Text-Dependent Questions KIT

Close Reading

Close Reading

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Close Reading Text-Dependent

Questions

Close Reading Lesson Objectives

Close Reading is a process of determining the meaning of a text through increasingly deeper analysis. It involves reading a text more than once, each time with a different purpose. Reading the text again, and again helps readers understand its deeper meaning. In short, close reading gives students the tools to truly find meaning and enjoyment in reading by showing them how to get to the heart of the text’s message and understand its purpose.

With this close reading lesson, students will complete three readings of each text and answer text-dependent questions that require them to cite evidence from the texts to support their answers. With each reading, the level of analysis and the questions increase in depth and complexity.

When reading multiple texts on the same topic, a Focus Question unifies the texts. Students accumulate evidence to support their answer to the Focus Question as they work to analyze each text using annotations, notes, and peer discussions. At the end of reading all written and visual texts, students synthesize their learnings from the different texts and write an extended response to the Focus Question.

Purpose of the First Read

• Students gain a general understanding of the text

• Students get to know “what the text says”

• Students annotate, make notes, and respond to broad text-dependent questions, such as, “What is this text about?”

Purpose of the Second Read

• Students deepen their understanding of the text

• Students analyze the author’s use of language and how the text structure helps to convey the theme

• Students respond to text-dependent questions by citing evidence from the text

Purpose of the Third Read

• Students should be integrating the information and ideas discovered in the first two readings

• Students look for meaning by making inferences

• Students make connections to other texts with similar subject matter

Some Quick Tips to Remember

• Students do not have to actually read the entire text three times. Sometimes, in order to answer the text-dependent questions, students will only need to re-read a certain paragraph or sentence.

• Students DO need to complete all three reads of the text in one day, so that their progression of understanding is not interrupted

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Part I: Close Reading and Text-Dependent QuestionsExplain to students that they will be practicing close reading of complex texts while enjoying two fun, humorous poems. Introduce each text below and explain to students that they will read each poem three times with a different purpose, and will analyze them by answering text-dependent questions (provided on companion worksheets).

Text 1: Early Rising by John G. SaxeDirections: Students will begin to gain a deeper understanding of how humor can both entertain and persuade others. Tell them they will analyze a poem about the pain of waking up early in the morning.

Give each student a copy of the Close Reading Lesson companion worksheet for Early Rising. Have students closely read the text each time for a different purpose. Then have them answer the text-dependent questions to gain a deeper meaning.

If needed, use this first poetry text as a model, then have students work in pairs, or independently, to analyze the second text. If you decide to model close reading of a poetry text, start by projecting Early Rising by John G. Saxe on the board and give each student the companion worksheet. Before each reading, explain the purpose of the read as outlined in the lesson objectives. After each reading, have students answer the text- dependent questions on the lesson companion worksheet.

Text 2: Ode to Work in Springtime by Thomas R. YbarraDirections: Tell students they will read a poem about wanting to play outside in springtime instead of being stuck inside working–something I’m sure they can all relate to!

Give each student a copy of the Close Reading Lesson companion worksheet for Ode to Work in Springtime. Have students closely read the text each time for a different purpose. Then have them answer the text-dependent questions to gain a deeper meaning.

Part II: Focus QuestionHave students read the Focus Question. Tell them that the texts they will be close reading will help them answer this question.

Focus Question: How and why do authors use humor to entertain and persuade others?

Text 1: Early Rising by John G. Saxe

Text 2: Ode to Work in Springtime by Thomas R. Ybarra.

Give students their Close Reading Lesson companion worksheets and have them complete the activities to gain a deeper understanding of how humor can both entertain and persuade others.

Part III: Connect and WriteFinally, have students reflect on what they’ve read and make connections across texts in writing. This type of synthesis will propel them into higher levels of thinking, drive them to articulate their thoughts, and push them to find strong evidence to support their points.

Allow students time to answer the questions provided on writing activity below. Encourage them to find strong evidence to support their answers and to review their writing for grammar and spelling.


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Early Rising

“God bless the man who first invented sleep!” So Sancho Panza said, and so say I: And bless him, also, that he didn’t keep His great discovery to himself; nor try To make it—as the lucky fellow might— A close monopoly by patent-right!

Yes—bless the man who first invented sleep, (I really can’t avoid the iteration;) But blast the man, with curses loud and deep, Whate’er the rascal’s name, or age, or station, Who first invented, and went round advising, That artificial cut-off—Early Rising!

