Paths to College and Career Curriculum
** This curriculum is being used for both e-learning students and brick and mortar. I wanted to ensure that our e-learning students are receiving (close to) the same curriculum as my brick and mortar students.
Paths to College and Career is a comprehensive English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum that meets the rigorous requirements and instructional shifts of the Language Arts Florida Standards (LAFS). Paths to College and Career (for grades 6–8) deeply engages middle-level students in authentic experiences while building their literacy skills and expanding their knowledge of the world around them as they grow toward college and career readiness. Paths to College and Career supports teachers’ understanding of LAFS-aligned instruction that challenges and engages all students as they read, discuss, and write about complex texts.
Paths to College and Career provides strong and engaging instruction and learning experiences in each lesson, throughout each unit and module, and across all grade levels. Students develop expertise in the standards as they practice them with a variety of topics and tasks. The routines and protocols are consistent throughout the lessons, units, and modules, and across grade levels. This predictable structure provides scaffolds for students as they grow toward independence and accountability for their own learning.
Module 1- Journey and Survival
Focus: Reading Closely and Writing to Learn
Students explore the experiences of people of Southern Sudan during and after the Second Sudanese Civil War. They build proficiency in using textual evidence to support ideas in their writing, both in shorter responses and in an extension activity. They will read complex informational texts on Sudan. Students then combine research about Sudan with quotes from other texts about survival and craft a research-based extension activity. Students will focus on reviewing and strengthening reading strategies, such as Tackling the Text and Notice and Note Signposts.
Module 2- Working Conditions
Focus: Working with Evidence
Students explore the issue of working conditions, historical and modern-day. They analyze how people, settings, and events interact in literary and informational texts. Students first focus on Lyddie (about a girl who works in the Lowell mills); they complete comprehension activities about Lyddie’s choices around joining a protest over working conditions. Then they read a speech by César Chávez (tracing how the sections of the text combine to build central claims) as they consider the role that workers, the government, and consumers play in improving working conditions. Finally, a short research project explores how working conditions affected Lyddie while also comparing her experiences with César Chávez.
Module 3- Slavery: The People Could Fly
Focus: Understanding Perspectives
This module focuses on the autobiography of Frederick Douglass, with specific attention to understanding how he uses language in powerful ways and how he tells his story in order to serve his purpose of working to abolish slavery. Students begin by building background knowledge about Douglass and his historical context. They then read closely key excerpts from his Narrative, focusing on his message as well as the author’s craft. Finally, they select one episode from the Narrative and rewrite it as a children’s story, using Frederick Douglass: The Last Day of Slavery as a mentor text.
Module 4- TBD
Paths to College and Career provides strong and engaging instruction and learning experiences in each lesson, throughout each unit and module, and across all grade levels. Students develop expertise in the standards as they practice them with a variety of topics and tasks. The routines and protocols are consistent throughout the lessons, units, and modules, and across grade levels. This predictable structure provides scaffolds for students as they grow toward independence and accountability for their own learning.
Module 1- Journey and Survival
Focus: Reading Closely and Writing to Learn
Students explore the experiences of people of Southern Sudan during and after the Second Sudanese Civil War. They build proficiency in using textual evidence to support ideas in their writing, both in shorter responses and in an extension activity. They will read complex informational texts on Sudan. Students then combine research about Sudan with quotes from other texts about survival and craft a research-based extension activity. Students will focus on reviewing and strengthening reading strategies, such as Tackling the Text and Notice and Note Signposts.
Module 2- Working Conditions
Focus: Working with Evidence
Students explore the issue of working conditions, historical and modern-day. They analyze how people, settings, and events interact in literary and informational texts. Students first focus on Lyddie (about a girl who works in the Lowell mills); they complete comprehension activities about Lyddie’s choices around joining a protest over working conditions. Then they read a speech by César Chávez (tracing how the sections of the text combine to build central claims) as they consider the role that workers, the government, and consumers play in improving working conditions. Finally, a short research project explores how working conditions affected Lyddie while also comparing her experiences with César Chávez.
