Close Reading, ENY, and the new Indiana Academic StandardsWhat’s the connection?

THE BOTTOM LINE

• All students must learn how to think.• Learning to think requires practice.• Thinking is hard work. • Thinking is clarified by writing. • Thinking is for EVERYONE.

Common Core emphasizes thinking.

Common Core State Standards

Common Core – There are three dozen anchor standards for ELA, but they boil down to the following:

Students must be able to read, write and discuss complex

texts.

Which requires thinking…

Common Core Standards

Forty-three states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) have adopted the Common Core State Standards. 

THE BIG SECRET - Indiana has too!

• Look at standards correlation guide. • Look at some questions from Acuity which prescribes what will be on ISTEP+

So, What Happened in New York When They Adopted Common Core?

https://vimeo.com/25066625

The Success of Success Academy

“In the most recent New York State math and English Language Arts exams, Success Academy scholars responded well to the challenge of the more rigorous standards of the Common Core. Among the 2,255 scholars who were age-eligible to take the test, 94% were proficient in math and 64% proficient in ELA. Success Academy schools ranked in the top 1% in math and the top 3% in ELA among all 3,560 schools in the state. In math, our scholars outperformed two of the city’s four highly selective gifted and talented schools.”

6

Relatively strong,High drop

Relatively strong, Low drop

Relatively poor,Low drop

Relatively poor,High drop

HOW CAN WE WORK TO ENSURE OUR SCHOLARS HAVE SIMILAR SUCCESS?• A volume of reading is absolutely essential• Informational text read regularly• Ongoing Close Reading across content areas• Ongoing word study/vocabulary work• Integrated writing following standards guidelines • Independent Reading with book talk

http://youtu.be/nX3kNk3NrJo

WHY CLOSE READING?

“The Common Core State Standards require that students provide evidence and justification for their answers. The only way we know how students can do this - that they really learn to provide evidence and justification - is if they closely read.When we have students really read carefully, they pay attention to the words, the ideas, the structure, the flow, and the purpose of that text, they’re ready to answer more complex questions that require that they really think about what the author said, and compare that with what they know, what they believe, and what they think.”

• - Dr. Douglas Fisher

Critical Elements of Close Reading

• Based on short, worthy passages• Clarity of Learning Targets (Purpose)• Repeated Reading with Progressively

Complex Text Dependent Questions (TDQs)

• Reading with a pencil/pen (taking notes)

• Purposeful discussion/discourse• Supportive Struggle and Analysis• Writing as an Extension of Reading

What is a complex text – Choosing short, worthy passages:

It is: more than an analysis of current skills of readers Not a reader – text matchNot entirely based upon the skills of the reader

It is: 1) Quantitative measure of the text (primarily focus on the

characteristics of words)2) Qualitative considerations regarding meaning, purpose, structure, knowledge demands and cohesion

3) Then, reader – text match (appropriate for student)

There are a variety of ways to measure text complexity. It requires some research and understanding (see Text Complexity: Raising Rigor in Reading)

What are Text-dependent Questions (TDQs)?

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH5Ez9fazXU

• Answered through close reading

• Evidence comes from text, not information from outside sources

• Understanding beyond basic facts

• Not recall!

Types of Text-dependent Questions

Opinions, Arguments, Intertextual ConnectionsInferences

Author’s Purpose

Vocab & Text Structure

Key Details

General UnderstandingsPart

Sentence

Paragraph

Entire text

Across texts

Word

Whole

Segments

The Teaching of Complex Text is Exactly That – “Teaching”

It takes very intentional planning and instruction for students to develop the thinking skills necessary to read complex texts. In some of your curriculum, you have been provided with ENY units which are enormously helpful because the text is chosen, many questions are provided (TDQs), instructional methods and some assessments with writing are also integrated. When creating your own lessons, close reading needs to be a component.

Why Read with a Pencil? (Annotation)

“Why is marking a book indispensable to reading it? First, it keeps you awake – not merely conscious, but wide awake. Second, reading, if it is active, is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks. Third, writing your reactions down helps you to remember the thoughts of the author.”

- How to Read a Book, Adler & Van Doren, 1940/1972

Annotation is a note of any form made while

reading text.

“Reading with a pencil.”

People have been annotating texts since there have been texts to

annotate.

Annotation is not highlighting.

Annotation slows down the reader in order to

deepen understanding.

Types of Annotations

• Underline the major points. • Circle keywords or phrases that are confusing or

unknown to you.• Use a question mark (?) for questions that you have

during the reading. Be sure to write your question. • Use an exclamation mark (!) for things that surprise you,

and briefly note what it was that caught your attention. • Draw an arrow ( ) ↵ when you make a connection to

something inside the text, or to an idea or experience outside the text. Briefly note your connections.

• Mark EX when the author provides an example.• Numerate arguments, important ideas, or key details and

write words or phrases that restate them.

What/how should students mark?

Students should take notes on paper, a graphic organizer, sticky notes, notes in the book – underline, circle, question marks.

They should note (in some way or another) words they don’t understand, text to self connections, text to text connections, text to world connections, areas of confusions, new ideas.

Student annotation in 6th grade

Student sample from Leigh McEwen, AEA 9, Iowa

Modeled annotation in Seventh Grade

Modeling in 9th

Grade English

(c) Frey & Fisher, 2008

TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY – GRADUAL RELEASE

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

Focused Instruction

Guided Instruction

“I do it”

“We do it”

“You do it together”

Collaborative

Independent “You do it alone”

“Framework for Intentional and Targeted Teaching (FIT)”: A Structure for Instruction that Works

One More Look: Grade 5 Close Reading• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9emLkXlMcOs

• What do you notice?

There are many possibilities when deciding upon TDQs. It’s important to consider the text that your students are working with.

A few important basic questions: • What is the author trying to

tell you?• Why is the author telling you

that?• How could the author have

said things more clearly?• What would you say instead?

Now it’s your turn:

• Review your upcoming lessons and mark up your lessons (or unit) by adding TDQs or an entire Close Reading exercise.

• (Good examples may be found at Achieve the Core and Engage New York)