1. Rigorous Reading: Access Points for Comprehending Complex Texts
Nancy Frey
San Diego State University

2. Our Work Today
Our learning intention: Build our capacity to use complex texts and foster students’ deep comprehension.
Our success criteria: Use a close reading and collaborative learning instructional routine to purposefully teach deep comprehension.

3. Where to Begin? R.10 Text complexity W.1 SL.1
Collaborative conversations
R.10
Text complexity
R.1
Close reading
L.4
Solving unknown words and phrases
W.1
Opinion w/ Evidence (K-5)
Argumentation
(6-12)

4. How has your practice changed since 2010?
Evidence in K
How has your practice changed since 2010?

5. A little background about reading development

6. To build strength
More Complex
Less Complex
To build stamina

7. Constrained and Unconstrained Reading Skills
Paris, S. G. (2005). Reinterpreting the development of reading skills. Reading Research Quarterly, 40(2),

8. Constrained Skills
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Fluency

9. Unconstrained Skills
Comprehension
Vocabulary

10. Leveled texts are great for teaching constrained skills.
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Fluency

11. Students restricted to leveled text only fail to learn unconstrained skills.
Comprehension
Vocabulary

12. To build strength
More Complex
Less Complex
To build stamina

13. Literacy should foster inquiry.

14. A Model for Success for All Students
TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY
“I do it”
Focused Instruction
Guided Instruction
“We do it”
“You do it
together”
Collaborative
“You do it
alone”
Independent
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY
A Model for Success for All Students
Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2014). Better learning through structured teaching: A framework for the gradual release of responsibility (2nd ed.) Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

15. Establishing purpose primes students for learning.
TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY
Focused Instruction
Establishing purpose primes students for learning.

16. Strengthens transitions.
TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY
Focused Instruction
Strengthens transitions.

17. Provides closure at the end of the lesson.
TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY
Focused Instruction
Provides closure at the end of the lesson.

18. Establishing Purpose

19. A clear learning
target
establishes
criteria for
success

20. Purpose = Expectations

21. Establishing Purpose answers the question,
“Where are we going?”

22. Purpose is essential for English learners.

23. Build their sense of competence.
Want to motivate students?
Build their sense of competence.

24. Our Work Today
Our learning intention: Build our capacity to use complex texts and foster students’ deep comprehension.
Our success criteria: Use a close reading and collaborative learning instructional routine to purposefully teach deep comprehension.

25. Our Work Today
Our learning intention: Build our capacity to use complex texts and foster students’ deep comprehension.
Our success criteria: Use a close reading and collaborative learning instructional routine to purposefully teach deep comprehension.

26. purpose

27. Stage and Engage: Guiding Questions
What are my success criteria and learning intentions?
What am I learning?
Why am I learning it?

28. Team Analysis of Desired Results
Analyze the 1st grade unit essential question,” What does it mean to be a good citizen and why is it important?” as well as the Enduring Understandings. How can clearly communicated learning intentions and success criteria contribute to students’ critical thinking, regardless of current reading performance? What would undermine this effort?

29. Close Reading

30. Where to Begin? R.10 Text complexity SL.1 W.1
Collaborative conversations
R.10
Text complexity
R.1
Close reading
L.4
Solving unknown words and phrases
W.1
Opinion w/ Evidence (K-5)

31. Close reading is a PART of balanced literacy instruction
BREAK
pp. xxi-xv

32. Close reading gives students time to develop unconstrained skills through guided instruction with
complex texts.

33. Differences Between K-2 and 3-12?
In K-2, teacher reads aloud initially, annotates wholly or guides student annotation. Students may or may not eventually read independently, depending on text difficulty (e.g., Wizard of Oz in Kindergarten.)
In 3-12, students read independently beginning with first reading, and annotate with increased independence. Readers who cannot initially read independently may be read to, or may encounter the text previously during scaffolded small group reading instruction.

