The document discusses teaching reading using primary sources and the goals of literacy. It defines literacy as the ability to understand, interpret, communicate, and use printed materials. The goals of standardized reading tests like FCAT are to measure students' ability to construct meaning from a variety of texts, both literary and informational. The document also discusses the cognitive complexity of reading tasks and changes to standardized tests over time, including using more primary sources and increasing the proportion of informational texts.

1. Teaching Reading with Primary Sources

4. Cognitive Complexity Low: Moderate High More than 70% of students are likely to respond correctly. Between 40% and 70% of students are likely to respond correctly. Fewer than 40% of students are likely to respond correctly. Require students to recall, observe, question, or represent basic facts. Require two steps: comprehension and subsequent processing of the text Make heavy demands on student thinking Demonstrate simple skills or abilities Make simple inferences within the text Explain, generalize, make multiple connections Basic understanding of texts Signal words: Summarize, infer, classify, gather, organize, compare, display; explain, describe or interpret Requires several steps involving abstract reasoning and planning; must support thinking “ Just read the lines” Skills and concepts May involve identifying theme and implicit main ideas “ Read between the lines” Make complex inferences or complex analyses within and across texts Take information from one portion of text and apply information to a new task. “ Read beyond the lines.”

5. 2010 Item Specifications, p. 15

7. Reporting Category 4: Information and Media Literacy Standard 6: The student comprehends a wide array of informational text that is part of our day to day experiences. What are the implications for instruction? Text Features in 2.2.1 Category 3 Text Features in 6.6.1 Category 4 Texts should be literary and may include, but are not limited to, fiction, nonfiction (e.g. biographies, autobiographies, diary entries, memoirs), poetry, or drama Texts should be informational . Texts may include, but are not limited to, functional reading materia ls (e.g. websites, consumer documents, how-to articles, brochures, fliers, and other real-world documents.) Texts should include a single, identifiable text feature or should contain a variety of text features. Texts should include a single, identifiable text feature or should contain a variety of text features. Stimuli found in texts may include titles, headings, subheadings, charts, graphs, illustrations, maps, diagrams, information found in captions, stanzas, italicized text, and text boxes. Stimuli found in text may include headings, subheadings, titles, subtitles, maps, diagrams, captions, illustrations, graphs, or italicized text.

8. Teaching with Primary Sources Promotes Inquiry & Critical Thinking Skills

9. Contact Information: Learning Resources & Instructional Materials Lynne Oakvik, Specialist [email_address] Margaret Rhorbach/Atlantic Tech High School [email_address]