Miner 1

Madeline Miner
READ 472
November 9, 2015

TEXTBOOK ASSESSMENT
TEXTBOOK
Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. (2000). Elements of Literature. (First Course ed.) Texas.
Harcourt Brace & Company.
The textbook I am using for my assessment is one that my cooperating
teacher in my practicum
uses with her seventh
grade students relatively
often in her language arts
core classes. It is titled
Elements
of
Literature:
First Course and was
published by Holt, Rinehart,
and Winston in 2000. The
teacher loves to use certain
stories
from
it
that
coincide with her lesson
plans, but she tends to
build her own activities to
accompany these stories
from the textbook. It seems
like the students enjoy
using the textbook in class
as well, and its an added
bonus that they dont have
to lug it home with them
every
night
to
do
homework out of it.
Overall, it seems to be a
successful
textbook
amongst the students, but
they also dont utilize
every aspect of it so their
use of it doesnt give a
full
picture
of
its
effectiveness.

READING LEVEL
This textbook, titled Elements of Literature, weighs in on the Fry readability
graph as shown on the following chart:
Page #
Syllables
Sentences
Results: On the
curve.

67
237
571
Average
113
129
113
118.3
3.5
3.4
4.3
3.73
th
left end of the 7 grade reading level segment, outside of the

To calculate these results, I chose three 100-word passages from the textbook, all of
which were from short stories. I then used an online word/syllable counter to

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determine that each passage had 100 words and to see how many syllables were
included in each passage. Next, I counted, to the nearest 10 th, how many sentences
were in each passage. After obtaining these numbers, I averaged the number of
syllables, resulting in 118.3, and the number of sentences, resulting in an average
of 3.73. The results of these numbers on the Frye graph showed that the reading
level of this book is indeed seventh grade with a tendency towards longer
sentences, as opposed to having a helpful balance of long sentences with long
words. However, the vocabulary throughout the book is shown to be challenging,
even if it isnt highly challenging. Ive seen the kids in my practicum struggle
through and then master vocabulary words from the stories in the textbook, and
these are kids who didnt pass their SOLs the year prior, so its rewarding to see
that they are challenged enough to push for their success. I am unsure of how the
more advanced core classes fare with this textbook, but I feel confident in assuming
that they might not feel challenged with this textbook.
The readability of a textbook is a significant aspect in helping teachers to
understand and determine the grade level of a text. According to John J. Pikulski, a
professor at the University of Delaware, it is defined as the level of ease or
difficulty with which text material can be understood by a particular reader who is
reading that text for a specific purpose (Pikulski). I would agree with this definition,
and go a step farther to apply it directly to a student. If I were to explain readability
to someone, I would say that it is the ease with which a student can read,
understand, and draw meaning from a text, in its entirety (meaning that they can
draw meaning from the words, sentences, and stories, not just from the text as a
general thing). For example, when the students in my practicum read a story
called Bargain by A.B. Guthrie, they had to understand more than just the story
itself. They were challenged to understand new words, inferences, suspense, and
persuasion. In order to understand these things, they had to pull not just from the
text as a whole but from the individual parts of the text words, sentences,
paragraphs, and so on. They were able to succeed because they took the text apart
in order to make sense of it and then put it back together to explain what they
found. This shows how it is important to remember that readability goes beyond the
simple act of reading.

EVALUATION

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Content

Unit Setup: This textbook is full

to
the brim with various types of
literature, the majority of which are short stories and poems, but also
includes legends, essays, autobiographies, folk tales, songs, news articles,
plays, interviews, myths, cartoons, scientific writings, journals, fables, and
history pieces. These texts within the textbook are divided into eight units
based on their overall theme. The themes a wide and varied, including
Out Here on My Own, Who Am I?, Do the Right Thing, and We Rookies
Have to Stick Together. There are about seven to nine short stories per unit.
This organization of the stories is beneficial to students and teachers alike. I
know that in reading through the different units that most students would be
able to make connections between the stories with similar themes,
increasing their ability to make connections in literature in general.
Before-Reading: Additionally, each individual piece of literature has a page
with the heading Before You Read that gives the readers some things to
learn and think about as they go into reading the story. Ive noticed that my
cooperating teacher will sometimes use the content from these pages to
jumpstart her lesson plans in a way that is similar to a hook. My cooperating
teacher does not utilize the stories in the way they are grouped in the book,
however, because her chosen theme for the time-being has been
suspense/thrill within texts. But she has been able to easily pull stories
from the textbook because of the clear, concise way in which they are
grouped and presented in the textbook. I think this shows that the textbook
is useful in and of itself, but it can also be used to supplement a teachers
original lesson plan and is easy to maneuver through into order to find what
story or information is needed.

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After-Reading and Original Work: The textbook also has various activities at
the end of the different stories. There is a page that says Making
Meaning that provides readers with questions to challenge and assess
their understanding of the story, while also giving them time to come up with
original thoughts using evidence drawn from the text. One aspect that I think
is very interesting and is on-going throughout the whole textbook is the
section after each story called CHOICES: Building Your Portfolio. The
fact that there is one of these sections after every story shows great
consistency and, for me personally, paints a picture that each student really
could create a portfolio based on the stories in these units. For example,
after the story called Bargain by A.B. Guthrie, there are questions to answer
that involve summaries, research, speaking, listening, art, and analyzing,
whereas the questions asked after the story Three Skeleton Key incorporate
creative writing, readers theater, science, and design. Hypothetically, if
students were to have the time and endurance to go through every story and
create various responses to these questions, they would have a plethora of
work that could help them develop their skills immensely. Of course, this is
not a reality but the fact that this textbook has such a varied collection of
activities for students to do is beneficial because it gives them diversity in
the way they work, allows them to be creative, and opens up doors to really
engage with the stories they have been reading. In my own practicum
classroom, I have seen this used with the several stories that my cooperating
teacher has chosen from the textbook and she has them keep a running
Google Doc of all of their work. The kids greatly enjoy being able to look
back at all of the original, creative work they have made from these stories,
so it shows that students can enjoy that aspect of the textbook.

Incorporated LA Lessons: In a more practical sense, there are also

Grammar Link or Language Link pages after each story that allow
students to apply what they are learning in class to the stories they are
reading. These activities vary as well from using apostrophes correctly to
knowing how to use certain troublesome verbs. Ive noticed that my
cooperating teacher tends to use these as pre-lesson warm-ups or postlesson cool-downs, depending on how the students are faring with that
particular topic. This, too, shows the diversity of the textbook and how it can
be used in various ways because it provides a teacher the chance to be
flexible in their planning.

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Continuing to Read and Workshops: Another beneficial aspect of this

textbook is that at the end of each unit, there are pages with the heading
Read On, Writers Workshop, and Sentence Workshop. The
Read On pages provide a list of other novels that can be used to further
explore the concept provided in each unit. This
gives students a list of books they can easily
go to if they find that they greatly enjoyed a
particular concept, or they can use it to simply
find a new book to read until they find that one
book that changes their perception of reading.
The two workshop pages are also helpful in
giving students the chance to practice their
writing and sentence construction in a more
targeted manner. For example, one of the
Writers Workshop pages gives students a
layout of how to create a persuasive argument,
something that my practicum students have
been working on this semester. The Sentence
Workshops assist students in improving their ability to construct meaningful,
accurate sentences. Some examples of these workshops address run-on
sentences and wordy sentences. These tidbits of information could be used
very effectively if employed properly to cater to student needs.

Extra Resources: Finally, there is a huge Resource

Center in the back of the textbook. This resource
center includes a handbook of literary terms, a
communications handbook, a language handbook,
and a glossary. Each portion of the center is color
coded so that students know which part they are
viewing. This has shown to be very helpful to
students when they do use the textbook in class.
They refer to it when they are looking up various
vocabulary words and literary terms, allowing
them to grow more independent in the way that
they gain information and clarity on certain
aspects of their work. I know that my cooperating teacher greatly
encourages them to use this resource center in the textbook prior to asking
her for help, and its shown to be successful for the students.

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Format
The format of this textbook is clearly laid out and easy for
teachers and students alike to understand. The table of contents shows
the units as Collection One to Collection Eight, so it can be easily seen
how the textbook is split up. Within the whole table of contents, each
collection could even be seen as having its own mini-table of contents, with
the different pieces of literature listed with their title, author, and genre.
Each table of contents page also looks the same in terms of the layout. This
consistency adds another element of ease for students and teachers to find
what they are looking for in the textbook. The table of contents also has a
good balance of white space, text, and images that allows students to not be

overstimulated or overwhelmed when searching for a certain text.

