Research How do text sets build knowledge? Text sets support students in building vocabulary and knowledge. Research shows that students acquire vocabulary up to four times faster when they read a series of related texts. Reading a number of texts within a topic grows knowledge and vocabulary far faster than any other approach.

CREATING TEXT SETS

Defining What is Text?: The term “text” refers to anything that a teacher can use to center instruction, anything that students can read, view, listen to, or explore, including books, photographs, films, articles, music, art, and more. What is a Text Set?: A text set is a collection of related texts organized around a topic or line of inquiry. A text set includes information in many modalities, including print, audio, visual. Examples could be podcasts, news footage, photographs, drawings, artifacts, sculptures, and paintings, including primary sources.

Text Sets and the NCSCS  The standards focus on building student ability to read and understand grade-level complex text and express that understanding clearly through writing and speaking.  The Standards emphasize the role of close engagement with text in students building knowledge about the world.  A coherent sequence of texts around a clear topic or line of inquiry will support students in building vocabulary and background knowledge.  Text sets are one tool for educators in planning units of instruction to help students meet the demands of the standards.

Shifts Regular practice with complex text and its academic language Reading, writing and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction

What do we know about gifted learners that matches the Shifts? Integrate multiple standards into more complex tasks Ensure conceptual understanding Mastery of content Use of content-discipline terminology Real world problems Complexity of thought and ideas Decontextualists – whole to part thinking Fewer reviews to master content Intensity and Sensitivity of issues

RI.6.3 Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes). Instead of just this: Analyze in detail how the early years of Harriet Tubman (as related by author Ann Petry) contributed to her later becoming a conductor on the Underground Railroad, attending to how the author introduces, illustrates, and elaborates upon the events in Tubman’s life. RI.6.3 Integrate: Write an essay analyzing in detail how the early years of Harriet Tubman (as related by author Ann Petry) contributed to her later becoming a conductor on the Underground Railroad, attending to how the author introduces, illustrates, and elaborates upon the events in Tubman’s life. Prepare the essay for publication by editing. Upload your essay to the classroom blog. RI.6.3, W.6.4, L.6.1.a,b, L.6.2.a,b Thinking about Integrated Tasks

TypicalAdvanced Grade 3 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. Students ask and answer student and teacher created questions regarding the plot of Patricia MacLachlan’s Sarah, Plain and Tall, explicitly referring to the text to form the basis of their answers. Students ask and answer student and teacher created questions regarding what the plot says about courage and the life of women in the 19 th century, using textual references. Product option: Multimedia project that characterizes courage. (Makes it more difficult). Grade 5 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. Students select a line form Carl Sandburg’s poem “Fog” and make an inference on what the author meant. Students define personification and select a line from Carl Sandburg’s poem “Fog” and describe how Sandburg uses personification to enhance his meaning. Product option: Create your own personification poem using “Fog” as a model or add an additional stanza to “Fog.” Grade 8 Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. Students identify one idea that is communicated in Carl Sandburg’s poem “Chicago” and select lines of text to support their own hometown, using “Chicago” as a model. Students describe how Sandburg’s tone of “Chicago” changes from the beginning to the end of the poem, using textual evidence to support their analysis. Students will write a poem about their own hometown using “Chicago” as a model. Product option: Students can create a multimedia presentation of the poem “Chicago”. Tamara Stambaugh, Ph.D. Executive Director for Talented Youth Vanderbilt University

Why Create a Text Set…  To capture interests and cultivate engagement  To prompt inquiry  To read for multiple perspectives  To build prior knowledge  To encourage student writing: Text sets as mentor texts  To differentiate instruction  To support vocabulary development

Where does using multiple texts appear in the Standards? Reading: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas  R.CCR.7 Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.  R.CCR.9 Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

Writing: Research to Build and Present Knowledge  W.CCR.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.  W.CCR.8 Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.

Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration  SL.CCR.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Criteria Constructing a text set requires considering three criteria: 1. A variety based on text complexity considerations. 2. Various cultural perspectives may be appropriate for some concepts. 3. Differences that offer various approaches to the “big idea” or conceptual understanding that unifies the conceptual text set. Donham, J. (2013). Text Sets, Deep Learning, and the Common Core. School Library Monthly, 29(6), 5-7.la

1. Text Complexity  The Common Core asserts that Lexile scores alone are not a measure of complexity.  A text set might include titles that differ in: 1. Qualitative Measures 2. Quantitative Measures 3. Reader and Task

Navigating Text Complexity

2. Cultural Perspectives “Text sets provide multiple perspectives on complex issues. They show students that there are different "truths" and thus emphasize the importance of questioning dominant interpretations.” (Annenberg Learner)

3. Conceptual Understanding  Central to the text set is the big unifying idea. To meet the expectation of the standards for deep learning, this core idea is considered conceptual. A concept has several important attributes:

Conceptual Understanding  A concept is an abstract idea.  A concept has complexity in that it may have multiple dimensions or attributes.  A concept transfers across time and place.  A concept is learned through inferential and inductive thinking.

