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Text Difficulty Weight Lifting Metaphor Tool

Text 'Weight' Guide infographic by Jan Burkins and Kari Yates, comparing reading effort to weightlifting. Categories include Light Effort (3 lbs) for fluency, Medium Effort (5 lbs) for comprehension, Big Effort (8 lbs) requiring strategic reading, and Maximum Effort (10 lbs) for challenging texts that demand significant effort and prior knowledge.
Beginning: K-2
Decodable Texts

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.

  • Helps Gauge Text Difficulty
  • Builds Reading “Muscles”
  • Visual Metaphor for Text Comprehension
  • Supports Fluency Progression
  • Text Challenges
  • Encourages Strategic Text Selection
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Text 'Weight' Guide by Jan Burkins and Kari Yates. A visual analogy using dumbbells to illustrate four levels of reading effort: Light Effort (3 lbs), Medium Effort (5 lbs), Big Effort (8 lbs), and Maximum Effort (10 lbs), describing how different texts require varying levels of cognitive load and fluency.

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