Portfolio Module 3: Text Module
Nicholas R. Baker
Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA
PORTFOLIO MODULE 3: TEXT MODULE
Attachment A: Complete Text
Attachment B: Cloze Passage Blank Assignment/ Answer Sheet/ Completed Assignment by
student.
Attachment C: Cloze Passage Analysis
Attachment D: Fry Passage, Fry Passage Analysis/Data
Attachment E: Lexile Measure Data
Attachment F: Textbook Evaluation Instrument (Quantitative Summary)
Attachment G: Adolescent Literacy/ Qualitative Summary
Attachment H: Works Cited
PORTFOLIO MODULE 3: TEXT MODULE
Attachment A: Text
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Attachment B: Cloze Passage
Instructions: Read the entire text first. Then place a word in each blank space #1-13
Yet Kennedy was interested. It was not an unreasonable deal: the Turkish missiles
were (1) and were soon to be withdrawn anyway, and the crisis was escalating. On
27 October a U-2 was (2) down over Cuba – it later turned out on the order of the
local Soviet commander on his own initiative. But it seemed initially that
Khrushchev (3) escalating the crisis, something he was in fact desperate to avoid.
Kennedy outraged the ‘hawks’ by ordering (4) Turkish missiles to be disabled to
prevent any accident. In the message to Khrushchev agreed (5) Excomm, Kennedy
insisted that the missiles in (6) must be removed and offered to end the blockade
and pledged not to invade Cuba if that happened. But when he delivered it to (7)
Soviet ambassador, Kennedy’s brother, Robert, added a private message that once
this was done, after a few months had passed, the Turkish missiles would be
withdrawn (which in fact happened in April 1963).
Had Khrushchev rejected the deal, it (8) likely that an American invasion of Cuba
would have been launched within days. Had the Russian used tactical nuclear (9) ,
whose presence was not suspected by the Americans, a full-scale thermonuclear
war would probably have followed. But Khrushchev, himself desperate to find (10)
settlement and aware that a non-invasion pledge would meet his most important
need, did agree. Tedious and frustrating negotiations followed over (11) means of
verifying the departure of the missiles, largely caused by the obstruction of Castro,
who was enraged that Khrushchev had not consulted him over the settlement.
In the end the Russian ships (12) with their hatches uncovered, allowing the
Americans to see the missiles leaving. To repay Castro for his awkwardness, (13)
refused to confirm the pledge not to invade Cuba. In fact, however, it was
observed, though small-scale sabotage raids by the CIA continued.
1=
6=
11=
2=
7=
12=
3=
8=
13=
4=
9=
5=
10=
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Yet Kennedy was interested. It was not an unreasonable deal: the Turkish missiles
were obsolete and were soon to be withdrawn anyway, and the crisis was
escalating. On 27 October a U-2 was shot down over Cuba – it later turned out on
the order of the local Soviet commander on his own initiative. But it seemed initially
that Khrushchev was escalating the crisis, something he was in fact desperate to
avoid. Kennedy outraged the ‘hawks’ by ordering the Turkish missiles to be
disabled to prevent any accident. In the message to Khrushchev agreed by
Excomm, Kennedy insisted that the missiles in Cuba must be removed and offered
to end the blockade and pledged not to invade Cuba if that happened. But when he
delivered it to the Soviet ambassador, Kennedy’s brother, Robert, added a private
message that once this was done, after a few months had passed, the Turkish
missiles would be withdrawn (which in fact happened in April 1963).
Had Khrushchev rejected the deal, it is likely that an American invasion of Cuba
would have been launched within days. Had the Russian used tactical nuclear
weapons, whose presence was not suspected by the Americans, a full-scale
thermonuclear war would probably have followed. But Khrushchev, himself
desperate to find a settlement and aware that a non-invasion pledge would meet
his most important need, did agree. Tedious and frustrating negotiations followed
over the means of verifying the departure of the missiles, largely caused by the
obstruction of Castro, who was enraged that Khrushchev had not consulted him
over the settlement.
In the end the Russian ships departed with their hatches uncovered, allowing the
Americans to see the missiles leaving. To repay Castro for his awkwardness,
Kennedy refused to confirm the pledge not to invade Cuba. In fact, however, it was
observed, though small-scale sabotage raids by the CIA continued.
