Ninth Grade - ELA
1: Semester 1
Unit 1: Lord of the Flies
Lesson 1
The Call
Students are asked to read Chapter 1 and answer specific text-based questions (e.g., identify the conch and explain how it is used; identify who claims leadership and how leaders are chosen), which requires locating explicit details in the text. The vocabulary activity provides quotations with page numbers and asks students to match words to those in-text quotes, so students must use textual context to determine word meanings. The Dystopias activity asks students to identify common elements across stories and to anticipate which elements they might see in Lord of the Flies, prompting inference from texts they have read or viewed.
Lesson 2
Life on the Island
Students are prompted to collect textual details on STEAL character pages (Speech, Thoughts, Effect on Others, Actions, Looks) and to include page numbers in their notes. The Parent Plan provides explicit example quotations from Chapter 1 with linked inferences (e.g., Ralph's quoted line used to infer values). Activity directions and the homework repeatedly ask students to return to the charts as they read and to record examples that support understanding of characters.
Lesson 3
Paths in the Jungle
The lesson instructs students to annotate texts (highlight, write margin notes, circle words, underline main points) and to re-read with definitions, which engages students in locating textual support. Activity 1 asks students to read a linked article, identify the author's thesis and supporting points, and fill a graphic organizer with "Key points that support the thesis." The Parent Plan and student activity pages require students to record author evidence and their reactions, asking them to analyze and respond to the author's opinion.
Lesson 4
Images from Paradise
Students are asked in Activity 1 to fill a Five Senses chart with quotations from the book, include the original sentence, and explain how the description serves as a good example of imagery. The chart directions require students to note if the description is positive or negative and to indicate whether the description suggests a paradox or emphasizes contrast, which asks students to support interpretive claims with specific lines. The Parent Plan learning goal asks students to determine meanings of words and phrases in the text and analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.
Lesson 6
Symbolism, Part 1
Students are asked in Activity 1 to "Explain the interpretation you agree with and back up your explanation with support from the text," and the Student Activity Page directs students to provide text-based reasoning for each symbolic item. Activity 2 requires students to write a one-page journal that must "record actions and quotes from the other main characters," which requires citing specific lines or events. The Parent Plan reiterates that students should be able to explain their choices and "back it up with support from the text."
Lesson 7
Bowed and Bowed Again
Students are prompted to compare characters' (boys') knowledge with the reader's knowledge in the 'The Beast' activity, asking them to predict how Jack, Piggy, and Ralph will respond given different information. Students are directed to record characters' actions and thoughts on STEAL character pages and to answer comprehension questions about Chapter 8 that reference plot events (e.g., why Jack's group raids Ralph's group). Students also work directly with quoted sentences from Lord of the Flies in the prepositional-phrases activity, marking phrases within actual text passages.
Lesson 8
Defects of Human Nature
Students are asked to choose themes that support Golding's identified major theme and to "support those choices by referring to details from the novel," which requires them to locate and use textual details. The Option 1 activity directs students to record details in boxes and write a 3–4 sentence explanation of how the main theme supports their choice, and the Parent Plan repeatedly instructs students to support theme selections with examples from the novel. The Reading and Questions section also asks students to answer specific text-based questions (for example, identifying what Simon finds and describing what Jack's tribe does), which requires using text information as evidence.
Lesson 9
Symbolism, Part 2
Students are asked to interpret characters and settings in Activity 1 and Activity 2 (Recognizing Archetypes and Allegory Analysis), responding in writing to prompts such as what each character might represent and what each tribe or the island could symbolize. The Reading and Questions section asks students to answer specific, text-based comprehension questions about Chapter 11 (e.g., who remains in Ralph's tribe; how Piggy dies), which requires students to draw information from the text. The Parent Plan notes that students "may cite" details and gives example details that students could use when explaining character roles and symbolic elements.
Lesson 10
Which Is Better?
Students are given a direct quotation from the text (Piggy's speech) and asked to consider its meaning in relation to the boys' descent into savagery. Students complete a 'Developing Civilization' chart comparing the boys' situation to early civilizations and answer specific reading questions about Chapter 12 that require referring to plot details (e.g., Samneric's report, the naval officer, the cause of the ship's arrival). Students are assigned a one-page journal entry task in which they must analyze Jack's leadership and contrast it with Ralph's, which invites use of textual details to support claims.
