Alert: Required Readings in Texas for Middle School (6-8)

See previous post for background and commentary:https://roseshona.blogspot.com/2026/01/alert-texas-required-readings-by-grade.html 

The big change for middle school is this: 

Some texts are associated thematically or topically with required full length texts. These linked texts do not have to be read in their entirety. 

Um. I'm a Christian - love me some Jesus. But, um. Have you ever heard some of us talk about the issues with versions of the bible? Not fun. And, Christian Nationalism is a thing. A problematic thing to a lot of people. 

And ermergersh - have you read Johnny Tremaine and Across Five Aprils? BARF. And 6th grade is about WORLD CULTURES, not Civil War stuff from American History. That's studied in 5th and 8th. I'm so confused. 

And...some of these texts...conceptually....for diverse cultures and backgrounds and languages and personalities and lived realities and families and...and...not a good idea for everyone. This is the best we could come up with? I mean, come on...no way. 

Shakespeare? DO NOT get me started on that pedagogical and liguistic mishap. Love him. Love the texts. But geeze what a mess of wrongdoing to kids most of the time. 

And oh boy - wait till the 8th grade and 9th grade teachers start fighting over To Kill a Mockingbird. And when the college folks weigh in about developmental capacity for that text. Katie bar the door. People goin' to war. 

Required Readings for 6th Grade: 

1.  Johnny Tremain Esther Forbes
1. Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night Dylan Thomas
2. Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death Patrick Henry
3. Paul Revere’s Ride Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
2. The Prince and the Pauper: A Full Length Play Anne Coulter Martens
1. ├-- Seventh Grade (excerpt from Baseball in April and Other Stories) Gary Soto
2. └── The Selfish Giant Oscar Wilde
3. Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science John Fleischman
1. ├-- The Hippocratic Oath (Modern) Dr. Louis Lasagna
2. └── The Human Abstract William Blake
4. Across Five Aprils Irene Hunt
1. ├-- Abraham Lincoln, A Man of Faith and Courage: Stories of Our Most Admired President (Chapter 7 “The Road Back to God”) Joe Wheeler
2. ├-- The Blue and The Gray Francis Miles Finch
3. └── The Gettysburg Address Abraham Lincoln
5. All Creatures Great and Small James Herriot
1. ├-- The Power of the Dog Rudyard Kipling
2. ├-- A White Heron Sarah Orne Jewett
3. ├-- Do Not Be Anxious (Book of Matthew, Chapter 6 Verses 25- 34) New Testament (trans. ESV)
4. └── The Peace of the Wild Things Wendell Berry 

Required Readings for 7th Grade: 

1. A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L’Engle
1. ├-- A Sound of Thunder (excerpt from The Golden Apples of the Sun) Ray Bradbury
2. ├-- Jonah and the Whale (Book of Jonah) Hebrew Bible / Old Testament (trans. NIRV)
3. └── Kindness Naomi Shihab Nye
2. The Miracle Worker: A Play William Gibson
1. ├-- The Definition of Love (Book of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13) New Testament (trans. ESV)
2. ├-- Helen Keller’s Speech in 1925 at the International Convention Helen Keller
3. └── Reflecting on Braille Literacy Month: A Look at the History of Braille in the United States Aaron Preece
3. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Original Edition Anne Frank, translated from the Dutch by B.M. Mooyaart
1. ├-- Blessed is the Match Hannah Szenes
2. ├--Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust (Part One “The Realization,” Part Two “Saving the Future,” and Part Three “In the Ghettos”) Doreen Rappaport
3. └── Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport George Washington
4. The Outsiders S. E. Hinton
1. ├-- Nothing Gold Can Stay Robert Frost
2. └── Thank You, M’am Langston Hughes
5.  Watership Down Richard Adams
1. ├-- Duty, Honor, Country (General MacArthur's Farewell Speech Given to the Cadets at West Point, 1962) Douglas MacArthur
2. ├-- Ulysses S. Grant’s General Order 108 to the “Soldiers of the Armies of the United States” Ulysses S. Grant
3. └── The Shepherd's Psalm (Book of Psalms, Chapter 23) Hebrew Bible / Old Testament (trans KJV)

Readings for 8th Grade: 

1. Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History Erik Larson
1. ├-- The Hurricane José María Heredia
2. └── The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor Coleridge
   
