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Text Complexity and the Common Core. Maureen McLaughlin & Douglas Fisher. Assessing Texts. Quantitative measures Qualitative values Task and Reader considerations. Quantitative Measures. Quantitative Measures. Use quantitative info to identify grade bands. . Qualitative Values.
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Text Complexity and the Common Core Maureen McLaughlin & Douglas Fisher
Assessing Texts • Quantitative measures • Qualitative values • Task and Reader considerations
Quantitative Measures Use quantitative info to identify grade bands.
Qualitative Values Use qualitative values to identify specific grade levels and teaching points.
Qualitative Factors Task Demands Quantitative Factors These become the variables you use to differentiate.
Text Exemplars Text Exemplars
Text Exemplars Exemplar texts are models. They are examples. Some think of them as benchmarks or anchors. They are not mandated texts. They do not comprise all of the literature or informational text that should be taught in a given grade level.
Close Analytic Reading • Establishing purpose • Student engages in multiple readings • Annotation • Text-dependent questions • Argumentation and reasoning • Discussions
Students’ Reading and Writing Practices when Teachers Scaffold Close Readings with Text-Dependent Questions (e.g., Still I Rise)
Procedures: The First Reading The Third Reading The Second Reading Instructional Preparation
Instructional Preparation Increasingly complex text-dependent questions scaffolded students’ increasing understandings throughout the text. Questions focused on: Readings • Text language and how it advanced the concepts. • Author’s purpose. • Text organization. • Key ideas and details. • Implied meanings.
The First Reading Teacher asked students to: Class discussed any unclear language. • Closely read the text while making notes on a foldable Partners then talked and added/revised notes. • Circle confusing concepts • Respond to text dependent questions through notes: • What do you think the author is trying to convey to the reader? • What evidence do you have to support your ideas?
The Second Reading Students revisited the text for deeper understanding… Phase 1: • Sample Questions • Why did the author write this? • Are there phrases or lines in the poem that can be compared to each other? • What theme is being built? • What is the author trying to tell the world? • Support your ideas with text quotes and share what you learned with your partner. • Highlight context clues that helped you understand unfamiliar vocabulary.
The Second Reading Students revisited the text for deeper understanding… Teacher read two stanzas and thought aloud about the author’s message. Phase 2: • Students recorded notes on the foldable and partner shared new ideas they had.
The Third Reading Students again revisited the text to engage with more complex ideas and sum up the text in preparation for writing… • Closely read the poem AndStill I Rise one more time. This time consider multiple themes or ideas that the author may be trying to convey. • What images do you see when you read the lines of the poem? • Use academic writing (formal school writing) to support your comments with evidence. Focus on these questions: • Are there any lessons or themes that the author shares with the reader throughout this poem? • How can you summarize all of your writing together with a few concluding thoughts? • Students again wrote their thinking on the foldable.
CCSS Reading Standards • The complexity of thinking approximated 6th grade after the first reading.
Student Text Examples- Daniela Daniela’s writing after the first reading: I think this poem is meant to inspire others in anything they don’t feel like they’ll be able to do. It says to not be afraid of things. I think this because I read where the author says “Leaving behind nights of terror and fear” and this shows that you could have been scared but now your not. She says “You may shoot me with your word but still I rise.”
Student Text Examples-Daniela Daniela’s writing after the second reading: I think that this woman is a confident woman. She’s not going to let her color bring her down. This is especially shown in the line “I’m a black ocean.” When she says “You may kill me with your hatefulness but still I rise” she means that she is strong. The author is overcoming cruelty and is misunderstood. She says, “I rise” throughout the poem. This makes it clear that she is overcoming struggles. She also adds, “’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells pumping in my living room.” She thinks she’s stronger than her problems. Overall, I think this poem is about being confident and strong no matter what others say to you. This is an idea that we can all use in our lives.
Student Text Examples- Daniela Daniela’s writing after the third reading: Maya Angelou’s message is about loving yourself and about having self-confidence. She thinks that no matter what, she is a great human being. Additionally, she wonders why others want to see her down and upset. The evidence for this is found in Stanza 2, in the line, “’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells pumpin’ in my living room.” This shows that she is wealthy in spirit. In stanza 6, she states, “You may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I rise.” I like the connection to nature and air. She is saying that she is important like air and that she can float above the struggles. I also think that this poem is about African American history. Through all the hate that blacks have experienced from others, she rose above. Stanza 8, “Up from the past, rooted in pain, I rise,” talks about this sad part of history. When the author says, “Just like hope springing high, I rise,” she is saying that she can overcome the part of African American history that involved racism and prejudice. It’s clear that the author has been hurt in the past. She writes, “Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise.” She was hurt but she has been taught to have pride and to love being a woman. This may have come from other people in her life, like her grandma or her mom. When the author says, “ I dance like I have diamonds at the meeting of my thighs,” she is showing her pride and love of herself. Today we might try to have the same confidence and pride that Maya had if we are being bullied or if people are spreading rumors or teasing us. I think the poem reaches out to girls who are struggling even today with some of these issues. My final thought is that the author is a strong, black woman who thinks that the readers of this poem can also be strong. She is sending a message through her words.
Conclusion Strategically developed text-dependent questions and repeated close readings: Supported students’ analyses of text at increasingly deeper levels. Resulted in student writing that was progressively more academic in tone with greater complexity of ideas from 6th grade level (independently) to 9th grade (scaffolded).