1= Obsolete
8=is
2=shot
9=Weapons
3=was
10=a
4=the
11=the
5=by
12=departed
6=Cuba
13=Kennedy
7=the
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PORTFOLIO MODULE 3: TEXT MODULE
*Note the image above is a copy of the cloze passage that the student completed. This is not the
original page. This is a scanned computerized image. The cloze passage was scored and
completed on the bottom right side of the page.
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Attachment C: Analysis of Cloze Passage
For the cloze passage I was trying to aim for a high school level text on the Cuban
Missile Crisis. I left the first and last sentence complete in the passage without any deletions. For
the rest of the passage I decided to delete the seventh word out of every sentence.
Unfortunately, for this exercise I did not have access to a real high school student and so I
chose a friend who is an Undergraduate Human Development major at Virginia Tech. The major
problem with her is the fact that she is a college student and not a high school student and does
not accurately represent the target audience reading level. She received a score of 46% on the
cloze passage assignment. The major problem that I had with scoring the passage was the fact
that many words that she chose were technically correct to a certain extent but not the exact
word. For example, instead of writing “nuclear missile” she would write “nuclear weapon.” As a
teacher it would be very hard to grade a cloze passage like this because many of the synonyms
she used fits within the overall narrative of the text. However, there were some answers that did
not make sense like “ready” instead of the correct answer “obsolete.”
According to her score of 46% it is below the minimum 60% score for her reading
independent level. However, the score is within her instructional level and could be augmented
with help from the teacher. A teacher could help her by presenting the material in a different way
and by providing instructional guidance when reading the texts. There are many different ways
that an instructor can help a student at this level and the student can improve over time with
reading a similar text. If a teacher takes into account synonyms that almost matched the word in
the cloze passage this student would have received a higher score over 60% and would illustrate
that she would have an independent reading level.
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Attachment D: Fry passage: 100 word sections are in the section within brackets. This section
does not include the heading. This excerpt is also used for the Lexile Measuring system
assessment)
{Only on the 22 October, when the blockade was prepared, was news of the
missiles and America’s response made public. It caused immense shock in the USA
and internationally – it had to, to drown out the Soviet response that they were
acting legally and responding in kind to US actions in Turkey. Khrushchev’s reply
was to bluster that the USSR would assert its rights on the high seas and to accuse
Kennedy of bringing the world to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe.
Throughout the world forces went on high alert. World War III seemed imminent
and, across the globe, terrified people prepared for Armageddon. On 23 October,
as 27 Soviet ships headed towards the blockade, many carrying military equipment,
presumably including missile parts, Kennedy, who had assumed that Khrushchev
would back down, had to consider what to do if his blockade was defied. As the
world stood on the brink of nuclear war, news reached Kennedy that the first Soviet
ships had stopped and turned back.
Resolving the Crisis
The crisis was not over. Nuclear missiles remained on Cuba and Kennedy was
determined to remove them. A resolution had to be found, and quickly, before
Kennedy was pushed by the national panic he had generated to launch an attack on
Cuba. Both leaders, it is clear, had become horrified at the prospects in front of
them. Kennedy, desperate to avoid pushing Khrushchev too far, to the disgust of
Excomm ‘hawks’, ordered the navy to allow Soviet and Soviet-chartered merchant
ships not carrying arms to pass unsearched. Khrushchev, for his part, sent a long,
rambling letter to Kennedy, appealing to reason and trust to prevent a catastrophe,
and insisting that if US threats to Cuba were ended, the issue of weapons would
}
disappear. We now know, from recently released archives, that Castro was urging
Khrushchev to use the missiles if Cuba was invaded. Khrushchev’s response was to
order his military commander in Cuba to do nothing of the sort without direct
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orders from Moscow. Thus both sides were under immense pressure to resolve the
crisis.
Khrushchev’s message seemed to contain the basis of a settlement. But matters
took a turn for the worse. A new message was received from Moscow offering a
specific deal by which the missiles in both Turkey and Cuba would be removed and
the USA and USSR would jointly guarantee the security of both nations. This was
deemed unacceptable by Excomm, as it would mean backing down in the face of
Soviet pressure.
