Teaching101: How are Texts Leveled?

It's not as scary as it may seem! I promise. Let's break it down :). Texts can be leveled across many different characteristics. In all of these ways: total word count, total syllable count, sentence structures, sentence length, font size, font style, vocabulary, storyline complexity, text structures, and frequency are considered. By studying and understanding what all of these characteristics are, examining to find that quantitative information becomes easier when leveling a new, unleveled text! Immediately below are brief descriptions of each.

total word count- the total amount of words in the text
total syllable count- the total amount of syllables per sentence/page
sentence structures- how the sentences are written and broken apart
sentence length- the average amount of words per sentence
font style- different styles of font make readability easier or harder
vocabulary- the number of new and unfamiliar words
storyline complexity- how complex the storyline is; amount of details
text structures- added information through table of contents, charts, glossaries, captions, etc.
frequency- the rate/speed at which the reader reads

So now that we know what characteristics are used to level text complexity, we need to know how to apply them to leveling new and unleveled texts. Ready? It really is as simple as this... Compare and contrast the characteristics of an *anchor-leveled text to the new, unleveled text. If the characteristics of the two texts are, if not the same, but very similar, you have a new text that is close in level to the anchor-leveled text. But if those characteristics are not closely similar, exchange the anchor leveled text with a more or less complex anchor-leveled text and compare and contrast again. With time, this judgement becomes easier as you continue leveling your own books.

Thanks so much for stopping by! :D

Share Your Thoughts: How has knowing how to level texts helped you in your own classroom and professional career?

Watch this! https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/simplifying-text-complexity#

Citation: Sarah Brown Wessling. "Simplifying Text Complexity." Online video clip. Teaching Channel. Teaching Channel. Web. 7 June 2016.

*anchor-leveled text - a text that has already been leveled by Fountas & Pinnell, Lexile, AR, etc.