CLOSE READING INSTRUCTION

Dr. Barbara Bishop bbishop@garesa.org

Prepared by:Dr. Barbara Bishop, Director of School Improvement & Professional Learning, West Georgia RESA

Dr. Robin Smith, Professional Learning Coordinator, Middle Georgia RESA

To gain knowledge for teaching students how to read closely and critical thinking skills

Synthesize a working definition of close reading

Understand the importance of close reading routines

Develop close reading lessons

OBJECTIVES

Why is close reading important?What does close reading look like?How do I teach close reading?What am I currently doing to support close reading?What do I need to practice or change?

Dr. Douglas Fisher

KEY ADVANCES OF THE COMMON CORE

ANCHORED IN COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS

6-12

INTENTIONALLY DESIGNED EXPERIENCE ANNOLIGHTING

BIG IDEA

INTENTIONALLY (strategically chosen) DESIGNED (purpose question(s) set by teacher

EXPERIENCE w/ (students share and argue)

ANNOLIGHTING (students are marking the text, working with the text)

BIG IDEA

A matter of purpose

CLOSE READING – choosing how to engage, consider, interpret, evaluate

(focus on HOW CONTENT IS ACHIEVED)

OTHER READING – often to seek information (focus on CONTENT)

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT

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. (Shanahan, 2012)

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. (Fisher, 2012)

WHAT IS CLOSE READING?

Close reading means analyzing a text “very carefully, crystallizing main ideas, and then drawing conclusions or making decisions based on your analysis.” (University of Washington; Dartmouth University)

To read closely, students must learn “that to read well is to engage in a self-constructed dialog with the author of a text." (Linda Elder and Richard Paul, Ph.D., The Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2011)

WHAT IS CLOSE READING?

According to Conley (2007) in Toward a More Comprehensive Conception of College Readiness, students must:Open and inquisitiveAnalyze data, quality of content, validity, credibility and relevanceReason, argue, and proveInterpret, problem solvePrecision and accuracyhttp://www.metrolibraries.net/pro/pdfs/CollegeReadinessPaper.pdf

WHAT DO STUDENTS NEED IN ORDER BE SUCCESSFUL IN COLLEGE?

CCR.1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

EXAMINING THE STANDARD

Rich and rigorous evidence-based conversations about text amongst students and with teachers

Discussions that stay deeply connected to the text so that students make evidentiary arguments

Students revisiting text for evidence to support their argument in a thoughtful, careful, and precise way

Students slowing down to explore and learn from the evidence

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

A MUSICAL ANALOGY

Provide basic background information. Provide a structure and source of study

questions.Often have copies of primary source

documents.Teachers often design lessons that do not

require higher order thinking skills. “READ and ANSWER the questions.”

Students need to actively read a textbook, but not closely read it.

SO WHAT ABOUT TEXTBOOKS?

CLOSE READING= REPEATED READING

1. Teacher reads by thinking aloud and modeling annotation.2. Teacher asks text-focused questions that cause students to reread.

Talking about groupingClock Buddies:

MANAGEMENT IS THE KEY!

GUIDED PRACTICE

The ART of CLOSE READING Readers must think about reading to learn how to

engage in the process of close reading. Readers not only need to learn how to determine

what’s important, but to take ownership for finding important ideas (if they exist).

Readers read in different ways for different situations.

SO THE PURPOSE FOR READING IS TO FIGURE OUT WHAT AN AUTHOR HAS TO SAY ABOUT A SUBJECT.

IN OTHERWORDS, TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE AUTHOR MEANS.

CONSIDERING AUTHOR’S PURPOSE

The author’s purpose can be to persuade, inform, instruct, and/or entertain.

Author’s make plans and intentionally chooses text features, vocabulary, and literally devices to achieve the objective.

A writer’s purpose is often revealed through his or her written actions…often in verbs, such as, argue, assert, explain, compare, illustrate, question, summarize, challenge, contrast, suggest, narrate, amuse, explain, etc.

A important point to note: Readers filter words in a text through their own life experience.

AUTHOR’S PURPOSE

Annotation is a key component of close reading. Make brief comments in the margins. Use any white space availableMake brief comments between or within lines of the text. Do not be afraid to mark within the text itself.Create your own code: Circle or put boxes, triangles, or clouds around words or phrases. Use abbreviations or symbols - brackets, stars, exclamation points, question marks, numbers, etc. Connect words, phrases, ideas, circles, boxes, etc. with lines or arrows.Underline – CAUTION: Use this method sparingly. Underline only a few words. Always combine with another method such as comment. Never underline an entire passage. Doing so takes too much time and loses effectiveness. If you wish to mark an entire paragraph or passage, draw a line down the margin or use brackets. Use post-it notes only if you have exhausted all available space.

ANNOTATING A TEXT:

Close reading:

First reading: Using your pencil, read and circle powerful words/phrases and underline confusing words/phrases. Note in the margin any where the text is find confusing and why.

Second Reading: I read to model. We will discuss your first impressions and annotations.

Third Reading: I read and model annotations using a document camera, if possible. If not, improvise.

APPLICATION

S: SpeakerO: Occasion A: AudienceP: PurposeS: Subject

BUILDING YOUR TOOL BOX

What are some potential problems using primary and secondary documents? Think about the language of some old texts…

Strategies for entering challenging text:Pre-teach the vocabularyScaffold the archaic structure (look for the main clause)

Chuck the text

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DOCUMENTS FOCUS