Transcript Informational Texts & Close Reading

Informational Texts
&
Close Reading
Insights I have learned from ELA
Common Core Training and librarian
training. Plus a little something new
from the TN CORE
What do they mean by
Informational Text?
• Informational text is a subset of nonfiction
literature
– Whose purpose is to inform the reader of the
natural and social world
– That does not utilize characters within the text
– That is not procedural
– That is not narrative nonfiction
Understanding Text Complexity
http://vimeo.com/27251914
Like most parts of CCSS there is more
information available on text complexity than
any of us have time to read. This is the best
explanation I have found. If you have a better,
please send it my way.
Note:
• The TN Core trainers said we could freely use
the materials from the TN Core training
materials….I have copied the next several
slides from their training materials.
Welcome to www.tncore.org!
ELA & Literacy Resources on
www.TNCore.org
Text Complexity Resources
LOG-IN INFORMATION
• Tennessee provides all educators with access to the resources on
www.TNCore.org
• Some of the materials may be password protected. All teachers
may log-in using:
• Log-in: tneducation
• Password: fastestimproving
• You may share this log-in information with your TN colleagues to
access the information on www.TNCore.org.
Additional Resources: Tennessee
Electronic Library
http://www.tntel.tnsos.org/curricular.htm
How can I stay informed?
What if I have questions?
Contact TN DOE
staff directly by
clicking the
Contact Us button
in the upper right
hand corner of
any page.
You may also
email TN DOE staff
directly at:
TNCore.questions
@tn.gov.
Appendix B
I have asked and asked again and again
how we are suppose to use this appendix.
Appendix B is meant to be a guide and
tool to locate and select exemplar texts
that fit the needs our your classroom
curriculum.
IT IS NOT A SHOPPING LIST.
Close Reading
Close Reading
• Gives students opportunities to ‘assimilate
information’ from text and prior knowledge to
expand individual schema.
• Builds essential skills to tackle more difficult
texts.
Student Habits to be created:
• 1. Identifying their own purpose for reading the
text
• 2. Determining the author’s purpose for writing it
• 3. Developing their own schema
• 4. Considering the thought systems of a
discipline, or what we might genres and
discipline-specific language (e.g., a poem differs
from a science article)
•
Quoted from Frye and Fisher
• Some refer to close reading as
• SLOW READING
Elements of Close Reading
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•
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Short Passages
Complex Texts
Limit Frontloading
Repeating Reading
Text Dependent Questions
Reader annotates the texts
Who is reading
• Of course teachers are suppose to do some of
the reading and rereading of passages being
used for close reading
– When teachers read text aloud we are to model
how to break down the text to improve and
deepen the comprehension level.
– Older students need to reread the text with
purpose after their first or second reading of the
text.
Frontloading
• Yes, we do need to give background
information and set the stage for some texts.
• However, Close Reading suggests we limited
frontloading (or background information only
to needed vocabulary)
Close Reading and Frontloading
for elementary applications
(1) that frontloading not remove the need
to read the text, and
(2) that frontloading not take readers away from
the text to their own experiences too soon.
Text-Dependent Questions
Professional Learning Module #2
This slide and the following slides have been copied from the
TN Core website.
The CCSS Requires Three Shifts in
ELA/Literacy
1. Building knowledge through content-rich
nonfiction
2. Reading, writing and speaking grounded in
evidence from text, both literary and
informational
3. Regular practice with complex text and its
academic language
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Shift # 2: Text Dependent
Questions
1. Building knowledge through content-rich
nonfiction
2. Reading, writing and speaking grounded in
evidence from text, both literary and
informational
3. Regular practice with complex text and its
academic language
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Time – In and Out of the Text
• More instructional time spent outside the
text means less time inside the text.
• Departing from the text in classroom
discussion privileges only those who already
have experience with the topic.
• It is easier to talk about our experiences than
to analyze the text—especially for students
reluctant to engage with reading.
• The CCSS are College and Career Readiness
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Text-Dependent Questions are
not…
 Low-level, literal, or recall questions
 Focused on comprehension strategies
 Just questions…
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Text-Dependent Questions...
• Can only be answered with evidence from the
text.
• Can be literal (checking for understanding)
but must also involve analysis, synthesis,
evaluation.
• Focus on word, sentence, and paragraph, as
well as larger ideas, themes, or events.
• Focus on difficult portions of text in order to
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enhance reading proficiency.
