“What you're looking for [in the text] is high levels of complexity in some areas and lower levels of complexity in other areas … that will result in a series of teaching points that you can use to guide students to understanding more complex text.” –Dr. Doug Fisher
Analyzing qualitative factors of complex text helps teachers identify targeted teaching points for students. On Day 3, Dr. Fisher invites teachers into deeper analysis of the four qualitative factors of text complexity: levels of meaning, structure, language convention, and knowledge demands.
A rubric is used to help with this analysis, focusing on high levels of text complexity that will result in a series of teaching points that can be used to guide students to a deeper understanding of complex text.
Take a deeper dive into the text that you analyzed in the last session.
Use the Qualitative Measures of Text Complexity Rubric to identify the factors of qualitative text complexity, focusing on the three-point column on the rubric.
Using this data, begin mapping out a series of teaching points that can be used to guide students to a deeper understanding of complex text. Consider adding those teaching points to your Learning Log.
Use this rubric designed by Dr. Fisher to assess the qualitative factors of text complexity to ensure a reader-text match and to identify areas of text that need instruction.
This log can be used to capture new learnings as you develop close reading techniques.