2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ("A Scandal in Bohemia", "The Red-Headed League", and "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle") Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
1. ├-- The Celebrated Jumping Frog Mark Twain
2. └── The Tell-Tale Heart Edgar Allan Poe
3. The Giver Lois Lowry
1. ├-- Harrison Bergeron (excerpt from Welcome to the Monkey House) Kurt Vonnegut
2. ├-- The Man in the Arena Passage (excerpt from Citizenship in a Republic speech by Teddy Roosevelt in 1910) Teddy Roosevelt 
3. └── O Me! O Life! Walt Whitman
4. The Tempest William Shakespeare (edited by Barbara A. Mowat
1. ├-- Speech to the Troops at Tilbury Queen Elizabeth I
2. └── The Lady, or the Tiger? Frank R. Stockton
5. To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
1. ├-- Harlem: A Dream Deferred Langston Hughes
2. ├-- I Have a Dream Martin Luther King, Jr.
3. -- Inaugural Address John F. Kennedy
4. ├-- The Eight Beatitudes (Book of Matthew, Chapter 5 Verses 1- 12) New Testament (trans. KVJ)
5. └── What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Frederick Douglass

Alert: Texas Required Readings by Grade Level for Elementary (K-5)

Y'all. Better get to know your SBOE representative and legislative leaders in Texas. What a can of worms. 

In HB 1605 (88R) the legislature said that Texas had to create a required reading list for all grades.

Some Facts:

• 5,700 Texas teachers completed the survey. (Texas schools employ around 380,000 teachers. So 374,300 didn't have a voice.) 
• No teacher committees have reviewed the lists. And there is no plan to do so. 
• TEA folks considered a bunch of stuff (9 areas)  and made lists for each grade. Read more here.  https://tea.texas.gov/academics/instructional-materials/house-bill-1605/sboe-tea-proposed-literary-works-list-pre-read-to-support-review.pdf 
• Final adoption is expected this April. April of 2026. Then, instructional materials cycle through and full implementation begins in the school year of 2030-2031. In FOUR years. 
• Some texts are expected to be read in their entirety. And recommended in printed, physical copies. Some texts can be consumed in excerpts or portions of the texts. 
• Some texts must be read aloud.
• Specific versions of text are required. 
• Specific TEKS are associated with each text. 
• Cross curricular connections are aligned and associated with other subject area IMRA cycles. 

Here is the RULE DRAFT TEXT: file:///Users/shonarose/Downloads/draft-rule-text-for-agency-recommendations-to-the-sboe-for-literary-works-list.pdf 

Some questions: 

• Why aren't teachers, schools, and curriculum departments at the local level involved in the process? 
• What about alternative campuses that teach a whole year in one semester? 
• Isn't there a law somewhere that says Texas Legislature can't get involved in pedagogy? Text selection is a key component of meeting the needs of diverse populations. 
• Has anybody done a feasibility study on how much time it would take to complete all required readings? 
• In looking at the research to support the decision, the research and match came after the legislative process and requirements. Isn't that backwards? I'll need to do some more digging on the research.
• Why are we prioritizing some versions, authors, and publishers over others? There are good and bad answers for that.
• Will all students have an opportunity to see themselves in these texts? NOPE
• Will these texts represent diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and economic realities? Lived experiences?  Doesn't look like it. 
• Why aren't kids "required" to read anything for themselves until 3rd grade? 
• What's NOT there and should be or doesn't exist? 
• Of ALL the things that have ever been written and will be written, THIS is what we are selecting? 
• Why is The State of Texas listed as an author? Have you read their constitution? Convoluted mess.
• Why do the read alouds become fewer over time? Where is the multimedia stuff? 
• After looking at the lists - ooooo....there's a LOT more questions that we OUGHT to be asking. 
• Why are we reading Texas History crap in 5th grade? Isn't that an American History survey course? 
• Some adults can't handle the fantasy and weird world of The Phantom Tollbooth - how will all 5th graders understand that level of abstraction when we know what brain research and development say about cognition at those ages? 
• What socio-emotional needs have been considered for life in this century? 
• I mean - I own and have read most of these texts. I would buy and read them over and over. Good stuff, most of it. But is this REALLY what the legislature had in mind...what it actually means for what happens to our kids? 

Required Texts for Kinder: (all texts are to be read aloud)

1. Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti Gerald McDermott
2. April Rain Song Langston Hughes
3. Are You My Mother? P. D. Eastman
4. The Bald Eagle Norman Pearl
5. Blueberries for Sal Robert McCloskey
6. The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss
7. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
8. Cinderella Marcia Brown
9. Classic Nursery Rhymes (selected excerpts: Baa Baa Black Sheep, Hey Diddle Diddle, Hickory Dickery Dock, Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, Little Boy Blue, Little Miss Muffet, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Old King Cole, One Two Buckle My Shoe) Nicola Baxter (compiler)
10. George Washington and the Cherry Tree (excerpt from The Children's Book of Virtues) William J. Bennett (editor)
11. The Golden Rule State of Texas
12. The Grasshopper and the Ant Jerry Pinkney (retold from Aesop)
13. Goldilocks and the Three Bears Jim Aylesworth
14. The Keeping Quilt Patricia Polacco
15. L is for Lone Star: A Texas Alphabet Carol Crane
16. The Little Red Hen (excerpt from The Children's Book of Virtues) William J. Bennett (editor)
17. The Lion and the Mouse (excerpt from The Children's Book of Virtues) William J. Bennett (editor)
18. Luna Loves Art Joseph Coelho
19. A Picture Book of George Washington David A. Adler
20. A Picture Book of Thomas Alva Edison David A. Adler
21. The Runaway Bunny Margaret Wise Brown
22. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Fairytale Classics) Anne Bowles
23. The Snowy Day Ezra Jack Keats
24. Three Billy Goats Gruff Paul Galdone
25. The Three Little Pigs Paul Galdone
26. The Tortoise and the Hare (excerpt from Children's Book of Virtues) William J. Bennett (editor)
27. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle
28. You Are Special Max Lucado

Required Texts for First Grade: (all are designated as read alouds)

1. Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books Kay Winters
2. Ada Twist, Scientist Andrea Beaty
3. Amelia Bedelia First Day of School Herman Parish
4. Exploring America’s Symbols State of Texas
5. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (selected excerpts: Won't You Be My Neighbor, I Like You As You Are, Children Can, Smile in Your Pocket, Take My Time, What Can You Hear?, I'd Like to Be Like Mom and Dad, Summer Rain, Are You Brave?, The King and the Ocean, Then You Heart is Full of Love, The Truth Will Make You Free, You're Special, Perfect Day, I'm Proud of You) Fred Rogers 
6. The Boy Who Cried Wolf (excerpt from The Children's Book of Virtues) William J. Ben
7. Classic Nursery Rhymes (selected excerpts: Jack Be Nimble, Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater, Simple Simon, Sing a Song of Sixpence, There Was an Old Woman, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Yankee Doodle) Nicola Baxter
8. Curious About the White House Kate Waters
9. Daniel Boone (excerpt from A Book of Americans) Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét
10. Danny and the Dinosaur Syd Hoff
11. Davy Crockett (excerpt from A Book of Americans) Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét
12. The Hare in the Moon (excerpt from A Year Full of Stories: 52 classic stories from all around the world (Volume 1)) Angela McAllister
13. The Fox and the Grapes (excerpt from Aesop's Fables: The Classic Edition) Aesop (illustrated by Charles Santore)
14. The Frog Prince (excerpt from A Year Full of Stories: 52 classic stories from all around the world (Volume 1)):  Angela McAllister 
15. Invitation (excerpt from Where the Sidewalk Ends) Shel Silverstein
16. Jack and the Beanstalk Thomas Nelson
17. The Legend of the Bluebonnet Tomie dePaola
18. The Life of Paul Revere Maria Nelson
19. The Little Engine That Could Watty Piper
20. Lowly Worm meets the Early Bird Richard Scarry
21. Madeline Ludwig Bemelmans
22. Medio Pollito/Half Chicken: A Folktale in Spanish and English Alma Flor Ada
23. Millions of Cats Wanda Gág
24. Now and Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin Gene Barretta
25. The Parable of the Prodigal Son State of Texas
26. A Picture Book of Frederick Douglass David A. Adler
27. Pocahontas (Excerpt from A Book of Americans) Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét
28. Rapunzel (excerpt from Usborne Illustrated Grimm's Fairy Tales) Gill Doherty
29. Red Riding Hood James Marshall
30. Rumpelstiltskin (Excerpt from Usborne Illustrated Grimm's Fairy Tales) Gill Doherty
31. Swimmy Leo Lionni
32. The Tale of Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter
33. The Ugly Duckling Hans Christian Anderson (adapted and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
34. Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (Excerpt from Aesop's Fables: The Classic Edition) Aesop (illustrated by Charles Santore)

Required Texts for 2nd Grade: (all are designated to be read aloud)