Linda Crafton (1991) wrote “when readers read texts that are conceptually related in some way, they are engaged in an exploration of cognitive and linguistic ties.”

Activity: Find the criteria in the text set. 2-3 Grade Band “Wonders of Nature” 4-5 Grade Band “Tracking Trash in Our Oceans” 4-5 Grade Band “Developing Meaning: It’s All in the Details!” 6-8 Grade Band “Naturally Selected to Survive” 6-8 Grade Band “Words We Live By” 9-10 Grade Band “To Kill a Mockingbird”

Guiding Questions for Text Sets  How are the texts related in a meaningful way?  What makes the texts rich & worthy of rereading?  What are the range of text types?  Are there various degrees of complexity in the set?

Steps to Creating Text Sets

Step 1: Identify the Anchor Text and Formulate a Line of Inquiry for the Set  Determine the standards that you want to teach.  Identify an anchor text and formulate an overall line of inquiry for the set. This can happen in either order. An educator may first identify an anchor text, from which they formulate a line of inquiry for the set OR an educator may choose to first identify a topic for a unit of study and then seek out an anchor text around which to build the set.  The most important part of step one is that the anchor text be a grade-level complex text that meets the complexity demands of the Standards and is worthy of the time and attention of students. Without a rich anchor text, it is difficult to create a worthwhile text set.

How Many Texts?  The number of texts in a set can vary depending on purpose and resource availability around a given topic.  What is important is that the texts in the set are connected meaningfully to each other to deepen student understanding of the anchor text.

Step 2: Use Databases to Research Texts around the Topic  Once you have identified the anchor text and line of inquiry for your set, you can use a variety of databases to search for texts. Database sites: Awesome Stories Awesome Stories - a free website presenting compelling stories with related primary source evidence in the form of videos, audio clips, documents and images Bartleby.comBartleby.com– an online collection of public domain texts Project Gutenberg – offers over 50,000 free ebooks: choose among free epub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online.

More sites……. Lit2Go Lit2Go : an online collection of classic texts, including PDF and audio versions Favorite Poem Project Favorite Poem Project : is dedicated to celebrating, documenting and encouraging poetry’s role in Americans’ lives. BibliomaniaBibliomania : offers free online literature with more than 2,000 classic texts. Voices and Visions SpotlightVoices and Visions Spotlight : is a video series from Annenberg Media that explores the lives and works of 13 of America’s most famous poets. Poetry FoundationPoetry Foundation : an online collection of poetry Article of the Week Article of the Week : Kelly Gallagher

Step 3: Evaluate Texts for Inclusion in the Set 1. Does the text contribute to the students building a body of knowledge connected meaningfully to the anchor text? 2. Is the text worthy of student time and attention? 3. Does the text contribute to a range and balance of text types and formats in the overall set? 4. Do the text complexity measures of the text place it in the grade band of the anchor text? A range of texts spanning the band will support student-knowledge-building over the course of the unit.

Step 4: Refine, Finalize, and Produce Text Set  Continue to refine your selections until you are satisfied that you have a range and balance of texts that support student engagement with the line of inquiry. Guiding questions to help refine your text set: How are all texts related? What makes the texts rich & worthy of rereading? What are the range of text types? Are there various degrees of complexity in the set?

Strong vs. Weak Strong text setsWeak text sets Build student knowledge about a topic; meaningful connection to the anchor text Texts are not related or connected across sets or they are only superficially connected Texts are authentic, rich, and worthy of study Only commissioned texts or textbook passages Range of text types (literary and informational) and formats Focused exclusively on one genre or format (unless the set is a genre study) Text complexity levels support student achievement of the grade- level complexity demands of the CCSS* Text complexity levels are erratic and do not support the staircase of text complexity in the CCSS

