1. Teaching Students to Read Like Detectives
Doug Fisher
Contact me at
Videos on our FisherandFrey YouTube Channel

2. Anchored K-12 4 Domains Reading Writing Speaking and Listening
Language
Anchored K-12

3. Where to start . . . . Reading standard 1 Reading standard 10
Speaking and Listening standard 1

4. 10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

5. State standards were forward-mappedK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9-10
11-12
State standards were forward-mapped
Existing State Standards

6. Anchor standards are backward-mapped1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9-10
11-12
Anchor standards are backward-mapped
Backward design of CCSS-ELA standards

8. Assessing Texts Quantitative measures Qualitative values
Task and Reader considerations

9. 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

10. Levels of Meaning and Purpose
Density and complexity
Figurative language
Purpose

11. Levels of Meaning and Purpose
Is it about talking animals, or the USSR?
Is it entertainment, or political satire?
Is it straightforward, or ambiguous?
1370L
Grades 11-12

12. Allegory for tolerance
Author’s Purpose
Allegory for tolerance
Mirrored events of early Civil Rights movement (1961)
“Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches Had bellies with stars. The Plain-Belly Sneetches Had none upon thars. Those stars weren’t so big.
They were really so small You might think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all..”
But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches Would brag, ‘We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.’ With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort ‘We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!’ And whenever they met some, when they were out walking, They’d hike right on past them without even talking.”
530L
Grades 2-3

13. Complex themes Relationship between love and pain Masculinity
Loyalty and war
730L
Grades 2-3

14. Structure
Genre
Organization
Narration
Text features and graphics

15. Structure Changes in narration, point of view
Changes in font signal narration changes
Complex themes
560L
Grades 2-3

16. Structure Stream of consciousness narration Unreliable narrators
Nonlinear structure
Time shifts written in italics
870L (grades 4-5)

17. Language Conventions
Standard English and variations
Register

18. Language Conventions Non-standard English usage
“Out in the hottest, dustiest part of town is an orphanage run by a female person nasty enough to scare night into day. She goes by the name of Mrs. Sump, though I doubt there ever was a Mr. Sump on accounta she looks like somethin’ the cat drug in and the dog wouldn’t eat.”
(Stanley, 1996, p. 2)
AD 660L (Adult-directed)

19. British slang circa 1982 ATOS 4.4 Grades 2-3
“The doorbell went. I put the blind back to how it was, checked I'd left no other traces of my incursion, slipped out, and flew downstairs to see who it was. The last six steps I took in one death-defying bound. Moron, grinny-zitty as ever. His bumfluff's getting thicker, mind.
"You'll never guess what!"
"What?”
"You know the lake in the woods?"
"What about it?"
"It's only"--Moron checked that we weren't being overheard--"gone and froze solid! Half the kids in the village're there, right now. Ace doss or what?"
ATOS 4.4
Grades 2-3
Bumfluff- light facial hair (“peach fuzz”)
Ace doss-easy and fun

20. Knowledge Demands
Background knowledge
Prior knowledge
Cultural knowledge
Vocabulary

21. Knowledge Demands
Domain-specific vocabulary (radioactive, acidity, procedure, vaccination)
Background knowledge (diseases, safety risks, scientific experimentation)
1100L
Grades 6-8

22. Cultural Knowledge Demands
Buddhist philosophy
Search for spiritual enlightenment
Eightfold Path to Nirvana
1010L
Grades 6-8

23. 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

24. 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.

25. 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 Structure for Instruction that Works

26. In some classrooms … TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY “I do it”
Focused Instruction
“You do it
alone”
Independent
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

27. In some classrooms … TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY “You do it alone”
Independent
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

28. And in some classrooms …
TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY
“I do it”
Focused Instruction
Guided Instruction
“We do it”
“You do it
alone”
Independent
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

29. 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 Structure for Instruction that Works

30. 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 Structure for Instruction that Works

31. 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.

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

33. 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

34. 6-8 Features Using evidence to probe and reflect
Collegial discussions include goals and deadlines
Questions connect ideas from several speakers
Acknowledge new information

35. 9-10 Features Use prepared research in discussion
Voting, consensus, and decision making
Ensure hearing full range of opinions or options
Summarize and synthesize points of disagreement

36. 11-12 Features Civil, democratic discussions
Questions probe reasoning and evidence
Resolving contradictions
Determine what additional info is needed

37. Talk occurs on grade level topics,
texts, and issues.

38. 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.

39. Close Analytic Reading
©2012 Core Knowledge Foundation. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

40. “Salvador, Late or Early”
A Close Reading of
“Salvador, Late or Early”
Close reading is almost always and encounter with the text first…no modeling first
Participants read and then answer a question
Doug will read to them and model thinking focusing on one thing…sentence structure
Traditionally this piece would be one of three pieces read in one period
Now this text would be read for three days
(Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, 1991)