1. America Is… Louise Borden
2. Beauty and the Beast Marianna Mayer
3. Bluebonnet at the Alamo Mary Brooke Casad
4. Cam Jansen: The Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds David A. Adler
5. Clara Barton: Angel of the Battle Field Tamara Hollingsworth
6. The Courage of Sarah Noble Alice Dalgliesh
7. The Donkey in the Lion’s Skin (excerpt from Aesop's Fables: The Classic Edition) Aesop (illustrated by Charles Santore)
8. Follow The Drinking Gourd Jeanette Winter
9. Falling Up (excerpt from Falling Up) Shel Silverstein
10. Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure! Jeff Brown
11. James Madison: The 4th President Josh Gregory
12. John Henry Julius Lester
13. Johnny Appleseed Steven Kellogg (retold and illustrated by)
14. The Legend of the Dipper (excerpt from The Children's Book of Virtues) William J. Bennett (editor)
15. Paul Bunyan Steven Kellogg (retold and illustrated by)
16. Pecos Bill Steven Kellogg (retold and illustrated by)
17. The Magic Tree House #22: Revolutionary War on Wednesday Mary Pope Osborne
18. Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom Carole Boston Weatherford
19. The Mouse and the Motorcycle Beverly Cleary
20. The Patchwork Quilt Valerie Flournoy
21. Riding the Pony Express (Chapter 1 “St. Joe,” Chapter 2 “The Pony Express,” Chapter 3 “The Stagecoach,” Chapter 4 “Owl Creek Station,” Chapter 5 “The Kelly Family,” Chapter 6 “The Stable,” Chapter 7 “Work at the Stable”) Clyde Robert Bulla
22. Sam The Minuteman Nathaniel Benchley
23. Stellaluna Janell Cannon
24. Susan B. Anthony Laura K. Murray
25. The Swing Robert Louis Stevenson
26. Teammates Peter Golenbock
27. The Thanksgiving Story Alice Dalgliesh
28. Try, Try Again (excerpt from The Children's Book of Virtues) William J. Bennett (editor)
29. We the Kids: The Preamble of the Constitution of the United States David Catrow
30. Winnie-the-Pooh (Chapter 1 "In Which We Are Introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees, and the Stories Begin" and Chapter 2 "In Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets Into a Tight Place" A. A. Milne

Required Readings for 3rd Grade (some for designated read alouds) 

1. Abraham Lincoln (excerpt from A Book of Americans) Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét
2. Archimedes and the Door of Science (Chapter 1 "Who was Archimedes?", Chapter 4 "Archimedes and his Lever", Chapter 9 "Archimedes and Numbers") Jeanne Bendick
3. Charlotte’s Web E. B. White
4. Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective Donald J. Sobol
5. Enemy Pie Derek Munson
6. The Fisherman and His Wife Rachel Isadora
7. George Washington (excerpt from A Book of Americans) Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét
8. Hercules and the Wagoner (excerpt from The Children's Book of Virtues) William J. Bennett (editor)
9. Icarus and Daedalus (excerpt from Classic Myths to Read Aloud: The Great Stories of Greek and Roman Mythology) William F. Russell
10. Inside Ancient Rome L.L. Owens
11. King Midas and the Golden Touch Charlotte Craft
12. The Librarian Who Measured the Earth Kathryn Lasky
13. Miss Rumphius Barbara Cooney
14. Mistakes that Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions & How They Came To Be (Section 2 “Doctor, Doctor” and Section 4 “All Kinds of Accidental Things”) Charlotte Foltz Jones
15. The Road to Damascus State of Texas
16. Seeker of Knowledge: The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphs James Rumford
17. Smart (excerpt from A Light in the Attic) Shel Silverstein
18. The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf (excerpt from Aesop's Fables) Aesop (adapted and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney)
19. Stone Soup Marcia Brown
20. The Story of Benjamin Franklin: An Inspiring Biography for Young Readers Shannon Anderson
21. Thomas Jefferson (excerpt from A Book of Americans) Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét
22. The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (excerpt from Aesop's Fables: The Classic Edition) Aesop (illustrated by Charles Santore)
23. What Do You Do With a Problem? Kobi Yamada
24. The Wind in the Willows (Chapters "The River Bank", "The Open Road", "The Wild Wood", and "Mr. Badger") Kenneth Grahame

Required Readings for Fourth Grade (fewer  read alouds) 

1. The Ant and the Dove (excerpt from Aesop's Fables) Aesop (adapted and

   illustrated by Jerry Pinkney) 

2. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Picture Book Edition) William Kamkwamba and

   Bryan Mealer 

3. Brave Irene William Steig 

4. The Door in the Wall (Chapter 1) Marguerite de Angeli 

5. Dreams Langston Hughes

6. Marquette in Iowa (excerpt from Stories of Great Americans

   for Little Americans) Edward Eggleston 

7. Number the Stars Lois Lowry

8. Old Stormalong, The Seafaring Sailor Carol Beach York

9. The Road Not Taken Robert Frost

10.  Robinhood and the Golden Arrow (excerpt from The Children's

    Book of Virtues) William J. Bennett (editor) 

11. Saint Francis of Assisi Tim Ladwig 

12. Sea Fever John Masefield

13. The Spirit of the Renaissance State of Texas

14. St. George and the Dragon (excerpt from The Children's Book

    of Virtues William J. Bennett (editor) 

15. Stone Fox John Reynolds Gardiner

16. The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (Part 1 "The Winning

    of Kinghood" Chapters 1 and 2) Howard Pyle (adapted by

    Tania Zamorsky) 

17. Sundiata: The Lion King of Mali David Wisniewski 

18. Thunderstorm in Church Louise A. Vernon 

19. Treasure Island (Classic Adventures) Robert Louis Stevenson

    (adapted by Jacqueline

    Dembar Greene)

20. Who Was Leonardo Da Vinci? (Chapter 1 "Who Was Leonardo DaVinci?", Chapter 2 "The Unwanted Boy", Chapter 3 "The Art

    Studio" and Chapter 4 "The Wider World") Roberta Edwards 

21. The Wreck of the Zephyr Chris Van Allsburg 

Required Readings for 5th Grade (no designated read alouds - I'm crying. Are you crying?)

1. Adventures of Don Quijote (Dover Children's Thrift Classics) Argentina Palacios 

2. Journey to America (excerpt "Are You My Papa?") Sonia Levitin 

3. Casey at the Bat Ernest Lawrence Thayer

4. A Christmas Carol (Children’s Version) Charles Dickens (Adaptation by Gil Tavner) 

5. The Colonization of Texas: Missions and Settlers Stephanie Kuligowski 

6. Declaration of Independence in Translation: What It Really

   Means Amy Jane Leavitt 

7. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis 

8. Mark Twain (excerpt from A Book of Americans) Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét 

9. The Mayflower Compact William Brewster, William Bradford, Edward Winslow

10. The Monkey and the Camel (excerpts from Fables) Arnold Lobel 

11. A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution Betsy Maestro 

12. The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster 

13. Sam Houston: A Fearless Statesman Joanne Mattern

14. The Village Blacksmith Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

15. Who was Davy Crockett? (Chapter 1 "Who was Davy

    Crockett?") Gail Herman

16. The Wright Brothers: Pioneers of American Aviation (Chapter

    2 "Get It Right On Paper," Chapter 11 "In the Bicycle Business,"

    and Chapter 15 "Kitty Hawk")

    Quentin Reynolds 

Marjorie's Fifth Child

 Many know her now as the "art" lady. I knew her first as the mother of four joyful boys. But one Sunday, I met her a new way. I followed a sound, soaring above our heads into the art deco light fixtures that swayed from the ceiling of the sanctuary. In thirds and fourths above the sopranos, she san the angel's fifth notes. "Oh, how I love Jesus..." 

 Each Sunday, we inched closer to the pew where she raised her eyes to the stained glass above the baptistry, smiling, offering, sharing...notes. A compliment to the melody. 

   I'd learned to read words and melodies while following mom's finger in the hymnal. But something changed in me the moment Marjorie's worship reached me. Song became the sacrament. Like baptism and the Lord's Supper, song became the ordinance not mentioned in the Baptist Faith and Message. Song became the sacrifice - the service of stewardship even I could offer above my 10 cent tithe from my allowance. 

  Did Marjorie know that little girl tilted an ear toward imitation of Marjorie's piercing compliment to the song service? Does she know that today, I heard echoes of her 1974 influence? Fifty years later, I sang the angel's fifth "...because he first loved me." 

Titus 2:4-5 New Life Version
4 Older women are to teach the young women to love their husbands and children. 5 They are to teach them to think before they act, to be pure, to be workers at home, to be kind, and to obey their own husbands. In this way, the Word of God is honored. 

ELAR Updates for the Panhandle (Regions 14, 16, & 17)

 Howdy - 

CREST - Coalition of Reading and English Supervisors of Texas -  met virtually today for our Fall Forum. 

Welcome: 

As the regional representative for the organization, I'm hoping to connect especially with Panhandle Leaders and those in Texas Regions 14, 16, and 17. My email is shonarose67@gmail.com if you would like to connect about CREST and TEA content. 

Access Membership Perks: 

If you would like to receive information like what I have included below, join the organization.We are rebuilding our membership and databases. You can join here to receive similar information after the next conference. Detailed notes and advance notice of items of importance are key benefits of membership. You'll have what you need to turn around the training and informational pieces to your staff. 

Notes and Resources from the Conference: 

Leadership and representatives took notes for you to summarize the sessions and major ideas. 

Tosh McGoughy walked us through the changes since 2007 and provided guidance for planning lessons all the way to selecting curriculum resources. You'll find her presentation and CREST notes here:  Ensuring a Literate Texas. 

