Text Complexity and the Close Reading
of Text (Nancy Fry and Doug Fisher could not get to the conference to
present)
Sydnee Dickson, Utah State Dept. of Education
Jimi Cannon, Scholastic Inc.
Dr. Patti Davis, McRel
December 8, 2013
Learning Forward Conference, Dallas
Myths of ELA CCSS- Sydnee Dickson

Federal Agenda for what students should know
1. It is a state led initiative
2. Fears stem from:
Political perspective for government intervention
Parents don’t know enough about it
People just don’t like change
 Standards aren’t research based
In fact, the standards are based on 40 years of research, most from the last 20
years
 Giving up Literature
Still important, engage with literature in another way
 70% Rule
Literature will be 70% informational text
Reality- gradual increase until 70% will be informational text in HS, but that
can also encompass content area subjects
 There is a proscribed CCSS reading list
Look at Appendix A- these are exemplars, but not meant
to be a partial or complete list
Read the books yourself before deciding which to use
Question?? Does this take place in place of researched pedagogical strategies?
Answer: NO
Three Shifts

Building knowledge through content rich nonfiction

Reading, writing and speaking grounded in evidence from the text, both
literary and informational

Regular practice with complex text and its academic language
Helping teachers and leaders use academic standards. Many haven’t had
performance based standards not were they complex.
K-12 standards are seamless
Crisis of Text

Complexity of text s # 1 college and career readiness goal

HS textbooks have declined in all over subjects over several decades

Average length of sentences in K-8 textbooks has declined from 20to 14
words

Vocabulary demands have declined e.g 8th grade textbooks were formally at
5th grade level; 12th grade anthologies were formally 7th grade texts

Complexity of college and career texts have remained steady or increased in
complexity, resulting in a huge gap of 350 Lexile levels

Question?? How do we move to build capacity of teachers to know
what is rigorous and complex??
Why is it important?

Too many students are reading at too low a level:< than 50% of graduates
can read sufficiently complex texts

The complexity of what students can read is the greatest predictor of success
in college (ACT study)
Websites www.achievethecore.org
http://www.uen.org/coreacademy
http://www.pta.org
Choosing Complex Texts- Jimi Cannon- Scholastic Inc.

There are many books that are complex, but at a low Lexile level, e.g. Catcher
in the Rye

The CCSS does not STATE that close reading of text strategies need to be
taught, but clearly they do

Myth: We should not access prior know or build background knowledge
That is just not good pedagogy. We don’t abandon researched
pedagogy

Readers should read grade level texts, complex texts and independent texts.
Reader’s Workshop makes use of independent texts
Websites-: Lexilelevel.com
http://www.achievethecore.org
http://www.cohmetrix.memphis.edu
http://www.arbookfind.com
Turn and Talk: What are the instructional shifts for all teachers to
become literacy teachers, well versed in the above areas including
complex and compound sentences, and metaphoric language?
It takes 40-50 hours to become literacy teachers
The standards define what all students are expected to know and be able to do
not how teachers teach
Complex Text
Readability measure;
Measured by a computer
Lexile® sentence length
and frequency of words
Evaluate: Looks at
meaning, themes
and clarity
READER AND TASK
Matching reader and task:
Reader-Motivation, prior knowledge
Task-Complexity
Qualitative

Levels of meaning

Structure

Language

Conventionality and clarity

Knowledge demands
Structure

Compare and contrast/simple

Cause and effect

Different structures mean more complex
See: Caukins Pathways to the Common Core
and Fontas and Pinnell guide to leveled tests
http://www.fountasandpinnellleveledbooks.com/
Reader and Task (This is the bridge)
What complex text can I choose that…
1. Will motivate the readers?
2. The reader will have some background knowledge around? i.e.
hurricanes
3. Will it align ti their experiences?
Collaboration

Small group led by the teacher

Small group without the teacher

Partner work
Text Sets
Text sets need to be coherent and narrowly focused on a set of key ideas to ensure
that children will have repeated opportunities to hear and develop an
understanding of a common set of words and concepts through readings.
Susan Neuman and Linda B. Gambrell
Example lesson for HS- all on same concept or skill
1. Video clip – 10 min of lecture or direct instruction
2. Simpler text
3. Article
4. Text book
PARCC lists worthy texts
Task
Need to be thoughtful about the task
1. Simple task- What is it about? The gist
2. Do I want my readers to analyze the text?
3. Do I want my readers to pick out info?- simple
How do we adjust the task? Go from simple texts to more complex tasks. This is
scaffolding
Example:
Winter’s Dolphin’s Tale
1. Red first time for gist
2. 2nd reading for imagery
Reader and Task

After reading Winter’s Tale aloud to the class, small groups will create a
poster to show how Winter adapted to his injury. (simple)

