Transcript What Is Close Reading?

Laying the Foundation
for
One High Yield Reading
Strategy: Close Reading
What Is Close Reading?
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and
Careers (PARCC) supplies clarification useful for teaching with
Common Core standards in mind:
Close, analytic reading stresses engaging with a text of sufficient
complexity directly and examining meaning thoroughly and
methodically, encouraging students to read and reread
deliberately. Directing student attention on the text itself
empowers students to understand the central ideas and key
supporting details. It also enables students to reflect on the
meanings of individual words and sentences; the order in which
sentences unfold; and the development of ideas over the course
of the text, which ultimately leads students to arrive at an
understanding of the text as a whole. (PARCC, 2011, p. 7)
Why Close Reading Now?
Why Close Reading Now?
The standards based shift to teaching reading as a set of
thinking strategies too often left readers with the notion that the
text was simply a launching point for their musings, images that
popped into their heads, and random questions that, in the end,
did little to enhance their understanding of the text itself.
So if responding personally to text isn't leading students to
deeper understanding, then where should teachers turn to help
students improve their comprehension? We should turn to the
text itself.
Enter Close Reading
Reread that PARCC definition of close
reading—closely—to extract key concepts. You
might identify these ideas: examining meaning
thoroughly and analytically; directing attention to
the text, central ideas, and supporting details;
reflecting on meanings of individual words and
sentences; and developing ideas over the
course of the text. Notice that reader reflection is
still integral to the process. But close reading
goes beyond that: The best thinkers do monitor
and assess their thinking, but in the context of
processing the thinking of others (Paul & Elder,
2008)
Enter Close Reading
Reread that PARCC definition of close
reading—closely—to extract key concepts. You
might identify these ideas: examining meaning
thoroughly and analytically; directing attention to
the text, central ideas, and supporting details;
reflecting on meanings of individual words and
sentences; and developing ideas over the
course of the text. Notice that reader reflection is
still integral to the process. But close reading
goes beyond that: The best thinkers do monitor
and assess their thinking, but in the context of
processing the thinking of others (Paul & Elder,
2008)
Three Strategies
1. Use Short Texts
2. Aim for Independence
Go Beyond "Ho-Hum" Question
Teach Students to Ask the Questions
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
k)
l)
m)
Who is speaking in the passage?
Who seems to be the main audience? (To whom is the narrator speaking?)
What is the first thing that jumps out at me? Why?
What's the next thing I notice?
Are these two things connected? How? Do they seem to be saying
different things?
What seems important here? Why?
What does the author mean by ______?
What exact words lead me to this meaning?
Is the author trying to convince me of something? What? How do I know?
Is there something missing from this passage that I expected to find? Why
might the author have left this out?
Is there anything that could have been explained more thoroughly for greater
clarity?
Is there a message or main idea? What in the text led me to this conclusion?
How does this sentence/passage fit into the text as a whole?
3. Focus on Observing and Analyzing
Framing Questions
the connotative and denotative meanings
of words
the impact of words
repetition of words and phrases
figures of speech
sentences and their structure
paragraphs and their structure
imagery
logic of presentation or argument
strategies of presentation or argument
point of view
multiple perspectives
Framing Questions
audience
strategic silences
the author’s intent
(to the extent we can discern it)
historical context
setting
theme or central idea
organization and arrangement of ideas
tone
inferences
implications
evidence
• Getting students to ask themselves the four general questions
and the more specific questions about content and craft is a
long-term goal.
• If we want to create close readers who are also independent
readers, we need to explicitly teach how to approach a text to
uncover its multiple layers of meaning.
• In the meantime, we'll need to come to class prepared to ask
important text-dependent questions when students' own
questioning fails to produce a deep understanding.
• But those questions need to be more than "text-dependent";
they need to represent the full range of the Common Core
standards.
• College and career readiness begins in the primary grades.
With the right tools, we can build close reading skills even
with our youngest or our least savvy readers .
•What seems important here? Why?
•What does the author mean by ______? What exact words lead me to this meaning?
•Is the author trying to convince me of something? What? How do I know?
•Is there something missing from this passage that I expected to find? Why might the author have left this out?
•Is there anything that could have been explained more thoroughly for greater clarity?
•Is there a message or main idea? What in the text led me to this conclusion?
•How does this sentence/passage fit into the text as a whole
In order to “digest” what you read,
you must think about it!
Close Reading
This is a type of
analytical reading.

