1. Complex Text and Close Reading: The “what” and “how”
Raleigh/Wake Reading Association
NCDPI ELA Section
Lisa McIntosh
February 10, 2016
All students must have the opportunity to engage with complex text – guided and supported as needed!
How do we support students when they are reading complex parts of a text closely or reading independently to build proficiency and knowledge? We are going to explore the answers to these questions and learn about a resource that will find the complexity within a text to inform instruction. 
So when we talk about complex text and close reading – sometimes they are thought of as the same subject – but actually they are two separate constructs. Close reading is an approach to text interpretation that focuses not just on what a text says, but on how it communicates that message. For example: The close reader examines what an author explicitly expresses and implies, but also digs below the surface and considers rhetorical features, literary devices, layers of meaning, graphic elements, symbolism, structural elements, cultural references and allusions to grasp the meaning of the text.
Text complexity includes all of these that I just mentioned – but also includes all the other linguistic elements that might make one text more difficult than the other – like the sophistication of the author’s diction (vocabulary), sentence complexity (syntax or grammar), cohesion, text organization, and tone.
For example: To Kill a Mockingbird is a good example of sophisticated content, but little linguistic complexity. It is a good choice for a close reading lesson, but it won’t serve to extend most kids’ language.

2. Teaching Complex Texts
ELA Instructional Shifts:
Regular practice with complex text and its academic language
Increase the number and quality of complex texts that are taught.
Many canonical texts used currently (particularly fiction texts) do not appear—on their surface—to satisfy this requirement.
The importance of text complexity
The standards call for a shift in teaching complex texts, but on the surface, many current texts are not meeting the requirement of being complex enough.
It’s important to consider the complexity of the text when choosing texts.

3. Text Complexity
The Standards connection for text complexity is Reading CCR.10.
Text Complexity involves 3 parts of the text complexity triangle.

4. Text Complexity Resource
Share foldable resource guide. This information will help you determine the complexity of a text.
Review guide.

5. Text complexity is defined by:
Quantitative measures – readability and other scores of text complexity often best measured by computer software.
Qualitative measures – levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands often best measured by an attentive human reader.
Reader and Task considerations – background knowledge of reader, motivation, interests, and complexity generated by tasks assigned often best made by educators employing their professional judgment.
Review the three parts. It’s important to consider all parts of the triangle when choosing a text.

6. Navigating Text Complexity
Road Map examples are under SHOWROOM Model examples

7. CLOSE READING OBJECTIVES
Close reading affords students the opportunity to assimilate new textual information with their existing background knowledge and prior experiences to expand their schema.
Close reading allows students to build necessary critical habits when they engage with a complex piece of text.

8. Why such an emphasis on close reading?
“Close analytic reading integrates and further develops many of the elements that are needed to support every student. This capacity for incorporating so many of the other strands in one set of activities makes close analytic reading essential.” David and Meredith Liben
According to Tim Shanahan, the main point of close reading is to situate the text at the center of the reading experience, focusing on what is important in the text in terms of what it says, how it works, and how it relates to other texts (personal communication, January 4, 2014)
Students not only need to learn how to determine whether a text is worth reading, but also how to take ownership of a text’s important ideas (when it contains them).
According to the standards, expectations for Standard 10 are that students need to be reading complex text proficiently and independently. Close reading is a way to scaffold for students so they are able to read these complex texts.

9. “The book was long, and difficult to read, and Klaus became more and more tired as the night wore on. Occasionally his eyes would close. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning
Is this close reading?

10. Standards Connection
R.CCR.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.
Standard 1 emphasizes a rigorous, deductive approach to reading that challenges students to draw as much as possible from the text itself.

11. CLOSE READING Fewer pages Grade-level complex text
All students same text
Teaches students to attend to text and words
Heavy support
Solely instructional
Exposes student to higher-level content
Gives all students access
Fewer pages of reading vs. volume of reading. Students can’t closely read everything.
Reading and rereading deliberately, understanding the central ideas and key supporting details; and reflecting on the meanings of individual words and sentences, the order in which sentences unfold, and the development of ideas over the course of the text.
Do not use close reading with a simply organized and easily understood piece of text OR with an entire novel!!

12. Teachers and students have specific roles in close reading:
There are specific roles for teachers and students in close reading….
“Supporting Students in Close Reading,” Barbara Jones, Sandy Chang, Margaret Heritage, and Glory Tobiason

13. SO……
When confronted with complex texts, students need to know how to read “closely.”
To teach students how to read “closely,” educators need access to a variety of complex texts.

