Text Sets for Content Rich
Instruction:
An old strategy breaths life into
Common Core Standards
Dr. Kristi Fragnoli
Professor
The College of Saint Rose
Research Shows…

Hernandez 2011 from the Annie E. Casey
Foundation showed that students that are not
reading proficient by third grade are 4 times
less likely to graduate from high school on
time than students who are reading
proficiently in 3rd grade.
March 2015 NTI: Grades 9-12 ELA Turnkey Kit for Teachers - Session 2
https://www.engageny.org/resource/march-2015-nti-grades-9-12-ela-turnkey-kit-teacherssession-2
You are not a reading teacher.
Connection between Volume of Reading, Knowledge, and Vocabulary

Research by Landauer and Dumais into
vocabulary acquisition shows that
students acquire vocabulary up to four
times faster when they read a series of
related texts.

Reading a number of texts within a topic
grows knowledge and vocabulary far
faster than any other approach
March 2015 NTI: Grades 9-12 ELA Turnkey Kit for Teachers - Session 2
https://www.engageny.org/resource/march-2015-nti-grades-9-12-ela-turnkey-kit-teachers-session-2
What is a text set?

A group of texts organized by:
 topic ~ theme ~ essential or compelling question




Global Warming
Your Environment
How far should we tamper with our own
biology and chemistry?
Why do we need rules?
Blog by Dan Adiletta http://exitticket.org/compelling-questions/
What is a text set?

Consists of multimodal texts - video, photographs,
visual art, and primary source documents; audio
recordings such as music, podcasts, and radio
broadcasts; and digital texts
Dawes, E., Enriquez (October 1, 2012).The Classroom Bookshelf:Teaching with Children's and Young Adult Literature in the 21st
Century [Web post]. Retrieved from http://www.classroombookshelf.blogspot.com/
What is a text set?
Some Text sets are organized around an
anchor text.
All genre types are considered- literature,
blogs, informational, songs and etc.
Bringing text sets back…why?
ELA





R.CCR.7: Integrate and evaluate content
presented in diverse formats and media,
including visually and quantitatively, as well
as in words.*
R.CCR.9: Analyze how two or more texts
address similar themes or topics in order to
build knowledge or to compare the approaches
the authors take.
R.CCR.10: Read and comprehend complex literary
and informational texts independently and proficiently
W.CCR.8: Gather relevant information from multiple
print and digital sources, assess the credibility and
accuracy of each source, and integrate the information
while avoiding plagiarism.
W.CCR.9: Draw evidence from literary or
informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and
research.
HISTORY

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or
secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source
distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.7
integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs,
videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.9
Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source
on the same topic.
SCIENCE

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.7
Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words
in a text with a version of that information expressed visually
(e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.8
Distinguish among facts, reasoned judgment based on research
findings, and speculation in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.9
Compare and contrast the information gained from experiments,
simulations, video, or multimedia sources with that gained from
reading a text on the same topic.
SL.CCR.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and
formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
Overlap between CCSS for ELA, CCSS for mathematics, and
NGSS science and engineering practices.
SOURCE: Adapted from Cheuk (2013) and Stage et al. (2013).
Make connections across disciplines

Each content area works in a vacuum, but we expect
our students to apply strategies and language across
disciplines.
English
Social Studies
Science
Essential Question
Compelling Question
Engage in Inquiry
Author Position
Sourcing
Interpret Scientific Evidence
Style/Organization
Contextualizing
Synthesize Evidence
Proof /Evidence
Analyze
Construct/Evaluate understanding
Drawing Conclusion
Evaluate (performance task)
Best understanding given evidence –
epistemology of science
NYS SS Field Guide
Where Do We Start When
Developing a Text Set?
Topic/Theme: When Fear Drives Mass Hysteria
 Essential/Compelling Question:
How does fear shape
government power &
freedom of speech?
 Anchor Text

