Collection Development and the Common Core Reader and Task

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Collection Development and the Common Core
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The Common Core State Standards

• Are Standards NOT Standardization
• Provide us with just the right set of conditions
  to create the quality learning environment that
  will create independent college/workplace ready
  readers.
• Gives us an outline that we can use with a
  variety of pedagogies and tools including young
  adult literature.

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The Common Core State Standards

• Has Flaws
• Does not address all the research
• Amount of reading
• Reader ability
• Reading for Pleasure

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Overview of Text Complexity

• Text complexity is defined by

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The Common Core State Standards

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The Common Core State Standards

• Lack of Proper Scaffolding
• In the 6-8 -- The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks by
  Katherine Paterson a twenty page retelling of a
  Japanese folktale illustrated by Leo and Diane
  Dillon.
• In the 9-10 grade -- Franz Kafkas The
  Metamorphosis an intriguingly bizarre work
  originally written in German and first published
  in 1915.

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The Common Core State Standards

• Background Knowledge
• Alices Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  -- creative word play, conventions of fantasy
  journeys, movie rendition
• Homers The Odyssey -- epic poetry, complex
  translated language, complex Greek mythology,
  politics of the ancient Greek isles, ancient
  inheritance and succession laws, ancient Greek
  history and the events that led up to and after
  Troy, mariners customs and sea travel, etc.

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The Common Core State Standards

• Cursory Descriptions Lead To Potential for
  Misinterpretations
• In the discussion of text complexity, nearly four
  full pages of Appendix A are dedicated to how to
  determine the complexity of a text from a
  quantitative and qualitative perspective, but
  only about one paragraph and half a page of
  commentary is dedicated to explaining how to
  consider readers and tasks

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Text Complexity

• Text complexity is defined by

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Quantitative Measures
Quantitative Measures

• Measures such as
• Word length
• Word frequency
• Word difficulty
• Sentence length
• Text length
• Text cohesion

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Quantitative Measures

• Lexile Text Measures

• ATOS Book Levels (Accelerated Reader)

---or---
Flesch-Kincaid Formula SMOG Coleman
Liau Automated Readability Index Gunning-Fog
Index Dale-Chall
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Quantitative Measures
1. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton.   2.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.   3. Paddington
Helps Out by Michael Bond.   4. The Flunking of
Joshua T. Bates by Susan Shreve, illustrated by
Diane DeGroat.   5. Before We Were Free by
Julia Alvarez.   6. An Abundance of Katherines
by John Green.
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Quantitative Measures

• The Little House
• Paddington Helps Out
• The Flunking of Joshua T. Bates
• Before We Were Free
• An Abundance of Katherines
• Fahrenheit 451

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Quantitative Measures
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Vs. Heist
Society by Ally Carter A Farewell to Arms by
Ernest Hemingway Vs. The Hunger Games by
Suzanne Collins
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Quantitative Measures

• The things they measure dont necessarily make
  something harder or easier to read
• The formulas fail to take into account the
  context of the text.
• Looking at only a portion of text can give us a
  very inaccurate picture.
• Different measures have different results.
• Some scores are easier to come by and to
  calculate
• Producers have a vested interest in their
  formulas.
• Texts and Readers vary.

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Quantitative Measures

• Decoding is very different than comprehension,
  you dont need to know every word to comprehend
• Requiring students to read on a certain
  qualitative level biases them against a wide
  selection of quality approvable literature.
• English has and will change

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Qualitative Measures
Qualitative Measures

• Measures such as
• Format
• Audience
• Levels of Meaning
• Structure
• Language Conventions
• Knowledge demands

