Discuss your rationale for choosing this text/selection, (i.e. is it particularly challenging for a 

portion of your students? 

What assessment did you conduct? What were the results of your text difficulty analysis?

Please complete by Wednesday. 

Yes | No | Does your “activity” work meet the following criteria?

Post COMPLETE answers to questions in #4 above on class Padlet.

Completed all work in satisfactory (or greater) quality and by Wednesday of each week.

2)    I selected “Day 2” from the “Intro. To Computer Science” Module” in Paxton Patterson’s online Learning Management System which I use in my classroom. 

3)    Each module equates to a book and each day within the module represents a chapter, so I am essentially evaluating the readability of a single chapter within the module.  

4)    This particular “chapter” describes binary code and how digital information works.  I chose this text because I feel that this particular module presents a bit more complex information than other modules in the online system, and I wanted to test that perception.  I chose to conduct the “Frye Readability Graph” and found that with an average sentence length of 5.37 sentences per 100 words, and the average syllable count being 164, the content is approximately on a twelfth grade reading level!  I am teaching this to seventh graders, so the material is understandably difficult for them.  One thing I find particularly important is that quite often words with a higher syllabic count are repeated.  (e.g. computer, computing, computational, programming, processing, information, electricity.)  Therefore, focusing on vocabulary will ease the challenge of readability.  

4) This article is pertinent within our ‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle’ unit for 9^th grade standards regarding the use of paper towels. I ran the Fry Readability test since it was an online article as opposed to a book within the database. I was unable to find the article within the Lexile database. 

• For the results of the Fry test, I got 148 words over 4.5 sentences, giving the article a readability score within the 9^th grade range, nearly bordering the 10^th grade reading level. There are several scientific words within the text which are new terms for most of the students.

2) I selected The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton because it is a book my eighth graders will read this year, and I read it when I was an eighth grader myself. I don't remember thinking this was a challenging read, but this was many years ago when I read the book for the first time.

3) I chose to conduct the Fry Readability Graph because I am really interested in sentence length and word length as an art. I think that students don't consider the artistic or rhetorical effect of sentence and word variation because they're not explicitly taught this skill, but I am fascinated by it and aim to teach my students this observation of purposeful sentence variation.

4) I used the first two paragraphs from chapter one of The Outsiders, and I found that the average sentence length per 100 words was 4.7, and the average number of syllables was 129. This showed that the approximate grade level is between 7th and 8th grade. This feels accurate to me. When I reread the book, I remember feeling the language (while it contains lingo from the 60s) is very accessible. 

I conducted the Lexile level assessment and the book is 640L which falls in the higher elementary level (grades 3-5). I also conducted a Flesch Reading test because it is one of the most commonly used readability scales and Front Desk is rated 77.8, which is defined as “fairly easy to read”. It is comparable to the readability of a book like Harry Potter. Both assessments confirm that this book is suited for higher elementary students. 

Since the Lexile number is provided with Newsela, I did not feel it was fair to use it as my only measure. I attempted the Fry model, but it was difficult to make sure I did not select proper nouns or miscount syllables. 

     Our textbook reading 
     referenced that the Lexile
     measure is not an indicator of
     the content of a text. I think 
     Their Eyes Were Watching God 
     is a good example of this given  
     that it scored in the middle   
     school grade levels for both 
     assessments, but is typically 
     taught in high school. The  
     topics and language used in the       novel have most likely    
     influenced when this material is       taught rather than its actual  
     reading level. 

4)Lexile results are 950L which is appropriate for 7^th Grade. For the Fry Graph the book is also for 7^th grade. Results from the Fry Readability tool:
Average # of syllables per 100 words: 127
 Average # of sentences per 100 words: 5.7

I chose this book as it is one my son's favorite and I know that a lot of his classmates like it too. However, after reading the book I found a lot of materials that are not measured with the above tools. These are not necessarily inappropriate but for example the concepts of laziness is ok, lying is ok, talking about others in a disrespectful way also. All these are concepts I would be concerned if my students are introduced to.
 I know from assessing my own
son that he believes that a lot of things in this book are cool and real and
this is a problem for me as a mother and as teacher in the future.

I used https://fab.lexile.com/search/results to assess the Lexile Level of Monster. It received a score of 670L. Per Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz (2017), the Lexile Level Assessment state that texts in the  range of 450L-725L (current lexile band) and 450L-790L (stretched lexile band) can be read by grades 2-3. However, the authors go on to state that this readability assessment measures text complexity not the content of the material or any prior knowlege the reader will need before reviewing the material (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz, 2017). I selected this book because students seem to enjoy reading it, and it is a great introduction to a narrative novel. Although it is not linguistically complex, the subject matter is more mature and requires more complex reasoning and understanding than it’s Lexical Level suggests. 

portion of your students?
I decided to use the textbook because it is something that we use every so often in the class. However, I have never really assessed students' ability to read and comprehend the textbook.

What assessment did you conduct? What were the results of your text difficulty analysis?
I used the comprehension inventory to assess my students. I asked them to read 6 pages. Most students took between 13-20 minutes. Most students were about to articulate what the section was about. However, a number of students only wrote one or a few words. In the future, I must be specific that they need to write a few sentences. In the true and false questions, must students got those correct. With about 82% of the students selecting the correct answer.  Some students struggled with the implication questions and a lot more struggle with the "what if" prediction question at the end.  This gave a lot of information that will be helpful as we move forward. Some of my students struggle with reading and this activity highlighted that struggle a little more. I already knew this but having hard data helps me justified more scaffolding and support for those students. 

 

2. Hotel Bruce – Ryan T. Higgins

 

3. Lexile Level – 510L (second or third grade)

 

4. I chose a picture book to use with my future ELL students in lower elementary. According to the Lexile level Hotel Bruce is in the range for second and third grade English speaking students. Therefore, it would be challenging for students who are still learning English. The book has short sentences and pictures illustrating it, which would help ELLs understand the text and gain new vocabulary. I particularly chose this book because it make use of common words that ELLs learn in their first months in the country, such as: animals, numerals, seasons, feelings and parts of the house. It could be used as a resource to introduce those words or review the material studied before.

 

During classroom observations a couple of months ago, I noted that ELL students relied heavily on pictures to draw meaning from the text, and some of their books were bilingual (English/Spanish). Hotel Bruce is only in English, but the pictures illustrate the message of the text well. It would also be interesting to ask students what meaning they get from the pictures and compare it with the written text’s message.