Up Close and Personal:
Analyzing Text with Close
Reading
Presenter:
Kim Marron
[email protected]
Contact:
Michelle Kukuk
[email protected]
What is Close Reading? 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, p7) Roles for Close Reading 1. Code Breaker: Understanding the text at the surface level 2. Meaning Maker: Comprehending the text at the level intended by the author 3. Text User: Analyzing the factors that influenced the author and the text, including a historical grounding of the context within which it was written 4. 4. Text Critic: Understanding that the text is not neutral and that existing biases inform calls to action. -­‐Freebody & Luke, 1990 Accomplishing the Goal The Teacher… • Balances thinking aloud and guiding questions to uncover deeper meaning • Shouldn’t teach the text, but teach transferrable questions and strategies The approach you teach in a close reading lesson is not one you would want readers to follow every time they read. Doing so might cause the reading to become slow, laborious, or tedious. Instead, the reader is learning techniques for reading closely that she may apply during times when deeper analysis of the text is called for. – Jennifer Serravallo Close Reading Action Steps to Deeper Comprehension Text Selection: Short and Worthy Passages Rereading: Return to text Questioning: Open-­‐Ended and Text Dependent Analysis: Understanding Craft The Purpose of Citing Textual Evidence For students to learn • the skill of returning to the text to reread and answer text –dependent questions to justify their thinking • how to analyze, through close reading a variety of texts • how to construct arguments in which students cite textual evidence in support of their claims The Four Types of Evidence Support your position or thesis with evidence. Remember that your evidence must appeal
to reason.
The following are different ways to support your argument:
_ Facts
_ Statistics
_ Quotes
_ Examples
1. Using facts is a powerful means of convincing. Facts can come from your reading,
observation, or personal experience. Facts cannot be disputed. This makes them a strong
form of evidence. Note: Do not confuse facts with truths. A "truth" is an idea believed by
many people, but it cannot be proven.
2. Using statistics can provide excellent support for your argument. Arguments
employing amounts and numbers are concrete and therefore support claims because they
use logic and facts. Be sure your statistics come from good sources, which you will cite.
3. Using quotes from leading experts or authorities in their fields will support your
position—this is a logical appeal and is accepted by other academics as a good way to
back up your claims.
4. Using examples or anecdotes from your own experience can enhance your meaning
and also engage the reader. Personal examples make your ideas concrete. These real-life
examples allow a reader to relate to the issues personally. –valenciacollege.edu
Citing Textual Evidence Action Steps to Deeper Comprehension Evidence: Choose the type of evidence Organization: highlight, take notes, outlines or graphic organizer Explain: how the claim is supported Format: Commentary, Quotation, Paraphrase or Summary With a wealth of resources available, students must learn to choose sources wisely, sift through information, summarize findings, restate ideas in their own words, and cite sources accurately. -­‐Ruth Culham, 2014 The Purpose of Reading Across Multiple Texts • Inter-­‐textuality – the relation each text has to the texts surrounding. To understand a text deeply, we need multiple perspectives. To understand a subject, idea, or concept, more deeply, we need multiple texts because each text offers another author’s perspective on the subject. –Peter Johnston, 2009 Inter-­‐textual Connections When students read across a set of related books, they inevitably notice the similarities and differences in how texts are crafted. Subtle differences across texts that might have escaped a student’s notice if he or she approached each book as a single read-­‐ including text structures and features, vocabulary, and presentational formats-­‐ come into sharp focus as students concentrate on read and discussing a set of related texts. -­‐ Fountas & Pinnell, 2009 Reading Across Texts Action Steps to Deeper Comprehension Instruction: Interactive Read-­‐aloud, anchor texts, supporting texts Questioning: Open-­‐Ended and Text Dependent Writing: Synthesize information, evidence-­‐based to construct an argument or form an opinion Analysis: Understanding Craft Writing to Read It… • encourages deeper thinking about ideas. • requires students to draw on their own knowledge and experience. • helps them to consolidate and review information. • inspires the reformulation of thinking. • requires students to organize and integrate ideas. • fosters explicitness. • facilitates reflection. • encourages personal involvement. • requires translation into the student’s own words. -­‐Graham & Perin, 2007 -­‐Shanahan, 2012 What seems to distinguish students who succeed from those who don’t is the ability to engage independently in a close analysis of demanding text-­‐ and there may be no better way to accomplish that goal than through writing. -­‐Graham & Herbert, 2010 Bibliography
Professional Resources:
Fisher, D., Frey, N., Lapp, D., Freeman, (2012) Text Complexity: Raising the Rigor in Reading. Newark, DE: International Reading Association Fountas, I. & Pinnell, G.S., (2006) Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency: Thinking, Talking, and Writing About Reading. New Hampshire: Heinemann. Fountas, I. & Pinnell, G.S., (2012) Comprehension Clubs. New York: Scholastic. Freebody, P. & Luke, A. (1990) Literacies programs: Debates and demands in cultural context. Prospect: Australian journal of TESOL, 5(7), 7-­‐16 Graham, S.,& Hebert, M. (2010). “Writing to Read: A Meta-­‐Analysis of the Impact of Writing and Writing Instruction on Reading.” Harvard Educational Review. Vol. 81, No. 4 Winter. Graham, S.,& Perin, D. (2007). “Writing to Read: A Meta-­‐Analysis of Writing Instruction for Adolescent Students.” Journal of Educational Psychology, 99, pp. 445-­‐
476. Graham, S.,& Perin, D. (2007). “Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing for Adolescents in Middle and High Schools.” A Report to the Carnegie Corporation Johnston, P. (2004) Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children’s Learning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Serravallo, J. (2014). The Literacy Teacher’s Playbook. New Hampshire: Heinemann. Serravallo, J. (2012). The Independent Reading Assessment. New York: Scholastic. Shanahan, T. (2012). “What is Close Reading?” Shanahan on Literacy. Retrieved from: http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com Websites valenciacollege.edu. Types of Evidence in Persuasive Writing, 2007. Web 17 July. 2007