Close Reading in History and Social Studies

6-8A Professional Development

Opportunity for Arkansas Educators

Common Core State Standards

Agenda:• Understand why close reading instruction is

important• Observe modeling of a close reading lesson• Understand how to teach close reading• Reflect on current teaching practice

NAEP Reading Framework

4

“Read”

• The detective quickly reads the situation and decides upon an appropriate response.

• The park ranger is always careful to read the skies when escorting hikers into the mountains.

• The coach reads the opponents’ defense and immediately adjusts the next play.

• The child tries to read his mother’s reaction to see if he will be permitted to play with his friends.

Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning, Buehl, p.3

What is Reading?

If we understand that reading is not just “receiving a message,” but actively building

meaning upon prior knowledge using staged, strategic thinking, then we will teach

differently.

Subjects Matter, Daniels & Zemelman p.31

Reader BehaviorsReaders develop moves, which are actions to help readers understand and remember.

Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines, Buehl, p.224

Close Reading is…

a careful, deliberate reading of a text. It requires paying close attention to what you are reading and focusing in on the

details.

Close Reading is…

close sustained reading of grade-level appropriate complex texts to examine

their meaning thoroughly and methodically, ultimately arriving at an understanding of the text as a whole.

Close Reading is…

• reading to infer/interpret/draw conclusions.

• supporting arguments with evidence.• resolving conflicting views encountered

in source documents.• solving complex problems with no

obvious answer.Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc.

Close Reading is NOT…

• Skimming for answers• Surface processing• Reading and forgetting

Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning, Buehl, p.4

Students can actively read textbooks without closely reading them. Close reading is not necessarily active reading and just finding main idea or just annotating.

Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc.

Going Into, Through, and Beyond

• Getting students “into” a text includes a range of activities that create interest, motivation, and receptivity.

• Students going “through” the text are annotating, highlighting, asking questions, and discussing.

• After reading, students go “beyond” the text to deepen their understanding, gain new insights, and apply their new knowledge.

Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc.

Towers of Literacy

Literary Math History Physical Biology Fiction Science

Adapted from Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines, Buehl p. 15

What does this mean for my content?

CCSS for Literacy in History/Social Studies

Close Reading in CCSS

focusing reading

careful attention to specific passages

read closely

“read like a detective”

attention to precise detail

close, attentive reading wide, deep, and thoughtful engagement

read purposefully

work diligently to understand precisely

ability to discern

close sustained reading

Close Reading of a Complex text

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/15th_century/colum.asp

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/15th_century/colum.asp

Using Close Reading

• What did you do to “work” or make sense of the text?

• What makes this piece of text “complex?”

Unique Aspects of History/Social Studies Texts

Text Features• Parts/components of a

book that are created to help a reader locate and learn information

Examples• headings, graphics, maps,

captions, main idea boxes, table of contents, illustrations, colors and symbols, timelines, bolded words

Text Structures• Various patterns of how

the text is written

Examples• Cause-Effect• Compare-Contrast• Problem-Solution• Concept-Definition• Goal-Action-Outcome

Establishing a Routine for Close Reading

1. Pre-teach the vocabulary and concepts.2. Set a purpose for reading.3. Model close reading.4. Provide guided practice and check for

understanding.5. Provide independent practice.6. Organize discussions and debates.7. Have students write about the text.

adapted from the Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc.

Tools

S.O.A.P.S: Identifying speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, and subject

Self-Questioning Taxonomy Identifying arguments and evidences Identifying assumptions

Model of Close Reading

“The Indians of the Six Nations to William & Mary College”

•Lexile: 1050 = 6-8th grade•Framework: G.2.6.2 – Social Studies 6th grade•R.CCR.1•RH.6-8.1

Establishing a Routine for Close Reading

•Pre-teach vocabulary•Set purpose for reading•Model close reading•Provide guided practice•Provide independent practice•Organize discussions •Have students write about text

Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc.

Establishing a Routine for Close Reading

•Pre-teach vocabulary•Set purpose for reading•Model close reading•Provide guided practice•Provide independent practice•Organize discussions •Have students write about text

Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc.

Establishing a Routine for Close Reading

•Pre-teach vocabulary•Set purpose for reading•Model close reading using tools•SOAPS

•Provide guided practice•Provide independent practice•Organize discussions •Have students write about text

Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc.

Establishing a Routine for Close Reading

•Pre-teach vocabulary•Set purpose for reading•Model close reading using tools•Self-Questioning Taxonomy

•Provide guided practice•Provide independent practice•Organize discussions •Have students write about text

Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc.

Establishing a Routine for Close Reading

•Pre-teach vocabulary•Set purpose for reading•Model close reading using tools•Arguments and Evidence

•Provide guided practice•Provide independent practice•Organize discussions •Have students write about text

Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc.

Establishing a Routine for Close Reading

•Pre-teach vocabulary•Set purpose for reading•Model close reading using tools•Assumptions

•Provide guided practice•Provide independent practice•Organize discussions •Have students write about text

Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc.

Establishing a Routine for Close Reading

•Pre-teach vocabulary•Set purpose for reading•Model close reading using tools•Provide guided practice

•Elvis Presley to President Richard M. Nixon•Lexile: 970 = 6-8th Grade

• C.5.8.5 – Social Studies Framework K-8

•R.CCR.1

•Provide independent practice•Organize discussions •Have students write about text

Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc.

Establishing a Routine for Close Reading

•Pre-teach vocabulary•Set purpose for reading•Model close reading using tools•Provide guided practice•Provide independent practice•Organize discussions •Have students write about text

Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc.

“I didn’t know what I knew until I talked about it.”

-seventh-grade science student

32

Establishing a Routine for Close Reading

•Preteach vocabulary•Set purpose for reading•Model close reading using tools•Provide guided practice•Provide independent practice•Organize discussions •Have students write about text

Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc.

Writing in Response to text

Example:•What did I discover about this text or what was reinforced after I did my own close reading?

Reflection

•Which close reading skills do I most want my students to learn and practice?•Which close reading tools will I model for my students and ask them to use?•Which steps of the close reading routine will I utilize?

Handout adapted from the Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc.