1 IPG’s and Text ComplexityGlobal Neutral a Global Warm Neutral d3d1c8 Global Accent On Dark ffbf00 Global Accent on Light ff9800 Global Accent Alt 97c410 ELA - Coral ff5147 Math 009f93 Leadership 7872bf IPG’s and Text Complexity BN & TW 30 min for IPG 20 min for non-fiction video and practice of IPG 61 Min for Text Complexity Grades 9-12 Leadership

2 Grades 9-12 Leadership Today’s SessionsSession 1: ELA/Literacy Standards and Shifts: Knowing What You're Seeing Session 2: IPGs and Text Complexity Session 3: Knowledge Building and Text Sets BN

3 Grades 9-12 Leadership AgendaUse the Instructional Practice Guide: Coaching tool to observe a lesson using multiple complex texts What is text complexity and why is it important? Quantitative Measures Qualitative Measures Reader and Task What are the characteristics of complex text? 4. Ways to determine if a text is sufficiently complex 5. Group examination of texts and determination of complexity 6. What to do about text complexity BN 1 min. Text complexity is this session’s theme. We will first get to know a lesson observation coaching tool that can help us observe for the Shifts and for the Core Actions teachers must develop for CC-aligned instruction. We will continue to practice identifying and observing for the Standards. This session will explore text complexity with a focus on understanding the quantitative and qualitative measures used for selecting texts for the Regents Examination in English Language Arts (Common Core) and the implications for high school text choices. The differences between various quantitative measures of text complexity will be discussed and the qualitative tools used by NYSED Office of State Assessment and the Office of Curriculum and Instruction will be presented, including the PARCC Literary and Informational Complexity Analysis rubrics. Participants will gain a greater understanding of what comprises a complex text, including knowledge demands, language features, text structures and explicit/implicit meaning 3

4 Grades 9-12 Leadership Introduction & Session objectivesParticipants will learn how to use/use the Instructional Practice Guide as an observation and coaching tool Participants will understand the three components of text complexity Participants will understand the characteristics of complex text Participants will learn ways to determine if a text is sufficiently complex BN - Leadership Implications. .5 min

5 Teaching the Core: The ELA & Literacy Instructional Practice Guides: Coaching Tools BN 1 min Facilitator Note: This module is designed to include collaborative conversations. Ensure participants are in groups and norms (see slide #4 for sample norms) are established to facilitate conversations around instruction.

6 The focus today will primarily be on the Daily Lesson Guide.Grades 9-12 Leadership CCSS Instructional Practice Guides– Design & Structure CCSS Instructional Practice Guides: Coaching ELA/literacy (K-2 and 3 – 12) Mathematics (K-8, HS) Each CCSS Instructional Practice Guide: Coaching is a tool for a single lesson describes 3 – 4 Core Actions each Core Action includes 3-6 indicators BN 1 min Big Idea: Instructional Practice Guides are available online for both ELA (K-2 and 3-12 versions) and Math (K-8 and high school). Details: Each Instructional Practice Guide is a tool for a single lesson and is designed to capture evidence around 3 Core Actions. The Core Actions include indicators, or look fors, around which evidence can be collected. Today we will be focused on the Daily Lesson Guide, but Over the Course of the Year Guides are available. The Over the Course of the Year Guides are especially helpful in planning and curriculum design/mapping. The focus today will primarily be on the Daily Lesson Guide.

7 Grades 9-12 Leadership CCSS Instructional Practice Guides - DesignDaily Lessons for Grades K – 2 and 3 – 12 Core Actions Key Practices (numbered sections) Indicators Observable (lettered details under each Core Action) Support ideas with evidence BN 2 min Big Idea: The Instructional Practice Guides, available in digital format, can be used either digitally or in print version. They are designed for use in coaching and collaborating around reading comprehension lessons in general education settings. Details: Each guide is specific to either K-2, where reading comprehension lessons are based in read aloud and listening, or 3-12 where students are reading. Each guide has 3 core actions, or key practices, with the observable indicators lettered under each. There is also room for recording notes and evidence for each indicator.

