Program details
Get started with Amplify Reading: 6–8 Edition.
Introduction
Amplify Reading 6–8 is a digital reading program laser-focused on helping students find deeper meaning in texts by teaching them to question everything they read.
To capture students’ imagination, Amplify Reading 6–8 takes the form of an interactive graphic novel called The Last Readers. This story is set in a dystopian future world run by Machines, where people are told what to read and what to think. But dissent is afoot. Recruited for the rebellion, students are trained in the powerful ways authors convey meaning and affect their audience.
What students learn
Exploring texts from literary classics to propaganda, from great speeches to scientific articles, students learn to analyze the moves that authors make to achieve their purposes. Chapter topics alternate between the close analysis of arguments and literary analysis.
Each chapter should take approximately one hour for students to complete.
How to integrate this program into your curriculum
Amplify Reading 6–8 is designed for students to work independently as they progress through the chapters of The Last Readers. For the last chapter of each book, teachers have the option to build on independent work through group and whole-class activities.
For the best experience, students should complete the chapters in order. The chapters and concepts build on each other and were designed to help students master close reading skills. While teachers can unlock chapters so students can work on specific concepts at any given moment, doing so may result in a less-than-ideal experience. Later lessons are locked by default, but we will provide the ability to unlock lessons from within the teacher dashboard.
How teachers are using Amplify Reading 6–8
Reinforcement of concepts
Many teachers find the program extremely helpful for reinforcing key reading skills in the core curriculum. They use it in class one or two times a week for 20 to 30 minutes over the course of a year.
Test preparation
The program features extensive practice with text-dependent questions, providing a fun and effective way for students to get comfortable answering those kinds of questions.
Other common uses
Teachers also use the program to introduce key close reading concepts, for extra practice or homework, as response to intervention, and for after-school and summer school programs.
Routines
- Devoting one class period every week or two to having students work independently on The Last Readers. While students are working independently on devices, teachers can work with small groups who need extra support with their core curriculum work. Teachers can also assign students work in Practice Mode during class or for homework.
- Treating each book of The Last Readers as a 2–3 week mini-unit that can be inserted between units of core curriculum instruction. In addition to having students work on the chapters during class, teachers can assign students work in Practice Mode in between chapters or for homework.
- Regularly assigning The Last Readers to students as homework. Because students may move through the chapters at different paces, teachers may want to assign one chapter per week and ask students to work in Practice Mode for the rest of the week after they complete a chapter.
Pedagogical approach
In Amplify Reading 6–8:
- Students learn to question everything they read by engaging with a story-based adventure in which understanding every piece of text and every article, billboard, speech and poem is essential to the narrative.
- Students learn to leverage the same devices used by authors to convey meaning by creating new content that integrates seamlessly with the story.
Unlike other reading supplementals that rely solely on assessment questions and feedback, Amplify Reading 6–8 weaves digital instruction together with assessment, all within an immersive story where the analysis of text is a critical element of the plot. The storytelling is vivid, suspenseful, and complex, designed to provide students with purpose and agency as they take on ever more challenging and high-stakes close reading tasks.
Each mission includes three steps:
- Interactive instruction: Students engage with a specific close reading concept using digital manipulatives.
- Guided close reading: Students apply knowledge of the concept to a complex text.
- Creative application: Students use their knowledge of the concept to create new content that solves a story-based problem.
Literary and informational passages are paired with carefully crafted, text-dependent questions and technology-enhanced items that prepare students for the same types of questions they’ll face on high stakes assessments. All along the way, teachers receive reports that visualize activity and progress, and highlight areas of improvement. Teachers can also leverage the original content generated by students in each mission as a rich classroom discussion piece.
Combining content and pedagogy with the creativity and purpose of storytelling results in an experience that truly motivates students and gives them the skills and confidence to tackle complex text.
Standards and alignments
Download the complete scope and sequence.
The practice of close reading lies at the heart of the Common Core and many other state standards for English Language Arts. Instruction in close reading enables students to become attuned to the essential elements of authentic texts: from key ideas and claims to specific details and evidence; from the effects of single words to those of larger textual structures; from the significance of individual texts to the interrelated meanings of entire corpora.
The recent focus on close reading is reflected in the text-dependent questions that populate many recent state assessments of ELA proficiency. Text-dependent questions address students’:
- understanding of vocabulary
- understanding of syntax and structure
- understanding of literary and argumentative devices
- understanding of themes and central ideas
Amplify Reading 6–8 gives students the essential skills and confidence they need to address text-dependent questions and the standards to which they refer.
