CLOSE REA

DING AND

TEXT DEPENDENT

QUESTIONS

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WHAT IS CLOSE READING?Standard 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.•Close reading of complex texts involves engaging with and examining facts and details about the text.•The purpose is to notice features and language used.•Students should think thoroughly and methodically about what the details mean.

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Students•Students should slow down when reading and become “text detectives”.•They should be more attentive to the texts.•Students should read and reread deliberately.•Focus on Tier II words and/or particular phrases or sentences the author uses.•Students present their thinking, observations, and analyses through writing, technology or speaking

TeachersTeachers can use text exemplars from the appendices of the CCSS. (http://elaccss.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Resources)Teachers need to select text that is rich enough for students to draw good evidences from them.Teachers will provide students with a purpose or focus for reading.Strategies should be provided for reading different genres and text types

WHAT DOES CLOSE READING LOOK LIKE IN THE CLASSROOM?

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HOW TEACHERS MIGHT IMPLEMENT CLOSE READING1. Select shorter texts 2. Model several readings of short texts3. Read and re-read deliberately, slowly examining and thinking about

• the meanings of individual words,• the order of sentences• the development of ideas

4. Read with a pencil in hand, annotate the text while marking the big ideas and skills.

5. Look for patterns in things you noticed about the text – repetition, contradictions, similarities. commonalities.

6. Identify unfamiliar vocabulary words (Tier II Words)7. Teacher-led discussions of the text8. Write about the text using evidence to support student responses

The major difference between this framework and guided reading, shared reading, or read-aloud frameworks is that the teacher does not provide a lot of background information for the reader other than an initial purpose for the first reading.

The rationale is that teachers need to give children the opportunity to focus on the text alone during the first reading instead of relying on pre-reading information from the teacher.

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DEMONSTRATION CLOSE READING(Modeling)

Demonstration1. Choose the text. Use material that relates to your content-area curriculum or text that reflects a topic in which your students have expressed interest. If you use a textbook, be sure to supplement yourinstruction in the area of close reading with a variety of engaginginformational books, articles, and Web-based information. This

willhelp your students see the many different contexts in which closereading is warranted.

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2. Introduce the text and the concept. Let students know that you will be showing them ways of engaging in a process of reading closely to meet your purpose and that they will then be expected to do this on their own and in groups. Clearly articulate the purpose of the reading event. Show how you preview the text features such as tables of contents, illustrations, subheads, and the index to locate the parts you want to read. Is the purpose to gain broad knowledge on a topic? Is it to answer a specific question? Is it to learn how to do something? Is it to learn about a story from the past?

For example:“This website has all kinds of information about dinosaurs, but our focus is on learning about the fossil record. So I’m going to use fossil record as a search term and then read that part closely.”

“There is a lot of information about moths in this article, but we are focused on learning how physical characteristics help an organism survive. We’ll use the subheadings to find that section and discuss/take notes about that part.”

“We have been learning about stories from the past. This is a biography. We want to learn all we can about this story so it makes sense to closely read the whole text, knowing that some parts will be more important than others.”

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3. Demonstrate and discuss the concept. Read the text aloud, showing students how you stay focused on your purpose. Demonstrate how you track meaning, monitor your

understandings, and think through any questions you may have, all in light of your

purpose. Let them “see” your thinking processes, and encourage them to do

the same types of deep thinking as they read independently. Figure RIT 1.1 offers some prompts to support the process. (see

handout p. 155)

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Collaborative Engagement (Read to Someone or Read to Self)

1. Choose the literature and the reading context. Choose a piece of informational text, or a text set, that is relevant to a current content area of study in your classroom. Determine whether to read aloud or provide copies for students to read independently. Different discussion groups may use different texts as long as the class is focused on the same general content (such as water, endangered species, females in history, celebrations).

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2. Arrange for students to read or listen to the text. Before reading,help students articulate the purpose. Are they seeking to collectinformation on a specific topic; answer a set of questions; learn howto do something; enjoy a good historical account of an event? Theyshould focus their attention accordingly and prepare to come to thegroup with ideas for discussion. If you are having students do the

reading, be sure to provide support for those who may struggle with the material. Figure RIT 1.9 provides a suggested set of starter prompts and activities

to facilitate close reading.

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3. Arrange for the students to come together as partners or groups to discuss the content as assigned.

4. Arrange a follow-up discussion. When all groups are working from

the same text, or focusing on similar content, organize for a whole classdiscussion as a follow-up to the group activity.

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Independent Reading(Read to Self)

• First, have an appropriate set of materials always ready for use.

• Second, make your expectations clear. Close reading can be encouraged by familiarizing students with the general procedures you expect and then monitoring their activity to be sure they are following through.

•Set a purpose.• Preview.• Read.• Review your purpose.

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Third, plan for students to engage in brief forms of response to check for

understanding during or after each session. Having students write or orally

share their thinking has been found to help keep them on task. Along these

same lines, it can also be helpful to conference with students.