8 Grades 9-12 Leadership ACTIVITY #1:Core Actions Scavenger Hunt: On a B&W working copy: FIRST – Answer the questions individually, then talk to your colleagues. NEXT – Color the shifts! Regular practice with complex text and its academic language Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational. Building knowledge through content rich nonfiction. BN 10 min Big Idea: The Instructional Practice Guides are grounded in the Instructional Shifts. This first activity will help familiarize you with the layout and content of the guides. Refer to the Core Actions Scavenger Hunt document in your packet. Details: With colleagues at your table, discuss the answers to the questions once you have considered them individually. Discuss how the IPGs reflect the instructional shifts. Allow at least minutes for this activity. Debrief as time allows. Point out the purpose of the IPG, as noted in the introductory paragraph, is for use in planning, collaboration, coaching and reflection. It is designed to be used to improve and align instruction with CCSS expectations. Although it can be used as an observation tool, the primary purpose is developmental – to move groups of educators toward CCSS-aligned instruction through reflection and coaching. Transition: We’ll now take a more in-depth look at Core Action 3,since that is the one that we haven’t addressed at all in our work with the 3 Shifts. Facilitator Note: Participants will need pink, yellow and green highlighters and black and white copies of the K-2 or 3-12 Instructional Practice Guides. Leave this slide up while participants work through the Scavenger Hunt.

9 Grades 9-12 Leadership Productive Engagement – How Will I Know?Are the students doing the work of reading, writing, speaking or listening? Were students able to successfully respond to the text dependent questions and tasks with precision? What strategies did the teacher utilize to encourage collaboration among students? What supports are available for student reading below grade level? What extension are provided for students reading above grade level? How does the teacher provide opportunities for students to persist through challenges? 10 min BN Big Idea: These questions, helpful to an observer, also provide great opportunity for teachers/coaches to plan and reflect on student responses and work. Details: Scribing teacher directions and associated student responses is helpful. Notes and evidence are critical for this Core Action (using video is an option). Sometimes teachers are not aware of how students are reacting or patterns of calling on students, etc. Colleagues and coaches can facilitate reflection on what procedures and routines support students in engaging productively with high quality text and text dependent questions. Supports and extensions for students should be evident in lesson plans and conversations.

10 Grades 9-12 Leadership Precise Responses, Precise FeedbackStudent Responses: Text-based Employ evidence Build on the ideas of others Precise Feedback Do the teacher and students know what responses are expected? Do praise and corrective feedback teach students how to respond? BN 1 min – for 1 last point about what you observe in Core Action 3 Big Idea: Precise feedback is critical to teaching students to persevere in that it gives guidance as to how to respond. Details: Knowing what response is expected is important, both for the teacher and students. Having answers to questions in hand can help teachers encourage students with probing “interim” questions, directing them to a deeper understanding. Transition: In our first session today, we said we’d get a chance to practice observing instruction using non-fiction. Let’s do that now while practicing use of the IPG.

11 Grades 9-12 Leadership Leading Implementationhttps://vimeo.com/channels/commoncoreliteracy/ Grades 9-12 Leadership Leading Implementation Prepare: Standards App Grade 10 Speaking & Listening IPG - Core Action lens ID 10th grade English class Record Evidence : Use indicators from IGP BN 20 minutes 2 min to set-up video observation task Just like the Hunger Games lesson that we watched, this, too is a 10th grade class. Fahrenheit 451 has a Lexile of 890 (not much higher than Hunger Games), is actually a 9-10 complexity novel because of its complex themes and knowledge demands. Divide the group into 3 (by tables). Assign each table a Core Action for which they should observe. 7 minutes to observe 8 minutes Each Core Action Group discuss what they observed and use the IPG to rate each indicator. Each rating must be substantiated by evidence. Tables should try to come to consensus 3 minutes – summarize and transition to text complexity: let’s get down into the details of text complexity. Take a look at this next slide.

