CloseReading:Areadingstrategyusedtocomprehendandanalyzeatextclosely.Typically,studentswillreadthetextatleasttwiceforcomprehension,details,analysis,anddeepquestioningofthetext’spurposeandmeaning.

RESPOND:Nowthatyou’ve“closeread”thetext,WRITEaboutit.

Yourresponseshouldincludethefollowing:

a.Summarize:Whatisthetextabout?SummarizetheinformationpresentedinaRACEparagraph.b.Audience:Whoistheaudienceforthistext?Wasitwrittenforageneralaudienceorspecialaudience?Andhowdoyouknow?Isthereanythinginthetextthatprovidesclues?Forexample:specificvocabularyortypeofpublication?c.Purpose:Whatisthewriter’sprimarypurposeofthistext?Chooseoneofthefollowing:topersuade,inform,orentertain(p.i.e.)Howdoyouknow?d.Opinion:Whatisyouropinionaboutthetext?Doyouagree/disagreewiththeauthor’smessage?Why?Useevidencefromthetexttojustifyyouropinion.

Steps for Close Reading Strategy

Step1:Chooseatextthatwillchallengestudentstothinkdeeperaboutthetextandanalyzethepurpose. • Focusonnon-fictioninformationaltextorshortstories(makeitfun)

• Choosegradeleveltextorjustabovereadinglevel

Step2:Studentsreadtheentiretextfor:

• Comprehension:tounderstandwhattheinformationorstorymeans

• MainIdea:tounderstandwhatthetextisabout• Clarity:tounderstandthemessageorpurpose

Step3:Chunkthetext(bracketparagraphsthennumberthechunks).

• Thismakesiteasytoreferbacktothetextanddiscussdifferentparts(orchunks)ofthetext

Step4:Createtext-dependentquestionstoaskstudentsforcomprehensionafterthesecondread.(Refertoquestionsbelow)• Createavarietyofquestions• Ensurethatsomequestionsarehigherlevelthatrequiredeepthoughtandanalyzation

Step5:Readthetextasecondtime.Thistimehavestudentsannotate(makenotesandmarksonthetextastheyreadforclarityandunderstanding).• Readthetextinchunksandstopwherenecessarytomarkordiscussmeaning

• Usethemetacognitivemarkerstomarkthetextasyouread

Step6:Discussandrespondtothetext.• Answercomprehensionquestionsusingcompletesentencesandrestatingthequestioninanswer

• Studentssummarizethetext• Usetextualevidencetosupportyourideas• Drawconclusions(whatdoesthetextimplyorinfer)?

Metacognitive Markers

Exampleofclosingreadinginaction!