Curriculum

Overview

The Wydown Middle School literacy curriculum engages students through seven essential classroom practices: shared reading, independent reading, assigned writing, self-selected writing, discussion, inquiry and demonstrations. These classroom practices foster continued growth in the District’s Enduring Understandings:

Systems: Readers and writers understand that structures, conventions, and roles of language differ so that they can approach writing in different ways and for different purposes.
Inquiry: Readers and writers ask questions to make sense of the world around them and challenge the status quo.
Social Interaction: Reading and writing builds social connections to help us understand others’ perspectives and gain empathy to build both local and global communities.
Personal Growth: Reading and writing empowers us to discover and explore our passions, to embrace ambiguity, and to persevere through challenging and complex texts to grow personally and intellectually.
Aesthetics: Readers and writers benefit from exploring a wide range of texts to broaden their appreciation for language and to expand their ability to express themselves and inspire others.

Priority Standards

6th Grade

Draw conclusions, infer and analyze by citing textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Analyze how a particular sentence, paragraph, section, or image contributes to meaning.
Compare and contrast texts in different genres that address similar themes or topics.
Follow a writing process to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, style, and voice are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience; develop writing with narrative, expository, and argumentative techniques.
Review, revise, and edit writing with consideration for the task, purpose, and audience.
Conduct research to answer a question, drawing on several sources; integrate information using a standard citation system.
Review the key ideas expressed by a speaker including those presented in diverse media and demonstrate understanding of multiple perspectives through reflection and paraphrasing.
Plan and deliver appropriate presentations based on the task, audience and purpose, including multimedia components in presentations to clarify claims, findings and ideas.

7th Grade

Draw conclusions, infer and analyze by citing textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Analyze how a text's form or overall structure contributes to meaning.
Compare and contrast texts in different genres that address similar themes or topics.
Follow a writing process to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, style, and voice are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience; develop writing with narrative, expository, and argumentative techniques.
Review, revise, and edit writing with consideration for the task, purpose, and audience.
Conduct research to answer a question, drawing on several sources; integrate information using a standard citation system.
Review the key ideas expressed by a speaker including those presented in diverse media and demonstrate understanding of multiple perspectives through reflection and paraphrasing.
Plan and deliver appropriate presentations based on the task, audience and purpose, including multimedia components in presentations to clarify claims, findings and ideas.

8th Grade

Draw conclusions, infer and analyze by citing the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Analyze how an author's choice concerning a text's form or overall structure contributes to meaning.
Compare and contrast information presented in different mediums/genres and analyze how the techniques unique to each medium contribute to meaning.
Follow a writing process to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, style, and voice are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience; develop writing with narrative, expository, and argumentative techniques.
Review, revise, and edit writing with consideration for the task, purpose, and audience.
Conduct research to answer a question (including a self-generated question); gather relevant, credible sources, print and digital; integrate information using a standard citation system.
Acknowledge new information expressed by others including those presented in diverse media and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views in light of evidence presented.
Plan and deliver appropriate presentations based on the task, audience and purpose, integrating multimedia into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest.

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