Close Reading Guide

Pleasereviewthefollowingshortvideohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DZbSlkFoSUWhatisthegoalofthewomaninthevideo?Whatskillsisshelackingandhowmaytheseskillshaveassistedher?TheCollegeandCareerStandards(CCRS)forAdultEducationreflectthemostessentialstandardsandskillsoftheCommonCoreStateStandardsneededbyadultstofunctionmoreeffectivelyinhomeandcommunitylifeandachieveinhighereducationandtheworkplace.TheCCRSELAStandardscoverfiveareas:

• Reading• Writing• SpeakingandListening• Language;and• ReadingFoundationalSkills

TherearenineCCRSELAReadingAnchorStandards.The2014GEDÒTestfocusesmostlyontheELACollegeandCareerReadinessAnchorStandard(CCRS)#1andCommonCoreStandard#10.(TheCollegeandCareerReadinessStandards,CCS#10isembeddedinall9ELACCRSAnchorStandards).Anchor#1-Readcloselytodeterminewhatthetextsaysexplicitlyandtomakelogicalinferencesfromit;citespecifictextualevidencewhenwritingorspeakingtosupportconclusionsdrawnfromthetext.Anchor#10-Readandcomprehendcomplexliteraryandinformationaltextsindependentlyandproficiently.TheothereightELAReadingStandardsareembeddedinthreemajorareas:

• (Determineandanalyze)KeyIdeasandDetails(ofacomplextext)• (Interpret,analyze,assess)CraftandStructure(ofacomplextext)• (Identify,integrate,analyze)IntegrationofKnowledgeandIdeas(ofacomplextext)

ThesestandardsaremeasuredatdifferentlevelsaswellontheGEDÒTest.CCRSELAAnchorStandardsAllELAstandardsthataremeasuredontheGEDÒRLAtestfocusonthreekeyshiftsorinstructionaladvances:TextComplexity,Evidence,andKnowledge.Learnersmustbeabletoreadcomplextextanddrawconclusionsbasedonevidenceinordertobuildknowledgeacrosscontentareas.

CloseReading ThestrategiesandskillsembeddedinthestandardsareessentialfortheGED,highereducation,theworkplace,andhome/communitylife.Closereadingisoneofthe#1toolsthatpeoplemayusetoapplythosestrategiesandskills.Whatisclosereading?“Itisacarefulandpurposefulrereadingoftext.”_DouglasFisherWatchthefollowingvideo(approx.2½minutes)ofDouglasFisherdescribingclosereadinginordertounderstandtheimportanceofclosereadingandwhatitlookslike.Asteacherinhighschoolandhighereducation,hehasresearchedandwrittennumerousbooksonclosereading.(Approximately5½minutes)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w9v6-zUg3YBasically,itisCCRSAnchor#1–Readcloselytodeterminewhatthetextsaysexplicitlyandtomakelogicalinferencesfromit;citespecifictextualevidencewhenwritingorspeakingtosupportconclusionsdrawnfromthetext.Whenyoureadclosely,youareimplementingCCRSforAdultEducationThreeKeyShifts/Advances

Key Advances Build Toward College and Career Readiness

for All Students

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Itincludes:

• Usingshortpassagesandexcerpts• Divingrightintothetextwithlimitedpre-readingactivities• Focusingonthetextitself• Deliberatelyrereadingofthetext,examiningmeaningthoroughlyandmethodically• Usingreadingskillsinconjunctionwithoneanothertoobserveandanalyze• Askinghigher-order,criticalthinkingquestionsthatgobeyondgeneral,surface

informationto:o Understandcentralideasandkeydetailso Meaningsofindividualwordsandphraseso Thetextstructureo Thedevelopmentofideas

Inordertodrawconclusionsabouttheauthor’spurposeandpointofviewandtheevidencetheyusetosupportit.

Insteadoflearningeachreadingskillinisolation,studentslearntousetheskillswithinthecontextofacomplextext.Whatdoclosereadersdoasopposedtothosewhodonotcloselyread?“Whendoingaclosereading,thegoalistocloselyanalyzethematerialandexplainwhydetailsaresignificant.Therefore,closereadingdoesnottrytosummarizetheauthor’smainpoints,rather,itfocuseson“pickingapart”andcloselylookingatwhytheauthormakeshis/herargument,whyisitinteresting,etc.”http://teachthought.com/literacy/what-close-reading-actually-means/

CloseReaders Non-CloseReaders

Readwiththepurposeofidentifyingtheauthor’spurposeandmeaning.