14. What Teachers are Hearing about complex texts and close reading…….
Incorporate more complex texts, particularly non- fiction
Build student independent reading skill along a “staircase of complexity”
Use short texts to practice close reading
What else are you hearing about complex text and close reading?

15. Teachers have been asking about complex texts and close reading….
So, where does this leave full-length, less-than- complex texts, particularly novels? If I am spending four weeks on a novel that doesn’t fall into the text complexity band for my grade level, am I shortchanging my students both in terms of complex text and close reading?

16. Should I continue using this text or not?
An Example:
Should I continue using this text or not?
Charlotte’s Web is typically taught in grades 4 and 5.

17. Quantitative Measure 680 L
Appendix B in the standards has Charlotte’s Web listed as a 2-3 Read Aloud suggestion. Charlotte’s Web’s lexile falls in the 2-3 grade band range.

18. Discussion Thinking about the text of the novel…….
During what portions of the story’s plot would you imagine the most complex text to occur?

19. Lexile by Chapter Guide
Blue – is where the grade band range is for Look at the graph to see which chapters are in that range.
So… if Charlotte’s Web is frequently taught in grades 4-5,

20. Questions for Discussion
What insight can you glean from this graph?
Of the novel’s chapters, most chapters fall below the recommended grade band range for grades 4-5; 7 chapters fall within the 4-5 grade band range; no chapters fall above the 4-5 grade band range.
Substantial range exists between Chapters 5 and 6; 6 and 7.
For the chapters that ARE difficult – look at those chapters to see what makes them difficult.
What is going on in Chapters 2 and 6 that makes them more complex?
Chapter 2 – Fern and Wilbur get into a routine. They have been together for 5 weeks – Mr. Arable decides that Wilbur has to be sold because he is eating too much. Fern is very upset with this news. Luckily, Mrs. Arable comes up with a solution to see if Uncle Homer will buy Wilbur.
Chapter 6 - Summer Days - It’s summer time on the farm and life is grand!! Seven goslings hatch!! Fern, Wilbur and Charlotte are very excited for the goose and the gander, but Templeton, all he can think about is what happened to the 8th egg that didn’t hatch. So, they let Templeton take the dud egg away to his stash, with the gander warning Templeton that he better stay away from the new goslings… or else.
Challenging areas for this chapter – the description of Templeton – no compunctions – no remorse for anything, no feeling of guilt for anything…
We can’t just look at Lexiles though – we have to consider the Qualitative measures.

21. Qualitative Measures for Charlotte’s Web
E.B. White
We can’t forget about the Qualitative measures. Rubric for Charlotte’s Web.

22. Reader and Task Considerations for Charlotte’s Web
Consider each specific reader’s motivation, knowledge, and experiences, learning needs, language, and reading skills.
Think about:
What are potential challenges of this text?
What supports can I provide for my students? Differentiation?
What are possible instructional areas of focus for this text?
Here is where you think of your students….

23. Additional Questions for Discussion…
What opportunities do you see for teaching complex text and close reading based upon this graph?
How might such information impact your teaching (or planning for teaching) Charlotte’s Web?
Would this information alter any student groupings used during instruction (i.e., whole class, small groups, individual)? How?
Would you teach Charlotte’s Web at all in Grades 4-5? Is it complex enough?
It seems like there are opportunities for close reading of complex text that fall within the 4-5 text complexity band, even though the novel as a whole does not.

24. More Examples: Lexile by Chapter Guides

25. Strategies for Scaffolding Students in Close Reading
Model annotations through a Think Aloud.
Read passage aloud before students read it independently.
Use Text-Dependent Questions (TDQ’s) that build in complexity and offer students multiple opportunities to explore the answers For example: provide time for students to draft written responses before asking for oral responses.
Have students engage in collaborative conversations. Supply sentence starters so all students can participate in focused discussions.
While the goal for students is to read complex texts independently, not all students will be able to achieve that immediately. Scaffolding instruction is a model in which the teacher supports students and gradually releases responsibility to the student. Pearson and Gallagher (1983) coined this term based on the 1970’s work of Vygotsky. A key model in scaffolding instruction is the Gradual Release of Responsibility. In this model, the teacher begins by modeling, offering students the highest level of support. As instruction continues and the teacher monitors students’ learning progress, he/she gradually releases responsibility to the students, guiding students’ progress and eventually observing as they practice the skill independently (Pearson and Gallagher, 1983).
We used to rely on front-end scaffolds – preteaching so that students would understand the text when they read it. Now, it is better that the scaffolds are spread out over the course of the close reading as needed.
It’s also important, that when you are using a scaffolding strategy – make the scaffolds specific to the text. Here are some suggestions….
For students who are struggling, you may support them through a Think-Aloud, reading the text to the students and modeling your thinking as you answer a Text Dependent Question. As students become more proficient in reading, discussing, and analyzing text, you may gradually release the responsibility for reading & thinking to them. The idea is to offer just the right amount of support so that students can be successful.
Provide Language Frames Handout….
Scaffolding strategies allow students to do the work of reading the text rather than having teachers explain the texts to them.q

