Enclosure #
April 27, 2015
Recommended Curriculum Resource Adoptions
For 2015-2016
The administration recommends the adoption of curriculum resources to replace materials which have
become outdated and/or are no longer suitable for use in the instructional program.
English Language Arts
Course
Title
Publisher
Author
Jill Nemes
Copyright
IB Film SL/HL
Introduction to Film Studies
Routledge (Taylor &
Francis Group)
2012
ELA 9-11
Pearson Literature
Pearson
ELA Cultural Studies
Coming of Age in America: A
Multicultural Anthology
New Press
Mary Frosch (editor)
2007
ELA Cultural Studies
Coming of Age Around the
World: A multicultural
Anthology
New Press
Faith Adiele and Mary
Frosch (editors)
2007
ELA 6-8
Collections Anthologies
Houghton Mifflin
Kylene Beers, Carol Jago,
Martha Hougen
2015
ELA 2-8
Vocabulary Workshop
Sadlier
Jerome Shostak, Jerry L.
Johns
2011
ELA 2-6
Words Their Way
Pearson
Bear, Invernizzi
2012
ELA 1-5
Handwriting Without Tears
Handwriting Without
Tears
Jan Olsen
2013
ELA K-2
Fundations Teacher’s Kit
Wilson Language
Basics for K-3
Wilson Language
2012
2015
Introduction to Film Studies - There are several aspects of film that IB Film is required to cover. The
history of film is first. The text “Intro to Film Studies” specifically shows that the process was not linear
that several countries were working on the process at the same time debunking the notion that invention
of film was all here in the United States. It covers Hollywood film making and includes other required
important identities such as French New Wave, German Expressionism, and Film Noir. The text also
covers film form and narrative, genre and auteur theory, the documentary form, animation, women and
film, as well as ethnicity, sexual orientation, and race, these are important to the two of the three
requirements for IB Film: the Presentation and Independent Study documentary.
Page 1
Enclosure #
April 27, 2015
The text has a chapter necessary to film making vocabulary and processes which reinforces the other
requirement of IB Film which is production.
The examples and case studies are a good mixture of classic and modern films which assists in students
relating how film makers of today are still using the styles, methods, and story lines of the classics.
This text gives reference material in which discussions can be based and will cut down on the amount of
lecture that is currently necessary.
Pearson Literature - With the onset of our new learning standards, our ELA reading choices need to
appeal to our current students. This anthology and online version offers challenging, leveled reads that
students can use in a variety of contexts in our HS ELA classrooms. The fiction and nonfiction reading
choices coupled with appropriate reading process questions help give our students an array of high quality
literature. The format of these materials also lends to the needs of ELL and SPED students in helping
teachers target the best readings and strategies for students.
Coming of Age in America: A Multicultural Anthology - This book will be a wonderful addition to
Cultural Studies. Cultural Studies is a new course and we do not have any resources available. This book
connects our Worthington adolescents with the experiences of adolescents not only around the world, but
also the diversity of experiences in America.
Coming of Age Around the World: A Multicultural Anthology - This book will be a wonderful addition
to Cultural Studies. Cultural Studies is a new course and we do not have any resources available. This
book connects our Worthington adolescents with the experiences of adolescents not only around the
world, but also the diversity of experiences in America.
Collections Anthologies - Developed by national reading experts that are greatly familiar to our teachers,
Collections provides varied fiction and nonfiction pieces that can be paired with novels in our classrooms,
and help assist in differentiation for independent reading, and guided reading. Many of the writings were
used by teacher this year, and they found that there was high student engagement with the chosen works.
Collections online emphasizes close reading strategies, which is one of our cornerstone strategies in our
balanced literacy approach.
Vocabulary Workshop - Many grades have been piloting Vocabulary Workshop over the past three years.