Lesson 11
The Film
Students are asked to watch the 1963 film and complete a "Movie vs. Book" chart noting similarities and differences in characters, setting, theme, and plot, which requires referencing specific scenes and events from the novel and film. The journal prompts ask students to explain whether omitted scenes were too critical to the novel's major theme and to describe a visual that differed from their mental image, requiring students to support their answers with details from the text and film. The lesson explicitly asks students to look for subtext and to infer characters' thoughts and emotions from actors' body language and actions.
Final Project
Now You Have the Conch
The sample prompt directs students to return to Chapter 7 and "note passages" where Ralph and Jack contend and where the group gets "caught up," including paraphrasing and identifying patterns. The Brainstorming pages tell students to find passages, record key phrases or sentences, include page numbers, and write brief explanations of each passage's relevance. The Essay Organizer and Guided Outline require students to provide specific examples from the text, including quotes, in each body paragraph, and the rubric evaluates the quality of support and explanations. The Unit Test and literary-device tasks ask students to provide textual examples for devices like dramatic irony and direct characterization.
Unit 2: Short Stories
Lesson 1
The Gift of the Magi
The lesson's Skills section explicitly lists citing strong and thorough textual evidence as a learning goal. Students are asked to read and annotate the texts, underline important words/phrases, and record short-story elements (characters, setting, plot, theme) on a graphic organizer. Activities require students to record instances of situational and dramatic irony and to write journal entries explaining how allusions contribute to understanding the story.
Lesson 2
The Necklace
The Parent Plan lists the exact skill: "Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis..." and the lesson repeatedly instructs students to "use textual evidence" to show how the author develops theme (Activity 1) and to incorporate direct quotes into their writing (introducing lesson). The Objective Summary activity asks students to identify specific elements of the text and use them to write a summary, and the homework directs students to "support your ideas with examples from the text" and to use direct quotations, summaries, or paraphrase. The APE scaffold explicitly asks students to "Prove" by providing evidence from the text.
Lesson 3
Literary Response
Students are asked to find specific examples or quotations from both stories during the brainstorming activity and record them in a three-column graphic organizer labeled for evidence from each text. The lesson teaches the APE method (Answer, Prove, Extend), directing students to "Prove" assertions by providing examples or quotations and to "Extend" by explaining how that evidence supports their ideas. The lesson also gives a citation format for quotations and includes rubric criteria that score students for "Support of ideas with evidence from the text" and "Explanation of how the evidence supports points."
Lesson 4
Characterization
The lesson asks students to support answers with evidence from the story (Question #2: "Support your answer with evidence from the story") and to provide evidence for opinions (Question #1 asks students to "provide evidence to support their conclusions"). The Characterization activity and Student Activity Page require students to record specific examples of speech, appearance, thoughts, actions, and others' responses and to label each example as direct or indirect, including highlighting examples and preparing to discuss how those characterizations advance plot or theme. The Parent Plan section supplies sample quotations and models how to point to explicit passages and infer character traits from dialogue and actions.
Lesson 5
Edgar Allan Poe
Students are asked to locate and record specific textual examples in multiple activities: the "Crazy Like a Fox?" chart requires listing textual evidence for both "Rational and Trustworthy" and "Irrational or Insane." Activity 2 asks students to find 3–4 examples of foreshadowing and record what each foreshadows. The storyboard activity requires students to quote the corresponding section of the story under each panel. The Gothic Fiction activity explicitly directs students to "provide specific examples from the text" for listed characteristics.
Lesson 6
The Lottery
The Parent Plan Skills explicitly lists "Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis..." as a targeted skill. The "Things to Know" section tells students to provide specific evidence from the text to support interpretations. Activity 1 directs students to use close reading to examine passages that mention the black box and to record elements from the story in three categories (physical description, reactions, historical connections); the Answer Key models quoting specific lines (e.g., "grinned at one another humorlessly and nervously" and "The villagers kept their distance").
Lesson 7
Everyday Use
The Parent Plan skills list explicitly tells students to "read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text." The reading questions ask students to answer interpretive questions (e.g., point of view, significance of the title) and provide model answers that reference specific lines and quotations from the story. Activities (Point of View, Symbolism) require students to write reflections and explanations about characters and themes, which invite use of textual details to support their responses.
Lesson 8
Harrison Bergeron
Students are asked to read the text and answer specific comprehension and inference questions (e.g., Question #1 includes the quoted line, "If I tried to get away with it,' said George...", which models using a direct passage to support an explanation). Students must identify the narrative point of view based on what the narrator knows and tells the reader (Question #4), which requires attending to explicit textual details. The compare-and-contrast activities require students to note specific scenes, character changes, and textual details (for example, identifying the first two paragraphs as exposition and listing deleted/altered scenes), which encourages use of passages from the story when explaining differences with the film.