The
reader looks at
details, words and images
and assesses their
importance.
The reader makes guesses
about the meaning of the
text as they read.

Close readers look
beyond the plot for deeper
layers of meaning.

The Scarlet Letter – “The Prison Door”

Thoroughly read the
handout out and
annotate it using the
strategies on the next
two slides,
Annotation
1. In groups divide the task- verbs or adjectives
(30 seconds)
2. Read through the text 1 time annotating for
verbs or adjectives (4 minutes)
3. Individually note patterns, contrasts, and
relationships (1 minute)
4. Turn and Talk- share significant observations
and chose 1 to share out (2 minutes)
5. Spokesperson for each group share (30
seconds each)
2nd Annotation
1. Individually read and annotate for strong images
and questions (4 minutes)
2. Turn and Talk- share significant observations
and chose 1 to share out (2 minutes)
3. Spokesperson for each group share (30
seconds each)
4. Discuss implementation of annotation in your
classroom (2 minutes)
5. Group share (2 minutes)

“The Prison Door” from The Scarlet Letter
A THRONG of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with
women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door
of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes.
The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally
project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin
soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison. In accordance with this rule, it may safely be
assumed that the forefathers of Boston had built the first prison-house, somewhere in the vicinity of Cornhill,
almost as seasonably as they marked out the first burial-ground, on Isaac Johnson’s lot, and round about his
grave, which subsequently became the nucleus of all the congregated sepulchres in the old church-yard of
King’s Chapel. Certain it is, that, some fifteen or twenty years after the settlement of the town, the wooden jail
was already marked with weather-stains and other indications of age, which gave a yet darker aspect to its
beetle-browed and gloomy front. The rust on the ponderous iron-work of its oaken door looked more antique
than any thing else in the new world. Like all that pertains to crime, it seemed never to have known a youthful
era. Before this ugly edifice, and between it and the wheel-track of the street, was a grass-plot, much
overgrown with burdock, pig-weed, apple-peru, and such unsightly vegetation, which evidently found
something congenial in the soil that had so early borne the black flower of civilized society, a prison. But, on
one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of
June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the
prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep
heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him.
This rose-bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but whether it had merely survived
out of the stern old wilderness, so long after the fall of the gigantic pines and oaks that originally
overshadowed it,—or whether, as there is fair authority for believing, it had sprung up under the footsteps of
the sainted Ann Hutchinson, as she entered the prison-door,—we shall not take upon us to determine. Finding
it so directly on the threshold of our narrative, which is now about to issue from that inauspicious portal, we
could hardly do otherwise than pluck one of its flowers and present it to the reader. It may serve, let us hope,
to symbolize some sweet moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of
a tale of human frailty and sorrow.
Close Reading Strategies
A THRONG of bearded
men, in sad-colored
garments and gray,
steeple-crowned hats,
intermixed with women,
some wearing hoods, and
others bareheaded, was
assembled in front of a
wooden edifice, the door of
which was heavily
timbered with oak, and
studded with iron spikes.
Identify the words that catch the
eye, that convey impressions to the
senses, or that represent actions and
movement.
Identify words that have similar
connotations.
Identify words that set up
oppositions.
**Notice the sentence structure: what
is the subject; where is the verb.
**Notice the distance between them.
**Note the two “color” verbs: the
throng is “assembled” and the door
is “timbered.”
Close Reading Strategies
A THRONG of bearded
men, in sad-colored
garments and gray,
steeple-crowned hats,
intermixed with women,
some wearing hoods, and