34. “Every book has a skeleton hidden between its covers
“Every book has a skeleton hidden between its covers. Your job as an analytic reader is to find it.”
Adler and Van Doren, 1940/1972

35. Not every reading is a close one!
“X-ray the book”

36. Creating a Close Reading
Use a short passage
“Read with a pencil” pp
Creating a Close Reading

37. Annotation is a note of any form made while reading text.
“Reading with a pencil.”

38. Annotation in PreK-2 Language experience approach
Interactive writing and shared pen activities

39. 2 4 5 3 1 Modeled Annotation in Kindergarten
Kemp, L. M. (1996). One peaceful pond: A counting book. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

40. Modeled Annotation in First Grade

41. Modeled Annotation in Second
Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (2007). Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

42. Even young students can annotate.

43. Annotation with Wikki sticks

44. Creating a Close Reading
Use a short passage
“Read with a pencil”
Rereading and discussion
Give your students the chance to struggle a bit pp
Creating a Close Reading

45. The Role of Pre-reading
Multiple readings can reduce the need for this

46. Repeated reading and discussion
Use a short passage
“Read with a pencil”
Repeated reading and discussion
Give your students the chance to struggle a bit
Foster critical thinking with text-dependent questions pp
Creating a Close Reading

47. What is familiar to you?
What is new to you?
What is a good tickler?

48. 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.
Look at grade level standard—it is more than just close reading!

49. 2nd 1st K Reading Closely Progression K-2
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
By the end of
2nd
By the end of
1st
By the end of K

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

51. Text Complexity Progression K-2
By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
With prompting and support, read prose and poetry of appropriate complexity for grade 1.
Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.
By the end of
2nd
By the end of
1st
By the end of K

52. Read closely… complex texts.10 1
ELA/Literacy
Standards 2-9

53. Where to Begin? R.10 Text complexity W.1 SL.1
Collaborative conversations
R.10
Text complexity
R.1
Close reading
L.4
Solving unknown words and phrases
W.1
Opinion w/ Evidence (K-5)
Argumentation
(6-12)

54. Assessing Texts
p. 7-10

55. Text Reader Task Quantitative Qualitative Cognitive capabilities
Motivation
Knowledge
Experience
Task
Teacher-led Peer-led
Independent

57. Language Convention and Clarity
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
p. 9

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

59. Progression of Text-dependent Questions
What does the text inspire you to do?
Interpretive
Opinions/Arguments,
Intertextual Connections
Inferences
Author’s Craft and Purpose
Vocab & Text Structure
Key Details
General Understandings
What does the text mean?
Inferential
How does the text work?
Structural
What does the text say?
Literal

60. The Day the Crayons Quit

61. What did Duncan find when he took his crayons out of the box one day?

62. Which crayons feel tired and overworked?

63. What are Yellow and Orange arguing about?

64. Use Key Details to Locate Evidence

65. Use Key Details to Locate Evidence
How does Gray Crayon feel?
Why does Beige Crayon feel underused?
How does Blue Crayon feel?
To whom was Beige Crayon's letter written?
Why does Red Crayon write the letter to Duncan?
According to Black Crayon, what is his main job?

66. Which crayons appear sad? Embarrassed? How can you tell?

67. How does Duncan respond to the letters?

68. Howabowt you & Orange both be the color of the sun?
Dear Green, I made the Yellow & Orange’s problem [go away] because I am a good problem solver.

69. Progression of Text-dependent Questions
What does the text inspire you to do?
Interpretive
Opinions/Arguments,
Intertextual Connections
Inferences
Author’s Craft and Purpose
Vocab & Text Structure
Key Details
General Understandings
What does the text mean?
Inferential
How does the text work?
Structural
What does the text say?
Literal

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

71. Author’s Craft & Purpose
Genre: Entertain? Explain? Inform? Persuade?
Point of view: First-person, third-person
Narrator: omniscient, unreliable narrator
Literary devices
Intention

72. Inferences
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.

73. “A Friend” by Gillian Jones

74. What Makes It Accessible
Qualitative Analysis
What Makes It Accessible
What Makes It Complex
Story-like with familiar words (high narrativity)
Syntactic simplicity (short sentences)
Lots of connecting words and phrases for deep cohesion (e.g., and, on whom, Instead, for .) These connecting terms link ideas.
This deep cohesion facilitates comprehension.
Little overlap in words and ideas between sentences.
Vocabulary is abstract (hard to visualize).
Little overlap (referential cohesion) means the reader has to do lots of inferring.
Therefore, students need sufficient prior knowledge.

75. Initial Readings to get the flow, Read the text to them
then a second time to annotate.

76. What is the main idea of the poem?
What does the text say? General Understanding
Friends need to be taken care of
What is the main idea of the poem?

77. What are the qualities of a good friend? How do you know?
What does the text say? Key Details
Dependable, they listen, they don’t run away when something bad happens, they make you smile
What are the qualities of a good friend? How do you know?

78. What do you need to do to take care of a friend?
What does the text say? Key Details
Don’t forget them
What do you need to do to take care of a friend?

79. How does the poet help you to understand what the word condemn means?
How does the text work? Vocabulary
How does the poet help you to understand what the word condemn means?

80. How does the text work? Vocabulary
What does the phrase “lend an ear” mean? Why is this an important quality in a friend?

81. How does the rhythm and rhyme affect the feeling of the poem?
How does the text work? Structure
How does the rhythm and rhyme affect the feeling of the poem?
They are paired, like friends are paired

82. How does the text work? Author’s Craft
How does the poet feel about friendship? What words and phrases does she use that support your answer?

83. How does this poem relate to the Golden Rule?
What does the text mean? Inferences
How does this poem relate to the Golden Rule?

84. What makes you a good friend?
What does the text mean? Inferences
What makes you a good friend?

85. Talk is essential to writing

86. “Writing floats on a sea of talk.”
James Britton

87. What does the text inspire you to do? Writing From Sources
 What makes you a good friend? After reading and discussing Gillian Jones’s poem, “A Friend,” write a short paragraph to answer the question. Use what you know from the poem to write your response.
Participants do not need to write; this is an example of a writing task.
Constructed using Elementary Task Template Collection:

88. Begin with the end in mind: Plan backward and teach forward.
EXTEND YOUR LEARNING this Afternoon
Develop TDQ’s with your grade level team for Unit 1 close readings.
Begin with the end in mind: Plan backward and teach forward.
What makes the text complex?
What do you want students to do with the text? (interpretive)
What does the text mean? (inferential)
How does the text work? (structural)
What does the text say? (literal)

89. Plan Backwards, Teach Forward
1. What does you want students to do with the text? (Interpretive)
2. What does the text mean? (Inferential)
3. How does the text work? (Structural)
4. What does the text say? (Literal)

90. It’s not enough to have complex text in the room
It’s not enough to have complex text in the room. Students need to read and discuss complex text.

91. 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.

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

93. 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

94. 20 Days to
Productive Group Work

95. Introduce instructional routines each day during the first month of school (10-20 minutes).
Productive group work requires purposeful teaching of the procedures and skills needed. Each day, introduce a new skill or routine by first modeling it, then having them do it. Once taught, reinforce the use of these routines by using them in content instruction. Repeated use of these high-utility instructional routines will build their capacity to work productively during longer and more complex projects.

96. Tip #1: Begin with the end in mind
Teach what is most valuable from the beginning: we help each other, and we are accountable for what we say to one another.

97. Teach students a helping curriculum

98. Accountable Talk sounds like…

99. Don’t say something students can say.
Accountable Talk requires conversational moves by the teacher.
Don’t say something students can say.

