I've been struggling with some comments about text complexity and the Common Core in a recent professional development day with my district. I've been questioning how text complexity fits into my knowledge of guided reading and Pathways to Reading instruction. I've spent years learning how to match children to the right text and how decoding skills are so important for emergent readers. I've even spent most of last summer in training to become a Pathways to Reading instructor.
I've seen first hand how learning to decode and putting children in texts that are at their instructional level benefit children. Now, is the Common Core telling me I have to give my kids more complex texts and let them "work their way" through the text? I've even heard presenters say we have to "drag" kids through more complex texts. SERIOUSLY! How do I look at a five-year old and say "you'll just have to figure it out" when my little one can't even read? Yes, I know I am their to scaffold and teach but REALLY! What do these people think I've been doing all along? BABYSITTING?!?!
In response, I've been participating in webinars
and researching my questions. The blog listed below has been very useful. It
is written by a professor at the University of Illinois and has been very
informative in answering many of my questions.
I've copied a question below one reader had specifically about this
question and Dr. Shanahan's response. It reaffirms the important work my school is doing with our youngest readers. Text complexity can still be brought in
through our read alouds and our small group work should still have a big
emphasis on decoding and sight words. It just proves our feeling that K-1
should focus on getting our kids decoding and hopefully not having many, if any,
going on to 2nd grade needing as much decoding work.
Tessa Trimmsaid...
Mr. TIm,
The shift to more complex text in the CCSS is definitely going to be one of the biggest changes for many classroom teachers. The comments made thus far are proof in themselves. I recently attended a workshop about implementing CCSS and a colleague of mine said it best, "we've been good for a long time at matching text to our readers, now we've got to learn how to match our readers to the text." While this is a major shift, and a great one I want to add, it is quite difficult at the K-1 level. Our primary focus to increase text complexity with these young learners has been through read alouds. Another challenge we have faced is the necessity to build foundational skills witthout decontextualizing our instruction. What advice can you offer for K-1 teachers about text complexity and foundational skills instruction?
July
16, 2012 at 12:09 AM
Tim
Shanahansaid...
At kindergarten and grade 1, my advice is that you should not ramp up text
difficulty on the reading end. I am a big believer in reading complex texts to
kids (books that they definitely cannot read themselves), but with regard to
beginning reading you want a mix of texts that expose kids to a high
concentration of very high frequency words and that have a large percentage of
words that can be decoded with relatively simple phonics (such as one-to-one
correspondences of letters to sounds, and preferably non-conditional matches of
letters to sounds). By the time students can handle high first grade level
texts, then you can start to move them up in difficulty. Initially, keep your
emphasis on mastering the decoding system. If you ramp up the text difficulty
too early, I fear that you will slow that process down.
The shift to more complex text in the CCSS is definitely going to be one of the biggest changes for many classroom teachers. The comments made thus far are proof in themselves. I recently attended a workshop about implementing CCSS and a colleague of mine said it best, "we've been good for a long time at matching text to our readers, now we've got to learn how to match our readers to the text." While this is a major shift, and a great one I want to add, it is quite difficult at the K-1 level. Our primary focus to increase text complexity with these young learners has been through read alouds. Another challenge we have faced is the necessity to build foundational skills witthout decontextualizing our instruction. What advice can you offer for K-1 teachers about text complexity and foundational skills instruction?
TIME FOR THE HALLELUJAH CHOIR-
I still have lots of questions but I am comforted by the fact that my philosophy of how our young readers need to learn is not blown out of the water by Common Core. I am seeing a lot of value now that I understand more about how the standards are laid out and what they really say. Common Core puts a big emphasis on foundational skills in K-1 and start to die out in 2nd grade.
This tells me we are on the right path. It sounds like text complexity for our young learners come in with our read alouds, where it should be. I think now I need to tackle the question of "What is close reading?" I'm heading off to the NCEA convention in April so I will be looking to find more answers to bring back for the benefit of my collegues and our students. So lucky to have this opportunity!
