Welcome to today’s webinar! More Thinking Around Text Complexity Guest Speaker: Matt Copeland We will begin at 3:30 Please check your equipment for sound.

Guest Speaker: Matt Copeland Matt Copeland is an Associate for Instructional Innovation and Support with MetaMetrics, Inc., an educational research firm based in Durham, North Carolina, and creator of the Lexile® Framework for Reading. A former English teacher, he has received numerous awards including: the 2006 Distinguished Kansan of the Year in Education a 2005 Milken National Educator a 2003 Kansas Master Teacher Prior to his current work, he also served five years as a Language Arts and Literacy Consultant for the Kansas State Department of Education, helping to craft the Kansas College and Career Ready Standards.

Why MORE Thinking around Text Complexity? Often when we think of Lexiles, we think of a single number – a measure – of an entire work. For example To Kill A Mockingbird has a Lexile of 790. A tool that is being developed by Durham-based Metametrics shows that the complexity of a novel can vary chapter by chapter. Reviewing and considering a “by chapter” model allows teachers to reflect, and then prepare for, chapters that have a higher complexity.

Resources for Working With Text Complexity

Resources for Scaffolding

Contact Information Julie Joslin, Ed.D. Section Chief English Language Arts Anna Lea Frost, M.Ed. 6-8 English Language Arts Consultant Lisa McIntosh, MSA K-5 English Language Arts Consultant Angie Stephenson, M.Ed English Language Arts Consultant Kristi Day, M.Ed. K-5 English Language Arts Consultant

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Finding the Complexity Within a Work: Using Lexile by Chapter Guides to Inform Instruction Matt Copeland, Associate for Instructional Innovation and Support

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. What Teachers Are Hearing… More Close Reading of Complex Text Incorporate more complex texts, particularly non-fiction Build student independent reading skill along a “staircase of complexity” Use short texts to practice close reading Practice close reading at least once every three weeks 8

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. What Teachers Are Asking… So, where does this leave full-length, less-complex texts—often novels—which can take more than three weeks to teach? 9

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. An Example 10 Should I keep teaching this work or not?

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Historical Perspective Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird One of the Top-10 most commonly taught novels in American high schools – #5 among public high schools – #4 among Catholic high schools – #8 among independent high schools (Applebee, 1989) 11

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Quantitative Measure of TKM 12

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. 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? 13

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Because I Am a Nerd!… I decided to take To Kill a Mockingbird’s 31 chapters and run each one— individually—through the Lexile Analyzer and graphed the results. 14

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. TKM – Lexile Measures by Chapter

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. 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 text complexity band 16

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Additional Questions for Discussion… 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) TKM? Would this information alter any student groupings used during instruction (i.e., whole class, small groups, individual)? 17

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Given this Data… And its potential impact on instruction, I started to wonder… If there is so much variation in Lexile measure among the chapters of a novel, how much variation must there be within a single chapter? 18

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. So, Because I Am a Complete Nerd!… I took Chapter 13 of To Kill a Mockingbird’s and ran each paragraph—individually— through the Lexile Analyzer and graphed the results. 19

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. TKM Ch. 13 – Lexile Measures by Paragraph 20 The red line represents the Lexile measure of the novel as a whole: 790L. The purple line represents the Lexile measure of Chapter 13 as a whole: 1020L. The green shaded region represents the suggested grades 9-10 text complexity band (1050L-1335L). Paragraph #39 (-570L): “Who?” I said. Lexile Measure Paragraph # (Word Count)

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Questions for Discussion… What insight can you glean from this graph? – An even greater range of Lexile measures exists within this chapter than does among individual whole chapters – Obviously, some short paragraphs of dialogue [e.g., Paragraph #39 (-570L): “Who?” I said.] are impacting the overall chapter and novel measures – Paragraphs #16-#36 appear to suggest a rich opportunity for close reading of complex text that fall within the Grades 9-10 text complexity band, even though the chapter and novel as a whole do not 21

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Additional Questions for Discussion… What opportunities do you see for teaching complex text and close reading here? How might such information impact your teaching (or planning for teaching) TKM? Would this information alter any student groupings used during instruction (i.e., whole class, small groups, individual)? 22

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Lexile by Chapter Guides Currently Available 23 Elementary School: Bud, Not Buddy Charlotte's Web Hatchet Holes James and the Giant Peach Maniac Magee On the Banks of Plum Creek Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Sarah Plain and Tall The Black Stallion Watsons Go to Birmingham Tuck Everlasting Middle School: A Wrinkle in Time Hatchet Holes Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Speak The Giver The House of Scorpion The Outsiders The Pearl Watsons Go to Birmingham To Kill a Mockingbird Touching Spirit Bear High School: 1984 Brave New World The Grapes of Wrath The Great Gatsby Fahrenheit 451 Lord of the Flies Of Mice and Men Speak Huckleberry Finn The Awakening The Outsiders The Pearl The Scarlet Letter Things Fall Apart To Kill a Mockingbird Touching Spirit Bear

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. James and the Giant Peach 24

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry 25

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. How You Can Explore Complexity Within a Work 26

This presentation constitutes the confidential information of MetaMetrics, Inc. Copyright © 2015 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. For more information about Lexile measures, visit For more information about MetaMetrics, visit MetaMetrics 1000 Park Forty Plaza Drive, Suite 120 Durham, North Carolina Phone: Toll Free: LEXILES ( ) 27