Lesson 9
Dialogue
The lesson's Skills section explicitly lists the standard: students will "Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis..." Activity 2 asks students to "refer to specific lines or sections of dialogue to support your points" as they write a journal paragraph analyzing how dialogue works in a chosen short story. The Parent Plan sections restate that students should support their responses with references to dialogue and provide a sample paragraph that models referring to specific quoted lines.
Unit 4: Poetry
Lesson 1
Introduction to Poetry
Students are instructed to print and mark poems (underline important words, add symbols for surprises/questions, highlight positive/negative connotations) and then answer guided questions about the poem, including identifying who "them" refers to and explaining why chosen words are effective. In Activity 2 students mark words in "Richard Cory," examine line 3, identify other descriptive words/phrases, and use a worksheet to record denotations, connotations, similar words, and why the original word is more effective. The denotation/connotation worksheet explicitly asks students to select words, write their dictionary meanings, note connotations, and explain effectiveness compared to synonyms.
Lesson 2
Sound and Rhythm
Students are asked to locate and mark instances of sound devices in poems (Activity 1: identify at least two examples of alliteration and assonance and one of consonance in Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay"). In Activity 2 and the student page, students identify examples of internal rhyme, alliteration, and assonance in "Counting-Out Rhyme" and answer analytical questions about rhyme scheme and how the poem compares to traditional counting-out rhymes. Homework requires students to mark "The Tyger" with colored pencils (underlining alliteration, assonance, consonance, and noting stanza differences) and write a journal reflection about how rhyme is used and its effect on the reader.
Lesson 3
Figurative Language
In Activity 1 students are instructed to read "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" and identify examples of simile/metaphor, personification, symbolism, and imagery, including stanza and line numbers and explanations. In Activity 2 students are asked to record the exact phrase or line that illustrates irony, understatement, overstatement, or paradox and to explain how the poem uses that device. Homework Option 1 and the provided answer keys require students to note specific lines/stanzas and articulate meanings or symbolic inferences from those quotations.
Lesson 4
Voice and Tone
Students are asked to identify the speaker of poems and list three things they know about the speaker from the text (Activity 1 and Student Activity Page), which requires using lines or details from the poems to support inferences. In the tone activities (Activity 2 and Student Activity Page) students record specific words or phrases that convey tone and note sight/sound images that contribute to tone, explicitly pointing to textual language as evidence. The letter and stanza options require students to "refer to parts of the poem and explain" their choices, asking them to use textual details to justify creative responses.
Lesson 5
What Does It Mean?
Students read poems closely and complete step-by-step analytic tasks that ask them to identify the title, speaker, unfamiliar words, and to write brief summaries of the poem. Students answer follow-up questions that require them to identify images, tones, symbols, themes, and to explain how allusions and background information affect understanding (e.g., the Allusion activity asks how references help comprehension). Students also practice drawing figurative inferences by exploring extended metaphors in assigned poems and responding to directed questions about possible figurative meanings.
Lesson 7
Analyzing Poetry
Students are instructed to annotate poems by underlining or circling important words, writing thoughts and questions in the margins, and writing short summaries at the end of readings. Student activities require annotating Robert Frost's "October," completing a Poetry Map for "Blackberry-Picking" that asks for word choice, imagery, symbols/allusions, tone, and a summary, and using a word-list puzzle to identify recurring words and then read the poem to compare marked words. The Parent Plan repeatedly asks students to determine meanings, analyze cumulative impact of word choice, and summarize key supporting details and ideas.
Lesson 8
Types of Poems
The lesson's Skills list explicitly states that students will "Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research," indicating an expectation to use text-based evidence. Multiple activities require students to read poems and answer analytic questions (e.g., identifying speaker and tone in "The Spellin'-Bee," determining rhyme scheme and sonnet type, and explaining the apostrophe in Whitman's poem), which asks students to base answers on the text. The Milton sonnet discussion models making an inference (that Milton's blindness informs the poem's imagery), showing students an example of using textual details to support an inference.
Lesson 9
The Crossover
Students are asked to finish reading specified sections of The Crossover and answer factual comprehension questions (e.g., Josh's punishment, privileges, presents), which requires locating explicit information in the text. The vocabulary activities require students to compare the book's in-text definitions with dictionary definitions and to use one vocabulary word as an example, directing students to cite how the author uses the word in three contextual "As in:" sentences. The homework Option 1 asks students to look at particular poems/pages and explain what "crossover" means in each, prompting students to refer to specific passages when analyzing shifts in meaning.
