Introduction
Student Team Literature is the Talent Development Secondary (TDS) middle grades core literacy
program, designed to strengthen students’ thinking, reading, writing, and social skills. In
Student Team Literature, students read quality books and work in learning teams using Student
Discussion Guides that lead them to become critical thinkers, expand their working
vocabularies, and broaden their knowledge of the writer’s craft. Guides are available to support
study of over 70 novels, biographies, and short story and poetry collections. Students read the
literature and work through a Student Discussion Guide using following a weekly cycle of
instruction.
During an extended period, Student Team Literature moves students through a weekly cycle of
instruction that includes direct instruction, cooperative team and partner activities, and
individual learning using a variety of PRE-READING, DURING READING, and AFTER READING
instructional strategies. The Discussion Guide for each trade book provides multiple
opportunities for students to exercise, at various levels of complexity, the skills and concepts
embedded in the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts, including Reading,
Writing, Language, and Speaking and Listening. Most Student Team Literature writing
assignments are literature-related; they include individual brief constructed responses (BCRs) to
discussion questions on each section of the text as well as Literature-Related Writing products
in a variety of forms. This comprehensive approach to challenging students to work at a higher
thinking level, whatever their current reading skills, enables teachers to build on relative
strengths initially while moving students to work at a higher level. The availability of
instructional materials for a wide variety of trade books at different reading levels offers
teachers the opportunity to select works at their students’ assessed instructional reading level
while, in cases where they are currently below grade expectations, helping them to
progressively improve their skills to be closer to these expectations. Consequently, depending
on the reading level of trade books selected, some of the Common Core State Standards for
English Language Arts standards that are addressed in the Student Team Literature classroom
may initially be at a level lower than that targeted for a given grade.
The following pages outline how the framework for Student Team Literature addresses the
Common Core State Standards for Reading, Writing, Language and Speaking and Listening.
COURSE COMPONENT DESCRIPTIONS OF
STUDENT TEAM LITERATURE INSTRUCTION
CYCLE (GRADES 6-8)
Please Note: items in bold print are provided in Student Team Literature Teacher’s Discussion
Guides and accompanying materials and training.
Social Skills Instruction
At the outset of the school year and continuing progressively throughout the year, teachers
provide explicit Instruction in Social Skills, including “looks like/ sounds like” T-charts and role
play demonstration, to help students internalize social skills (such as Active Listening,
Encouraging, Staying on Task, Negotiating, etc.) that are essential to creating an effective
cooperative learning environment.
Building Background and Activation of Prior Knowledge
In introducing a new trade book, teachers use the information provided in the Summary and
About the Author sections to engage students’ interest. Building Background sections offer
suggestions to prepare students for the genre, setting, and other important aspects of the text.
Using the Predict/ Preview/ Purpose sections, students are invited to examine the book and
use cover information to predict what it is about and set a general purpose for reading.
Listening Comprehension Lessons
Listening Comprehension is a component of Student Team Literature in which students listen to a fluent
model reader—their teacher—read and think aloud from short texts, often books for young
children, in order to strengthen their comprehension skills, learn new literary elements and devices,
and improve their listening skills. Topics addressed in Listening Comprehension lessons often
correspond to those highlighted in Writer’s Craft Boxes provided in both Teacher’s and
Student’s Discussion Guides.
Introduction of New Vocabulary
To introduce new Vocabulary Lists of words found in the reading selections, teachers use a “call
and response” approach, encouraging students to use decoding strategies, Greek and Latin
roots, suffixes and prefixes, and prior knowledge to “build” definitions and/or identify known
synonyms. Particular attention is given to “starred” high-frequency words which students will
master through whole-class, teacher-led construction of Meaningful Sentences that
demonstrate understanding. Teachers use Vocabulary Prediction Charts to engage students in
higher-order thinking as they predict to what aspect of the story each term will relate.
Terms defined in Special Glossary sections of some Discussion Guides are also introduced at
this point.
Comprehension Monitoring Strategies
Teachers introduce and/or reinforce use of a variety of comprehension monitoring strategies
(such as questioning, predicting, visualizing, making connections, and identifying reactions) to
help students make meaning of text as they are reading. Students’ use of the reading strategies
is revisited in a whole-class discussion after silent reading of each portion of the text.
Discussion Questions
Before students begin to read, teachers introduce the Discussion Questions that they will be
addressing in their cooperative learning teams and in the subsequent construction of brief
constructed responses. Students then read the indicated section of the trade book, short story,
or poem silently. After whole-class discussion of their use of reading comprehension strategies
(see above), students engage in rereading of pivotal passages of the text, which have been
selected by the teacher based on their importance to students’ understanding. The rereading of
pivotal passages is designed to build fluency and deepen comprehension; it most often takes
the form of partner reading but may also include teacher-led echo or choral reading or,
occasionally, Reader’s Theater. Partner reading also allows the teacher to circulate among
students and complete a Partner Reading Fluency Assessment for each student at least once
per marking period.
