3rd Grade - Gateway 3

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the criteria that materials are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing.

The lessons in Grade 3 provide a framework for lesson planning instead of a detailed lesson plan for most of the lessons. These frameworks provide guidance for the teacher in what material to teach and key questions to ask, but do not provide pacing for the teacher. These frameworks, when combined with the Publisher’s Document on Planning an Effective Lesson allow the teacher to have the materials to effectively structure lessons with appropriate pacing of his/her classroom. Additionally, a limited number of lessons have suggested lesson plans, that include pacing and a structure that serve as an example for how a teacher can develop the lesson frames into step-by-step lessons for use in the classroom. The Publisher’s Document specifies that literature lessons should last from 60-90 minutes and the Science and Social Studies lessons should last 60 minutes. Because teachers have autonomy in the discussion and text consumption strategies, the lessons can be completed within individual class periods.

According to the Publisher, the lessons are meant to be frameworks. While the lessons provide the main components of the lessons, the detailed planning is left up to the teachers. The goal is for teachers to internalize the content and adapt it to meet the needs of the students. The Publisher suggests that teachers take the following steps when planning a lesson:

• Look at the lesson objective, target task, and standards. Write an exemplar student response to the target task.
• Pick a focus for the lesson
• Decide on class structures
• Determine how to launch the text, including what background knowledge students need
• Determine how to engage with the text while reading
• Figure out what structures will be in place to help students make sense with what they have learned
• Plan for feedback and how to gather data
• Determine all accommodations and modifications

Lesson objective, reading materials required for the lesson, standards covered, target task, vocabulary, key questions, criteria for success, mastery response, and notes provide the basic framework for teachers. These lessons do not provide any suggested timing or pacing for the lesson, but they allow for flexibility to meet the meets of the individual classroom. For example, in Literature, Unit 1, Lesson 8, the objective is to explain what evidence Roald Dahl uses to show that Mr. Twit is an instigator by analyzing key details from the text that describing character traits, feelings, and relationships. The target task is for students to explain in writing what evidence Roald Dahl includes to show that Mr. Twit is an instigator. A mastery response and criteria for success are provided as well.

While many of the lessons are to be designed in detail by the teacher, some lessons do have specific lesson plans with suggested pacing. These are meant to be models for teachers when planning lessons. These lessons are found in:

• 1 lesson in Literature Unit 1
• 2 lessons in Literature Unit 2
• 2 lessons in Literature Unit 3
• 2 lessons in Literature, Unit 4
• 3 lessons in Literature, Unit 5
• 1 lesson in Science and Social Studies, Unit 1
• 1 lesson in Science and Social Studies, Unit 4

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the criteria that the teacher and student can reasonably complete the content within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.

Due to scheduling constraints, the total number of lessons in both Literature and Science and Social Studies may be more than can be planned or completed in a typical 180 day school year in a traditional school setting. The lesson framework provides the outline for core instruction; however, many of the lessons within the framework need to be developed through teacher design. In addition to pacing, the daily schedule sample, which is found in the Literary Blocks description in the Publisher’s Document has an eight hour school day, which is not the norm in every school.

The Literature Units have approximately 159 lessons and 176 days of instruction and the Science and Social Studies Units have approximately 141 lessons and 174 days of instruction days of instruction. According to the Publisher’s Document, classroom instruction while using this program should include 60-90 minutes of Literature, 60-90 minutes of Science and Social Studies, 45-60 minutes of independent reading, and 60 minutes of guided reading.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student edition and in the ancillary materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.
The lesson frameworks function as a Teacher’s Guide for implementing this curriculum; however, most of the lessons provide only a framework that ample annotations and suggestions. Within the lesson framework is the Intellectual Prep section that provides annotations and guidelines for presenting the material for students. In addition to the information provided in the frameworks, the publisher has included a number of Publisher Documents that provide guidance for teachers how to present the material contained in the units. The guidance provided is on a variety of topics including but not limited to writing, conducting a classroom discussion and teaching vocabulary in the classroom. The lesson frames have objectives, standards key questions, and notes for the teacher. There is little embedded technology to promote student learning other than linked texts that serve as texts in the unit. . The ancillary documents and the unit in separate the information for teachers multiple sources and locations.
The Publisher's Document provides guidance for teachers on how to present content to are guidelines for teaching vocabulary and giving feedback. There is also a guide to informational writing, literary and narrative writing. These explain how to present the content. However, these guidelines are not for specific units or specific vocabulary words, and the teachers need to create the lessons based on the guidelines. There are also Match Minis, which provide further assistance for teachers on how to present material and use techniques to develop lessons.
Information in the Lesson Frameworks also not specific and much up to the teacher. For example, in Literature Unit 1, Lesson 2, it says for the teacher to teach what descriptive language is and why an author includes descriptive language. It then says to explain that descriptive language can be used as a type of detail to help answer a question from the text and to model using descriptive language as a way of answering the target task question. No other guidance or direction is provided.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition that contains full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced literacy concepts so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.

Publisher documents provide guidance for teachers to design instruction and prepare lessons including explanations of some of the literary concepts utilized in the program.  While there are adult explanations and examples provided within the publisher documents, they appear to be limited to the publisher’s core beliefs and do not provide research and/or explanation of best practices that will necessarily improve teacher learning.  For novice teachers, there are limited materials that would help advance their knowledge of content prior to teaching.

Within the units, the Intellectual Prep contains a Content Knowledge and Connections section, which provides further guidance for teachers.

