Collection Development and the Common Core

1. Collection Development and the Common Core

2. The Common Core State Standards … • Are Standards NOT Standardization • Provide us with just the right set of conditions to create the quality learning environment that will create independent college/workplace ready readers. • Gives us an outline that we can use with a variety of pedagogies and tools … including young adult literature.

3. The Common Core State Standards … • Has Flaws • Does not address all the research • Amount of reading • Reader ability • Reading for Pleasure

4. Overview of Text Complexity • Text complexity is defined by: Quantitative measures – readability and other scores of text complexity often best measured by computer software. Qualitative measures – levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands often best measured by an attentive human reader. Quantitative Qualitative Reader and Task considerations – background knowledge of reader, motivation, interests, and complexity generated by tasks assigned often best made by educators employing their professional judgment. Reader and Task

5. The Common Core State Standards …

6. The Common Core State Standards … • Lack of Proper Scaffolding • In the 6-8 -- The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks by Katherine Paterson a twenty page retelling of a Japanese folktale illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. • In the 9-10 grade -- Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis an intriguingly bizarre work originally written in German and first published in 1915.

7. The Common Core State Standards … • Background Knowledge • Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll -- creative word play, conventions of fantasy journeys, movie rendition • Homer’s The Odyssey -- epic poetry, complex translated language, complex Greek mythology, politics of the ancient Greek isles, ancient inheritance and succession laws, ancient Greek history and the events that led up to and after Troy, mariners customs and sea travel, etc.

8. The Common Core State Standards … • Cursory Descriptions Lead To Potential for Misinterpretations • In the discussion of text complexity, nearly four full pages of Appendix A are dedicated to how to determine the complexity of a text from a quantitative and qualitative perspective, but only about one paragraph and half a page of commentary is dedicated to explaining how to consider readers and tasks

9. Text Complexity • Text complexity is defined by: Quantitative measures – readability and other scores of text complexity often best measured by computer software. Qualitative measures – levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands often best measured by an attentive human reader. Quantitative Qualitative Reader and Task considerations – background knowledge of reader, motivation, interests, and complexity generated by tasks assigned often best made by educators employing their professional judgment. Reader and Task

10. Quantitative Measures Quantitative Measures • Measures such as: • Word length • Word frequency • Word difficulty • Sentence length • Text length • Text cohesion

11. Quantitative Measures Lexile Text Measures ATOS Book Levels (Accelerated Reader) ---or--- Flesch-Kincaid Formula SMOG Coleman Liau Automated Readability Index Gunning-Fog Index Dale-Chall

12. Quantitative Measures 1. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. 2. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. 3. Paddington Helps Out by Michael Bond. 4. The Flunking of Joshua T. Bates by Susan Shreve, illustrated by Diane DeGroat. 5. Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez. 6. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green.

13. Quantitative Measures The Little House Paddington Helps Out The Flunking of Joshua T. Bates Before We Were Free An Abundance of Katherines Fahrenheit 451

14. Quantitative Measures Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Vs. Heist Society by Ally Carter A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway Vs. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

15. Quantitative Measures • The things they measure don’t necessarily make something harder or easier to read • The formulas fail to take into account the context of the text. • Looking at only a portion of text can give us a very inaccurate picture. • Different measures have different results. • Some scores are easier to come by and to calculate • Producers have a vested interest in their formulas. • Texts and Readers vary.

16. Quantitative Measures • Decoding is very different than comprehension, you don’t need to know every word to comprehend • Requiring students to read on a certain qualitative level biases them against a wide selection of quality approvable literature. • English has and will change

17. Qualitative Measures Qualitative Measures • Measures such as: • Format • Audience • Levels of Meaning • Structure • Language Conventions • Knowledge demands

18. Qualitative Measures Format: Size of the Book -- What is the physical size of the book? How many pages does it have? Font -- What kinds of font are used in the text? Is the font consistent throughout the book or does it vary? Layout -- How dense is the text block? Is the layout expected or is it unconventional?

