Rigorous Reading: Accessing Complex Texts

1. Rigorous Reading:Accessing Complex Texts Doug Fisher www.fisherandfrey.com

2. The teacher needed to… • Establish learning goals • Check for understanding • Provide feedback • Align future instruction with student performance

3. TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY “I do it” Focused Instruction Guided Instruction “We do it” “You do it together” Collaborative “You do it alone” Independent STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY A Structure for Instruction that Works

4. In some classrooms … TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY “I do it” Focused Instruction “You do it alone” Independent STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

5. In some classrooms … TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY “You do it alone” Independent STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

6. And in some classrooms … TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY “I do it” Focused Instruction Guided Instruction “We do it” “You do it alone” Independent STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

7. TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY “I do it” Focused Instruction Guided Instruction “We do it” “You do it together” Collaborative “You do it alone” Independent STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY A Structure for Instruction that Works

8. 10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

9. Assessing Texts • Quantitative measures • Qualitative values • Task and reader considerations

12. Levels of Meaning and Purpose • Density and complexity • Figurative language • Purpose

13. Levels of Meaning and Purpose Is it about talking animals, or the USSR? Is it entertainment, or political satire? Is it straightforward, or ambiguous? 1370L Grades 11-12

14. Author’s Purpose • Allegory for tolerance • Mirrored events of early Civil Rights movement (1961) “Now, the Star-Belly SneetchesHad bellies with stars.The Plain-Belly SneetchesHad none upon thars. Those stars weren’t so big. They were really so smallYou might think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all..” But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly SneetchesWould brag, ‘We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.’With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort‘We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!’And whenever they met some, when they were out walking,They’d hike right on past them without even talking.” 530L Grades 2-3

15. Complex themes • Relationship between love and pain • Masculinity • Loyalty and war 730L Grades 2-3

16. Structure • Genre • Organization • Narration • Text features and graphics

17. Structure Changes in narration, point of view Changes in font signal narration changes Complex themes 560L Grades 2-3

18. Structure • Stream of consciousness narration • Unreliable narrators • Nonlinear structure • Time shifts written in italics 870L (grades 4-5)

19. Language Conventions • Standard English and variations • Register

20. Language Conventions Non-standard English usage “Out in the hottest, dustiest part of town is an orphanage run by a female person nasty enough to scare night into day. She goes by the name of Mrs. Sump, though I doubt there ever was a Mr. Sump on accounta she looks like somethin’ the cat drug in and the dog wouldn’t eat.” (Stanley, 1996, p. 2) AD 660L (Adult-directed)

21. Knowledge Demands • Background knowledge • Prior knowledge • Cultural knowledge • Vocabulary

22. Knowledge Demands Domain-specific vocabulary (radioactive, acidity, procedure, vaccination) Background knowledge (diseases, safety risks, scientific experimentation) 1100L Grades 6-8

23. Cultural Knowledge Demands • Buddhist philosophy • Search for spiritual enlightenment • Eightfold Path to Nirvana 1010L Grades 6-8

24. Simply assigning hard books will not ensure that students learn at high levels!

25. Close reading is only a PARTof high quality instruction

26. Use a short passage Re-reading “Read with a pencil” Text-dependent questions Give students the chance to struggle a bit Creating a Close Reading

27. A Close Reading of “Salvador, Late or Early” (Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, 1991)

28. Text-dependent Questions • Answered through close reading • Evidence comes from text, not information from outside sources • Understanding beyond basic facts • Not recall!

29. Progression of Text-dependent Questions Whole Acrosstexts Entire text Segments Paragraph Sentence Word Part

30. General Understandings • Overall view • Sequence of information • Story arc • Main claim and evidence • Gist of passage

31. General Understandings in Kindergarten Retell the story in order using the words beginning, middle, and end.

32. Key Details • Search for nuances in meaning • Determine importance of ideas • Find supporting details that support main ideas • Answers who, what, when, where, why, how much, or how many.

33. Key Details in Kindergarten • How long did it take to go from a hatched egg to a butterfly? • What is one food that gave him a stomachache? What is one food that did not him a stomachache?

34. It took more than 3 weeks. He ate for one week, and then “he stayed inside [his cocoon] for more than two weeks.”

35. Foods that did not give him a stomachache Chocolate cake Ice cream Pickle Swiss cheese Salami Lollipop Cherry pie Sausage Cupcake watermelon Foods that gave him a stomachache • Apples • Pears • Plums • Strawberries • Oranges • Green leaf

36. Vocabulary and Text Structure • Bridges literal and inferential meanings • Denotation • Connotation • Shades of meaning • Figurative language • How organization contributes to meaning

37. Vocabulary in Kindergarten How does the author help us to understand what cocoon means?

38. There is an illustration of the cocoon, and a sentence that reads, “He built a small house, called a cocoon, around himself.”

39. Author’s Purpose • Genre: Entertain? Explain? Inform? Persuade? • Point of view: First-person, third-person limited, omniscient, unreliable narrator • Critical Literacy: Who’s story is not represented?

40. Author’s Purpose in Kindergarten Who tells the story—the narrator or the caterpillar?

41. A narrator tells the story, because he uses the words he and his. If it was the caterpillar, he would say I and my.

42. Inferences Probe each argument in persuasive text, each idea in informational text, each key detail in literary text, and observe how these build to a whole.

43. Inferences in Kindergarten The title of the book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. How do we know he is hungry?

44. The caterpillar ate food every day “but he was still hungry.” On Saturday he ate so much food he got a stomachache! Then he was “a big, fat caterpillar” so he could build a cocoon and turn into a butterfly.

45. Opinions, Arguments, and Intertextual Connections • Author’s opinion and reasoning (K-5) • Claims • Evidence • Counterclaims • Ethos, Pathos, Logos • Rhetoric Links to other texts throughout the grades

46. Opinionsand Intertextual Connections in Kindergarten Narrative Informational How are these two books similar? How are they different? Is this a happy story or a sad one? How do you know?

47. Progression of Text-dependent Questions Standards Whole 8 & 9 Acrosstexts 3 & 7 Entire text 6 Segments 4 & 5 Paragraph 2 Sentence Word 1 Part

48. Comprehension and Collaboration 1. Prepare for and participate in collaborations with diverse partners, building on each others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

49. Talk occurs on grade level topics, texts, and issues.

50. K-2 Features • Following the rules of discussion • Moving from participation to turn taking • Sustaining discussion through questioning • Adult support