Donotreadwithaclearpurpose.Theymostlysummarize.

Readcarefullymorethanonce. Readquicklyonce.Asktext-dependentquestions. Askquestionsthatmayhaveanswersnot

foundinthetext.Analyzeandcriticallyinteractwithatext. Identifysurface-levelinformation.Makeinferencesanddrawconclusionsbasedonevidence.

Drawconclusionsbasedonpersonalopinion.

Howwillstudentsuseclosereading?Thefollowingareseveralexamples:OntheGED

• BeabletoperformthehighimpactindicatorsoftheGEDtestHigherEducationandTraining

• ReadandrespondtoresearchandtrainingmaterialsWorkplace

• InterpretpoliciesandproceduresandcommunicatemoreeffectivelyHomeLifeandCommunity

• MakemoreeffectivepurchasingdecisionsandcommunicatemoreeffectivelyWhataresomeexamples,youmayhave? Tip:Alloftheaboveinformationmaybesharedwithstudentstointroducestudentstoandengagetheminclosereading.Planningforclosereadinginvolvesafewsteps.

1. Choosecomplextextorexaminetheresourceyouwilluseanddeterminethetextcomplexityandvocabularyfeatures.

2. Choosetextdependentquestions.3. Plantheclosereadingstrategies:

a. Annotationsb. Discussionquestionsc. Writingpromptd. Reflection

Afteryoufinishplanning,youwillbereadytoimplementbyscaffoldingstudentsthroughclosereading:

1. Chunkthetextoraskstudentstochunkthetext

2. Modelannotatingandhavestudentsannotate3. Facilitatediscussions4. Facilitateawritingactivity5. Facilitateareflectionactivity

Step#1–ChoosingtheRightText–CCRSKeyShift#1Thefirststepinplanningistoeither:

a) chooseacomplextextanddeterminewhichshortpassagethestudentwillcloselyreadandthefeaturesthatmakesthetextcomplex.Thiswillalsoassistyouindevelopingthetextdependentquestions.OR

b) Analyzeacurrentresourcefortextcomplexityfeatures.

Choosingatextmeansdeterminingitsquantitativeandqualitativecomplexityanditsrelationshiptotheintendedreader.

Ask,“IstheTextWorthReading?”Forinformationaltext:

• IsitatthecorrectNRSlevel?• IsitsimilartowhatisontheGEDandhighereducation?• Isitmaterialthatmaybeseenintheworkplace?• Isitshortenoughtobereread?• Isitrelevanttovariouscontentareas?

Forliterarytext

• ItissimilartowhatmaybeseenontheGED?QuantitativeAnalysis:Therearetoolsthatyoumayusetodeterminethequantitativecomplexityorthegradelevelofatext.TheATOSAnalyzer(mostpreferred)http://www1.renaissance.com/Products/Accelerated-Reader/ATOS/ATOS-Analyzer-for-TextTheLexileAnalyzerhttps://lexile.com/educators/tools-to-support-reading-at-school/tools-to-determine-a-books-complexity/the-lexile-analyzer/OPTIONAL:ClickontheATOSAnalyzerandpracticecopyingandpastingatextintotheanalyzer.ThisfeaturealsoallowsyoutoattachaWORDdoc.

Whenchoosingatextorusingatextfromaresource,itishelpfultoidentifyitsqualitativecomplexityorthefeaturesthatmakeitcomplex.Thefollowingtworesourcesarerubricsthatmayassistinidentifyingthefeaturesthatmakeatextcomplex.DevelopedbytheSystemforAdultBasicEducationSupport(SABES),thesetoolsareshortenedversionsoftheonesthatweredevelopedbytheCCSSdevelopers.QualitativeAnalysisofLITERARYTextComplexityhttp://sabes.org/sites/sabes.org/files/resources/Qualitative%20Analysis%20chart%20brief%20vertical%20LITERARY_0.pdfQualitativeAnalysisofINFORMATIONALTextComplexityhttp://sabes.org/sites/sabes.org/files/resources/Qualitative%20Analysis%20chart%20brief%20vertical%20INFORMATIONAL.pdfYoumayusetheTextComplexityrubrictooltodeterminethefeaturesoftextcomplexity,whichwillbetterassistyouindevelopingtext-basedquestionsorevaluatingquestionsprovidedbytheresource.Seeexamplebelow:SpeechRemarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/rfkonmlkdeath.htmlTextComplexityAnalysis(SeeAttachedPDF)TIP:Analyzingtextcomplexitymayseemcumbersomeatfirst;however,afterpractice,itmaybecompletedinamatterofminutes.Ifyoudowithafewkeytextsthatyouusefrequently,youwillhaveasmalllibrarythatyoumayuserepeatedly.Step#2–ChoosingText–BasedQuestions–CCRSKeyShift#2-FindingEvidenceThesecondkeyshiftisfindingevidence.Astheycloselyread,studentswillneedstrategiestheycanusetofindevidenceincomplextexttosupporttheirconclusions.

