The Why of the Book
Grade 10 English Language Arts is critically important to Florida students. Appropriate instruction during this pivotal year can turn struggling students around in time to graduate and, at the same time, lead on-grade-level students to new heights of comprehension and communication.
The How of the Book
Diving into Florida's B.E.S.T. Standards for English Language Arts, Grade 10 is NOT a test preparation or practice book. Instead, in an easy-to-follow structure, students are walked through each Standard and its accompanying Benchmarks as laid out in the B.E.S.T. Standards map. Following explicit instruction, application of Benchmark demands is modeled for the students using content-rich texts. Then in partnerships or small groups, students work collaboratively to practice the skills needed to demonstrate understanding of the texts. To make sure all students are successful, instruction of each Benchmark is chunked into manageable pieces and includes brain breaks to support student ownership of their learning.
The What of the Book
All three strands: Reading, Communication, and Vocabulary, of the Florida B.E.S.T. Standards are taught and practiced in the book. After reading complex, grade-level texts, students are presented with the same types of objective items they will see on the Grade 10 Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST).
For the Communicating through Writing Standard, students learn how to review another student's writing and offer constructive feedback before practicing responses to text-based writing tasks.
Tracking Student Growth
Teachers are encouraged to have students track their growth and understanding by completing the group activity at the end of each formative. This metacognitive practice is a key factor in the retention of knowledge and skills. In addition to this ongoing evaluation of students' understanding, the authors have included three progress monitoring tools. The first one can be used to establish a baseline and help the teacher set class instructional goals and individual learning goals, the second one can be used to check the students' growth and assess where reteaching is needed, and the third one can be used as an appraisal of how well students can intertwine the requirements of the Reading, Communication, and Vocabulary Strands to comprehend rich text and convey its significance to others in an appropriate style and voice.
Teacher Support
To support teachers in understanding the Standards and Benchmarks better and to be able to explain the reasoning behind correct and incorrect responses, Pelican has developed a PDF of Teacher Resources which is provided upon purchase of 100 student texts. This guide contains a Note to the Teacher; Annotated Answer Keys for Practice Items, Formative Checks for Understanding, and Progress Monitoring; and a list of sources for any texts used in the book.
Meaningful Learning
The authors hope teachers and students will find the book engaging and will use it as a stimulus for authentic discussion and learning in the classroom. We encourage you to take the dive. Come on in; the water is fine.