FEATURE ARTICLES

New Angles on Differentiating Reading Instruction :Five Best Practices That Deserve a New Chapterin the Common Core Era

Laura Robb

One of my favorite New Yorker cartoons, byRobert Mankoff (1987), is of two men,one a writer, talking at a cocktail party.The caption reads, "" We're still pretty farapart. I'm looking for a six-figure advance

and they're refusing to read my manuscript." It brilliantlycaptures sky-high expectations that don't match up toreality.

When I think about the expectations of the Com-mon Core State Standards (CCSS) for reading, it seemsto me "we're pretty far apart." In saying this, I am notdissenting from the standards' reading and writinggoals, but like many educators, I am concerned that theimminence of the CCSS tests puts pressure on schoolsthat may undermine the goals of the CCSS. Teachersneed time. They need time to marry their current prac-tices with those of the Common Core, such as closereading and providing text-based responses. They needquality professional development. The space betweenmany teachers' abilities to help readers make sufficientprogress and the requirements for reading proficiencyexpected by the Common Core is still pretty vast. Tosome extent teachers are innocent victims of the pen-dulum swings in education. For example, before theCCSS was adopted by New Jersey, students had beenrequired to add a personal connection when writingabout reading on the state exam. But with the CCSS,personal connections are out and text-dependent com-prehension is in; only effective, ongoing professionaldevelopment can help teachers and students transitionto a new way of thinking. Indeed, the best professionaldevelopment experiences will empower teachers toexamine the "what works" of their own teaching, andrealize that readers make personal connections as theyread, and they can continue to, along with reckoningwith the text's meaning.

Students themselves are far apart from the CCSSrequirement that all students read complex grade-leveltexts by the end of the school year. I recently coacheda seventh grade teacher in a middle school close to myhome. In September, the range of instructional readinglevels among the twenty-eight students was from third totwelfth gradel Like many teachers, the teacher thoughtshe could not deviate from the district requirementthat each and every student read the selections in theseventh grade anthology and take the unit tests. Toaccommodate the sixteen students reading two to fouryears below grade level, the teacher read aloud theselections to them. Thus, the very students who shouldbe reading more every day—more than proficient andadvanced readers in order to move forward, aren'treading. Compelling all students to read the same textfrustrates these struggling students and lowers theirself-confidence and self-efficacy (Guthrie, Wigfield,Metsala, Sc Cox, 1999; Guthrie, Wigfield, & Klauda,2012). This teacher is a committed, capable teacher—but she needs training and coaching to deepen herexpertise in meeting the needs of a vast range of readers.

So our challenge is this: If we are ever to closethe achievement gap, either via the CCSS or whateveris next generating change in education, we have tohelp classroom teachers at all grade levels embrace and"own" their professional development, and allow themto shake off the notion many across the nation express:that with the Common Core in town, everything they'vebeen doing is wrong. Teachers need to know of, leanon, and cite the strong research base of instructionaland independent reading practices that have workedfor their students. However, they need to look at theircurrent practices and be open to improvements thatthe CCSS has brought to the professional discussion.Students ultimately suffer when educators go along with

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"out with the old, in with the new" swings in pedagogy;so what I advocate here is to marry the old with the new.

In this article, I want to focus on differentiationin reading, and use it as an example of how to staytrue to best practices that have a strong research base,and yet bring fresh methods to them in light of theCommon Core. As you read about how I change updifferentiation for today's standards, I want you tosee the professional development power of an article,and to see that effective professional development canbe—and maybe should be—small, measurable forays,such as trying the ideas you come across in professionalbooks and articles and discussing them with colleagues.How do we meet the CCSS? Bird by bird, as writer AnnLamott's father advised (1994).

So with that in mind, let's focus on differentiation,and how we can use it to meet Common Core StateStandards for Reading by staying true to five bestpractices that need to play a bigger role:1. Use anchor texts to teach reading. An anchor text

provides a common read aloud text for instruction,and this enables students to have choices with in-structional reading. Later in this article I providesample anchor text lessons you can use to modelmaking logical inferences, discovering the author'spurpose and tone, and what it means to read a textclosely. The lessons illustrate that teaching withan anchor text offers the freedom to meet studentswhere they are and have them read and learn at theirinstructional levels so they can improve their read-ing skills (Allison, 2009; Robb, 2008, 2013).

