Transcript Lee County Reading Council 2011 Conference

Using Leveled Text to
Differentiate Instruction
for Students in the
Content Areas
International Reading Association, April 2012
Kathleen Kopp
Teacher on Special Assignment, Citrus County Schools
Author and Presenter: Teacher Created Materials, Inc.
[email protected]
Today’s Objectives
• Identify the purpose of differentiating instruction
• Explore how leveled text can help teachers
differentiate instruction and support student
learning
• Learn how to identify text levels and modify texts to
match texts to students
Leveled Text Resources
 Teacher Created Materials has ready-made leveled text resources.
Enter for chances to win throughout this presentation!
Reading Beyond Their Years
•
Read the paragraph.
• Predict the readability level.
•
Summarize the content.
o Main idea
o Detail
o Detail
The Spanish Flu and Its Legacy
Science Cases for Classroom Use
The Spanish Flu and Its Legacy encourages you to adopt an
interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning. The events
surrounding the appearance of the Spanish Flu in 1918 have influenced
science, sociology, economics, history, and literature. It is impossible to
confront these events from only one perspective. The human story
modifies the scientist’s objective view, while science and a sense of
inquiry enable others to validate historical and medical information. We
hope that a natural curiosity about events, a scientific turn of mind, or a
personal connection to people and their stories create not only a desire
to know more about the pandemic of 1918, but also to develop a deeper
understanding of what it means to inquire and to investigate. This is all
the more important as every week, and even daily, newspapers and
scientific journals around the world are reporting remarkable discoveries
about both old and emerging diseases.
The Spanish Flu and Its Legacy
Science Cases for Classroom Use
• What is the readability of this paragraph?
15.9
Main Idea & Details
•Detail
Main
_______
Idea
•Detail
_______ _______
Why Match Text to Students?
YES _____
PLUSSES
“Content area text should closely match
students’ reading levels.”
MINUSES
You can’t change
It takes time to
the student, but
learn students’
you can change
Students who readreading levels.
the text.
text matched to
It takes time to
Teachers can read their reading level
revise text to
stand a better
in small groups
match students’
with students who chance of
reading levels.
understanding
it.
read text at a
similar readability
level, increasing
the teacher:student
ratio.
NO _____
INTERESTING
Content can stay
the same.
Differentiating Content
• Content is what the students need to learn or how
the student will get access to the information.
• When using leveled texts, the teacher provides
students with access to instructional materials more
closely matched to their reading abilities.
• Changing the level of the text does NOT mean the
content, or information, must change. Just the
readability level will change.
Steps to Matching Text to
Students
1. Know students’ approximate reading levels.
2. Find the text readability level of the material
students will read.
3. Modify the readability level to more closely match
students’ reading levels.
4. Provide additional instructional support, as
needed, to help students learn the content.
Step 1:
•
•
•
•
•
•
How to Find Students’
Reading Levels
Norm-referenced Test Scores
Running Records
Individual Reading Inventory
Informal Observation
Student Records (ESE, ESOL considerations)
Narrative vs. Expository Text
Step 2: How to Find Text Levels
• The easiest way to level text is to type, or copy and
paste text into a word processing program and run
the readability level from the program’s system.
Microsoft Word uses the “Flesch-Kincaid Grade
Level.”
o “Review” tab
o “Spelling and Grammar” icon
o “File”… “Options”… “Proofing”… Check “Show readability statistics”
(What is the readability of these two sentences?)
9.7
Step 3:
Modify Text Readability
Levels
SENTENCES
• Shorten compound or run-on sentences. Modify them
to have a simple subject and a simple predicate.
• Use active tense. (Example: Jane ate the apple. Not
The apple was eaten by Jane.)
• Avoid using phrases and clauses.
WORDS
• Simplify vocabulary. Use synonyms with a lower
readability.
• Insert short words (articles, pronouns, etc.) within text.
Be sure they have clear antecedents.
• Include definitions for new words. Use simple
explanations.
Example 1: Stars
• Third grade class
• Interactive whiteboard lesson to support a unit
related to “Stars”
• Students were to read an informational text and
identify:
o Different types of stars
o Three or more ways stars compare
• Students took notes from the text.
• Then they participated in interactive activities to
show what they learned.
Steps to Matching Text to
Students
• Know students’ approximate reading levels.
• Find the text readability level of the material
students will read.
• Modify the readability level to more closely match
students’ reading levels.
• Provide additional instructional support, as needed,
to help students learn the content.