From TEA, Jenny Gaona and Tamara Robert shared their progress on tools to integrate Social Studies and ELAR TEKS. For notes and draft links: K-5 Cross-Curricular Connections for Social Studies and RLA.

Guiomar Andújar presented information on the ELPS updates. I did not attend that session. You can read about the process here.

Tricia Cave with ATPE provided a legislative update. Click for the slide deck and notes.

Collin Dempsey from TEA shared processes and products from the IMRA process. For slides, links, and notes:  From Rubric to Resources: Using IMRA to Drive Instructional Materials Decisions

Caroline Sweet presented: Languages Art: Fostering Reading and Writing Classrooms that Value Students' Languages. This site explains her book and resources with Patterns of Power in Spanish. 

Travis Leach ended the day with a presentation on Revision - he used the revision process as the mode for the presentation itself. Brilliant. His presentation is here: Revision as a Way of Life: An Educator's Guide to Intentional Change

Kalahari in January: 

Register here and plan your sleeping rooms. 

More on vocabulary...

I've been doing a bit more research. 

Vocabulary is a rope - It begins with oral language and stories (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, 1993). As instruction enters the picture, teachers add orthography, writing, and reading. Then, as folks grow, they go through stages of vocabulary development that match - of all things - spelling. We can interpret their 1: errors to determine their theories of decoding at points of difficulty and to 2: pinpoint gaps in their developmental known word bank: lexical quality, phonology, semantics, syntax, and 3 working memory and brain systems. This allows us to determine their general word knowledge and specific word knowledge with layers of schema, alphabet, pattern, and meaning within a developmental progression that ALSO - of all things - matches the History of English. Little Saxons from our German origins, Little Anglo-Normans with the Normon conquest and vowel shift, to the Greek and Latin influx during the Renaissance. (Example - muscle, muscular, musculature all came from a word for mouse in Latin - musculus. The rippling movement under the skin of a running rodent helped the Romans explain what muscles were doing when studying anatomy (Venesky, 1999; Templeton et al., 2015). History + words = meaning. So cool. 

There's more to all of this in Chapter One of the Updates Word Study (for Phonics, Spelling, and Vocabulary Instruction): Formerly Words Their Way TM. But...the question remains...how do we assess vocabulary in a way that informs instruction for vocabulary purposes? 

          Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, and Johnston recommend these assessments as a beginning: 

1. Elementary Spelling Inventory (ESI)

2. Upper Level Spelling Inventory (USI) 

3. McGuffey Qualitative Spelling Inventory 

 

Braided Rivers Theory of Reading, Writing, and Thinking

There is no settled Science. Pearson

Science of anything is not simple. Me. 

Braided rivers are geological formations where water seeks it's path to it's lowest point. Water's path back to the origin is often invisible - one environmental cycle over another. The mind's acquisition and use of literacy are no different. 

The Science of Reading movement often focuses on five pillars of the thing - phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension - each supported (and not supported) by a wide range of research that often doesn't say what we are told it says. Sigh. 

There is no doubt in my mind that Scarborough's Reading Rope represents key concepts for literacy pedagogy. But it's not simple. But it's not a panacea for reading woes represented/misrepresented by NAEP and other tests. And the rope and pillars are not the end-all-be-all of scientifically based literacy instruction. And some of the interpretations and implementation in school is flat out nonsense - as the data show us. That simple view just doesn't play out equally in educating the masses or the individual humans we serve. 

Reality is more like the braided rivers analogy - when a path of literacy is blocked - even if it is one of the five pillars, water goes around the obstacle. And the mind -the source of the flow - has multiple streams. All are valid. 

As we've worked with the learners in Unity Learning Communities - the kids have told us these truths through their behaviors and explanations of their learning processes for literate life. 

Here's their trajectory - 

Decoding - encoding - word knowledge - fluency - comprehension = "failure" They've had THE science. They've had the kitchen sink as well. For some, they've encountered the Hoover Dam. Pinched off from the flow of thought - as with electricity - controlled by arbitrary needs for accountability and control over educational curriculum and philosophy. 

Life has presented obstacles that made elements of this path insurmountable for some learners. And some of the problem is that other rivers are not allowed. Shameful. 

What we are seeing is that poverty, trauma, and educational-theoretical malapropisms - and none of it is funny - have become obstacles to literacy acquisition.

There's other rivers out there, y'all. And our kids can travel them to destinations unknown. It's time to recognize the braided rivers - and complex - view of literacy. 

