text complexity and close reading doug fisher contact me at videos on our fisherandfrey youtube...
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Text Complexity and Close Reading
Doug FisherContact me at www.fisherandfrey.com
Videos on our FisherandFrey YouTube Channel
To identify the essential components of close reading (RL/RI 1) of complex texts (RL/RI 10) which includes collaborative conversations (S & L 1) and writing from sources (W 1), fostering language development (L 6) and deeper thinking.
Purpose
• Background• Prior• Cultural• Vocabulary
• Standard English• Variations• Register
• Genre• Organization• Narration• Text Features• Graphics
• Density and Complexity
• Figurative Language
• PurposeLevels of Meaning Structure
Knowledge Demands
Language Convention and Clarity
Levels of Meaning and Purpose
Is it about talking animals, or the USSR?
Is it entertainment, or political satire?
Is it straightforward, or ambiguous?
1370LGrades 11-12
530LGrades 2-3
Author’s Purpose• Allegory for tolerance• Mirrored events of early Civil
Rights movement (1961)
“Now, the Star-Belly SneetchesHad bellies with stars.The Plain-Belly SneetchesHad none upon thars. Those stars weren’t so big. They were really so smallYou might think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all..”But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly SneetchesWould brag, ‘We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.’With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort‘We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!’And whenever they met some, when they were out walking,They’d hike right on past them without even talking.”
Structure
Changes in narration, point of view
Changes in font signal narration changes
Complex themes
560LGrades 2-3
870L (grades 4-5)
• Stream of consciousness narration
• Unreliable narrators
• Nonlinear structure
• Time shifts written in italics
Structure
Language Conventions
Non-standard English usage
“Out in the hottest, dustiest part of town is an orphanage run by a female person nasty enough to scare night into day. She goes by the name of Mrs. Sump, though I doubt there ever was a Mr. Sump on accounta she looks like somethin’ the cat drug in and the dog wouldn’t eat.”
(Stanley, 1996, p. 2) AD 660L (Adult-directed)
Knowledge Demands
Domain-specific vocabulary (radioactive, acidity, procedure, vaccination)
Background knowledge (diseases, safety risks, scientific experimentation)
1100LGrades 6-8
1010LGrades 6-8
Cultural Knowledge Demands
• Buddhist philosophy• Search for spiritual
enlightenment• Eightfold Path to Nirvana
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.
Different Readings Have Different Foci
Initial reads of the textWhat does the text say?
After at least one readingHow does the text work?
Later readings of the text or related texts
What does the text mean?
Shanahan, 2013
• 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.
Creating a Close Reading
Use a short passage
Re-reading
“Read with a pencil”
Text-dependent questions
Types of Text-dependent Questions
Opinions, Arguments, Intertextual Connections
Inferences
Author’s Purpose
Vocab & Text Structure
Key Details
General UnderstandingsPart
Sentence
Paragraph
Entire text
Across texts
Word
Whole
Segments
Creating a Close Reading
Use a short passage
Re-reading
“Read with a pencil”
Text-dependent questions
Give students the chance to struggle a bit
General Understandings
• Overall view • Sequence of
information• Story arc• Main claim and
evidence• Gist of passage
General Understandings in Kindergarten
Retell the story in order using the words beginning, middle, and end.
Key Details
• Search for nuances in meaning
• Determine importance of ideas
• Find supporting details that support main ideas
• Answers who, what, when, where, why, how much, or how many.
Key Details in Kindergarten
• How long did it take to go from a hatched egg to a butterfly?
• What is one food that gave him a stomachache? What is one food that did not him a stomachache?
It took more than 3 weeks. He ate for one week, and then “he stayed inside [his cocoon] for more than two weeks.”
• Chocolate cake• Ice cream• Pickle• Swiss cheese• Salami• Lollipop• Cherry pie• Sausage• Cupcake• watermelon
Foods that did not give him a stomachache
• Apples• Pears• Plums• Strawberries• Oranges• Green leaf
Foods that gave him a stomachache
Vocabulary and Text Structure• Bridges literal and inferential
meanings• Denotation• Connotation• Shades of meaning• Figurative language• How organization
contributes to
meaning
There is an illustration of the cocoon, and a sentence that reads, “He built a small house, called a cocoon, around himself.”
• Genre: Entertain? Explain? Inform? Persuade?
• Point of view: First-person, third-person limited, omniscient, unreliable narrator
• Critical Literacy: Whose story is not represented?
Author’s Purpose
A narrator tells the story, because he uses the words he and his. If it was the caterpillar, he would say I and my.
Inferences
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.
Inferences in Kindergarten
The title of the book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. How do we know he is hungry?
The caterpillar ate food every day “but he was still hungry.” On Saturday he ate so much food he got a stomachache! Then he was “a big, fat caterpillar” so he could build a cocoon and turn into a butterfly.
Opinions, Arguments, and Intertextual Connections
• Author’s opinion and reasoning (K-5)• Claims• Evidence• Counterclaims• Ethos, Pathos, Logos• Rhetoric
Links to other texts throughout the grades
Opinions and Intertextual Connections in Kindergarten
NarrativeIs this a happy story or a
sad one? How do you know?
InformationalHow are these two books
similar? How are they different?
Differences Between K-2 and 3-12?In K-2, teacher
reads aloud initially,
annotates wholly or
guides student annotation.
Students may or may not
eventually read independently, depending on text difficulty
(e.g., Wizard of Oz in
Kindergarten.)
In 3-12, students read
independently beginning with
first reading, and annotate with
increased independence. Readers who
cannot initially read
independently may be read to,
or may encounter the text
previously during scaffolded small group reading instruction.