AAMS Science Grade 6 By: Mrs. Jessica Colligan

close reading is an intensive analysis of a text in order to come to terms with what it says, how it says it, and what it means. In one sense I agree with those who say that close reading is about more than comprehension or about something different than comprehension, since it takes one beyond just figuring out an author’s stated and implied message. On the other hand, many definitions of reading comprehension include more than just determining a stated and implied message; such definitions include the full range of Bloom’s taxonomy in one’s thinking about and use of a text. If one subscribes to such definitions of comprehension, then close reading is just a description of a process one uses to arrive at such comprehension. 

In Science Class Students are Engaged in Learning about our Natural and Physical World using Intense Reading & Writing as our Cornerstone

1. We begin with activating prior knowledge using K-W-L’s and other similar graphic organizers created by teachers and students as anchor charts within our classrooms

2. We go over our essential questions and daily objectives every day!

3. We use ‘kid-friendly’ language on our whiteboards so students will understand our Bloom’s taxonomy driven objectives

4. We make sure students are engaged in learning by introducing material using hooks and using current technology and by using personal connections

5. We make sure the students actively read their text and we incorporate close reading strategies in all content we teach

6. We reteach when necessary from data gathered daily

TranscriptHow would you describe close reading? How would you define it?Dr. Douglas Fisher:A close reading is a careful and purposeful reading. Well actually, it’s rereading. It’s a careful and purposeful rereading of a text. It’s an encounter with the text where students really focus on what the author had to say, what the author’s purpose was, what the words mean, and what the structure of the text tells us.It really is getting to what Louise Rosenblatt talked about as a transaction between the reader and the text. Louise Rosenblatt, the originator of Reader-Response Theory, really talked about understanding what the author had to say and not impugning those authors words, but really getting what the author had to say and bringing some of your own ideas to bear on that text.In a close reading, we have to have students reread the text. We give them questions; text dependent questions that require that they go back into the text and search for answers. These aren’t simply recall questions, just the facts of the text, but rather questions that allow students to think about the text, and the author’s purpose, the structure, and the flow of the text.Close reading requires that students actually think and understand what they are reading.

Assessment for LearningObjectives:

Assessment for LearningPlan for Engagement:

Hooks, Pacing, teacher intensity and enthusiasm for content:

Evidence of LearningCheck for Understanding

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