Transcript Close Reading for Comprehension

Close Reading for Comprehension
NTES
February 20, 2013
Betsy Madison, GRREC
“The Gulf Stream” by Winslow Homer
Make a list of what you objectively observe in
this painting.
What are the FACTS of the painting?
How would you define “Fake
Reading”?
“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)
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 Reading
In 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 Image
Ombrello-Rosso
Make a list of what you
objectively observe in
this painting.
What are the FACTS of
the painting?
Close Reading of an Image
Ombrello-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
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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• 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.
A Night to Remember Ch. 10
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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 6
Assess 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.
7/20/2015
Free Template from www.brainybetty.com
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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)
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.
7/20/2015
Free Template from www.brainybetty.com
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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 Reading
Reflection
1
Idea that Squares with my
Thinking
2
Ideas Still Rolling
Around in my Head.
..
3
Ideas I Will
Take Back to
Try
[email protected]
Betsymadison.com