Additionally, each book of The Last Readers emphasizes at least one Common Core reading anchor standards associated with each of the ELA standards strands:
Book 1: KID 1 / C&S 4 / IKI 8
Book 2: KID 1, 2, 3 / C&S 4, 5, 6 / IKI 8
Book 3: KID 1, 2, 3 / C&S 4, 5, 6 / IKI 6, 7, 8
| ANCHOR STANDARD | CHAPTERS |
|---|---|
|
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1 |
Books 1, 2, 3: All chapters |
|
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2 |
Book 2: Chapters 9, 10, 12, 14, 16 |
|
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3 |
Book 2: Chapters 10, 12, 14 |
|
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.4 |
Book 1: Chapters 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 |
|
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.5 |
Book 2: Chapters 9, 11, 13, 15, 16 |
|
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.6 |
Book 2: Chapters 9, 11, 16 |
|
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7 |
Book 3: At least 50% of the chapters |
|
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.8 |
Book 1: Chapters 1, 5, 8 |
|
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.9 |
Book 3: At least 50% of the chapters |
|
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.10 |
Books 1, 2, 3: All chapters |
Levels
Because each classroom represents a wide range of reading abilities, teachers can assign students to unique learning tracks that are tailored to provide the level of support each student needs.
After your students have enrolled in a class, you can assign them to a particular level in Reporting. All students will be automatically enrolled in the Core level. It is recommended that you assign all students to whatever level is most appropriate for them before they begin chapter 1. You can change a student’s level at any time.
| Level | Designed for |
|---|---|
|
CORE |
Students whose reading levels fall within the middle school band. |
|
EXTRA SUPPORT |
Students who are reading below middle school level or with limited English proficiency. The instructional content and texts have been adapted or replaced to support students who “can engage in complex, cognitively demanding social and academic activities requiring language when provided moderate linguistic support.” Support includes streamlined, scaffolded content that integrates the built-in-dictionary tool, so students can access content and academic vocabulary at their language level and above. For productive written activities, students are given supports such as sentence frames to help them develop structured academic responses. |
|
ADVANCED (coming soon) |
We are developing an advanced level that will challenge readers with more complex texts and prompts, and with additional content. |
Included texts
Book 1
| Ch. | Excerpts | Topic | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Short arguments created by the Machines Longer argument created by a citizen of the Dome |
Complex arguments |
ALL |
|
2 |
Short descriptions of settings in the Dome Short excerpt from Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls Passage from Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë |
Setting and mood |
CORE |
|
2 |
Short descriptions of settings in the Dome Two excerpts from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling |
Setting and mood |
EXTRA SUPPORT |
|
3 |
Short pathos arguments found in the Dome Propaganda posters created by the Machines Propaganda posters from WWII An abridged version of President Reagan’s Challenger speech |
Pathos |
ALL LEVELS |
|
4 |
Short descriptions of characters, situations, and ideas Machines’ descriptions of humans An excerpt from the Prometheus myth as told by Bernard Evslin |
Word choice and tone |
CORE |
|
4 |
Short descriptions of characters, situations, and ideas Two excerpts from Animal Farm, by George Orwell |
Word choice and tone |
EXTRA SUPPORT |
|
5 |
Short arguments about Robodogs, hoverboarding, and other aspects of life in the Dome Short arguments about life before the Dome Scientific documents composed by the Machines, consisting of observations, conclusions, and plans to develop new technologies Various documents collected by the Last Readers, including reports and interviews |
Logos |
ALL LEVELS |
|
6 |
Quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream”; F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby; William Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”; William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and As You Like It; Foreigner’s “Cold as Ice”; Sharon Hendricks’ “Dinnertime Chorus”; and Winston Groom’s Forrest Gump |
Figurative language |
CORE |
|
6 |
Quotes from Roald Dahl’s The Twits and Fantastic Mr. Fox; James Joyce, Neil Gaiman; William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and As You Like It; Foreigner’s “Cold as Ice”; Sharon Hendricks’ “Dinnertime Chorus”; Winston Groom’s Forrest Gump; Jay-Z; Radiohead; and “Let It Go” from Frozen Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son” |
Figurative language |
EXTRA SUPPORT |
|
7 |
LifeScreen messages and advertisements Descriptions of pre-Dome messages and advertisements Short arguments about Robodogs Excerpt from Charles Robb’s “They Died for That Which Can Never Burn” Excerpt from Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” |