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How to Use Response JournalsResponse journals are notebooks in which students record their thoughtsabout a text that has been read or listened to. • Write one word that was important to your reading today.• Write one sentence that shows what was important in your reading today.• Write a fact or piece of information about one part that would be interesting to

discuss with a partner or group.• Sketch one part you found to be interesting. Use captions or labels to show what

is happening.• Write your opinion about this book or section. Use ideas from the text to support

your thinking.• Write down what you think are the main ideas.• Write about a connection you made to the book. Write about a connection

between this book and another book.Provide opportunities for students to share their journals with you or with

a partner.

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Stop and Chats

Stop-and-chats are a framework for students to read and then stop at a designated point to discuss the content with a partner. They may be used any time two or more (even thirty) students are reading the same text. The process encourages close reading by setting up students to read with a specific purpose in mind and fostering conversations related to that purpose.

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How to Use Stop and Chat1. Student teams place a marker at an agreed-upon stopping point. upon

reaching this point, they exchange their thoughts about what they have read so far and then place the marker at the next agreed uponstopping point in preparation for another chat. To get the conversations started, you and the students can brainstorm some generic prompts, or you can offer your own. For example:• Given our purpose, what have we learned so far?• What is this part about?• What did the author teach in this section?• What do you think will happen next?• Is there a word that is either important or confusing?

2. As students gain experience with stop-and-chats, follow up with lessons based on observations of their performance.

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Interactive JournalsInteractive journals are notebooks in which students participate in short written conversations about what they are reading. Interactive journals encourage close reading involving students in a cycle of reading manageable sections of text, generating questions together, and responding briefly through writing. To introduce the process, provide each student with a notebook, showing where to write or draw, and where to leave room for a peer to respond. Let students know that the journals will be a place for sharing ideas about their reading.

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How to Use Interactive Journals1. Instruct student-teams to decide on a selected amount of text to read closely and to then be prepared to exchange their thoughts in writing. To get the written conversations started, the students can brainstorm some generic prompts or you can offer your own.For example:

• Choose one word that represents an important concept.• Choose one sentence that represents what you think is the most

important concept in this section.• Given our purpose, what have we learned so far? • What did the author teach in this section?• What do you think will happen next?• What do the visuals on page ______ tell us?

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How to Use Interactive Journals

2. At the agreed-upon stopping point, students write their responsesand then trade journals to respond to the partner. They may exchangejournals two or three times during a reading session, decidingon new prompts and stopping points as they go.

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Information GatheringInformation gathering involves inviting students to closely read a text or its illustrations to meet a specific whole-class purpose.1. Collect a text set on a topic you are exploring through your social studies

or science curriculum. Use one of the texts to show students how you read for specific information the class needs. For example, the class may be working to collect information on the ways individuals can conserve resources or on an important person in history. Show how you read the text and/or view the illustrations with this goal in mind.

2. Provide each student with a form for documenting information in relation to the question at hand. Figure RIT 1.10 provides an example. Allow students to work in teams to search for answers to the question.

3. As a follow-up, bring the class back together to use the information that has been collected. For example, the class might web the information

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Key Feature Illustrations

A key feature illustration is a visual representation of the who, what, where, when, why, and how of an informational text. Such illustrations may be created as a part of students’ independent reading (to encourage and support close reading) or after you have read a text aloud to/with the class (as a means for rethinking and discussing the content). Students may use any combination of drawing, writing, colors, and symbols to represent the key features. Figure RIT 1.3 may be used as a template.

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Number One Sentence!

Encourage close reading by giving students a sentence challenge. Studentsuse highlighting tape or an erasable highlighter to mark what they think

isthe most important sentence in a designated section of text or in

the whole text. You can teach students to choose a sentence that signifies an Important concept worth considering or one that best signifies the main idea. After students have individually highlighted key sentences (or done so in teams) allow discussion time with a small group or the whole

class.

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Number One Word!Encourage close reading by giving students a word challenge. Students

usehighlighting tape or an erasable highlighter to mark what they think is

themost important word in a designated section of text or the

whole text. After students have individually highlighted key words (or done so in

teams), allow discussion time with a small group or the whole class.

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Notes to the Author

Students use sticky notes to comment to the author on what they are thinking as they read. For example, they may comment on feelings: “This part is so sad!” They might comment on the content: “So, whales migrate to warm water to have their babies? That makes sense.” They may even have a little advice for the author: “You could have written more about that. It would have been interesting.” “I wish you would have defined echidna.” Close reading is encouraged as students have an “audience” (albeit imagined) with whom to share their thinking. Of course, it’s always fun for students to share their notes with one another, and this can encourage creativity and

a desire to keep writing.

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Informational Text (Refer to handouts) GIST•Students use a graphic organizer to identify the 5 W’s and H •Use the information to write a 20 word summary of the text – the “gist” of what they have read

Somethings’ Purpose But Then So•Students use a graphic organizer to identify the something in the passage, the purpose of the something, but what happens is…, then what will happen, and so what we need to do.

Literary Text Someone Wanted But So•Students use a graphic organizer to identify the someone in the story, what they wanted, but the problem was, so it solved by …•Use the information to write a summary statement

Graphic organizers help the students with interactions between schema (a structured way to help us organize knowledge) and text.

