Text Complexity
and
Nancy Frey, PhD
Text-dependent
Questions
If you can read this…
If you can read this…
Thank a teacher!
If you can read this…
effectively and write a analytical essay in
under 42 minutes, and you meet all the math
standards, objectives, and learning targets set
forth by the Common Core State Standards, and
you walk briskly through life in a healthy body
taking 10,000 steps a day, while experiencing
social and emotional well being, and you can
effectively utilize technology and social media to
access and analyze important information, and
you play the piano perfectly…
If you can read this…
effectively and write a analytical essay in
under 42 minutes, and you meet all the math
standards, objectives, and learning targets set
forth by the Common Core State Standards, and
you walk briskly through life in a healthy body
taking 10,000 steps a day, while experiencing
social and emotional well being, and you can
effectively utilize technology and social media to
access and analyze important information, and
you play the piano perfectly…
Thank a teacher!
Leaders wear many hats.
Skilled learners
are
nurtured.
Skilled leaders
need to be nurtured, too.
Write as many
entries on the
ABC chart as
possible while
the other rolls
the die. Switch
roles each time
you roll 6!
Take Six
Terms related to
the ELA
Common Core
State Standards
(e.g., “textdependent
questions”)
Take Six
Compare papers
with your
partner and add
terms to your
own. How many
terms did you
collectively
gather?
Take Six
10. Read and comprehend complex
literary and informational texts
independently and proficiently.
“Standard 10 defines
a grade-by-grade
‘staircase’ of
increasing text
complexity that rises
from beginning
reading
to the college and
career readiness
level.” (CCSS, 2010, p. 80)
“Fewer, Clearer, Higher”
Key Features of the Standards
Key Features of the Standards
Text complexity
and the
growth of
comprehension.
Key Features of the Standards
Text complexity
and the
growth of
comprehension.
Text types,
responding to
reading, and
research.
Key Features of the Standards
Text complexity
and the
growth of
comprehension.
Flexible
communication
and
collaboration.
Text types,
responding to
reading, and
research.
Key Features of the Standards
Text complexity
Text types,
and the
responding to
growth of
reading, and
comprehension.
research.
Flexible
Academic
communication
language,
and
vocabulary, and
collaboration.
effective use.
Key Features of the Standards
Text complexity
Text types,
and the
responding to
growth of
reading, and
comprehension.
research.
Flexible
Academic
communication
language,
and
vocabulary, and
collaboration.
effective use.
All must be present for literacy learning.
“Read like a detective,
write like a reporter.”
K-5 Reading Standards
Expository
Expository
Persuasive
Expository
Persuasive
Narrative
Students produce as well as
read complex texts.
Quantitative Measures
Quantitative Measures
Qualitative Values
• 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
Density and Complexity
Gibbons, G. (1996). Recycle! A handbook for kids.New York; Little, Brown.
Types of Vocabulary
• Tier 1/General
– Commonplace; learned from interactions
with texts and people
• Tier 2/Specialized
– Change meaning with context
(“polysemic”)
• Tier 3/Technical
– Specific to the discipline
Density and Complexity
• More and more garbage! Every day
people throw more trash away. As the
world population increases, more
people throw trash away. Garbage
trucks come to pick it up, but where
does all this trash go?
• Blue = Tier 1 vocabulary
Gibbons, G. (1996). Recycle! A handbook for kids.New York; Little, Brown.
Density and Complexity
• More and more garbage! Every day
people throw more trash away. As the
world population increases, more
people throw trash away. Garbage
trucks come to pick it up, but where
does all this trash go?
• Blue = Tier 1 vocabulary
• Green = Tier 2 vocabulary
Gibbons, G. (1996). Recycle! A handbook for kids.New York; Little, Brown.
Density and Complexity
• More and more garbage! Every day
people throw more trash away. As the
world population increases, more
people throw trash away. Garbage
trucks come to pick it up, but where
does all this trash go?
• Blue = Tier 1 vocabulary
• Green = Tier 2 vocabulary
• Red = Tier 3 vocabulary
Gibbons, G. (1996). Recycle! A handbook for kids.New York; Little, Brown.
Structure
• Genre
• Organization
• Narration
• Text features and
Structure
Changes in narration,
point of view
Changes in font signal
narration changes
Complex themes
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)
Knowledge Demands
• Background knowledge
• Prior knowledge
• Cultural knowledge
• Vocabulary
Knowledge Demands
Prior experience (Secondary
text on technical directions and
related information )
Background knowledge
(technical drawings and
directions for making a
paper airplane, invention
process, mythology)
Qualitative Values
• 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
Task and Reader
Text
Quantitative
Reader
Qualitative
Cognitive capabilities
Motivation
Knowledge
Experience
Task
Teacher-led
Peer-led
Independent
Our goal with
complex text
is to slow
the reader
down.
Annotation is a note of
any form made while
reading text.
“Reading with a pencil.”
People have been annotating
texts since there have been
texts to annotate.
Annotation is not highlighting.
Annotation slows
down the
reader in order to
deepen
understanding.
Annotation occurs with
digital and print texts.