2. Use formative assessments to inform teaching de-cisions. Formative assessments place differentiatedreading instruction on a rock-sohd foundation be-cause they consider the child's work, behaviors, andattitudes on a daily basis, and thus decisions aboutlearning, placement, and support emerge fromperformance-based data, and needn't wait for late-in-the-year standardized tests, when it's too late forthe current teacher to act on the data. If schools re-value formative assessment, they stand a far betterchance of meeting end-of-year CCSS benchmarks;formative assessments help teachers become morediagnostic in their teaching day to day, and in turnassure students are making sufficient progress weekto week, month to month. When students receivefrequent, qualitative feedback through formativeassessments (conferences, written conversations inreading notebooks, peer feedback, quizzes, and soon) the benefits to the learner accrue quickly (Ser-ravallo, 2010, 2012).

3. Amplify writing about reading. English novelistE.M. Forster wrote: "How do I know what I thinkuntil I see what I say?" Forster's question capturesthe point that we can write what we know andunderstand. Now with the Common Core, there

is urgency around students' writing about readingand I think this is a good thing. I encourage youto read the research of Steve Graham and MichaelHebert (2010) in Write to Read, which demonstratesthat writing that unveils students understandings ofa text, his/her thinking with the ideas of the text,improves comprehension. How do we bring writingabout reading out of the shadows in order to deepenstudents' reading experience? I recommend studentswrite something daily—even if it's just a few sen-tences. In addition, especially beginning in gradethree, we can help students to write analytical para-graphs and move to essays in grade five and up.

4. Recognize that independent reading is the big ac-celerator. Students who read voluminously becomeavid, lifelong readers (Allison, 2009; AUington,2002, 2011; Krashen, 1993; Miller, 2009; Robb,2010, 2013). Students want choice in what theyread. The more teachers know about fiction andnonfiction books the quicker they can make greattext to student suggestions. We need to help teachersrally around independent reading and toward show-ing students how to choose texts that they can read.We can do that by enhancing teachers' abilities to:(1) understand text complexity; (2) assess students'interests, (3) extend discussion of texts, beginningwith the routine of book talks, and (4) guide eBookreading at home and at school.

5. Acquire and select books for instructional reading.Teachers perceive finding books that meet each stu-dent's instructional needs a challenge because schoolfunding is limited or there are no funds available.Here are suggestions that work! Raid your school'sbook room and your class library. Ask your schooland local public librarians to select books that linkto your unit's genre or theme and organize them byinstructional reading level. Gather enough books togive students choices, and keep the books in yourclassroom to prevent loss. Offering students choicewith instructional books is crucial because if a bookdoesn't motivate a student or if the student findsit too difficult, having other books at students' in-structional levels readily available makes changingbooks easy.

Before delving into best practices in more detailand how they can work in concert, let's review somebasic elements of differentiated instruction.

What is Differentiated Instruction?Differentiation is a method of teaching that asks teachersto know their students so well that they can respondto individual needs and provide tasks and learningexperiences that move each student forward. By usingformative assessment to observe and understand thedifferences and similarities among students, teachers

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can use this information to plan instruction. Hereare three key principles that form the foundation ofdifferentiating reading instruction.

Learners reading levels are diverse. The students inour classes have a wide range of expertise with reading,writing, problem solving, and speaking and requiredifferentiated instruction that takes them where they areand moves them forward (Snow & Biancarosa, 2004).Organizing reading around one textbook or one novel iswhat Carol Ann Tomlinson calls teaching to the middle(1999). This means that only the group reading at gradelevel has opportunities to improve their reading skill.

Formative assessment. Teachers study and monitorall of students' work and behaviors to determine whatstudents do and don't grasp in order to design scaffolds,reteach, and adjust curriculum.

Tiered instruction helps students' progress. Thismeans that the books students read and the assignmentsthey complete match their learning needs and levels ofexpertise. The learning experience is the same but thelevel of complexity differs (Tomlinson, 1999; Sousa,2001). For example, the class will study historical fiction.Instead of one book for all, the teacher has each studentread historical fiction at his or her instructional level.

