Text Difficulty Weight Lifting Metaphor Tool

As students become fluent readers, it’s important for them to read texts that intentionally build their reading muscles. Using a metaphor from Jan Burkins and Kari Yates’ book, Reading Wellness (described in Shift 6 of Shifting the Balance for Upper Elementary Classrooms), this graphic supports students as they think about how the “weight” (difficulty) of a text they choose affects the necessary work to “lift” (comprehend) it.