UM READING METHODS
TEACHING CHALLENGING INFORMATIONAL TEXT ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES
Upload to Moodle anytime between 3/28 and 4/2
Please closely read the four parts of this assignment description. Complete each of these four steps. What will you turn in, you ask? Scroll down to find the assignment sheet—you can type directly into that document.
1. Choose a nonfiction text excerpt. To make this as relevant as possible, feel free to use text you think you might use in your future social studies, science, math, or art classroom (I would suggest 3rd grade or up for this). You are encouraged to consider texts that align with IEFA, but this is not a requirement for this assignment. The text should be relatively short—in fact, it might be 1 page, but it depends on how much text is on a page. If you’ve selected a long piece, then decide which excerpt you will use for one lesson.
2. Characterize the text’s complexity using quantitative leveling systems (www.lexlile.com or www.arbookfind.com) and the Common Core qualitative rubric for informational text that I gave you. If the text you are using comes from a book, you can try typing in the title on both/either of these websites to get the level information. If you are using an excerpt of text from an article or textbook, you will need to:
a. Go www.lexile.com, and find the “Lexile Analyzer” (English) tool.
b. You’ll need to register for an account to access this tool. I recommend that you do that so that you can continue to use it in the future, but if you would rather not create an account at this point, you can use my info to log in (email: ; password: lexile).
c. Type a section of your text (up to 1000 words) in a document, and save it in plain text (.txt) format. (If it is currently a .doc or .docx, go to “save as,” go to “format,” and select “.txt.”) You will be prompted to upload/submit the document, and the Lexile Analyzer will give you an “L” score. If you are using a textbook, there is a good chance that the lexile was already determined to be at the grade level of the textbook (e.g. a 6th grade social studies book), but you should check to see if this is the case.
d. Note the “L” score, and orient that score in the grade band lexile chart: http://www.lexile.com/using-lexile/lexile-measures-and-the-ccssi/text-complexity-grade-bands-and-lexile-ranges/
3. Supporting comprehension before reading: Create an anticipation guide for the text. What happens for students before reading is very important for their comprehension of text! Your anticipation guide for this text excerpt should build interest, activate prior knowledge, open students’ minds, and set a purpose for reading. Follow the recommended steps for constructing an anticipation guide in Gunning, pp.402-403. (Gunning suggests writing 3-5 statements in the guide…if you are creating this for a lesson for younger learners, you might consider having 2-3.)
4. Supporting comprehension during reading: Plan out Questioning the Author (QTA) session. This will entail thinking about key concepts you want students to understand, identifying potential difficulties, “chunking” the text excerpt, and plotting out several “queries” for each section. You will definitely flex the questions you ask based on your students’ responses, but which questions or queries will you plan going into the lesson? Follow the steps 1-4 found on pp. 350-51 in Gunning. These are also listed out in the QTA template you will complete (see below).
“In QTA, the teacher asks students to tell what an author is saying and builds on the students’ responses (Beck & McKeown, 2006). The teacher follows up on responses and uses them to create a focused discussion. Questions should be carefully planned; if not, they may lead students away from the text. Questions focusing on personal connections, for instance, might lead into a discussion of experiences not closely related to key concepts.” (Gunning, 2010, p.349).
(Scroll down for assignment sheet! )
Your name: ______
UM READING METHODS
TEACHING CHALLENGING INFORMATIONAL TEXT ASSIGNMENT SHEET
After closely reading the assignment guidelines, please complete the following. (You can type directly into this document.)
1. What is the name of your text selection? In which subject do you think you would use this text? What grade do you have in mind for this lesson? (Please attach a copy of the text.)
2. How would you characterize the complexity of the text?
a. Quantitative considerations:
b. Qualitative considerations (from Common Core rubric):
3. Please attach your anticipation guide.
4. Please complete the following Questioning the Author template:
Step 1. Analyze the text and decide what you want students to know or understand as a result of reading the text. List 2-3 major understandings here:Step 2. Note any potential difficulties in the text that might hamper students’ comprehension. Problems might include difficult vocabulary or concepts, confusing text structure or a lack of background knowledge. You can include what you learned by looking at the quantitative and qualitative review of text complexity here.
Potential difficulties:
Step 3. Segment the text into readable blocks. A segment could be a single sentence or paragraph or several paragraphs. A block should generally encompass one major idea. (For our purposes, plan on focusing on 3-7 sections.) / Step 4. In light of the understandings you wish student to attain and the possible difficulties in the text, plan your queries. Plan queries for each segment. (See QTA article on Moodle for example.)
Textbook Section / Queries
(You may delete or add rows based on the number of sections you have.)