If the task is to plan and write an analytical essaythat cites text evidence to argue for or against a claim orposition, tiering means all students will work on ana-lytical writing. However, the teacher adjusts the level ofcomplexity of the writing task by considering students'writing skill. ELL students and those who strugglewith writing might plan and write an analytical para-graph and confer often with the teacher who scaffoldsthe task. Proficient and advanced writers might com-plete a fully developed essay. Tiering allows teachers toadjust the amount of structure and support they offerstudents through teacher led conferences as well as thetime students require to complete the writing (Dodge,2005; Tomlinson, 1995, 1999; Sousa, 2001; Robb,2008).

How the Five PracticesProvide New Angles on Differentiating

Historically, teachers applauded the whole class bookand/or grade level anthology because it provided themwith a common text for modeling how to infer, pinpointthemes and central ideas, complete journal entries, andstudy literary elements or nonfiction text structures.One-book-for-all can decelerate the achievement ofstudents who can't read and learn in English languagearts and content classes. Instead of progressing, theyslowly and steadily slide backwards (Allington, 2002;Robb, 2008; Tomlinson, 1999). Does this mean never-ever read anthology selections together, or a whole classnovel or work of nonfiction? Not necessarily, but in thecourse of the year, it cannot be the sole way teachersaddress literature and reading.

The five angles of differentiation are the antidoteto the same-text-for-all: anchor text, formative assess-ment, writing about reading, independent reading, andacquiring and selecting books at diverse instructionallevels.

The Anchor Text:Teaching the How-to of ReadingThe anchor text is a common text that the teacherreads aloud modeling how to apply the CCSS. Lessonsare brief^three to five minutes. An eighth gradesocial studies teacher told me: "I use my textbook andnewspaper and magazine articles as anchor texts tointroduce vocabulary and show students how to identifybig ideas and themes."

A picture book, an excerpt from a novel, infor-mational text, or content textbook, a short story, myth,or legend, or an article from a magazine or newspapermake ideal anchor texts. Match the genre and themeof the anchor text to your reading unit and read aloudone to two paragraphs a day. With this versatile teach-ing tool, you can make visible how you analyze texts ororganize thinking into ajournai entry. And because thetexts are short and the lessons brief, it's easy to reviewan anchor text and the lesson in other instructional mo-ments, either while conferring with a student or in an-other small-group setting.

The series of anchor text lessons that follow applykey Common Core standards to reading an excerptfrom a memoir by Frederick Douglass, published in1845: Memoir, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

I lived with Mr. Covey one year. Duringthe first six months, of that year, scarce a weekpassed without his whipping me. I was seldomfree from a sore back. My awkwardness wasalmost always his excuse for whipping me. Wewere worked fully up to the point of endurance.Long before day we were up, our horses fed, andby the first approach of day we were off to thefield with our hoes and ploughing teams. Mr.Covey gave us enough to eat, but scarce timeto eat it. We were often less than five minutestaking our meals. We were often in the field fromthe first approach of day till its last lingering rayhad left us; and at saving-fodder time, midnightoften caught us in the field binding blades.

If at any one time of my life more thananother, I was made to drink the bitterest dregsof slavery, that time was during the first sixmonths of my stay with Mr. Covey. We wereworked in all weathers. It was never too hot ortoo cold; it could never rain, blow, hail, or snow,too hard for us to work in the field. Work, work,work, was scarcely more the order of the day thanof the night. The longest days were too short for

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him, and the shortest nights too long for him. Iwas somewhat unmanageable when I first wentthere, but a few months of this discipline tamedme. Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I wasbroken in body, soul, and spirit. My naturalelasticity was crushed, my intellect languished,the disposition to read departed, the cheerfulspark that lingered about my eye died; the darknight of slavery closed in upon me; and behold aman transformed into a brute!

type of journal is an easy to implement writing aboutreading device that greatly improves comprehension.Here's the example that I write on chart paper:

Teaching the Anchor Text LessonAnchor text lessons open the door to analytical readingfor students who see snapshots of your thinking andwriting about reading. Flash the anchor text onto awhiteboard or use a document camera to display it. Toheighten students' listening abilities, you might haveto read a selection twice or even recap key details forEnglish language learners and developing readers. Bringstudents into the lessons once you've modeled a process.