Three Types of Text-Dependent
Questions
When you're writing or reviewing a set of
questions, consider the following three
categories:
• Questions that assess themes and central
ideas
• Questions that assess knowledge of
vocabulary
• Questions that assess syntax and structure
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Non-Examples and Examples
Not Text-Dependent
•In “Casey at the Bat,” Casey strikes out.
Describe a time when you failed at
something.
•In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr.
King discusses nonviolent protest.
Discuss, in writing, a time when you
wanted to fight against something that
you felt was unfair.
•In “The Gettysburg Address” Lincoln
says the nation is dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created
equal. Why is equality an important
value to promote?
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Text-Dependent
What makes Casey’s experiences at bat
humorous?
What can you infer from King’s letter
about the letter that he received?
“The Gettysburg Address” mentions the
year 1776. According to Lincoln’s
speech, why is this year significant to
the events described in the speech?
Creating Text-Dependent
Questions
Step One: Identify the core understandings and key ideas of
the text.
Step Two: Start small to build confidence.
Step Three: Target vocabulary and text structure.
Step Four: Tackle tough sections head-on.
Step Five: Create coherent sequences of text-dependent
questions.
Step Six: Identify the standards that are being addressed.
Step Seven: Create the culminating assessment.
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Core Understanding and Key Ideas
• Reverse-engineered or backwards-designed
• Crucial for creating an overarching set of
successful questions
• Critical for creating an appropriate
culminating assignment
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Vocabulary
Which words should be taught?
– Essential to understanding text
– Likely to appear in future reading
Which words should get more time and attention?
– More abstract words (as opposed to concrete words)
persist vs. checkpoint
noticed vs. accident
– Words which are part of semantic word family
secure, securely, security, secured
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Vocabulary and Text Dependent
Questions
From “Hot and Cold Summer” - 5th grade
fictional text
• “To avoid someone means to keep away from
them so that you don’t have to see them and
they don’t have to see you. How did the boys
avoid meeting Bolivia at first?” (pg. 23)
• Re-read the last two paragraphs on page 39.
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Rory had a “strong suspicion”. What is a
suspicion? What details in the story made
Syntax and Text Dependent
Questions
• Syntax can predict student performance as
much as vocabulary does.
• Questions and tasks addressing syntax are
powerful.
Example:
Who are the members of the wolf pack? How many wolves are in
the pack? To answer this, pay close attention to the use of
commas and semi-colons in the last paragraph on pg. 377. The
semi-colons separate or list each member in the pack.
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Structure and Text-Dependent
Questions
•
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Text-dependent questions can be crafted to
point students’ attention to features of text
that enhance understanding (such as how
section headers and captions lead to greater
clarity or provide hints regarding what is most
important in informational text, or how
illustrations add to a narrative).
Structure and Text Dependent
Questions
Examples:
•
“Look at the illustrations on page 31. Why did the illustrator
include details like the power outlets in the walls?”
•
“Dillard is careful to place opposing descriptions of the natural and
man-made side-by-side. How does this juxtaposition fit with or
challenge what we have already read? Why might she have chosen
this point in the text for these descriptions?”
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Reading Strategies and TextDependent Questions
• Text-dependent questions generally call on
students to employ reading strategies.
• Strategies are no longer taught in isolation.
• The text and readers’ need to comprehend it
should determine what strategies are
activated - not the other way around.
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Culminating Tasks
•
•
Should relate to core understanding and key ideas.
A coherent sequence of text dependent questions will
scaffold students toward successfully completing the
culminating task.
• Example:
“The title of this selection is ‘Because of Winn-Dixie.' Using your answers
from the questions above and class discussion, explain why this is an
appropriate title for the selection. Be sure to clearly cite evidence from the
text for each part of your answer.”
“Officer Buckle’s final safety tip is 'ALWAYS STICK WITH YOUR BUDDY.' How
did he and Gloria each learn this lesson for themselves throughout the
story?”
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Final Thoughts
• There is no one right way to have students
work with text dependent questions.
• Providing for the differing needs of students
means providing and scaffolding supports
differentially - not asking easier questions or
substituting simpler text.
• Listening and speaking should be built into
any sequence of activities along with reading
and writing:
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Finding Resources
• There are more resources available for CCSS
than we collectively have time to explore.
• I have been collecting tools I think will benefit
you from other teachers and librarians.
Useful websites
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•
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http://www.readwritethink.org
http://deweybrowse.org
http://www.lexile.com/analyzer/ ****
http://timeforkids.com/
Resources
• http://tncore.org/trainingmaterials
• Fisher, Douglas and Nancy Frey. “Close
Reading in he Elementary Schools.” The
Reading Teacher, Nov 2102, p. 179-87.