These are some of the rivers that we have found in our explorations with learners: 

Thinking and Reasoning: The decoding-encoding flow: learners hear and represent sounds. Where there are gaps in alphabetic principles and print concepts - what is the learner's response and bank of choices at the point of difficulty? When there are gaps in the principles and concepts - is the learner aware of the gap? When there are gaps - does the learner have resources for information search and discovery? 

Thinking and Reasoning: Word knowledge: learners use semantics with breadth-depth, precision, links to schema, and contextual reasoning. The point here is derivational constancy in decision making about words. Inextricably woven through meaning and desire to communicate, create, curate, and critique, learners use synonyms, antonyms, word origin, context, emotional vocabulary, discipline specific terms and norms of language, registers, and tools synchronously and collectively. Words are never just sounds or terms hanging loose in a universe of nonsense. Yet - that's not how we've been taught to develop word knowledge. 

Thinking and Reasoning: The approach to struggle. Our learners often believe that text doesn't make sense. They try to follow the rules, but know that in the end - they just don't get it. They believe something is wrong with them. They tell us that they try to do what they are told - but it never works or makes sense. As Nottingham tells us, learning is about Eureka! I found it. I found it. I found it. Learners have to make the path in their brain. No one can really make that road for them. No one can tell them about it. Learners are the ones doing the finding. And often, they don't find what we thought they should. And what they find for themselves is brilliant. Learners decide what it is. It is the learner that knows and can find the way around the struggle. Yet - that's not how we teach. 

Thinking and Reasoning: Working memory and holding an idea for inspection. Blame whatever you'd like - but the reality is: learning requires a certain capacity to carry ideas, rotate them with cognitive manipulation and test theories about meaning, purpose, and use. But are we shortening or lengthening working memory with our approach? Are we showing learners how to hold ideas, store and retrieve them, or how to connect them to beauty and power? Are we showing learners how to manage emotions and complex situations that help mediate cognitive struggles? Do we show them how to activate background and schematic families of thoughts that overlap with ideas, concepts and facts like a prizmed Venn diagram (taxon vs locale)? 

Thinking and Reasoning: Expanding definitions, types, and uses of fluency. Rasinski and fluency. I can't say any of that better than him. Other than to remind folks that we are using fluency as tool. We adjust fluency based on our purposes and needs in concert with that of the author's grammatical artifacts of prosody. 

Note: In the program, we have learned that rate, accuracy, and prosody are just a part of the picture. When learners understand syntax (clauses, punctuation), tone, style, emotional vocabulary, and motivation of authors, speakers, and characters...everything changes. Even the decoding. 

We also experience fluency with typing - automaticity in typing so that we can keep up with our ideas as we compose. We become fluent in handwriting to track the flow and rhythm of our ideas and the pace of life. Fluency also means facility - think of the coloratura soprano - moving quickly into arpeggios and through different registers of the voice, throat, head, and chest. Agility with thinking - fluent in finding ways through and toward our goals and interactions with texts and each other. 

Thinking and Reasoning: The digital approach. We explicitly teach kids how to touch and hold books for the reading stance. We explicitly teach how to read static print. Digital texts are tremendously complex. Yet- where is the explicit instruction for the approach to reading pixels? 

There's more to say...but I need to think about some other stuff for a bit...

Am I wrong about vocabulary? Teach me what I don't know. Seriously

Well - I received an email asking if I knew of a vocabulary assessment that a teacher could use to assess the learner's level of vocabulary knowledge and place them effectively for instruction. 

Things to say: 

1.  Well - I have a lot to say about vocabulary. I might be wrong. Teach me.
2. In my experience, vocabulary assessments are often connected to programs that provide explicit instruction or practice on words that the publishers have divided into categories and levels that make sense only unto themselves. You have to buy the whole program and a bunch of workshit books each year. And  - none of the research shows that these programs work overall to improve comprehension, word knowledge or expressive language in speaking or writing. So...no.  
3.  I asked Google Gemini to make me a diagnostic assessment. Here's the conversation: https://g.co/gemini/share/ada01a6b6733  
4. I asked Google Gemini to list free stuff and paid stuff. Here's the convo: https://g.co/gemini/share/f815c6d546e5 Most of what they suggested is crap. 
5. Avril Coxhead's list is a good place to start. She did her doctoral dissertation on this. Her approach and outcomes are similar to what Fry did with his lists. 
1. Here's the convo: https://g.co/gemini/share/f815c6d546e5  
2. and here is Avrils stuff: https://www.eapfoundation.com/vocab/academic/awllists/
6. Some of what learners struggle with isn't exactly vocabulary - it's syntax of questioning that becomes its own kind of vocabulary or way of speaking. Often, this is one of the reasons on-level readers struggle with questions - we just don't ask the questions in that way in our classes. And when we do have syntactically and semantically mature questions and sentences and prompts - teachers paraphrase them without teaching kids how to diffuse the language structures. 
7. Teaching Greek and Latin roots, affixes and derivational constancy from various languages (French, Italian, German, etc.). is probably the best move. There are sites that break them down by grade level. And there are assessments to measure knowledge and mastery.
8. As far as I know, there isn't a great free and effective vocabulary assessment that can be easily administered by teachers in a whole class setting that also helps teachers know where to start kids at a particular level of vocabulary knowledge and then causes growth from there.  