First day. This lesson shows students how to usespecific text details to make logical inferences.1. I say something like this: Today I will read aloud

two paragraphs from Frederick Douglass's Memoir,Narrative of the Life ofFrederickDouglass, an AmericanSlave. This excerpt discusses Douglass's experiencesworking as a slave for Mr. Covey. While enslaved,Douglass secretly taught himself to read and writebelieving that knowledge was the path from slaveryto freedom. In 1838, Douglass successfully escapedslavery and worked to abolish it; he also supportedwoman's suffrage. Listen carefully to the selection,and how I use text details to make logical inferences,find unstated text meanings.

2. Read the selection out loud, then present your thinkaloud. Here's what I say: Details about how Mr.Covey worked his slaves—in all weathers and long,long days—lets me infer that Covey viewed slavesas his property and cared only for producing crops,for making money. I can infer that Covey's slaveshad no human rights because Douglass says thathe was whipped every week, his spirit broken, hiswork hours extremely long with only five minutesto eat and gain renewed energy. Notice what I did: Iused details from the text to find unstated meaningscalled inferences.

3. Invite students to turn to a partner to make [find]another inference, telling them to cite text evidenceto support their thinking. Two seventh graders ex-plained that they inferred that Covey's treatmentof Douglass violated basic human rights and trans-formed Douglass from cheerful to angry and thatDouglass no longer felt human.

Next, show students how to organize theirinferences into a double entry journal response. This

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,An American Slave

Inference Evidence from Douglass'sMemoir

Covey is a Covey whips Douglass; gavebrutal slaver slaves less than 5 minutes to

eat; broke Douglass's body,soul, & spirit; slaves workedlate in all kinds of weather

Second day. This lesson shows how to discoverthe author's tone and purpose by selecting ten to fifteenkey words and/or phrases from both paragraphs andthen linking the words to tone and author's purpose.1. Here are the words I write on chart paper (or project

onto a whiteboard): sore back, eat—five minutes,whipping, bitterest dregs of slavery, broken in body, soul,spirit, dark night of slavery, brute.

2. R ead the words and phrases out loud, and then tellstudents the tone I feel they convey, pointing outthat it's the author's choice of words that createstone. Here's what I say: The tone is anger, anguish,and pain from long, unreasonable work hours, lackof food, and weekly whippings. The frustratingtone comes from Douglass's inability to controlhis life and decisions. There is also a sad tone withDouglass losing his humanity and feeling brutish.Knowing the tone helps me figure out the author'spurpose because the tone contains ideas that signalthe meaning of both paragraphs. Douglass's purposeis to show the evils of slavery and what happenswhen slaves are victims of inhumane masters likeMr. Covey.

3. Invite students to pair-share and use tone to figureout another author's purpose: A pair of seventhgraders explained that a second purpose is to showthat when a human being is treated worse than ananimal, such treatment can turn a person into abrute who loses his humanity.

Third day. This lesson will help students observehow a close reading can enable them to figure out themeaning of a confusing word or phrase. Here's what Isay: In the phrase "My natural elasticity was crushed,my intellect languished, the disposition to read de-parted, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eyedied; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; andbehold a man transformed into a brute!" the words"languished" and "disposition" are unfamiliar. Doug-lass was transformed into a brute, and he writes thatthe "dark night of slavery" closed in on him. If reading

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brings light then disposition could mean desire to readand the word "departed" confirms this hunch. "Lan-guished" refers to intellect or mind. If the desire to readdeparted, then languished could mean that Douglassdidn't use his intellect or mind. He placed his energy ondealing with "the dark night of slavery."

For students who don't experience visualizing,thinking, and feeling about a text, anchor text lessonsshow them what expert readers do. And these lessonscan develop students' in-the-head thinking voices andin-the-heart feelings, bonding them to texts.

Anchor Text Lesson FrameworkI've listed the structure of the anchor text lesson so youcan plan your own:

• provide background knowledge if necessary;• tell students what you will model;• read the passage aloud;• think aloud, citing details and inferences from

the text;• recap what you did and show students how you

used text evidence to support thinking; and• engage students in the thinking part of the

lesson by asking them to infer, determine theauthor's purpose, etc., with a partner.

When partners discuss ideas and share them withclassmates, students can learn from one another andobserve the critical thinking process. After you presentanchor text lessons, students read their instructionalbooks at school where you are available for scaffoldingthat can improve comprehension.

