Strategies for teaching students how to do a “close reading” of a

text.

CLOSE READING

“Reading to uncover layers of meaning that lead to deep comprehension” – Nancy Boyles

“Methodical investigation of a complex text through answering text dependent questions geared to unpack the text’s meaning” – Close

Reading and the CCSS

“Critically examine a text, especially through repeated readings” – Fisher & Frey

“Close reading is purposefully reading a text several times in order to analyze and gain a deep

understanding of the text” – Genia Connell

WHAT IS “CLOSE READING”?

Close reading has previously been associated with teaching reading at the secondary level and higher. However, “close reading can’t wait until 7th grade or junior year in high school. It needs to find its niche in kindergarten and the years just beyond if we mean to build habits

of mind that will lead all students to deep understanding of text.”

The Anchor Standards for Reading found in the CCSS prioritize the close reading skill. Close reading is a strategy that needs to be

accessed and used by students in order to address standards such as:Standard 1: extracting evidence and making inferences

Standard 2: determine central idea of themeStandard 9: building knowledge by comparing two or more texts

Standard 10: complex text

WHY “CLOSE READING” AT THE ELEMENTARY LEVEL?

• Focus on those portions of a text that pose the biggest challenge to comprehension, confidence, and stamina.

• Limit frontloading or pre-teaching…students need to “grapple” with a text to learn how to persevere through reading a complex text.

• Ask text dependent questions and assign tasks that…direct students to carefully examine unique text in front of them for evidence.

• Ask students to make inferences based on evidence beyond what is explicitly stated.

• Direct students to pay attention to a variety of text structures.• Channel students focus on a sequential integrated line of inquiry

directed at “unpuzzling” the text while keeping them actively engaged with what they read.

• Synthesize the evidence they have gathered in an organized fashion and demonstrate understanding both orally and in writing.

• Become aware of nuances in word meaning as well as acquire knowledge of general academic vocabulary to aid in understanding a wide range of complex text.

ELEMENTS OF CLOSE READING

Kindergarten Close Reading

As you watch…notice: Level of questioning

How students remain “engaged” with the textListen for examples of academic vocabulary

WHAT DOES CLOSE READING LOOK LIKE IN

KINDERGARTEN?

Close Reading Strategies with Informational Text

Notice the complexity of the text and how students attack the text

How did the teacher select the text? What criteria did he use?

Level of questioningHow students remain “engaged” with the textListen for examples of academic vocabulary

WHAT DOES CLOSE READING LOOK LIKE IN 5TH GRADE?

Selecting an appropriate text is a very important step in preparing a lesson using the close reading strategy. Keep in mind the following

criteria:

• Is the text worth reading?• Is it related to the unit of study?• Is it complex enough to push students?

If you have read a longer selection, have you singled out for rereading and investigation a smaller section of the text for your text dependent questions?

• Shorter text can be very beneficial for several reasons:Enables students a wide range of reading levels to practice demanding textA wide variety of genres is available – folktales, legends, myths, fables,

poetry, plays, short stories.Shorter text allows for students to complete the “rereading” step of the

close reading process with the entire sequence of the text.

SELECTING TEXT

There is no ONE right way…but you will notice common steps!

Posters have been placed around the room for you to see! Each one is an example of how a teacher has

taught their students to do a close reading.

Talk at your table…what steps do you see in common in each of the processes / procedures? Have you taught a

close reading lesson? Share this at your table?

Pick one and make a poster! Adapt it to suit you!

CLOSE READING PROCEDURES

The goal is that students take what they have learned from one text and apply it to another. Coach students to ask these four

basic questions:

What is the author telling me here?Are there any hard or important words?

What does the author want me to understand?

How does the author play with language to add to meaning?

“TEACHING IS ABOUT TRANSFER” – NANCY BOYLES

CLOSE READING

Text-dependentquestions

Key Words Pulled Quotes Wrecking A Text

Shades ofMeaning

5 Strategies (but there are more!)

high level questions that can only be answered throughreading the text

requiringstudents to “pull quotes” helps them determine significance

*making the writing dull

*another wayto say, “summarize it”

students highlight what they think are the key wordsand thendefend theirchoices.

exploressubtledifferencesin meaningbetweensimilar wordsor phases

1. Students can highlight key words.

2. Have students identify one or more words they consider to be central to the meaning of the text.

3. Students must be prepared to explain choices.

4. Why do you think the author chose this word instead of another?

5. How does this word capture the centrality of the text?

Key Words

EXAMPLES OF STRATEGIES

Pulled Quotes1. Have students select a quote (or you

select a quote depending on the activity) for students to use to:

- Validate their opinion - Paraphrase what the quote means in their own language - Select a quote that captures

the main message of the selection - Pull several important quotes. Put

them on chart paper and hang them around the room. Have students write response, questions, thoughts, and/or reactions about the quotes. You can guide this to lead to ideas about main idea, theme, character traits, etc…

Wrecking a Text

EXAMPLES OF STRATEGIES

1. Highlighting the choices the author makes in the text.

2. (Example): Then Mr. Fox chose three of the plumpest hens and with a clever flick of his jaws he killed them instantly. (Roald Dahl)

3. How could you rewrite this sentence?

4. How does your word choice change the meaning?

5. Why do you think Dahl made the word choices he did?

“Shades of Meaning”1. Give small groups or

individual students an envelope with 4-8 words or phrases that are similar.

2. Have them order the words in terms of intensity….for example: Put words in order of most destructive to least destructive.

3. Students must discuss and be prepared to explain their choices.

(Share thermometer and paint strip examples)

We teach our students how to highlight and underline important text, but are we teaching students to evaluate WHY they selected that particular information as being

important?This is where Metacognative Markers come into play….

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/student-annotated-reading-strategy

METACOGNITIVE MARKERS(THINKING NOTES)

Think about the questions you ask students to complete after reading a

selection. Are you asking “Ho-Hum” Questions?

Questions can be good questions that require literal and inferential

thinking and still fall short of building a student’s capacity for

independently comprehending a text.

TEXT DEPENDENT QUESTIONS

Going back to the idea of transfer and application….Ultimately what is our goal?

Students are able to work collaboratively with peers, having deep discussions, using academic vocabulary from a selected piece of

text that they have grappled with. That our students will do this, in time, naturally and independently as they read through a selection.

How do we make this happen??• Model, Model, Model!!!

• Teach “what it looks like” in your classroom.• Don’t assume they know how to have a conversation about a

text.Another benefit:

Student discussion will improve student writing as they will have had time to process their thoughts before putting them to paper!

ACCOUNTABILITY: STUDENT TALK

The Reading Tool Kit!• Materials: 2 folders, 4 sheets of color paper (4 different

colors), one business size envelope, sticky notes, glue, paper clip, and master copies of folder inserts.

The “Reading Tool Kit” is to be used as you see fit in your classroom! It is intended to be a resource that will allow students a collection of question stems, prompts, graphic organizers, etc…at their fingertips so that they can more independently apply close reading strategies during small

group lessons and discussions.

MAKE AND TAKE

Science Close Reading Lessons – Boston Public Schools

Close Reading Lesson Plans that Align with Reading Street

Achieve the Core

Read Write Think

WEBSITES WITH CLOSE READING LESSON PLANS

Scholastic Books with Passages for close reading lessons:

RESOURCES

Teachers Pay Teachers Close Reading Posters:http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Close-Reading-Anchor-Charts-Grades-K-1-2-336771

   K-2

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Close-Reading-Anchor-Charts-Grades-3-4-5-336884

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