Module 3- Slavery: The People Could Fly
Focus: Understanding Perspectives
This module focuses on the autobiography of Frederick Douglass, with specific attention to understanding how he uses language in powerful ways and how he tells his story in order to serve his purpose of working to abolish slavery. Students begin by building background knowledge about Douglass and his historical context. They then read closely key excerpts from his Narrative, focusing on his message as well as the author’s craft. Finally, they select one episode from the Narrative and rewrite it as a children’s story, using Frederick Douglass: The Last Day of Slavery as a mentor text.
Module 4- TBD
Grade/Course- Specific Standards
RI.1.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RI.1.2 Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
RI.1.3 Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events).
RI.2.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
L.3.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases base on grade 7 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
RI.2.5 Analyze the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections contribute to the whole and to the development of the ideas.
RI.2.6 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author distinguishes his or her position from that of others.
RI.3.8 Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claims.
RI.3.9 Analyze how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape their presentations of key information by emphasizing different evidence or advancing different interpretations of facts.
RI.4.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
RL.1.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RL.1.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.1.3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
RL.2.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.
L.3.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases base on grade 7 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
L.3.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
RL.2.5 Analyze how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning.
RL.2.6 Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.
RL.4.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
- Provides several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly.
- Provides several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of inferences drawn from the text.
RI.1.2 Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
- Provides a statement of central idea(s) of a text.
- Provides an analysis of the development of central idea(s) over the course of the text
- Provides an objective summary of a text.
RI.1.3 Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events).
- Provides an analysis of the interactions between individuals, events, and/or ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events or how individuals influence ideas or events).
RI.2.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
L.3.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases base on grade 7 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
- Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word's position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
- Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., belligerent, bellicose, rebel).
- Interpret figures of speech (e.g., literary, biblical, and mythological allusions) in context.
- Use the relationship between particular words (e.g., synonym/antonym, analogy) to better understand each of the words.
- Distinguish among the connotations (associations) of words with similar denotations
RI.2.5 Analyze the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections contribute to the whole and to the development of the ideas.
- Provides an analysis of the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections contribute to the whole and to the development of the ideas.
RI.2.6 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author distinguishes his or her position from that of others.
- Provides a statement of an author’s point of view in a text.
- Provides a statement of an author’s purpose in a text.
- Provides an analysis of how the author distinguishes his or her position from that of others.
RI.3.8 Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claims.
- Demonstrates ability to trace an argument and specific claims in a text.
- Provides an evaluation of whether the reasoning is sound in an argument.
- Provides an evaluation of whether the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claims.
RI.3.9 Analyze how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape their presentations of key information by emphasizing different evidence or advancing different interpretations of facts.
- Provides an analysis of how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape their presentations of key information by emphasizing different evidence.
- Provides an analysis of how two or more authors writing about the same topic shape their presentations of key information by advancing different interpretations of facts.
RI.4.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
RL.1.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
- Provides citation of several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly.
- Provides citation of several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of inferences drawn from the text.
RL.1.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
- Provides a statement of a theme or central idea of a text.
- Provides an analysis of the development of the theme or central idea over the course of the text.
- Provides an objective summary of the text.
RL.1.3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
- Provides an analysis of how particular elements of a story or drama interact.
RL.2.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.
L.3.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases base on grade 7 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
- Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word’s position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
- Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., belligerent, bellicose, rebel).
L.3.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
- Interpret figures of speech (e.g., literary, biblical, and mythological allusions) in context.
- Use the relationship between particular words (e.g., synonym/antonym, analogy) to better understand each of the words.
- Distinguish among the connotations (associations) of words with similar denotations (definitions) (e.g., refined, respectful, polite, diplomatic, condescending).
RL.2.5 Analyze how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning.
- Provides an analysis of how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure contributes to meaning.
RL.2.6 Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.
- Provides an analysis of how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in the text.
RL.4.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.