Presented by Michael P. Ford ford@uwosh for Boise State Writing Project Boise, Idaho

1. Addressing Complex Texts in Literacy Programs: Moving ALL Learners Beyond Avoidance, Resistance and Exertion Presented by Michael P. Ford ford@uwosh.edu for Boise State Writing Project Boise, Idaho September 27, 2011

2. Let’s talk a little about texts first Before we start addressing complexity!

3. I’m all for rigor but can we keep the mortis out of it? Harvey Daniels Challenging vs Onerous

4. When you breathe, You inspire!

5. When you don’t breathe, You expire!

6. So don’t forget to breathe!

7. What ever our contexts… it is still important to share books we love with teachers and students

8. IRA Children’s and Young Adult’s Book Awards http://www.reading.org/Resources/ AwardsandGrants/childrens_ira.aspx

9. 2011 Primary Awards

10. 2011 Intermediate Awards 2011 IRA Intermediate Fiction 2011 National Book Award 2011 ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults

11. 2011 Intermediate Awards 2011 IRA Intermediate Fiction Honorable Mention Donalyn Miller With asides from the narrator and gruesome scenes, this book combines classic storytelling with a modern twist, Tale Dark and Grimm is one of my favorites of the year and a hit read aloud choice with my 6th grade students.

12. 2011 Young Adult Awards 2011 IRA Young Adult Fiction 2011 ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults

13. 2011 Young Adult Awards (Honorable) 2011 ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults

14. 2011 Young Adult Awards 2011 IRA Young Adult Fiction (Honorable)

15. Frank Smith “Children learn to read when conditions are right. These conditions include their relationships with books and other reading materials and their relationships with people who will help them to read.”

16. So what book… do you want to have relations with this year?

17. “There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.” Bertrand Russell So let's do a littleboasting!

18. Avoidance, Resistance and Exertion = they just don’t WANT to And if they don’t want to they won’t Responsibility, Urgency and Agency

19. What if they don’t want to? Just remember… they have to want to or they won’t !

20. The Bee Gees When the feeling’s gone And you can’t go on It’s a tragedy!

21. Responsibility, Urgency, Agency often are about Identity “Anything but Lazy: New Understandings about Struggling Readers, Teaching and Text” by Leigh Hall 2006 IRA Outstanding Dissertation Conclusion: The ways in which each student transacted with the reading task demands of his/her classroom were influenced by: his or her perceptions of his or her abilities as a reader, how he or she wanted to be seen as a reader and his or her desire to comprehend and learn from text.

24. A Comparison of Innercity Children's Interpretations of Reading and Writing Instruction in the Early Grades in Skills-Based and Whole Language Classrooms “[A]cquiring the disposition for learning may be the most critical occurrence in the early grades…the prognosis for children who are engrossed in books at the first grade level and who think of themselves as readers and writers and are mindful of their weaknesses appears hopeful…those who in first grade have already disengaged from literacy instruction appear to have already begun the pattern of turning away from school.” Karin L. Dahl and Penny A. Freppon in Reading Research Quarterly, (Jan/Feb/Mar, 1995), pp. 50-74  

25. Identity Contributes to A Sense of Agency Hall also says… “You can teach your butt off, but at the end of the day, the student is the one who decides how, when and where to use what you teach. They have the power to decide what they’ll do with what you give them.”

26. Not all of our kids love reading

27. But kids are reading! Wimpy Kids had 5 of Top 50 Bestsellers #2 The Ugly Truth #33 The Wimpy Kid #36 Rodrick Rules #39 The Last Straw #41 Dog Days

28. Let’s take a look at complexity Scenario: Two Reviewers Any insights about texts, complexity, resistance, avoidance and/or exertion?

29. So what do you do when you when a text you want to use meets avoidance, resistance and exertion?

30. Joyful Reading: Differentiation and Enrichment for Successful Literacy Learning By Sally M Reis (Corwin Press, 2009) Supportive Workshop Format School Enrichment Model in Reading

31. So lets explore the idea of complexity… Article: Let’s Start Leveling about Leveling

32. Five Key Principles • Leveling takes a complex idea and makes it too simple (p. 209) • Leveling takes a simple idea and makes it too complex (p. 211) • Reading levels are not the same as needs (p. 211) • Progress does not equal proficiency (p. 212) • Readers have rights (as well as levels) (p. 213)