Within each unit, there is a consistent format for each piece of

literature included in the textbook. Each one begins with a Before You
Read page, followed by a title page of the text, then the text itself, then a
Making Meanings page, then Building Your Portfolio, and finally a
Grammar/Language Link page. Again, this consistency makes it a textbook
that is easy to follow along with because teachers and students, especially,

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know what to expect as they read through a story or poem from the
textbook. The only downside to this is that it could be seen as monotonous.
However, the diversity of texts, questions, and activities within each unit
could provide enough differentiation that students are able to be surprised
every time they approach a new story. Furthermore, this layout of each story
allows the teacher to incorporate their own creativity by knowing they can
pull certain aspects into their original lesson plans because they know
exactly what the textbook provides in every story and know it is available to
them.

Utility
Before You Read sections: The Before You Read activities for each text in
the book incorporate making connections, brief writing prompts, and various
elements of literature. When employed properly, they are helpful and
effective because it incorporates three crucial aspects of language arts and
gets students thinking about what it is
they are about to read. They might not
be challenging, however, and more
advanced readers could certainly get
bored with it unless the teacher adds
their own ideas to make it more
challenging.
Nevertheless,
the
questions engage students minds and
allow them to use their typical middleschool energy in a productive manner
as they work individually, in partners,
or in groups as the textbook (or
teacher) dictates. The Before You
Read sections also provide Reading
Skills and Strategies that can allow
teachers to create during-reading exercises for the students to utilize. For
example, the story Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling has a Dialogue with
the Text activity that goes with it so that students can learn how to jot down
their notes and thoughts about the story as it progresses so they can see
concrete evidence of how their train of thought is developing. These beforeand during-reading exercises might not have a great deal of flair to them, but
it creates an avenue of thought that students can definitely run with so that
they are able to get their minds warmed up to the reading.

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Making Meanings sections: The Making Meaning activities for each text
include sections that prompt students to think about their first reactions,
interpretations, and connections made to the text, as shown to the right in
the image provided. The questions and
prompts seem dull, but just as with the
before-reading
activities,
they
allow
students the freedom to answer as they
feel is appropriate to them. For example, in
the questions and prompts included in the
First Thoughts section of Making
Meanings, the question is personal to
each student, asking things like What did
you think? or How did this make you
feel? Why?. This form of questioning
allows students to get comfortable with
talking about the story because there is no
wrong answer when they are choosing
their own opinion or thoughts. They will be
more open to discussing the story with a
partner, the class, or the teacher, and it reveals where there might be a lack
of understanding on a students end. Again, there is a chance that these
questions could be seen as uninviting and might be not challenging to all
students, but they are not so strict that students cant have fun with them,
which is important when it comes to discussing literature in a way that will
interest them.

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Building Your Portfolio sections: The

Building Your Portfolio portions of the
textbook are the sections that get me,
personally, the most excited about the
utilization of this textbook, an example of
which is shown in the image to the immediate
left. After every single piece of literature in
the textbook, be it a poem or a story or an
essay, there is a section that is dedicated to
allowing students to create an original miniproject (or extended, if the teacher decides or
time requires it) that provides reflection of the
text in an innovative way. These activities
offer something new each time a student
encounters it. One text could instruct
students to simply write two paragraphs that summarize the text and
describe its effects on them as the reader. Another text could ask that
students get into groups and create a choral reading of a play or poem that
they just read together. Still another might require them to make a piece of
descriptive art that pulls evidence from the text to get their point across to
viewers. I think that this is one of the most useful parts of the textbook
because it speaks so truly to the middle school learner a student that
needs a creative and energetic outlet and wants to learn and explore without
really realizing that they are doing so. It also allows for prominent
differentiation in the classroom because they can be creative in their own
unique manner while still meeting the criteria of the assignment.

Grammar and Language Links sections: The Grammar and Language Links
sections of the textbook cover a multitude of topics within language arts,
including comma and apostrophe use, punctuation, transitions, pronouns,
homonyms, active and passive voice, dialect, descriptive and figurative
language, allusions, and even more beyond that. They are each titled as
mini-lessons so a teacher could even use that page alone for a whole class
period if they so desired. The exercises used for them are what you could
expect in any language arts textbook. An example of these grammar
exercises include copying down the sentences given and adding commas
where they are necessary, as shown in the figure below on the left for
Grammar Link. An example of a language exercise is rewriting boring
sentences in a way that makes them more descriptive and exciting, as shown

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in the figure below on the right for Language Link. Although they might be
monotonous, it gives students a chance to practice their skills and use them
in future assignments.