12 Grades 9-12 Leadership Leading ImplementationWhat did you see? What do you think? What are you pondering? Share with table groups your evidence. Attempt to assign a rating to the teacher, given the limited evidence you have from this walkthrough. What coaching questions do you have for the teacher? BN - 8min What did you see? What do you think? What are you pondering? Share with table groups your evidence. Attempt to assign a rating to the teacher, given the limited evidence you have from this walkthrough. What coaching questions do you have for the teacher?

13 Grades 9-12 Leadership What Makes a Text Complex? Example #1“Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.” --Thomas Paine, Common Sense TW 3 min example 2 Turn and talk to your neighbor about what might make this excerpt challenging to 9-12 students, particularly struggling readers One sentence, many dependent clauses Vocab : calamity 13

14 Grades 9-12 Leadership What Makes a Text Complex? Example #2“Although it was winter, the nearest ocean four hundred miles away, and the Tribal Weatherman asleep because of boredom, a hurricane dropped from the sky in 1976 and fell so hard on the Spokane Indian Reservation that it knocked Victor from bed and his latest nightmare.” “Every Little Hurricane” from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie TW 3 min - example 1 Turn and talk to your neighbor about what might make this excerpt challenging to 9-12 students, particularly struggling readers: what is complex about this sentence? An example of one kind of complex text 14

15 Grades 9-12 Leadership What Makes a Text Complex? Example #3“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball…” --Herman Melville, Moby Dick TW 3 min. example 3 Antiquated language, uncommon vocabulary and references can make meaning break down for students…. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. 15

16 Grades 9-12 Leadership What Makes a Text Complex?In these examples… Unfamiliar settings, topics, or events Long sentence(s) and complex syntax Multiple and/or subtle themes and purposes Lack of words, sentences or paragraphs that review or pull things together for the student TW 1 min This slide is just confirming what they said 16

17 Grades 9-12 Leadership CCSS Recommendations Regarding Text ComplexityThe K–12 grade-specific standards define end-of-year expectations and a cumulative progression designed to enable students to meet college and career readiness expectations no later than the end of high school. TW 1 min You’ll be learning more about text complexity from Tim Shanahan, a national literacy expert, on Thursday morning. But it’s important to recognize the cumulative progression--the staircase of complexity--has not been present before these standards. 17 17

18 Grades 9-12 Leadership Why reading complex text is importantFacility with complex text strongly predicts ability to an earn a “B” grade or better) in first year college courses. (ACT, 2006.) Students who come to school without a solid base of background knowledge need increasingly complex texts to build their schema about the world. The texts that students read in K-12 have become easier, but college texts have not (and instruction in College is significantly less scaffolded.) The texts that students read in K-12 are often not expository, but the texts that they read in college are mostly expository. What instruction students have had with complex expository texts has been largely superficial/strategy based (skimming, focusing on details, not forming a full picture/deep understanding.) BN 1 min Let them read this to themselves. They already know this from the Marilyn Adams pre-Institute reading. ACT report: “In four years, an average child in a professional family would accumulate experience with almost 45 million words, an average child in a working-class family 26 million words, and an average child in a welfare family 13 million words.” --”The Early Catastrophe: the 30 Million Word Gap by age 3”, Hart and Riley Recent NYT article about this study talks about the quality of words rather than quantity, but this is a red herring to the real issue, the impact of growing up in poverty on a child’s schema about words and the world. In the past—we’ve not been systematic about the progression of complex texts . Levelled readers do not stretch elementary readers; middle school students are often unprepared for texts they encounter on assessments, especially in terms of knowledge demands and vocabulary. The shift addressing a staircase of complexity attempts to address this. More convincing that all this stuff may be: the world our students are inheriting is complex (and getting more complex and crazy every day.) We should want the next generation of leaders to be able to navigate complex situations in a variety of contexts, including reading. 18 18