33. Five Key Principles • Leveling takes a complex idea and makes it too simple (p. 209) • Leveling takes a simple idea and makes it too complex (p. 211) • Reading levels are not the same as needs (p. 211) • Progress does not equal proficiency (p. 212) • Readers have rights (as well as levels) (p. 213)

34. The Complexity of Reading Context Factors Setting Task Outcome Environment Reader Factors Motivation Subject Knowledge Background experience Vocabulary Purpose All Contribute to the Potential Success of the Reader with Texts = 5 x 4 x 5 = 100 combinations *Text Factors* Content Format Concepts Organization Author’s Purpose

35. Qualitative evaluation of the text Levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands Quantitative evaluation of the text Readability measures and other scores of text complexity Matching reader to text and task Reader variables (such as motivation, knowledge, and experiences) and task variables (such as purpose and the complexity generated by the task assigned and the questions posed)

36. Can you rank these titles by Lexiles?

37. Can you rank these titles by Lexiles?

38. Five Key Principles • Leveling takes a complex idea and makes it too simple (p. 209) • Leveling takes a simple idea and makes it too complex (p. 211) • Reading levels are not the same as needs (p. 211) • Progress does not equal proficiency (p. 212) • Readers have rights (as well as levels) (p. 213)

39. What is the difference between a J and K level text? For level J texts… • Consideration is given to ten key text characteristics: (genre/forms, text structure, content, themes and ideas, language and literary features, sentence complexity, vocabulary, words, illustrations, and book and print features.) • Across those ten characteristics, 66 specific criteria are further identified. • J and K Level texts share 21 criteria that are exactly the same. • Sentence length in J books is 10+ words. • Page length range in J level texts is 24-36. • Henry and Mudge: The First Book finds its way into the J basket.

40. What practically speaking is the difference between a child reading at J level and child reading at K level? For K level text… • Consideration is given to the same ten key text characteristics • Across those ten characteristics, 71 specific criteria are further identified. • J and K level share many criteria that vary only in degree. • Sentence length in K books is 15+ words. • Page length range in K level texts is 24-48. • Frog and Toad are Friends finds its way into the K basket.

41. Five Key Principles • Leveling takes a complex idea and makes it too simple (p. 209) • Leveling takes a simple idea and makes it too complex (p. 211) • Reading levels are not the same as needs (p. 211) • Progress does not equal proficiency (p. 212) • Readers have rights (as well as levels) (p. 213)

42. Anthony & Sarah How different two readers can be in their behaviors, tastes, interest and abilities even when they are reading at the same level Bunnicula & Grandpa’s Face Although these books are the same level, they offer different supports and challenges Levels do not equal needs

43. “Behind Test Scores: What Struggling Readers Really Need” by Sheila W. Valencia and Marsha Riddle Buly in The Reading Teacher (March 2004)

44. Below the Bar (Valencia and Buly) Slow Comprehenders 24% Automatic Word Callers 18% Word Tumblers 17% Slow Word Callers 17% Struggling Word Callers 15% Disabled Readers 9%

45. Five Key Principles • Leveling takes a complex idea and makes it too simple (p. 209) • Leveling takes a simple idea and makes it too complex (p. 211) • Reading levels are not the same as needs (p. 211) • Progress does not equal proficiency (p. 212) • Readers have rights (as well as levels) (p. 213)

46. Variations in Guided Reading In one second grade classroom, the teacher was working with a 16 page level G text that contained about 80 words (5 of which were multi-syllabic) in the entire book. Then the teacher moved to her N level group which was reading ten pages from a easy chapter book with 87 words (11 of them mulit-syllabic) on the first page alone. By the time the N group had read the whole chapter they would have received more than ten times as much practice reading words than the G group.

47. Potential Word Gaps within a Level

48. So how else do we target effectively Pace instruction and design practice so that it intentionally leads to not just progress but proficiency for all students. “Teaching Flexibly with Leveled Texts: Bringing More Power to Your Reading Block" by Glasswell and Ford The Reading Teacher, 2010

49. Five Key Principles • Leveling takes a complex idea and makes it too simple (p. 209) • Leveling takes a simple idea and makes it too complex (p. 211) • Reading levels are not the same as needs (p. 211) • Progress does not equal proficiency (p. 212) • Readers have rights (as well as levels) (p. 213)

50. “Reconsidering Frustrational Level Texts:Second Graders’ Experiences with Difficult Texts” by Juliet L. Halliday Paper presented at the NRC 2008