Ask,"Arethesequestionsworthasking?"Thesearequestionsthatdemandevidenceinthetext.

• Surveysofemployersandcollegefacultycitetheabilitytoreadwellanddrawaccurateconclusionsusingevidenceaskeysuccessincollegeandtheworkplace.

• Theabilitytociteevidencedifferentiatesstrongfromweakstudentperformanceonnationalassessments.

• Theabilitytofindanduseevidencetosupportclaimsisahallmarkofstrongreadersandwriters.

Questionsthataccompanyatextshould:

• Requirestudentstomakevalidclaimsthatsquarewithtextevidence.• Askquestionsthatdonotrequireinformationorevidencefromoutsidethetext.• Beintentionallysequencedtograduallydeepenstudentunderstanding.• Focusstudentattentiononthetext,notawayfromit.

Criteriafortext-basedquestions:

• Arethequestionstext-dependentandtext-specific?Dotheyrequirereaderstoproduceevidencefromthetext?

• Dothequestionsaddressthecentralideasofthetext?Dotheyfocusonwords,sentences,andparagraphs,aswellaslargerideas,themes,orevents,buildingunderstanding?

• Dotheyfocusondifficultportionsoftexttoenhancereadingproficiency?• Dotheygraduallybuildunderstanding?Takeparticularnotetoseeiftheysupport

students’abilitytoaddresstheculminatingtask.• Dotheyinvolveanalysis,synthesis,andevaluation?(Somemaybeliteral)• Dotheyincludepromptsforwritinganddiscussion?

Simplyput,text-dependentquestionsidentifythetextasthe“expert”intheroom.

Asstudentsreadandrereadshortpassagesoftext,youcanscaffoldthemthroughaseriesoftextdependentquestionsthatmovethemupthelevelsofcriticalthinking.TheselevelscoincidewiththecategoriesintheCCRSforELA.

• KeyIdeasandDetails• CraftandStructure• IntegrationofKnowledgeandIdeas

Example:Belowisalistoftext-dependentquestionsthatstudentsmayaskandanswerastheycloselyreadthespeechRemarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/rfkonmlkdeath.htmlKeyIdeasandDetails(Whatdoesthetextsay?)

• WhatwasthesadnewsthatKennedywassharingandwithwhomwashesharingit?• WhatdoesKennedybelievethatthe“vastmajorityofwhitepeopleandthevast

majorityofblackpeople”intheUnitedStateswant?

CraftandStructure(Howdoesthetextwork?)• WhatdoesKennedymeanby“greaterpolarization”inline12ofthespeech?• WhatisoneproblemandsolutionthatKennedyidentifies?

IntegrationofKnowledgeandIdeas(Whatdoesthetextmean?)

• WhatwasKennedy’spurposeinsharingthepoemfromAsechylus?• WhatisKennedy’skeymessage?

Inordertoencouragestudentstoanswerthequestionswithevidencefromthetext,youmayaddtoeachquestionstatementssuchas:

Takenfrom“ACloseLookatCloseReading”p.10byBethBurkeRecommendedResources:Belowaretext-basedquestionstemsandframesthatyoumayusetocreatetext-basedquestionsorevaluateandaddtothetext-basedquestionsinthecurriculumresourcesthatyouarecurrentlyusing.

• CloseReadinginThreeReads(SeeattachedPDF)• ACloseLookatCloseReadingpgs.12-14byBethBurke(SeeattachedPDF)• TextDependentQuestionStemandSamplesforInformationalandNarrativeTexts(See

attachedPDF)• TextStructureTextFrames(SeeattachedPDF)

Step#3-Plantheclosereadingstrategies:

a. Annotationsb. Discussionquestionsc. Writingpromptd. Reflection

InStep#1–youdeterminethequalitativefeaturesoftextcomplexityinordertodeterminetheelementsofthetexttofocusonwhenteachingclosereadingstrategies,includingchallengingvocabularywordsandphrases.InStep#2–Youdeterminedthetext-basedquestionsthatwillhelptoyoudeterminewhatquestionsthestudentsshouldbeaskingandansweringastheycloselyreadthetext.

