Meeting the Text Complexity Demands of the Common Core

MEETING THE TEXT COMPLEXITY DEMANDS OF THE COMMON CORE

Christina Steinbacher-Reed

K-12 ELA Common

Core

Reading

Writing

Speaking & Listening

Language

Literature

Informational

Foundational Skills(K-5 only)

How do we meet the CC demands for text

complexity? How does CC define text complexity?

What do we need to consider when selecting texts?

How can we meet the rigorous demands of Common Core while meeting individual student needs?

What? So What? Now What?As the presentation unfolds, list at least five new understandings that resonate

with you.

1

2

3

4

5

What/So What?

Seasonal Partners

Common Core vs. PA Common Core

Common Core PA Common Core

All inclusive, nationally accepted literacy standards

Includes CC that are included in eligible content and state assessments

What are the ‘big shifts’?

1. Balance of literary and informational texts

2. Knowledge in the disciplines

3. Staircase of text complexity

4. Text-based Answers

5. Writing from Sources

6. Academic Vocabulary

Fe

Share your reactions to this blog. Have you experienced this ailment? How does your perspective of CC align

with your district’s?

Common Core Documents ELA Standard 10

Appendix A – Text Complexity Guidelines

Appendix B – Text Exemplars

Revised Publishers’ Criteria

Standard 10 - Vertical Progression

Appendix A - Text Complexity

Qualitative – levels of meaning, structure, clarity, knowledge demands

Quantitative – word length, readability level

Reader and Task - (motivation, background knowledge, purpose and complexity of task)Common Core

Appendix A - Page 2-9Appendix B – Text Examples

Qualitative Measures

Read pg. 5-6 of Appendix A and mark the text. Underline phrases or words that stand-out to you.

Share these phrases and new understandings with a partner

Review the qualitative measures rubric and share your reactions.

Quantitative Measures

Read pg. 7 of Appendix A and mark the text. Underline phrases or words that stand-out to you.

Share these phrases and new understandings with a partner

Key Considerations

Read ‘Key Considerations…’ on pg. 8-9 of Appendix A

With a partner: What has been affirmed for you? What has surprised you? What are you still wrestling with?

How do you currently select texts appropriate for your grade level? How does this compare to Common Core’s criteria?

What types of shifts might you need to consider in regards to text selection?

Realigned Levels- Adjusted Upward

18

The Hunger GamesThe boy from District 1 dies before he can pull out the spear. My arrow drives deeply into the center of his neck. He falls to his knees and halves the brief remainder of his life by yanking out the arrow and drowning in his own blood. Rue has rolled to her side, her body curved in and around the spear. I shove the boy away from the net. One look at the wound and I know it’s far beyond my capacity to heal. The spearhead is buried up to the shaft in her stomach. “

Impulsively I lean forward and kiss him, stopping his words. This is probably overdue anyway since he’s right, we are supposed to be madly in love. It’s the first time I’ve ever kissed a boy. “Well, there’s more swelling, but the pus is gone, “ I say in an unsteady voice. “I know what blood poisoning is, Katniss,” says Peeta.

1st Step – The Quantitative

Find the Lexile level – lexile.com

Or use another formula such as Fry’s

20

Fry’s Readability Formula

21

Text Complexity Grade Bands

Suggested Lexile Range

Suggested ATOS Book Level Range**

K-1 100L – 500L* 1.0 – 2.5

2-3 450L – 790L 2.0 – 4.0

4-5 770L – 980L 3.0 – 5.7

6-8 955L – 1155L 4.0 – 8.0

9-10 1080L – 1305L 4.6 – 10.0

11-CCR 1215L – 1355L 4.8 – 12.0

Quantitative Measures Ranges for Text Complexity Grade Bands

Pennsylvania Common Core Standards

* The K-1 suggested Lexile range was not identified by the Common Core State Standards and was added by Kansas.