Sample Text Set:
Compelling Question: What obstacles keep individuals from getting involved in
their communities and larger world?
Theme/Topic: Holocaust, Injustice, Social responsibility
Two Ten-year-olds often
think of life before the
war. It's now 1943 and
their life in Copenhagen
is filled with school, food
shortages, and the Nazi
soldiers marching
through town.
Born into a Jewish ghetto in
Hungary, a child was sent to
the Nazi concentration camps
at Auschwitz and
Buchenwald. This is his
account of that atrocity: the
ever-increasing horrors he
endured, the loss of his family
and his struggle to survive in
a world that stripped him of
humanity, dignity and faith.
The animals of the
forest are carried away,
one type after another,
by the Terrible Things,
not realizing that if
perhaps they would all
stick together and not
look the other way, such
terrible things might not
happen.
Tadeusz
Borowski's
concentration
camp stories were
based on his own
experiences
surviving
Auschwitz and
Dachau.
Compelling Question: What obstacles keep individuals from getting involved
in their communities and larger world?
Theme/Topic: Holocaust, Injustice, Social responsibility
Chart, Timelines….
Primary Documents
Berlin, Nov 1938. People walk past broken
store windows in the aftermath of Kristallnacht.
The nazis destroyed Jewish owned businesses on
"the night of broken glass."
Political Cartoons
Poetry and Art
"Whose Air is it Anyway?" A Grade 8 Living Environment
Common Core Lesson Plan
Supports
Newspaper
Determine related texts that support student understanding of the
content and anchor texts.



Select texts that relate to the anchor text based
on the unit focus.
Include variety and balance in text formats
(i.e., print, media, visual, etc.) and lengths
(poems, short stories/articles, novels) across
the units.
Include texts that are within the grade-level
text complexity range (or above for reading
aloud).
Sequence the texts sets across the year.


Determine the order of the text sets. Focus on
ordering them to build student knowledge and
increase the text complexity of texts
Work with teachers across grade levels to
ensure knowledge and text complexity is built
between grades.
http://www.louisianabelieves.com/docs/teacher-toolbox-resources/guide---how-to-createa-text-set-for-whole-class-instruction-grades-k-12.pdf
Develop graduated text sets



Articles/text start below grade level and move
upward until everyone is knowledgeable
enough about the topic so they can
independently read complex articles on the
topic.
They become content experts – they can
comprehend above reading level.
Motivation will improved.
Good vs. Evil
Strong text sets
Weak text sets
Build student knowledge about a topic;
Texts are not related or connected across
meaningful connection to the anchor text sets or they are only superficially connected
Texts are authentic, rich, and worthy of
study
Range of text types (literary and
informational) and formats
Only commissioned texts or textbook
passages
Focused exclusively on one genre or format
(unless the set is a genre study)
Text complexity levels support student
achievement of the grade-level
complexity demands of the Standards*
Text complexity levels are erratic and do not
support the staircase of text complexity in
the Standards
Public Schools from North Carolina State Board of Education
Text Complexity
Common Core Standards
Qualitative Features of Text Complexity Explained
Companion to the Qualitative Dimensions Scale
You Know Your Students
Reader and Task Considerations
 What will challenge my students most in this
text? What supports can I provide?
 How will this text help my students build
knowledge about the world?
So many resources….
Commolit
http://www.commonlit.org
Edmodo Expert Pack Sample

Make a teacher account at http://www.edmodo.com.

On the left side of home screen, it will say "Groups" under your name
and picture. Click on the "+" next to "Groups" and choose "Join".

Type in the group code: sma265

Now, from your home screen, you should see "Text Set Project" listed
under "Groups". Click on this tab.

Choose "Folders" from the left side of your screen, and, here, you will
find all of the materials.
Virginia Tech: http://www.dhr.history.vt.edu/modules/us/index.html
Why text sets?

Targets CCS ~





Utilize complex texts
Compare texts
Close reading for all text evidence
Allows students to transfer content, skills and
strategies between disciplines
Research shows we need to improve student reading
skills early and often ~ We want successful college
students