1. Close Reading and Cocoa It’s not about proximity

2. What is Close Reading?  “The careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text”  When a reader analyzes a text from the word to paragraph level  Focused, Controlled and Purposeful  Multiple reads for multiple purposes  Determine what details are most important and how they fit together to convey the theme  We can’t possibly CLOSE READ everything

3. Is Reading Still Reading? Reading Today  More digital  Faster to highlight, annotate, and share ideas  Screen reading is likely to be faster and less contemplative (scroll and jump around) What Hasn’t Changed  Decoding symbols  Interacting with the Text  Bring Your Own Experiences  Question, Infer  We can still get Swept Away

4. Career and College Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading in the Common Core Key Ideas and Details Craft and Structure Integration of Knowledge and Ideas Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

5. Where Does Rigor Fit?  Rigor is not an attribute of a text, but rather a characteristic of our behavior with that text.  ENERGY and ATTENTION  “The quality does not lie in the barbell, but rather the interaction with it.”

6. Essential Skills for Close Reading  Prior Knowledge  Topical Knowledge and Vocabulary  Setting a Purpose for Reading  Self-Monitoring for Meaning  Synthesizing  Determining What is Important

7. What is the Role of Fiction? “Nonfiction lets us learn more, fiction lets us BE more.” Meaning emerges as readers, with all of their own thoughts and experiences and predispositions interact with the text. Improves us as Human Beings to balance our intellectual and Emotional Lives. Teaching the Readers to NOTICE and take NOTE