26. Annotation activity:
First Read: Read the text, “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros to get the “big picture” of the text.
Second Read: Read through the text to note its major themes or ideas, levels of meaning, as well as the author’s purpose.
Third read: Annotate the text for types of language that the author uses, such as key words, types of sentence structures, visual components, and text cohesion strategies. Note the reasons why the author uses these features in relation to the text’s purpose or theme. Look for the devices and features that stand out or are used repeatedly by the author.
Fourth read: Read through the text with your students in mind. Based on what you have already noted and annotated, determine which aspects of the text you want your students to pay attention to. Also, make annotations about which aspects of the text may be challenging for specific individual students or groups of students (e.g., English learners).
Provide HANDOUT of text.
This activity uses the Teacher Annotation Protocol to help gain a deeper understanding of the text they have selected to use with students during close reading and to guide their planning of the specific close reading process students will undertake during the lesson
3. Also annotate any images, or other forms of visual representation included with the text (e.g., data charts and diagrams accompanying science or social studies texts), noting the information they contain and the ways they may augment student understanding of the text.
Lastly, you would use this annotation to begin writing text-dependent questions that will help scaffold the students through the text.
Authors: Barbara Jones, Sandy Chang, Margaret Heritage, and Glory Tobiason

27. Teacher preparation for students’ annotating:
Here’s an example of how a teacher used the Teacher Annotation Protocol to guide in making decisions about what to focus on in this text.

28. Make Your Mark:
Use the following symbols to help your students annotate a piece of text:
I knew that.
X That contradicts my expectations.
This is important.
? I have a question.
?? I am confused or puzzled.
! This is surprising or exciting to me.
L I learned something new.
Another guide to use with students for annotating….

29. Collaborative Annotations
Another strategy for close reading…

30. Collaborative
Annotations
Student example

31. Resources Scaffolding Close Reading of a Text
Teacher blog by Justin Stygles – member of the Advisory Committee of Teachers – International Literacy Association
Expeditionary Learning: Meeting Students’ Needs Through Scaffolding
Supporting Students in Close Reading

32. Text-Dependent Questions for students to use during a close reading of a text:
1st reading: What it says.
• What is the text saying?
2nd reading: How it says it.
How did the author organize it?
What literary devices were used and how effective were they?
What was the quality of the evidence?
If data were presented, how was that done?
If any visual texts (e.g., diagrams, tables, illustrations) were presented, how was that done?
Why did the author choose this word or that word? Was the meaning of a key term consistent or did it change across the text?
3rd reading: What it means.
What does this text mean?
What was the author’s point?
What does it have to say to me about my life or my world? How do I evaluate the quality of this work—aesthetically, substantively?
How does this text connect to other texts I know?
General follow-up questions for any of the text-dependent questions are:
How do you know?
• What in the text tells you that?
• What’s the evidence?

33. Notice & Note
Bookmark templates are in your folder.

34. Close Reading Model Lessons
These sets of lessons include:
Complex Texts
Text-dependent Questions Vocabulary Writing Assignments Assessment Questions*
*Not all lesson sets include assessment questions

35. Achieve the Core Lesson Planning
The Lesson Planning Tool will guide teachers  through the process of creating a close-reading lesson.

36. ELA Resources LiveBinder
More resources for scaffolding in the Scaffolding tab on the LiveBinder.
Link to LiveBinder:

37. Close Reading
Infographic on the LiveBinder

38. ELA Listserve

39. CONTACT INFORMATION
Julie Joslin, Ed.D.
Section Chief
English Language Arts
Anna Lea Frost, M.Ed.
6-8 English Language Arts
Consultant
Lisa McIntosh, MSA
K-5 English Language Arts
Angie Stephenson, M.Ed.
9-12 English Language Arts
Kristi Day, M.Ed.