Example 1: Stars
Our Sun is much closer to us than any other
star. Light from the Sun takes about eight minutes
to reach Earth, but the light from the next nearest
star takes several years to reach us.
Passage Readability:
5.5
Paragraph Readability:
“The Sun and Other Stars” from
5.9
http://nfo.edu/astro/sun.htm
Example 1: Stars
Our Sun is much closer to us than any other star.
Light from the Sun takes about eight minutes to reach
Earth, but the light from the next nearest star takes
several years to reach us.
Our Sun is the closest star to Earth. It is much
closer to us than any other star. Light from the Sun
takes about eight minutes to reach Earth, but the light
from the next nearest star takes several years to reach
us.
Example 1: Stars
Our Sun is the closest start to Earth. It is
closer than any other star. Light from the Sun takes
about eight minutes to reach Earth. Light from the
next nearest star takes several years to reach us.
Revised Passage Readability:
3.7
Revised Paragraph Readability:
2.7
“The Sun and Other Stars” from
http://nfo.edu/astro/sun.htm
LINK to the original text here.
LINK to the revised text here.
Steps to Matching Text to
Students
Step 4:
• Know students’ approximate reading
levels.
• Find the text readability level of the
material students will read.
• Modify the readability level to more
closely match students’ reading levels.
• Provide additional instructional support,
as needed, to help students learn the
content.
What IS Text Complexity?
• Quantitative Factors
o Readability Levels
•
Qualitative Factors
o Age-appropriate
Content
o Levels of Meaning and
Purpose for Text
o Text Structure and
Organization
o The Use of Visuals
o The Reader
• ELL
• ESE
• Background
Knowledge
• Experiences
• Motivation
Therefore, Differentiating Text
Is Only One Half of the Issue
•
Read the paragraph.
•
Answer the questions.
Fequital Liams
• If you have a bunch of
scunges to do, you
might save time by
misking them a certain
way. The idea of
misking higgs to make
things easier works in
shembry, too. The
fequital liams say you
can keep the order of
the askels or creems
but misk them for easier
jeffing.
Readability Level: 6.1
(Original Text: 6.6)
• What can you misk?
• What does misking do?
• What is another word
for scunges?
• How do the fequital
liams work?
Fequital Liam of Asking
• The Fequital Liam of
Asking says that
changing the misking
of three or more askels
does not change the
poulin.
• Example
(6 + 2) + 4 = 6 + (2 + 4).
• How does the Fequital
Liam of Asking help us
solve shembry problems?
• Use these plibs. Show
how the Fequital Liam of
Asking can change the
order of the askels but
not change the poulin.
10 + 20 + 32 = 10 + 20 + 32
Differentiating Process
• Differentiating process refers to the activities in
which students engage in order to make sense of or
master the content.
• After reading leveled text, students then engage in
an activity that differentiates instruction.
• Differentiating process includes:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
The use of graphic organizers
The use of scaffolded/leveled graphic organizers
The use of outlines
Cooperative learning (i.e., jigsaw)
Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic activities
Small group instruction
Conducting demonstrations
Using manipulatives, realia, pictures, visuals, or multimedia
Keeping learning logs or journals
Notes and IWB Activities
Essential Question: How
do stars compare?
• Read and take notes
• Identify stars by color
and name
• Order stars by size
• Order stars by
temperature
• Order stars by life
span
Example 2: Scatter Plots
• Fifth grade class
• TI 84+ Graphing Calculator Activity
• Students were to read an informational text and:
o Identify the purpose of scatter plots
o Compare the scatter plot activity to the text example
• Students conducted an interactive activity.
• While we computed the results, students read
about scatter plots and answered questions.
Example 2: Scatter Plots
• Original text readability: 7.1
Find It Here!
• Revised text readability: 5.1
Find It Here!
• Differentiated process:
o
o
o
o
o
Hands-on activity
Group discussion
Paired discussion
Collaborative summaries
What else?
Today’s Objectives
• Identify the purpose of differentiating instruction
• Explore how leveled text can help teachers
differentiate instruction and support student
learning
• Learn how to identify text levels and modify texts to
match texts to students
3-2-1 Summary
• List 3 ways to reduce or increase the readability of
the text students will use.
• Write 2 ways to differentiate instruction with leveled
text. Explain why each is important.
• Decide on 1upcoming topic for which you can use
leveled text with students. Explain how you will
integrate the use of leveled text with your students.
Thank you for spending time with me!
[email protected]
http://www.citrus.k12.fl.us/fre/kopp/ContentAreaWriting.htm