Complex Text & Text Dependent

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Scaffolding Ideas to Produce Effective Readers Through…

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What Complex Text Demands of Readers• A Willingness to Pause and Probe

• Students must be patient as they read complex texts and be willing to devote time to contemplation of the text

• The Capacity for Uninterrupted Thinking• Time devoted to the text and thinking about

the text exclusively - single-tasking rather than multi-tasking

• A Receptivity to Deep Thinking• Contemplation of the meaning of the text

and not a quick response voicing an opinion based on a shallow interpretation

(Mark Bauerlein, 2011) 2

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Why Text Complexity Matters…

Texts used in the ACT Reading Test reflect three degrees of complexity: uncomplicated, more challenging, and complex.

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Guiding QuestionsWhat do the Common Core Learning Standards mean by text complexity?

What is a text complexity band?and

How do we ensure the texts our students are reading are in the appropriate text complexity band?

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Text Complexity

Text complexity is defined by:

Qual

itativ

e

Qualitative measures – levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands often best measured by an attentive human reader. Quantitative

Quantitative measures – readability and other scores of text complexity often best measured by computer software.

Reader and Task

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.

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Step 1: Quantitative Measures

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

Quantitative Measures

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Step 2: Qualitative Measures

Measures such as:• Structure• Language Demands

and Conventions• Knowledge Demands• Levels of

Meaning/Purpose

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Step 3: Reader and Task

Considerations such as:•Motivation•Knowledge and experience•Purpose for reading•Complexity of task assigned regarding text•Complexity of questions asked regarding text 8

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Step 3: Reader and TaskTen Guiding Principles

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1. Make close reading and rereading of texts central to lessons.

2. Provide scaffolding that does not preempt or replace text.

3. Ask text dependent questions from a range of question types.

4. Emphasize students supporting answers based upon evidence from the text.

5. Provide extensive research and writing opportunities (claims and evidence).

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Step 3: Reader and TaskTen Guiding Principles

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6. Offer regular opportunities for students to share ideas, evidence and research.

7. Offer systematic instruction in vocabulary.

8. Ensure wide reading from complex text that varies in length.

9. Provide explicit instruction in applied grammar and conventions.

10. Cultivate students’ independence.

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/simpli

fying-text-complexity

Simplifying Text Complexity

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Where do we find texts in the appropriate text complexity band?

Choose an excerpt of text from Appendix B as a starting place:

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We could….

or…

Use available resources to determine the text complexity of other materials on our own.

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Recap of ACT Findings

Question type and level (main idea, word meanings, details) is NOT the chief differentiator between student scoring above and below the benchmark.

The degree of text complexity in the passages acted as the “sorters” within ACT. The findings held true for both males and females, all racial groups and was steady regardless of family income level.

What students could read, in terms of its complexity - rather than what they could do with what they read - is greatest predictor of success. FCAT has complex passages and highly cognitive demanding questions.

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Webb’s Depth of Knowledge and Bloom’s

Taxonomy

The CCSS standards incorporate Webb’s Depth of Knowledge and Bloom’s Taxonomy.

The cognitive demand of the standards rises across the grades.

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7th Grade 8th Grade 2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.

2. Determine the theme or central idea of a text and analyze its developmentover the course of the text, including its including its relationship to the relationship to the characters, setting, and characters, setting, and plotplot; provide an objective summary of the text.

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Vocabulary and SyntaxThe educational implications of the

measures of text difficulty include:

Single biggest predictor of student achievement is vocabulary and syntax.

Need to be addressed throughout schooling (kindergarten through 12th grade). Schools and districts should plan a coherent, intensive and systematic program for vocabulary and syntax.

Syntax is one of the most powerful predictors of difficulty.

Some features of text are more important than others—syntax and vocabulary are an example of two essential text features to pay particular attention to during instruction. 16

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Shorter, Challenging Texts • The study of short texts is useful to enable

students at a wide range of reading levels to participate in the close analysis of more demanding text. 

• Place a high priority on the close, sustained reading of complex text. Such reading emphasizes the particular over the general and strives to focus on what lies within the four corners of the text.