Lesson 10
Poems and Poets
Students are prompted to read poems closely, read aloud, annotate, and take notes (Activity 1 and Activity 2). The Poetry Map asks students to paraphrase, summarize, identify theme, word choice, imagery, sound devices, figurative language, and speaker, which requires analyzing text. Activity 4 asks students to research poem references and write a journal response summarizing what is happening in the poem and explaining how cultural references enrich the poem. Several guided questions ask students to compare meter, identify literary devices, and determine tone based on the text.
Lesson 11
Reciting Poetry
The Parent Plan explicitly lists the skill to "cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text," linking close reading and inference to citation. Students are asked to read and annotate poems, determine speaker and tone, analyze word choice (the Housman example), and note what makes recitations effective in a journal—all activities that require identifying lines or words that support interpretations. Homework directs students to mark the poem for pauses and imagery, which involves pointing to specific text when explaining meaning.
Final Project
Poetry
The Poetry Explication (Choice 5) requires students to copy/paste or type the poem (or focused sections) into a slide and demonstrate aspects by highlighting words that show tone, sound devices, and other features. The explication prompts students to state the poem's literal meaning and its theme/additional layers of meaning, which requires moving from explicit text to inference. The lesson defines annotation (marking words/phrases and taking margin notes) and repeatedly instructs students to use poem details (e.g., director's notebook: "Be sure to use the poem for details" and a hint to use line 33) when making design or interpretive choices.
Unit 5: Nonfiction
Lesson 1
Types of Nonfiction
Students are asked on the "All About a Person" activity page to support their classification of a book (biography, autobiography, or memoir) with "specific examples" from the catalog record, front matter, and back matter. The activity also directs students to "support your comparison with specific examples" when comparing books' themes, viewpoints, and evidence about accuracy. Homework asks students to read the Prologue and Chapter 1 of I Am Malala and answer questions that require use of textual details (for example, identifying circumstances of the title question and describing Malala's relationship with her brothers).
Lesson 2
Pakistan
Students read Chapters 2–4 of I Am Malala and answer specific comprehension questions that require recalling explicit details (e.g., differences between village and city life; Taliban actions in Afghanistan). Some questions ask for causal or inferential reasoning (e.g., how conservative groups gained a foothold after the earthquake), and the Pakistan activity directs students to use the book's timeline and text details to answer questions about setting and history.
Lesson 3
The Taliban
Students read Chapters 7, 8, and 10 of I Am Malala and answer specific comprehension questions that target explicit details (e.g., "What happened to the school in Matta?") and inferential thinking (e.g., "Why do you think the Taliban do not want children to be well educated?"). The Parent Plan lists skills that students will practice, including determining central ideas/themes and summarizing key supporting details. Students practice paraphrasing and synthesize information from the provided PBS article and other sources to write an informational paragraph or create slides that summarize and explain the Taliban's beliefs and actions.
Lesson 6
A Day Like Any Other
The lesson requires students to use the APE strategy (Answer, Prove, Extend) and explicitly directs students to "Provide evidence to support your answer. Use specific examples and quotations from the text." The Parent Plan lists the skill "Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis," and the activity rubric tells students the "prove" section should include quotations with page numbers. The Decisions, Decisions activity asks students to analyze why characters made choices, which requires inference supported by text evidence.
Lesson 7
Life in England
Students read Chapters 33–34 and answer directed comprehension and inference questions (e.g., differences between schools; why the family was not concerned), which require using the text to support answers. Activity 1 asks students to take notes comparing the book and a documentary and points them to specific page references (top of p.75, bottom of p.106, p.184) and to a quoted passage, encouraging use of those passages in discussion. The Parent Plan reiterates those comparison questions and provides specific book quotations and video timestamps as focal evidence for discussion.
Lesson 8
Civil Rights
Students read substantial portions of primary texts (Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and other authors) and answer targeted comprehension and analysis questions (e.g., listing the four steps of a nonviolent campaign and identifying King's most persuasive arguments). Students are instructed to underline portions of excerpts, identify whether they agree with King's reasoning, and record answers in journals. Students match King's quotations to the historical figures he references and complete a double-entry diary comparing just and unjust laws, which requires engaging directly with King's language.
Lesson 9
Civil Disobedience
The Parent Plan explicitly lists the skill "Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research," aligning with the standard. In Activity 1 students are asked to analyze excerpts from Thoreau and King, use a highlighter to mark phrases on both sides that discuss similar ideas, and fill the middle column with overlapping ideas. In Activity 2 students read opposing quotes and must decide which author they agree with and explain how their views align, and the homework asks students to read excerpts from "Civil Disobedience" and answer text-based questions.
