Close Reading

Andrea PattersonAmory School District

What Is Close Reading?“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.”

Dr. Douglas Fisher

Modeling Close Reading

Teachers can model close reading using current articles, opinion pieces, or historical documents.

“When we routinely model and make explicit how we adults read, think, and make connections, students learn to do it, too. They will see that such close, insightful reading is within their reach----that all of them can do such reading and thinking, which is central to an education.”

Mike Schmoker

Focus

Close Reading ExampleFirst Reading

Read Salvador, Late or Early independently with a pencil to interpret text

-What powerful words or phrases affect you? Circle them.

-What confuses you? Underline.

-Make notes in the margins as you read the text.

-Students may use highlighters during close reading.

-It is important that students reread the text.

Teacher’s Role During Students’ Close Reading

Teachers should act as facilitators during students’ close reading of a text. Circulate and observe students as they are reading. Look for strengths and weaknesses.

-Are students recording important information?

-Do students know how to abbreviate their notes and annotations to save time---but in a way that they can make sense of later?

-Do students need more modeling?

-Are students ready to pair with a partner to discuss their notes of the text?

Close Reading ExampleDiscussion

Discuss with a partner the following.

-Describe your impressions of Salvador and the people in his life. Students should ask questions, provide evidence from the text, and compare and contrast their impressions with one another.

Act as the facilitator during the discussion.

Some students may need prompting.

Close Reading ExampleSecond Reading

Read aloud the selection to your students, without interruption.

Ask students text-dependent questions.

Text-Dependent Questioning

Rather than asking students questions about their prior knowledge or experience, the Common Core State Standards expect students to wrestle with text dependent questions: questions that can only be answered by referring explicitly back to the text in front of them. In a shift away from today’s emphasis on narrative writing in response to decontextualized prompts, students are expected to speak and write to sources – to use evidence from texts to present careful analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information.

Achieve the Core

Text-Dependent Questions

Salvador, Late or Early-What are Salvador’s strengths?

-What are Salvador’s needs?

-What words and phrases does the author use to show Salvador’s strengths and needs?

-How does Cisneros, the author, use color? To what effect?

-What does the author want us to know about Salvador?

-How would this story differ if it was written by Salvador’s mother?

Extension

Marzano’s instructional strategy finding similarities and differences can be incorporated in this activity.

Students can compare and contrast Cisnero’s Salvador, Late or Early and Capote’s A Christmas Memory.

Both stories end with the same image. What are the final images in each story? Do they have the same effect on you? Explain why or why not.

Thinking NotesQuestions To Consider

1. In what ways do 'thinking notes' require students to track their response to a text and engage in more thoughtful reading?

2. What other reactions might you have students track when reading?

3. How do 'thinking notes' help students prepare for and structure discussions?