Yet Kennedy was interested. It was not an unreasonable deal: the Turkish missiles
were obsolete and were soon to be withdrawn anyway, and the crisis was
escalating. On 27 October a U-2 was shot down over Cuba – it later turned out on
the order of the local Soviet commander on his own initiative. But it seemed initially
that Khrushchev was escalating the crisis, something he was in fact desperate to
avoid. Kennedy outraged the ‘hawks’ by ordering the Turkish missiles to be
disabled to prevent any accident. In the message to Khrushchev agreed by
Excomm, Kennedy insisted that the missiles in Cuba must be removed and offered
to end the blockade and pledged not to invade Cuba if that happened. But when he
delivered it to the Soviet ambassador, Kennedy’s brother, Robert, added a private
message that once this was done, after a few months had passed, the Turkish
missiles would be withdrawn (which in fact happened in April 1963).
Had Khrushchev rejected the deal, it is likely that an American invasion of Cuba
would have been launched within days. Had the Russian used tactical nuclear
weapons, whose presence was not suspected by the Americans, a full-scale
thermonuclear war would probably have followed. But Khrushchev, himself
desperate to find a settlement and aware that a non-invasion pledge would meet
his most important need, did agree. Tedious and frustrating negotiations followed
over the means of verifying the departure of the missiles, largely caused by the
obstruction of Castro, who was enraged that Khrushchev had not consulted him
over the settlement.
In the end the Russian ships departed with their hatches uncovered, allowing the
Americans to see the missiles leaving. To repay Castro for his awkwardness,
Kennedy refused to confirm the pledge not to invade Cuba. In fact, however, it was
observed, though small-scale sabotage raids by the CIA continued.
PORTFOLIO MODULE 3: TEXT MODULE
Credit and Blame
Kennedy certainly came out of the crisis with a reputation greatly enhanced in the
west. Khrushchev, for his part, was deemed by his colleagues to have suffered a
humiliation, and the crisis was one of the issues that led to his being deposed in
October 1964.
Certainly once the enormity of the situation became clear to both men, they
showed responsible leadership and a determination to find a peaceful resolution.
Both rejected hard-line advice and were careful not to escalate the crisis.
Khrushchev might even be said to have shown greater courage in making what was
publicly seen as the larger concessions.
In the aftermath of the crisis they both worked to improve relations and prevent a
recurrence of such a confrontation. The ‘hotline’, allowing direct communication
between both leaders, was installed and the Partial Test Ban Treaty of September
1963 signified a first step towards arms controls. Kennedy’s hope to build on these
steps, brutally ended by his assassination in November 1963, further heightened
his statesman-like image.
However, both men had acted recklessly in bringing the crisis about. Khrushchev
(and Castro) should have realized the dangers of surreptitiously introducing
nuclear weapons into Cuba. They could not realistically be kept secret, and the US
reaction should have been predictable. Conventional forces, perhaps a couple of
Soviet armored brigades, should have been enough to deter a US invasion of Cuba,
without risking a major confrontation. Kennedy, for his part, allowed his vendetta
against Castro to overcome good sense. Operation Mongoose was hardly the act of
a statesman. He also rejected the use of discreet diplomacy. A secret message to
Moscow, requiring the quiet removal of the missiles, might have avoided a
confrontation, though admittedly giving Khrushchev the chance to prevaricate until
the missiles were operational. But perhaps Kennedy felt he had to make a tough
stand after the Bay of Pigs, and – though there is no proof of this – he may have
had an eye on the impact this would have on the forthcoming Congressional
elections.
In the final analysis, the world was fortunate that the greatest crisis of the Cold War
arose when it did. In 1962, Kennedy and Khrushchev had days to consider their
position and think through their options. At a later date, when technological
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advances had made missile launch times shorter and submarines quieter and when
decisions could be made in minutes, the consequences could easily have been
catastrophic. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, both sides were careful to avoid such
circumstances. One Cuban Missile Crisis was enough.
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Fry Passage Analysis:
On-Iy on the 2-2 Oc-tob-er, when the bloc-kade was pre-pared, was news of the [20]
mis-siles and Amer-ica's res-ponse made pub-lie. It caused im-mense shock in [16]
the U-S-A and int-er-nat-ion-al-Iy it had to, to drown out the So-vi-et res-ponse [23]
that they were act-ing leg-al-Iy and res-pon-ding in kind to US act-ions in Tur- [20]
key. Khrush-chev's re-ply was to blus-ter that the U-S-S-R would as-sert its rights [20]
on the high seas and to ac-cuse Ken-ne-dy of bring-ing the world to the brink of a [21]
nu-cl-ear cat-ast-ro-phe.
