Complex Texts:The Bumpy Road of Reading

Materials available at:http://professionallearning.typepad.com/bigshantypl/

A Bumpy Road?

“Perhaps one of the mistakes in past efforts to improve reading achievement has been the removal of struggle. As a profession, we may have made reading tasks too easy. We do not suggest that we should plan students’ failure but rather that students should be provided with opportunities to struggle and to learn about themselves as readers when they struggle, persevere, and eventually succeed.”

From Text Complexity: Raising Rigor in ReadingFisher, Frey & Lapp, 2012

The Demands of Complex Texts

• Complex texts require these dispositions: –A Willingness to Probe– The Capacity for Uninterrupted Thinking–A Receptivity to Deep Thinking* A Habit of Slow Reading

“Too Dumb for Complex Texts?”By Mark BauerleinASCD Educational Leadership, 2011

High above there is the Moon, cold and quiet, no air, no life, but glowing in the sky.

Here below there are three men who close themselves in special clothes, who—click—lock hands in heavy gloves, who—click—lock heads in large round helmets.

990L

Sometime around 1440, the spring-powered clock was invented. Instead of depending on the pull of weights for power, this type of clock used a flat metal spring wound tightly into a coil. The escapement allowed the spring to unwind by turning one gear tooth at a time. With the use of a spring, smaller, truly portable clocks could be made.

The first well-known watches, made in Germany around 1510 by Peter Henlein, were so named because guards or“watchmen” carried small clocks to keep track of how long to stay at a particular duty post. 1050L

Text Complexity and Common Core

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.10 Read and comprehend complex literary

and informational texts independently and proficiently.

3-Part Model for Measuring Text Complexity

Measuring Text Complexity: Matching Reader to Text and Task

Matching Reader to Text and Task – Reader variables

• Motivation• Knowledge• Experience

– Task variables • Teacher-led tasks• Peer tasks• Individual tasks• Types of questions

*Determined by teachers using their professional judgment

Qualitative Evaluation of Text – Levels of meaning

• Explicit/Literal vs. Ambiguous/Abstract• Figurative Language• Stated, Implied, or Withheld Purpose

– Structure• Consistency with genre• Conventional vs. Unique Organization• Narrator• Text Features and Graphics

– Language conventionality and clarity– Knowledge demands

• Background knowledge• Vocabulary

Measuring Text Complexity: Qualitative

Measuring Text Complexity: Quantitative

Quantitative Evaluation of Text – Word length, frequency– Sentence length*Typically measured by computers, particularly for longer texts

Text Complexity Grade Bands

From CoreStandards.org, Appendix A

Determining a Text’s Lexile Level (Quantitative)

www.lexile.com/analyzer/

Select a passage from:www.ReadWorks.org http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/ http://www.timeforkids.com/ http://magazines.scholastic.com/ or another website of your choice

Lexiles Do NOT Measure

Text Characteristics• Age-appropriateness

of the content• Text support (e.g.

pictures, pull-outs)• Text quality (i.e. Is it

a good book?)

Reader Characteristics• Interest and motivation• Background knowledge• Reading context and

purpose

Skim “Food that Fools You.”

Is this text appropriately complex for your grade level?Why do you feel that way?

Teaching Kids to Read Complex Texts

Tasks that Motivate Readers– Collaborative Annotation / Silent Discussion

– Quick Draw / Quick Write

– Text-Based Debates

– Important Detail or Not?