19 Grades 9-12 Leadership CCSS Reading Standards Literature Grades 11-12Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity RL By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently. TW - Literature 1 min note the adverbs independently and proficiently This means: very complex, CCR texts at the end of the K-12 road--the staircase is how we get there. 19

20 CCSS Reading Standards Literature Grades 11-12Grades 9-12 Leadership CCSS Reading Standards Literature Grades 11-12 Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity RI By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 11–CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently. TW - Informational 2 min again note the adverbs independently and proficiently Note literary nonfiction---not technical manuals—because this is ELA In a perfect world—there would be exposure to complex texts in all content areas Reading Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies But also: the arts, phys ed, CTE 20

21 Grades 9-12 Leadership Determining text complexityBN .5 min 21

22 Grades 9-12 Leadership Explanation of the Text Complexity FactorsQuantitative evaluation of the text Readability measures and other scores of text complexity Qualitative evaluation of the text Levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands 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) BN 1 min We’ll be exploring these factors in depth, with a special focus on the first two. 22

23 Grades 9-12 Leadership Is there one way to determine text complexity?No, determining text complexity is a complex act! Text complexity does not reside in the text, rather it is the product of the interaction between the text, the reader, and the purpose for reading. The What, the Who, the Why and the Where and When. What—the characteristics of the text—qualitative/quantitative evaluation Who—the characteristics of the reader (reading ability/age/experience/ motivation) Why—the purpose for the reading (assignment/analysis of writer’s craft/ research/pleasure) Where and When—the conditions of the reading—teacher/parent guided, group discussion/literary circle, independent (classroom/home/library/computer), instruction vs. assessment, etc. TW 2 min Note that the WHO, WHY, and WHERE AND WHEN are all part of reader/task considerations This will be something to think about when we evaluate texts in your packet—would you use these for instruction, homework, independent reading, assessment, etc? Think about being asked to summarize an excerpt of Immanuel Kant’s critique of pure reason (low on Bloom’s taxonomy) as opposed to a synthesis writing task (high on Bloom’s taxonomy) using Charlotte’s web

24 Grades 9-12 Leadership What are the Features of Complex Text?Subtle and/or frequent transitions Multiple and/or subtle themes and purposes Density of information Unfamiliar settings, topics or events Lack of repetition, overlap or similarity in words and sentences Complex sentences Uncommon vocabulary Lack of words, sentences or paragraphs that review or pull things together for the student Longer paragraphs Any text structure which is less narrative and/or mixes structures BN 3 min THIS SLIDE IS THE ROSETTA STONE OF TEXT COMPLEXITY--you saw in during yesterday’s presentation, but it is absolutely worth returning to. These features cover both quantitative and qualitative aspects of text complexity. This slide, and the next one, may be the most important thing to take away from this sessions. Think about the earlier slides with excerpts from Melville, Paine, etc. 24 24

25 the use of nominalizations; passive voice; Grades 9-12 Leadership What are the Grammatical and Rhetorical Features of Complex Text? informational density through embedded dependent clauses and phrases within sentences in which the author is able to pack important and additional information; the use of nominalizations; passive voice; a combination of complex and simple sentences; the use of adverbial clauses and phrases to situate events; ellipses; the use of abstract agents as subjects; and the use of devices for background and foreground information TW 2 min (link to self: how did you learn French? or Spanish? that’s where I learned about these grammar topics! ELLS need the same…) I know we showed this in Session 1 – but allow me a very brief moment of grammar nerdiness and have you think about it from a different lens: Think about ELLs, language minority, struggling readers, and the complex text at the grammatical/rhetorical level. At the 9-12 level, students begin to encounter these kinds of texts, and in college and careers, the world is lousy with them! “it is this kind of complexity of structures that is usually absent in the education of EL students. However, it is precisely this kind of complexity that EL students will need in order to learn the academic registers required in schools across the nation.”

