Middle School English Language Arts Instructional Guide

UPDATED INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDE FEATURES

Feature

Description

FORMAT

The format has changed for our instructional guides to be more streamlined across content areas. All of the resources are still available, but now there are more ways to use the maps and to add your voice to it.

KEY LANGUAGE USAGES

Key Language Uses: Narrate, Inform, Explain, and Argue, describe prominent ways that language is used every day in school.

Language Expectations for Multilingual Learners

The Language Expectations for Multilingual Learners build on the Key Language Usages by summarizing the most prominent language uses across disciplines, helping educators organize and prioritize curriculum and instruction.

END OF UNIT WRITING COMPETENCY EXAMPLE ONE GUIDE TO RULE THEM ALL

Each unit provides a sample prompt, along with text-sets, and (in most cases) vertically aligned and annotated student writing samples. The Grade Level Scope and Sequences for middle school have been placed in one guide starting with 6th grade and going through to 8th grade. This is further support the good work teams have been working on with vertical alignment and coherence. The DWSBA Windows as well as the documentation in this guide have been adjusted to emphasize its purpose as a formative assessment as well to allow for PLC discussion of results before district-wide, grade-level collaborations. PLC’s are encouraged to choose themes and essential questions that support the anchor standards for that unit and deepen the understanding of the texts chosen for their class. These sample themes and texts are not comprehensive, nor are they required. When choosing texts to use in your classroom, remember to use the Instructional Materials Selection Criteria to help you make your decisions. Also, refer to text complexity to ensure that students are reading increasingly complex texts throughout middle school. The Advanced Learner extensions have been moved to the end of each grade level.

DWSBA

SAMPLE THEMES & RESOURCES

ADVANCED LEARNER EXTENSIONS

Last Updated June, 2023 Middle School ELA, Page 3