2 Texas Middle School Fluency Assessment: Administering and Interpreting Results
This binder details how to score and interpret the results of the Texas Middle School Fluency Assessment (TMSFA). This course is Unit 4 of the Texas Adolescent Literacy Academy (TALA). These materials are available for view only; no credit or certificate is provided.
45-45-90 Triangles
To learn the pattern of the side lengths of a 45-45-90 triangle, students complete a gallery walk, a card sort activity starting with using the Pythagorean theorem, and activity to locate if there is an error in a presented problem and if so to identify what the error is.
Working with Literal Equations
The lesson will provide a conceptual basis for illustrating the parallelism between solving multi-step equations and translating literal equations into solutions for specified variables.
Students working together
Uncovering Tone in Poetry
Students will interpret the tone of a poem, cite text evidence to justify their response, and research a synonym for the word they chose to expand their understanding of Tier 2 vocabulary.
Teacher introducing the poem
Syntax Shuffle
Students will analyze one of four ways to incorporate grammar and syntax into their everyday language through the use of technological instruction. Once students have comprehended their grammatical type, they will practice among their peers to master and share the lesson (grammar rule) in a Jigsaw activity.
Demonstration and Analysis of Dihybrid Crosses
The students will review related vocabulary, watch the teacher model a dihybrid cross, and then perform a dihybrid cross and answer questions about the outcomes with a partner.
Summarizing as a Reading Strategy
Students work collaboratively using reading and comprehension skills to demonstrate their mastery of summarizing a text or piece of literature.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Vertical Alignment
Click below to learn about the TEKS related to the unit and Research Lesson. The highlighted student expectation(s) is the chosen focus for the Research Lesson.
Exploring Identity and Diving Deep into the Complex Meaning of Poetry
This lesson is designed to teach students to make complex inferences, choose specific text evidence that strongly supports the inference, and develop a coherent explanation of how the evidence strongly supports the validity of the idea within the genre of poetry.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Related to the Unit
Click below to learn about the TEKS related to this unit.
A Lesson in Kindness and Thematic Complexity
Students explore their internal definition of kindness, using visual and textual evidence to collaboratively expand that definition and perform a close reading of a poem. Students then use internal text to express the author’s complex and subtle thematic message.
Proving Triangles Congruent Using the Side-Side-Side and Side-Angle-Side Postulates
Students will prove: Two triangles are congruent using the Side-Side-Side (SSS) and Side-Angle-Side (SAS) postulates.
Teacher giving instructions
11 OnTRACK Grade 8 Math: Proportionality
Students learn to to use proportional relationships to describe dilation; explain proportional and non-proportional relationships involving slope; and use proportional and non-proportional relationships to develop foundational concepts of functions.
6 OnTRACK Algebra I: Properties and Attributes of Functions
Students will learn how to use the properties and attributes of functions.
Soft and Hard Skills for Success
Students will focus on learning and identifying hard and soft skills that can be used among a variety of careers.
Students working on project
4 Using Reading and Writing to Support Learning Across the Content Areas
This resource presents instructional writing and reading practices that support the content area learning of adolescent learners.
The Write for Texas guiding principles of effective writing instruction, developed for all teachers across disciplines, focus on building every student's understanding and ability to read, write, and think like experts—historians, mathematicians, scientists, and literary critics.
17 OnTRACK Scientific Process Skills
This binder contains seventeen separate resources focused on the scientific processes for conducting laboratory and field investigations.
4 OnTRACK English I Writing: Writing the Expository and Procedural Essay
OnTRACK English I Writing, Module 3, Lessons 1–4. Students write expository and procedural or work-related texts to communicate ideas and information to specific audiences for specific purposes
15 OnTRACK English II Reading: Understanding and Analysis of Literary Text
OnTRACK English II Reading, Module 3, Lessons 1–12, and Practice Lessons 1–3. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of poetry, drama, fiction, and literary non-ficton, and provide evidence from text to support their understanding.