Formative Assessments:The Data for Targeted Teaching

Assessment informs instruction (Affierbach, 2011;Tomlinson, 1999). I'd say the most effective teachersgo to class wondering, what am I going to learn fromstudents as much as thinking about what they needto cover. And they understand students' needs byevaluating observational notes, conducting conferences,reading students' written work, and listening duringdiscussions. But the formative assessment that I thinkis most valuable to students and teachers is the briefconference. You can achieve it every day as you makethe rounds and continually circulate among students,responding to questions, helping them solve problems,offering suggestions, and helping them set goals for nextsteps (Allison, 2009; Serravallo, 2012; Robb, 2008). Bymaking the rounds I feel the pulse of every student'sneeds, and it's this continual observation that points totopics for five-to-six-minute scheduled conferences forindividuals, pairs, and small groups.

Short conferences while making the rounds formthe foundation of differentiated reading instruction. Icarry a clipboard with dated sticky notes as I circulate

to observe students and listen to their conversations.During this time I am providing immediate scaffolding.Often, I jot the main points of our brief conversation ona sticky note and give it to the student for a reminder sothey can revise or complete a task with confidence. Afterhelping Tony, a seventh grader, make logical inferencesfrom several pages of The Great Fire by Jim Murphy, Ijot suggestions onto a sticky note.- inference is an unstatedmeaning; reread a paragraph or passage to flnd details; toinfer, think about what you can conclude using details; askwhat do these details mean ? What do they tell you ?

Other times, while making the rounds, I noticethat a student requires a longer conference, and I joton a sticky note the student's name and the topic forour meeting. If there's time, I will confer with thestudent during class that day; otherwise I schedule theconference for the next time class meets.

Some Possible Reading Conference TopicsInstead of a prepared list of topics, it's best to useyour observations of how students apply anchor textlessons to their instructional text as topics. Below arefive reading and five writing topics that align with theCCSS and best practices; use these as a starting pointuntil you collect enough data to tap into students' needs.

Five Writing Conference Topics1. Literary elements: showing understanding by con-

necting these to a specific text2. How and why a person or character changes3. Summarizing4. Writing about reading (I cut the word "informal"

because it's out of favor)5. Analytical essays

Five Reading Conference Topics1. Informational text structures: analyzing the organi-

zation of nonfiction using these2. Logical inferences, themes, central ideas3. Comparing two or more texts to analyze themes,

characters, settings, etc.4. Tone or mood; author's purposes5. Close reading confusing passages

Recently, I coached a sixth grade teacher whotaught four sections of English. She assessed where herstudents were using completed essays about reading.While it's better than the once-a-year test results, it'snot good enough because several weeks passed betweeneach essay—weeks when students received little help.

Clipboard in hand, the teacher made the roundsfor a week in each section, and then we met to debrief"I observed needs every day," she said, "even from mybetter readers. I polled my students, and they wantedme to continue supporting them every day. The sticky-note reminders got high ratings because on the next

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day, they had suggestions for inferring or using contextclues to figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words."What this teacher experienced is that by making therounds throughout a class, students had opportunitiesto learn and to revise their work, avoiding frustratingfeelings that the task was an obstacle to learning.

Writing About Reading: Thinking on PaperEvaluating what student readers put on the page abouttexts is the most personal, powerful window on astudent's life as a reader. We don't want to overdo itby compelling students to write about every book theyread—far from it—but as a profession we require it toolittle. Graham and Hebert (2010) in their landmarkreport. Writing to Read call for extra writing time in allsubjects. Yet, a study completed by Arthur N. Applebeeand Judith A. Langer in 2006 points to the fact thatstudents in middle and high school ELA classes don'tspend enough time writing. Applebee and Langer state:"Overall, this study leaves us with some disturbingfindings about how little time many students arespending on writing...." (p. ii).

Applebee and Langer call for extended writingacross the curriculum, especially in English class.The Common Core also calls for extended writing inEnglish and in content subjects. However, middle andhieh school teachers with 100 to 150 students avoidextended writing tasks due to the grading demands.Again, ongoing professional development can ease thegrading problems as teachers come to see the benefitsof forming writing partnerships among students andteaching students how to self and peer evaluate theirwork using a rubric. Teachers provide support whilestudents plan and draft essays and narratives byconferring but ask the students to revise and edit thosemessy first drafts. And as I point out in Smart Writing,teachers who read and grade much improved seconddrafts do little red marking and rewriting because thestudents are doing the work of revision and editing andmoving toward independence with these tasks (Robb,2012).

