3/3/2014
HELPING STUDENTS TO READ
COMPLEX TEXT:
DESIGNING CLOSE READING EXPERIENCES
Facilitated by Angela Di Michele Lalor
Session Agenda:
• Segment 1: Close Reading Experiences
• Segment 2: Designing a Close Reading
Experience
• Segment 3: Supporting Students
Close Reading
“… academic essays, begin with a close reading of
some kind of text—a painting, a movie, an event—
and usually with that of a written text. When you
close read, you observe facts and details about the
text…. making these observations constitutes the
first step in the process of close reading. The
second step is interpreting your observations.”
Patricia Kain, Writing Center at Harvard
University
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Gradual Release of Responsibility
Instructional
Support
• Based on
teacher input –
models and
think-alouds
• Provides
students with
strategies
• Opportunity for
practice and
feedback
Classroom
Learning
Experience
• Involves both
independence
and input from
others.
• Some instruction
• Opportunity for
practice and
feedback
Independent
• Complete use of
strategies
independent
from others
input
• No instruction
• Strategy for use
Simulation:
• Read for the gist
• Annotate for purpose,
argument and
development
Discuss:
1. What question did the people of New York have
to decide?
2. What position did Jay taken?
3. What was the position of those that opposed
Jay?
4. What is the meaning of the term Providence
and how does Jay use it throughout the
Federalist Paper?
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Write
Write a summarizing statement together, for each
paragraph. The summarizing statement can only be one
sentence and must be in your own words.
Reflect
•
What did you do as readers to make sense of
the text?
• How did the discussion impact your
understanding of the text? What did you do as
readers during the discussion?
• How did the writing task impact your
understanding of the text? What value was
there in the writing task, if any?
Key Elements of a Close Reading
Experience
•
Reading
Annotating
• Questions
• Discussion
• Writing
•
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Activity: Examining Close Reads
Processing Questions:
1. What does the example reveal about the elements of a
close reading experience that is scaffolded by a
teacher?
2. How are the elements connected?
3. What questions does this example raise?
Designing a Close Reading Experience
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Text
Context and Purpose
Standards
Questions
Reading
Annotation
Discussion
Writing
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First Step to Designing a Close Read:
Choosing a Text
The Preamble to the Constitution
We, the People of the United States, in Order to form a
more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic
Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the
general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution of the United States of America.
Context and Purpose
•
•
describes how the close read sits inside a unit of study
where students are deeply engaged in connected
learning experiences, building knowledge and skills that
will assist them in reading a complex text
identifies the specific skills and strategies the students
are asked to use during the close reading experience
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Context and Purpose
This close read of the preamble of the constitution is at the
beginning of a unit of study in which students explore the
question, who are the “we” in “we the people”? In this unit
of study, students examine the struggle of marginalized
groups of American people in obtaining the rights
guaranteed by the constitution. During the close read
students will be examining and interpreting the language of
the preamble in order to understand the constitution’s
purpose and how it represents the values on which
America is based.
Unit Standards
Review the standards that will be emphasized in the unit of
study:
• RH.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of
primary and secondary sources.
• RH.6-8.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a
primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of
the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
• RH.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they
are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains
related to history/social studies.
• RH.6-8.6 Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point
of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or
avoidance of particular facts).
Close Reading Standards
Determine which standards would be most appropriate
given the text students will be reading:
• RH.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases
as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to
domains related to history/social studies.
• RH.6-8.6 Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s
point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion
or avoidance of particular facts).
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Questioning
Standard
Generic Question
Text-Specific
Question
RH.6-8.4
What are the
What do these key
Determine the
meaning of the
words, justice,
meaning of words words and phrases tranquility, welfare,
and phrases as
found in social
liberty, mean?
they are used in a studies text?
text, including
Why did the
vocabulary
authors use this
specific to
language in
domains related
establishing the
to history/social
purpose of the
studies.
constitution?
Syntax Questions
Questions focused on specific aspects of the text i.e. text
structure and sentences:
How does the phrase “in Order to form a more perfect
Union” explain the purpose of the constitution”
Turn and Talk
1. When would you use a generic question? text-specific
question?
2. What do all standards-based questions require students
to do as thinkers?