Lesson 10
Learning from the Past
Students are asked to find and quote specific lines from Wiesel's speech (Activity 1: "Find a quote from the text that supports this") and to annotate the speech before answering short-answer questions. In Activity 3 students must "skim Wiesel's speech and look for a statement that is a universal truth" and then "draft a paragraph... Use a quote from each person you mention to support your argument," requiring use of textual evidence to support analysis and comparisons. The Parent Plan homework asks students to "Rewrite this quote in your own words" and to answer inferential questions about Jewish tradition, prompting students to cite text for both explicit meaning and inferences.
Lesson 11
A Boy's Story
Students are directed to read specific pages in the Chronology and chapters and to answer content and inference questions (e.g., questions about the RUF's goal, why the civil war lasted, and what the author says the book tries to explain). Several questions ask students to refer to the author interview and to specific book pages (page references are given for vocabulary sentence completions and homework questions). The vocabulary activity has students locate and use words in sentences drawn directly from the book, with page numbers provided.
Lesson 12
Running from War
Students are explicitly taught methods for integrating quotations (introducing with a complete sentence and colon, using an introductory phrase with a comma, or blending a fragment into their sentence) in Activity 1 and on the Student Activity Page. Students practice correct punctuation for quotations (Part I) and must produce an introduced quotation with context (Part II). The homework uses the APE strategy and requires students to "Prove" their answer by using a quotation from the text and one of the taught integration methods, so students must cite textual evidence to support their response.
Lesson 13
Child Soldier
The "Different Accounts" activity directions tell students to "Give examples or quotes from the book to back up your answer," explicitly requiring them to cite text for both book-based and inferential questions. Several reading questions (e.g., asking why commanders repeat lines or why boys are given drugs) ask students to infer motives from context, prompting use of textual details to support inferences. The Parent Plan Skills list explicitly names the targeted skill: "Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis...," signaling that students are expected to practice that standard.
Lesson 14
Rehabilitation
Students are asked multiple times to provide examples or quotations from the text to support their conclusions (Option 2 asks students to state a conclusion about war crimes and "provide examples or quotations from the text," and the Activity 1 worksheet directs students to record examples or quotations if they think the government committed crimes). The Wiesel's Words activity explicitly asks students to "Include specific examples from the book or video" to explain which quotation applies. The Student Activity Page and other prompts instruct students to re-read specified pages (e.g., p. 123, p. 134) and to record page numbers when analyzing nightmares, directing students to locate and cite textual passages.
Lesson 15
A New Life
The lesson's Skills list explicitly includes "Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research," and students answer text-based comprehension questions (e.g., why Beah is worried about living with a family; why he couldn't salute) that require using the book to support answers. The lesson reviews quoting and paraphrasing and allows students to include brief quotations in summaries, and the Comparing Memoirs activity asks students to analyze authors' style and rhetoric using specific scenes as examples.
Final Project
Expository Essay
Students are required to gather and present supporting facts as quotes, paraphrases, or summaries (Part 3 and the "Quoting, Summarizing, and Paraphrasing" activity) and to use those items as proof in body paragraphs (Part 4's APE: Answer, Prove, Extend). The rubric's Support criteria require three key facts backed by carefully researched sources and presented with credit to sources. The lesson gives explicit instructions for in-text parenthetical citations and for creating a Works Cited page, and the Parent Plan skills list includes "Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research."
Semester Exam
Semester Exam
Students practice integrating and punctuating direct quotations and paraphrasing in Part V, where they must introduce and correctly quote a Wordsworth excerpt and paraphrase selected passages. Students respond to short-answer and discussion prompts (Part III and Part IV) that require explaining symbols, themes, irony, and the effectiveness of authors' choices, which invite use of textual examples. The fill-in and short-answer items ask students to identify literary devices and to annotate or reference text features (annotation is defined in the answer key), supporting text-based analysis.
2: Semester 2
Unit 1: Ender's Game
Lesson 2
We're People, Not Thirds
Students read Chapters 3–4 and answer specific comprehension questions that require identifying explicit details from the text (e.g., why the I.F. officer came; how Ender differed from the other boys; how Graff got the other boys to dislike Ender). Students respond to discussion prompts that ask them to justify opinions and interpret motives (e.g., whether Ender should have beaten Stilson; why Stilson said, "We're people, not Thirds?"), which asks for inferential reasoning. Students complete activities that connect the theme of being a 'Third' to real-world pressures, requiring them to locate and use textual and contextual information about the novel's portrayal of eugenics and procreation pressures.