Extended writing tasks are not enough. Grahamand Hebert (2010) state: "Writing about a text provedto be better than just reading it, reading and rereading it,reading and studying it, reading and discussing it, andreceiving reading instruction" (p. 12). Why? Back toE.M. Forster's statement: "How do I know what I thinkuntil I see what I say?" I'm suggesting that in additionto extended writing, students complete brief responsesto teachers read alouds and to their instructional andindependent reading.

However, the Common Core suggests that studentsreread a text they don't understand several times to getthe text's meaning. One point I've learned from teachingis that if a student can't read and comprehend a text, heor she can't learn from it. Offer students complex texts

via your read alouds because students' listening capacityis greater than their instructional reading level (Woods& Moe, 1998). But for instructional reading, offerstudents materials they can read and learn from.

Clearly, writing about texts is essential if we wantour students to improve comprehension. Writing in-cludes drawing and writing about the illustration aswell as jotting notes, making lists of ideas, and writingshort paragraphs. Informal responses to reading occurevery day, and students record their responses in read-ers notebooks. All learners, including ELL, learningdisabled and special education students can completeresponses that are short and where the focus is onideas. As students enter class, have four to five dis-tribute readers notebooks; students immediately heada page with their name and date. Now the notebook ispoised and ready to receive hunches, emotional reac-tions, inferences, drawing, etc. based on the teacher'sread aloud.

Short responses are also part of instructional andindependent reading. Notebooks are with studentswhile they read at school so they can close write,that is zoom in on applying a skill or strategy to theirreading. Even informal writing can be differentiated.Some students summarize a paragraph, section, orchapter of a text while others make an inference orpinpoint a theme from a chunk of text, supportingtheir thoughts with detailed text evidence. I encouragestudents to talk to a partner before writing because talkclarifies thinking and reclaims ideas. Students use theirresponses to develop claims or explain a position in anextended essay or a paragraph. Like entries in writers'notebooks, informal responses to reading contain ideaseeds for more extended writing. And teachers need todifferentiate extended writing tasks as this literacy storyillustrates.

It was my first day observing in the eighth gradeclass of a teacher who had invited me in as a coach.While making the rounds, I noticed a girl with herhead on her desk. Bending down so I could make eyecontact, I gently tapped her shoulder and asked, "CanI help you?" She shrugged her shoulders, and kept herhead face down on the desk. Again, I asked, "Can I helpyou?" No response. After class, I asked the teacher totell me about her student.

"She's from the Ukraine, been in the U.S. for twoyears, and she dislikes writing—sometimes, like today,she won't write. She'd rather draw than write, but thisis writing class." The teacher and I brainstormed howto differentiate the assignment of writing a narrative.I suggested she let the student draw the events of thestory and use her illustrations to write. Asking everystudent to complete the same writing task, especiallywhen the task is at their frustration level, might satisfya school's requirements, but it won't result in improvingthinking and writing skill.

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Independent Reading:The Achievement Accelerator

Read. Four letters. One short word. Powerful skill.Reading is powerful because when students have a richindependent reading life, they can accelerate their read-ing achievement, enlarge their vocabulary, build priorknowledge, and increase their reading stamina, andultimately become productive and thoughtful citizens(AUington, 2011; Allison, 2009; Gambrell, Marinak,Brooker, Sc McCrea-Andrews, 2011; Krashen, 1993;Robb 2010). Independent reading should be easy (99-100% accuracy), enjoyable, and on topics and genresthat interest learners. So how do teachers motivate stu-dents to read thirty to fifty books a year at an appropri-ate level? Here are four ways:

Understand text complexity. Insights into textcomplexity can help you guide students to selectingreadable books. The Common Core identifies three as-pects of text complexity: quantitative, qualitative, andthe reader and the task. Here is a summary of each one:

Quantitative measures examine characteristics of atext best analyzed by computer, such as sentence lengthand word frequency. School districts latch onto Lexilesbecause it's a number and easy to use. Lexiles providereadability and not grade level. So a seventh grade ELLstudent might be able to comprehend texts at a Lexilelinked to third grade, while an advanced reader in thatsame class can comprehend texts Lexiled for tenthgrade.

