Sixth Grade Curriculum

Antiracist Curriculum:

“We may be uncomfortable talking about race, but we can no longer afford to be silent. We have chosen a profession that—like parenting—requires us to put our comforts second to those of children.”

Jamilah Pitts

 

As a school district, we are questioning our practices and finally asking, “How can we listen to and support students, teachers and communities of color who have been systemically silenced for too long?” 

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DES houses mostly students and teachers who have benefited from white privilege. It can be easy to lack the perspective to push back on institutional malpractice or racist mindsets that may be present. In addition, it is difficult to convince those with power and privilege to give those privileges up without clear education and work to understand why doing so is a necessity for true justice in our society.

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By aligning on a shared vision focused on three dimensions of student achievement—mastery of knowledge and skills, character, and  high-quality student work—I honor students’ full humanity.

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I  embrace a vision of education as a powerful engine for disrupting structural racism, and fulfilling our nation’s promise of equal opportunity for all. I believe that educational equity means that all children experience:

• Instruction that challenges, engages, and empowers learners

• Access to standards-based, content-rich, culturally affirming curriculum

• Explicit anti-racist discussion, practice, and action

• School culture that fosters positive identity, belonging, agency, and purpose

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Lasty, I want to be clear about the language used in 6A: the words that I use and teach are important because they allow us to build shared understanding. Diversity means cultivating a wide representation of people, ideas, processes, and experiences. Equity recognizes that we are born into unequal and unjust circumstances—and these factors should not predict our ability to fail or succeed. Inclusion means creating the conditions that foster belonging—harnessing what makes us unique to strengthen our community and amplify our impact. Excellence is defined as transformational impact in Student Achievement. Anti-racism means taking an explicit stand against racism. 

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English Language Arts:

Reading Workshop

Tenets of Reading Workshop:

• Text Choice - students will have the right to choose what they read. 

• Reading texts they can access independently most of the time. Levels are one great tool but not the only one. We will often use various digital tools that can help students access material first such as videos, articles and other multimodal resources.

• Opportunities to read more challenging texts with support.

• Lots of time to read - the more students read in class, the more they will read at home!

• Time for student response - kids think about the way they want to respond to texts - sometimes digitally, sometimes through conversation and sometimes written. 

• Students will learn skills using a variety of strategies.

• Students will be taught to self reflect and read with agency. 

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Sixth grade students will read a variety of genres such as fiction, nonfiction, poetry and biography. We will use novels, traditional literature, picture books, magazines, and other reference materials. Throughout the year, my goal is to help students nurture a passion for reading and to support them in their lives as readers. This is done through individual conferences, reading partners, book clubs, assessment, and feedback.

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Writing Workshop

All teachers in Deerfield Elementary use the Units of Study For Teaching Writing written by the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University. In our Writing Workshop, students will explore a writing skill or strategy together and then have opportunities to apply that to their individual writing. The curriculum builds on their skills acquired in earlier grades, continuing to support students in crafting more complex writing. Students choose the topic of their pieces during units within Writing Workshop. They will engage in the writing process - collecting ideas,  planning writing pieces, creating several drafts, revising writing, editing pieces, and eventually choosing and publishing work.

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The scope of writing instruction in sixth grade ranges from writing complex narratives to literary essays to informational texts to poetry. Throughout each unit, there is a focus on structure, development and conventions.

 

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