For the past couple of days we have been exploring the types of texts students might encounter across a literacy framework. Today we revisit both the quadrants and the books we described yesterday.
| 1. Complex, but Irrelevant Texts that are complex in some or many ways, but which are not engaging. |
2. Complex and Relevant Texts that are complex in some or many ways and that are interesting/relevant enough that students want to read them. |
| 3. Simple, but Irrelevant Texts that are accessible in some or many ways, but which are not engaging for students. |
4. Simple and Relevant Texts that are accessible in some or many ways and that are interesting/relevant enough that students want to read them. |
Yesterday we presented ways to use four particular books to teach students to think across texts and connect ideas, as articulated in reading anchor standard 9 of the Common Core. If you think of yesterday’s recommendations as a step one, today’s “sequel” to yesterday’s post presents step two. You can revisit and recycle texts as students develop their understanding of the concepts. Today we also include specific connections to the types of texts in each quadrant.
As we described yesterday, the context for this conversation is a third grade classroom where students are learning about space, specifically the moon.
After engaging students in a number of different reading contexts, you may find that students need even more background knowledge support. You may need a simpler text to serve as a bridge to the ideas in other texts. For example, What Makes Day and Night is written for beginning readers (Quadrant 3).
It doesn’t have the intriguing aspects of the other texts, but it is more manageable as a transitional text. Note this does not mean that this book is presented to certain students instead of the more engaging and sophisticated texts. It just means the students who need more practice get more to read.
Yesterday, we recommended that you READ ALOUD Robert Burleigh’s book One Giant Leap (Quadrant 2). As a follow-up, we suggest a second read aloud experience where you could enlist children in charting important facts presented in the text. Of course, this book would remain available during independent reading.
On the first day with The Moon by Seymour Simon you would have engaged students in SHARED READING with a passage from the text (Quadrant 1-This book is not irrelevant, but it is likely to be more challenging because it is very concept dense). On the second day you could use a set of copies of the book with guided reading groups. Reread the previous day’s passage with students who are on- or a little below-grade-level. Let students who are more proficient readers read new passages, while students who will struggle with the passage participate in small-group shared reading as they venture into the new sections of the book.
While you may have used Meghan McCarthy’s book, Astronaut Handbook, in guided reading the first day, you could use it in small-group shared reading on the second. For even more excitement, it lends itself beautifully to Reader’s Theatre. You and/or students could develop a script.
On the second day, you could use Binky To the Rescue as the text for PARTNER READING. Let student partners talk through the things they notice and infer as they enjoy the text together.
Perhaps, you are noticing that connecting across texts and instructional contexts means that students are reading a lot. This is one of the tremendous benefits we see to the Common Core. Ready, set … read!
The blogs from August 6-8 described text complexity and student interest/engagement. When I see text sets based around a topic, I think about units of study in connection to the Common Core standards and interdisciplinary connections. With ever growing pressure and stress as educators, curriculum mapping and units of study surrounding topics in science and social studies free up time in the day. Bringing literacy to the content areas is meaningful for students and also brings a continuity to the curriculum. The ideas presented in the blog for the read aloud, guided reading, shared reading and independent reading utilize the same few books in different ways, over multiple days. It was helpful to see some of the possible uses and types of lessons. Thank you for sharing.
The three blog posts entitled, “What is the Opposite of Complex,” examine text complexity and relevance to the student. These posts provide practical guidelines in developing units of study that address a content area through the use of literacy of varying complexity. Reflecting upon this unit has reminded me of the importance of schema in becoming a stronger reader and in understanding the world around you. The more connections a reader is able to make to a text the easier it will be for him/her to derive meaning from what he/she has read. The scaffolding that is built into such a unit will help students to increase their content knowledge, making relevant what may have first appeared irrelevant.