and Close Reading

July 17, 2012ALE Conference Hot Springs

AGENDA• What do the Common Core State Standards for

English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects say about literacy in the content areas?

• How can content teachers adjust to the complex text requirements of common core?

• Close reading tools for comprehending complex text

• What is disciplinary reading and how will it look in your classroom?

• Resources

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Close Reading of Complex Text

“A significant body of

research links the close

reading of complex text—

regardless if the student is a struggling

reader or advanced—to significant gains

in reading proficiency, and finds close

reading to be a key component of

college and career readiness.” PARCC Model Content Frameworks for ELA/Literacy p. 6

Students Who are College and Career Ready:

• demonstrate independence,• build content knowledge,• respond to demands of audience, task,

purpose, and discipline,• comprehend and critique,• value evidence,• use technology and digital media, and• come to understand other perspectives and

cultures.CCSS, page 7

PARCC Model Content Frameworks

“Close, analytic reading stresses engaging with a text of sufficient complexity directly and examining its meaning thoroughly and methodically, encouraging students to read and reread deliberately.”

PARCC MCF, page 6http://www.parcconline.org/parcc-content-frameworks

What CC Literacy Standards are NOT

• … just having students read and write more

• … assigning more vocabulary words to look up and write definitions for

• … conducting basic literacy techniques to struggling readers during social studies

• … giving students Venn diagrams and sentence diagramming assignments in social studies

• …assigning more “What did you do during …” essays

What They Are • Modeling and

scaffolding what reading in social studies looks and sounds like

• Teaching students what is important/vital information for a historian, geographer, economist, politician

• Using the text book as a starting place not the definitive source

• Reading a wide variety of texts– Maps, charts, tables,

graphs, photographs, pictures, cartoons, journals, letters, documents, artifacts

K-5

“…students must read widely and deeply from among a broad range of high-quality increasingly challenging literary and informational texts.”

Note on Range and Content, CCSS, page 10

6-12

“…students must grapple with works of exceptional craft and thought whose range extends across genres, cultures, and centuries.”

Note on Range and Content, CCSS, page 35

Key Features of the Standards

Reading: Text complexity and the growth of comprehension

“…equal emphasis on the sophistication of what students read and the skill with which they read.”

CCSS Introduction, page 8

“Staircase” of Increasing Text Complexity

• CCSS Reading Standard 10• CCSS, Appendix A, page 10

CCSS, K-5, pages 11-12CCSS, 6-12, pages 37-38

Text Complexity

computer software

Educators’ professional

judgment

an attentive human reader

Qualitative Quantitative Reader and

Task

is often best measured by

Qualitative Measures

Considerations:1. Levels of meaning or

purpose2. Structure3. Language conventionality

and clarity4. Knowledge demands

CCSS, Appendix A, pages 5-6

Quantitative Measures

Considerations:• Word length• Word frequency• Word difficulty• Sentence length• Text length• Text cohesion

CCSS, Appendix A, page 7

Reader and Task

Considerations:• Motivation• Knowledge and experience• Purpose for reading• Complexity of task

assigned regarding text• Complexity of questions

asked regarding text

CCSS, Appendix A, pages 7-8

The Big Shifts• Appropriate Text

Complexity• Increased Reading

of Informational Texts

• Disciplinary Literacy

• Close Reading• Text-dependent

Questions • Academic

Vocabulary--Tier 2 & Tier 3 words

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•Short & Sustained Research Projects •Argumentative Writing

CCSS Implications for Classroom

• More nonfiction• More research

–begins in earlier grades

–both short and extended research

• Higher text complexity

• More teacher collaboration –across grades –across content

areas

CCSS Implications for Classroom

• Everyone a literacy teacher– reading and writing

emphasis

• Teachers tell/summarize less and use more scaffolding

• Teaching students to read as – Scientists– Historians– Mathematicians– Economists– Geographers, etc.

• More responsibility placed on students for their learning

Reading more complex texts requires TIME --

• for teachers to model how to comprehend

• for students to learn how to extract information

• for students to practice• for students to share

Close Reading Requires:•Understanding your purpose in reading•Understanding the author’s purpose in writing•Seeing ideas in a text as being interconnected•Looking for and understanding systems of

meaning•Engaging a text while reading •Getting beyond impressionist reading•Formulating questions and seeking answers

to those questions while reading

Establishing a Routine for Close Reading

1. Pre-teach the vocabulary and concepts.

2. Set a purpose for reading.

3. Model close reading.

Establishing a Routine for Close Reading

4. Provide guided practice and check for understanding.

5. Provide independent practice.

6. Organize discussions and debates.

7. Have students write about the text.Adapted from the Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc

Comprehension Strategies All Good Readers Use

Pre-reading• Review vocabulary• Make predictions• Review text features

(brainstorm, predict, skim, assess prior knowledge)

Comprehension Strategies All Good Readers Use

While reading• Monitor for understanding; reread if needed;

summarize • Draw a visual representation of the unfolding

argument• Ask questions about the main ideas as they unfold;

infer• Make note of unfamiliar words, concepts, ideas to

research later

Comprehension Strategies All Good Readers Use

After reading:–Summarize and restate the text’s main points–Compare notes with other students–Discuss what you read–Reread, confirm predictions, reflect, question

Strategies for Close Reading

• Story Mapping• SOAPS• Text-Self-World Connections• Three Levels of Questions• Arguments and Evidence• Appeals – Logical, Ethical, Emotional• Assumptions

Reading for SOAPS• Speaker –

– Who is the Speaker? The voice behind the text; what do you know/learn about him/her from reading the text? What authority does this person have to deliver the message?

