Unit 1: Belonging & Identity — The Final Empire

California CCSS: Focus Standards

ELD Standards

Unit Assessment Overview

Assessment is embedded throughout the unit as an ongoing practice rather than a series of isolated events. Students demonstrate understanding through daily participation, written responses, and culminating tasks that reflect the full arc of their learning.

Suggested Pacing

9 weeks

Assessment Opportunities

Daily

Quick writes, exit tickets, and discussion participation give teachers a continuous read on student understanding. These low-stakes tasks are designed for responsiveness — teachers use them to adjust instruction in real time.

End of Investigation

At the close of each arc or investigation, students produce a more formal response — an analytical paragraph, a short essay, or a structured discussion — that demonstrates how their thinking has developed across the texts and tasks of that investigation.

Performance Task

The unit performance task asks students to synthesize the unit's core ideas in an extended piece of writing or a culminating project. This task is designed to be revised and represents the student's best thinking at the end of the unit.