Clear Directions and Language-Support Pack

Plan supports for reading, writing and argumentation

Use the blank planner with the exact student task you intend to give. Make the starting point and steps easier to follow while keeping students responsible for the thinking. The examples below help you choose what to clarify and what to leave for students to decide.

Example: directions for character-change cover work

This example uses the four-page character-change packet. Keep its teacher notes and answers separate. Enter these details in the eight fields of the direction planner, adapting the help and submission steps to your class:

1. Goal and evidence: students explain a change in Anika’s choices using an early and a later word or action, distinguish this from a change in the bridge or setting, and name one limit of the story.
2. Task and starting point: provide the complete packet and a pencil. Point to the directions on page 1, story on page 2, optional tracker on page 3 and response space on page 4.
3. Steps: read the story; find an early word or action; find a later word or action; explain the change using both; distinguish it from the bridge or setting; state what the story does not establish. Students choose the evidence and write their own response.
4. Essential language: clarify “early” and “later” as points in the story, “circumstances” as the situation around a person, and “evidence” as words or actions that support an explanation. Do not point out which story details to select.
5. Optional frame: if organizing the explanation is a language barrier, offer “At first ___. Later ___. This suggests ___ because ___. The story does not show ___.” Students supply every idea and detail. Note that the frame supplies part of the response structure.
6. Matched support: repeat or display the numbered steps and help students locate the pages. Use the existing tracker when helpful. Record any reading support, frame or additional prompt given; do not supply the interpretation.
7. Response choices: follow the task goal and authorized support plan. If an oral response is appropriate for the reasoning goal, record that the evidence is oral, together with any help given. It does not show independently written sentence organization.
8. Finish and return: the response includes early and later evidence, an explanation, a distinction from the bridge or setting, and a reasonable limit. Name where students turn in all pages. Ask them to locate the first step before starting; judge the learning from their actual response.

Keep the goal visible in each collection

• Character change: clarify the directions and locations of story and response. Students still choose early and later evidence, explain a change in the character and limit their claim.
• Evidence writing and revision: distinguish writing a supported paragraph from revising a draft while preserving its facts and meaning. Clarify instruction words and response locations. Rehearsal or a frame may help, but record the help and judge only the writing students actually produce; an oral answer does not show independently written organization.
• Arguments and fair replies: explain instruction words such as “claim,” “reason” and “evidence” using a separate example. Students still decide each statement’s role, select relevant evidence and respond fairly to the concern. Do not label the task’s statements or explain its concern for them. Judge the reasoning, rather than agreement with a particular position.

Before a check, prepare permitted supports using the collection’s teacher guide. Keep later texts and answers out of practice. Note previous use of the text and the support actually given so you can interpret the response fairly. For cover work, put the selected support and a clear return route in the substitute handoff, using your school’s approved system for private student information.