** Taken from Accelerated Reader and the Common Core State Standards, available at the following URL: http://doc.renlearn.com/KMNet/R004572117GKC46B.pdf

Quantitative Level of Hunger Games

Lexile (810) – Gr. 4-5

ATOS Book Level – 6.2

Scholatic’s Book Wizard Level – 5.3

23

Text Complexity Grade Bands

Suggested Lexile Range

Suggested ATOS Book Level Range**

K-1 100L – 500L* 1.0 – 2.5

2-3 450L – 790L 2.0 – 4.0

4-5 770L – 980L 3.0 – 5.7

6-8 955L – 1155L 4.0 – 8.0

9-10 1080L – 1305L 4.6 – 10.0

11-CCR 1215L – 1355L 4.8 – 12.0

Quantitative Measures Ranges for Text Complexity Grade Bands

Pennsylvania Common Core Standards

* The K-1 suggested Lexile range was not identified by the Common Core State Standards and was added by Kansas.

** Taken from Accelerated Reader and the Common Core State Standards, available at the following URL: http://doc.renlearn.com/KMNet/R004572117GKC46B.pdf

24

Remember, however, that the quantitative measures is only the first of three “legs” of the text complexity triangle.

Our final recommendation may be validated, influenced, or even over-ruled by our examination of qualitative measures and the reader and task considerations.

“The use of qualitative and quantitative measures to assess text complexity is balanced in the Standards’ model by the expectation that educators will employ professional judgment to match texts to particular students and tasks.” Appendix A

26

Measures such as:• Layers of meaning• Levels of purpose• Structure• Organization• Language conventionality• Language clarity• Prior knowledge demands• Cultural demands• Vocabulary

Step 2: Qualitative Measures

27

Assessing Text

Where on the continuum?

28

Qualitative Measures Rubric for Literary Text http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=4605

• Allow educators to evaluate the important elements of text that are often missed by computer software that tends to focus on more easily measured factors.

29

Qualitative Measures Rubric for Informational Text http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=4605

• Allow educators to evaluate the important elements of text that are often missed by computer software that tends to focus on more easily measured factors.

30

Qualitative Measures Rubrics

Because the factors for literary texts are different from information texts, these two rubrics contain different content. However, the formatting of each document is exactly the same.

And because these factors represent continua rather than discrete stages or levels, numeric values are not associated with these rubrics. Instead, four points along each continuum are identified: high, middle high, middle low, and low.

What are your conclusions?

Work with a partner to use the literary rubric to level the Hunger Games.

32

Step 2: Qualitative Measures

33

Remember . . .

Qualitative aspects are “best measured or only measurable by an attentive human reader, such as levels of meaning or purpose; structure; language conventionality and clarity; and knowledge demands.”

34

Step 2: Qualitative Measures

QuantitativeQ

ualit

ativ

e

Reader and Task

Our initial placement of The Hunger Games into a text complexity band has changed when we examined the qualitative measures.

Remember, however, that we have completed only the first two legs of the text complexity triangle.

The reader and task considerations still remain.

35

Considerations such as:

• Motivation• Knowledge and

experience• Purpose for reading• Complexity of task

assigned regarding text• Complexity of questions

asked regarding text

Step 3: The Reader and Task

36

Reader and Task Considerations

The questions included here are largely open-ended questions without single, correct answers, but help educators to think through the implications of using a particular text in the classroom.

37

Step 4: Recommended Placement

Reflect back on all three ‘legs’ of text complexity. With your partner or team, make a final judgment

38

Hunger Games Recommended Placement

Describe the four step process we used to determine text complexity. What resources were used at each step?

With which points or parts of this process do you agree? Disagree?

What are you still wondering about?

40

Determining Text Complexity

Four Step Process

1. Determine the quantitative measures of the text.

2. Analyze the qualitative measures of the text.

3. Reflect upon the reader and task considerations.

4. Recommend placement in the appropriate text complexity band.

What? So What? Now What?As the presentation unfolds, list at least five new understandings that resonate

with you.

1

2

3

4

5

How does CC define text complexity?

42

Applying the Text Complexity Measures to Informational Text“Letter From a Birmingham Jail” by Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension.”

43

Quantitative Analysis of Informational Text

“Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

Flesch-Kincaid: 9.4

Gunnings Fog Index: 12.5

Automated Readability

Index: 9.6

44

Qualitative Analysis of Informational Text

45

Reader/Task Considerations for Informational Text

Will the reader be able to remember and make connections among the various details presented in this specific text?

Does the reader possess the necessary comprehension strategies to manage the material in this specific text?