Lesson 5
Movement and Time
The Student Activity Page (Flashbacks) asks students to locate a specific flashback in Chapter 5 and "record it here," which requires students to identify and reproduce a passage from the text. Follow-up questions ask students to explain the insights gained about Ender and how the flashback increases tension, prompting analysis of explicit content and inferred meaning. The parent-plan Skills statement directs students to analyze how an author's manipulation of time and structure creates effects like tension, which supports using text-based analysis.
Lesson 6
Performance Is Personal
The Text Structure activity asks students to "review the first few paragraphs of each chapter" and to "identify examples of foreshadowing" and to "provide an example from the text," prompting students to locate and use specific textual passages. Several Text Structure questions explicitly require students to explain how conversations create tension and to give a textual example. The homework questions require students to refer to chapter details (e.g., the image that upset Graff, how Peter and Valentine control people), reinforcing use of text-based answers.
Lesson 9
Conflict Within and Without
The Parent Plan explicitly lists the skill: "Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text." In Activity 1 students identify examples of internal and external conflict from Ender's Game using a chart and consider how each conflict fits into the story's theme and plot. Students write journal paragraphs (Activity 1 and Activity 2) that ask them to explain the significance of conflicts and to speculate about author choices, which requires drawing inferences from the text.
Lesson 11
Thud, Whump, Huut
Students are instructed to re-read specific scenes from the book and either re-watch the corresponding movie scene or read the comic pages, then take notes on differences and consider what information or dialogue was omitted or changed. The Comic Adaptation activity explicitly asks students to list narration or dialogue that was omitted or changed, includes quoted passages for comparison, and directs students to decide whether the comic communicated the omitted words' message. The movie option asks students to choose a scene, note omissions/changes, and determine which version is more effective, prompting comparison grounded in textual and cinematic details.
Lesson 12
Campbell's Comparisons
Students are asked to record the 12 steps of Campbell's hero's journey and then choose six steps to "describe the parallels" between those steps and specific portions of Ender's Game, which requires them to point to events in the novel. The parent plan and activity sheet explicitly direct students to provide examples from the novel for each chosen step. In Activity 2, students retake an issues survey and are asked to compare their earlier answers and, if changed, "provide examples from the novel that they feel most influenced them," prompting use of textual examples in support of their views.
Final Project
Think-Tac-Toe
The Parent Plan Skills section explicitly tells students to "read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text." The unit test (Part III: Conflict in Literature) asks students to provide examples of internal and external conflict from Ender's Game, and several Think-Tac-Toe tasks (Box 3 Text Choices, Box 5 Leadership and Influence, Box 2 Flashbacks) require students to select passages, rewrite from a perspective, compare portrayals, or recall specific moments from the novel.
Unit 3: Informational Texts
Lesson 1
What Are Informational Texts?
Students answer specific reading-comprehension questions about the Outliers chapter (e.g., explain how Rosetans migrated, why Stewart Wolf studied them, and what researchers determined), which requires using information stated in the text. One homework question asks students to infer the meaning of the phrase "egalitarian ethos" from context and then check with a dictionary, explicitly asking students to use textual context for an inference. Activity 2 prompts students to discuss Gladwell's TED talk and to explain, based on the story, how David may have had advantages—asking them to refer to evidence in the talk/story.
Lesson 2
Outliers
Students are directed to re-read specific pages (p. 3, p. 7, and pp. 10–11) and answer questions about how Gladwell defines "outlier" and how the Roseto study functions as an analogy, prompting text-based analysis. Students answer homework comprehension questions about details from "The Matthew Effect" (e.g., birth months of hockey players, the effect of cutoff dates) and are asked to explain why these details matter, which requires drawing inferences from the text. Students use context quotes on the vocabulary pages to choose synonyms, requiring them to refer back to the text for word meaning and connotation.
Lesson 3
The Matthew Effect
The Parent Plan Skills section explicitly lists "Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis…" as a targeted skill. Homework Questions 1–4 and the discussion prompts ask students to explain ideas from the chapters (e.g., explain the 10,000 rule, relate examples from Chapter 1), which requires students to refer to the text to support their answers. Activities (such as comparing charts and sketching graphics based on paragraph content) require students to use specific textual information from the chapter to complete tasks.
Lesson 4
The 10,000 Hour Rule
The Parent Plan Skills list explicitly names "Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis..." as a target skill. In Activity 1 students summarize Sections 1–3, identify specific words/phrases (e.g., Gladwell's use of "however" and examples) and answer questions that require referring back to the text. In Activity 2 and the homework students are instructed to mark key opportunities in the book and then use those marked details to create a visual representation.
