somirac nf text complexity
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Understanding Nonfiction Text Complexity: The Intersection of Text Complexity and Skills [handouts available on my website under “Odds&Ends”]
Jennifer Serravallo www.jenniferserravallo.com @jserravallo
Name some of your favorite nonfiction children’s book authors….
50/50 by Grade 4!
Teachers Need to Learn:
CCSS ELA Reading Informational Standards 1-‐‑9= COMPREHENSION
Standard 2: “Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details…”
CCSS ELA Reading Informational Standards 1-‐‑9=
COMPREHENSION
The Status Quo:
T: “What’s that?”
S: “A caption!”
T: “Great!”
CCSS ELA Reading Informational Standards 1-‐‑9= COMPREHENSION
The Status Quo:
T: “You can dip in and out of
nonfiction texts. Just look for the info you want.”
Nonfiction reading can’t just be Time for Kids…
“The average student spends just 3.6 min per day reading informational texts. Less if the student is in a low-‐‑income area.” (Duke, 2000)
These are REAL
BOOKS and are WHOLE TEXTS!
From CCSS Appendix B:
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How was the experience comprehending the two texts different? How do responses change based on the level of the text?
Text Complexity
CCSS Premise: “…the clearest differentiator was students’ ability to answer questions associated with complex texts.”
“Text complexity is the new black.” – Fisher, Frey and Lapp, 2012
Standard 10: Text Complexity
Text Complexity: Nonfiction
Main Idea
Ñ Determining main idea of a part of a text (chapter, section)
Ñ Determining main idea of a whole text
RI 3.2, 4.2, 5.2
Main Idea
• Look back across this chapter/section/page. What is this mostly about?
• What is the most important idea the author wants you to learn from this section?
• What is the most important main idea you learned from reading this whole book?
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Key Details
Ñ Determining key details that support a main idea
Ñ Comparing and contrasting key details
RI 3.2,4.2, 5.2; 3.3, 4.3, 5.3; 3.8, 4.8, 5.8
Key Details • Which details support the idea that ________?
• The author claims _______. Which details from this section support that idea?
• • What is similar about ____ and ____? What is different?
• Compare and contrast _____ and ______.
Vocabulary
Ñ Determining the meaning of key words and phrases
RI 3.7, 4.7, 5.7
Vocabulary
• Using text and pictures, what does _____ mean?
• Explain what _____ is and how it adds to what you’re learning about _________.
• Define _______. • Describe _____ using information from pages ____-‐‑____.
Text Features
Ñ Determine important information from a text feature and connect the information from the text feature to the main text.
RI 3.5, 3.7 , 4.7
Text Features • What can you learn from the photo and caption on page ___?
• Study the photo. What facts and ideas do you learn from it?
• Read the sidebar “______” on page __. What information does it give and why is it important to understanding this section?
• How does the information in this timeline add to what you’re learning about _______?
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Implications for Instruction
Ñ Step-by-step, a “how-to” Ñ Temporary, removable Ñ Authentic Ñ Generalizable
**to create your own…ask yourself, “how did I do it?”
What’s a Strategy? Skill Not a strategy
Strategy
Visualizing
Picture what you’re learning.
Read the text. Look at the photograph or illustration. Imagine the subject coming to life based on what you learned in the text.
Strategy for visualizing…
Skill Not a strategy
Strategy
Determ. Import. (Main Idea)
Think what it’s mostly about.
Strategy for determining importance…
*MAIN IDEA*
WHAT AND SO WHAT. Determining a main idea is more than just the ability to name the topic of a section. It requires that the reader is also able to identify the author’s perspective, angle, slant, or idea about the topic. It’s helpful to teach children to first name the topic of the selection of text (the “what”) and then what the author has to say about that topic (the “so what”).
Key Details USE PICTURES FOR SUPPORT It’s important to clue in to the many details that are often supplied in text features. To manage a richer comparison, it’s helpful to look not only in the main text but also in the pictures and other features. For certain readers, looking at pictures or other features first may actually help them to say more about their topics.
Vocabulary BE A WORD SURGEON Challenging vocabulary may have its roots in languages such as Latin and Greek. Teach students to figure out the meaning of any unfamiliar word by separating it into its root, prefix, and/or suffix. To use this strategy, students have to know their way around these word parts. Over several weeks, do once-‐‑a-‐‑week Root Routes charts, where kids learn and review roots and the myriad pathways to new words.
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Shift Perspectives with Firsthand Accounts. In many books, especially informational texts with historical content, firsthand accounts appear within the text. In others, these firsthand accounts are set off from the main text in sidebars. In either case, the reader must be able to balance the shift between expository nonfiction and narrative nonfiction to understand how they work together to support the main idea. One way readers can do this is by asking, “How does this firsthand account provide support to the main idea(s) in this text?”
Text Features
Ñ Connect Ñ Teach
Ó State the Strategy Ó Optional: Explain/Example/
Quick Demo Ñ Active Engagement Ñ Link
Strategy Lesson - Structure
Guided Reading
-instructional level
-same book
-20 minutes
-structure includes book intro
-why? Support to move to next level
Strategy Lessons
-independent level
-different books
-7-10 minutes
-structure: intro to strategy
-why? Support independent level
What are the differences between strategy lessons and guided
reading?
www.jenniferserravallo.com [email protected] Twitter: @jserravallo