Shelby County SchoolsDistrict Learning DayCordova High School

August 5, 2015

First Considerations for the High School English Classroom :

Close Reads and Text Complexity

Do Now• Think back to your senior year of high

school...1. What types of complex text did you read?2. What reading strategies or techniques did you like to use when you were reading fiction? When you were reading informational texts? 3. Discuss with an elbow partner.

Norms

• Be present and engaged.• Be respectful of differences in perspective

while challenging each other productively and respectively.

• Monitor “air time.”• Make the most of the time we have.• Stay focused on students.

ObjectivesKnow

• Close reading lessons build reading language comprehension and fluency skills

• Text complexity is used to analyze literary and information text

Understand • The knowledge, skills, and habits students need to meet college

and career ready expectations

Do • Plan and implement close reading lessons in the high school

classroom• Assess the complexity of texts using the three measures• Utilize TNCore.org resources to implement rigorous and effective

instruction

Shelby County Schools Challenges

Promising SCS Context

State and District leadership– TN leader in state implementation of college and

career readiness standards– SCS and TN as models for teacher and leader

effectiveness/evaluation– Board of Education support– Clear, common goals—80/90/100%--and Strategic

Plan

A CLOSER LOOK INTO CLOSE READINGWhy do students need to learn the technique of close reading?

Why Close Reading is ImportantIn the introduction to the CCRS for ELA, the authors make an explicit link between close reading and lifelong literacy:

• As a natural outgrowth of meeting the charge to define college and career readiness, the Standards also lay out a vision of what it means to be a literate person in the twenty-first century. Indeed, the skills and understandings students are expected to demonstrate have wide applicability outside the classroom or workplace. Students who meet the Standards readily undertake the close, attentive reading that is at the heart of understanding and enjoying complex works of literature. They habitually perform the critical reading necessary to pick carefully through the staggering amount of information available today in print and digitally.

Why should we use close reading?

Close reading is an instructional approach that has been used for years at the secondary and college level. With some modifications, it can be effectively used in elementary schools to lead students to deep understanding of complex text, as required for mastery of the CCR standards.

Key reference: Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2012).“Close Reading in Elementary Schools.” The Reading Teacher, 66 (3), 179-188.

What is Close Reading?

• Close reading is thoughtful, critical analysis of a text that focuses on significant details or patterns in order to develop a deep, precise understanding of the text’s form, craft, meanings, etc. It is a key requirement of the College and Career Ready Standards and directs the reader’s attention to the text itself.

What does Close Reading include?Close reading includes: • Using short passages and excerpts• Diving right into the text with limited pre-reading

activities • Focusing on the text itself • Rereading deliberately • Reading with a pencil • Noticing things that are confusing • Discussing the text with others: Think-Pair Share,

Turn and Talk, and/or Small groups

ACTIVITY CLOSE READING

• Using the text, “Ain’t I a Woman”, by Sojouner Truth, engage in the following:

1. Close Reading for Comprehension 2. Close Reading for Significance 3. Close Reading for Interpretation

(use the “Ain’t I a Woman” handout)

TNCore: ifl

When you have finished reading, take about three minutes to write a response to the questions. Be sure to cite evidence from the text to support your answers.

Then, take about three minutes to turn to a partner and discuss your answers.

TNCore: ifl

Two Column Notes

Significant Sentence / Phrase

Explanation of the Significance to the text

The Gradual Release of Responsibility (to introduce or reinforce a new skill)

How was the GRR model used in the demonstrated close reading lesson?

Teacher Responsibility

Student Responsibility

I do it.

We do it.

They do it (together).

You do it (independent of the teacher).

Guided

Collaborative

Independent

Reflection: Close Reading

• What resonated with you?• What is similar to your current

practice?• What is different than your current

practice?• What are you going to change as a

result?

TNDOE Curriculum Standards

Based on the Common Core State Standards

http://www.state.tn.us/education/standards/index.shtml

Instructional Shifts

1. Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction and informational texts.

2. Reading and writing grounded in evidence from the text, both literary and informational.

3. Regular practice with complex text and its academic vocabulary.

COMPLEX TEXT

Will my students be reading on grade level?

Why Is Text Complexity An Issue?• Over the past 50 years, the text that students have encountered

in middle and high school had decreased in complexity, while textbooks in colleges, universities, and the workplace have become more complex.

• As a result too many students graduating from high school lack sufficient skills required to comprehend the text they encounter in college and the workplace.