Will the reader be interested and engaged with the style of writing and the presentation of ideas within this specific text?

Does the reader possess the maturity to respond appropriately to any potentially concerning elements of content or theme?

Will the complexity of any before-, during-, or after-reading tasks associated with this specific text interfere with the reading experience?

46

“Letter of Birmingham” Recommendation According to the ELA CCSS RL.9-10.9:

Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washington’s Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech, King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”), including how they address related themes and concepts.

The recommended placement of this piece of informational text is in grade span 9-10.

47

Text Complexity Resource

Appendix A: Research Supporting the Key Elements of the Standards

Appendix B: Text Exemplars and Sample Performance Tasks

http://www.pdesas.org/ Lexile.com iu17commoncore.wikispaces.com (includes

professional reading book lists)

Your Turn!

Using the four step process, explore the

text complexity of your texts.

Feeling like this a little heavy?

Where do we begin in meeting the Common

demands for text complexity?

Step 1 - Collaborate

Do not do this alone!

Now more than ever

we need each other.

Collaborate with

colleagues to make

joint decisions

regarding text levels

and grade

placements.

Step 2 - Evaluate

Don’t totally scrap your

current reading material!

Instead, use the CC

resources to evaluate

where you’re at and

where you need to be in

terms of selecting

reading materials.

Step 3 – Innovate

One bite at a time! Begin

shifting amount of

informational vs. literary;

shift 20% of students’ reading

to grade level with scaffolding;

Continue referring back to

Common Core document for

guidance

Part 2 – A Shift in Instruction The Common Core was designed as the

“WHAT”, not the “HOW”

Common Core is NOT:

Shift in Instruction

“. . . it is important to recognize that scaffolding often is entirely appropriate. The expectation that scaffolding will occur with particularly challenging texts is built into the Standards’ grade-by-grade text complexity expectations, for example. The general movement, however, should be toward decreasing scaffolding and increasing independence both within and across the text complexity bands defined in the standards.”

Appendix A

Publisher’s Criteria - REVISED

K-2Reading FoundationsText SelectionQuestions and Tasks

Gr. 3-12Text SelectionQuestions and TasksAcademic VocabularyWriting to Sources and Vocabulary

A Close Read of the Introduction

the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage

of text. Such a reading places great emphasis on the

particular over the general, paying close attention to

individual words, syntax, and the order in which

sentences and ideas unfold as they are read

Criteria Jigsaw

1. Select a K-2 or 3-12

2. Work in a team of 3

3. Each member read and mark a different section

4. Regroup with your team and share out key ideas

58

Engaging Students with the TextsStudents need to engage with:

Age/grade appropriate materials for exposure to structures, content, vocabulary

Instructional level materials that allow them to progress

“Easy” materials that allow them to practice

Cited by PDE - Source: KAREN WIXSON, PHD

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN/UNCG

What? So What? Now What?As the presentation unfolds, list at least five new understandings that resonate

with you.

1

2

3

4

5

What do we need to consider when selecting

texts?

How do we meet the demands of CC and the needs of the individual?

Read AloudShared Reading

Small Group Differ. Reading

Independent Reading

TE

AC

HE

R

STUDENT

Standards Aligned Whole Group Instruction with Grade Level + Texts

Read AloudShared Reading

Small Group Differ. Reading

Independent Reading

TE

AC

HE

R

STUDENT

Application and transfer of skills and strategies to differentiated reading levels

Read AloudShared Reading

Small Group Differ. Reading

Independent Reading

TE

AC

HE

R

STUDENT

Close, critical reading

What is Shared Reading? • Heterogeneous, whole group, curriculum aligned

instruction using grade level appropriate complex texts

• Teacher controlled text with a specific teaching point

• All students can see and engage in reading of the text

• Text is at or above grade level readability

• Provide strong teacher scaffold for ‘close reading’

Shared Reading is not . . . A Read Aloud

Small, homogeneous groups

Round-Robin (ie: popcorn reading)

Students reading by themselves

Shared Reading vs. Read Aloud

Shared Reading All eyes on same text

Students interact with text

15-30 minutes

Same text can be used over multiple days for different purposes

Read Aloud

All ears (not eyes) on same text

Highly teacher controlled

5-15 minutes

New text read at each session

How is this approach similar to what you already doing?

