Introduction to the High School ELA Frameworks

The High School ELA Frameworks have been designed to give educators an idea of what instruction across one year might look like in any one grade level. These units are also designed to: 1) demonstrate how all of the standards are introduced and re-visited within one year, and 2) demonstrate how the reading, writing, and listening/speaking/viewing standards are integrated within a single unit of study. Educators should keep in mind that these units are suggestions, not a mandated curriculum. As educators read through the various documents, they should be aware of the important factors discussed below.

• Units and Tasks: The units for each course include corresponding tasks. The tasks that are actually embedded within each unit are suggestions. Teachers may choose to modify or delete any or all of these tasks. Teachers may have their own tasks that they want to add or substitute within the different units. Please note that a task bank for each grade has been created. This task bank will include each of the tasks found within the units as well as some additional tasks.

• Organization and Time: The units and tasks have been designed to give educators a reference tool for implementing all of the standards within a year and for integrating the reading, writing, and listening/speaking/viewing standards. Again, educators may choose to teach the units in a different order (depending on their individual school schedules and student needs) and still be able to address all of the standards within a year. Educators may find the need to modify the time allowed for each unit in order to accommodate actual class time, student needs, unexpected interruptions, school calendar, etc.

• Student Work: Some student work will soon be available for viewing. The student work will include commentary regarding the alignment to corresponding standards as well as suggested guidance for improvement. As the units are implemented and exemplary student work samples are collected, educators are encouraged to consider submitting their samples to the DOE contact person for sharing on the website (email Christie McCarley at cmccarle@doe.k12.ga.us).

Teachers may find it beneficial to conduct collaborative planning sessions focused on the framework units. Groups could take the units and “flesh them out” by creating daily lesson plans and additional tasks (both teacher and student) together. As the units are implemented and student work samples are collected, teachers are encouraged to conduct collaborative planning that focuses on assessing the quality of student work using the corresponding standards as criteria. This enables teachers to begin to develop and/or refine their understanding of work that demonstrates evidence of the standard.