• Close reading often requires compact, short, self-contained texts that students can read and re-read deliberately and slowly to probe and ponder the meanings of individual words, the order in which sentences unfold, and the development of ideas over the course of the text.  

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Col. Nicola Letter to George Washington

May 22, 1782, excerpt: . . . God forbid we should ever think of involving that country we have, under your conduct and auspices, rescued from oppression, into a new scene of blood and confusion; but it cannot be expected we should forego claims on which our future subsistence and that of our families depend. . . . Some people have so connected the ideas of tyranny and monarchy as to find it very difficult to separate them, it may, therefore, be requisite to give the head of such a constitution as I propose, some title apparently more moderate, but if all other things were once adjusted I believe strong argument might be produced for admitting the title of king, which I conceive would be attended with some material advantages.

George Washington Response to Col. Nicola

To Lewis Nicola

George Washington

Newburgh, May 22, 1782

Sir: With a mixture of great surprise and astonishment I have read with attention the Sentiments you have submitted to my perusal. Be assured Sir, no occurrence in the course of the War, has given me more painful sensations than your information of there being such ideas existing in the Army as you have expressed, and I must view with abhorrence, and reprehend with severity. For the present, the communication of them will rest in my own bosom, unless some further agitation of the matter, shall make a disclosure necessary.

I am much at a loss to conceive what part of my conduct could have given encouragement to an address which to me seems big with the greatest mischiefs that can befall my Country. If I am not deceived in the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable; at the same time in justice to my own feelings I must add, that no Man possesses a more sincere wish to see ample justice done to the Army than I do, and as far as my powers and influence, in a constitutional way extend, they shall be employed to the utmost of my abilities to effect it, should there be any occasion. Let me conjure you then, if you have any regard for your Country, concern for yourself or posterity, or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your Mind, and never communicate, as from yourself, or anyone else, a sentiment of the like Nature.

With esteem I am Sir Your Most Obedient Servant

George Wa shi n gton

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Band: 6th – 8th Qualitative Dimensions of Text Complexity Chart Reviewer: ______________________________________________________________

Name of Text: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Narrative/Poetry/Hybrid/Informational/Other: _________________________________________________________________________________

Category Notes and comments on text, support for placement in this band Where to place within the band?

NOT suited

to band

early – mid

6th

Mid 6th to early

7th

Mid 7th to early

8th

Early to mid 8th

Mid to end 8th

NOT suited

to band

Structure: (both story structure or form of piece)

Language Demands and Conventions (including vocabulary load and sentence structure)

Knowledge Demands (life, content, cultural/literary)

Levels of Meaning/ Purpose

Simple: Moderate: Complex:

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Common Core Standards Qualitative Features of Text Complexity Explained

Companion to the Qualitative Dimensions Scale Taken from CCS ELA Appendix A (p. 6)

Structure

Simple Complex Explicit Implicit Conventional Unconventional Events related in chronological order Events related out of chronological order (chiefly literary texts) Traits of a common genre or subgenre Traits specific to a particular discipline (chiefly informational

texts) Simple graphics sophisticated graphics Graphics unnecessary or merely supplemental to understanding the text Graphics essential to

understanding the text and may provide information not elsewhere provided

Language Demands: Conventionality and Clarity Literal Figurative or ironic Clear Ambiguous or purposefully misleading Contemporary, familiar Archaic or otherwise unfamiliar Conversational General Academic and domain specific Light vocabulary load1: few unfamiliar or academic words Many words unfamiliar and high academic

vocabulary present Sentence structure 2straightforward Complex and varied sentence structures

Knowledge Demands: Life Experience (literary texts)

Simple theme Complex or sophisticated themes Single theme Multiple themes Common everyday experiences or clearly fantastical situations Experiences distinctly different from

one’s own Single perspective Multiple perspectives Perspective(s) like one’s own Perspective(s) unlike or in opposition to one’s own

Knowledge Demands: Cultural/Literary Knowledge (chiefly literary texts)

Everyday knowledge and familiarity with genre conventions required Cultural and literary knowledge useful