Ethos |
ALL LEVELS |
|
8 |
Phase 1: Short messages and arguments Phase 2: Students analyze a text that matches the genre they want to create in Phase 3. Options include: Speech—“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr. Manifesto—The Declaration of Independence Poem—”Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar |
Review / Group Challenge |
ALL LEVELS |
Book 2
| Ch. | Excerpts | Topic | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
A fable Informational texts about Mars and brain imaging “A book is a sneeze” by E. B. White |
Narrative arguments |
ALL LEVELS |
|
2 |
Short descriptions of Falstaff, one of the Last Readers The first section of “The Interlopers” by Saki |
Characterization |
ALL LEVELS |
|
3 |
Short descriptions of physical environments, foods Fragments of an important Aquan text |
Description in arguments |
ALL LEVELS |
|
4 |
A story about a member of the Deep Sands Fleet The second section of “The Interlopers” by Saki |
Conflict and Character Change |
ALL LEVELS |
|
5 |
Short excerpts from Sherlock Holmes collections The strange case of the innocent Bosun |
Causal reasoning |
ALL LEVELS |
|
6 |
Short excerpts from “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown by Clark Gesner A personal story told by an Aquan The third section of “The Interlopers” by Saki |
Themes |
ALL LEVELS |
|
7 |
Short arguments overheard in the Wasteland A mysterious diary from an ancient Dome dweller |
Evaluating arguments and fallacies |
ALL LEVELS |
|
8 |
Quotes from Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang, Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley A short fable Two passages from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens A short argument presented by a Wasteland character An excerpt from The Secret of the Yellow Death: A True Story of Medical Sleuthing by Suzanne Jurmain An Aquan restaurant review |
Review + synthesis |
ALL LEVELS |
Book 3
| Ch. | Excerpts | Topic | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Short, complex propaganda arguments, disguised as public service announcements, for the new, oppressive dictates of the Dome Short, complex arguments composed by the Machines to advertise new products An argumentative speech by Marlowe attempting to persuade the Machines to give her power, consisting of several complex arguments |
Complex arguments |
ALL LEVELS |
|
2 |
“The Miser,” by Aesop Excerpts from The Once and Future King, by T.H. White, Watership Down, by Richard Adams, Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card, A Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon, and If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, by Italo Calvino Excerpts from the short stories “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” by James Thurber, and “The Eyes Have It,” by Philip K. Dick |
Narrative voice |
ALL LEVELS |
|
3 |
A variety of written arguments by analogy, including the following: An argument based on a comparison of the human eye to a camera An argument aimed at persuading the audience that the speaker would make a great pod-captain An argument using a comparison between CyberBall and HoloPollo skills Quintilian’s argument about building strong arguments using a comparison of arguments to complex machines Arguments by Falstaff and Quintilian making comparisons about what it’s like to rebel against an oppressive force A variety of visual arguments by analogy, including the following: The political cartoons “Join, or Die” (attributed to Ben Franklin) and “The Plumb-Pudding in Danger;”–or–“State Epicures Taking un Petit Souper” by James Gillray |
Arguments by analogy |
ALL LEVELS |
|
4 |
Short excerpts of descriptions of settings from a variety of works by Hemingway and Fitzgerald Machine arguments from the first days of the Dome, written in different styles with different purposes for different audiences Short excerpts from Stuart Little, by E.B. White and The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak An excerpt from the “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” speech, by Winston Churchill Film excerpts from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer, and Why We Fight: Prelude to War, by Frank Capra |
Style |
ALL LEVELS |
|
5 |
Gorgias [revised] – A remix of an excerpt from Gorgias’ Dialogue with Socrates Excerpt from Michael Palin and John Cleese in “The Argument Clinic.” Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1972) A variety of dialectical arguments, including: Short excerpts of dialectics involving the Last Readers folklore and objects |
Dialectic |
ALL LEVELS |
|
6 |
Arguments that make up a TLR security protocol for unlocking Marlowe’s old Lifescreen, including a visual analogy, an argument from an old library supervision program, snippets of arguments that Marlowe wrote in the past, and fallacious arguments about the need for silence. Texts found on Marlowe’s old Lifescreen, including a message from Falstaff, passages from Marlowe’s journal, a report from Nova, and an intelligence briefing from the Last Readers Council. |
Review |
ALL LEVELS |