• The authors of the Common Core State ELA Standards have taken steps to ensure that greater attention is paid to gradually increasing the complexity of the text students read and comprehend as they move through school.

http://tncore.org/english_language_arts/standards_and_shifts/instructional_shifts/building.aspx

Why Complex Text Matters

• College and workforce reading demands have increased

• Barriers to post-secondary degrees include the need for remedial reading

• Proportionately severe for those already isolated from text

Quantitative measures look at factors impacting “readability” as measured by particular computer programs.Qualitative measures examine levels of meaning, knowledge demands, language features, text structure, and visual elements as measured by an attentive reader.Reader and Task considers additional “outside” factors that might impact the difficulty of reading the text.

Measuring Text Complexity

Appendix A in the CCSS identifies the following factors as determining text complexity:

Quantitative Measures

Common Core Band

Flesch-Kincaid

The Lexile Framework®

Reading Maturity

Source Rater

2nd – 3rd 1.98 – 5.34 420 – 820 3.53 – 6.13 0.05 – 2.48

4th – 5th 4.51 – 7.73 740 – 1010 5.42 – 7.92 0.84 – 5.75

6th – 8th 6.51 – 10.34 925 – 1185 7.04 – 9.57 4.11 – 10.66

9th – 10th8.32 – 12.12 1050 – 1335

8.41 – 10.81

9.02 – 13.93

11th – CCR10.34 –

14.2 1185 – 13859.57 – 12.00

12.30 – 14.50

http://achievethecore.org/page/642/text-complexity-collection

Qualitative Measures

• Levels of meaning• Clarity and conventions of language• Knowledge demands• Structure• Visual device complexity

Qualitative Measures• Text structure and organization

– Logical nature of organization– Text and feature distractions– Labeling and reader supports

• Illustration support• Infographics

– Complexity– Text reliance on

• Knowledge demands– Concept load– Familiarity of topic (common everyday vs. unfamiliar)– Single vs. multi-themed– Intertextual dependence

Reader and TaskReader and Task - considers additional “outside” factors that might impact the difficulty of reading the text.• Texts students must read for demands of CCR• Texts that are “stair-cased” for students by the

end of high school • Tasks include grade level text complexity as

appropriate and a significant part of college- and career-ready expectations

http://tn.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/9b43a446-a251-4dc4-98fa-cac9f36a4b6f/text-complexity-grade-9-12/

Complex Text Activity

“The Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln

• Review the text. With a partner:1. Determine the text’s readability. 2. Determine the grade level for this text.3. Looking at the qualitative measures, what are

some immediate considerations?

RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO YOU

Where can I find resources to support me in developing close reading lessons?

www.scsliteracy.weebly.com

Password: readandwrite

Resources from the TDOE• The TNCore website

http://www.tncore.org/english_language_arts.aspx – Instructional resources –units, tasks, close reading

lessons– Assessment resources—writing prompts, scored

papers, scoring rubrics– Username: tneducation– Password: fastestimproving

Additional Resources

• www.achievethecore.org (close reading lessons, lesson plans on hundreds of stories)

• www.readworks.org (short text selections on a variety of topics and at a variety of complexity levels)

• http://tntel.tnsos.org/ (searchable database with thousands of articles at all complexity levels)

More Resources from TDOE

• Training materials www.tncore.org/training.aspx • Text complexity resources

http://www.tncore.org/literacy_in_science_and_technology/instructional_resources/text_complexity.aspx

Closing

• Turn to a partner and explain why close reading is an instructional technique that helps us address the CCR standards and the ELA instructional shifts.

Revisit ObjectivesHow did we do? Do you now…

Know • Close reading lessons build reading language comprehension and fluency

skills • Text complexity is used to analyze literary and information text

Understand • The knowledge, skills, and habits students need to meet college and career

ready expectations

Do • Plan and implement close reading lessons in the high school classroom• Assess the complexity of texts using the three measures• Utilize TNCore.org resources to implement rigorous and effective instruction

Next steps and activities for follow up

• With your school’s instructional team, plan and deliver a close reading lesson.

• Collect student writing samples / routine writings from the lesson and be prepared to share them with colleagues in PLC meetings and future PD sessions.

Reflection: One minute paper on post-it

• Jot down your “Take-Aways” • Consider what you need to know and be able to

do to successfully implement what you have learned in this session.–What is still unclear?–What professional development or additional

resources do you need?

Contact

Fonda Booker – bookerfb@scsk12.org

Visit us on our weebly:www.scsliteracy.weebly.com

Password: readandwrite