[7]
Through-out the world forc-es went on high a-Iert. World War III seem-ed immin-ent and, ac-ross the globe,
[25]
4 Complete 1 Partial Sentence= 4. 5 sentences
Syllables= 153
Passage 2: ter-rif-ied peo-ple pre-pared for Arm-aged-don. On 2-3 Oc-tob-er, [17]
as 2-7 So-vi-et ships head-ed tow-ards the block-ade, many carry-ing mi-lit-ar-y [21]
eq-uip-ment, pre-sum-ab-Iv in-clud-ing mis-sile parts, Ken-ne-dy, who had as- [19]
sumed that Khrush-chev would back down, had to con-sider what to do if his [16]
block-ade was de-fied. As the world stood on the brink of nu-cl-ear war, news [18]
reach-ed Ken-ne-dy that the first So-vi-et ships had stop-ped and turn-ed back. [19]
The cris-is was not ov-er. Nu-cl-ear mis-siles re-mained on Cu-ba and Ken-ne-dy [21]
was de-term-ined to re-move them. A re-so-Iut-ion had to be found, and quick- [19]
lv, be-fore Ken-ne-dy was pushed bv the nat-ion-al pan-ic [15]
4 Complete 2 Partial Sentences=5 sentences Syllables= 165
Passage 3: he had gen-er-at-ed to launch an at-tack on Cu-ba. Both lead-ers, it is [19]
clear, had be-come hor-rif-ied at the pros-pects in front of them. Ken-ne-dy, [18]
des-per-ate to av-oid push-ing Khrush-chev too far, to the dis-gust of Ex-comm [19]
'hawks', ord-ered the na-vy to a-liow So-vi-et and So-vi-et char-tered mer-chant [20]
ships not car-rv-ing arms to pass un-search-ed. Khrush-chev, for his part, sent a [18]
long, ram-bling let-ter to Ken-ne-dy, ap-peal-ing to reas-on and trust to pre-vent [20]
a cat-ast-ro-phe, and in-sis-ting that if U-S threats to Cu-ba were end-ed, the is- [22]
Total [136]
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sue of weap-ons would dis-app-ear. We now know, from rec-ent-Iy re-Ieased archives, that Cas-tro was
3 Complete 2 Partial Sentences= 4 Sentences Syllables= 159
Average # of sentences: 4 + 4.5 + 5 = 13.5/3 = 4.5 sentences
Average # of syllables: 159 + 153 + 165 = 477/3 = 159 syllables
Conclusion: Point was above the curved line within the 12th grade section. This
means that the reading was above average for 12th graders.
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Attachment E: Lexile Measure Data
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*This graphic shows that the document is suitable for 10 th-12th graders using the Common Core Standards in 2012.
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Attachment F: Textbook Evaluation Instrument (Quantitative Summary)
The online article by John Swift titled “The Cuban Missile Crisis” examines how
and why the Cuban Missile Crisis was started. I would use this article in a high school U.S.
history class in order to help students understand what caused the Cuban Missile Crisis. The
article simplifies many of the causes that created the Cuban Missile Crisis in a concrete
organized way. This article would serve as a supplementary text to my instruction. I would not
personally expect students to individually read the entire article. I would ask them to read
portions of it in order to further elaborate upon points that I would have made earlier in class.
When assessing the text I personally tried to assess the content of the article through the content
illustrated, the format, utility, and style of the article. When assessing the John Swift article
through both the Fry chart and the Lexile measuring systems the text was assessed as being well
suited as an instructional support text rather than a text that a student would read by themselves
for homework.
The content of the text itself is fairly dense for high school students but it does cover the
causes of the Cuban Missile Crisis in great detail and depth. The article is fairly straightforward
and is coherent and clear for readers. On the high school level the article is perfectly designed
for readers who have prior knowledge of the subject and terminology being used. The content of
the article should activate student’s prior knowledge regarding several main causes for the
conflict like the Bay of Pigs failed assassination plot, the Cold War, political rhetoric, and many
other variables that caused the incident.
The overall layout of the article is fairly basic. The author has a chronological heading for
each cause of the Cuban Missile Crisis and a chronological analysis of the event itself.
The
PORTFOLIO MODULE 3: TEXT MODULE
format of the text is very basic in that it does not have any illustrations, questions, and other
various types of resources found inside a traditional textbook. However, the online article does
provide at the end a list of suggested readings that are used as sources within the article. This
online article would best serve as a supplementary text not only to an instructor but also in
conjunction with a traditional textbook. This article would be a great complementary resource to
a textbook because students would be able to have the visual aids and various other resources
found within a common traditional textbook along with the information contained in the article.