Qualitative measures examine a book's content andconcepts: knowledge demands (prior knowledge), levelsof meaning, text structure, language conventionality,and clarity. This is the area that is the heart and soulof text complexity. Fifth graders can read The Giver byLois Lowry, but should they read it? This dystopiannovel deals with complex issues of euthanasia andinhibiting sexual yearnings, concepts appropriate forseventh and eight graders, not fifth graders—conceptsthat make the book's text complexity more appropriateto middle schoolers and above. So as we rush studentstoward texts of increasing complexity, continue toask yourself, "But is this book's content right for thisparticular child?"

The reader and the task consider students' motiva-tion, knowledge, and experience to determine whethera book is "just right," giving teachers the flexibilityto match students to texts so learning can occur. TheCommon Core asks teachers to make the final decisionabout what students can read. This is important becauseyou don't have to place students reading three or moreyears below grade level in texts they can't read. Devel-oping readers will need more than one year to meet thegoal of reading complex grade-level texts.

My point is this: we can differentiate instructionand ramp up independent reading if we are aware ofwhat readers can do and keep independent reading a

joyful experience (AUington, 2002; Allison,2009;Miller, 2009; Krashen,1993; Snow & Biancarosa,2004; Robb, 2008). If we "do" Common Core withoutever really unpacking its terms, such as text complexity,we probably aren't going to move the needle onachievement very far.

Give an interest inventory and tap into stu-dents' interests. When you know students' interests,you can find books that engage them (Allison, 2009;Miller, 2009; Robb, 2010). An eighth grade girl wroteon her interest inventory that she only likes books aboutvampires. Off I went to the school library, and the pub-lic library, and I found ten books about vampires thatwould be acceptable in an eighth grade classroom. Shedevoured the books and through book talks inspiredclassmates to read about vampires. Book talks by herpeers and the teacher hooked her onto the ChickenSoup books and then graphic novels. By the end of theyear this student had read thirty books! Read is a pow-erful word!

Put book talking on center stage. Book talks in-troduce students to hundreds of books in the course of aschool year. Teachers should book talk all new additionsto their class libraries, books by a featured author, anda genre or theme that's spotlighted. Invite students tocomplete a book talk each month. If a class of twenty-five students presents book talks from September toJune, students hear about 250 books. Peer recommen-dations matter and can transform reluctant readers intobook lovers !

Encourage eBook reading at home and atschool. The statistics are here: Scholastic's Kids andReading Report (2012). Ten percent more boys read andenjoy eBooks than girls. Half of children age 9-17 saythey would read more books for fun if they had greateraccess to eBooks - a 50% increase since 2010.

Lobby for eBook readers at school, and encouragestudents to check out eBooks from their public libraryand read eBooks at home. For today's students,technology can make a huge difference in developingpersonal reading lives.

Finding Appropriate Textsfor Instructional Reading

I organize reading units by genre, a literary categorysuch as historical fiction, biography, or informationaltexts. This frees me to find books of the same genre thatmeet students' diverse instructional reading levels. Allinstructional reading occurs at school so teachers cansupport students, and meaningful partner and smallgroups discussions can occur.

Your school and public librarian are the bestresources for helping you gather books of the same genrefor your students. Use them! About two weeks priorto beginning a unit, ask these librarians to pull booksthat relate to the genre or theme on the instructional

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level range in your classes, ask them to identify thereadability of each book. If you have a classroom library,mine that for books.

Collect enough books so students at each readinglevel have choices. Have students put their names on asticky-note on the cover of the book as students fromdifferent sections will choose the same book. You'llfind that developing readers select shorter texts thanproficient and advanced readers.

Next, give students four to five sticky notes andhave them print their name at the top and under thatwrite "Stop to Think;" I call this chunking a book.Divide books into four to five chunks making sure eachchunk is at the end of a chapter; this means that skilledreaders who select long books will read larger chunksof texts. Place a sticky note at the end of the book, andhelp students divide their books in chunks of two ormore chapters, depending on the book's length.

Since I recommend that instructional readingoccur at school, students from different class sectionscan read the same book. Determine how much classtime students need to finish each chunk of text. Thosewho finish early can complete independent reading. Ifsome students require more time to read a chunk, give itto them. The "stop to think" is students' reminder thatthey will spend part of two or more classes discussingand writing about a chunk of text before going on tothe next chunk. Frequently, I have several students beg:"Can we finish the whole book? Please, please, can we?"Let them; you'll maintain their enthusiasm for reading.I add one caveat: if students finish the book early, theymust reread each chunk to refresh their recall of details,but they cannot reveal the book's outcome to peers.

