Group items tagged

A tool for determining appropriateness of text choices. For example, The Great Gatsby is written at the 7th grade reading level (in regard to language complexity), with an interest level appropriate for "upper grades" (grades 9-12).

Keep reading until page 2--teachers start recognizing students' problems comprehending basic conjunctions and inability to communicate in complex sentences. Much of their progress seems to come from explicitly helping students write more complex sentences. "For years, nothing seemed capable of turning around New Dorp High School's dismal performance-not firing bad teachers, not flashy education technology, not after-school programs. So, faced with closure, the school's principal went all-in on a very specific curriculum reform, placing an overwhelming focus on teaching the basics of analytic writing, every day, in virtually every class."

This is really interesting! I have been reading similar suggestions in Burke, Gallagher, and others that, while not as prescriptive, certainly endorse explicit modeling of sentence types and offering sentence stems for student practice.

Another site where you can look up books' reading and interest levels. This one includes several different readability scores.