Examples Strong Text SetWeak Text Set Anchor Text: Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury Related Texts: “You Have Insulted Me: A Letter,” Kurt Vonnegut (Informational) “Burning a Book” by William Stafford (Poem) “The Book Burnings,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Informational)The Book Burnings Excerpts from The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak (Appendix B Exemplar) “Learning to Read and Write,” Frederick Douglass (Informational) “Learning to Read,” Malcolm X (Informational) “Unto My Books So Good to Turn,” Emily Dickinson (Poem) “The Portable Phonograph,” Walter Van Tilburg Clark Related Texts: “‘Chaos:’ Gunman Ambushes, Kills Two Firefighters at New York Blaze,” Catherine Shoichet and Greg Botelho (CNN) (Informational)Chaos:’ Gunman Ambushes, Kills Two Firefighters at New York Blaze “Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press,” Mary Bellis (About.com) (Informational)Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press Fahrenheit 451, Francois Truffaut (Film) “About Ray Bradbury: Biography” (Informational)About Ray Bradbury: Biography “The Pedestrian,” Ray Bradbury (Literary) The Children’s Story, James Clavell (Literary)

Text Complexity R.CCR.10: Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

Text Complexity Resource

Quantitative Measure Readability and other scores of text complexity often best measured by computer software.  Sentence length  Word length  Sentence structure  Factored by a formula  Lexile  Represents ONE dimension of text complexity

Text Complexity Grade Bands and Associated Ranges

Qualitative Measure  Knowledge demands  Vocabulary  How text is organized  Language  Conventions  Level of meaning  Figurative language

Informational Text Rubric QUALITATIVE

Literature Rubric QUALITATIVE

Reader and Task Considerations  Reader variables (such as motivation, knowledge and experiences)  Task variables (such as purpose and the complexity generated by the task assigned and the questions posed)  Interest  Supports that will be needed  What will students be asked to do or know?

Putting it all together… It is important to consider all sides of the triangle equally to determine placement.

CLOSE READING OBJECTIVES  Close reading affords students the opportunity to assimilate new textual information with their existing background knowledge and prior experiences to expand their schema.  Close reading allows students to build necessary critical habits when they engage with a complex piece of text.

“The book was long, and difficult to read, and Klaus became more and more tired as the night wore on. Occasionally his eyes would close. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over.” ― Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning

Standards Connection R.CCR.1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

CLOSE READING Fewer pages Grade-level complex text All students same text Teaches students to attend to text and words Heavy support Solely instructional Exposes student to higher-level content Gives all students access

Teachers and students have specific roles in close reading: “Supporting Students in Close Reading,” Barbara Jones, Sandy Chang, Margaret Heritage, and Glory Tobiason

SO……  When confronted with complex texts, students need to know how to read “closely.”  To teach students how to read “closely,” educators need access to a variety of complex texts.

What Teachers are hearing about complex texts and close reading…….  Incorporate more complex texts, particularly non-fiction  Build student independent reading skill along a “staircase of complexity”  Use short texts to practice close reading

Teachers have been asking about complex texts and close reading…. So, where does this leave full-length, less-than- complex texts, particularly novels? If I am spending four weeks on a novel that doesn’t fall into the text complexity band for my grade level, am I shortchanging my students both in terms of complex text and close reading?

An Example: Should I continue using this text or not?

Quantitative Measure 680 L

Thinking about the text of the novel……. During what portions of the story’s plot would you imagine the most complex text to occur? Discussion

Lexile by Chapter Guide

Questions for Discussion What insight can you glean from this graph?  Of the novel’s chapters, most chapters fall below the recommended grade band range for grades 4-5; 7 chapters fall within the 4-5 grade band range; no chapters fall above the 4-5 grade band range.  Substantial range exists between Chapters 5 and 6; 6 and 7.

Qualitative Measures for Charlotte’s Web Charlotte’s WebE.B. White

Reader and Task Considerations for Charlotte’s Web Consider each specific reader’s motivation, knowledge, and experiences, learning needs, language, and reading skills. Think about:  What are potential challenges of this text?  What supports can I provide for my students? Differentiation?  What are possible instructional areas of focus for this text?

 What opportunities do you see for teaching complex text and close reading based upon this graph?  How might such information impact your teaching (or planning for teaching) Charlotte’s Web?  Would this information alter any student groupings used during instruction (i.e., whole class, small groups, individual)? How? Additional Questions for Discussion…

Quantitative Measure of TKAM

Lexile Measure: 790L Suggested Grade Band: Grades 2-3/4-5 Yet, even Appendix B of the Common Core State Standards lists To Kill a Mockingbird as an exemplar text for Grades 9-10.Appendix B 58 Text Measures of TKAM

Discussion… Thinking about the text of the novel (or even the scenes of the film version)… During what portions of the story’s plot would you imagine the most complex text to occur? 59

Lexile Measure Chapter The red line represents the Lexile measure of the novel as a whole: 790L. The green shaded region represents the suggested grades 9-10 text complexity band (1050L-1335L). TKM – Annotation of “Peak” Chapters Ch 1: History of Maycomb Ch 2: Scout’s first day of school Ch 13: Aunt Alexandra arrives Ch 20: Courtroom scene Ch 27: Mr. Ewell loses job with WPA; preparations for Halloween carnival