Pair students so partners are no more than oneyear apart in instructional reading levels and havesomething to offer each other. Developing readers canpair-up but you need to support them.

Discussing Diverse TextsWith Small Groups of StudentsEven though students read different books, you canlead small group discussions— just focus them ongenre and theme (Serravallo, 2012; Robb, 2008). Afterstudents complete their second chunk, schedule twosmall groups about three times a week to meet for aboutfifteen minutes during independent work time. Here isa list of topics that students can discuss and comparereferring to specific text evidence:

• text structure;• themes and central ideas;• author's purposes;• character's or person's goals, obstacles faced,

personality traits;• significance of information presented; and• literary elements: setting, plot, conflicts, prob-

lems, outcomes, protagonist, antagonistic forces

You can select a focus for the discussion or referstudents to the list and ask the group to select a focus. Ifind that discussions have greater depth if students canprepare for them by jotting notes related to the topic intheir readers' notebooks. Students can document theirdiscussions by writing a summary.

Closing ThoughtsA strange disconnect exists in our educational system.We want our students to read, write, think, and speakwell; we want them to excel and be the best. We wantstudents to be creative thinkers and problem solvers. Toreach this goal, we continually change programs fromThe Reading First Initiative to No Child Left Behind,to State Standards, and now the Common Core. Pro-grams are not educational solutions; if they were we'dbe number one on the PISA (Program for InternationalStudent Assessment); but in 2009 we were number 17.In addition, among the 34 nations in the Organizationfor Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),the United States ranks 14th in reading (Schleicher,2011).

The first big takeaway from this article is thatit's the teacher who makes the difference in students'progress and learning (Allington 6c Johnston, 2001),and investing in ongoing professional study is one wayto grow great teachers. The second big takeaway is tointegrate the five best practices into your curriculum.

Snow and Biancarosa (2004) noted in ReadingNext, page 8: "A full 70 percent of U.S. middle andhigh school students require differentiated instruc-tion, which is instruction targeted to their individualstrengths and weaknesses." Struggling readers andwriters, whether English is their first or second lan-guage, deserve opportunities to improve their skills sothey can read and comprehend and write and commu-nicate well. Using formative assessments to differentiatereading instruction, to tier writing tasks, and to developa rich independent reading curriculum provide an ef-ficient pathway to accelerating students' achievement.

ReferencesAfflerbach, P. (2011). Understanding and using reading

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Allington, R.L., ôcjohnston, P.H. (2001). In Roller, C.(Ed.), Learning to teach reading: Setting the researchagenda. Newark, DE: International Reading As-sociation

Allington, R.L., (2002). What I've learned about effec-tive readin instruction. Phi Delta Kappan, 83(10),740-747.

Allington, R.L. (2011). What really matters for strug-gling readers: Designing research-based programs, 3rdedition. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Allison, N. (2009). Middle school readers: Helping them

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read widely, helping them read well. Portsmouth,NH: Heinemann.

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CA: Jossey-Bass.Murphy, J. (2006). The great fire. New York: Scholastic.PISA, Program for International Student Assessment

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Robb, L. (2008). Differentiating reading instruction: Howto teach reading to meet the needs of each student. NewYork: Scholastic.

Robb, L. (2010). Teaching reading in middle school: Astrategic approach to teaching reading that improvescomprehension and thinking. New York: Scholastic.

Robb, L. (2012). Smart writing: Practical units for teach-ing middle school writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heine-mann.

Robb, L. (2013). Unlocking complex text: A systematicframework for building adolescents comprehension.New York: Scholastic.

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Scholastic. (2012). Kids & Family Reading Report.

Serravallo, J. (2010). Teaching reading in small groups:Differentiated instruction for building strategic, inde-pendent readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Serravallo, J. (2012). Independent reading assessment: Fic-tion. New York: Scholastic.

Snow, C.E., ÔC Biancarosa, G. (2004). A report from theCarnegie Institute of New York: Reading next: A vi-sion for action and research in middle and high schoolliteracy. Washington, D.C.: Alliance for ExcellentEducation.

Sousa, D.A. (2001). How the brain learns. Newbury Park,CA: Corwin Press.

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