others bareheaded, was
assembled in front of a
wooden edifice, the door of
which was heavily
timbered with oak, and
studded with iron spikes.
What does this scene, set before a
prison, suggest about the place of law in
Salem?
What kind of culture is being described?
What tensions might be inferred?
What are the larger implications for The
Scarlet Letter?
Understanding
In his opening sentence, through the
use of heavily connotative and
descriptive language, Hawthorne
characterizes the society of Salem as
grim, patriarchal, and oppressive and
introduces a key theme of the novel by
suggesting a tension between freedom
and authority in Salem.
Possible Extensions
 Annotate
for another purpose, dictated by
the text
 Craft Dialectical Journal entries
 Extend into literary analysis
 Three Levels of Reading strategy
 Categorize questions according to Levels
of Thinking
Some Guiding Questions
Hawthorne establishes a contrast between the darkness of the Puritans and the
beauty of the rose. Examine the descriptions of the Puritans, the prison, and
the prison door.
 What does Hawthorne imply about the nature of human beings by his
emphasis on the early establishment of a prison and a cemetery in this new
American colony?
 What does the ancient wood door (in this colony only twenty years old)
symbolize?
 What is signified by the description of the weeds? The rose?
 Ann Hutchinson was a Quaker who maintained her right to her own
conscience. What is Hawthorne’s attitude toward her? How does he
connect her to Hester?
 What effect is created by Hawthorne’s inclusion of historical references?
 What is the time and place of this opening scene?
 What connection is there between the rose and the scarlet letter?
Techniques
Craft Technique
Imagery
including comparisons:
•Similes
•Metaphors
•Personification
•Figurative language
•Symbols
Possible Questions
What is being compared?
Why is the comparison
effective? (typically because
of the clear, strong, or
unusual connection between
the two)
What symbols are present?
Why did the author choose
these symbols?
Techniques
Craft Technique
Possible Questions
Word choice
• What word(s) stand out? Why?
(typically vivid words, unusual
choices, or a contrast to what a
reader expects)
• How do particular words get us to
look at characters or events in a
particular way? Do they evoke an
emotion?
• Did the author use nonstandard
English or words in another
language? Why? What is the effect?
• Are there any words that could have
more than one meaning? Why might
the author have played with
language in this way?
Techniques
Craft Technique
Possible Questions
Tone and voice
• What one word describes
the tone?
• Is the voice formal or
informal? If it seems
informal, how did the
author make it that way? If
it's formal, what makes it
formal?
• Does the voice seem
appropriate for the
content?
Techniques
Craft Technique
Sentence structure
•Short sentence
•Long sentences
•Sentence fragments
•Sentences in which word order is
important
•Questions
Possible Questions
• What stands out about the way this
sentence is written?
• Why did the author choose a short
sentence here? (for example, so it
stands out from sentences around it,
for emphasis)
• Why did the author make this sentence
really long? (for example, to convey
the "on and on" sense of the
experience.)
• Why did the author write a fragment
here? (for example, for emphasis or to
show a character's thoughts)
• Based on the order of the words in this
sentence, which word do you think is
the most important? Why? What was
the author trying to show by placing a
particular word in a certain place?
Level
Creating
Thinking
What would it be like if…?
Create, develop, generate, produce, imagine
THEMATIC
Evaluating
Why do you think that…?
Conclude, debate, justify, judge, assess
Analyzing
What other ways could…?
categorize, dissect, examine, compare, contrast
INFERENTIAL
Applying
How would you solve…?
apply, demonstrate, implement, practice
Understanding
What is the main idea of…?
describe, explain, paraphrase, retell
LITERAL
Remembering
Who, What, When, Where…?
cite, define, find, list
The Three Levels of Reading
3 Levels
of Reading
Reading on
the Line
(Literal)
Reading
Between
the Lines
(Inferential)
Reading
Beyond the
Lines
(Thematic)
First Level of Reading
Literal
READING ON
THE LINE
Understanding &
Remembering
 Find meaning
directly
in the text
 Mentally answer
the questions
“Who?” “What?”
“When?” and
“Where?”

