Welcome In groups of 2 4 please choose

Welcome! In groups of 2 -4, please choose from the front table any book that you might use for instruction in your classroom.

READING ON THE EDGE: TOWARD INDEPENDENT READING OF COMPLEX TEXT MTSU 3 r d Annual Reading Conference 9 -12 -15

WHY COMPLEX TEXT? Pointed Reading Protocol

7 ACTIONS THAT TEACHERS CAN TAKE RIGHT NOW: TEXT COMPLEXITY Hiebert, E. (2012). 7 actions that teachers can take right now: text complexity. Text Matters. Retrieved from http: //textproject. org/library/textmatters/

IDENTIFY BENCHMARKS Action 7

UNDERSTANDING THE FACTORS OF TEXT COMPLEXITY “Teaching students to read grade-level and more complex texts requires first and foremost an understanding of what makes a text complex. ”

THINKING THROUGH A RICH TEXT

EXPLORING THE FACTORS OF TEXT COMPLEXITY With a small group, work with a text that you would consider using at a particular grade level. Using the appropriate form from the Achieve the Core Text Complexity Collection, record the Lexile measure from the front of the book. Using Figure 2 from CCSS Appendix A, analyze the text for the qualitative features of text complexity, and make notes. Use the questions at the bottom of the page to discuss reader and task considerations for this text. http: //achievethecore. org/page/642/text-complexity-collection

FOCUS ON KNOWLEDGE Action 1

FOCUS ON KNOWLEDGE “The biggest reason why reading is so important is that texts are the place where human beings record their knowledge. ” Content Area Knowledge within Literature “The first action that teachers can take to support students with complex text is to bring to the foreground themes of literature, even in the primary grades. ” Hiebert (2012)

LITERATURE IN THE CONTEMPORARY CURRICULUM

EACH OF THE 6 SIGNPOSTS IDENTIFIED BY BEERS AND PROBST… Had some characteristic that made it noticeable, that caused it to stand out from the surrounding text. Showed up across the majority of books. Offered something to readers who noticed and then reflected on it that helped them better understand their own responses, their own reading experience, and their own interpretation of the text.

THE SIGNPOSTS AND COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES “The more students noticed these signposts, the more they were using the comprehension processes: visualizing, predicting, summarizing, clarifying, questioning, inferring, and making connections. ” (Beers & Probst, p. 69)

GENERALIZABLE LANGUAGE I’ll stop here because I can imagine how hard it is for Luke to decide if he wants to risk going over to the other house. He knows he might get himself and his family in a lot of trouble if he does this, yet he has realized he can’t stay in his house forever. I can almost feel his nervousness. When we can make connections like this, we better understand the characters. I’ll stop here because I’ve noticed an important contradiction. When authors show us a character acting in a way that contrasts with or contradicts what he has been doing, I know I need to pause and ask myself, “Why is the character acting this way? ” Luke has been too afraid to leave his house and now he’s contemplating breaking all the rules and going to another house. In this scene, Luke knows he might get himself and his family in a lot of trouble if he does this, yet he has realized that he can’t stay in his house forever. I think he’s acting this way because…. ”

SIGNPOST #1: CONTRASTS AND CONTRADICTIONS A sharp contrast between what we would expect and what we observe the character doing. Behavior that contradicts previous behavior or well-established patterns. A character behaves or thinks in a way we don’t expect, or an element of a setting is something we would not expect. CC

SIGNPOST #1: CONTRASTS AND CONTRADICTIONS Anchor Question: Why would the character act or feel this way? This question encourages thinking about and discussing: Character Motivation Situation

SIGNPOST #2: AHA! MOMENT A character’s realization of something that shifts his actions or understanding of himself, others, or the world around him. “Suddenly I understood…” “It came to me in a flash…” “Now I knew…” Aha!

SIGNPOST #2 AHA MOMENT Anchor Question: How might this change things? An Aha Moment reveals change. This question focuses on that change – for the character or the setting.

SIGNPOST #3 TOUGH QUESTIONS Questions a character raises that reveal his or her inner struggles. Phrases expressing serious doubt or confusion… “What could I possibly do to…? ” “How could I ever understand why she…? ” TQ

SIGNPOST #3 TOUGH QUESTIONS Anchor Question: What does this question make me wonder about? The answers will help in the understanding of internal conflict, theme, and character development.

SIGNPOST #4: WORDS OF THE WISER The advice or insight a wiser character, who is usually older, offers about life to the main character. The main character and another are usually off by themselves, in a quiet, serious moment. WW

SIGNPOST #4: WORDS OF THE WISER Anchor Question: What’s the life question and how might it affect the character? Words of the wiser suggests theme. Students begin to think about theme in the context of the character’s life, and then may start to think of it in the context of their own life.

SIGNPOST #5: AGAIN AND AGAIN Events, images, or particular words that recur over a portion of the novel. A word is repeated, sometimes used in an odd way, over and over in the story. An image reappears several times during the course of the book. AA

SIGNPOST #5: AGAIN AND AGAIN Anchor Question: Why might the author bring this up again and again? Recurring images, events, or words offer insight into character motivation or theme.

SIGNPOST #6: MEMORY MOMENTS An recollection by a character that interrupts the forward progress of the story. Often takes several paragraphs to recount before we are returned to events of the present moment. MM

SIGNPOST #6: MEMORY MOMENT Anchor Question: Why might this memory be important? Answering this question can offer insight into character motivation and theme. It asks students to consider the relationship between the memory and the character or plot.