Nextyoumay,choosetheannotationandgraphicorganizertools,discussionquestions,awritingprompt,andareflectionactivityNowyouarereadytodeterminewhichstrategiesyouwillmodelforstudentstouseinimplementingaclosereadingactivity.Whatannotationswillyouhavethemuse?Whatwillbethediscussionquestions?Whatwillbethewritingprompt?Whatwillbethereflectionpiece?Finally,youwillscaffoldthemthroughtheprocess.

1. Chunkthetextoraskstudentstochunkthetext2. Modelannotatingandhavestudentsannotate3. Facilitatediscussions4. Facilitateawritingactivity5. Facilitateareflectionactivity

Asdiscussed,closereadinginvolvesrereadingatextanddiggingdeepereachtime,miningforkeyideasanddetails,exploringthecraftandstructure,andintegratingknowledgeandideasinordertodrawconclusionabouttheauthor’sthemeinnarrativetextsorclaimsininformationaltext.Youmayscaffoldstudentsthroughtheclosereadingprocesswiththreeclosereads.Threeclosereadsarewhatisrecommended,however,youmaydifferentiatethesereadsbasedonthestudents’readinglevels.Studentswillconductthreeclosereadswiththetext-dependentquestionsthatyouhavecreated.Theclosereadingguide,“ThreeCloseReads,”(insertPDF)sharedpreviouslymaybeusedtoguidestudentsthroughtheclosereadingprocessofinformationaltext.Thisguideoffersgeneralquestionsthatyoumayuseasabasisforyourtext-specificquestions.Thesequestionswillvarydependingonyourqualitativeanalysisoftextcomplexity.Forexample,iftheanalysisoftextcomplexityrevealedextremelycomplexvocabulary,youmaywanttoincludemorevocabularyquestions,whichfallundercraftandstructureandwordchoice.Iftheanalysisinvolvedahighlevelofcomplexityintextstructure,youmaywanttospendmoretimeintextstructureanalysisquestions,whichalsofallundercraftandstructure.

Annotatingthetextastheyread,maybeapowerfultooltoengagestudentsinclosereading.Whenstudentsannotate,andtakenotesastheyread,theyaremorelikelyto:

Ø slowdown,Ø focus,Ø analyze,andØ interactwiththetext.

Youmaydifferentiatethenumberofreads,thetext-dependentquestions,andannotationsymbolsbasedonthereadinglevelofthestudents.TheThreeCloseReadsAnnotationChart(seeattached“ThreeCloseReadsAnnotationCharPDF)providesexamplesofhowastudentmayannotateinformationaltextswitheachread.Italsoincludesrecommendedgraphicorganizersandawritingactivity.DigDeeperAnnotationIdeas(Seeattached“AnnotationIdeas”PDF)providesexampleofannotationchartsthatmaybedifferentiatedfordifferentreadinglevelswithintheclass.Belowaretwoexamplesofinformationaltextsthathavebeenannotated.

The

followingvideoprovidesanexampleofateacherexplainingannotation.Ifannotationisnewtoyou,thisvideoishighlyrecommended.Itprovidesanexampleofmarkingupnarrativetext.Thevideois12minuteslong.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN5VMM__X60(Linkstoanexternalsite.)TIP:Ifstudentscannotwriteonthetext,theymayusestickynotesandattachthemtotherelatedpartsofthetextORwriteonagraphicorganizer.Section#1 Wordsthatconfuseme?

Keypointsanddetails? Thingsthatsurpriseme? Questions?

Section#2 Wordsthatconfuseme? Keypointsanddetails? Thingsthatsurpriseme? Questions?

Section#3 Wordsthatconfuseme? Keypointsanddetails? Thingsthatsurpriseme? Questions?