With a partner, read Winter’s Tale and write a letter to a friend that
summarizes Winter’s journey from being injured to becoming a celebrity.
(more complex)
Dr. Patti Davis- McRel
P Davis CCSS Text Complexity_Presentation.pdf
8.7 MB
McREL text complexity tools.pdf
741 KB
ASCD has a webinar on this
College level –challenging expository prose (Kendall 2012)
Measuring Lexile
Flesch-Kincaid FLK
Dale-Chall
Coh-Metrix
Degrees of Reading Power DRP
Source Rater
Qualitative score can correct or support the quantitative score. i.e. The Hunger
Games. The quantitative comes out 3-4 but the themes require higher like 6th maybe
middle school. There are multiple levels of meaning
Reader and Task
http://teachershare.scholastic.com/
Teach the kids, not the books
Explaining complex texts- develop an Elevator speech
Determining complex text occurs from 3 pieces of information- quantitative (Lexile
level, COH), qualitative (structure-simple, complex) or reader & task (knowledge
and motivation)
Three Kinds of Text
Complex Text
Instructional Text
Independent Level
Text
Instructional level that is
close needs some teacher
help, therefore guided
reading
98% word accuracy and
comprehension
Richard Allington- Elementary
He studied and observed effective teachers in 5 states. These teachers created
multi-level, multi-sourced curriculum that met the needs of the diverse range of
students in their classrooms.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/96/ ( Ronni’s research on him)
Reading Next- Adolescent
This element involves providing students with diverse texts that represent a wide
range of topics at a variety of reading levels
Farewell to A Farewell to Arms: DEEMPHASIZING THE WHOLECLASS NOVEL Douglas Fisher and Gay Ivey
http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/88/7/494.abstract ( Ronni’s research
on this)
Balanced Literacy
Whole Class
Read Alouds
Shared Reading
Small Group
Guided Reading
Partner Reading
Independent
Reading independently
Question?? Where are you going to be intentional about a balanced approach?
We do need to have kids struggle a bit too
Kids might need 3 minutes of frontloading – preparing for the learning.
On Close Reading
“ Simply selecting hard books and telling students to read them will not work.
Students need to be taught how to read them and think about complex texts.
Fisher, Frey and Lapp Text Complexity 2012
Students need strategies to do close reading.
Jigsaw activity
Everyone read article Close Reading in Elementary Schools by Doug Fisher and Nancy
Frey from The Reading Teacher Vol. 66 Issue 3 pp. 179-188 2012 ( Paula, Julie and I
have a copy)
1. Everyone reads up to Investigating Close Reading
2. Group 1 reads up to Modifying Close Reading
3. Group 2 reads up to Develop Text-Dependent Questions
4. Group 3 reads up to Building an Instructional Routine
5. We all read the rest
Context Matters
80-90% of the reading standards in each grade require text dependent analysis,
accordingly, aligned curriculum materials should have a similar % of text-dependent
questions. PARCC 2012
What line or quote in the article made you think of that?
Question??? What training will teachers need to build capacity to develop
effective text-dependent questions that utilize critical and analytical thinking?
(Ronni’s ??)
Shanahan and Close Reading
http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/2012/06/what-is-close-reading.html
Text Dependent Questions
Knew, New, & Q
Check out http://www.engageny.org
http://www.engageny.org/resource/new-york-state-common-core-samplequestions
How to Use Different Aspects of the Sample Questions
Passages


Use them to help guide your own text choices for instructional materials and
expose students to similarly complex, diverse texts.
Don’t expect antiquated, public domain texts to be on future state
assessments.
ELA Questions







Interpret the way standards are conceptualized in each question.
Consider the instructional changes that will need to occur in your classroom.
Analyze the reading comprehension, argumentation, and marshaling of
evidence called for in the constructed response questions.
Pay attention to the text-based distractors in each multiple-choice question.
Don’t limit the amount of writing your students do in the classroom.
Don’t assume that the lined space provided for constructed response
indicates the amount of writing students should provide to respond to the
question.
Don’t assume that the sample questions represent a mini-version of future
state assessments.
Math Questions






Interpret the way the standards are conceptualized in each question.
Note the multiple ways the standard is assessed throughout the sample
questions.
Take note of numbers (e.g., fractions instead of whole numbers) used in the
samples.
Pay attention to the strong distractors in each multiple-choice question.
Don’t consider these questions to be the only way the standard will be
assessed.
Don’t assume that the sample questions represent a mini-version of future
state assessments.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary has to change. Vocabulary instruction matters..
Bringing Literacy Strategies Into Content Instruction by Marcia L. Kosanovich
http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Bringing Literacy Strategies into Content
Instruction.pdf
1.
2.
3.
4.
All teachers should provide explicit instructions on comprehension
Increase open discussions of…
Set and maintain high standards for text, conversation questions and vocabulary
Increase student’s motivation and engagement with reading
Fact:
There is a tremendous gap between students who have large vocabulary
repertoires when they come to school and those who do not.
Fact:
Despite the existence of research-based approaches for vocabulary instructions,
it tends to be superficial and brief.
Fact:
For students in grade 4-12, there is about a 6,000 word gap between students at
the 25th percentile and 50th percentile on standardized assessments.
Acquiring Vocabulary





Check out Appendix Av pp.32-37
After 4th grade, vocabulary is gained through reading
Three tiers of words
1. Tier 1- everyday words
2. Tier 2- general academic words
3. Tier 3- content specific words
Teachers need to teach connections and patterns in language
Syntax, morphology (prefix and suffix) and etymology (Greek and Latin)
Context, Context, Context!!!
Question??? How are teachers selecting vocabulary for the week?
ELL
Teachers need to teach:
 Cognates
 Multiple meaning words
 Word families
 Signal words (transitional such as beginning forst, next, last)
 Root words (prefix and suffix), Greek and Latin)
How Do Students Learn New Words?
1. Direct Instruction
2. Incidental Learning Experiences both random and related
Use:
Word walls
Graphic organizers
Knowledge Rating Scale
Definition Word Card
Four Research-based Principles
 6 times repetitions
 Even superficial instruction helps
 Non-linguistic representations
 Directly teach the right words
Definition Word Card
Vocabulary Word
My Understanding
1 2 3 4
Explanation/description
Draw
Teacher Notes
Knowledge Rating Scale
Rate the following terms as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
I have never heard the word before.
I’ve heard the word, but I don’t know what it means.
I understand the meaning of this word and can use it in a sentence.
I can teach this word to another student
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4