Closing In on Close Reading, Text Dependent Questions, and Rigorous Reading: Accessing Complex Texts Dr. Sheree Bryant Griffin RESA

 Anchor Standard 1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.  Anchor Standard 10: Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently. Standards

 How can reading closely and comprehending complex texts support and improve comprehension? Essential Question

Closing In on Close Reading - Rigorous Reading I Choose C Standards Review – Anchor College and Career Readiness Standards (CCR) The What and The How Defining the Big Ideas Background Knowledge Lexile and Readability Resources Vocabulary Text Complexity: Three Part Model Close Reading Differentiating Learning Scaffolding Instruction TKES Text Dependent Questions informational and Literary I Choose C Revisited

To Reach the Learning Targets the Teacher Needs to… Establish learning goals “Can Do Standards” Check for understanding Provide feedback Align future instruction with student performance

TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY Focused Instruction- Purpose Guided Instruction - Modeling “ I do it ” “ We do it ” “ You do it together ” Collaborative Independent “ You do it alone ” A Structure for Instruction that Works - Gradual Release

Anchor Standard 1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textural evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions draw from the text.

Anchor Standard 10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

 Quantitative measures  Qualitative values  Task and reader considerations Assessing Texts

Background Prior Cultural Vocabulary Standard English Variations Register Genre Organization Narration Text Features Graphics Density and Complexity Figurative Language Purpose Levels of Meaning Structure Knowledge Demands Language Convention and Clarity

Levels of Meaning and Purpose Density and complexity Figurative language Purpose

 Background knowledge is a key component of comprehension and understanding.  Background knowledge connects reader task, purpose and text. Background Knowledge

Levels of Meaning and Purpose Is it about talking animals, or the USSR? Is it entertainment, or political satire? Is it straightforward, or ambiguous? 1370L Grades

530L Grades 2-3 Author’s Purpose Allegory for tolerance Mirrored events of early Civil Rights movement (1961) “Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches Had bellies with stars. The Plain-Belly Sneetches Had none upon thars. Those stars weren’t so big. They were really so small You might think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all..” But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches Would brag, ‘We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.’ With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort ‘We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!’ And whenever they met some, when they were out walking, They’d hike right on past them without even talking.”

730L Grades 2-3 Complex themes Relationship between love and pain Masculinity Loyalty and war

Structure Genre Organization Narration Text features and graphics

Structure Changes in narration, point of view Changes in font signal narration changes Complex themes 560L Grades 2-3

870L (grades 4-5) Stream of consciousness narration Unreliable narrators Nonlinear structure Time shifts written in italics Structure

Language Conventions Standard English and variations Register

Language Conventions Non-standard English usage “Out in the hottest, dustiest part of town is an orphanage run by a female person nasty enough to scare night into day. She goes by the name of Mrs. Sump, though I doubt there ever was a Mr. Sump on accounta she looks like somethin’ the cat drug in and the dog wouldn’t eat.” (Stanley, 1996, p. 2) AD 660L (Adult-directed )

Knowledge Demands Background knowledge Prior knowledge Cultural knowledge Vocabulary

 Background knowledge is a key component of comprehension and understanding.  Background knowledge connects reader task, purpose and text. Background Knowledge

Knowledge Demands Domain-specific vocabulary (radioactive, acidity, procedure, vaccination) Background knowledge (diseases, safety risks, scientific experimentation) 1100L Grades 6-8

 “If “Word Poverty” is not addressed it doesn’t matter what bar the new standards set.” Kelly Gallagher, 2013 Kids age 3 from Well off Families have a vocabulary of 1116 words, from working class a vocabulary of 749 works and from poor families 525 words. Kindergartners from poverty families know 10,000 fewer words. Education Week, Feb Importance of Vocabulary

Vocabulary  There is a positive correlation between vocabulary size in 12 th grade and the level of attainment in college.  Word poverty cannot be overcome without more reading, more books – complex, simple, recreational books, more magazines, more newspapers, more Reading in all contents.

