Teaching Students to
Read Like Detectives:
The Common Core Way
Douglas Fisher
www.fisherandfrey.com
YouTube Channel
fisherandfrey
4 Domains
•
•
•
•
Reading
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Language
Anchored K-12
10. Read and comprehend complex
literary and informational texts
independently and proficiently.
K
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
State standards were forward-mapped
Existing State Standards
9-10
11-12
K
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9-10
11-12
Anchor standards are backward-mapped
Backward design of CCSS-ELA standards
Comparison of Former and CCR-Aligned Lexile Ranges
Former Lexile Range
Grade Band
K-1
2-3
4-5
6-8
9-10
11-CCR
CCR Aligned Lexile Range
N/A
450
725
420
820
645
845
740
1010
860
1010
925
1185
960
1115
1050
1335
1010
1220
1185
1385
Assessing Texts
• Quantitative measures
• Qualitative values
• Task and Reader considerations
• Density and
Complexity
• Figurative
Language
• Purpose
• Standard English
• Variations
• Register
• Genre
• Organization
• Narration
• Text Features
• Graphics
Levels of
Meaning
Structure
Language
Convention
and Clarity
Knowledge
Demands
• Background
• Prior
• Cultural
• Vocabulary
Levels of Meaning and Purpose
• Density and complexity
• Figurative language
• Purpose
Levels of Meaning and Purpose
Is it about talking
animals, or the USSR?
Is it entertainment,
or political satire?
Is it
straightforward, or
ambiguous?
1370L
Grades 11-12
Author’s Purpose
• Allegory for tolerance
• Mirrored events of early Civil
Rights movement (1961)
530L
Grades 2-3
“Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches
Had bellies with stars.
The Plain-Belly Sneetches
Had none upon thars. Those stars weren’t so big.
They were really so small
You might think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all..”
But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches
Would brag, ‘We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the
beaches.’
With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d
snort
‘We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!’
And whenever they met some, when they were out
walking,
They’d hike right on past them without even talking.”
Complex themes
• Relationship
between love and
pain
• Masculinity
• Loyalty and war
730L
Grades 2-3
Structure
• Genre
• Organization
• Narration
• Text features and
Structure
Changes in narration,
point of view
Changes in font signal
narration changes
Complex themes
560L
Grades 2-3
Structure
• Stream of
consciousness
narration
• Unreliable narrators
• Nonlinear structure
• Time shifts written in
italics
870L (grades 4-5)
Language Conventions
• Standard English and
variations
• Register
Language Conventions
Non-standard English usage
“Out in the hottest, dustiest part of
town is an orphanage run by a
female person nasty enough to
scare night into day. She goes by the
name of Mrs. Sump, though I doubt
there ever was a Mr. Sump on
accounta she looks like somethin’
the cat drug in and the dog
wouldn’t eat.”
(Stanley, 1996, p. 2)
AD 660L (Adult-directed)
British slang circa 1982
“The doorbell went. I put the blind back to how it
was, checked I'd left no other traces of my incursion,
slipped out, and flew downstairs to see who it was.
The last six steps I took in one death-defying bound.
Moron, grinny-zitty as ever. His bumfluff's getting
thicker, mind.
"You'll never guess what!"
"What?”
"You know the lake in the woods?"
"What about it?"
"It's only"--Moron checked that we weren't being
overheard--"gone and froze solid! Half the kids in the
village're there, right now. Ace doss or what?"
ATOS 4.4
Grades 2-3
Bumfluff- light facial hair (“peach fuzz”)
Ace doss-easy and fun
Knowledge Demands
• Background knowledge
• Prior knowledge
• Cultural knowledge
• Vocabulary
Knowledge Demands
Domain-specific vocabulary
(radioactive, acidity,
procedure, vaccination)
Background knowledge
(diseases, safety risks,
scientific experimentation)
1100L
Grades 6-8
Cultural Knowledge
Demands
• Buddhist philosophy
• Search for spiritual
enlightenment
• Eightfold Path to Nirvana
1010L
Grades 6-8
• Density and
Complexity
• Figurative
Language
• Purpose
• Standard English
• Variations
• Register
• Genre
• Organization
• Narration
• Text Features
• Graphics
Levels of
Meaning
Structure
Language
Convention
and Clarity
Knowledge
Demands
• Background
• Prior
• Cultural
• Vocabulary
It’s not enough to have complex
text in the room. Students need to
read and discuss complex text.
Teacher Responsibility
Focused Instruction
“I do it.”
Guided Instruction
“We do it.”
Collaborative
Independent
“You do it
together.”
“You do it
alone.”
Student Responsibility
A Structure for Instruction That Works
In Some Classrooms…
Teacher Responsibility
Focused Instruction
“I do it.”
Independent
Student Responsibility
“You do it
alone.”
In Some Classrooms…
Teacher Responsibility
Independent
Student Responsibility
“You do it
alone.”
And in Some Classrooms…
Teacher Responsibility
Focused Instruction
“I do it”
Guided Instruction
“We do it”
Independent
Student Responsibility
“You do it
alone”
Teacher Responsibility
Focused Instruction
“I do it.”
Guided Instruction
“We do it.”
Collaborative
Independent
“You do it
together.”
“You do it
alone.”
Student Responsibility
A Structure for Instruction That Works
The established
purpose
focuses on
student
learning, rather
than an activity,
assignment, or task.
Students
understand the
relevance
of the established
purpose.
Relevance
requires…
…making connections between the
subject and its application outside of the
classroom walls.
Relevance
requires…
…opportunities to
learn about oneself as
a learner.
Relevance
requires…
… learning for
learning’s sake.
Response to Instruction
2
and Intervention (RtI )
• Tier 1: Quality core instruction
• Tier 2: Supplemental intervention
• Tier 3: Intensive intervention
Tier 1:
70+%
Tier 2:
20–30%
Manipulate variables…
Tier 3:
5–15%
Homework is NOT
a progress monitoring tool!
26%
Number of high school
teachers who “often or
very often” run out
of time in class
and assign the content
for homework.
(Markow, Kim, & Liebman,
The MetLife Survey
of the American Teacher:
The Homework Experience,
2007)
Cleavers
Slackers
Cheaters
Bewildered
Goals of
Homework
•
•
•
•
Fluency building
Application
Spiral review
Extension
(Fisher & Frey, “Homework and the Gradual Release
of Responsibility: Making Responsibility Possible,
English Journal, 2008)
Close Analytic Reading
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