unit 3 Assessment. Students present their claims about why their focus figure’s accomplishments are remarkable, demonstrating appropriate presentation skills (SL.6.4) and a command of formal language (SL.6.6) and using their picture book illustrations as visual support (SL.6.5). As students listen to one another’s presentations, they practice delineating the arguments put forth by their classmates (SL.6.3). Part 2 of the assessment centers around a culminating discussion, during which students summarize and reflect upon key learning across the module (SL.6.1).

In Module 4, students learn about remarkable accomplishments in space science, paying special attention to accomplishments and people that may have been overlooked until recently. After reading supplemental texts to learn about key events and well-known figures of the Space Race, students begin their anchor text, Hidden Figures (Young Readers’ Edition) by Margot Lee Shetterly. This tells the story of the “West Computers,” the first black women hired by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, later NASA), which had previously enforced discriminatory hiring policies. The work of these tremendously talented mathematicians, like Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson, led to major advances in space science and helped land human beings on the moon. Major tasks in the module provide opportunities for students to uncover and uplift the stories of these and other hidden figures who have typically not been centered in popular accounts of space science.

Across the eight lessons of Unit 1, students read engaging informational texts about important events in the Space Race of the mid-twentieth century, leading up to the Apollo 11 moon landing. In the first half of Unit 1, much of the work around these texts is related to point of view (e.g., John F. Kennedy’s point of view toward space travel). In the mid-unit assessment, students apply this work to a new text, analyzing the author’s point of view toward the Apollo 11 astronauts and mission and toward the future of humans in space. The informational texts of the second half of Unit 2 add deeper complexity to students’ understanding of the Space Race. Students read arguments that challenge the United States’ decision to invest in space exploration, especially when civil rights abuses were taking place at home. In preparation for the end of unit assessment, which features similar tasks, students practice tracing the arguments posed in these texts, identifying the authors’ main claims and identifying the evidence and reasoning that the authors use to support their claims. This unit helps students build critical context needed to frame and understand the content and focus of Units 2 and 3.

In Unit 2, when students begin reading Hidden Figures, they quickly discover that popular accounts of the Space Race have generally overlooked the contributions of the West Computers. In the first half of Unit 2, students analyze the way that Shetterly introduces and illustrates Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine in the text. Students also practice identifying claims about the West Computers that can be supported using evidence from the text. Students apply this learning and complete similar tasks during the mid-unit assessment. In the second half of Unit 2, and on the end of unit assessment, students read supplemental texts about the West Computers and compare and contrast the authors’ presentations of events with Shetterly’s presentation of the same events in Hidden Figures.

In Unit 3, students revisit the Painted Essay® structure to analyze a model argument essay that addresses the prompt: What makes Dorothy Vaughan’s accomplishments remarkable? Using a similar prompt about Mary Jackson or Katherine Johnson, students write collaborative argument essays that prepare them to produce independent arguments later in the unit. Informed by research conducted across Units 2 and 3, students’ independent essays present arguments about the remarkable accomplishments of their focus figure: a major contributor to space science, outside of the anchor text, whose important work is also comparatively unknown. The performance task of Module 4 invites students to create illustrated pages for a narrative nonfiction picture book about the accomplishments of focus figures. These picture books provide engaging visual support to students’ presentations of their focus figure arguments during the end of unit assessment. During this assessment, students also delineate the arguments of their classmates and reflect on their learning across the module as a whole.

ACT has developed this list of activities to help middle-school students improve their reading ability. Parents and educators can use this information to help ensure that these students are on target for college and career readiness.

Comprehension strategies are conscious plans - sets of steps that good readers use to make sense of text. Comprehension strategy instruction helps students become purposeful, active readers who are in control of their own reading comprehension. The seven strategies here appear to have a firm scientific basis for improving text comprehension.

Drawing on New York City teachers' experiences, this article examines three ways to effectively integrate young adult literature into the curriculum: use core texts (usually novels, but also other genres as well) that the entire class read and study together; organize literature study with text sets, allowing students to select from multiple texts to read; and incorporate independent reading into coursework (via Sustained Silent Reading or at-home reading assignments).

This lesson will help students read and comprehend nonfiction, specifically biographies, through determining criteria for text complexity. Included is a PDF and Smart Notebook titled Determining Text Complexity, and an example of a student's work.

Contains plans for six lessons that ask students to write group book reviews after reading texts in literature circles. Students also learn about research and documentation as they put together their reports. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the lessons as well as assessment and reflection activities.

How do you chat safely with people you meet online? Games, social media, and other online spaces give kids opportunities to meet and chat with others outside the confines of their real-life communities. But how well do kids actually know the people they're meeting and interacting with? Help students consider whom they're talking to and the types of information they're sharing online. Approximately 45 mins.

LESSON OBJECTIVES: Analyze how well they know the people they interact with online. Reflect on what information is safe to share with different types of online friends. Learn to recognize red flag feelings and use the Feelings & Options thinking routine to respond to them.

How can you de-escalate digital drama so it doesn't go too far? Miscommunication is a common occurrence online and on social media. Plus, being behind a screen makes it easier to say things they wouldn't say in person. So how do we help students avoid the pitfalls of digital drama? Help them learn tips on avoiding online drama in the first place and de-escalating drama when it happens. Approximately 45 mins.

LESSON OBJECTIVES: Reflect on how easily drama can escalate online. Identify de-escalation strategies when dealing with digital drama. Reflect on how digital drama can affect not only oneself but also those around us.

How can you protect yourself from phishing? Internet scams are part of being online today, but many kids might not be aware of them. How do we help our students avoid being tricked into clicking malicious links or giving out private information? Use this lesson to help kids avoid online identity theft and phishing schemes. Approximately 45 mins.

LESSON OBJECTIVES: Compare and contrast identity theft with other kinds of theft. Describe different ways that identity theft can occur online. Use message clues to identify examples of phishing.

How do we find credible information on the internet? The web is full of questionable stuff, from rumors and inaccurate information to outright lies and so-called fake news. So how do we help students weed out the bad and find what's credible? Help students dig into why and how false information ends up online in the first place, and then practice evaluating the credibility of what they're finding online. Approximately 45 mins.

LESSON OBJECTIVES: Learn reasons that people put false or misleading information on the internet. Learn criteria for differentiating fake news from credible news. Practice evaluating the credibility of information they find on the internet.

This one-page printable worksheet is designed for classroom use in evaluating a reading of nonfiction. The evaluation is set up in a rubric format.

Use this graphic organizer to analyze the elements of nonfiction and how the ideas interact.