Simply assigning hard books will not ensure that students learn at high levels! Simply assigning hard books will not ensure that students learn at high levels!

Close reading is only a PART of high quality instruction

Creating a Close Reading Use a short passage Re-reading “Read with a pencil” Text-dependent questions Give students the chance to struggle a bit

A Close Reading The Wind One Brillant Day

 Answered through close reading  Evidence comes from text, not information from outside sources  Understanding beyond basic facts  Not recall! Text-dependent Questions

The Lost Button

Text Codes  √ When you read something that makes you say, “Yeah, I knew that” or “I predicted that” or “I saw that coming.”  X When you run across something that contradicts what you know or expect.  ? When you have a question or need clarification.

Text Codes  ! When you discover something new, Surprising, exciting, or fun that makes you say cool, whoa, yuck, no way, awesome.  When you read something that seems important, vital, key, memorable.  When the reading makes you understand something.

Text Codes When you have a connection between the text, and your life, the world or other things you’ve read. ZZZ This is boring. I’m falling asleep.

Opinions, Arguments, Intertextual Connections InferencesAuthor’s PurposeVocab & Text StructureKey DetailsGeneral Understandings Progression of Text-dependent Questions Part Sentence Paragraph Entire text Across texts Word Whole Segments

 Overall view  Sequence of information  Story arc  Main claim and evidence  Gist of passage  A Closer Look General Understandings

General Understandings Retell the story in order, using the words beginning, middle and end.

 Search for nuances in meaning  Determine importance of ideas  Find supporting details that support main ideas  Answers who, what, when, where, why, how much, or how many. Key Details

 How long did it take to go from a hatched egg to a butterfly?  What is one food that gave him a stomachache? What is one food that did not him a stomachache? Key Details in Kindergarten

It took more than 3 weeks. He ate for one week, and then “he stayed inside [his cocoon] for more than two weeks.”

Foods that did not give him a stomachache  Apples  Pears  Plums  Strawberries  Oranges  Green leaf Foods that gave him a stomachache  Chocolate cake  Ice cream  Pickle  Swiss cheese  Salami  Lollipop  Cherry pie  Sausage  Cupcake  watermelon

 Bridges literal and inferential meanings  Denotation  Connotation  Shades of meaning  Figurative language  How organization contributes to meaning Vocabulary and Text Structure

How does the author help us to understand what cocoon means? Vocabulary in Kindergarten

There is an illustration of the cocoon, and a sentence that reads, “He built a small house, called a cocoon, around himself.”

 Genre: Entertain? Explain? Inform? Persuade?  Point of view: First-person, third-person limited, omniscient, unreliable narrator  Critical Literacy: Whose story is not represented? Author’s Purpose

Who tells the story—the narrator or the caterpillar? Author’s Purpose in Kindergarten

A narrator tells the story, because he uses the words he and his. If it was the caterpillar, he would say I and my.

Probe each argument in persuasive text, each idea in informational text, each key detail in literary text, and observe how these build to a whole. Inferences

The title of the book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. How do we know he is hungry? Inferences in Kindergarten

The caterpillar ate food every day “but he was still hungry.” On Saturday he ate so much food he got a stomachache! Then he was “a big, fat caterpillar” so he could build a cocoon and turn into a butterfly.

 Author’s opinion and reasoning (K-5)  Claims  Evidence  Counterclaims  Ethos, Pathos, Logos  Rhetoric Links to other texts throughout the grades Opinions, Arguments, and Intertextual Connections

Opinions and Intertextual Connections in Kindergarten Narrative Is this a happy story or a sad one? How do you know? Informational How are these two books similar? How are they different?

Comprehension and Collaboration 1. Prepare for and participate in collaborations with diverse partners, building on each others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Talk occurs on grade level topics, texts, and issues.

K-2 Features Following the rules of discussion Moving from participation to turn taking Sustaining discussion through questioning Adult support

3-5 Features Preparation for discussion Yielding and gaining the floor Posing and responding to questions From explaining own ideas to explaining the ideas of others

A Close Reading of “Salvador, Late or Early” (Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, 1991)

Thank you!