• Occasion – – What is the Occasion? The time and place of the piece;

the situation that provoked or moved the writer to write?

• Audience – – Who is the Audience? The group of readers to whom the

piece is directed. How is the message tailored to the specific needs of a group?

Reading for SOAPS• Purpose –

• What is the Purpose? The reason behind the text; why it was written? What is the goal of the speaker? Why does this text exist? What does the author want the reader to think or do as a result of reading this?

• Subject – • What is the Subject? The general topic, content,

ideas contained in the text. Is it specific or general, abstract or concrete, current or timeless?

Connections Four fundamental ways we relate to text:1. Text to Self - How does this text relate to me?

2. Text to Itself - What are the distinguishing features of this text?

3. Text to Text - How is this text similar to other texts?

4. Text to World - Why does it matter for people to read this text?

Three Levels of Questions• Level One Questions: Right There The answers to these questions can be found explicitly in the text. These are most often who, what, when, and where kinds of questions. They work on the factual level and establish evidence of basic information.

• Level Two Questions: Think and SearchThe answers to these questions are not found explicitly in the text – the reader has to infer, interpret, or analyze. They are what the text suggests but does not say. These are often how and why questions.

Three Levels of QuestionsLevel Three Questions: Author and Me

The answers to these questions go beyond the text and are often found in parallel situations outside the text. The reader has to analyze, synthesize, and/or evaluate, using the text as a guide to explore larger issues. They often require outside knowledge or experience to answer.

SCAFFOLDING

Definition - a temporary structure put up to allow you to work the text in a way that wouldn't be possible w/o the scaffold.• It is NOT a reading assignment,

which treats kids as independent readers.

Close reading

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Types of reading required

Literary fiction, Math Science - biology, phys. sci., history, social studies, economics, technical subjects, health, fitness, humanities – art, music

DISCIPLINARY LITERACY

INTERMEDIATE LITERACYstreamlining and multitasking phase

BASIC LITERACY

Doug Buehl (2011) taken from Shanahan and Shanahan (2008)

Informational texts/literary nonfiction

• Personal essays, opinion pieces, speeches• Essays about art or literature • Biographies and memoirs • Journalism (newspapers in the classroom)• Historical, scientific, technical, or economic

accounts written for a broad audience (Nonfiction sources in library)

• Digital sources (like EBSCO magazine index) Common Core State Standards, p. 57

Disciplinary Literacy

• Predominates middle school to high school

• What does it mean to read, write, and think through a disciplinary lens?

• Navigate texts from unrelated & distinct disciplines– math, science, history, geography,

music, art

Disciplinary literacy

• Specific ways of reading and writing in the disciplines of history, social studies, science and technical subjects

• What if I'm expected to behave as a certain kind of thinker? Scientist, historian, mathematician…

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Student Lens to Historian Lens:

Student lens

• Fact collecting • Textbook • Notice who’s, what’s,

where’s, and chronology of events

• Truth statements

Historian lens

• Notice why’s and how’s

• Read a variety of texts critically

• Notice cause/effect relationships and hypotheses

• Critically examine

Disciplinary Reading Range and Content• Critical to building knowledge in content areas• Requires an appreciation of norms &

conventions of each discipline• Necessitates an understanding of domain-

specific words and phrases • Calls for an attention to precise details• Demands the capacity to evaluate intricate

arguments, synthesize complex information , and follow detailed descriptions of events and concepts

New ADE Wiki on CCSShttp://ccssarkansas.pbworks.com

AETN Videos

http://ideas.aetn.org/commoncore/

Free resources abound• Library media wiki Hooray for Books

–http://hoorayforbooks.pbworks.com• Social Studies Place wiki

–http://adesocialstudiesplace.pbworks.com

• Library of Congress –http://loc.gov

Free resources abound

• “What Every Educator Needs to Know…” document and resources are available on the Ideas/AETN site at– http://ideas.aetn.org/commoncore/strategic-plan

• Achievethecore.org – http://www.achievethecore.org/

• Arkansas Traveler data base– http://library.arkansas.gov

More free stuff for lesson plan makeovers

• Thinkfinity, ReadWriteThink• SAS Curriculum Pathways• Primary Sources—loc.gov• www.lexile.com/analyzer

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Maggie HerrickMargaret.herrick@arkansas.gov

501-682-6584&

Shirley FetherolfShirley.fetherolf@arkansas.gov

501-682-6576