Introduction to the Revised Middle Grades ELA Frameworks

The Middle Grades 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, 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.

• 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. The units were also planned with the Georgia Writing Assessment in mind. The timeframe and introduction of particular genres were set up to prepare students for the requirements they will face when the Georgia Writing Assessment is administered. 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 cover all of the standards within a year. Educators may find the need to alter the time allowed for each unit in order to accommodate actual class time, student needs, unexpected interruptions, school calendar, etc.

• Tasks: The task bank has been designed as a separate link in order to allow educators the ability to view/print the units and tasks separately. Some tasks are directly referenced within individual units and are located under that particular unit. There are some tasks that may be applicable to a variety of units and are listed as such. Some tasks are specific to a particular genre of study. Teachers may choose to incorporate these tasks within their own coordinating units. The task bank is a work in progress; more tasks should be added in the future. Educators should not feel as though the tasks listed are the only acceptable or expected tasks within the different units. They may discover they have their own viable tasks and may want to consider sharing them with the DOE contact person for publication in the task bank (use the email address listed within each unit for future contact). Please keep in mind, that any task(s) teachers use should be of the same depth and rigor as the tasks found within the task bank.

• Units: The units have been written in a format that is similar to the Unit Builder format that will eventually become available to educators (via GeorgiaStandards.org). Each unit is introduced with an explanatory annotation, followed by a listing of focus and complementary standards. It is important to note that the vocabulary, reading across the curriculum, and conventions standards are expected to be integrated within daily instruction. These standards are not always listed by elements keeping in mind that the focus on the elements will depend on the needs and backgrounds of individual students. The standards are followed by a suggested list of enduring understandings and essential questions. The next section of the units contains a brief description of suggested balanced assessments and the unit performance (or culminating) task(s). After the assessments, educators will find a list of suggested teacher and student activities followed by a weekly organization of these tasks. Educators may find the need to alter the activities and suggested time frames to accommodate individual classrooms and schools. Each unit concludes with a sample list of resources, web resources, and notes to teachers. This section contains important web links as well as explanations and suggestions for implementing the units. The resources listed are suggestions only. These units are can be modified to fit the resources available to educators.

• Student Work: There are some pieces of student work that will soon be available for viewing. The student work will include commentary regarding its 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 these samples to the DOE contact person for sharing on the website (use the email address listed within each unit for future contact).

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 of evidence of the standard.