Writing Curriculum

The Course:

These units provide sixth grade students with a critical foundation in reading and writing narrative, informational, and argument texts. Through analysis and production of texts in these three modes, students become more adept readers, thinkers, and writers. Across the year, they come to understand the distinctions between narrative, informational and argument texts by studying fiction and nonfiction in a variety of formats and developing a more thorough understanding of audience and purpose when both reading and writing. The use of a reader or writer’s notebook for each unit encourages students to be independent, engaged, and empowered learners who value close reading, idea generation, drafting, and revision. The first two units facilitate the use of the notebook for close reading and generative writing of narrative in addition to developing the classroom writing community. The focus on understanding and using the elements of argument underpins three of the units (Argument Paragraph, Literary Essay, and Writing the Argument), supporting students in becoming more competent producers of argument in both written and spoken form. The informational reading and informational essay units steep students in how to critically read nonfiction, as well as analyze and use text structures, central ideas, and supporting details to craft an informational text.

Rationale

The ability to access, navigate, and evaluate information is a crucial skill of citizens in contemporary society. Through the study of these units, students learn strategies to be critical consumers of informational and literary texts. They explore the role nonfiction and fiction plays in their daily lives and identify and analyze text structures and features of text in print and digital formats.

Scope and Sequence

Careful thought has been given to the order in which the English 6 units are presented. The year-long course is designed to build rhetorical and 21st century skills, as well as habits of mind and experiences critical for success in later grades. Students continue to develop a learner identity and content knowledge that builds their level of persistence to engage in complex tasks that call upon strong analytical thinking and reasoning. As a result, certain scaffolds have been created based on this unit order. Schools should take care in moving units from their intended placement in the curriculum. For example, Launching the Writer’s Notebook and Independent Reading units are designed to establish certain learner habits, strategies, and practices that help ramp students into later units of analyzing complex texts and writing well-reasoned arguments.

Alignment

The English 6 course is designed to meet the larger learning goals listed in the Framework for Success in Post-secondary Writing developed by the Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, the National Writing Project, and the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

Essential Understandings of Grade 6:

Unit: Launching the Writer's Notebook/Personal Narrative

• How do writers use their notebooks to gather and record writing?
• What are some strategies writers use to establish importance?
• Why are details important to your special stories?
• What strategies can help us determine small, focused stories?
• Why is it important to tell your stories in sequence, and to not just list details?
• How does our conferencing help improve our writing?
• What decisions have you made to help you choose the piece of writing to continue with?
• Why is it so important to have a strong story starter?
• Why is it so important to leave readers with well-written endings?
• Why is revision such a powerful tool of successful writing?
• How can checklists be a valuable aspect in making final revisions?
• Identify three ways in which this unit has improved your skills as a writer.

Unit: Argument Paragraph

• What is the difference between fact and opinion?
• How do you support a claim with evidence?
• How do you decide if a source is credible?
• How do you revise?

Unit: Literary Essay

• How do writers construct meaning by studying a character’s traits, motivations, relationships, realizations, struggles, and changes?
• How do writers collect and connect evidence and use it to support their theses?
• How do writers structure and organize literary essays?
• How do writers create clarity through word choice and punctuation?

Unit: Informational Essay-Cause and Effect

• What is cause and effect?
• How do you select, organize, and analyze information to teach a reader about a topic?

Unit - Argument Letter

• When does it make sense to lodge a complaint?
• What details of the problem and evidence to support its seriousness must you provide the reader?
• How do you draft and revise a complaint letter so the intended audience is persuaded to address the problem?