What is close reading?It involves:--analysis of a text
--at word, phrase level--at sentence,
paragraph level--identify author’s central idea--identify key details
Common Core Standards
CC Themes What students should be able to do…
Key ideas and details
“What did the text say?”
Students should be able to determine what texts say explicitly and be able to summarize them (including central ideas/themes, how ideas and characters develop and interact), making logical inferences, and citing textual evidence.
Craft and Structure
“How did the text say it?”
Students should be able to interpret the meanings of words and phrases and the structure of texts to determine how they affect meaning or tone, and how points of view and purpose shape content and style.
Integration of knowledge and ideas
“What does the text mean? What is its value?”
Students should be able to synthesize and compare information from print and digital sources, and critically evaluate the reasoning and rhetoric of a text.
Range and level of text complexity
Students will be asked to read more challenging texts.
Close Reading
• Focus on MEANING• Minimize background preparation• Students must do the interpretation• Teachers ask text dependent questions
• Purposeful re-reading (not practice—separate journeys)
• Short reads
Skills NeededTapping prior knowledge of text structure
Tapping prior topical and vocab knowledge
Setting a purpose
Self-monitoring for meaning
Determining what is important
Synthesizing
Example of Close Reading
• http://www.engageny.org/resource/close-reading-strategies-with-informational-text-by-expeditionary-learning
Planning texts for Close Reading
Planning Supports• 1. Select a high quality text
worth reading and rereading
• 2. Teachers MUST read/reread the text and apply close reading techniques in advance
• 3. Teachers should generate text-dependent questions
• 4. Determine areas that would be difficult in the text (vocabulary, structure…)
• Complexity of ideas/content, sentences?
• Complex vocabulary?• Presupposed prior
knowledge?• Genre familiarity?• Subtlety of author’s tone?• Sophistication of literary
devices?• Fluency challenge?
Why we re-read a text?
First Read: Determine what the text says
Second Read: Determine how the text works
Third read: Evaluate quality of content and make connections
Pre-Read Strategy-THIEVES
THIEVES Bookmark
Pre-Read Strategy TELL
Title What does the title tell us about the topic or central idea of the text?
Examine
Examine the text features. What clues do the features provide about the topic or central idea of the text?
Look Look at bold words or words in italics. Use these words to make a prediction about the topic or central idea.
Look Look up and predict what the text will be about overall.
Determine what the text says
• Cake Analogy:o Brainstorm ingredients of a
cake with a plus sign in between each ingredient=cake
o “What we have to do to read strategically is think about all of the ingredients or elements the author has included, like the headings and subheadings, the captions and photographs, and the main text. As we think about the ingredients, we can begin to determine the author’s central idea. When we do that, it’s like stirring together and baking the cake.
Second Read:
Determine How the Text Works
Titles: indicates topic or subject
Deck: brief intro to article/chapter. Different color between title and main text. Attracts interest.
Headings/Subheadings: clue the reader on what will be happening next in the text
Photographs/Illustrations: visual info to the reader.
Captions and labels: describe the photographs
Second Read Activity—feature hunt
• 1. Introduce a set of informational texts• 2. Students browse through them• 3. Engage students in a feature hunt and hold up
particular features (photo, sidebar, bold-face)• 4. Identify the purpose of the feature and visually
project the exampleo Prompts include: What feature did the author decide to use? Why?
o What do you notice in the feature? What are we learning from the feature? How did we figure that out?
Self-monitoring while reading
• Coding Method:o Consider the following questions as she/he reads
• “Is this new information for me?”• “Is this information I already knew?”• “What do I not understand about this information? Or what are my
questions?”• “Wow, this is really cool stuff!”
+This is new informatio
n
*I already knew this informatio
n
?I wonder…or I don’t understand..
! Wow!
Thinking Notes• https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/student-a
nnotated-reading-strategy
• In what ways do “thinking notes” require students to track their response to a text and engage in more thoughtful reading?
• What other reactions might you have students track when reading?
Synthesis-Frame Analogy
Description
Sequence/Time Order
Comparison
Cause-effect
Text Structure Types
Synthesis: Suggestions for Coaching
Scenario Prompt
Students have not yet started.
“Tell me a bit about what you are thinking.”“What are you thinking about the author’s motives or reasons for writing this text?”“Tell me more”
Student has identified central idea, but not supporting details.
“What information was in the text that made you think of this?” or “Why do you think so?”“How can you write that into your response?”
Student has stated the author’s central idea in terms that are too literal.
“What do you think the author’s central idea means for you or the rest of the world?”“What is one word we could use to describe the author’s central idea?”
Student has details-but they are general.
“What words could you revises or change to create a more vivid picture?”“Let’s see what happens if we change one of the words you mentioned.”
http://www.teachingthecore.com/non-freaked-out-common-core-writing-part-06/
http://www.teachingthecore.com/non-freaked-out-common-core-writing-part-06/
References• Most of the ideas come from---
http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/
http://www.achievethecore.org/
http://www.teachingthecore.com/non-freaked-out-common-core-writing-part-06/
http://www.engageny.org/