19. Qualitative Measures Format: Construction -- Of how high a quality is the construction of the work? Is the paper of good quality? Organization -- What organizational structures does the author use to divide or arrange the work? Does the work represent an atypical text structure or organizational pattern? Illustrations -- What role do the illustrations play? What visual literacy skills are necessary for the reader to interpret both the text and the pictures?

20. Qualitative Measures Audience: For whom was the text written? Whom does the text best fit?

21. Qualitative Measures Levels of Meaning: Is there a central question that the author is trying to answer or give perspective on? How many interpretations does that central question allow for? Theme -- Does the theme represent a universal issue or need? What subtleties does the author use to express theme?

22. Qualitative Measures Levels of Meaning: Conflict -- From what source does the conflict stem? How does the source of conflict affect the meaning or theme of the story? Connections -- How does this book connect to my readers as a group and as individuals? What connections can be made between this book and a readers broader world experiences? What connections can be made between this and other texts both narrative and informational?

23. Qualitative Measures Structure: Setting -- Is the setting familiar or unfamiliar? Does the story take place in more than one time or place? Plot -- How many plot lines does the story follow? Does the story resolve in a predictable way or are their twists and surprises?

24. Qualitative Measures Structure: Character -- How many characters are in the book? Are additional characters complex or flat? How diverse are the characters? Point of View -- Is the story told from more than one point of view? How diverse is the point of view and how connected is that to a reader’s experience?

25. Qualitative Measures Language Conventions: Style and Tone -- What style and tone does the author use? Does the book contain dialect or other specialized or archaic language usage? Literary devices -- What literary devices does the author use? How sophisticated or complex are these literary devices? For what effect are these literary devices used?

26. Qualitative Measures Knowledge Demands: What background information or prior knowledge is necessary to comprehend this text? What does the author assume we already know?

27. Reader and Task Measures Reader and Task • Considerations such as: • The Adolescent Reader • The Independent Reader • The Readers Capacity • Knowledge Demands • Task Criteria

28. Reader and Task Measures Reader dimensions: The adolescent reader: Who are our readers? What developmental issues are important for me to take into account when selecting texts? What role does race, gender, socio-economic status, and cognitive capabilities play for our individual readers? The Independent Reader: What kind of readers do we want our adolescents to become? How do we want our readers to behave now and into the future?

29. Reader and Task Measures Reader dimensions: The Readers Capacity: Interest -- Will this text be of interest to my readers? Experience -- What outside experience or knowledge does the reader bring to this book? Motivation –Will my students be motivated to read this text?

30. Reader and Task Measures Reader dimensions: Knowledge Demands: What experience or knowledge does the text require of the reader? Do my students have this experience or knowledge without my intervention? How much intervention is necessary?

31. Analyzing The Text

32. Analyzing The Text

33. Reader and Task Measures Task dimensions: Anchor Standard One: Making Inferences Excalibur: the legend of King Arthur, a graphic novel by Tony Lee illustrated by Sam Hart

34. Reader and Task Measures Task dimensions: Anchor Standard Two: Themes that Generate Knowledge

35. Reader and Task Measures Task dimensions: Anchor Standard Three: Dialogue-Rich A day of tears: a novel in dialogue by Julius Lester

36. Reader and Task Measures Task dimensions: Anchor Standard Four: Word meaning conveys a sense of time and place Eragon by Christopher Paolini

37. Reader and Task Measures Task dimensions: Anchor Standard Five: Flashbacks and Manipulating Time Sequences

38. Reader and Task Measures Task dimensions: Anchor Standard Six: Satire Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

39. Reader and Task Measures Task dimensions: Anchor Standard Seven: Artistic Mediums Beastly by Alex Flinn

40. Reader and Task Measures Task dimensions: Anchor Standard Nine: Modern works that draw on themes of the past Minotaur Dark of the Moon by Tracy Barrett

41. Our Role As Librarians • Speak up • Advocate for the Best Books • Advocate for the Readers Needs • Read Extensively