Questions for Discussion… What insight can you glean from this graph? Substantial range exists among Lexile measures for each of the novel’s chapters Of the novel’s 31 chapters, 18 chapters fall above the entire work’s Lexile measure of 790L; 13 chapters fall below 790L Only one chapter (Ch. 20—the Courtroom Scene) falls within the Grades 9-10 text complexity band Five chapters come within 100L of the Grades 9-10 text complexity band

More Examples: Lexile by Chapter Guides

Pattern Folders: A Literary Analysis Tool

Your turn: Create a mini text set 1.Choose an anchor text and two supporting texts. 2.Form your line of inquiry or choose your topic. 3.Choose a set of standards to target.

Differentiating for Gifted Learners in the NCSCS Adjust AND accelerate all levels of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Focus on the skills of argument. Provide lessons that integrate the ELA Standards of reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language as well as standards of other disciplines. Adjust texts so that students are reading texts that are slightly above their documented reading level – (text complexity). Promote students’ development of research skills, Standards 7, 8, and 9 in the ELA Common Core.

Lesson Examples for Gifted Learners Elementary: Kindergarten: Evaluation of Book Characters: Who Would You Want to Be? Writing opinion pieces Strengthening writing with guidance and support Grade 2: Debating Current Issues - Banning Junk Food at School Debating Using evidence from the text Comparing two or more texts on the same topic Real life situation – authentic Grade 3 : Growing up Batty: Bats & Humans – Are we that different? Staying in the text, but going deeper Finding evidence from the text

Lesson Examples for Gifted Learners Middle: Grade 7: “The Star Spangled Banner”, 200 years later Writing arguments Integrating standards (Reading, Speaking and Listening, Writing) Using Socratic Seminar Higher-level questioning Using the standards as the criteria for the writing assessment

RL.6.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. RL.6.3 Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution. Student Outcome: Students will use proof from the text to support their idea of how a character changes. Instruction: “Students, watch as I refer to the text to find evidence to support my thinking about a character’s change in Peter Pan. In order to find the evidence, I must first consider how the story unfolds. So let’s review the plot, marking examples as we go. Now we have seven examples. Let’s look at how I determine the strongest textual evidence that would back up my thinking. Notice how I am using sticky notes to mark the places in my book so I can cite the text during class discussion.” Task : On a notecard write one idea you have about how a character changes. Use stickies to mark textual evidence. On paper, list the evidence you have found, in the order of importance. Assigning vs. Instructing

What gifted learners need from an instructional reading program : Opportunities to read challenging materials. Deeper reading comprehension instruction. Critical reading of text, including interpretation and analysis. Development of an appreciation of diverse, multicultural literature. Opportunities for group discussion of selected texts. Choice and self-selection of texts to promote motivation and reading enjoyment.

Resources  Texts and Lessons for Content-Area Reading (Harvey “Smokey” Daniels and Nancy Steineke)  Teaching with Text Sets (Mary Ann Cappiello and Erika Thulin Dawes)  Common Core Curriculum Maps English Language Arts (Common Core)  Louisiana Department of Ed. – Sample Unit Plans for Text Sets ela-year-long-planning

Collaborative Annotations

Collaborative Annotations

ELA Resources LiveBinder

These sets of lessons include: Complex Texts Text-dependent Questions Vocabulary Writing Assignments Assessment Questions* *Not all lesson sets include assessment questions Close Reading Model Lessons

Notice & Note

Standards Progression

Text-Dependent Questions for students to use during a close reading of a text: 1st reading: What it says. What is the text saying? 2nd reading: How it says it. How did the author organize it? What literary devices were used and how effective were they? What was the quality of the evidence? If data were presented, how was that done? If any visual texts (e.g., diagrams, tables, illustrations) were presented, how was that done? Why did the author choose this word or that word? Was the meaning of a key term consistent or did it change across the text? 3rd reading: What it means. What does this text mean? What was the author’s point? What does it have to say to me about my life or my world? How do I evaluate the quality of this work— aesthetically, substantively? How does this text connect to other texts I know? General follow-up questions for any of the text- dependent questions are: How do you know? What in the text tells you that? What’s the evidence?

PicLits.com is a creative writing site that matches beautiful images with carefully selected keywords in order to inspire you. The object is to put the right words in the right place and the right order to capture the essence, story, and meaning of the picture. PICLITS

Mind-Opener More resources in 90 seconds…

Julie Joslin, Ed.D. Section Chief English Language Arts Lisa L. McIntosh, MSA K-5 English Language Arts Consultant Angie Stephenson, M.Ed English Language Arts Consultant Contact Information: