Text Complexity in Middle SchoolThe Changing World of Teaching and Learning

Keene State CollegeJuly 10, 2012

Patty Ewen Office of Early Childhood Education, NH DOE

Patricia.Ewen @ doe.nh.gov(603) 271-3841

Goals of Presentation• To assist your application of the common core in

your classroom, building and district using your current curriculum.

• To provide you with the foundations of text complexity has designed in the CCSS, across the curriculum, so it can be shared with colleagues in the content area and non-tested subjects.

• To increase your confidence, provide you with resources and examples of the Common Core relative to the Changing World of Teaching and Learning….

Criteria for New Standards• Fewer, clearer, and higher; consistent, rigorous, and

shared responsibility. • Aligned with college and career expectations• Include rigorous content vocabulary and application of

knowledge through high-order skills – Habits of the Mind

• Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards (think DNA of education)

• Internationally benchmarked, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society

• Based on evidence and research

CCSS “Habits of the Mind” Literacy Capacities

The introduction of the CCSS include descriptions of knowledge, skills and dispositions that operate in tandem with the academic content in the standards. These cognitive and psychological aptitudes are described in the literacy standards as “capacities”.

As students advance through the grades and master the standards in reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing and language, they should be able to exhibit with increasing fullness and regularity the following listed capacities of the literate individual;

CCSSO to Advance Student Success, 2011

Literacy and Language Habits of the Mind

• They demonstrate independence- Writing Standard 7• They build strong content knowledge.• They respond to the varying demands of audience,

task, purpose, and discipline.• They comprehend as well as critique.• They value evidence.• They use technology and digital media strategically

and capably. – Standards 1st, Objectives 2nd, Technology 3rd

• They come to understand other perspectives and cultures.

English Language Arts and Literacy

• Focus and coherence – backwards design, grade 12– Progressions develop literacy skills across grades(pg 30,33) Centuries, Ages, Decades, Years, Past/Present/Future,

Yesterday/Today/Tomorrow

• Focus on text complexity ( pg 30, 32, 33)

– Students required to read texts of increasing complexity• Literacy as a shared responsibility– Literacy skills in reading and writing included in

history/social studies, science, and technical areas• College and Career Readiness text /writing– Students required to write using evidence from

informational reading. (pg 5)

About the CCSS vs. APPS

• Appendixes not included:Appendix A = Research, Glossary & TCAppendix B = Exemplars of Reading TC by

Complexity, Quality, Range Grade Level – K-12 multiple contents Use and Application – Stories, Poetry, Read Aloud,

Informational

Appendix C = Samples of Student Writing

Students read a true balance of informational and literary texts. Elementary school classrooms are, therefore, places where students access the world – science, social studies, the arts and literature – through text. By the middle of 5th grade, at least 50% of what students read is informational.

1PK-5, Balancing Informational & Literary Texts

Content area teachers outside of the LA classroom emphasize literacy experiences in their planning and instruction. Students learn through domain specific texts in science and social studies classrooms – rather than referring to the text, they are expected to learn from what they read.

2 6-12, Knowledge in the Disciplines

In order to prepare students for the complexity of college and career ready texts, each grade level requires a “step” of growth on the “staircase”. Students read the central, grade appropriate text around which instruction is centered. Teachers are patient, create more time and space in the curriculum for close and careful reading. Systematically, they add appropriate and necessary scaffolding (supports) so that students reading below grade level are progressing.

3Staircase of Complexity

Students have rich and rigorous conversations which are dependent on a common text. Teachers insist that classroom experiences stay deeply connected to the text on the page and that students develop habits for making evidentiary arguments both in conversation, as well as in writing to assess comprehension of a text.

4Text-Based Answers

Writing needs to emphasize use of evidence to inform or make an argument rather than the personal narrative and other forms of de-contextualized prompts. Whilethe narrative still has a role, students develop critical thinking skills through written arguments that respond to the ideas, events, facts, and persuassions presented in the texts they read.

5Writing from Sources

Students constantly build the vocabulary they need to access grade level complex texts. By focusing strategically on comprehension of pivotal and commonly found words (such as “discourse,” “generation,” “theory,” and “principled”) and less on esoteric literary terms (such as “onomatopoeia” or “homonym”), teachers constantly build students’ ability to access more complex texts across the content areas.

6 Academic Vocabulary

College and Career Ready Model

Gary L. Williamson (2006) found a 350L (Lexile) Gap between

the difficulty of end-of-high school and college texts – a gap

equivalent to 1.5 standard deviations or the difference

between grade 4 and grade 8 texts on NAEP

Source: Gary Williamon 2006)(from Appendix A of the CCSS)

Text Complexity

Text Complexity Increases

Quantitative Measures of Text

• Readability and other scores of text complexity often best measured by computer software.

• Find a Book – www.lexile.com/findabook/ locate published books in the database by title, author, keywords or ISBN

• Lexile Analyzer – www.lexile.com/analyzer/ allows to receive an “estimated” measure – free registration. 1,000 word length

• Accelerated Reader (AR) – www.arbookfind.com search by author, title or topic to find a ATOS book level

• ATOS Analyzer – www.renlearn.com/ar/overview/atos/ books leveled, no fee, can submit full text or three 150 word samples with an estimated word count.

Qualitative Measures of Text

• Literary Text- Complexity

Very Complex----------------------------------------------Slightly Complex

MeaningText Structure (Narration, Order of Events, Use of Graphics)

Language Features (Conventionality, Vocabulary, Sentence Structure)

Knowledge Demands (Life experiences, Intertextuality, Cultural Knowledge, Subject Matter Knowledge)

Qualitative Measures of Text

• Informational Text- Complexity

Very Complex----------------------------------------------Slightly Complex

Purpose – Intricate, theoretical, infer, implied, explicit

Text Structure – Organization of Main Ideas, Text Features, Graphics

Language Features – Conventionality, Vocabulary, Sentence structure

Knowledge Demands – Subject Matter, Intertextuality; references to outside ideas, theories or other text

Common Structures – Descriptions by fact or characteristics, sequence of time, compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem and solution

Considerations for Reader and Task

• Motivation• Cognitive Capabilities• Reading Skills• Engagement and Interest with task and text• Prior Knowledge and Experience• Content and/or theme concerns• Complexity of Associated Tasks

Prompts

Grade 6Item Prompt:

Weather satellites and map-satellites are different from each other. Find two details from the text to support this statement.

Grade 8

• Based on the text, what inference can be made about how tests and testing should occur to ensure an accurate measurement of overall water quality? Explain your inference using details from the text.

SMARTER Balanced

• Computer Adaptive– Multiple Choice, Constructed Response,

Technology Enhanced

• Performance Tasks– Writing, listening and speaking

Websites to Support Common Core Text Complexity Instruction

• Common Core – www.corestandards.org• Unpacked Standards – NC Common Core Site -

http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/acre/standards/common-core-tools/#unpacking

• Text Complexity -http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=4778• Testing – www.smarterbalanced.org• Steal these Tools – www.achievethecore.org • College and Career Ready Standards - https://www.epiconline.org/ • APPS to support Common Core Instruction• Common Core App - look like a green atom/moving part

“I appreciate the text, Kate, but next time you can just raise your hand.”

Questions/Comments

Thank you!

Patty Ewen603-271-3841

Patricia.Ewen@doe.nh.gov