USING PICTURE BOOKS TO INTRODUCE THE SIGNPOSTS Tough Questions, Again and Again, Words of the Wiser Aha Moment Tough Questions, Words of the Wiser Again and Again, Word of the Wiser Contrasts and Contradictions, Again and Again, Words of the Wiser

THE SIX SIGNPOSTS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Contrasts and Contradictions Aha Moments Tough Questions Words of the Wiser “We think that these signposts show up in novels because they Again and Again show up in the world. Fiction does Memory Moments imitate life, and as a result we shouldn’t be surprised to find that the patterns that help us understand the world around us also help us understand the world of the book in front of us. ” (Beers & Probst, p. 74)

CREATE CONNECTIONS Action 2

HOW CAN TEACHERS HELP STUDENTS CREATE CONNECTIONS? “For knowledge to be useful, new ideas and information need to be connected to existing knowledge. ” (Hiebert, 2012)

ACTIVATE STUDENTS’ PASSION Action 3

READING WIDELY AND DEEPLY “Students need the chance to delve into topics. They also need some choice in what they read. The choices, researchers have shown, do not have to be great. Even getting to choose between two books can go a long way in increasing students’ engagement in reading. ” (Hiebert, 2012) “We must organize our readings in every subject so each text bootstraps the language and knowledge needed for the next. Gradually, students will be ready for texts of greater complexity. (Adams, 2009) 270 L 520 L 820 L 1050 L 1100 L

DEVELOP VOCABULARY Action 4

THE CHALLENGE OF VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION In any natural language sample, 90% of the words come from a small percentage of the words in English. These (approximately 5, 000 words) occur over and over. The other 10% of words are unique. These come from a group of at least 300, 000 words. The stronger a student’s vocabulary, the more complex the text that can be read. The more complex text that is encountered, the stronger the vocabulary. (Matthew Effects) Recommended: Advancing Our Students’ Language and Literacy: The Challenge of Complex Texts by Marilyn Jager Adams http: //achievethecore. org/page/642/textcomplexity-collection

Selecting Words to Teach (Beck, Mc. Keown, & Kucan) Tier 1 Words: Basic words, well known, used often; e. g. house, milk Tier 2 Words: High-frequency words used by mature language users in a wide range of contexts; e. g. jealous, huge Tier 3 Words: Low-frequency words, often limited to specific content areas; e. g. amphibian, reptile Tier 2 Words are: • Useful - can be used in many different contexts • Understandable – children have some idea or concept to connect to the new word • Interesting

Tier 2 and Tier 3 Vocabulary In early times, no one knew how volcanoes formed or why they spouted red-hot molten rock. In modern times, scientists began to study volcanoes. They still don’t know all the answers, but they know much about how a volcano works. Our planet made up of many layers of rock. The top layers of solid rock are called the crust. Deep beneath the crust is the mantle, where it is so hot that some rock melts. The melted, or molten, rock is called magma. Volcanoes are formed when magma pushes its way up through the crack in Earth’s crust. This is called a volcanic eruption. When magma pours forth on the surface, it is called lava. Simon, Seymour. Volcanoes. New York: Harper. Collins, 2006. CCSS Text Exemplar, Grades 4 -5 Text Complexity Band

Direct Vocabulary Instruction Six Steps to Effective Vocabulary Instruction (Marzano, 2004) 1. The teacher provides a description, explanation, or example of the new term. 2. Students restate the explanation of the new term in their own words. 3. Students create a nonlinguistic representation of the term. 4. Students periodically do activities that help them add to their knowledge of vocabulary terms. 5. Periodically students are asked to discuss the terms with one another. 6. Periodically students are involved in games that allow them to play with the terms.

Teach and practice using networks of words. http: //textproject. org/

Strategic Approaches to Vocabulary Learning Morphemic Analysis: A strategy in which the meanings of words can be determined or inferred by examining their meaningful parts (i. e. , prefixes, suffixes, roots, etc. ) Contextual Analysis: A strategy readers use to infer or predict a word from the context in which it appears. http: //reading. uoregon. edu/big_ideas/voc_what. php

INCREASE THE VOLUME Action 5

GRADUAL RELEASE OF RESPONSIBILITY

INDEPENDENT READING

BUILD UP STAMINA Action 6

ACADEMIC EMOTIONS “…I taught some students who seemed to have no instructional level. They either could do something on their own – or they were frustrated and resistant; they crossed right over to the frustrational level. ” (Newkirk, p. 126)

STRATEGIES FOR PROMOTING A GROWTH MINDSET Talk about mindset with students Celebrate difficulty Utilize think-alouds to model “productive inner dialogue” http: //www. ascd. org/publications/educational-leadership/nov 13/ vol 71/num 03/What-Students-Can-Do-When-the-Reading-Gets-Rough. aspx Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2015). Teacher modeling using complex informational texts, The Reading Teacher, 69(1), 63 -69. Use metaphors Introduce other tools and strategies that students can return to when they’re on their own with complex text (systems for annotating texts, pneumonics, step-by-step strategies for word-solving)

THIEVES STRATEGY FOR PREVIEWING TEXT T = Title H = headings I = introduction E = Every 1 s t Sentence V = Visuals and vocabulary E = End of article S = summarize thinking

“Perhaps one of the mistakes in the past efforts to improve reading achievement has been the removal of struggle. As a profession, we may have made reading tasks too easy. We do not suggest that we should plan students’ failure but rather that students should be provided with opportunities to struggle and to learn about themselves as readers when they struggle, persevere, and eventually succeed. ” Text Co mplexity: Raising Rigor in Reading , p. 11 KATIE PATTULLO Kathryn. pattullo @mnps. org