NEW ELAR TEKS: Why Looking at Just Your Grade Level is A BAD Idea

This question came today: Quick question- do you know if a document exists with just the new 6-8 ELA TEKS?  I have the K-12  document and the Lead4ward document, but I simply want to look at a side-by-side of grades 6-8.

And I heard some Kinder folks complaining: I don't need to know what you are doing in 12th grade. I don't even know how to spell rhetoric. We don't do that in kinder. 

Uhhh. You should. See Literary Analysis for the Littles.

Yes. The document is long. No. You don't teach that grade or skill. I get it. But here's why, Dear Reader, you should get over it and keep your ridiculously large printout of the TEKS intact with grades K-12 all on one page.

First: I would recommend that you do NOT look at 6-8  without the other grades. The standards are written in learning progressions with the terminal outcome at the end. You cannot understand where you are aiming if you are not looking at the whole row, especially the end of the row. Imagine a plane that is off by one degree but flies 700 miles along that trajectory. They will never arrive and will be further away from their destination than from where they began. 

For example, if you are looking only at 2nd grade 10F - identify and explain the use of repetition, you miss WHY we would want to do so. That entire row is about building capacity of students to analyze author's purpose and craft in a way that leads them to understand repetition rhetorically - especially in how that repetition impacts how they comprehend as well as how they compose. Basically – each row in the standards add collectively to a central idea/thesis that you may miss if you are not looking at what the whole row is about. All the grade levels work together to culminate into that purpose/thesis.

Second: The standards are written in learning progressions that clearly articulate the gentle slide from one grade to the next as well as defining the floor and ceiling of each grade level. A 6-8 might be ok for 7^th, but they’d still miss the terminal objective and perspective. For the example mentioned in the previous point, the rhetorical use of repetition required in 2nd grade has morphed into explaining the purposes of hyperbole, stereotyping, and anecdote. If the 6th grade teacher (or curriculum writer) is not aware of where the fifth grade ended and does not connect the purpose, use, and craft of those devices on comprehension and composition...moving to 6th grade to talk about the differences between rhetorical devices and logical fallacies will be like opening a can of potato chips only to find a... 

and then being surprised that kids don't understand and have never heard of such a thing. Might as well blame those elementary teachers like we always have.  In reality, kids don't understand because planning the connection between the grades without understanding the trajectory and purpose of this row will actually cause gaps in student performance. Teachers MUST be aware of where they kids have been as well as where they are going. Remember - you learn new stuff by connecting it to the old stuff you already know. Known to the new. 

Third: Since the standards are written as learning progressions, the standards help us identify gaps and prepare for tutoring, RTI, SLO, etc. And maybe even ABC,123. I’m hearing Michael Jackson, but I digress. If your kids don't understand the rhetorical devices such as direct address, then you can look to see if they can do the things required by the previous grades. When you find out where the understanding breaks down, you teach from there and quickly scaffold students up to where they need to be. "Remember in 2nd grade when you talked about how nursery rhymes like Hickory Dickory Dock have rhythms that sound like what they are describing? When you read the poem aloud, you almost hear a clock ticking. Writers do that on purpose. Now in 6th grade, we are learning about a new technique that writers use to help readers see, feel, or believe their words. Just like the writer nursery rhyme used rhythm to help the reader visualize the clock, this writer talks directly to the reader to get his attention. Listen to this example: 'But here's why, Dear Reader, you should get over it and keep your ridiculously large printout of the TEKS intact with grades K-12 all on one page.' In 6th grade, we call this writer's tool a Rhetorical Device. The direct address to the reader is a rhetorical device that helps the writer emphasize his point to the reader.'" (Note also the rhetorical purpose and effect of sarcasm - all in fun.)

Fourth: If you still want to see just 6-8, the TEKSRS system will have a simple before grade, the current grade, and the next grade chart. Not sure when.  The best I can recommend for you right now is the work from Vicky Gibson. She's prepared some Big Sheets – that might be more of what you are looking for as a supplement to the K-12 vertical alignment... and possibly avoid the problems I've described above.  Gibson explains how you can use the documents here.Just be careful about being too focused and myopic on only grades 6-8. After all, ABC, 123 isn't much good without the rest of the letters and numbers. Neither are our TEKS.