Close Reading Strategies for Middle School Readers Instructional suggestions based on Falling In love with close reading by Christopher Lehman and Kate Roberts MEG GLEASON UPPER FREEHOLD REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

Close Reading, A Love Story Reading closely was, “…the process of trying to tune out everything else while looking at the style, words, meter, structure, and so on, of a piece of writing – letting the text itself shine through” (2). CCSS R.1, R.3, R.4, R.5, R.6, R.9

What is Close Reading? It is an interaction between the reader and a text It is about making careful observations of a text and then interpretations of those observations It often involves rereading; rereading short portions of text that help readers to carry new ideas to the whole class

Powerful Close Reading Instruction Is NOT giving students a complex text then forcing them to read it again and again until they understand it. Close reading requires clear, engaging, transferable and responsive instruction

Teaching Within a Close Reading Ritual to Build Independence First, read through lenses Use lenses to find patterns Use the patterns to develop a new understanding of the text

The Essence of Understanding: A Study of Text Evidence There are ways to describe text evidence and ideas in narratives Precise thinking is critical This helps students to transfer skills to their independent practice in more powerful ways I’m going to pay attention to descriptions of the setting I’m going to consider the type of relationship these characters have (see fig. 2.2, p. 12) Gather evidence, then develop an idea CCSS R.1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical references from it

Closely Reading Media: Engage Students Through Popular Songs and Text Evidence Example song: Boyfriend, by Justin Bieber Have students listen to song, then look at the lyrics When students read the lyrics closely, they notice that the narrator mostly talks about how much money he has and what he can do with it Students can then recognize that songs, like books and people, have messages they want to send out into the world http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/justinbieber/boyfriend.html

More Than Just “Because”: Closely Reading Narrative Texts to Analyze Evidence and Meaning The ritual for reading a text closely: Deciding what to carefully look for Finding what these things have in common Stepping back and seeing what new understanding this gives you about the text Look for patterns, and be specific: say both what you see and the quality of it

Reading closely for text evidence: Read through lenses Choose specific details to gather as data: What characters/people say, think and do Relationships Setting descriptions Time period Which details fit together? How do they fit together?

Use Patterns to Develop a New Understanding of the Text Look at patterns to think about: Characters/People’s Feelings Traits Relationships Whole Text Themes Lessons

Phrases for Reflecting on Text Evidence and Meaning

A Way With Words – A Study of Word Choice RL 4: By the end of the grade, students can “…interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text” (CCSS). The goal is to have students start describing both what a text is about and noticing how it’s written Students should refer to the author more often

Reading Closely for Word Choice Read Through Lenses Choose specific words to gather Words that evoke Strong emotions Strong images A clear idea Use lenses to find patterns Which words fit together? How do they fit together? Use the patterns to develop a new understanding Think about an author’s Tone Purpose Relationship to the subject Central idea

Closely Reading Media – Engage Students Through TV Ads and Word Choice Lesson idea Have a video clip ready of an ad that is aimed at your students’ age range. Show two clips that can be compared Use print ads from teen magazines or style section of a pop-culture magazine

Closely Reading Media – Engage Students Through TV Ads and Word Choice Set up student response to word choice in an ad: Draw students’ attention to word choice and tone Words Impact Idea

Frames for Thinking About Word Choice Seeing patterns One pattern I see is ___________ with words like ______ Some words fit together, like ___ and make me feel ______ These words fit together because they sound___________ The author could have _____but instead_____________ There seems to be more than one pattern____ and also____

Additional Lessons for Providing Extra Support Reflect on text difficulty through word choice Use tangible scaffolds to support building ideas Use text evidence to refine ideas Find symbols in patterns Compare texts based on craft choices

Closely Reading Life – Looking at Word Choice in Our Lives Study social language Study “other” texts Study the words we choose Run experiments on authoring new patterns