After rereading, students engage in team discussions (pencils down) of the discussion questions
to ensure comprehension and practice verbal skills. After this, students craft brief constructed
responses to the Discussion Questions. Initially, BCRs are composed as a whole-class, teacherled demonstration, but over time, students are equipped and required to craft BCRs with their
partners or teams and, ultimately, individually. Finally, teachers lead students in whole-class
Guided Discussion of some or all of the Discussion Questions, as well as other points identified
as significant.
Composition of Meaningful Sentences
Following teacher-led, whole-class demonstration of meaningful sentence composition,
students compose their own meaningful sentences for starred vocabulary words, whether
individually or with their partners or team members.
Literature-Related Writing
Literature-Related Writing assignments offer a selections of products at different levels (such
as letters, lists, essays, articles, advertisements and so on) related to the section of the
literature that students have read. (The diversity of assignments enables teachers to engage in
differentiated instruction if desired, based on student’s ability levels and interests.) Teachers
lead students through the writing process, modeling each step while thinking aloud, before
setting them to their own writing tasks.
Extension Activities
Extension Activities challenge students to deepen their engagement with the text, individually
or with classmates, through various means (e.g., as art, drama, music, library or Internet
research, interviews, surveys…) Extension activities call upon different learning styles and lead
to such higher-order thinking forms as application, analysis, and creation. In addition, many
Discussion Guides identify Informational Text Connections: types of informational text related
to the reading portion, which teachers can use to provide students with practice in
understanding and interacting with informational text as required by the Common Core
Standards.
Assessment
Students prepare for assessment by engaging with their partners in vocabulary Words Out Loud
and meaningful sentence review as well as Selection Review of the texts they have studied.
Each weekly cycle concludes with a Literature Test based on the section of the Discussion Guide
that they have studied and a Vocabulary Test which consists of producing meaningful
sentences using each of their starred vocabulary words. In addition, a custom-built, bookspecific Standardized Reading Practice Test is available for administration at the completion of
each trade book in the curriculum, enabling teachers to offer their students practice in
standardized test-taking without stepping outside of the program of instruction.
Talent Development Writing
Talent Development Writing helps teachers think differently about some aspects of writing instruction. It
is a model meant to assist teachers with instructional planning, not a lock step program designed to
remove teachers’ thinking from the planning process. Parts of the model will be familiar to most
language arts teachers. The “writing process” remains, but Talent Development Writing focuses on the
process of teaching writing. We contend that the meaningfulness of the writing process lies not so
much in the process itself but in what a teacher does prior to presenting a writing assignment and
between the steps in the writing process. The parts of the model that differ from a traditional approach
to writing instruction are those that we think will help teachers to move students toward proficiency in
writing. They include analysis of assignments to determine the kinds of knowledge or prerequisite skills
student writers must have prior to responding to a given writing assignment; modeling – standing
before students, “showing” rather than “telling” them how to approach a writing assignment; and
springboard activities. These are activities designed to provide experiences that students would
otherwise have to imagine in order to respond to a writing assignment. They may also cause students to
think in ways that will lead them to approach a particular assignment more effectively. Role-playing,
sensory exercises, simulations, and opportunities to read about and discuss issues pertaining to their
writing are examples of springboard activities.
English Language Arts College and Career Readiness Anchor
Standards for Reading (Middle Grades)
Key Ideas and Details
STANDARD
1. 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.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and
analyze their development; summarize the key
supporting details and ideas.
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas
develop and interact over the course of a text.
Student Team Lit. Component
Discussion Questions
Guided Discussion
Assessment
Discussion Questions
Guided Discussion
Assessment
Discussion Questions
Guided Discussion
Assessment
Craft and Structure
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a
text, including determining technical, connotative,
and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific
word choices shape meaning or tone.
5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how
specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions
of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or
stanza) relate to each other and the whole.
6. Assess how point of view or purposes shapes the
content and style of a text.
Vocabulary Lists
Special Glossaries
Discussion Questions
Guided Discussion
Writer’s Craft Boxes
Discussion Questions
Guided Discussion
Assessment
Writer’s Craft Boxes
Discussion Questions
Guided Discussion
Assessment
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse
formats and media, including visually and
quantitatively, as well as in words.
8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific
claims in a text, including the validity of the
reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of
the evidence.
9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar
themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to
compare the approaches the authors take.