26 Nominalized form of verb “characterize”Embedded adverbials Abstract agent. Passive voice Nominalized form of verb “characterize” TW This is an extreme example, given this is from an academic journal, but you will find these features in a lot of sophisticated texts that we want students to be able to read and understand in 9-12. The head noun, “Academic language,” as occurs so often in complex texts, is an abstract agent. The passive voice “is defined” is one way that the author achieves a detached stance, giving the impression of authority. “Characterization” is a nominalized form of characterize, which adds to the authority of the author. Moreover, one can find embedded adverbials such as “in contrast to conversational language” that serve to provide additional information about the head noun. Furthermore, the use of relative clauses such as “a language variety associated with a particular situation of use” further defines the noun in question Relative clause

27 Grades 9-12 Leadership Text Complexity: Quantitative MeasuresThere is no single method for determining text complexity. The quantitative dimension of text complexity refers to those aspects that are difficult for a human reader to evaluate when examining a text. These factors are more efficiently measured by computer programs. TW 1 min source:

28 Grades 9-12 Leadership Text Complexity: Quantitative MeasuresQuantitative measures of text complexity generally measure measures of word difficulty (frequency, length) and sentence length. Some metrics add other features of words, sentence syntax, and text cohesion, creating a broader range of text and linguistic measures. TW 1 min. source: Talk about word frequency and length, sentence length. (and remember Paine with regard to the latter, and Melville with regard to the former.) But also think about multiple meaning words, especially common ones.

29 Grades 9-12 Leadership Free Quantitative Measures of Text ComplexityATOS Analyzer from Renaissance Learning: Degrees of Reading Power from Questar: The Lexile Framework from Metamatrix: Coh-Metrix Easability Tool from University of Memphis: Reading Maturity from Pearson Knowledge Technologies: (Beta site) SourceRater from Educators Testing Service: (Beta site) Flesch-Kincaid (part of your Microsoft Word) BN 1 min. handout: Access_to_Quantitative_Analysis_Tools mention Lexile as the ‘dominant’ metric, but that the others are very usable and provide data to help plan instruction. E.g. RMM and the pulling out of “maturity words”--words that are among the more challenging in the passage. 29

30 BN - Overlap...art, not a science 3 min Grades 9-12 Leadership Text Complexity Grade Bands and Associated Ranges from Multiple Measures Common Core Band ATOS Degrees of Reading Power Flesch- Kincaid The Lexile Framework Maturity SourceRater 2nd-3rd 2.75 – 5.14 42 – 54 1.98 – 5.34 420 – 820 3.53 – 6.13 0.05 – 2.48 4th-5th 4.97 – 7.03 52 – 60 4.51 – 7.73 740 – 1010 5.42 – 7.92 0.84 – 5.75 6th-8th 7.00 – 9.98 57 – 67 6.51 – 10.34 925 – 1185 7.04 – 9.57 4.11 – 10.66 9th-10th 9.67 – 12.01 62 – 72 8.32 – 12.12 1050 – 1335 8.41 – 10.81 9.02 – 13.93 11th-CCR 11.20 – 14.10 67 – 74 10.34 – 14.2 1185 – 1385 9.57 – 12.00 12.30 – 14.50 BN - Overlap...art, not a science 3 min this is a handout: E0813_CCSS_Grade_Bands_and_Quantitative_Measures Note: The overlap in the indices between grade levels. The major comparability finding of the research was that all of the quantitative metrics were reliably and often highly correlated with grade level and student performance based measures of text difficulty across a variety of text sets and reference measures. No one of the quantitative measures performed significantly differently than the others in predicting student outcomes. While there is variance between and among the measures about where they place any single text, they all climb reliably—though differently—up the text complexity ladder to college and career readiness. Choosing any one of the text-analyzer tools from second grade through high school will provide a scale by which to rate text complexity over a student’s career, culminating in levels that match college and career readiness. 30