Classroom teachers and reading specialists have continually noted its effectiveness in reading instruction,
particularly in the area of context vocabulary, Vocabulary Workshop meets the Common Core State
Standards for vocabulary acquisition, aligns with our curriculum formats, and provides ample
opportunities for evidence-based writing. Using a consistent vocabulary resource will help guide
instruction for academic vocabulary and content vocabulary progressions. Vocabulary Workshop offers
free online resources for teachers. This book is one part of robust vocabulary teaching practices in our
classrooms.
Words Their Way - Based on the research-based four spelling stages of letter name, within word patterns,
syllables and affixes and derivation relations, Words Their Way is a word study approach that provides a
systematic spelling sequence - optimal for a spelling curriculum, particularly in the intermediate grades.
Unlike previous resources, Words Their Way will provide student inventories and individual workbooks
for student sorts, hunts, and assessments. The workbooks will match each student's developmental level
so that teachers differentiate and target student needs.
Handwriting Without Tears - In K-2, students will be using Fundations print. Handwriting Without Tears
approach for print will be used as an intervention for students. At the end of second grade, and mainly in
third grade, students will receive instruction on Handwriting Without Tears Cursive. Developed by an
occupational therapist, and used as an approach by our WCS occupational therapists, Handwriting Without
Tears is developmentally-based to get young, small hands writing with ease so that teachers can quickly
focus on sound writing instruction. The research behind this program has been used to develop other
Page 2
Enclosure #
April 27, 2015
handwriting programs across the country. Our teachers have been piloting the cursive approach for third
grade this past year, and have found that students do enjoy adopting the techniques where they quickly
become competent.
Fundations Teacher’s Kit - Wilson Fundations for K-3 is a phonological/phonemic awareness, phonics
and spelling program for the general education classroom. After piloting it in our K-1 classrooms this past
year, we are seeing growth in students in specific areas of phonics, letter recognition, fluency, and
handwriting. The evidence shown through our MAP scores and classroom-based observation helped us
conclude that we need to finish the arc of this piece of balanced literacy in second grade for the new school
year. Fundations uses scientifically-based reading instruction and gives all of our students consistent
groundwork for reading in the primary grades.
Social Studies
Course
Title
Publisher
Author
Copyright
IB History SL/HL Year
Two
Son of the Revolution
Vintage Books
(division of Random
House)
Liang Heng and Judith
Shapiro
1984
IB History SL/HL Year
Two
Modern China: The Fall and
Rise of a Great Power – 1850 to
Present
Penguin Group
Jonathan Fenby
2013
IB History SL/HL Year
Two
The Cold War: A New History
Penguin Group
John Lewis Gaddis
2005
IB History SL/HL Year
Two
The Palestinian-Arab-Israeli
Conflict: A History with
Documents
Bedford/St.
Maratin’s, (division
of MacMillan)
Charles D. Smith
2012
IB History SL/HL Year
Two
A Failed Empire: The Soviet
Union in the Cold War from
Stalin to Gorbachev
University of North
Carolina Press
Vladislav M. Zubok
2007
AP US History
Liberty, Equality, Power: A
History of the American People
Cengage
Murrin, Johnson,
McPherson, et al
2012
AP European History
A History of Europe in the
Modern World
McGraw-Hill
Palmer, Colton
2014
Son of the Revolution - The transition of China to and from communism, and the impact that these events
had on the rest of East Asia, is a nine-week segment of IB History SL/HL Year Two. I have chosen to
include Liang’s memoir in the students’ reading because the role that China’s great masses played in the
process of its conversion to communism and the violence that accompanied this transition requires a
personal perspective. This is the kind of perspective that a narrative history cannot provide. Liang’s
memoir is the most celebrated of those that came out of communist China; he was a teenager -- the “target
Page 3
Enclosure #
April 27, 2015
audience” for the Cultural Revolution -- during that tumultuous period, a factor which I believe will also
make his story appealing to high school students.
Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power – 1850 to Present - The transition of China to and
from communism, and the impact that these events had on the rest of East Asia, is a nine-week segment of
IB History SL/HL Year Two. There is no available textbook that focuses enough on China in the 20th
Century that is suitable for Grade 12 students. Fenby’s history covers a period longer than the 20th
Century, but provides the background that students need to understand the fall of China to communism in
1949. As a professional journalist, Fenby does an excellent job of blending his own narrative with primary
sources, making his history a work that students can embrace both for its readability and for the
information it conveys.