Second Level of Reading
Inferential
Applying & Analyzing
 Readers interpret what is
in the text
 Key concerns are :
-What does the passage
represent, suggest, or
personify?
-What does a certain
allusion or metaphor
mean?
- You are analyzing,
interpreting, classifying,
comparing, contrasting
and finding patterns.

READING
________________
BETWEEN THE
________________
LINES
Third Level of Reading
Thematic
READING
BEYOND THE LINES
___________________
___________________

Evaluating & Creating

Readers move beyond
the text to connect
literature to their own
experiences as well as
with universal meaning.
Reading Beyond
the Lines (continued)

-
-
-
-
-
Ask:
“How does this text
connect with my life?”
“How does it connect to
life for all people?”
“How does it connect with
my ideas about morality
or values?”
What perceptions about
life in general is the
author communicating to
me?”
“What do I think of these
perceptions?”
1 READING
ON THE
LINES
2 READING
BETWEEN
THE LINES
3 READING
BEYOND
THE LINES
1
Literal
2 Inferential
3
Thematic
Remember
and
Understand
Reading on the Line
1. Write the most significant word from
the text.
2. Quote the entire sentence in which
the word appears. Cite the source of
the quotation in parentheses.
3.Write multiple dictionary definitions of
the word (denotation).
4. Explain why the word is important to
the meaning of the work by placing it
in the context of the narrative.
Applying
and
Analyzing
*Draw & Explain
Reading Between the Lines
R
1. Referring to the text,
draw FOUR images
created from the text
*Draw & Explain
Reading
On the Line
*Draw & Explain
2. Write an explanation of the link
between the four images from the text
and the word you have written in the
innermost circle.
*Draw & Explain
Evaluating
And
Creating
Reading Beyond the Lines
Reading Between the Lines
Reading
On the Lines
Write TWO thematic statements drawn from the
significant word you wrote in the innermost circle
and the images you drew in the middle circle.
These should be universal thematic
statements.
Levels of Reading
1. In groups divide up the tasks- Who will complete each
level? (1 minute)
2. Discuss mental draft of your poster- What are you going
to put at each level? (5 minutes)
3. Complete your representation of the Three Levels of
Reading. (20 minutes)
4. Gallery Walk using post-its for commentary or
observations (5 minutes)
5. Review commentary and reflect on strategy. (3 minutes)
6. Whole group share one piece of poster, one comment and
one reflection on implementing the strategy. (1 minute)
Possible Extensions
Craft
Dialectical Journal entries.
Extend into literary analysis.
What is a
Dialectical Journal?

“Dialectical” relates to the process of logical
discussion used to determine the truth.

A dialectical journal is your record of your
thoughts as you read–your search for the
truth.

As a good reader, you question what you
read, holding it up against what you already
know.