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Cluster the Questions
• Who were the “we” the
authors were referring to
when they wrote the
constitution?
• What was meant by the
phrase “to ourselves and
our Posterity”?
• Why was it necessary
for the authors to state
who was establishing
the constitution?
Purpose: Author’s
Purpose
Day One:
Reading Task
- Students read and
annotate
- Teacher reads
Discussion Task
-Small group
-Large group
Writing Task
-Collaborative
-Independent
Students read the
Preamble independently;
identifying what they
notice about the text.
The teacher instructs the students
to reread the text in small groups
focusing on the vocabulary used
in the constitution.
Students are asked to use
their notes to rewrite the
Preamble using information
from their small group
discussions.
The teacher reads the
Preamble aloud to the
students.
Students discuss the following
questions:
• How does the vocabulary
impact your understanding of
the Preamble?
• Why did the authors use this
language in establishing the
purpose of the constitution?
• What do these key words,
justice, tranquility, welfare,
liberty, mean?
Day Two:
Reading Task
- Students read and
annotate
- Teacher reads
Discussion Task
-Small group
-Large group
Writing Task
-Collaborative
-Independent
Students reread the
Preamble independently;
Students meet in small
groups and discuss the
following questions:
• Who were the “we” the
author’s were referring
to when they wrote the
constitution?
• What was meant by the
phrase “to ourselves
and our Posterity”?
• Why was it necessary
for the authors to state
who was establishing
the constitution?
Students use their notes
to answer the question,
What was the author’s
purpose?
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Text reveals options for
•
Reading
Annotation
• Discussion
• Writing
•
Design Session
Gradual Release of Responsibility
Instructional
Support
• Based on
teacher input –
models and
think-alouds
• Provides
students with
strategies
• Opportunity for
practice and
feedback
Classroom
Learning
Experience
• Involves both
independence
and input from
others.
• Some instruction
• Opportunity for
practice and
feedback
Independent
• Complete use of
strategies
independent
from others
input
• No instruction
• Strategy for use
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3/3/2014
Video Analysis:
What is the reader
expected to do?
What does the
teacher do to
support the work?
Exploring Annotation Strategies
1. What annotation strategies do you currently ask your
students to use while reading?
2. What successes have your students had with
annotation?
3. What challenges your students when it comes to
annotation?
Annotation Strategies
Using headings and sub-headings to determine the
most important information:
• Students preview the text taking note of the title, headings
and sub-headings.
• Before reading each section of the text, students turns the
heading or sub-heading into a question.
• As students read the text they underline/highlight any
information they feel is related to the question they
created from the heading/subheading.
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Purpose of Annotation
Standard
Purpose for
Annotation
RI. 9 – 10. 6 Determine • Details that reveal an
an author’s point of view
author’s point of view
or purpose in a text and
or purpose
analyze how an author
• Evidence of rhetoric
uses rhetoric to advance
that point of view or
purpose.
Persuasive Technique
•
Emotionally-laden Words
Implications by Association
• Half-truths and Conveniently Omitted Details
• Overgeneralization
•
Ethos, Pathos, Logos
• Ethos: credibility, based on the author's authority
• Logos: logic used to support a claim (induction and
deduction); can also be the facts and statistics used to
help support the argument
• Pathos: emotional or motivational appeals; vivid
language, emotional language and numerous sensory
details
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9 – 10 Information Annotations
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Details that assist in making inferences
Questions for further exploration
Details that reveal the central idea of the text
Details that reveal how an author unfolds an analysis or
series of ideas or events; includes order, introduction,
connections
Words and phrases that have figurative, connotative
and technical meanings
Words that impact meaning and tone
Euphemisms and oxymoron
Sentences, paragraphs, sections or chapters that
provide insight into an author’s ideas or claims
Lesson Structure
• Teacher shares learning target
• Teacher models/think aloud
Mini-Lesson
• Student practice
• Students apply
• Teachers provide feedback
Work Session
• Students apply feedback
• Together bring closure
Share Session
Video Analysis
•
•
What annotation strategy is being taught?
How can students use this strategy when
annotating the text independently?
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Application
•
What specific strategy do you think your
students could benefit from? Why do you think
so?
End-of-Session Reflection
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