Close Reading for Comprehension

Close Reading for Comprehension

NTESFebruary 20, 2013Betsy Madison, GRREC

Make a list of what you objectively observe in this painting.

What are the FACTS of the painting?

“The Gulf Stream” by Winslow Homer

“I have discovered that too many adolescent readers know how to “fake read”. They have become so good at playing the “game of school,” they have figured out how to get the grade without “getting the comprehension.”

(Chris Tovani)

How would you define “Fake Reading”?

Close Reading “Reading like a detective”

A Close Reading does not…• Retell the plot or summarize the passage• Profile the characters• List reactions that popped into your head while reading or

the reasons you like it• Compare the society depicted in the story to your own• Compare the choices and values of the narrator to your

own• Use a literary work as an example to support general

claims about the outside world

Close ReadingIn a close reading, a text is not so much a mirror to reflect your own opinions and personal reactions; nor is it a window, to look through in order to learn about the subject of the text or the author’s motivations or

goal; rather, you look at the glass itself—you look at the language, grammar, punctuation, structure, with the understanding that the author chose each word, each line break, each allusion, in order to achieve a

certain effect.”

• Close reading is the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text (wordiq.com).

• Close reading is analyzing a specific passage in fine detail, as if with a magnifying glass (web.cn.edu/kwheeler)

• “The principal object of close reading is to unpack the text. Close readers linger over words, verbal images, elements of style, sentences, argument patterns, and entire paragraphs … within the text to explore their significance on multiple levels.” (James Jasinski, Sourcebook on Rhetoric, Sage, 2001)

Close Reading of an ImageOmbrello-Rosso

Make a list of what you objectively observe in

this painting.What are the FACTS of the

painting?

Close Reading of an ImageOmbrello-Rosso

• So what?

• Why these details?

• What does this mean?

Day 1

Day 2

What did you notice about the questions I asked?

Text Dependent Questions

What Are they? Specifically asks a question that can only be answered by

referring explicitly back to the text

Does not rely on a student’s background knowledge

Does not rely on a student’s own experiences

Forces students to dig further into the text by asking them to re-read, re-visit, and search for meaning

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Types of Text Dependent Questions

• General Understandings• Why would the author title the chapter “Go

Away”?• Key Details

• Find two places in the text where something could have been done to prevent this tragedy?

• Vocabulary and Text Structure• How does the chronological structure help you

understand the events?

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A Night to Remember Ch. 10

• Author’s Purpose• Whose story is most represented and whose

story is under-represented?• Inferences

• Why would Mrs. Brown run lifeboat number 6 with a revolver?

• Opinions, arguments, intertextual conections• Compare this book with Ken Marschall’s Inside

the Titanic. • Give two similarities and two differences.

So what’s up with the red umbrella?Anchor Standard 9

Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same

topic

Anchor Standard 6Assess how point of view or

purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

Four reasons to pair text

1. Some standards require multiple texts.2. The CCSS suggest that we limit pre-reading

activities. Background knowledge can be built with paired text.

3. All students need to participate in close reading of challenging text. Paired texts can provide the necessary scaffolding for students reading below grade level.

4. The CCSS call for more informational text at all levels.

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Or

What’s wrong with pre-reading activities?

1. They take too much time away from reading.2. Many are BORING. (just ask the kids!)3. Pre-reading commonly focuses on the

wrong information.4. Previews can spoil the reading experience.5. Previews are rarely purposeful.(Shanahan on Literacy 2/21/12)

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How can paired text help?

• Select a short same-topic text or piece of media text.

• Select text your students can access fairly independently.

• Select text containing vocabulary students will need to know to access your KEY text.

• Select text that will help your students build/practice literacy skills.

What’s next?

“Close Reading is a re-reading aimed towards producing commentary in either

spoken or written form.”(“Close Reading as Genre” by Andrew Goldstone 07-25-11,

arcade.stanford.edu)

“I don’t know what I think until I write it down.”Norman Mailer

“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it

means. What I want and what I fear.”Joan Didion

Everybody Writes• Set your students up for rigorous engagement by

giving them the opportunity to reflect first in writing before discussing.

• This allows for more effective responses.• Gives students time to prepare answers for discussion.• Allows every student the chance to be part of the

conversation even if not called upon.• Processing thoughts in writing refines them, a process

that challenges students intellectually, engages them, and improves the quality of their ideas and their writing.

Writing to Learn

1. Students read what others have written then mimic the author’s style and methods.

2. Reflectivity--Students reflect on their learning—what was learned, not learned, how it was learned and why.

3. Reflexivity– Students reflect and then determine what effect they have on the thinking. How do their own character and beliefs affect their understanding of what they have read?

Writing to Demonstrate Learning• A culminating project• In response to a prompt• Students show what they’ve learned by synthesizing

information and explaining their understanding• Students write for an authentic audience with a

specific purpose• Argument, Informational/Explanatory, or Narrative• Short or sustained• REQUIRES TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

Close ReadingReflection

1 Idea that Squares with my

Thinking3

Ideas I Will Take Back to

Try

2 Ideas Still Rolling

Around in my Head. . .

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