Your dialectical journal is your opportunity to
show others how you think as you read.
Dialectic Journal
Level of Reading
Literal/Concrete
(Quote)
Inferential/Abstract
Thematic
Ideas
What does it mean?
What does it
represent?
How can you connect
it?
Sample Dialectical Journal
Dialectical Journal – The Scarlet Letter “The Prison Door”
Quotation
Response
“On one side of the portal, and rooted almost
at the threshold, was a wild rose bush, covered,
in this month of June, with its delicate gems,
which might be imagined to offer their
fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as
he went in, and to the condemned criminal as
he came forth to his doom, in token that the
deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to
him” (Hawthorne 35).
The rose bush is a symbol of nature and stands
in stark contrast to the prison door. (L) It sets
the only beauty found in a gloomy mood of the
first chapter, as if what is inside the prison will
stand as a contrast to the dark-garmented
Puritans who stand next to the door. (I)
The use of Nature as a duality is obvious as the
bush is wild and delicate, fragile and offers
pity upon a sinner or criminal in Puritan
society, who is wild with a delicate spirit. But
nature is also just as dark as is seen with the
great calamity of fire, famine, flood, etc. (T)
Index Card Feedback
Individually create a dialectical journal entry
based on the strategies explored today.
Observation
Reflection
Sample Dialectical Journal
Sally Student
Teacher
ELA 11
17 May 2012
Dialectical Journal – 1984
Quotation
p. 270
“‘And you consider yourself morally superior
to us, with our lies and our cruelty?’ ‘Yes, I
consider myself superior.’ …It was a sound
track of the conversation he had had with
O’Brien, on the night when he had enrolled
himself in the Brotherhood…”
Response
Who decides what’s right and what’s wrong?
Winston thinks he’s better than the Party
because he isn’t cruel and doesn’t lie, yet he
pledged to do whatever it took to bring down
the Party. Is he right because he has good
reasoning, or is he just as wrong because of the
things he is willing to do in the name of the
greater good? I’m sure some villains have
perfectly sound reasoning and worthy causes,
but they’re bad because they wreak havoc and
cause harm. We can say that a person is good
because they have positive goals, but what if
they reach those goals by putting others at
risk? Are they still a good person, or a bad
person? Do the means or the ends determine
right or wrong?
Sam Student
Teacher
ELA 11
September 25, 20122012
“The Scarlet Ibis”
Dialectical Journal
C- Concrete – Literal
A- Abstract - Inferential
T - Thematic
Summary
Paragraph 1 - Speaking in past tense, the
narrator describes the time of year and
other elements of the setting when the ibis
landed in a tree in his yard.
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

Observations and Questions
What is the “clove of seasons”? (A)
The narrator repeatedly uses words and
images that indicate death and loss. (T)
What is the “bleeding tree”? (A)
Lots of imagery and figurative language
(C)
Did someone die? Who? When? What
was the relationship to the narrator?
(C)
Do certain images remind us of the
past? (T)
Do people ever completely recover
from the death of a loved one? (T)
Sam Student
Teacher
ELA 1
September 25, 2012
“The Scarlet Ibis”
Dialectical Journal Doodle
Evidence (quotation or detail and
context)
Quotation: “His eyes were round with
wonder as he gazed about him, and his
little hands began to stroke the rubber
grass. Then he began to cry” (Hurst 191).
Context: Doodle’s brother has taken him
to a beautiful place.
Quotation: “My lies were scary, involved,
and usually pointless, but Doodle’s were
twice as crazy. People in his stories all
had wings and flew wherever they wanted
to go (Hurst 193).
Context: to help pass the time, Doodle
and his brother make up stories.
Inference or Interpretation –
Commentary
Sensitive, appreciative – Doodle reacts
emotionally to the wonder of nature,
moved to tears of joy at the beauty of
simple things. He is attuned to nature and
in awe of beauty.
Imaginative, dreamer – Doodle’s fantasies
reveal his vivid imagination as well as his
desire to be able to move freely and easily.
Through his imagination he can escape the
physical handicaps that hold him down in
real life.
REFERENCES
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Boyles, N. (2012). Educational Leadership:Common Core: Now
What?:Closing in on Close Reading. 70:4 ASCD, Dec.-Jan. 2012. Web. 10
June 2014. 36-41
Coleman, D., & Pimentel, S. (2012). Revised publishers' criteria for the
Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and Literacy,
grades 3–12. Retrieved from Student Achievement Partners
at www.achievethecore.org/stealthesetools
Close Reading (2011). Retrieved from FRPS Professional
Development - professionaldev.cfm
National Assessment Governing Board. (2002). Reading Framework for the
2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress (Appendix A).
Washington, DC: Author.
Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.
(2011). PARCC model content frameworks: English language arts/literacy
grades 3–11. Retrieved
fromwww.parcconline.org/sites/parcc/files/PARCCMCFELALiteracyAugust2
012_FINAL.pdf
Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2008). How to read a paragraph: The art of close
reading. Dillon Beach, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking Press.