Since the adoption of the CCSS, we have heard the term text complexity many times. The concept has also emerged through questions bubbling up as we embark upon our English curriculum revision.
How do we ensure that we are placing adequately challenging texts within the grade level curriculum guides?
As we seek to diversify our literature options, how do we know that we are adding options that are of high quality?
These questions are undoubtedly important for us to examine during our study because we need to be intentionally including both accessible texts and texts that stretch our students; these questions, however, go beyond the diverse literature element we recently started exploring. As we review the texts currently in our curriculum and as we study potential new texts to add, I challenge us to turn to this question:
What does it mean for a text to be challenging or of high quality?
Often, the first measure to come to mind is a text's Lexile score, which can be a very good place to start. When thinking about Lexile in a post-CCSS-adoption world, however, it can get a bit tricky. The Lexile Band has changed for each grade band due to the fact that over the past 50 years, the gap between most secondary texts and most college texts has widened. In order to move students closer to the College and Career Ready Lexile level, a new "Stretch" Lexile Band has been adopted by The Lexile Framework for Reading. (But this is a whole other topic...Click here to read more from the Lexile Framework group.)
So should Lexile be our go-to for determining a text's complexity?
Does a Lexile number really inform us if a text will be challenging for our students or if it is of high quality?
While the Ledile measure can be a starting point, the CCSS promotes a three-pronged approach when determining a text's complexity, and many educators with whom I have spoken agree that the following three elements are all important when considering a text: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Reader & Task.
One of the three prongs is, of course, the quantitative measures, which includes Lexile measures. Algorithms are used to analyze the word length, word frequency, sentence length, and cohesiveness of the text. This is helpful, but it is not the only factor to consider.
The qualitative measurements, on the other hand, are evaluated by a human. An actual, living, breathing person has read the text. This pulse-maker considers aspects of the text like levels of meaning, the clarity and conventions of the language used, the knowledge demands, the format and structure, and the complexity of the visual materials. These factors place different requirements on the reader than a Lexile score.
The third prong is the reader and task combination. Within this sphere, reader pieces such as motivation, background knowledge, and previous experience are considered. The other element of this portion is ensuring that the text fits the purpose and the complexity of the task at hand.
Each one of these prongs fails to paint a full picture of the text by itself. Together, however, they create a fairly sturdy stool on which the reader can sit.
As we move forward with our Curriculum Study, it is my hope that we can keep this stool with us. What does it mean for a text to be challenging or of high quality? To start, it means that the stool is just the right size for the reader to grow.
Save the date(s)! If you are interested in attending a conference this year, here are a few worth considering. They are listed in chronological order, and I've noted the deadlines for applications to the Professional Travel Committee. Now is a great time to apply since we are beginning our curriculum study. To view the applicant criteria and access the application, please visit the District Professional Travel page.
*UPDATE 1/18/16 I moved the conferences that have passed to the bottom of the post since I am also updating the post with new information.
Parent-Teacher conferences are upon us this week! Here are a few resources that might be useful as you think ahead to the upcoming conversations.
Cliff Notes Version: Be prepared! Be positive! Be solution oriented!
Pre-Conference Tools and Tips
Parent-Teacher Conference Form: This Google Doc is one example of a form to have students complete BEFORE conferences. Use this form (or one like this) to gather personalized talking points for each student. It can also help make the conversation more student led. Just make sure to collect these from the students before conferences and to bring them to conferences.
Tips for New Teachers: While this document specifies new teachers in the title, like all good resources, the information can be applied no matter where you are in your teaching career. The beginning of the article does talk about 30-minute conferences; just ignore that part! The rest can be applied to any parent-teacher conference format.
Harvard's Parent-Teacher Conference Tip Sheets: The Harvard Family Research Project published this document in 2010; it includes tips for principals, teachers, and parents. Pages 5 and 6 are specific to teachers, but the whole document is a quick read.
5 Quick "Tips for Parent-Teacher Conferencing": As both an educator and a mom, Edutopia blogger Elena Aguilar shares her top-five tips for parent-teacher conferences.
Hope your conversations are productive and fruitful!
The following excerpts come from "Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors" by Rudine Sims Bishop, and were referenced in our Curriculum Writing Meeting as we discussed diversifying the literature options in our curriculum.
“Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange...When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books...
When children cannot find themselves reflected in the books they read, or when the images they see are distorted, negative, or laughable, they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society of which they are a part. Our classrooms need to be places where all the children from all the cultures that make up the salad bowl of American society can find their mirrors...
Children from dominant social groups have always found their mirrors in books, but they, too, have suffered from the lack of availability of books about others. They need the books as windows onto reality, not just on imaginary worlds. They need books that will help them understand the multicultural nature of the world they live in, and their place as a member of just one group, as well as their connections to all other humans."
Thank you to the Curriculum Writing Teams for the thoughts, ideas, questions, and concerns expressed last night at our curriculum writing meeting! For those of you not on a CWT this round, we started a conversation about diversifying the literature options in our curriculum. Maybe it would be better described as barely started, as it is a rather lengthy conversation to have!
Please remember that this conversation is NOT a cry to throw out all of the classic literature. It is, rather, a conversation to help us make choices regarding literature options that will best benefit student learning.
The "Challenge Yourself" image above came from the website The Educators' Spin on It, and one of their posts includes a tip about how to diversify the literature in your classroom with classics in mind:
"Do you have any books featuring diverse characters that are not primarily about race or prejudice? Consider your classic books, both fiction and nonfiction. Do any contain hurtful racial or ethnic stereotypes, or images? If so, how will you address those stereotypes with students? Have you included another book that provides a more accurate depiction of the same culture?"
When we look at the texts we want to teach, keep, or add as options, we need to be aware of the stereotypes involved. One small change we can make is to look at supplemental materials to pair with classics and Shakespearean plays. There are many ways to bring in the missing voices through background-building informational texts (like those found at KidsInBirmingham1963, for example) or a version of Romeo and Juliet from another culture.
We are all coming to this conversation from our individualized backgrounds, so the road ahead may not be an easy one. It is, however, an important journey as we look at what is best for our student population. Our students who are use to finding mirrors in literature need windows just as much as our students who are use to finding windows in literature need mirrors.
I'm looking forward to continuing this conversation as we revise our curriculum options!
See the details below regarding the Autism training this week.
An invitation is extended to any Sioux Falls School District staff to a training titled “Autism Overview.” This training is an introductory workshop for staff new to working with a student with autism. The training will include sections explaining Autism Spectrum Disorders and their characteristics, unique language needs of students with Autism, and classroom strategies that should be used and are research based. This includes both general education staff and special education staff – both professional and support staff. If you choose to attend, you will be paid hourly for time outside your work day.
**If you have attended this training in the past, you will not want to attend as it is the same training that was offered in past years and is intended as an introduction to autism.**
