Unpacking the Standards and Selecting Common Core-Aligned Texts for the High School and Middle School ELA ClassroomAllison Dodson, NBCTJohn Kuijper, NBCTJohn Boggs, NBCT

Text ComplexityHow do I teach complex texts in an already complicated classroom?

How did we get here?-Everyone needs to read Appendix A of the Common Core Standards. -Essentially, according to a report from ACT called Reading Between the Lines, students are not getting enough practice with complex texts. Also, the texts were reading in school have trended downward in the last half century.

From ACTs Reading Between the Linesthe clearest differentiator was students ability to answer questions associated with complex texts. Students scoring below benchmark performed no better than chance (25 percent correct) on four-option multiple-choice questions pertaining to passages rated as complex on a three-point qualitative rubric described in the report. These findings held for male and female students, students from all racial/ethnic groups, and students from families with widely varying incomes. The most important implication of this study was that a pedagogy focused only on higher-order or critical thinking was insufficient to ensure that students were ready for college and careers: what students could read, in terms of its complexity, was at least as important as what they could do with what they read.

How did we get here?Examples from my own life:

-Use of Young Adult Lit.

-Oprah Winfrey episode (1: 54)

In this clip, Jane Smiley talks about her experience with Charles Dickens. Are our kids having these same experiences?

How can we make sure our kids have these Experiences?

Ideas for Complex Texts?The standards call for complex texts, but they alsosuggest using short passages, allowing the studentsto reread the passage and go deep. Legal opinionsEditorialsEpic poemsScholarly journalsCity OrdinancesOpening/Closing arguments

How can WE assess a text that wed like to use in our classroom for appropriate grade-level complexity?

By now, youve all seen this?

Measuring Text Complexityincludes:

Quantitative Measures: Fry Readability test, lexile.com, other online tools, etc. 2. Qualitative Measures: A. Structure B. Levels of Meaning or Purpose C. Language Conventionality and Clarity D. Knowledge Demands

3. Reader and Task Assessment: YOU are the best judge of what your students can manage.

Traditional Quantitative Measures for Assessing ReadabilityCounting the number of syllables in each word.Counting the number of words in each sentence.Determining a readability level based on those two variables.Lexile.com

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UnderstandingQualitative Measures:

Structure:Complicated text-structures (chronological, problem-solution, cause-effect, etc.) will add to a texts complexity level. *Holes, by Louis Sachar Quantitative Measurement: 4.9 (Fry Readability value). Qualitative Measurement: Structure: Story continuously jumps back and forth between three different time periods/settings, and character groups. Adjusted text-complexity value: 5.9 7.5 for independent reading. Possible Stretch-Text : In order to challenge students reading capacitystretching them to grow to a higher reading level--teachers might have students read the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, (7.9) describing the effects of racism during the slavery period.Scaffolding needed: Teacher should provide critical backgound knowledge, along with teacher-directed reading of the text.

*Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Quantitative Measurement: 5.9 (Fry Readability value). Qualitative Measurement: Structure: Narrated as a series of memories through the point of view of an unreliable narrator with many emotional insecurities, who provides continual commentary and judgments about the events he describes. Adjusted text-complexity value (plus mature content): 9.0 10.5. Possible Stretch Texts : Other psychological studies, such as Hamlet (10.5 12.0) by William Shakespeare.

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest HemingwayQuantitative Measurement (Fry): 5.8Qualitative Measurement: Hemingway useimages and word choice to convey emotion rather than describing it; words are sparse but and have multiple connotative meanings; the novel as the story contains multiple themes.Adjusted text-complexity value: 11.5+

Similar stretch-texts: The poems of Emily Dickinson (11.5+) and Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (12+) also use sparse, precise word choice with multiple connotations.

Levels of Meaning or Purpose:Texts that contain multiple levels of meaning or purpose (connotative or implicit language, satire in narrative texts; informational texts with implicit purposes) have a greater text complexity than texts with a singular meaning or purpose.

Animal Farm by George Orwell Quantitative Measurement (Fry): 7.3 Qualitative Measurement: Orwell uses political satire -- the explicit purpose is different from the implicit purpose. Adjusted text-complexity value: 11 Similar stretch-texts: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (12+), A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift (11+), The Devils Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce (12+). The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Quantitative Measurement (Fry): 4.9 Qualitative Measurement: The heavy use of symbolism and allusion result in multiple inferences and author commentaries. Adjusted text-complexity value: 9-10Similar stretch-texts: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (10), Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway (11), The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. (10-11).

Levels of Meaning or Purpose:

Language Conventionality & Clarity:Texts that rely on literal, clear, contemporary, and conversational language tend to be easier to read than texts that rely on figurative, ironic, ambiguous, purposefully misleading, archaic or otherwise unfamiliar language or on general academic and domain-specific vocabulary.

Examples:Shakespeare Arcane classicsMedieval, Puritan, or other dialects/ language patterns

The actual reading level is not difficult, but due to unfamiliar language patterns and old-fashioned language, the reading becomes more difficult.

Knowledge Demands*Chew on This, by Eric Schlosser Quantitative Measurement: 8.7 (Fry Readability value). Qualitative Measurement: Knowledge Demands: History of fast food; familiarity with food industry and the role that government and politics play in this industry; lasting and ongoing impact of fast food on our country and on our health;the correlation between fast food and poverty. Adjusted text-complexity value: 10-11.

Knowledge Demands

Possible Stretch Texts : Other books that address the history of fast food and the impact of choices on the overall value of lifeNickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich (11+); Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser (11+); The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair (10+)

Knowledge DemandsSpecific examples:Life Experiences/Cultural/Literary/Content & Discipline KnowledgeSimple theme vs. complex or sophisticated themeSingle theme vs. multiple themesSingle perspective vs. multiple perspectivesPerspective(s) like ones own vs. perspective(s) unlike or in opposition to ones ownEveryday knowledge vs. cultural and literary knowledgeFew allusions to other texts vs. many allusions to other texts Low intertextuality (few or no references to other texts)vs. high intertextuality (many references or citations to other texts)

How to incorporate complex texts into classroom?Teachers should model active reading. - Think aloudIts all about establishing a purpose and letting students know why this is a valuable skill.Remember Vygotsky. You are the more knowledgeable other. Meet the kids where they are at and take them higher. Establish purposetell students

When faced with a U.S. Supreme Court decision, an epic poem, or an ethical treatiseworks characterized by dense meanings, elaborate structure, sophisticated vocabulary, and subtle authorial intentionscollege-ready students plod through them. Unready students falter.Does the gap widen because unready students don't have the intelligence or background knowledge to understand complex texts? To some extent perhaps, but ACT suggests that the difficulty lies just as much in students' lack of experience and practice with reading complex texts. ACT asserts, "The type of text students are exposed to in high school has a significant impact on their readiness for college-level reading" (p. 23). The more students are exposed to complex texts, the more they realize that they can't complete their studies through "a single superficial reading" (p. 24). Complex texts require a slower labor. Readers can't proceed to the next paragraph without grasping the previous one, they can't glide over unfamiliar words and phrases, and they can't forget what they read four pages earlier. They must double back, discern ambiguities, follow tricky transitions, and keep a dictionary close at hand. Complex texts force readers to acquire the knack of slow linear reading. If they rarely encounter complex texts, young students won't even realize that such a reading tack is a necessary means of learning. Unready students might be just as intelligent and motivated as the ready ones are, but they don't possess the habits and strategies needed to carry on.