Writing and Sentence Workshop sections: The Writing and Sentence

Workshop parts of the textbook, shown in these
two images, are able to be used to tie all of these
other aspects together. They require students to
pull from the unit as a whole and from the skills
they have learned from
the various language
arts activities required of
them. It also shows

students a brief outline of their goal on

the left side of the page, which is helpful
so that students can clearly see the
objective of the assignment. Furthermore,
it breaks things down into stages with
steps in each stage so that students know
where to go next after they get started
and move on with the assignment.

Style

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In terms of the appearance of the pages in the

textbook, there seems to be a lot of words
and images on each page of the textbook,
and this makes sense seeing as the content is
so wide and varied. Although it is all tastefully
done and sectioned off well, it could be possible
that students will be overstimulated when
looking at how many things are on a single
page. The table of contents has a good amount
of white space, but students wont be reading
the table of contents, of course. Otherwise,
white space is most certainly hard to come
by. However, it is pleasing to look at, even if it seems confusing initially.
There are vivid pictures accompanied with each text that could be
used to help students imagine the setting and really place themselves
into the stories they are reading. Its also a good mixture of colorful text and
black text so that students dont get bored when reading. The size of the
text within the stories and poems and such appear to be a normal sized font,
but the headings and titles tend to be bigger and more colorful. This is a
good tool for helping students find something on a page after searching the
table of contents for the proper page or when directed by the teacher to find
the Making Meanings section or something similar

SUMMARY: STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, AND ADAPTATION

Overall, this textbook appears to be a beneficial resource to be utilized
by students and teachers alike in a classroom. Its reading level is suitable to
that of seventh graders and it is easy to navigate with the detailed table of
contents. It also provides a wide range of genres and activities to go with the
texts so that students can engage closely with them. The stories, poems, and
so on that were chosen for this textbook are also interesting to read and give
students exposure to many different arenas of thought than they might
anticipate. In addition to having interesting things to read, it offers a lot of
opportunities for students to discuss their thoughts and opinions of the text
freely and openly without fear of getting the answer wrong. This presence of
easy navigation, interesting texts, and open-ended questions within the
textbook shows its strengths and fosters a positive learning environment

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where students are encouraged to explore and learn at a pace that is

consistent yet enjoyable.
However, there are some weaknesses revealed in this textbook. One
setback is that it tends to favor long sentences over long words. This is not to
say that a student has more mastery of language arts simply by knowing
longer words, but it implies that they might not be learning enough new,
useful words. Furthermore, long sentences might make struggling readers
more winded and confused when they read, either out loud or by
themselves. Another problem with this textbook is that its layout and
images could be overstimulating for some students. I know that I personally
had to get used to the amount of material that was present on each page,
and even now I sometimes get distracted by how much is on each page. It
also might not be universally user-friendly without the help of the teacher
creating adaptations for specific audiences.
Among these audiences that would require adaptations are advanced
students who seek a bigger challenge in their language arts classes,
students who tend to struggle more with their reading, and ELL students.
Teachers should be prepared to do outside work to adjust lesson plans that
are made using this textbook in order to make sure that all audiences are
reached in the classroom. For advanced students, the teacher can supply
different, more challenging questions that address the same topics that other
student are addressing. For struggling students, the teacher can give them a
lesser requirement in terms of writing length or the type of assessment they
do. For ELL students, the teacher should be anticipating that they will need a
decent amount of 1:1 time so that they can learn at their own pace and grow
in their independence gradually.

TRADE BOOKS
Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
In this moving novel from Sloan, the reader is brought into the life of
Willow Chance, an intellectually and emotionally extraordinary twelve-yearold girl who has just learned that her adoptive parents have died in a car
crash. Willow is forced to deal with Social Services and the prospect of being
placed into the care of another family. Feeling unsure of everything she has
ever known, she finds companionship, support, and eventually her own
identity again as makes an elaborate plan with her school counselor and her

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friends, the Ngyuen family, to make sure she is able to stay in Bakersville.
This book brings out the strengths of the textbook by its ability to be applied
to several of the themes in the collections in the book, including Out Here
on My Own and Who Am I?, so that students can make connections to
those and practice that skill beyond the textbook alone. This book also brings
out the weaknesses of the textbook because some students might find this
book more challenging than the works in the textbook, due to both the
reading level of it and the fact that the main narrator of the story is a young
genius. Regardless, Scholastic classifies it as being appropriate for grades six
to nine, and the amount of white space, length of chapters, and number of
pages makes it an acceptable, thought-provoking read for a seventh grade
classroom.

Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson

This autobiography tells the story of Leysons time growing up in
Krakow, Germany as a young Jewish boy during the time of the Nazi invasion
and the Holocaust. With great perseverance, strength, luck, and the
unexpected help of a man named Oscar Schindler, Leyson finds that he is
able to survive the most hopeless of times in his life. This book brings out the
strengths of the textbook by providing students with the chance to read
something non-fictional that continues to add to the plethora of genres
presented in the textbook, showing students that it is important to read a lot
of different types of literature. At the same time, it reveals a weakness
because although the textbook is greatly varied in what it offers, it does not
offer a wide range of historical pieces that allow students to learn across
their different subject areas. According to Simon & Schuster, this book is
appropriate for grades four to nine and is therefore good for a seventh grade
classroom as well.

A Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare

In this comedy from Shakespeare, readers will experience drama and
love triangles, dukes and duchesses, and actors and fairies. This classic work
from the man who spearheaded the English language is still relevant in the
middle school classroom today. This play brings out the strengths of the
textbook by providing captivating entertainment and interesting storylines,
just as other stories in the textbook do as well. It also covers the weaknesses

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of the textbook by providing more diversity not only in the genre of literature
but also in the difficulty of the language. Readers who seek a challenge
should be satisfied with this play, and those who might struggle will be
challenged beyond what they realize they can do. Most importantly, students
will have a fun time reading it and doing activities along with the play.
According to Scholastic, this play weighs in at a grade level of 8.7, making it
a good challenge in a 7th grade classroom but also being a play that can be
taught in ways to make it even more fitting for 7th.

Uglies by Scott Westerfield

In this futuristic text from Westerfield, Tally Youngblood lives in a
society where appearance Ugly versus Pretty is determinant of your
status. Turning sixteen means skyrocketing to the good life of the Pretties,
and Tally is more than ready for it until she meets Shay, a fellow Ugly who
loves taking risks and is more than ready to leave society behind. When Shay
does run away, Tally is thrown into a secret mission that forces her to choose
between turning Shay in or never turning Pretty and the choice she makes
will change her life forever. This book brings out the strengths of the
textbook by adding to the variety of genres included in the textbook and
emphasizing the importance of such variety in ones reading. However, it
also covers over the weakness of the textbook that it does not have a lot of
scientific fiction texts within it. It also covers the weakness of not being
challenging enough for all readers. Although this book ranks at a 5.6 reading
level according to Scholastic, the length of it in addition to white space and
content make it a book that is good for grades nine to twelve.

Daybook of Critical Reading and Writing by Fran Claggett, Louann Reid, and
Ruth Vinz
This book, according to the authors, is defined as a daybook because it
is similar to that of a journal or diary. Taking the format of an LA activity
book, it provides a multitude of activities that teachers can use to
supplement this textbook. In this way, the textbooks strengths are made
known because it adds to the effectiveness of the stories that are included in
it and allows students to continue to explore based on what they have
already gained from using the textbook. In the same way, it also covers the
weak areas of the textbook that might be considered boring. In a more

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practical sense, it also covers the weakness of the textbooks size. This
daybook is paperback, relatively thin, and very light so students would not
have a problem bringing this home in contrast to the heavy textbook that
should just stay at school. It is rated at a grade level of 10 th grade, but
teachers can be selective in which activities they have students complete in
order to make it appropriate for a 7th grade classroom.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Boy on the Wooden Box. (2015, August 1). Retrieved November 10, 2015
from http://books.simonandschuster.com/The-Boy-on-the-WoodenBox/Leon-Leyson/9781442497825
Daybook Grade 10 Student Book. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2015 from
https://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?
id=003199&subject=Reading

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%2FLiterature/6&category=Daybooks+of+Critical+Reading+and+Writi
ng/1429
Leyson, L. (2013). The Boy on the Wooden Box. New York, NY: Simon &
Schuster.
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare | Scholastic.com. (n.d.).
Retrieved November 10, 2015 from
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/midsummer-nightsdream#cart/cleanup
Pikulski, J. (2002). Readability. Retrieved November 8, 2015 from
https://www.eduplace.com/state/author/pikulski.pdf
Product : Counting by 7s. (2015). Retrieved November 10, 2015 from
http://shop.scholastic.com/shop/en/tso/Counting-by-7s
Sloan, H. G. (2014). Counting by 7s. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
Syllable Counter & Word Count. (2010). Retrieved November 10, 2015 from
www.wordcalc.com
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld | Scholastic.com. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10,
2015 from
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/uglies#cart/cleanup
Westerfeld, S. (2005). Uglies. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.