Differences?

Wonderings?

What does Shared Reading look like? Grade 4 Shared Reading Demonstration

Note what the teacher is doing vs. what the students are doing

Shared Reading Texts

May be used multiple times to serve different purposes

May include excerpts of a longer text

May include high interest, modern texts (magazine articles, blogs, song lyrics, etc.)

Think about ‘bundling’

Remember…

Shared Reading is where you directly teach a strategy or concept to the whole class at one time. Differentiated small groups is where students apply it at their instructional or independent reading level.

Thoughts?

What? So What? Now What?As the presentation unfolds, list at least five new understandings that resonate

with you.

1

2

3

4

5

How do we meet the demands of CC and the needs of the individual?

The Shift To Text-Dependent Questions

In “A Letter from a

Birmingham Jail,” Dr.

King discusses

nonviolent protest.

Discuss, in writing, a

time when you

wanted to fight against

injustice.

Based on this text, and this text alone, what do you know? What can you make out about the letter Dr. King received?

What is ‘close reading’?

Depends on who you ask!

One Perspective

Oh the Places You’ll Go!

Language Narrative Syntax Context

David Coleman’s Perspective

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.9 Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washington’s Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech, King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”), including how they address related themes and concepts.

David Coleman Presentations: Bringing the Common Core to Life

Walking through MLK Letter (10 min) http://vimeo.com/25206110,

In the ‘narrow’ . . .

Little, if any, focus on context Only rely on what is in ‘the four corners’ Avoid imputing to the author any ideas or

arguments that aren’t evident in the text Avoid substituting our ideas for the authors Limit pre-reading strategies Re-read multiple times searching for textual

evidence

Proceed with Caution!

A Broader Perspective Meaning emerges from the transaction

between the reader and the text

“The words give us information, but the meaning doesn’t emerge until each reader brings his thinking to bear upon it.” (Beers and Probst, 2012)

Until then, words are merely ‘ink on paper’ (Rosenblatt, 1938/1995)

An Example - My Papa’s Waltz

The whiskey on your breathCould make a small boy dizzy;But I hung on like death:Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pansSlid from the kitchen shelf;My mother's countenanceCould not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wristWas battered on one knuckle;At every step you missedMy right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my headWith a palm caked hard by dirt,Then waltzed me off to bed

Still clinging to your shirt. - Roethke

What? So What? Now What?As the presentation unfolds, list at least five new understandings that resonate

with you.

1

2

3

4

5

What/So What?

What is my own definition of ‘close reading’? How does it compare with what has been shared today?

In your own reading, how do you engage in ‘close reading’? What motivates you to read in this way?

In Action . . .

Pattern Folders – A Literary Analysis Tool (Gr. 9-12)

Thinking Notes (Gr. 9-12) Little Notes for Big Ideas (Gr. 3-12) Analyzing Informational Text - Gr. 5 Evidence and Arguments - Gr. 9-12 Poetic Elements - High School Embedded Vocabulary – Elementary

Text Complexity: A Teacher’s Perspective

Next Steps

Collaborate, Evaluate, Innovate

Continue referring back to the actual Common Core document and publisher’s criteria

iu17commoncore.wikispaces.com

Remember, it’s a process . . .

What? So What? Now What?As the presentation unfolds, list at least five new understandings that resonate

with you.

1

2

3

4

5

What/So What?

How do we meet the CC demands for text

complexity? How does CC define text complexity?

What do we need to consider when selecting texts?

How can we meet the rigorous demands of Common Core while meeting individual student needs?

Ticket out the Door

Red light – Stop or hold off doing

Yellow – think about doing or points to ponder

Green – definitely need to move forward with

Upcoming ELA Common Core Learning Opportunities Feb 6 (C) and 13 (W) – Meeting Common

Core’s Demand for Text Complexity

March 13 (C) and March 18 (W) – Meeting Common Core’s Demand for Rigorous Writing Across the Gr. 4-12 Curriculum – Canton

April 30 (C) and May 1 (W) – Meeting the Common Core Demands for Writing at the Elementary Level

Contact

Christina Steinbacher-Reed creed@iu17.org