Low intertextuality (few if any references/allusions to other texts) High intertextuality (many references/allusions to other texts

Knowledge Demands: Content/Discipline Knowledge (chiefly informational texts)

Everyday knowledge and familiarity with genre conventions required Extensive, perhaps specialized discipline-specific content knowledge required

Low intertextuality (few if any references to/citations of other texts) High intertextuality (many references to/citations of other texts

Levels of Meaning (chiefly literary texts) or Purpose (chiefly informational texts)

Single level of meaning Multiple levels of meaning Explicitly stated purpose Implicit purpose, may be hidden or obscure

1 Though vocabulary can be measured by quantifiable means, it is still a feature for careful consideration when selecting texts 2 Though sentence length is measured by quantifiable means, sentence complexity is still a feature for careful consideration when selecting texts

See you in 10 mins.See you in 10 mins.

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Please take a moment to reflect on Please take a moment to reflect on the instructional implications of the instructional implications of text complexitytext complexity..

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Text Dependent Questions

Scaffolding Students to Read Complex Text

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• High-quality sequences of text-dependent questions elicit sustained attention to the specifics of the text and their impact. The sequence of questions should cultivate student mastery of the specific ideas and illuminate particulars of the text.

• High-quality text-dependent questions will often move beyond what is directly stated to require students to make non-trivial inferences based on evidence in the text. Questions aligned with Common Core State Standards should demand close attention to the text to answer fully.

High Quality Text Dependent Questions

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• An effective set of questions might begin with relatively simple questions requiring attention to specific words, details, and arguments and then move on to explore the impact of those specifics on the text as a whole.

• Good questions will often linger over specific phrases and sentences to ensure careful comprehension. Effective question sequences will build on each other to ensure that students learn to stay focused on the text so they can learn fully from it.

High Quality Text Dependent Questions

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Rather than emphasizing more general strategies and questions, text specific questions, and tasks reinforce focus on the text and cultivate independence.  

•Have students spend time reading the text closely rather than engaging in extensive pre-reading activities and instruction in reading strategies. •Be sure students are doing the work! Allow them the intellectual experience of encountering the way an author sets the agenda and unfolds ideas as well as details.  •Recommended reading strategies as well as broader questions and themes should be embedded in the actual reading of the text rather than being taught as a separate body of material. 

Scaffolding for Independence

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Text-Dependent Analysis in Action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho_ntaYbL7o

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The CCSS Requires Three Shifts in ELA/Literacy

1. Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction

2. Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational

3. Regular practice with complex text and its academic language

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Time – In and Out of the Text

• More instructional time spent outside the text means less time inside the text.

• Departing from the text in classroom discussion privileges only those who already have experience with the topic.

• It is easier to talk about our experiences than to analyze the text—especially for students reluctant to engage with reading.

• The CCSS are College and Career Readiness Standards.

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Text-Dependent Questions are not…

Low-level, literal, or recall questions

Focused on comprehension strategies

Just questions…

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Text-Dependent Questions...

• Can only be answered with evidence from the text.

• Can be literal (checking for understanding) but must also involve analysis, synthesis, evaluation.

• Focus on word, sentence, and paragraph, as well as larger ideas, themes, or events.

• Focus on difficult portions of text in order to enhance reading proficiency.

• Can also include prompts for writing and discussion questions.

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Three Types of Text-Dependent Questions

When you're writing or reviewing a set of questions, consider the following three categories:

• Questions that assess themes and central ideas

• Questions that assess knowledge of vocabulary

• Questions that assess syntax and structure

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Non-Examples and Examples

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In “Casey at the Bat,” Casey strikes out. Describe a time when you failed at something.

In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King discusses nonviolent protest. Discuss, in writing, a time when you wanted to fight against something that you felt was unfair.

In “The Gettysburg Address” Lincoln says the nation is dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Why is equality an important value to promote?

What makes Casey’s experiences at bat humorous?

What can you infer from King’s letter about the letter that he received?

“The Gettysburg Address” mentions the year 1776. According to Lincoln’s speech, why is this year significant to the events described in the speech?

