Learning Side by Side

I was cleaning up/organizing the files on an older computer I used infrequently when I happened upon a Microsoft Word document I saved as “hidden grade level readability feature in MS Word on a document.” [I know, it is too long a title. Therefore, I must have saved it in haste.] Opening it up, I discovered it was a quick note describing how to access evaluation of the readability of written work on a document using the Fletch-Kincaid level. So I tried it out with another document floating around, which was a cut-and-paste job from an old blog post in LA Observed titled Classic Gilbert Lindsay, shown here as seen in the stray document I found:

Classic Gilbert Lindsay

Rick Orlov’s Tipoff column in today’s Daily News quotes the best line that the late city councilman from “the great Ninth District” (as Lindsay used to say) ever mangled. During a lingering debate in the council chambers, Lindsay moaned, “The problem with City Hall is that it takes too long to get nothing done.”

Here is what I had to do with the Word document in order to find the readability level (using Word 2003). First, I selected Spelling and Grammar under the Tools menu and then clicked on Options in the window that opened up. A new window with various items to check was revealed, and I chose to check “Show Readability Statistics” (different versions may use different wording for this option). After a quick check on the spelling and grammar, I was presented this window, which included information that the writing was at an 11.5 grade level of reading:

It was a very nice feature to activate if you are working on a Word document. But this can be done also with websites and blogs using online tools. For example, Juicy Studio allows you to evaluate a website for its readability using the Gunning-Fox Index and showing how to determine the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. And you can also use the Blog Readability Test on the Critics Rant website. Here are links to each resources:

Juicy Studio Readability Test:
http://juicystudio.com/services/readability.php

The Blog Readability Test on Critics Rant:
http://www.criticsrant.com/bb/reading_level.aspx

I was trying to figure out where I originally copied the text found in this extraneous Word file that lead me to checking on readability levels. Sadly, I used poor citing judgment at the time. Therefore, I snooped around the Internet, and I feel that the original source could be Quentin D’Souza who may have mentioned this on Twitter when I was still learning how to use it in my learning. He mentions information on readability tests in the Teaching Hacks wiki page titled Differentiating Using Technology.

Whether it was him or another person that helped me uncover readability levels in Microsoft Word, I can at least say it was nice to once again discover that information. It felt like the many times I have found post-it notes deep in my laptop bag or stuck in books or binders I have collected. If I wrote it down (or copied-and-pasted), then it must have been something important or enlightening. I know there are others out there that rediscover lost learning in the form of post-its, bookmarks, files, etc. I finish this post with a plea to go back into your old files and learn again.