1 The Role of the Text in Comprehension Reader Activity Sociocultural Context Text RAND READING REPORT

Adapted from Kucan & Palincsar IES

What makes a text difficult? Sort and discuss … 3

What makes a text difficult? Cornett: Interest level; Accessibility (emotional & cognitive); Readability (text difficulty); Reading level (the reader) –Independent (95-99% accuracy; 90% comp) –Instructional (90-95% accuracy; 75% comp) –Frustrational (>90% accuracy; > 50% comp) –Listening (comprehend 75% key concepts) 4

What makes a text difficult? Fountas & Pinnell (Level A-Z) –Genre –Text Structure –Content –Themes and Ideas –Language & Literary Features –Vocabulary and Words –Sentence Complexity –Book and print features 5 See handout for more about levels

So, what’s readability? And how do you calculate it?? 6

Fry Readability Formula = # of sentences and # of syllables 7 Which of the FIVE factors of comprehension? ONE: TEXT

Lexile Level = sentence length and word frequency 8 TWO: TEXT & READER Which of the FIVE factors of comprehension?

Text Complexity Factors 9 HUMAN RATED Levels of meaning Structure Language conventionality Clarity Knowledge demands COMPUTER SCORED Word length Word frequency Sentence length Text Cohesion Co-Metrix and Lexiles READER Motivation Knowledge Experiences TASK Purpose/Context Complexity Questions Posed Common Core Standards 4-5! Teacher, text, reader, & task/context Which of the FIVE factors Of comprehension?

10 Standard #10: Text Complexity Common Core Standards Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently

Example In Action Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas (Gr. 6-8) Qualitative Measures –Levels of Meaning –Structure –Language Conventionality and Clarity –Knowledge Demands Quantitative Measures (Co-Metrix) Reader/Task Considerations Recommended Placement of this text in Grades 6-8 complexity band 11

You Try Select a book from your collection. Use your handout to guide your thinking about each of the important text features. Use the Lexile Book Search to determine the lexile level Is this book a good fit for this grade range? 12

Homework Ch. 4: Differentiation (p ) LEAD21 Program Overview (on the wiki) with 1 page reading guide **differentiation Coming up… –Strategy Interview – due next Tuesday (Oct. 11) OR Thursday (Oct. 13) –Oct. 13: Quiz #1 13