The Focal Point
December 2012
Using Text Complexity in the Classroom
Under the Common Core State Standards, students will be expected to read and
comprehend texts with increasing complexity as they progress through school. In fact, the
standards specifically require that “by the time they complete the core, students must be able
to read and comprehend independently and proficiently the kinds of complex texts commonly
found in college and careers.” Text complexity relies on a composite of quantitative and
qualitative factors. The former includes measures that are easy to communicate through
standardized tools and matrices. The latter rely more on the professional discretion and
judgment of the teacher. The quantitative factors are: 1. Word Frequency, the number of
times that a particular word appears in a text. A student unfamiliar with a high-frequency word
will have difficulty understanding the overall meaning of a text, 2. Sentence Length where
readers construct meaning by chunking words together to form a principle idea. Sentences
with embedded clauses such as prepositional phrases or appositives demand a lot of a reader,
especially English language learners and students with special needs. It is important to note,
however, that sentence length may not create text complexity. Sentences constructed with
repetition, rhyming words or a series of commas would not necessarily hinder text
understanding, 3. Word Length refers to the number of syllables in a word. With word length,
as with sentence length, longer words are not inherently hard to read and may not contribute
to text complexity, 4. Text Length is measured in number of words and 5. Text Cohesion
refers to how well a text holds together. A high-cohesion text aids readers by signaling
relationships among sentences through repetition and concrete language (as opposed to
figurative language such as metaphors, idioms, similes and analogies). On the other hand, a
low-cohesion text demands that the reader work without these supports. (continued on back)
December Calendar
December 4 - General Principals’ Meeting, Board Room, 9 a.m.
December 5 – School Data Teams, First Two Hours of the School Day at each School Building,
December 12 – Instructional Meetings; High School, 9 a.m., Middle School, 1 p.m., Board Room
December 13 - Instructional Meetings; Primary, 9 a.m., Intermediate, 1 p.m., Board Room
December 13 - Enriched Math 4th & 5th grade Team Meeting, Mill Creek, Library, 4:30 p.m.
December 15 – National Board Certification Meeting, HHS Library, 9:00 a.m.
December 19 – County Science Fair Meeting, 3:15 Secondary, 4:00 Elementary, Applications are due!
December 21 – IS/Faculty Senate Day
December 22 – Winter Break, No School
January 2, 2013 – School is back in session
Page Two
December
Teaching Tips
Using Text Complexity in the Classroom Continued:
The qualitative factors are: 1. Level of Meaning or Purpose of Text - Some texts
provide an explicit, straightforward objective and purpose for reading. Informational texts or
literary texts of this kind are easier to read than their counterparts which may, in the case of
informational texts, have obscure or implicit messages. For literary texts whose discourse style
may provide hidden messages (i.e., satires, parodies) or inferred meaning (i.e., literary prose
with figurative language), unearthing their meaning requires high-level thinking and
processing, 2. Structure - texts characterized as low complexity have simple, conventional
structures. Informational texts with low complexity tend to have chronological structures and
do not deviate from well-established layouts of this genre. Literary texts with low complexity
relate events in a chronological way with little or no manipulation of time and space. Literary
texts with high complexity incorporate multiple voices, flashbacks, flash-forwards and other
devices used to disrupt conventional understandings of sequence, 3. Language Convention
and Clarity - Texts that deviate from contemporary use of English, (i.e., dialects or antiquated
language form) tend to be more difficult to decipher. For example, popular fiction tends to use
less figurative language than writing labeled as “literature.” Additionally, texts that rely on
natural language instead of academic knowledge or jargon in information texts have lower text
complexity, and 4. Background Knowledge - Texts that require students to approach a text
with a certain amount of previous knowledge are more complex than those that assume
students have no prior knowledge about a topic and hence provide it. Keep in mind that this
applies to any subject that has reading material which is all subjects!
For more information, see: http://www.uft.org/teacher-teacher/using-text-complexity-classroom;
www.corestandards.org
Instructional Updates
This is the year of Social Studies Instructional Material Adoption. We should hear from the
WVDE in late December or early January which instructional materials have been approved to be
put on the state list. We normally get a committee, a voting member from each school, to review
and recommend the new instructional materials to be used in the classroom. Once our School
Board approves our adoption list, the materials will be purchased for school year ’13-’14. If you
are interested in being a part of this process, please let your building principal know of your
interest.
Kudos Corner
Kudos to Deb Stevens, Chemistry Teacher, Musselman High who was recognized by
the Department of Instruction and the Berkeley County School Board of Education as “A Caring
Educator” for the month of November. Congratulations!