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Text Dependent QuestionsText Dependent Questions: What Are They?

• specifically asks a question that can only be answered by referring explicitly back to the text being read

• does not rely on any particular background information nor depend on students having other experiences or knowledge

• uses the text and what students can extract from what is before them.

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Text dependent questions are not…After reading Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address”• Why did the North fight the civil war? • Have you ever been to a funeral or gravesite? • Lincoln says that the nation is dedicated to the proposition that “all men are

created equal.” Why is equality an important value to promote?

The overarching problem with these questions is • they require no familiarity at all with Lincoln’s speech in order to answer

them • they take students away from considering the actual point Lincoln is making. • they seek to elicit a personal or general response that relies on individual

experience and opinion

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Text Dependent QuestionsText-dependent questions should ensure that readers remain faithful

to and come to understand the author’s views. Students don’t have to agree with the author (in fact, we encourage them to challenge the text), but rather that they understand the points the author has made so that

they can challenge it with evidence.

There are a number of different topics for which text-dependent questionscan be developed. There are questions that focus on parts of texts, and there are questions that focus on whole texts.

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Simply asking text-dependent questions will not ensure that students suddenly develop the ability to read and understand complex texts.

Students still need to be taught how to read deeply, and how to respond

with evidence from the text. Teachers should model for students how

they think about texts and how they look for evidence in the text when

responding to questions.

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WholeAcross Texts

Entire Text

Segments

Paragraph

Sentence

Word

Part

Opinions,arguments,intertextual connections

Inferences

Author’s purpose

Vocabulary and text structure

Key details

General understandings

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Progression of Text Dependent Questions

General UnderstandingsThese questions • ensure that students grasp the overall view of the text• are global questions• require that students demonstrate an understanding of what the

author really said. • may probe the sequence of information presented, the story arc, the

main claim and evidence presented, or the gist of a given passage.

“Jabberwocky” “What is the progress of the hero?”

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Key DetailsThese text-dependent questions • require that readers pay attention to the details• respond to questions that ask who, what, when, where, why, how

much, or how many• search for nuances in meaning • determine importance of ideas• find supporting details for the main ideas.

“What were the slithy toves doing in the wabe?” “What does that mean?”

“How would you describe the condition of the borogoves?”

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Vocabulary and Text StructureText-dependent questions • focus on the specific words and phrases the author uses as well as the structure of the text• requires that the reader bridge literal and inferential meanings,

noting both denotation (literal or primary word meanings) and connotation (the idea or feeling that a word invokes) as well as the shades of meaning elicited by the word choice.

For example, an author might use the words walk, stroll, amble, saunter, meander, or wander. The shades of meaning are different, and readers should take note of these choices. • readers should notice figurative language and how the organization of the text contributes to meaning.

“What type of poem is this?” “Knowing the structure, what do we expect?”

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Author’s PurposeThere is a purpose for each text. • the genre helps the reader understand the author’s purpose Was the specific text written to entertain, explain, inform, or

persuade? • the way in which the author constructs the text—the point of view—helps readers determine the purpose. • texts are told from a specific vantage point, and readers want to

know, whose story is not represented?• See genre posters on •

http://www.sanjuan.edu/webpages/gguthrie/files/Genre%20ALL%20posters%20in%20one%20attachment.pdf

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InferencesInferences are more than guesses or simply telling students to“read between the lines.” • readers should know how to probe each argument in persuasive

text, each idea in informational text, each key detail in literary text, and observe how these build to a whole.

• questions should allow students to consider the information that is provided and then make informed guesses from the

information provided

“How did the narrator know the Jabberwock was dead, not the Jubjub bird

or Bandersnatch?” “What can we infer about the Jabberwock, given the text and his

name?”

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Opinions, arguments, and inter-textual connections.

Opinions, arguments, and inter-textual text dependent questions are often the questions that teachers like to ask because these questions tend to generate a lot of discussion and personal connections but do not require students to read the text. These questions are good to follow up text dependent questions.

According to the poem, how should we construct our notions of good and evil?

Why is the hero of the poem—the ultimate good guy who slays theJabberwock—anonymous?

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QARQAR is a reading strategy in which students categorize comprehension

questions according to where they found the information they needed to answer each question.

There are five primary purposes.• Helps students monitor their comprehension• Provides a purpose for reading a text• Allows students to assess their comprehension • Encourages elaborative and critical thinking• Helps refute the common misconception held by students that the

text tells all

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QARRight There Questions – words or sentences in the text will answer the

questions

Think and Search – information that students will need to answer questions is implied in the text, but students will need to combine ideas in the text with prior knowledge to form inferences

In My Head – the information students will need to answer the question is entirely in the readers’ minds

http://www.vdoe.whro.org/elementary_reading/QAR1-25-2010_F8_FastStart_512k.swf

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EVALUATIONS• Please write your name on the evaluation.

• Lay the evaluation near the sign-in sheet on the way out.

Thank you! Have a great evening!

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