These resources were designed to help teachers build students’ capacity to read, think, talk, and write about complex texts. The 6-8 ELA modules fully address all the strands of the Common Core state standards: the reading standards for both literary and informational texts, the writing standards, the speaking and listening standards, and the language standards.

To ensure that students receive adequate support and practice, as well as sufficient time to meet the volume of reading required by the CCSS, this Interventions resources package provides suggestions and examples of literacy work to support, reinforce, and provide additional practice of the skills learned in the EL Education ELA modules.

This resource designed to help school leaders, instructional coaches, general education teachers, special education, and intervention teachers think and plan together about strategic ways to best use additional support time beyond the typical ELA block. The suggestions here could certainly be applied to all learners, but are targeted particularly for students who aren’t meeting grade level standards during a standard class period.

This package contains suggestions that teachers can adapt to meet the specific needs of their students needing additional support. Teachers should use their judgment and knowledge of the abilities of their particular students to focus this additional ELA practice and instruction where it is required, and to adapt the activities and examples accordingly.

There are various ways to organize time so teachers can pull small groups and provide additional whole-class instruction on discrete skills, as deemed necessary by formative assessments.

This package includes:
• Word Study and Vocabulary
• Additional Work with Related Texts
• Fluency
• Syntax and Mechanics
• Independent Reading
• Sample Schedule

The protocols and resources in this appendix to Grades 6-8 EL Education Curriculum are referenced in the lessons and are related to checking for understanding, formative assessment, and building academic vocabulary.

Protocol descriptions include:
Final Word
Gallery Walk
Interactice Word Wall
Rank, Talk, Write
Say Something

What does close reading look like? This video shows students in an eighth-grade classroom are engaged in the close reading process for an EL Education 8th Grade ELA Lesson. The students discuss the complex non-fiction text, Unbroken, to deepen their understanding of the book’s central character and of the World War II era.

This video shows primary students using an Interactive Word Wall, a protocol, with words related to the unit of study (both domain specific and academic vocabulary). Students manipulate the words as they discuss relationships among the words and ideas. There are many ways to use an Interactive Word Wall; this video shows students doing concept mapping. First, the teacher restates the guiding question "How does a spider use its body to survive?" She has students pantomime to review key ideas and vocabulary. She then reviews with students the purpose of concept mapping: to articulate how the words are related to each other. Next, students work in small groups, manipulating vocabulary cards and symbols (e.g., arrows, equals) that help convey the relationships. The teacher circulates to check for understanding, clarifying misconceptions, and push student thinking. The teacher ends the class with students reviewing other groups' concepts maps to give specific feedback on what they thought was strong.