Not Text-Dependent Text-Dependent

Creating Text-Dependent Questions

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Step One: Identify the core understandings and key ideas of the text.

Step Two: Start small to build confidence.

Step Three:

Target vocabulary and text structure.

Step Four:

Tackle tough sections head-on.

Step Five: Create coherent sequences of text-dependent questions.

Step Six: Identify the standards that are being addressed.

Step Seven:

Create the culminating assessment (product).

Core Understanding and Key Ideas

• Reverse-engineered or backwards-designed

• Crucial for creating an overarching set of successful questions

• Critical for creating an appropriate culminating assignment

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Core Understanding and Key Ideas:

Example Core Understanding and Key Idea:

Two people of very different ages may still have much in common and become friends.

Synopsis:

Opal has just moved to a new town in a new state and has no friends yet. Through a series of comic mishaps inadvertently started by her very special dog, Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny, the town librarian. Opal realizes they have much in common and a friendship is ignited.36

Vocabulary

Which words should be taught? Essential to understanding text Likely to appear in future reading

Which words should get more time and attention?

More abstract words (as opposed to concrete words)

persist vs. checkpoint

noticed vs. accident

Words which are part of semantic word familysecure, securely, security, secured

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Vocabulary and Text Dependent Questions

From “Hot and Cold Summer” - 5th grade fictional text

• “To avoid someone means to keep away from them so that you don’t have to see them and they don’t have to see you. How did the boys avoid meeting Bolivia at first?” (pg. 23)

• Re-read the last two paragraphs on page 39. Rory had a “strong suspicion”. What is a suspicion? What details in the story made Rory suspicious of Bolivia?

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Syntax and Text Dependent Questions

• Syntax can predict student performance as much as vocabulary does.

• Questions and tasks addressing syntax are powerful.

Example:

Who are the members of the wolf pack? How many wolves are in the pack? To answer this, pay close attention to the use of commas and semi-colons in the last paragraph on pg. 377. The semi-colons separate or list each member in the pack.

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Structure and Text-Dependent Questions

Text-dependent questions can be crafted to point students’ attention to features of text that enhance understanding (such as how section headers and captions lead to greater clarity or provide hints regarding what is most important in informational text, or how illustrations add to a narrative).

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Structure and Text Dependent Questions

Examples:

• “Look at the illustrations on page 31. Why did the illustrator include details like the power outlets in the walls?”

• “Dillard is careful to place opposing descriptions of the natural and man-made side-by-side. How does this juxtaposition fit with or challenge what we have already read? Why might she have chosen this point in the text for these descriptions?”

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Reading Strategies and Text-Dependent Questions

• Text-dependent questions generally call on students to employ reading strategies.

• Strategies are no longer taught in isolation.

• The text readers need to comprehend should determine what strategies are activated - not the other way around.

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Culminating Tasks

• Should relate to core understanding and key ideas.

• A coherent sequence of text dependent questions will scaffold students toward successfully completing the culminating task.

Example:

“The title of this selection is ‘Because of Winn-Dixie.' Using your answers from the questions above and class discussion, explain why this is an appropriate title for the selection. Be sure to clearly cite evidence from the text for each part of your answer.”

“Officer Buckle’s final safety tip is 'ALWAYS STICK WITH YOUR BUDDY.' How did he and Gloria each learn this lesson for themselves throughout the story?”43

Creating Text-Dependent Questions

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Step One: Identify the core understandings and key ideas of the text.

Step Two: Start small to build confidence.

Step Three:

Target vocabulary and text structure.

Step Four:

Tackle tough sections head-on.

Step Five: Create coherent sequences of text-dependent questions.

Step Six: Identify the standards that are being addressed.

Step Seven:

Create the culminating assessment (product).

Final Thoughts• There is no one right way to have students work with

text- dependent questions.

• Providing for the differing needs of students means providing and scaffolding supports differentially - not asking easier questions or substituting simpler text.

• Listening and speaking should be built into any sequence of activities along with reading and writing.

• “Re-read it, think it, talk it, write it”

• The CCSS require ALL students to read and engage with grade appropriate complex text regularly. This requires new ways of working in our classrooms.

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