Annotation in Kindergarten
• Language experience approach
• Interactive writing and shared pen activities
5
Modeled
Annotation in
Kindergarten
Kemp, L. M. (1996). One peaceful pond: A counting book. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Modeled
Annotation
in Second
Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (2007). Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension
for Understanding and Engagement. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Even young
students can
annotate.
Read IRA’s Guidance on Literacy
Implementation for CCSS.
What are the implications for your
school?
Are there misconceptions your staff
might hold?
How will you deepen their
understanding of literacy
development?
Close Reading
“X-ray the book”
“X-ray the book”
In the primary grades, close reading is
accomplished through interactive read
alouds and shared readings.
Creating a Close Reading
Short passage
Creating a Close Reading
Short passage
Complex text
Creating a Close Reading
Short passage
Complex text
Limited frontloading
Creating a Close Reading
Short passage
Complex text
Limited frontloading
Repeated readings
Creating a Close Reading
Short passage
Complex text
Limited frontloading
Repeated readings
Text-dependent questions
Creating a Close Reading
of Textdependent questions
of Textdependent questions
• Questions that can only be answered
with evidence from the text
• Can be literal but can also involve
analysis, synthesis, evaluation
• Focus on word, sentence and
paragraph as well as larger ideas,
themes or events
• Focus on difficult portions of text in
order to enhance reading proficiency
Progression of
Text-dependent Questions
Whole
Opinions, Arguments,
Intertextual Connections
Across
texts
Entire text
Inferences
Segments
Author’s Purpose
Paragraph
Vocab & Text Structure
Sentence
Key Details
Word
General Understandings
Part
General Understandings
• Overall view
• Sequence of
information
• Story arc
• Main claim and
evidence
• Gist of passage
General Understandings in Kindergarten
Retell the story in order using the words
beginning, middle, and end.
Key Details
• Search for nuances in
meaning
• Determine importance of
ideas
• Find supporting details that
support main ideas
• Answers who, what, when,
where, why, how much, or
how many.
Key Details in Kindergarten
• How long did it take to go from a hatched egg
to a butterfly?
• What is one food that gave him a
stomachache? What is one food that did not
him a stomachache?
It took more than 3 weeks.
He ate for one week, and
then “he stayed inside [his
cocoon] for more than two
weeks.”
Foods that did not give
him a stomachache
•
•
•
•
•
•
Apples
Pears
Plums
Strawberries
Oranges
Green leaf
Foods that gave him a
stomachache
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chocolate cake
Ice cream
Pickle
Swiss cheese
Salami
Lollipop
Cherry pie
Sausage
Cupcake
watermelon
Vocabulary and Text Structure
• Bridges literal and
inferential meanings
• Denotation
• Connotation
• Shades of meaning
• Figurative language
• How organization
contributes to
meaning
Vocabulary in Kindergarten
How does the author help us to understand
what cocoon means?
There is an illustration of the cocoon,
and a sentence that reads, “He built a
small house, called a cocoon, around
himself.”
Author’s Purpose
• Genre: Entertain? Explain? Inform?
Persuade?
• Point of view: First-person, third-person
limited, omniscient, unreliable narrator
• Critical Literacy: Whose story is not
represented?
Author’s Purpose in Kindergarten
Who tells the story—the narrator or the
caterpillar?
A narrator tells the story, because
he uses the words he and his. If it
was the caterpillar, he would say I
and my.
Inferences
Probe each argument in persuasive
text, each idea in informational text,
each key detail in literary text, and
observe how these build to a whole.
Inferences in Kindergarten
The title of the book is The Very Hungry
Caterpillar. How do we know he is hungry?
The caterpillar ate food every day “but he
was still hungry.” On Saturday he ate so
much food he got a stomachache! Then
he was “a big, fat caterpillar” so he could
build a cocoon and turn into a butterfly.
Opinions, Arguments, and
Intertextual Connections
•
•
•
•
•
•
Author’s opinion and reasoning (K-5)
Claims
Evidence
Counterclaims
Ethos, Pathos, Logos
Rhetoric
Links to other texts throughout the grades
Opinions and Intertextual
Connections in Kindergarten
Narrative
Informational
Is this a happy story or a
sad one? How do you
know?
How are these two books
similar? How are they
different?
Lesson design
How does purpose and meaningful
collaborative work fit into this lesson?
Don’t over-teach.
Students with
disabilities and
English learners
have the right to
appropriately
struggle!
Accommodations for Close Reading
• Provide students with copies of textdependent questions in advance of reading.
• Pre-teach reading, especially background
knowledge and cognates.
• Provide realia or visual glossaries to support
student learning.
• Highlight contextual clues.
Develop Text-dependent
Questions for Your Reading
Do the questions require the reader to return to
the text?
Do the questions require the reader to use
evidence to support his or her ideas or claims?
Do the questions move from text-explicit to
text-implicit knowledge?
Are there questions that require the reader to
analyze, evaluate, and create?
293 days until Moving Day
Fostering Transition to CCSS
• How will you shift attention to curriculum,
while preserving quality instruction?
• How will teams make decisions about what
to edit, and what to add in curriculum?
• How will teams learn how to reduce some
practices (e.g., pre-reading), and add new
practices (e.g., close reading)?
Using Foundational Work to Build Upon
How will you use this foundational
knowledge to build capacity? What
resources do you have? What do you
need?
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