In the Fry chart and the Lexile measuring system both assessments illustrated that the text
would be well suited for 12th graders up until college. When plotting the average number of
sentences and syllables in the Fry chart the assessment result was above the average reading
level (above the curved line on the graph) of 12th graders. The Lexile measuring system came
back the same result and the text had a Lexile measure of 1270L. The Lexile results matched the
Fry chart results and suggested that it was also above average for 12th graders. The Lexile results
however when applying it to the Common Core Standards of 2012 suggested that the text could
be used by 10th, 11th, and 12th graders.
The article by John Swift is probably too complicated to be read by students without
prior knowledge about the Cuban Missile Crisis and about the Cold War. The article should be
used as supplementary text and not as a main text in order to get another historical perspective
when analyzing the Cuban Missile Crisis. The article overall would be well suited for upper level
high school students as a supplementary text to activate their prior knowledge regarding the
crisis.
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Attachment G: Adolescent Literacy/Qualitative Summary
When assessing a piece of literature a teacher will need to assess it on the readability of
the text within the content area it is being applied to. As a future social studies teacher the most
important aspect of assessing a text is to determine its value in connection to the class, its
sources, and possible problems that the text might create for students when reading it. Another
important factor when assessing the readability of a text is to determine its relevancy and its
ability to engage students.
Relevancy is one of the most important factors when evaluating a future classroom text.
Relevancy is important because it helps students connect to the material and it helps students
maintain interest and motivation to learn the material. Literature related to social studies can be
relevant in many different ways. For example, an essay on the Cuban Missile Crisis could be
used to connect the historical event to present day issues around the world. Relevancy can also
affect people from different cultures in different ways. For example, Native Americans might
find a reading on the Trail of Tears to be important and relevant to them due to its cultural
significance. By illustrating a texts relevancy through cultural and present day issues it provides
students a connection to the course or discipline itself. Finding and assessing historical
connections through relevancy is an important component when assessing a future text for
students to use.
Assessing relevancy within a piece of literature can be achieved in many different ways.
A teacher can assess a text by assessing a student’s prior knowledge and interest about the
subject, the complexity and content of the text, and if it has connections within a multicultural
framework. Assessing a student’s prior knowledge and interest regarding a subject is important
PORTFOLIO MODULE 3: TEXT MODULE
when assessing a text because it shows whether or not a student will find a text interesting and
relevant to their own life. A teacher can determine a student’s prior knowledge through interest
surveys, inventory surveys or opinionnaires regarding future class topics, and a discussion on
whether or not students find a topic interesting. When assessing a text if the text is too
complicated then this could be detrimental to the relevancy of the text for the students reading it.
Complex literature can be detrimental because it can cause anxiety and stress on the student and
can block the student from reading or attempting to read the text. The relationship between
complex texts and its impact on a student is important for teachers to understand due to the
impact it could have on struggling readers in the class. Teachers can assess a text for complexity
by using cloze passages, analyzing passages for short sentences, and short words containing few
syllables. Teachers should also assess a text on whether or not there are clear connections
between culture and discipline. For example, the text should incorporate more than one view
point or perspective. Teachers however can incorporate more than one literary source in order
to affiliate multiple perspectives from different cultures when it is applicable to the discipline.
When a teacher assesses a text they should ask themselves a number of questions. Does
the student find the text difficult to comprehend? Does the reading have visual images and
various different resources? Does the text have a varied simplistic vocabulary? Is the reading
structured in a simple and organized manner? Does the text have a clear thesis or main idea?
Does the literature relate to present day people, places, and events? These questions are just a
few questions that teachers should ask themselves when assessing future classroom literature.
There are many questions that are not included in the questions provided that teachers should
still ask themselves when assessing a text in relation to their student’s comprehension level.
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Assessing and evaluating a text is an important aspect of teaching. If a teacher can
successfully incorporate relevancy and importance to the text and ask themselves questions about
the text then students will more likely be motivated and have an interest within the discipline.
Students will also be able to be more successful within the class and in future classes.
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Attachment H:
Works Cited
Swift, J. (2007). The Cuban Missile Crisis. History Review. Retrieved from
http://www.historytoday.com/john-swift/cuban-missile-crisis