Middle School English Language Arts Instructional Guide

●​ Informative Writing Rubric ●​ Argument Writing Rubric

Testing Reason: Winter II

RISE Benchmark or CFA Determined by Site-Based PLC

2/9/26 - 3/2/26

Scaffolds General

●​ CSD Middle School ELA Resource Hub and Community

●​ On-Demand Writing Progression for an Extended Response ●​ Multigenre Mapper Tool ●​ NCTE Position Statement - Understanding and Teaching Writing: Guiding Principles ●​ Learning Through Writing Strategies

Writing

●​ Text Annotation ●​ Guiding Questioning ●​ Close Reading Route ●​ The Three Phases of the Critical Reading Process ●​ Think-Alouds and Structured Dialogue

Reading

●​ Text-Dependent Questions ●​ Accessing Complex Texts

●​ Structured Academic Discussions ●​ The Big List of Discussion Strategies (Cult of Pedagogy)

Speaking and Listening

●​ Student Ted Talk ●​ Narrative Journalism ●​ Create an infographic, podcast, profile, turning point essay, proposal, photo essay ●​ Submit to school’s newspaper or literary journal ●​ Turn it into an OpEd and submit to the local newspaper ●​ Submit for publication: learn how to write a query letter , research publications for submissions, submit essay or narrative for publication ​ ​ Multilingual Learners will construct informational texts in language arts that: ●​ Introduce and define topic and/or entity for audience ○​ Opening statements to identify type of information (describing, comparing/contrasting, classifying) ●​ Establish objective or neutral stance ○​ Declarative statements to provide objective, factual information ○​ Technical word choices to add precise and descriptive information without evaluative language (the effects versus devastating effects)

Extensions

Language Expectations for Multilingual Learners

Source: WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Last Updated May 22nd, 2025 Middle School ELA, Page 57