Text Complexity: Stretching Readers with Texts and Tasks

"There is a big difference between assigning complex texts and teaching complex texts…"
---Doug, Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Diane Lapp

….And that’s the crux, isn’t it? That’s why in this brand new edition of the bestselling Text Complexity, the renowned author team provide four new chapters that lay open the instructional routines that take students to new places as readers. 

No matter what discipline you teach, you will learn how to craft purposeful instruction pitched to your readers’ comprehension capacities, your curriculum’s themes, and your own assessments on what students need next. 

Doug, Nancy, and Diane provide:

• How-to’s for measuring word and sentence length and other countable features of any written work while giving ample consideration to the readers in your room, and how their background knowledge, experiences, and motivations come into play
• A rubric for analyzing literary texts for plot structure, point of view, imagery, clarity, and more―and a complexity scale for analyzing informational texts that describe, inform, and explain
• Classroom scenarios of teachers and students engaging with fiction and nonfiction texts that provide enough of a stretch, so you’ll know the difference between a healthy struggle and frustration 
• The authors’ latest thinking on routines that invite students to interact with complex texts and with one another, including teacher modeling, close reading, scaffolded small group reading, and independent reading 

It’s time to see text complexity as a dynamic, powerful tool for sliding the right text in front of our students’ at just the right time. Think of this second edition as Text Complexity-2-Go, because it’s all about the movement of minds at work, going deeper than anyone ever thought possible. 

Douglas Fisher is a professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Previously, Fisher was an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. In 2022, he was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame by the Literacy Research Association. He has published numerous articles on reading and literacy, leadership, and curriculum design, as well as books such as Your Introduction to PLC+, Welcome to Teaching, How Feedback Works, Teaching Reading, and RIGOR Unveiled. Fisher loves being an educator and hopes to share that passion with others.

Nancy Frey is a professor of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Her published titles include The Courage to Learn, The Art and Science of Coaching, How Scaffolding Works, and The Illustrated Guide to Visible Learning. Frey is a credentialed special educator, reading specialist, and administrator in California and learns from teachers and students every day.