“Rise with the lark, and with the lark to bed,” Observes some solemn, sentimental owl; Maxims like these are very cheaply said; But, ere you make yourself a fool or fowl, Pray just inquire about his rise and fall, And whether larks have any beds at all!

‘Tis, doubtless, well to be sometimes awake,— Awake to duty, and awake to truth,— But when, alas! a nice review we take Of our best deeds and days, we find, in sooth, The hours that leave the slightest cause to weep Are those we passed in childhood or asleep!

‘Tis beautiful to leave the world awhile For the soft visions of the gentle night; And free, at last, from mortal care or guile, To live as only in the angel’s sight, In sleep’s sweet realm so cosily shut in, Where, at the worst, we only dream of sin!

So let us sleep, and give the Maker praise. I like the lad who, when his father thought To clip his morning nap by hackneyed phrase Of vagrant worm by early songster caught, Cried, “Served him right!—it’s not at all surprising; The worm was punished, sir, for early rising!”

John G. Saxe


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Close Reading Lesson for Early Rising by John G. Saxe

Text-Dependent Questions for the First Read

1. What does the narrator dislike doing?

2. In stanza 1, what is the “great discovery” the author mentions?

3. In the last stanza, what does the narrator call “us” to do?

Text-Dependent Questions for the Second Read

1. What type of figurative language does the author use in this line from stanza 3?

“Rise with the lark, and with the lark to bed,” Observes some solemn, sentimental owl;

How does that contribute to the playfulness of the poem?

2. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? How does the rhyme scheme add to the humor or silliness of the poem?

Text-Dependent Questions for the Third Read

1. Compare and contrast the last two lines of the poem and the common phrase, “The early bird gets the worm.”

How does changing the well-known saying add to the overall tone of the poem?

2. What is the theme of the poem?

3. How does the author use humor to persuade the audience of this theme? Use evidence to support your answer.

Purpose for the First Read Determine what the text is about.

Purpose for the Second Read Focus on the language used by the author and the structure of the text.

Purpose for the Third Read Look for meaning by making inferences. Find evidence that supports these inferences.

Close Reading Lesson for Early Rising by John G. Saxe

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Close Reading Lesson for Ode to Work in Springtime by Thomas R. Ybarra

Ode to Work in Springtime

Oh, would that working I might shun, From labour my connection sever, That I might do a bit—or none Whatever!

That I might wander over hills, Establish friendship with a daisy, O’er pretty things like daffodils Go crazy!

That I might at the heavens gaze, Concern myself with nothing weighty, Loaf, at a stretch, for seven days— Or eighty.

Why can’t I cease a slave to be, And taste existence beatific On some fair island, hid in the Pacific?

Instead of sitting at a desk ‘Mid undone labours, grimly lurking— Oh, say, what is there picturesque In working?

But no!—to loaf were misery!— I love to work! Hang isles of coral! (To end this otherwise would be Immoral!)

Thomas R. Ybarra

Text-Dependent Questions for the First Read

1. What would the author like to “shun” or do away with?

2. What would the author like to do instead of work?

Text-Dependent Questions for the Second Read

1. Why does the author change his mind in the end about work? Do you believe the change is genuine?

2. The author combines playful language with serious language. Give an example of each.

3. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? How does the rhyme scheme add to the humor or silliness of the poem?

Text-Dependent Questions for the Third Read

1. What is the theme of the poem?

2. How does the author use humor to persuade the audience of this theme? Use evidence to support your answer.

3. How do the tone and language (both silly and serious) help convey the overall message of the poem?

Purpose for the First Read Determine what the text is about.

Purpose for the Second Read Focus on the language used by the author and the structure of the text.

Purpose for the Third Read Look for meaning by making inferences. Find evidence that supports these inferences.

Close Reading Lesson for Ode to Work in Springtime by Thomas R. Ybarra

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Connect and Write

Reflect on how the written texts are connected by answering the following question. Use strong evidence to support your answer. Review your writing for grammar and spelling.

Both of the texts use humor to make light of a stressful situation. One author wishes he could sleep instead of wake up early, while the other author wants to enjoy a spring day outside of instead of working inside. Which author was more effective in using humor to entertain and persuade the audience? Hint: Think about which poem made you laugh more and for which author you felt the worst! Use evidence to support your answer.

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Text-Dependent Questions KIT