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Qualitative Measures
Format Size of the Book -- What is the physical
size of the book? How many pages does it
have? Font -- What kinds of font are used in the
text? Is the font consistent throughout the book
or does it vary? Layout -- How dense is the
text block? Is the layout expected or is it
unconventional?
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Qualitative Measures
Format Construction -- Of how high a quality is
the construction of the work? Is the paper of
good quality? Organization -- What
organizational structures does the author use to
divide or arrange the work? Does the work
represent an atypical text structure or
organizational pattern? Illustrations -- What
role do the illustrations play? What visual
literacy skills are necessary for the reader to
interpret both the text and the pictures?
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Qualitative Measures
Audience For whom was the text written? Whom
does the text best fit?
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Qualitative Measures
Levels of Meaning Is there a central question
that the author is trying to answer or give
perspective on? How many interpretations does
that central question allow for? Theme -- Does
the theme represent a universal issue or need?
What subtleties does the author use to express
theme?
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Qualitative Measures
Levels of Meaning Conflict -- From what source
does the conflict stem? How does the source of
conflict affect the meaning or theme of the
story?  Connections -- How does this book
connect to my readers as a group and as
individuals? What connections can be made
between this book and a readers broader world
experiences? What connections can be made
between this and other texts both narrative and
informational?
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Qualitative Measures
Structure Setting -- Is the setting familiar or
unfamiliar? Does the story take place in more
than one time or place? Plot -- How many plot
lines does the story follow? Does the story
resolve in a predictable way or are their twists
and surprises?
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Qualitative Measures
Structure Character -- How many characters are
in the book? Are additional characters complex or
flat? How diverse are the characters? Point of
View -- Is the story told from more than one
point of view? How diverse is the point of view
and how connected is that to a readers
experience?
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Qualitative Measures
Language Conventions Style and Tone -- What
style and tone does the author use? Does the book
contain dialect or other specialized or archaic
language usage? Literary devices -- What
literary devices does the author use? How
sophisticated or complex are these literary
devices? For what effect are these literary
devices used?
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Qualitative Measures
Knowledge Demands What background information
or prior knowledge is necessary to comprehend
this text? What does the author assume we
already know?
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Reader and Task Measures
Reader and Task

• Considerations such as
• The Adolescent Reader
• The Independent Reader
• The Readers Capacity
• Knowledge Demands
• Task Criteria

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Reader and Task Measures
Reader dimensions   The adolescent reader Who
are our readers? What developmental issues are
important for me to take into account when
selecting texts? What role does race, gender,
socio-economic status, and cognitive capabilities
play for our individual readers?   The
Independent Reader What kind of readers do we
want our adolescents to become? How do we want
our readers to behave now and into the future?
 
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Reader and Task Measures
Reader dimensions   The Readers
Capacity  Interest -- Will this text be of
interest to my readers?  Experience -- What
outside experience or knowledge does the reader
bring to this book?  Motivation Will my
students be motivated to read this text?  
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Reader and Task Measures
Reader dimensions   Knowledge Demands   What
experience or knowledge does the text require of
the reader? Do my students have this experience
or knowledge without my intervention? How much
intervention is necessary?  
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Analyzing The Text
 
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Analyzing The Text
 
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Reader and Task Measures
Task dimensions   Anchor Standard One Making
Inferences Excalibur the legend of King Arthur,
a graphic novel by Tony Lee illustrated by Sam
Hart  
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Reader and Task Measures
Task dimensions   Anchor Standard Two Themes
that Generate Knowledge  
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Reader and Task Measures
Task dimensions   Anchor Standard Three
Dialogue-Rich A day of tears a novel in
dialogue by Julius Lester  
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Reader and Task Measures
Task dimensions   Anchor Standard Four Word
meaning conveys a sense of time and place Eragon
by Christopher Paolini  
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Reader and Task Measures
Task dimensions   Anchor Standard Five
Flashbacks and Manipulating Time Sequences  
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Reader and Task Measures
Task dimensions   Anchor Standard Six
Satire Beauty Queens by Libba Bray  
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Reader and Task Measures
Task dimensions   Anchor Standard Seven
Artistic Mediums Beastly by Alex Flinn  
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Reader and Task Measures
Task dimensions   Anchor Standard Nine Modern
works that draw on themes of the
past Minotaur Dark of the Moon by Tracy
Barrett  
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Our Role As Librarians

• Speak up
• Advocate for the Best Books
• Advocate for the Readers Needs
• Read Extensively