Text Complexity Analysis Grade 10, Module 1 – In Pursuit ...

1 Text Complexity Analysis Grade 10, Module 1 In Pursuit of unhappiness The text Complexity of this Module is analyzed using qualitative and quantitative measures recommended by the Achieve the Core Web site. Included for this Module are the following: Titles of Module texts Discussion of writing tasks and pedagogical consideration based on the Analysis of text Complexity Quantitative analyses of Module texts Qualitative Analysis of one selected Module text Titles McMahon, Darrin. In Pursuit of unhappiness . New York Times, 29 Dec. 2005. Web. 15 Sept. 2012. < >. Overall Results for Youth Outside the Church. Center for Youth Studies, Web. 26 Jan. 2012. Watterson, Bill. Calvin Demands Euphoria. Comic strip. There's Treasure Everywhere A Calvin and Hobbes Collection. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1996. 34. Print. Writing Tasks The writing assignment asks students to write an on-demand essay. They read a longer excerpt in which John Stuart Mill explains his view of happiness as best attained when pursuing other ends (two quotations from the passage appear in McMahon's article).

2 Students have to analyze Mill's argument and take a position on it. Pedagogical Considerations Christian, Enlightenment, Victorian, and contemporary Western views of happiness are central to this text. Understanding the different points of view and negotiating the various voices incorporated in the text offers a further challenge. While its perspective is Western, it also provides an opportunity for students to consider the views of other non-Western cultures including ones that they represent. The two graphs about the attitudes towards happiness held by youth inside and outside churches invite further exploration. It will be important to ensure that students read and interpret the results accurately, including noticing the relatively small n sizes of 66 and 109. They will also have to recognize that the higher the column for an activity, the less happy the respondents felt it would make them. Analyzing the structure of the text and McMahon's rhetorical strategies may require modeling and feedback since it is likely that students have not had much experience with a text of this Complexity .

3 Grade 10 ERWC Text Complexity In Pursuit of unhappiness 1. Quantitative Analyses of Module texts Flesch- Reading Kincaid Author and Title Text Type CCSS Grade Band Maturity Grade Metric Level Darrin M. McMahon, In Pursuit of Newspaper Article College/Career-Ready unhappiness . Center for Youth Studies, Youth Graph College/Career-Ready Outside/Inside of the Church Results Grade 10 ERWC Text Complexity In Pursuit of unhappiness 2. Qualitative Analysis : Darrin M. McMahon, In Pursuit of unhappiness . Placement Within the Band Category Notes and Comments on Text, Support for Placement in this Band Beginning Beginning Beginning End of NOT. of 9 of 10 of 11 11 suited to band Structure (both story The structure of the text is moderately complex. The introduction suggests that X. structure or form of piece) telling people to be happy is a product of the last two centuries. The next section claims that viewing happiness as a moral obligation was a major shift that may not have made us happier but happiness may be the wrong goal.

4 The conclusion admonishes readers not to have a happy new year but instead to engage in activities that may even bring a little joy to the world.. Language Clarity and The language of the text is very complex. Potentially unfamiliar words are Conventions (including pervasive: yearn, usher in, preoccupation, perpetual, discounted, X. vocabulary load) cranky, and heeding. Long, information-dense sentences appear throughout: Carlyle's arithmetic was essentially sound, for changes in both religious and secular culture since the seventeenth century made happiness,' in the form of pleasure or good feeling, not only morally acceptable but commendable in and of itself. Embedded quotations add to the Complexity . Knowledge Demands (life, The cultural knowledge demands of the text are very complex. The writer content, cultural/literary) assumes knowledge of Christian beliefs about sin, suffering, and the promise of X. heavenly happiness. Although the Enlightenment is not referenced, language from the Declaration of Independence is used to signal the philosophical change that occurred in European and American culture at that time.

5 Carlyle is quoted without explanation while John Stuart Mill is described only as a philosopher, so readers need cultural knowledge to understand what they represent. Levels of Meaning/ The purpose of the text is very complex. The article appears to be a brief history Purpose of the focus on happiness in Western culture, but then shifts to the philosophical X. question of how best to achieve happiness. Its purpose is to raise questions about whether happiness is the right goal for individuals. Overall placement: Justification: The text is an example of how a writer can explore the implications of something that we all take for granted like wishing each other Happy New Year. The text incorporates a historical perspective on our Beginning to middle of attitude toward happiness and references the Declaration of Independence, X. tenth Grade . Victorian philosophers, sociologists, and economists on the topic of happiness. It presents a useful critical thinking challenge to students beginning tenth Grade as well as a challenge in negotiating the multiple voices in the text.

6 Grade 10 ERWC Text Complexity In Pursuit of unhappiness 3.