Lesson 5
Harlan, Kentucky
The lesson's Skills section explicitly lists the standard: "Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis..." indicating the lesson targets that skill. Students are instructed to read pages 162-176 (including footnotes) and to answer specific comprehension questions about explicit events and inferred ideas (pattern of violence, "culture of honor," jury reasoning, and the Michigan experiment). The homework asks students to take notes and reflect on how settlers influenced local culture, which requires drawing information from the chapter to support their reflections.
Lesson 6
The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes
Students are directed to read specified sections of Chapter 7 and answer targeted questions asking for details and causes (e.g., Read Section 1 and identify details that provide clues about the crash; Read Sections 6–10 and answer why controllers didn't react). Activity 4 and Activity 5 require students to read a blog criticizing Gladwell and identify the blog author's primary objections and how Gladwell responds, and Option 2 asks students to fill a chart noting criticisms, Gladwell's responses, and effectiveness. The Parent Plan skills list explicitly names "Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis..." as a learning goal.
Lesson 7
Rice Paddies and Math Tests
The lesson's Skills list explicitly includes "Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research" and explicitly names "Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis...". Students are assigned targeted reading (Sections 1-7) with comprehension questions, a mini-project requiring them to "condense and clarify the information found in the book," and discussion/homework prompts that ask them to analyze Gladwell's claims and relate them to personal views.
Lesson 8
With Malice Toward None
Students are asked to read Lincoln's "Second Inaugural Address" and answer text-based questions that refer directly to lines in the speech. The Student Activity Page requires students to identify quotes from the speech, name the literary device used, and explain the device's intended effect. The homework asks students to choose three sentences from the text that correspond to background, main message, and a forward-looking statement, requiring selection of specific textual sentences.
Lesson 9
Writing about History
The lesson requires students to read multiple primary and secondary accounts and answer text-dependent questions such as listing two facts all three sources agree upon and locating how the campers signaled they were peaceful. The Student Activity Page 'Firsthand Accounts' asks students to match specific secondary-source claims to supporting primary-source quotations, and the Parent Plan explicitly lists the supporting primary-source quotes used as answers. The editorial and Primary Falsehoods activities ask students to use facts from the texts to back up claims and to evaluate testimony for accuracy, requiring students to reference textual details.
Lesson 10
Science Writing
The Parent Plan Skills explicitly list "Cite specific textual evidence (including precise details from the text) to support an analysis of a piece of scientific writing." Students read specified pages and answer comprehension questions that require restating textual details (Questions #1-3). The Investigating Claims student activity asks students to explain how the author supports two specific claims and to identify the methods the author uses, requiring students to trace supporting details and reference examples/illustrations from the text. Classroom discussion prompts ask students to support judgments about the quality and clarity of the writing with specific examples from the text.
Lesson 12
Logical Fallacies
Students read and mark texts to locate weak arguments (Option 2 asks students to print/read Andrew Jackson's speech, highlight at least three passages, and associate each with a fallacy). Students select specific example statements from the Fallacy Bank and place them beside labeled fallacy types in the Common Fallacies activity, showing they must identify parts of a text that illustrate a claim. Students analyze Lou Gehrig's speech and identify how he supports his thesis with numerous specific examples, noting ethos/pathos/logos and the evidence used to support his claim.
Final Project
Argumentative Research Essay
Students are asked to find at least five high-quality sources (Day 2) and to collect facts, statistics, and specific examples to support their topic (Part 4), which promotes gathering strong and thorough textual evidence. The "Present the Evidence" activity directs students to record quotes/ideas from sources and answer, "What does this piece of evidence make you think about? How does it influence your thinking?", prompting analysis of explicit content and inferences. The lesson also teaches MLA in-text citation and a Works Cited page and the rubric requires accurate in-text citations and use of authoritative sources, so students practice citing evidence to support their claims.
Unit 4: Drama
Lesson 2
How to Read Drama
Students are asked to watch the play Trifles and answer journal questions that require locating textual clues (e.g., "Name 3 clues the women find that explain what happened" and "How is Mrs. Wright like the bird?"). Students complete the "Applying Aristotle's Six Elements of Tragedy" activity page, which prompts them to explain plot, character, and diction using specifics from the script or performance. An answer key supplies concrete textual examples (the broken bird, torn cage door, messy sewing, half-wiped table) that model evidence students can use.
