NARRATIVE PROFUNDITY SCALE

I only understand what the characters are doing.	I understand what the characters are doing and thinking.	I can make judgments about what the characters do and think.	I understand the reasons behind what the characters do and think.	I think about where else have I seen this sort of thing.	Through my reading, I can learn lessons about the world	Reading changes me and helps me live my life.
Physical Level	Mental Level	Moral Level	Psychological Level	Analogical Level	Philosophical Level	Transformational Level
I can identify setting and characters. I can recreate the sequence of events in the plot.	I can summarize the main idea. I can searches for clues. I can explain how I know. I can use text to make a prediction and later to confirm it.	I can connect characters’ actions and emotions to personal experience. I can analyze actions of the character. I can understand and makes judgments about the characters.	I can read between lines (infer what is not openly said). I can identify problems with the story. I can identify with characters. I can recognize more than one possibility.	I can find ways that different stories, characters, and ideas are alike. I can identify ways that I am like the characters in the story, or how others I know are like them. I can make connections to help understand what I have read.	I can read “beyond” lines (synthesizes). I can relate abstract idea(s); themes. I can generalize to other stories/ideas. I can form new perspectives/ connections.	I can create, affirm, or change my worldview. I can make connections to other stories or events in my life to expand interrelated ideas. I can use universal truths to solve problems in my own life.
Goldilocks went in the house.  She tried out the porridge.  She ran out of the house.	Goldilocks went in the house because she was curious.  She tried the porridge because she was hungry.  She ran out of the house because she was scared	Goldilocks was wrong to go in the house because it didn’t belong to her.  She was wrong to try the porridge because it was not her food and the bears might have had to go hungry.  She was wrong to run away - she should have stayed and explained her behavior.	Goldilocks got a chance to satisfy her curiosity.  She was able to eat and not be hungry anymore.  She was able to get away without facing the consequences.	Goldilocks is like me because she likes to try everything out before she makes a decision.  The three bears are like my grandmother because she always leaves the door unlocked.  My dad says she is too trusting.	It is wrong to use and abuse other people’s things without permission.  This is a violation of Individual rights.	Now I understand that curiosity can be both a good and bad thing.  I always wondered why my mom would say, “Curiosity killed the cat.”

(Adapted from a document published by Jeff Beal, Elaine Weber, & Barbara Nelson http://www.readinglady.com/mosaic/tools/Profundity%20Scale-Narrative%20from%20Jeff.pdf )