The Cold War: A New History - IB History SL/HL Year Two focuses on the 20th/21st Centuries, and
especially the period after World War Two. The dominant geopolitical and historical phenomenon of the
post-WWII era was the Cold War, and approximately nine weeks of study will be dedicated to the Cold
War. Gaddis’ The Cold War: A New History does not attempt a detailed account of the Cold War (and this is
acceptable to me because students will have received a three-week long study of the Cold War at the end of
Year One of the course), but rather offers a more holistic attempt to interpret what happened -- to look at
the broader forces that were moving both sides and their leaders. All of the critical moments and players
are addressed, with a lot of retrospective “now we know . . .” quality aided by post-Cold War archival
releases.
The Palestinian-Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History with Documents - The Arab-Israeli Conflict will occupy
nine weeks during the IB History Year Two course, and the use of primary sources will receive significant
attention as this part of the IB exam will focus on students’ skills in document analysis and interpretation.
Smith’s book incorporates primary sources that I have not been able to find on public online sites and
includes access to additional documents in a password-controlled online site. It is not lushly illustrated
but includes very useful maps. Furthermore, it is hard to come by balanced accounts of the Arab-Israeli
Conflict; among popular works the best are written by center-left Israelis. But among historians, Smith’s
history is regarded as the most balanced. It is also among the most comprehensive and up-to-date without
becoming too overwhelming for students. It begins with the background of the return of the Jewish people
to Palestine and continues through the most recent developments in the slumping “peace process.” Smith
does not, however, get bogged down by detail, and this makes his work accessible to motivated students.
A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev - IB History SL/HL Year
Two focuses on the 20th/21st Centuries, and especially the period after World War Two. The dominant
geopolitical and historical phenomenon of the post-WWII era was the Cold War, and approximately nine
weeks of study will be dedicated to the Cold War. Zubok is the first author to attempt in English a
thorough history of the Cold War from the Soviet perspective. He seeks to refute some common ideas
embraced by western historians about how and why things happened during the Cold War. He works from
newly-available sources and tends to address events in greater detail Gaddis, the author of the other text,
does. This is fine with me because to understand the Soviet perspective, students will need this kind of
more complete exposition.
Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People –
 Up to current times to reflect expanded curriculum for 2014-15. The current textbook is from
2003.
 Incorporation of “Focus Questions.” As a new content piece is introduced within each chapter,
students are given introductory questions to consider as reading is completed.
 Primary source excerpts as “What they said” topics within each chapter in the 7th edition. With
renewed emphasis by the College Board on primary source interpretation/usage and multiple
perspectives, this fits well into student coursework.
 Solid map resources.
Page 4
Enclosure #
April 27, 2015





Evaluation suggests less bias than other similar texts.
Correlation of history to culture through history in films, musical links and links to the past.
Early chapters present a more inclusive vision of early American history and capture the
contingencies of the period. Changes include expanded North American coverage (Chapter 1) and a
shifted focus in Chapters 2, 3, and 10 from the British colonies toward a more continental
perspective that expands the discussion on French America, Spanish America, and Native America.
Revised chapters on the late colonial era, the American Revolution, and the early American republic
reflect the latest scholarship that situates America in larger regional and global contexts.
Up to date test bank to reflect the changes in the AP Exam format.
A History of Europe in the Modern World - This text maintains its well-established historical authority,
while focusing more specifically on Europe's prominent role in modern global exchanges, nation building,
transnational commercial systems, colonial empires, and cultural transitions. Combining concise accounts
of specific nations and national differences with a wide-ranging, comparative analysis of international
events, this updated edition of a classic text carefully examines the whole modern history of Europeans
and their perpetually changing societies. This text aligns with changes made to the AP guidelines.
Page 5