ChooseGraphicOrganizerYoumayhavestudents’completegraphicorganizersofthetextstructureasthereadorafterthesecondorthirdread.Youwould’veidentifiedthetextstructureduringyourqualitativeanalysisoftextcomplexity.Thefollowing,providedinModuleTwo,isanexampleoftextstructure,text-basedquestionstoaskananswer,signalwordsthatmaybecircled,andgraphicorganizerstocompleteforeachtextstructure.(InsertPDFofTextStructureQuestions)ChooseDiscussionQuestionsItisveryeffectiveforstudentstodiscusswiththeinstructororpeersastheyread.Choosefromthetext-basedquestionsfromeachreadforstudentstodiscuss.Itisidealthattheydiscussaftereachread.Iftheydiscussaftereachread,theyaremorelikelytoengage,stayfocused,andrememberkeyideasanddetailsfromeachread.ChooseawritingpromptYoumayhavethestudentswriteaftereachreadorrespondtoawritingpromptfollowingtheread.ThewritingpromptmaypreparethemfortheGEDÒRLAtestconstructedresponseorScienceextendedresponseclosereadingquestion.Thewritingresponseaftereachreadmaybeassimpleaslistingkeyideasanddetails,writingasentenceaftercompletingthegraphicorganizer,orstatingtheauthor’sthemeorclaimwithevidence.ChooseareflectionactivityAreflectionactivityprovidesstudentstostatewhattheylearnedandhowtheylearnedforthepurposeofthinkingcriticallyaboutlearningandfurthersolidifythelearning.Belowareafewexamplesofreflectiontools.GeometricReflections

ReflectionBookmark

ScaffoldingSteps:Nowyouarereadyforimplementation.

1. Chunkthetextandnumbertheparagraphsoftheshortselectionoftextoraskstudentstodoso.

2. Askstudentstoreadthetextandannotateafirstread.(Maychoosetomodel

annotatingoneparagraphforstrugglingstudents).

3. Facilitateadiscussionofquestions.Providefeedbackasstudentsdiscuss.Youmayhavestudentsparaphrasepartsofthetext.

4. Youmayhavestudentslistkeyideasanddetailsorsummarizethethemeorauthor’s

purpose.

5. Askstudentstocompleteasecondread,annotate,identifymeaningsofwordsandphrased,andpossiblycompleteagraphicorganizerofthetextstructure.

6. Havestudentsshareresultswithapartner.Providefeedback.

7. Youmayhavestudentswritetheproblem/solutionand/orcauseandeffect.

8. Askstudentstocompleteathirdread,annotate,andidentifytheauthor’sclaimwith

supportingevidence,andelaboration.

9. Havestudentsdiscussconclusionswithpeers.

10. Havestudentsrespondtoawritingprompt.

11. Askstudentstoreflectonlearning.

12. Askstudentstosharereflections.TIP:Thisprocessmaybebrokendownintothreelessons.Itmaybedifferentiatedbasedonthestudent’sreadinglevel.Youmaydifferentiatethenumberofannotationsymbols,theamountofreading,thecomplexityofthegraphicorganizers,etc.

Thefollowingaretipsandtechniquesinengagingandscaffoldingthestudentsintoclosereading.

• Startwithapicturethatisofinteresttothestudentandaskthemtoinfermeaning.Askthemtociteevidenceastowhatcausedthemtodrawtheconclusionsthattheydid.

• Textframesforintroducingclosereading.Basicstatementsorquestionsofaclosereadincludes:·Let’slookcloseratthissectionofthetext./Let’sinvestigatethispartfurther./·Accordingtothetext,___/Let’suseevidencefromthetextto../·Let’sseehowtheauthor…/Becausewewantlearnhowtowriteliketheauthor__·Weneedtolookatthispartofthetextagaininorderto____*Inordertoreadlikeadetectiveweneedtobeableto...

• Thinkaloud–showthestudenthowyouthinkaloudthroughatext.Demonstrateannotatingatext,questionsyouwouldaskandanswerasyoumovethroughthetext,howyoumaycompleteagraphicorganizer.

• Relatetexttoeverydaylife.Althoughwequicklywanttogetthestudentfocusedtheactualtext,drawingconclusionsbasedonevidence,wecanbeginbyconnectingthethemetosomethingwithwhichtheyarealreadyfamiliar,theirinterestsandgoals.IfIcanreadthis,Iwillbeableto_____athome,onajob,inhighereducation.

• Showstudentsexamplesofanannotatedtext,acompletedgraphicorganizer,etc.• Questionstoaskbeforetheybeginreading?

1. Whatismypurposeforreadingthis?2. Whoisthetargetaudience?3. WhyshouldIcare?