Lesson 4
A Raisin in the Sun
Students are asked to determine vocabulary meanings from context in the Act I Vocabulary activity, which requires using textual context to support word-meaning inferences. Students complete the "Characters and Their Dreams" organizer by locating and recording the strong adjectives Hansberry uses to describe each character, which requires identifying explicit textual details. Comprehension questions (e.g., whether Walter should have given Travis the money; why Beneatha would not marry George) prompt students to make inferences about characters and events based on the play.
Lesson 5
Act II
Students are explicitly instructed in Activity 3 (Reader Response Paragraph) to "provide evidence to support your answer" and to "use specific examples and quotations from the text," and to follow the APE (Answer, Prove, Extend) method. Multiple short-answer questions for Acts 2 and 3 ask students to read scenes and respond with text-based answers (e.g., what characters were doing, what news Bobo had), requiring direct reference to the play. The Parent Plan skills also direct students to "use context... as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase," which asks students to draw evidence from text passages when determining vocabulary meanings.
Lesson 6
Act III
Students read Act III and answer focused comprehension and interpretive questions about character motives and decisions. Students identify five similes in Langston Hughes's "Harlem" using numbered lines and analyze imagery (including comparing the final line "Or does it explode?") to describe its relation to the play. Students choose a play character and explain which poem comparison best describes that character's deferred dream, and students match specific quotations to characters on a quiz.
Lesson 10
Figurative Language
Students are asked to read Act II scenes and answer comprehension questions and to summarize the most important event in each scene, requiring use of the play text. In the Oxymoron and Paradox activity students must circle oxymorons and underline paradoxes in Romeo's speech and then explain two oxymorons and one paradox from the provided lines. In the Prologue Sonnet task students cut out and reorder actual sonnet lines, mark the rhyme scheme, and explain what major conflict the sonnet summarizes. The Puns/Idioms/Euphemisms activity asks students to underline idioms, explain their meanings, and fill in real meanings for euphemisms from example sentences drawn from text.
Lesson 11
Nuanced Meaning
Students read Act 3 (Scenes 1–5) and answer specific comprehension questions and journal summaries, requiring them to extract explicit events and implied motivations. In the Nuances in Meaning activity, students read bolded words in context from Romeo and Juliet and select meanings from a word box, using textual context to infer word meanings. In Day 2 activities, students must rewrite a six-line exchange as a text conversation and compare it to the original scene, demonstrating understanding of character relationships and implied emotions from the text.
Lesson 12
Time and Tension
Students read Act IV and answer targeted comprehension questions that point them to specific plot details (e.g., the vial, Juliet's back-up plan, the Nurse's reaction). The Student Activity directs students to use the online text to search for time-related words and record how many times each appears. Scene-by-scene tasks ask students to analyze Friar Lawrence's monologue and list the ways time is mentioned, examine Capulet's repeated use of "tomorrow," and analyze the Nurse's monologue for foreshadowing and time references.
Lesson 13
Tragic Hero
Students read Act V of Romeo and Juliet and answer specific comprehension questions about explicit events (e.g., Romeo's dream, the apothecary purchase, why Friar John failed to deliver the letter). Students complete a Timeline and Character Development chart that asks them to record actions/events from specific acts and scenes and to use that chart to decide whether a character is static or dynamic and whether they are round or flat. Students also read excerpts of Pyramus and Thisbe and fill in similarities with Romeo and Juliet and explain how Romeo does or does not meet the tragic-hero criteria from a video.
Lesson 14
Modern Retelling
Students are instructed to use the APE method (Answer, Prove, Extend), with explicit direction to "prove your point by providing specific examples from the two productions." The Two Versions activity page asks students to record specific differences (character portrayals, major changes, use of setting, use of color) in two columns while watching. The writing checklist requires that "each paragraph should contain specific information or examples from both productions" and end with an explanation of the significance or effect of those differences.
Final Project
Drama
The Parent Plan skills list explicitly states students will "Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research" and includes writing arguments that use relevant evidence. The project directions and rubric include a "Sources" category and instruct students to cite outside information (images, quotations, facts) and attach a Works Cited page. The unit test asks students to identify speakers of quoted lines and to answer short-response questions (e.g., why Romeo was banished), which requires using knowledge from the text.
Semester Exam
Semester Exam
The Skills list explicitly names "Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis..." as a target skill. Multiple short-answer and discussion prompts ask students to provide examples or explain points using specific texts (e.g., explain foreshadowing with an example from Ender's Game or Romeo and Juliet; give conflicts using examples from Ender's Game, A Raisin in the Sun, or Romeo and Juliet). Several prompts instruct students to "refer back to the book" or to "back up their answers," and the Part IV discussion directs students to use specific details from the texts in 1–3 paragraph responses.