31 Grades 9-12 Leadership Text Complexity: Qualitative MeasuresTW 3 minutes Handout: text complexity rubric Mention this is adapted from PARCC; achievethecore.org also has one Talk through the criteria and the differences from VC to RA 31

32 Grades 9-12 Leadership Text Complexity: Qualitative MeasuresTW 2 minutes Mention this is adapted from PARCC; achievethecore.org also has one Talk through the criteria and the differences from VC to RA 32

33 Grades 9-12 Leadership Practice Evaluation of Text ComplexityIn pairs or triads, read literature text #1 (Dickens) and discuss where it might fit in terms of the following qualitative criteria in the text complexity rubric Meaning Text Structure Language Features Knowledge Demands THEN, using the quantitative measures provided, place it in a grade band for BOTH instruction and assessment. TW 23 min 5 minutes to read 10 minutes to work 8 minutes to share out (2 slides; 2 minutes each; begins next slide) handout: 9-12 texts participants packet DEFINE instructional use as: embedded in a unit with similar texts, and assessment as summative-style assessment, though all variations of both of these should also be on the table if you find yourself thinking about them (e.g. end of unit assessment, scaffolded, etc.) 33

34 Grades 9-12 Leadership Practice Evaluation of Text Complexity: DICKENSCriteria Very Complex ☑ Moderately Complex Readily Accessible Notes Meaning Multiple levels of meaning that may be difficult to identify, separate, and interpret; theme is implicit, subtle, or ambiguous and may be revealed over the entirety of the text. Multiple levels of meaning that are relatively easy to identify; theme is clear but may be conveyed with some subtlety. ✓ One level of meaning: theme is obvious and revealed early in the text. Moderately Complex Multiple levels of meaning that are relatively easy to identify; theme is clear but may be conveyed with some subtlety. TW during share-out 2 min min 34

35 Grades 9-12 Leadership Practice Evaluation of Text Complexity: DICKENSCriteria Very Complex ☑ Moderately Complex Readily Accessible Notes Text Structure Prose or poetry includes more intricate elements such as subplots, shifts in point-of-view, shifts in time or non-standard text structures. Prose includes two or more storylines or has a plot that is somewhat difficult to predict (e.g.: in the case of a non-linear plot); poetry has some implicit or unpredictable structural elements. ✓ Prose or poetry is organized clearly and/or chronologically; the events in a prose work are easy to predict because the plot is linear; poetry has explicit and predictable structural elements. Moderately Complex Prose includes two or more storylines or has a plot that is somewhat difficult to predict (e.g.: in the case of a non-linear plot); poetry has some implicit or unpredictable structural elements. NOTES: By beginning with Marley's death, and including diversions about idioms, and given the stress on the death without revealing its import, the author includes some non-linear/discursive elements that add to the text’s structural complexity. TW 2 min 35

36 Grades 9-12 Leadership Practice Evaluation of Text Complexity: DICKENSCriteria Very Complex ☑ Moderately Complex Readily Accessible Notes Language Features Language is generally complex with abstract, ironic, and/or figurative language, and regularly includes archaic, unfamiliar, and academic words; text uses a variety of sentence structures including complex sentences with subordinate phrases and clauses. ✓ Language is often explicit and literal but includes academic, archaic, or other words with complex meaning (e.g.: figurative language); text uses a variety of sentence structures. Language is explicit and literal, with mostly contemporary and familiar vocabulary; text uses mostly simple sentences. Very Complex Language is generally complex with abstract, ironic, and/or figurative language, and regularly includes archaic, unfamiliar, and academic words; text uses a variety of sentence structures including complex sentences with subordinate phrases and clauses. TW 2 min NOTES: Text includes some ironic, figurative language and discussion of figurative language, archaic language and references, and a variety of sentence structures. 36