Each unit contains an Intellectual Prep section that contains detailed information for the teacher. For example, in Literature, Unit 3, students learn about poetry and information for teachers include:

• Two main types of poetry are poems that have a specific rhyme scheme and poems that are written as free verse. Both types of poems are defined in detail.
• The various types of figurative language found in poetry is also defined. Some of these words include alliteration, onomatopoeia, and personification.

In Science and Social Studies, Unit 7, the Intellectual Prep section provides the teacher with background knowledge to research and questions to think about including what do scholars need to understand in order to show mastery of the science standard, but literary concepts are not addressed.

The Feedback as Teaching Tool provided gives a detailed explanation of the approach to writing instruction and examples of how to implement the literacy concepts of revising writing. For example, if students need help with revision, suggested feedback includes:

• Having students do multiple drafts of the written responses to questions, while applying feedback
• Sharing exemplary work with students and helping them identify key features to replicate
• Sharing examples of student work with common errors and collectively correcting them before all students revise their writing to address similar errors.

Another feature included is the Rigorous Discussion Guidelines which informs the teacher how to explicitly increase students’ thinking by challenging them to test out their ideas, build upon those of their peers, and craft persuasive arguments. It reminds teachers that their voice is not central to the discussion and they should be listening for evidence of academic ownership by the students.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the criteria that materials contain of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research based strategies.
The website contains an “Our Approach” page that specifically details the approach taken in their Language Arts instruction. This plan includes both explanations of the overall approach taken by the program in determining which strategies to include and documents specifically dedicated to the explanation of some of the instructional approaches of the program, and when they should be implemented. Some of these strategies include think aloud, mini lesson, turn and talk, stop and jot, annotation, and writing about reading. However, there is not any identification of the research upon which these strategies or decision The publisher provides information in support of their materials based upon their use in the school.

It should be noted that within the Teacher Tool Materials “Our Approach to Language” notes that, “The structure of the language lessons in our curriculum draws heavily on the approach outlined in Patterns of Power by Jeff Anderson (Stenhouse Publishers, 2017)” however, that is the only reference to a specific “research based” approach.
The website explains that the goal of the curriculum is to develop students into critical readers, writers, and thinkers. It further explains that the Literature Curriculum is deeply rooted in the following about English instruction:

• Text First vs. Skills First: Rich and nuanced texts spark students’ thinking
• Content Selection: Selected texts that both affirm the various cultures represented in classrooms while simultaneously exposing the students to great literature.
• Writing Instruction: Teach students to construct persuasive arguments and express their own voices
• Discussion: A powerful tool for testing out ideas and strengthening thinking
• Word Knowledge: Building word knowledge through both explicit instruction and exposure to content knowledge
• Lifelong Learning: Cultivate inquisitive readers, writers, and thinkers.

The Social Studies and Science Curriculum both to expose students to the core knowledge, skills, and habits of thinking needed to be successful in those two domains, while simultaneously honing to read and write about complex informational texts. This curriculum is deeply rooted in the following beliefs:

• Content Knowledge: In order to become active citizens and make sense of the world around them, students need to develop deep background knowledge about key historic events, scientific concepts, and their own and other cultures
• Informational Texts: Read, analyze, and write about a broad range of informational texts
• Project-Based Learning: Hands-on projects, labs, and activities engage students the content and teach important thinking and problem-solving skills
• Discussion: Powerful tool for testing ideas out and strengthening thinking
• Word Knowledge: Build word knowledge through both explicit instruction and exposure to content knowledge.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the criteria that materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding the grade-level standards.

The Publisher's Document explains the various approaches to meeting the needs of diverse learners and provides strategies for meeting these students’ needs. However, these are not specific for lessons or activities. The Supporting Student Needs in ELA Instruction document specific guidance on how to meet the needs of a range of learners.

Various strategies for diverse learners are outlined in the Publishers Document. In addition, an explanation of how to student error is briefly described, as well as how to prompt students to correct their own errors or refine their thinking. There are various strategies outlined in the Publisher's Document based on students’ needs. For example:

• Building excitement and enthusiasm for the text and task
• Building strong reading and writing habits
• Previewing genre knowledge
• Circulating and providing feedback during reading and writing for individuals and the group
• Identifying and/or pre-teaching two key vocabulary words
• Providing essential background knowledge via other texts or preview.
• Checking-in with students to ensure they are reading and writing appropriately during independent work
• Previewing the most important words the text either individually or in a small group
• Teaching the students additional literal comprehension annotation strategies to use during homework and/or independent reading
• Creating additional stopping points to pause the students when reading to ask questions to build comprehension
• Creating an opportunity for the student to pre-read the text
• Providing an annotated copy of the text that includes definitions, pictures, and synonyms for key vocabulary and idioms
• Providing a chance for the students to orally plan with a teacher or peer before writing
• Providing checklists and/or exemplars for writing
• Segmenting the text based on importance and guiding the student to read some parts more closely than others
• Providing a read-aloud support to the student before the lesson
• Providing a graphic organizer for the students to organize their written responses
• Shortening the section of text the student is expected to read
• Modifying the lesson’s key or guiding questions to make easier
• Excusing the student from some or all of the challenging
• Scribing the student’s written response

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the criteria that materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level, or in a language other than English, with extensive opportunities to work with grade level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards.
The Publisher’s Document explicitly states that teachers need to provide supports that never remove the most important thinking and meaning-making, while ensuring that students can access those thinking tasks. It explains that the goal is to support students while still requiring students to perform at grade-level standards. Teachers can use the supports outlined in this document to help students who are English Language Learners work with the grade level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards.