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A Lesson Before Dying

A Lesson Before Dying

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Author Resources

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TeachingBooks.net Original Content(3)

About the Author(1)

Ernest J. Gaines
Ernest J. Gaines

Book Guides & Lesson Plans(7)

Text Complexity

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About the Book

  • Year Published: 1993
  • Word Count: 76,845

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Literary Text Complexity Measures


A Lesson Before Dying

A Lesson Before Dying

by Ernest J. Gaines

To help put the right book in each reader's hands, consider the following comprehensive text complexity analyses within your instructional plans.

Standards Model
of Text Complexity

Text Complexity Toolkit

Quantitative Measures

Lexile Level: 750L   |    ATOS® Reading Level: 4.4   |    Word Count: 76,845

Grade Band Lexile® ATOS® Degrees of Reading Power® Flesch-Kincaid Fountas & Pinnell Reading Maturity SourceRater
2-3 420L-820L 2.75-5.14 42-54 1.98-5.34 I-P 3.53-613 0.05-2.48
4-5 740L-1010L 4.97-7.03 52-60 4.51-7.72 O-V 5.42-7.92 0.84-5.75
6-8 925L-1185L 7.00-9.98 57-67 6.51-10.34 U-Z 7.04-9.57 4.11-10.66
9-10 1050L-1335L 9.67-12.01 62-72 8.32-12.12 Z+ 8.41-10.81 9.02-13.93
11-12 1185L-1385L 11.20-14.10 67-74 10.34-14.20 Z+ 9.57-12.00 12.30-14.50
View all grade bands

Source: National Governors Association for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers.[1]


Qualitative Measures

Qualitative Text Complexity Ranges

 
  • Slightly
  • Moderately
  • Very
  • Exceedingly
Meaning
Text Organization
Conventionality
Vocabulary
Sentence Structure
Life Experiences
Cultural Knowledge

Crowdsourced from 3 educators who filled out the Literary Text Complexity Qualitative Measures Rubric.[2]

Add your own assessment to this crowdsourced measurement.

Reader and Task Considerations

  • What do you want your students to accomplish with the text, and how will you implement this in your lesson?
  • How will you guide your students to construct meaning and grow as readers, based on the theme and content of this particular text?
  • Which readers will deeply connect with this text, and where does that fit into the instructional plan? Consider each specific reader's motivation, knowledge, and experiences, along with their age, learning needs, language, and reading skills.

Grades in which A Lesson Before Dying is Assigned


PreK   K   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12

Crowdsourced from 3 educators who filled out the Literary Text Complexity Qualitative Measures Rubric.[2]

1. National Governors Association for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. "Supplemental Information for Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy: New Research on Text Complexity," Common Core State Standards Initiative (2014): 4. Accessed August 8, 2014, http://www.corestandards.org/assets/E0813_Appendix_A_New_Research_on_Text_Complexity.pdf.

2. Adapted from the CCSSO's ELA State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards, and the text complexity rubrics used by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction ELA Team.

3. Lexile® is a trademark of MetaMetrics. Used under license.

4. ATOS® is a trademark of Renaissance Learning, Inc. Used under license.