Recommendations: 

• Begin with sight word lists. https://www.bulbapp.com/u/sight-words~5
• The San Diego Assessment is also pretty good but is also associated with reading level and not just semantics. https://www.bulbapp.com/u/oldie-but-goodie-san-diego-quick-assessment
• Issues with decoding must be ruled out before we can tell if the problem is vocabulary or something else. https://www.bulbapp.com/u/decoding 
• Here are some sentence level activities associated with vocabulary: https://www.bulbapp.com/u/syntax-surgery-and-sentence-stuff 
• A deeper understanding of text complexity is also warranted because the way words are used can be nuanced and complex in ways that most reading level formulas cannot capture: https://www.bulbapp.com/u/text-complexity 

The penultimate thought: 

Most of the ways learners are taught to acquire vocabulary are not supported by research. Looking stuff up in the dictionary isn't that helpful. Writing definitions isn't helpful. Completing workshits isn't helpful. ACT word lists and powerpoints and quizzes aren't helpful. Seek and finds aren't helpful. If it looks like a Chili's menu for children, skip it. Every research study ever done shows the highest vocabulary impact comes from wide reading: to, by, and with. 

And last - 

Vocabulary development has overlapping areas, like a complex venn diagram. There's more to vocabulary than assessing and teaching it. 

• Systematic Explicit Vocabulary Instruction: Often left out of today's instructional modes. TEA will be adding key vocabulary lists for each grade level. When I asked TEA about this, they said they were using Children's Writer's Word Book by Alijandra Mogilner and Tayopa Moliner and The Living Word Vocabulary: The Words We Know by Edgar Dale and Joseph O'Rourke to determine if words in passages matched the grade levels. I do not know if they are still using these resources. And - I feel like they weren't supposed to tell me about it. 
• Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition: Research shows that we acquire more vocabulary incidentally through wide reading (and comic books) than any other method. 
• Content Vocabulary Acquisition: For ELAR, these are our academic vocabulary terms for skills, characteristics, and genres. For ELAR texts themselves, the vocabulary comes from words central to the message, purpose, theme, or thesis. For SS - These are proper nouns. For Science: the vocabulary represents processes. For math: the vocabulary represents mathematics concepts and processes. FOR ELAR, we have content vocab about reading and writing itself. For content area specific words, these are terms that are used primarily in that content area and not used (or used differently) in another content area. 
• Emotional Vocabulary/Traits: For ELAR, much of our vocabulary development comes in the form of inferences readers make about character motivations, traits, and feelings; and tone/mood distinctions. These are the words we use to talk about the text and the author's craft and purpose. We don't always see these words in the texts themselves. Sometimes. But not always. How are we teaching and exposing learners to this line of words? Research tells us that many of our behavior problems are because people don't have the words to even name anything beyond the basic: happy- sad-mad-glad. 
• Academic Vocabulary: I think this is often confused with content vocab. Academic vocabulary is really more about thinking and reasoning. It is also how those terms flow in phrases and clauses. It's not just about single words but how they are used in context of grammar and culture. People will tell you that academic vocab is about the content - but it's really about the ways in which we talk about and process the content to make decisions.  In ELAR, we have process level vocabulary for comprehension and composition that are parsed in multiple ways. 

Resources

• My Emotional Vocabulary File: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4066e-vKQkmWlhFb3Q5WFFmeW8?resourcekey=0-6UZltHOAngHoaInnHd9adQ&usp=drive_link 
• Vocabulary Activities for Drama File: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4066e-vKQkmWlhFb3Q5WFFmeW8?resourcekey=0-6UZltHOAngHoaInnHd9adQ&usp=drive_link 
• Vocabulary Day 2 File: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4066e-vKQkmUmFFY3VwcFdEQ0k?resourcekey=0-Ztse7dPuITZ4slXH2tLRNQ&usp=drive_link 
• Vocabulary for the English Classroom File: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4066e-vKQkmUmFFY3VwcFdEQ0k?resourcekey=0-Ztse7dPuITZ4slXH2tLRNQ&usp=drive_link 

Whew - Vocabulary rant over. I'll keep looking. 

SR