100. Conversational Moves of the Teacher
Marking: “That’s an important point.”
Challenging students: “What do you think?”
Michaels, S., O’Connor, M. C., Hall, M. W., & Resnick, L. B. (2010). Accountable Talk® Sourcebook: For Classroom Conversation That Works (v.3.1). University of Pittsburgh Institute for Learning. Retrieved from
Michaels, et al., 2010

101. Conversational Moves of the Teacher
Keeping the channels open: “Did everyone hear that?”
Keeping everyone together: “Who can repeat…?”
Michaels, S., O’Connor, M. C., Hall, M. W., & Resnick, L. B. (2010). Accountable Talk® Sourcebook: For Classroom Conversation That Works (v.3.1). University of Pittsburgh Institute for Learning. Retrieved from
Michaels, et al., 2010

102. Pressing for accuracy: “Where can we find that?”
Linking contributions: “Who wants to add on…?”
Verifying and clarifying: “So, are you saying…?”
Building on prior knowledge: “How does this connect?”
Pressing for reasoning: “Why do you think that?”
Expanding reasoning: “Take your time; say more.”
Michaels, et al., 2010

103. Introduce Language Frames to Scaffold Accountable Talk
Ross, D., Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2009). The art of argumentation. Science and Children, 47(3),

104. Tip #2: Start Small

105. Make sure they know how to help!
On-task Partners
On-task partners monitor each other.
Follow the direction of the teacher.
Check to see if your partner is doing the same thing.
If not, quietly help.
Make sure they know how to help!

106. Teaching Your Rules
Key to developing community in the classroom and foundational for collaborative conversations .

107. Discussion Partners TTYPA (Turn to your partner and…)
Think-Pair-Square
Walking Review
Busy Bees
Opinion Stations

108. Social Skills for Discussion Partners
Pete the Cat Listening Chart for Kindergarten

109. Reading Partners Knee-to-knee reading Stronger partner reads first
Other student follows silently
Now he or she rereads passage
Choral reading
Silent reading first
Mark or discuss phrase boundaries
Read aloud together

110. Response Cards True/false shower board Math symbols chalkboards
Students furnish answers using prepared cards or original answers written on whiteboards
Prepared Cards and Write-on boards
True/false shower board
Math symbols chalkboards
Vocabulary Plickers!

111. Conversation Roundtable
1 My notes
What Mayra said 3
What Alex said 4
What Leo said 5
Independent
Summary

112. Noise Meter
Moderate
Quiet
Elevated
Silent
Outdoor

113. Tip #3: Start where you’re comfortable
Begin with routines and activities that you are most comfortable with. Make it easier on yourself and your students by choosing ones you have more confidence in.

114. Tip #4: Teach it
Productive group work doesn’t just happen--incorporate short spotlight lessons each day during the first month of school to introduce and practice the routines you’ll be using most often. You may have other routines--these calendars are meant to be an example.

115. Introduce instructional routines each day during the first month of school (10-20 minutes).
Productive group work requires purposeful teaching of the procedures and skills needed. Each day, introduce a new skill or routine by first modeling it, then having them do it. Once taught, reinforce the use of these routines by using them in content instruction. Repeated use of these high-utility instructional routines will build their capacity to work productively during longer and more complex projects.

116. Taking it Back

117. Our Work Today
Our learning intention: Build our capacity to use complex texts and foster students’ deep comprehension.
Our success criteria: Use a close reading and collaborative learning instructional routine to purposefully teach deep comprehension.

118. Tomorrow’s Decisions What is the easiest thing you can change?
2. What is the first, small change you will begin tomorrow?

119. This Week’s Professional Conversations
What are goals for your class regarding complex texts, close reading, and collaborative conversations?
How will your grade band look and learn from one another?

120. A Plan to Begin R.10 Text complexity W.1 SL.1
Collaborative conversations
R.10
Text complexity
R.1
Close reading
L.4
Solving unknown words and phrases
W.1
Opinion w/ Evidence (K-5)
Argumentation
(6-12)

121. Collaborative conversations
A Plan to Begin
SL.1
Collaborative conversations

122. A Plan to Begin
R.10
Text complexity

123. Opinion w/ Evidence (K-5)
A Plan to Begin
W.1
Opinion w/ Evidence (K-5)

124. A Plan to Begin
Formative Assessment

125. Thank you!