37 Grades 9-12 Leadership Practice Evaluation of Text Complexity: DICKENSCriteria Very Complex ☑ Moderately Complex Readily Accessible Notes Knowledge Demands The text explores complex sophisticated or abstract themes; text is dependent on allusions to other texts or cultural elements; allusions or references have context and require inference and evaluation. ✓ The text explores several themes; text makes few references or allusions to other texts or cultural elements; the meaning of references or allusions may be partially explained in context. The text explores a single theme; if there are any references or allusions, they are fully explained in the text. NOTES: The text makes multiple allusions to other texts/cultural elements, including "the Country", "Hamlet," "Nature lived hard by," some of these references can be partially explained in context. Very Complex Moderately Complex The text explores complex sophisticated or abstract themes; text is dependent on allusions to other texts or cultural elements; allusions or references have context and require inference and evaluation. The text explores several themes; text makes few references or allusions to other texts or cultural elements; the meaning of references or allusions may be partially explained in context. TW 2 min 37

38 Grades 9-12 Leadership Practice Evaluation of Text Complexity: DICKENSOVERALL QUANTITATIVE COMPLEXITY RATINGS OVERALL QUALITATIVE COMPLEXITY RATING AND PLACEMENT Very Complex/Moderately Complex Appropriate for 9-10 instruction/11-12 assessment Metrics Measures Grade Band Lexile: 1020 6-8 Flesch-Kincaid: 6.1 4-5 Reading Maturity Metric: 8.6 TW “A note on Tools” 2 minutes. One person’s evaluation important thing is not that everyone agrees 100%--the important thing is the journey and process of discussing how the complexity manifests itself in each criteria, and what that means for students 38

39 Grades 9-12 Leadership Poe“The margin of the river, and of the many dazzling rivulets that glided through devious ways into its channel, as well as the spaces that extended from the margins away down into the depths of the streams until they reached the bed of pebbles at the bottom, these spots, not less than the whole surface of the valley, from the river to the mountains that girdled it in, were carpeted all by a soft green grass, thick, short, perfectly even, and vanilla-perfumed, but so besprinkled throughout with the yellow buttercup, the white daisy, the purple violet, and the ruby-red asphodel, that its exceeding beauty spoke to our hearts in loud tones of the love and of the glory of God.” TW 2 minutes Ask people to read silently. and then tell them: ONE SENTENCE!!!!! 120 words. Back to the point made with Alexie earlier—complex sentences, rich and demonstrative of craft and style, also bring with it complexity…. Literate people can make sense of this, even not knowing EXACTLY what a ‘asphodel’ is or perhaps not understanding the specifics of the structure of this landscape, because they have a consistent standard of coherence—that is, they can repair comprehension when it breaks down by using a ‘tool kit’ to scaffold understanding while reading. Exposure to a wide variety of complex texts, and instruction that supports the creation of this internal tool kit helps to build a high standard for coherence, which will make strong, confident readers 39

40 Grades 9-12 Leadership Reflect and WriteWhat is the gap between where you need to be and where you are? What do you need to lead and support this work? •Systems and structures •People •Resources Who needs to learn what by when? •You •Leadership team •Staff BN 4-5 minutes

41 Grades 9-12 Leadership Key Take-aways?What are your key take-aways about complex text? What are the best ways to prepare students for reading complex text? Lots of reading Students must build their academic vocabulary Students must build their knowledge about the world Text Sets and Expert Packs can be a good way to get at all three of these….(next session!) BN 3 minutes reflect and write 41

42 Grades 9-12 Leadership ReferencesSlide # Source 11 https://vimeo.com/channels/commoncoreliteracy/ 24 Snow & Uccelli, 2008; Schleppegrell, 2010, 2007; Wong Fillmore & Fillmore, 2012 25 Alvarez, L. (2012). “Reconsidering academic language in practice: The demands of Spanish expository reading and students’ bilingual resources.” Bilingual Research Journal, 35, 1,

43 Time for a break 43