Building Background
Extension Activities
Discussion Questions
Guided Discussion
Assessment
Literature-Related Writing
Extension Activities
Informational Text Connections
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and
informational texts independently and proficiently.
Discussion Questions
Informational Text Connections
English Language Arts College and Career Readiness Anchor
Standards for Writing
Text Types and Purposes
STANDARD
1. Write arguments to support claims in an
analysis of substantive topics or texts, using
valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient
evidence.
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to
examine and convey complex ideas and
information clearly and accurately through
the effective selection, organization, and
analysis of content.
3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined
experiences or events using effective
technique, well-chosen details and wellstructured event sequences.
Student Team Lit. Component
Discussion Questions (brief constructed responses)
Literature-Related Writing
Assessment
Discussion Questions (brief constructed responses)
Literature-Related Writing
Assessment
Literature-Related Writing
Production and Distribution of Writing
4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which
the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed
by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or
trying a new approach.
6. Use technology, including the internet, to
produce and publish writing to interact or
collaborate with others.
Discussion Questions (brief constructed responses)
Literature-Related Writing
Assessment
Literature-Related Writing
Literature-Related Writing
Extension Activities
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
7. Conduct short as well as more sustained
research projects based on focused
questions, demonstrating understanding of
the subject under investigation.
8. Gather relevant information from multiple
print and digital sources, assess the credibility
and accuracy of each source, and integrate
the information while avoiding plagiarism.
9. Draw evidence from literary or informational
texts to support analysis, reflection, and
research.
Literature-Related Writing
Extension Activities
Informational Text Connections
Literature-Related Writing
Extension Activities
Informational Text Connections
Literature-Related Writing
Extension Activities
Informational Text Connections
Range of Writing
10. Write routinely over extended time frames
(time for research, reflection, and revision)
and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a
day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes,
and audiences.
Discussion Questions (brief constructed responses)
Literature-Related Writing
Extension Activities
Assessment
English Language Arts College and Career Readiness Anchor
Standards for Speaking and Listening
Comprehension and Collaboration
STANDARD
1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a
range of conversations and collaborations with
diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and
expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
2. Integrate and evaluate information presented
in diverse media and formats, including
visually, quantitatively, and orally.
3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning,
and use of evidence and rhetoric.
Student Team Lit. Component
Instruction in Social Skills
Discussion Questions
Guided Discussion
Extension Activities
Building Background
Extension Activities
Informational Text Connections
Writer’s Craft Boxes
Discussion Questions
Guided Discussion
Literature-Related Writing
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
4. Present information, findings, and supporting
evidence such that listeners can follow the line
of reasoning and the organization,
development, and style are appropriate to
task, purpose, and audience.
5. Make strategic use of digital media and visual
displays of data to express information and
enhance understanding of presentations.
6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and
communicative tasks, demonstrating
command of formal English when indicated or
appropriate.
Discussion Questions
Guided Discussion
Extension Activities
Extension Activities
Informational Text Connections
Discussion Questions
Guided Discussion
Extension Activities
English Language Arts College and Career Readiness Anchor
Standards for Language
Conventions of Standard English
STANDARD
1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of
standard English grammar and usage when
writing or speaking.
2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of
standard English capitalization, punctuation,
and spelling when writing.
Student Team Lit. Component
Discussion Questions (team discussions, brief
constructed responses, whole-class discussion)
Guided Discussion
Literature-Related Writing
Extension Activities
Assessment
Discussion Questions (brief constructed
responses)
Composition of Meaningful Sentences
Literature-Related Writing
Assessment
Knowledge of Language
3. Apply knowledge of language to understand
how language functions in different contexts,
to make effective choices for meaning or style,
and to comprehend more fully when reading
or listening.
Listening Comprehension Lessons
Writer’s Craft Boxes
Discussion Questions
Literature-Related Writing
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown
and multiple-meaning words and phrases by
using context clues, analyzing meaningful word
parts, and consulting general and specialized
reference materials, as appropriate.
5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative
language, word relationships, and nuances in
word meanings.
6. Acquire and use accurately a range of general
academic and domain-specific words and
phrases sufficient for reading, writing,
speaking, and listening at the college and
career readiness level; demonstrate
independence in gathering vocabulary
knowledge when considering a word or phrase
important to comprehension or expression.
Vocabulary Presentation and Prediction Charts
Special Glossaries
Informational Text Connections
Assessment
Listening Comprehension Lessons
Writer’s Craft Boxes
Discussion Questions
Literature-Related Writing
Vocabulary Presentation and Prediction Charts
Composition of Meaningful Sentences
Special Glossaries
Informational Text Connections
Extension Activities