1. Digital Tools to Promote Close Reading
Lindsey Thompson
Professional Development Coordinator, Delaware Community Schools
Teacher Consultant and Co-Director of Technology, Indiana Writing Project

2. Why teach digital reading skills?
Digital texts
promote skimming
allow easy connection to additional information
make collaboration easy
Why teach digital reading skills?

3. Close reading in a word document
Word (and programs like Google Docs) allow students to interact with the text by
Commenting
Highlighting
Linking
Making bold, italics, etc.
Close reading in a word document

4. When to use word documents for close reading
When you want students to
Develop background information
Understand allusions
Use comments to explain a concept
Link to their sources
Differentiate ideas
Identify times a particular word or phrase is used
When to use word documents for close reading

5. Group Annotations Why use group annotations of a text?
Students can learn from each other’s comments.
All comments are in one place for easy access by students and teachers.
Everyone will notice or connect with different parts of the text, so a more thorough annotation can be complete together.
Group Annotations

6. Tools for Group Annotation
NowComment.com
Google Docs
Diigo
Tools for Group Annotation

7. Image analysis Images Students Might Analyze Charts and graphs
Advertisements
Paintings
Photographs
Videos
Political cartoons
Image analysis

8. Image analysis What to “read” in an image
Make predictions about a topic
Explain what objects mean
Identify different parts of the image
Label the objects
Explain how the parts contribute to the whole
Image analysis

9. Tools for image analysis
(my favorite, but paid)
Tools for image analysis

11. Application to your classroom
Make a plan for how you might use digital tools to promote close reading in your classroom. Take a couple minutes to think of how you could use this in your classroom.
Application to your classroom