Text Coding

Text coding is a great way to differentiate things for the diverse learners in your classroom. I discovered some great facts about text coding on the http://toolsfordifferentiation.pbworks.com/w/page/22360123/Text%20Coding website.

Post it notes work wonders for text coding! Students can then stick the notes in their books without having to write directly in the text! 

Parents: you can also encourage your readers to do this at home!!!! Have a discussion about the book and watch your reader blossom and really engage in the text!

What is text coding?

Text coding is a way for students to monitor their comprehension and apply fix-up strategies when their comprehension breaks down.
Text coding helps students to become active readers that are aware of their thinking as they read.  Text coding can also be useful for discussion about the reading.

Why Do It?

Proficient readers often have ways of marking or coding text they want to remember. Maybe they use a yellow highlighter, underline or box words, or put marks in the margins to flag questions or exclamations as they read. In school, however, students are often discouraged from making any marks in their books. In fact, the more challenging the material (like science or history textbooks), the less likely that kids will be allowed to use this effective tool for enhancing comprehension. However, Post-its may be the solution teachers need for students to annotate their texts.

Whether books or other materials can be marked up or not, it’s important for students to have a useful set of response codes. When addressing such tough text, students need to attack the page, penetrate the surface, and dig out the meaning with very active strategies. 

How Can You do it? 

You can select codes that fit your student needs/abilities. Select codes that reinforce the purpose of the reading. Although codes may vary for different types of reading assignments, try to consistently use a few that reinforce good reading habits. It can be helpful to introduce only two or 

three symbols at time until students become proficient in using them.

Here is an example of what text codes can look like in your classroom:

Symbol	Meaning
T-S	Text-to-self connection
T-T	Text-to-text connection
T-W	Text-to-world connection
V	Visualize or make a picture in my head
P	Predict
I	Infer (read between the lines)
2+2	Synthesize (put together)
!	Important
?	Question: I wonder; I don’t understand; or Puzzles me
+	New information (clarify)
X	I thought differently
=	Reminds me of…
ü	Confirms what I thought

How to Teach Text Coding?

You want to make sure first and foremost you are explicitly modeling this strategy for students. Introduce them to 1 or 2 codes at first. Have a group of students sit and listen to you read aloud, as you code your own text. The most effective thing you can do as a teacher is say everything out loud that you are thinking (think-aloud). Then do some guided practice where you work on coding a few pages together. Then you want to release your students to coding the rest of the text on their own. Bring your group back and discuss there findings. Ask a lot of open-ended questions like: Why did you think that? What evidence in the text gave you that idea?

If you have any questions about what text coding looks like, feel free to call or email me!